I know it's kinda late but hear me out. I really wanted to get into the series when I was young but I didn't have a SNES or much money. When I first began emulating I hated that I had actually. I thought that because it was illegal I would somehow get in trouble for it but emulation laws are very lenient. No one will go after you for it, if anything the distributor is at fault. For EarthBound if you don't have a SNES there is no other way unless you emulate it, that was something I had to accept. Also remember this, just because you emulate it now doesn't mean you'll never own a legit copy later. I emulated first, but when I finally had a SNES saved up enough money I bought the game. Even if emulation is "illegal" I find that EarthBound is a special case since avaliability of the game is very limited.