It's no secret that Nintendo has always been very protective torwards their IPs: time and time again we've seen the company go against ROM hackers, content creators, modders and fan projects alike. While some people argue that what they're doing is legitimate or even deserved, as said teams or individuals are using their characters and brands (or even game assets at times) without permission, it's also true what they're doing is not well-seen by many members of the broader gaming community. Today, it looks like another fan project has been added to the list of takedowns issued by the nipponic company.

The ingeniously named Super Mario Bros. 64 (not to be confused with the officially released Nintendo 64 game, Super Mario 64) was a homebrew Commodore 64 port of the original Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The port has been made by the developer ZeroPaige and took seven long years of work before it would see the light of day. Once released online on the April 18th of the current year, it immediately caught the C64 scene's eyes due to its technical impressiveness.

However, the cheers wouldn't last long: the download links started to get progressively removed and, later in the day, a tweet by Commodore Computer Club has revealed that a DMCA takedown notice forced them to remove their own download link to the ROM as well.

Failed to fetch tweet https://twitter.com/c64club/status/1120463081908391936​

As a result, not even a few days after its release, ZeroPaige's remarkable homebrew port has effectively disappeared from the many C64 enthusiast websites out there. For the curious readers, a few gameplay videos have been recorded and can be found on YouTube. The ROM, however, is nowhere to be found on the usual places and will probably keep being spread by people who were lucky enough to grab it in time, like many projects before it.

Source 1 (CSDB)
Source 2 (Commodore Computer Club)

 

[Subtle Demise]

I'll keep an eye out for it and be sure to spread it like wildfire.

 

[lordelan]

Oh, didn't know about this.
Now I want this. Thx for pointing me to that game, Nintendo, lol.

 

[AmandaRose]

Seen it the other day.

 

[WiiUBricker]

This is why these kinds of projects need to be released on warez websites / sites that don’t care about copyright infringement, not personal blogs.

 

[lordelan]

Is still easy to find though. Just sayin'.

 

[AmandaRose]

Is still easy to find though. Just sayin'.

Yep very easy to find.

 

[WiiUBricker]

Is still easy to find though. Just sayin'.

That’s not the point. The point is if creators open a thread on warez forums they can maintain their project there without caring about DMCA takedown notices and users can get their stuff directly from the creators.

 

[eyeliner]

I gotted it from a youtube video. The link was from a ufile server.

Go get it, playas!

 

[Bladexdsl]

a link to a dream will be next on release day

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

This is why these kinds of projects need to be released on warez websites / sites that don’t care about copyright infringement, not personal blogs.

and not announced on this site either nintendo visit this site remember kongnutz

 

[sj33]

Streisand effect begins now.

 

[WiiUBricker]

and not announced on this site either nintendo visit this site remember kongnutz

The kongnutz case was a case of stupidity that could have been avoided if that person didn’t post his receipt for everyone to see.

 

[Ev1l0rd]

It's already archived on archive.org, which is DMCA exempt, so it is not gone forever.

 

[linuxares]

Streisand Effect infull swing?

 

[Bladexdsl]

that could have been avoided if that person didn’t post his receipt for everyone to see.

and how did nintendo see that receipt? because they browse these forums

 

[Ryccardo]

How is the release of Giana Sisters news?

 

[sj33]

The news of this port has been all over the internet over the past few days. Nintendo don't live in a cave.

 

[spotanjo3]

They should release it in the private site somewhere so Nintendo cannot be able to read it. Now, see what's happened ? They lost it. Nintendo alway won. Most of it, anyway.

 

[Justinde75]

Because a C64 version of Nintendo is threatening them so much and stealing all of their money!

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Good on Nintendo, this C64 port would have totally made millions of dollars Nintendo would have never seen! Congrats on protecting your IP from the awful, evil clutches of your loving fanbase Nintendo, keep up the good work!



Nintendo needs to just fuck off with this kind of thing, it's getting real old.