I don't like to pirate anything, but seeing as there was no other viable alternative for years, who was actually waiting for a legal re-release? I mean, it takes all of 5 minutes to get Earthbound up and running on your computer.
You can even play it in your web browser, with cloud saves. All I'm saying is that, in the time it took Nintendo to cave-in to fans and digitally release a ROM, you could've played the whole game.
Also, Nintendo isn't exactly a wonderful company that absolutely
needs your support. They became stinking rich off a mediocre product that was marketed to consumers as a revolution in interactive entertainment. I'm not shedding any tears for the miniscule amount of money they lose due to piracy of ancient games.