Ok well i have heard a bunch of different things about this and was wondering if they are legal or not. I think they might not be because the hacks are based of a rom which is illegal to have., so wouldnt a hack be illegal then because it needs the rom? people say 24hr rule and backup rule but my understanding is the 24 hr rule isnt true and as far as roms go http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROM_image look at the lagal status part in fact ill just copy and paste it here
"In some countries, it is legal for an individual to personally make backup copies of a game they own. Individuals may make backup copies for various reasons, perhaps as insurance against losing the game or as redundancy in the event that the original game's medium becomes unreadable. See the section on ROMs and Preservation.

However, in the U.S. it has been illegal since 1983 for a user to create their own backups of video game ROMs onto other cartridges. This was decided in the court case of Atari v. JS&A. JS&A manufactured a "game backup" device that allowed users to dump their Atari ROMs onto a blank cartridge. JS&A argued that the archival rule allowed for this. The court disagreed, noting that ROM media was not subject to the same volatility as magnetic media (for which the law was created). Thus, not being so relatively vulnerable, ROMs were not applicable under section 17 USC 117(a)(2).

Some games companies, such as Nintendo, print warnings inside their game manuals that they do not allow users to make backup or archival copies. Whether or not these warnings in this specific form can be considered valid contracts is legally questionable. For an overview of relevant issues, see user agreement (EULA), shrink wrap contract, clickwrap, Fair Use, Fair Dealing and DMCA."
so what do u all think?

EDIT: And also what about translated roms? isn't that still nintendo's game just a different language?

Well, from what I understand, since once you have patched the game, it's an altered ROM and therefore not the original game anymore, I don't think there's a problem. You are no longer playing Nintendo's game, you're playing the hacker's, you know? Besides, the only thing I've heard against hacks is that you're not supposed to sell them.

I am editing my post to also include talk about translated roms.

As long as full credit is given to the origanal creator, and the person who is giving out the game does NOT make a profit out of it, it is entirely legal.

Heck, Roms by themselves are legal as long as they aren't sold for cash. (I looked this stuff up, it's a good thing to do occasionally.)

yes but if you have got the game i think its alright to download it

They are legal. Basically, if you give full credit to the creator, and you don't make money off it, you're fine

I don't think so because it's not a copy of the original anymore and it belongs to the hacker, so not completely. I believe they are illegal to sell in real life though.