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)

 

[Essasetic]

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.

Why can't they be like Sega and embrace it? They got one of the best Sonic games ever made because of it.

 

[ut2k4master]

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

thats not the point. allowing any of these projects would set a precedent

 

[kumikochan]

Nintendo one of the worst anti consumer bitchiest companies in the world and people still keep praising the shit out of them for some reason

 

[Justinde75]

thats not the point. allowing any of these projects would set a precedent

but what does this help with?

 

[sj33]

The doomsdaying here is bizarre. It’s not as if there was only one place to download the game which has now gone. It’s all over the internet.

 

[FAST6191]

but what does this help with?

If you allow your trademarked properties to be misused widely* then they can be ruled generic and thus not enforceable. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27026704 , wikipedia I know but has some stuff at time of writing that is at least easy to scan through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks

*no hard definition, much less one across all jurisdictions, but allowing it to be spread across the enthusiast press is going to be a hard one to argue against. Some more nuance https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/...-require-companies-tirelessly-censor-internet

Also while I can appreciate the N64-C64 joke as much as anybody it then by its very nature also could cause confusion in the general consumer, which is not necessarily a test in genericide cases but definitely one in general trademark cases, along with the name itself.


Nintendo is most certainly a bumbling old company that does not get this internet lark and exhibits a protectionist streak a mile wide but the basis for what they are doing is if not sound then justifiable under the law.

All that said, and fittingly for c64 discussion, keep circulating the tapes.

 

[bobmcjr]

If you allow your trademarked properties to be misused widely* then they can be ruled generic and thus not enforceable. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27026704 , wikipedia I know but has some stuff at time of writing that is at least easy to scan through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks

*no hard definition, much less one across all jurisdictions, but allowing it to be spread across the enthusiast press is going to be a hard one to argue against. Some more nuance https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/...-require-companies-tirelessly-censor-internet

Also while I can appreciate the N64-C64 joke as much as anybody it then by its very nature also could cause confusion in the general consumer, which is not necessarily a test in genericide cases but definitely one in general trademark cases, along with the name itself.


Nintendo is most certainly a bumbling old company that does not get this internet lark and exhibits a protectionist streak a mile wide but the basis for what they are doing is if not sound then justifiable under the law.

All that said, and fittingly for c64 discussion, keep circulating the tapes.

Trademark enforcement is reasonable, however, DMCA is not a means to enforce trademark. Only copyright. Trademark requests must still be done under a good ol Cease & Desist letter format. There is plenty of precedent that trademark and copyright law must be separate. Use of the DMCA in this case is 100% suspect on trademark grounds.

But of course the DMCA is so broken its effective use is primarily as a censorship tool.

At this point I'm going to start calling every video game console a Nintendo, every platformer Mario, etc. in a feeble attempt to genericize. Nintendo doesn't deserve their trademarks if they keep acting like this.

 

[Justinde75]

If you allow your trademarked properties to be misused widely* then they can be ruled generic and thus not enforceable. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27026704 , wikipedia I know but has some stuff at time of writing that is at least easy to scan through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_generic_and_genericized_trademarks

*no hard definition, much less one across all jurisdictions, but allowing it to be spread across the enthusiast press is going to be a hard one to argue against. Some more nuance https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/...-require-companies-tirelessly-censor-internet

Also while I can appreciate the N64-C64 joke as much as anybody it then by its very nature also could cause confusion in the general consumer, which is not necessarily a test in genericide cases but definitely one in general trademark cases, along with the name itself.


Nintendo is most certainly a bumbling old company that does not get this internet lark and exhibits a protectionist streak a mile wide but the basis for what they are doing is if not sound then justifiable under the law.

All that said, and fittingly for c64 discussion, keep circulating the tapes.

I dont really think the average "average customer" would come across a c64 version of mario 1.
Instead of going after things like these, which obviously are not made for profit, and instead should go after those mobile games which use things like actual pokemon and mario characters (even up to the names, designs and music) which are just made for pure profit. Because these are usually of poor quality and damage the brand itself.

In the end though it's their property so they can do anything they want with it, but going after stuff like this first is not the best idea there is.

 

[WiiUBricker]

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

So what?

 

[AdenTheThird]

 

[DANTENDO]

I bet nintendo japan never even heard of commodore until this

 

[FAST6191]

I dont really think the average "average customer" would come across a c64 version of mario 1.
Instead of going after things like these, which obviously are not made for profit, and instead should go after those mobile games which use things like actual pokemon and mario characters (even up to the names, designs and music) which are just made for pure profit. Because these are usually of poor quality and damage the brand itself.

That is not really what the test is about. Also if it is being reported on widely in general consumer interest press (GBAtemp would probably count here, and I don't know if this one made the front page of the likes of Kotaku, Destructoid, IGN, gamespot.... like some of the others in the previous kicks Nintendo has had at the cat) then you could expect the clueless parent thing to happen, which is what the test usually revolves around in general consumer goods (and clueless parents are very much Nintendo's target market/common customer) of the same type (this is a game, Nintendo does Mario games).

The C64 might be old but current stuff is still available https://www.engadget.com/2018/04/06/c64-mini-review/ and it persists in emulator collections.

As for mobile phone junk then from a legal perspective it would be odd to leave them up and when they have been mentioned on the forums in the past then they have been up for sometimes years at those points.
As far as trademarks go you don't have too much discretion as to what you allow compared to copyright and patents, or you have to try to make some kind of framework (see the sorts of things Sega does, or more generally some of the let's play agreements -- https://www.xbox.com/en-us/developers/rules , and if you know anything of trademark law you will see its fingerprints all over that one) or license things out accordingly. Something that takes effort to do and your Japanese* investors will likely not understand.

*I don't know if you have ever looked into the Japanese public at large's perception of intellectual property but it is strange compared to a lot of other places. I don't have a particularly good jumping off point if you don't speak Japanese but... showcase your Mickey Mouse fan drawing on Japanese twitter or social meeja and you can reasonably expect pursed lips and to be told you should not be doing that by members of the general public. It very much carries on up through society there.

 

[GerbilSoft]

I bet nintendo japan never even heard of commodore until this

Where do you think they stole borrowed the 6502 for the Famicom from in the first place?

 

[ShadowOne333]

Yet another example of Nintendo treating their fans like shit.
Goes to show how they don't give a shit about us and only care about the money, that's why I'm not paying for a single game from them anymore.

 

[DKAngel]

How is the release of Giana Sisters news?

i was going to say giana sisters was soooo very similar back in the day at least heavy and metal and the sequals where different

 

[DANTENDO]

Yet another example of Nintendo treating their fans like shit.
Goes to show how they don't give a shit about us and only care about the money, that's why I'm not paying for a single game from them anymore.

Overreaction of the day

 

[Rabbid4240]

what did ya think was gonna happen?

 

[WiiHomebrew+Snes]

Funny how Nintendo is still blocking super Mario like games for the C64.

 

[Localhorst86]

Nintendo: "we are taking down unlicensed fan games"
Fan game creators: "We're gonna releas a Super Mario fan game"
Nintendo: *takes down fan game*
Fan game creators: <insert surprised pikachu meme here>

 

[Rabbid4240]

did any of you notice that there are barley ANY fan games for nintendo characters nowadays?