Unsurprisingly, Nintendo of America has gone after the Link's Awakening DX HD fan project, less than a day after the fangame gained publicity online. Once hosted on Itch.io, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX HD has been removed from the platform, following a DMCA takedown from Nintendo. The notice, shown below, cites copyright infringement for uploading a fully playable version of a Nintendo game. The Link's Awakening fangame was uploaded only after it was completed, though, meaning a backup likely still lurks somewhere on the internet.

To Whom It May Concern:

I am an authorized representative of Nintendo of America Inc., owner of the following copyrighted material:

PA0002212311 (The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening) and PA0000772666 (Legend of Zelda : Link's awakening (Game Boy version).

It has come to our attention that the following game, https://linksawakeningdxhd.itch.io/links-awakening-dx-hd, offered on Itch.io infringes and makes unauthorized use of Nintendo’s copyrights in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening video game.

For additional information visit Nintendo’s website at the following URLs:

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/game-boy-nintendo-switch-online-switc...

https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-legend-of-zelda-links-awakening-s...

Please act expeditiously to remove the download and information page for the infringing game.

I have a good faith belief that the material is not authorized by the intellectual property owner, its agent, or the law. The information provided in the notice is accurate, and I swear under penalty of perjury that I am authorized to make the complaint on behalf of the intellectual property owner.

Sincerely,

Nintendo Legal

Nintendo of America Inc.

Source

 

[Jayro]

They should move their project to Discord, it's much more difficult for projects to get taken down on there.

 

[Noctosphere]

IIRC Nintendo sued (and lost) to prevent sales of the Game Genie back on the NES, game rentals and are at least attributed with the 30% fee devs/publishers deal as well as other restrictions.

i never said Nintendo wasn't a business thing back then. Even with Satoru, it was a business thing.
However, back with Satoru Iwata, we could at least feel the "video game are for fun" thing.
Are you really going to say you still feel the "VG are for fun" ambience just like back then?
Are you really going to say you never felt that back then?

Yes it was a business thing, but they still gave us a show worthy of a video game company.
Today, we just dont see that anymore. Go look at Nintendo direct back then vs the ones we have these days.
It's totally different. Hell, even the CEO... Back then, we could see Iwata everywhere. The current CEO... we only have a handful of pictures of him. We don't see him at all compared to sir Iwata...
It is very unfortunate

 

[Jonna]

i never said Nintendo wasn't a business thing back then. Even with Satoru, it was a business thing.
However, back with Satoru Iwata, we could at least feel the "video game are for fun" thing.
Are you really going to say you still feel the "VG are for fun" ambience just like back then?
Are you really going to say you never felt that back then?

Yes it was a business thing, but they still gave us a show worthy of a video game company.
Today, we just dont see that anymore. Go look at Nintendo direct back then vs the ones we have these days.
It's totally different. Hell, even the CEO... Back then, we could see Iwata everywhere. The current CEO... we only have a handful of pictures of him. We don't see him at all compared to sir Iwata...
It is very unfortunate

You have a point. I was wracking my brain, trying to think of who is Nintendo Japan's current CEO. Nothing was coming, so I looked it up on Google, and went "... oh, I think I saw him once in a Direct?"

 

[MariArch]

Jokes on you, I got it

 

[assassinz]

What hurts the most is that with the take down, author of the HD Remake won't be able to improve it further, effectively killing any chances of seeing a better version than the one that's already been saved by thousands of enthusiasts.

Someone can just release updated versions anonymously on archive org can't they?

 

[MariArch]

Also can someone maybe take the time to port this to Linux ? Wine is just not liking it lol

 

[chronoss]

Very great the mod !!!

 

[SamuraiErikku]

Nintendo of America up to their usual Legal Shenanigans & Weaponizing the Law as usual yet Nintendo of America is afraid of competition & quality of life enhancements yet Nintendo of America doesn't manufacture Consoles, Controllers, etc. to have them Made in America & those Japs don't mind let their enemy China produce them in China yet Nintendo of America doesn't mind using US Law for their Lawfare. Next time for those who want to make ports to Nintendo Games this is why you call the game something different like Ship of Harkinian for example so those Nintendo of America Lawfare Queens won't come after you with a silly Cease & Desist order.

 

[Jayro]

As much as I love the game, having it free-scroll to me is just weird for a game that was setup to use the square screens. Dungeon maps can become a real headache because of this as well.

Post automatically merged: Dec 15, 2023

Nintendo of America up to their usual Legal Shenanigans & Weaponizing the Law as usual yet Nintendo of America is afraid of competition & quality of life enhancements yet Nintendo of America doesn't manufacture Consoles, Controllers, etc. to have them Made in America & those Japs don't mind let their enemy China produce them in China yet Nintendo of America doesn't mind using US Law for their Lawfare. Next time for those who want to make ports to Nintendo Games this is why you call the game something different like Ship of Harkinian for example so those Nintendo of America Lawfare Queens won't come after you with a silly Cease & Desist order.

I'm going to cosplay as a "Nintendo Ninja" next year at the anime convention I always attend each November, and hand out these custome badge ribbons I had made to Nintendo characters that I see.

 

[Marc_LFD]

I made a joke about it, but damn, it actually happened.

 

[CoolMe]

Yep, not surprising at all.. Any project with Nintendo IPs should go private, that's it. You don't want too much publicity.

 

[Noctosphere]

You have a point. I was wracking my brain, trying to think of who is Nintendo Japan's current CEO. Nothing was coming, so I looked it up on Google, and went "... oh, I think I saw him once in a Direct?"

I don't think you did, we saw him in a few press conference, but I don't think he ever showed up in a nintendo direct

 

[RedColoredStars]

I have it, so if anyone needs it, just ping me on Discord.

Aren't you special. There are links all over the place. Tons of them on reddit.

They should move their project to Discord, it's much more difficult for projects to get taken down on there.

You must mean like how all of the "freeshop" Discord channels have had no action taken against them.

 

[Bladexdsl]

no one saw this coming...o wait

Nintendo...start your DMCAngines!

 

[RedColoredStars]

no one saw this coming...o wait

Oh, please. Stop acting as if you're the only one who saw a takedown coming before it happened. It's common sense. But here you are with this "Look at me!!! I called it and no one else did!" nonsense. Don't pat yourself on the back too much, you're not special.

 

[Noctosphere]

Oh, please. Stop acting as if you're the only one who saw a takedown coming before it happened. It's common sense. But here you are with this "Look at me!!! I called it and no one else did!" nonsense. Don't pat yourself on the back too much, you're not special.

lol

 

[PacBunnyXV07]

For sure. They can't do jackshit except being assholes as usual.
Question, did the game have full source code available?

How are they assholes for protecting THEIR ip? Also the "source" is in the game download zip.

 

[Skelletonike]

Why the hell did they even use itch?

Uploading stuff like this is not recommened by Itch, it is also on the website's T&C:

I'm surprised it lasted long enough to be released (no idea how long it was up on itch, but I've seen stuff swiftly removed that usually involved any type of copyright).

 

[Megadriver94]

Doug Bowser and Koizumi need to be pelted with eggs and bricks The next time they come out of their homes. Damn them!

 

[Scarlet]

I don't really see why people are making a big deal about it. It was bound to happen, and the project creator(s) did the right thing in not releasing it publically until it was already completed. At that point it doesn't matter if it gets taken down. It's not an exclusively Nintendo thing either.