As many expected, Nintendo is likely going after the recently released fanmade Super Mario 64 PC port. After gaining notoriety and popularity throughout the internet, certain YouTube videos and Reddit posts featuring gameplay recordings of the port have been copyright claimed. It appears that Wildwood Law Group LLC, a group that has previously assisted Nintendo in these matters, is responsible for going after the uploads of the game. Not only that, but TorrentFreak is also reporting that they got ahold of a complaint that Nintendo filed with Google, in regards to a Google Drive download link of the game, with the statement, "The copyrighted work is Nintendo's Super Mario 64 video game, including the audio-visual work, software, and fictional character depictions covered by U.S. Copyright Reg No. PA[REDACED]." Links containing a download to an .XCI Nintendo Switch port of the game also appear to have begun making the rounds as well. Seeing that the group behind the Super Mario 64 PC port uploaded the complete game online all at once, many users have probably already backed it up to a variety of sources.

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[Bladexdsl]

jesus christ this has the most posts ive ever seen in a GBAtemp news thread yet.

bah you ain't seen nothing yet i've come back to threads with 20+ new pages. i think the last one was when sx os was first released all the atmos boys declared war on it

 

[BaamAlex]

The dude who made this used copyrighted code from nintendo. Makes sense that they make a claim correct? Stupid dude.

 

[SkyDX]

Barring an interoperability defence (there are allowances for reverse engineering for the purposes of interoperability) I don't see how that would be a thing from this project. Code is eligible for protection just as any other creative work is and this is Nintendo's code (or a derived product thereof that is functionally identical in terms of the end result). At very best you could put a diff from a known baseline so it is only your changes to the code that get shared and someone gets to provide both the ROM and the baseline source code.

But isn't the point of this project that it's not the same code, just different code with the same end result? Reverse Engineering has been deemed legal for these things and none of the leaks were used in this project.

 

[FAST6191]

But isn't the point of this project that it's not the same code, just different code with the same end result? Reverse Engineering has been deemed legal for these things and none of the leaks were used in this project.

The point is that there is the code for it, as opposed to having to hack it from assembly level (which is a nightmare), not be constricted by the limitations of the N64 or emulations of it, not have to emulate it and not have to spend 20 years or so recreating the code via legit means (observing it working, writing your own matching code, observing the formats and interpreting them).
Nintendo's code was used to create it, it produces a physically identical result to Nintendo's code and no via coincidence either.

If you did something like this in industry, other than to test your competitor's product for code stolen from you, you would be fired on the spot.

"The leaks"
True, and none of the previous ones either (Nintendo generally leaks like a sieve). That matters not one bit in this.

 

[dcx6723]

I got my copy, but I can't play it yet because I am on Windows 7 and the program requires DirectX 12. Doesn't matter though, I back up all my PC games anyway.

There is an Opel GL port for Windows also.

 

[PhyChris]

There is an Opel GL port for Windows also.

people are already modifying the code adding features 'free camera with right stick' for example

Edit: meant to quote the other guy lol

 

[HideoKojima]

Plot twist: Wildwood Law Group LLC is paid the game developer so that Nintendo use their services.

 

[windwakemeupinside]

I mean... it's a port. of Mario 64. It's just Mario 64, it's not a romhack, it's not a fangame; it's literally Super Mario 64 but on PC. If any game was destined to get slapped to the stratosphere legally by Nintendo, it would have been this. And apparently they are only going after uploads of the compiled project in which case... no shit? How did people not see this coming from half the globe away?

 

[PhyChris]

I mean... it's a port. of Mario 64. It's just Mario 64, it's not a romhack, it's not a fangame; it's literally Super Mario 64 but on PC. If any game was destined to get slapped to the stratosphere legally by Nintendo, it would have been this. And apparently they are only going after uploads of the compiled project in which case... no shit? How did people not see this coming from half the globe away?

Yeah. the 'fan source code' should be legally fine BUT the unincluded ROM needed to compile it will depend on if you own the game.

this will lead to some huge mods, just wait until the HD texture pack is applied.

 

[M7L7NK7]

How far along is the goldeneye decomp?

 

[crea]

I find the entitlement and overall ignorance of some users in this thread astonishing.
Apparently you did not understand a single thing of the whole legal and homebrew discussion.

It is completely acceptable to open a device up that you bought, thus legally own. Including from a moral standpoint. This has been debated over and over.

That of course does in no way mean now you are entitled to the whole software library of said device for free...or you can now port the software of the system to any other system...are you crazy? What on earth gave you that impression?

To say Nintendo is "the bad guys" for merely protecting their intellectual property, the games many skilled programmers worked very hard on for years, they invested millions of dollars in, is just insane.

 

[Jokey_Carrot]

Cause it's better than the aids 3d all stars version.

 

[FAST6191]

That of course does in no way mean now you [snip] can now port the software of the system to any other system...are you crazy? What on earth gave you that impression?

That is actually a different debate.
Many courts have ruled for interoperability in the past for all manner of things (one of the defences of emulation even) and I would go so far as to say it is a fundamentally if not understood then appreciated right in such things and a very persuasive argument should you find yourself in court and can make it.

Now whether you can decompile and disseminate the results, never mind sell them, would be a different matter entirely (one I can well see ramming straight into derived work status for this instance, it being anything but a clean room effort and containing some flavour of actual creative expression in the base source code). Whether you can do it in the comfort of your own home so to speak... functionally I don't see it as all that different to emulation* and would likely fall under the usual "do you own a copy and are not running more copies than you have rights to?" deal.


*or API stuff like WINE (granted https://copyrightalliance.org/copyright-law/copyright-cases/oracle-america-v-google/ will probably be a one to watch there), and before you try to make a distinction there consider that high res texture replacement and general expansion by means of Lua scripts has been a thing for many many many years now, or custom emulators colouring outside lines in general.

 

[crea]

Okay, interesting.
Applied to this case, as long as you own Mario64 on any other plattform and are able to extract it from the module, you might be legally allowed to run it on an emulator.

In turn the port programmers, to be legally on the save side, need to make sure everything contained in the original module is left out and only later added by the legitimate owners.
But I think this is where the issue was, they included some contents of the module...?

Of course this hurts in regards to the amazing final result, but arguably the 4K texture pack is also a grey area, as it uses, or is based on the original artwork, then distributes it. Modifications are not part of the portation to other plattforms idea.

Unfortunate that the Mario64 PC port collided with Nintendos own recent Switch port, else they might have let is slide, as with so many other stuff that is not blatant pirating.