This is especially a problem for any game that had online connectivity, where the servers are no longer up, and do not have a way of self hosting a server.

For offline games, one could theoretically sail the high seas and find video game archivers, such as No-Intro, Redump, eXoDOS, and Tru-Rip

Emulation has gotten so good that at least a motivated person can usually figure it out illegally.