Best ROM Dumper for NES / Famicom?

[dvertov | 205]

At long last I have decided to pick up an Everdrive for my NES, and I am now in the market for a good ROM dumper. What are some of the best out there? I know INL has the INLretro Dumper-Programmer, but I've been hesitant to pick up one of those since it's been in "beta" status since August 2018 and I haven't seen any updates on it lately. What devices do VGS-ers use to take a dump copy ROMs of their legitimately owned and definitely not pirated game cartridges?

Edited December 10, 2020 by dvertov

[Deadeye | 1,596]

INL Retro Dumper-Programmer is good because it covers many systems and you can write LUA scripts to expand what mappers it covers. 
It has downsides though:
1. Command prompt driven, requires some research to figure out how to run and dump carts.
2. You must known the size of PRG and CHR before hand

Copy NES,  My experience is using it with the NT mini, I assume it is the same for the standalone CopyNES as well.  Extremely easy to use.  You only need to know what mapper it is.
It has downside though:
1. Dumper only
2. NES Only
3. You can write additional mappers, but only with 6502 (I believe).  

Retrode,  I know this exists, but I have no experience with it.

If you are looking to flash boards, INL is a no brainier then.  If you are only dumping NES (not sure if famicom is possible with converter), and do not need a mapper that isn't written already on there, this may be a better choice for you. 

Edited December 10, 2020 by Deadeye

[T-Pac | 7,542]

The INL Retro can definitely be tricky to use with the command-line interface and firmware stuff, but it might be your best bet (I don't have experience with the newer versions of the hardware, though.)

@Deadeye mentioned the Retrode (2) - this thing is incredible, but unfortunately it has no NES/Famicom support right now as far as I'm aware.

-CasualCart