Piracy is bad, pure and simple. It's stealing, with that being said in my younger days I often did it so I could test games. If I liked the game I bought it if I didn't like it I didn't buy it.
However with this being said, I think Piracy and Emulation are two different things. Pirating a game that a studio can still make money off of, is as good as stealing. However, pirating or emulating a game from the early days of gaming, from a studio that is no longer around, or a game that is no longer making money, IMO is perfectly acceptable.
For instance, I would never pirate the newest Zelda game, but I would download an emulator to play, say, Ocarina of Time.
I agree my friend, that's why I say that I do not justify them, even if it were not for piracy many would never try some games, emulation comes faster than the games are no longer released, especially now that remastered a thousand times each game.
Piracy is not stealing, it is copyright infringement and there are important distinctions. I would never say piracy is "good" but if someone copies a game they never would have bought, nobody is losing money. Of course, someone who copies a game isn't necessarily honest about whether they would have bought it or not...
if you believe piracy is wrong then using emulation to play pirated ROMs is also wrong. There is no distinction. Companies can always make money on IP that they own by re-releasing older games and they often do so in various collections or even more commonly now as digital downloads. Ocarina of Time for instance was available to play via the Switch.
If an older game is re-released in the same state that it came out in, then yes, I would say that it is also wrong. If a game is so old that a company either A. has no interest in re releasing it or B. The company is no longer around, or C. New copies of that game are no longer being created than I see no problem with emulating the game, as the company isn't losing money.
If you didn't pirate the game you'd only have a few options of going around playing it either by A. buying it, B. getting a borrowed copy, or C. Buying it second hand.
Of course Piracy isn't stealing in the legal sense, but IMO it is in a moral sense. It's the same thing with most things that fall under copyright infringement. The point is you're getting a product for free that a comapany is selling, without said companies permission.
that's what it's all about my friend, piracy as a means of converting video games is basically necessary.