newmodelarmy wrote:Probably a stupid question but is it illegal to purchase a modded Genesis Mini?
It's not a stupid question at all.
Nah, there's nothing illegal about purchasing a modded console.
The hacked aspect of it is akin to beefing up your engine in your car. You'll void the warranty but that's to be expected.
The grey area or not so grey area are the ROMs. If you don't "own" the game then you don't have the right to place the ROM on the console. However, if you own the game then there is zero problem of placing the ROM onto your recently modded console. You used to be able to make backup copies of your floppy games due to the media being pretty fragile. All of that was considered kosher way back when. The same principle still applies.
One way to get around the legality of a modder sending you a console with all the games pre-installed is to tell you to delete the ones you don't already own. He's just saving you time on uploading the ones you do have.
After typing that up I did a quick search and found this article. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2009/08/modder-arrest-a-reminder-that-most-console-hacks-are-illegal/ It's interesting...apparently selling a modded console for profit is not kosher. But that's on the person selling, not buying aspect of it. And I guess I was wrong about the hacking aspect as well. Good times.