The name that proved console emulation is "100% legal" is back for the third time as a '90s nostalgia mall that's also helping remaster retro cult classics

PlayStation emulator Bleem had a short run, but one of notable historical significance - it was, after all, the emulator that proved emulation is legal. It died an unfortunate death in 2001, but the name at least is making a new comeback as what amounts to an online mall for '90s nostalgia that's also helping remaster retro cult classics. This is actually Bleem's second comeback in just a few years, and the story of how we got to this point is a little complicated.

Bleem (or 'bleem!' as the original logo styled it) launched in 1999 as a commercial PS1 for PC and Dreamcast. Bleem was sold in stores, and let you stick your PlayStation discs in non-PlayStation platforms to play them there. As you might imagine, Sony was not happy about this, and the company quickly took Bleem to court in the US alleging copyright infringement and unfair competition.

But Sony lost its lawsuit. In the most high-profile lawsuit ever to arise around emulation, the courts sided with the emulator devs, and you'll find this fact cited pretty much any time there's a discussion about the legality of emulation. There are all kinds of caveats here - you can't distribute somebody else's copyrighted software and you can't provide direct copies of the BIOS files many video game consoles need in order to operate - but Bleem proved that you can distribute an emulator, and even sell it, without legal issue.

Unfortunately, Bleem also proved that you can still end up losing by merely being taken to court, regardless of the verdict. The company shut down in 2001 because it couldn't handle the court fees, and Bleem became little more than a historical footnote. That is until the rights to the name got picked up by Eli Galindo, founder of the retro-focused game publisher Piko Interactive, in 2018.

"Why Bleem! you may ask?" Galindo wrote in a blog post back in February. "Well for me it only makes sense. Bleem IS the representation of legal emulation. Bleem set precedent in the US Court system by showing how