To answer that specific question, no, it is not legal to download abandonware. But are you likely to find the authorities knocking at your door? Or end up in front of a judge for breaking copyright? That's highly unlikely. Despite the illegality of abandonware, no court cases relate to it. At least, none that I could find prosecuting someone for downloading and playing an abandonware title. Companies enforcing existing copyrights tend to send a cease-and-desist letter before taking any other action. However, 'unlikely' is not the same as 'legal'.
While the file size is smaller, a highly compressed ISO must be or "extracted" before the emulator can use it. Furthermore, heavily compressed files are prone to corruption. God of War 1: A Technical Achievement God Of War 1 Iso Highly Compressed
To play the extracted God of War 1 ISO , you need an emulator. Below are the hardware requirements to run the game smoothly at 60 FPS. For Android (using AetherSX2 / NetherSX2) To answer that specific question, no, it is