Monday, May 11th 2020

Nintendo Takes Legal Action Against Unofficial Super Mario 64 PC Port

by
Uskompuf
 Discuss (40 Comments)
An unofficial port of Super Mario 64 for PC was released on various online forums last week, this port was made possible through reverse engineering of the game's source code obtained by fans over the past few years. This PC port differed from existing options such as N64 emulation as it allows the game to run at far greater resolutions than its native resolution of 240p with resolutions such as 4K, 4K ultra-wide or even 8K now possible at uncapped frame rates. The DirectX 12 powered port came with other features such as controller support and the ability to add modern visual effects including ray tracing through third-party tools such as Reshade.

As expected Nintendo is not pleased with the port and has taken steps to get it removed from various sites, Nintendo has reportedly contracted US law firm Wildwood Law Group LLC who refer to the unofficial Super Mario 64 PC port as an "unauthorized derivative work based on Nintendo's copyrighted work." In addition to the download link takedowns, several YouTube videos featuring gameplay of the port have also been removed. Nintendo will want to get this port removed from the internet as soon as possible, especially given their plans to release new and remastered Mario games for the Nintendo Switch this year.

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40 Comments on Nintendo Takes Legal Action Against Unofficial Super Mario 64 PC Port

#26
Vayra86
trparkyAgain... who cares as long as the person paid for the game.
Well, Nintendo does, for obvious reasons. And... paid for the game... so if I buy a book and then go out copying and distributing it in A3 paper format for those who can't read small letters, its legal?

What if someone threw your IP in another compiler and re released it? You'd be OK with the 3,99 they paid for the app?
Posted on Reply
#27
trparky
Vayra86Well, Nintendo does, for obvious reasons.
Again, I don't see it that way. They're getting paid for the game, that's all that should matter in the end. Hell, if they did release it on the PC, I'd buy the game. They'd have a guaranteed source of money not only from me but probably many others like me.

As Philip J. Fry said it best... "Shut up and take my money!"
Posted on Reply
#28
MDWiley
Honestly, the switch being out of stock everywhere is what got me looking into emulators and pc ports. Especially for animal crossing.
Posted on Reply
#29
Th3pwn3r
MDWileyHonestly, the switch being out of stock everywhere is what got me looking into emulators and pc ports. Especially for animal crossing.
Yep, and this isn't the first time Nintendo fails to keep up with demands.

Anyhow, they definitely should just make their own ports. I won't buy any of their hardware that's for sure but I'd play their games on my PC if I ever did play games...
Posted on Reply
#30
ZoneDymo
wahdangunno, just look at sega, they embrace their modding community, even hired them to make that excellent sonic mania.
yeah if THEY hire people its fine, its about letting people just do their own stuff with the IP's belonging to Sega, that will simply make stuff like Sonic or so public domain
Posted on Reply
#31
Metroid
"Patents. A patent is an intellectual property right, granted to an inventor by a country's government as a territorial right usually for twenty years "

www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/intellectual-property-law/duration-of-intellectual-property-protection

Given the link, Super Mario 64 is 24 years old which means if you have a moral compass for intellectual property then the conclusion for this case is no harm done whatsoever. If you have the time, download the game and enjoy in full 4k or 8k resolutions.
Posted on Reply
#32
Gmr_Chick
^ The Super Mario franchise might be one of Nintendo's many IP's, but it's also copyright by Nintendo. And some copyrights can last well over 100 years.
Posted on Reply
#33
trparky
Gmr_ChickAnd some copyrights can last well over 100 years.
*shakes fist at Disney*

Blame Disney. Disney has been the chief reason why copyright laws are so messed up. As soon as Mickey is about to enter public domain, Disney lobbies to have copyright laws extended to protect Mickey Mouse from entering into the public domain.
Posted on Reply
#34
Scrizz
Metroid"Patents. A patent is an intellectual property right, granted to an inventor by a country's government as a territorial right usually for twenty years "

www.jisc.ac.uk/guides/intellectual-property-law/duration-of-intellectual-property-protection

Given the link, Super Mario 64 is 24 years old which means if you have a moral compass for intellectual property then the conclusion for this case is no harm done whatsoever. If you have the time, download the game and enjoy in full 4k or 8k resolutions.
What you want is copyright not patent.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_term

and btw they do have legal recourse
Posted on Reply
#36
Vayra86
trparkyAgain, I don't see it that way. They're getting paid for the game, that's all that should matter in the end. Hell, if they did release it on the PC, I'd buy the game. They'd have a guaranteed source of money not only from me but probably many others like me.

As Philip J. Fry said it best... "Shut up and take my money!"
You write software, right? Did you apply this use case & business model to your own work?
Posted on Reply
#37
Ruru
S.T.A.R.S.
Greedendo is nothing but a joke. They should take example for Valve as they allowed HL1 to be remade and released as Black Mesa.

Nintendoes nothing but sue people. And milk cash from their ancient games over and over again.
Posted on Reply
#38
$ReaPeR$
One of the reasons I hate Nintendo, although I love their games. The root of the problem is the ip "protection" system because it's highjacked by the companies and it's beyond efd up at this point.
Posted on Reply
#39
trparky
Vayra86You write software, right?
Yes, I do. However, most of my stuff I give away for free and as open source.
Posted on Reply
#40
wahdangun
ZoneDymoyeah if THEY hire people its fine, its about letting people just do their own stuff with the IP's belonging to Sega, that will simply make stuff like Sonic or so public domain
Yes, Sega let rom modder or anyone making games with their ip, as along as they release it free of charge. Actually there are many good Sonic games or rom hack released by community.
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