I personally didn’t see the appeal of the NES Classic Edition, because I generally don’t have non-Jolt-based nostalgia (T_T), and also because I am pretty sure I have a copy of every NES ROM on a thumbdrive from 10 years ago. Needless to say, I am not the target audience. But it runs boots a Linux kernel, so my receptors are tuned for mentions of it.
And because it is Linux, it was modded and folks have figured out how to load ROMS not included among those released with the console/device/thing. There GUI tools being developed to automate the currently difficult and somewhat arcane directions to getting your ROM library moved over, but that is only going to get better and easier.
And where are you going to get those ROMs? Here, let me search that for you. TechCrunch has a cute observation on the legality of sideloading:
Of course, there is also the question of where those games come from. NES ROMs aren’t legally available from Nintendo, but are widely available nevertheless. We don’t condone piracy, but if you bought a license for Mega Man 2 on Wii, you may feel ethically justified in exerting that IP claim in this plainly extralegal fashion.
The best part of this story is that the hacks come Russian gamers. It is important to remember that there are better forms of hacking coming out of Russia, and that regardless of the ambitions of xenophobic strongman assholes, most folks just want to be healthy and play games.