So here’s the background:

I want to make the music style sound similar to SNES / GBA music. I’ve found a few soundfonts from old games but I’m afraid to use them for fear of copyright. I hope to make money off the game, so I want to avoid any unnecessary risks...

I don’t know much of anything about how to create samples / midi instruments from scratch, so I thought soundfonts would be a good idea.

I’ve been trying to research the legality of it, but I’ve been finding conflicting results. Most people seem to say that it’s illegal, but plenty of games have gotten away with it (Undertale notably uses Earthbound sound effects, etc)...

So here are the questions:

Should I avoid using soundfonts? Is there a real risk of getting in trouble?

If I do use soundfonts, would I need to edit the sounds to change them/ “hide” it? How would I do that?

And if I don’t use soundfonts, how can I get or make sounds that have a similar style?

Any help is appreciated.