Nintendo Takes Legal Action Against Unofficial Super Mario 64 PC Port

[Uskompuf]

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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[Keslo]

Greedendo

 

[ZoneDymo]

Greedendo

No, this has everything to do sadly with how IP ownership works, Nintendo (and any company) has to take action like this or risk their property becoming public domain.

 

[trparky]

So why isn’t Nintendo releasing this game themselves on the PC? I’m sure that there are people who would pay to have it. What? Does Nintendo hate money?

They could probably port the game themselves for less cost than hiring these lawyers.

 

[ZoneDymo]

So why isn’t Nintendo releasing this game themselves on the PC? I’m sure that there are people who would pay to have it. What? Does Nintendo hate money?

They could probably port the game themselves for less cost than hiring these lawyers.

They would rather have people buy their consoles, which a LOT of people have been doing.

 

[Gmr_Chick]

This reminds of a similar case involving the insanely good fan remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus that was originally released on the Game Boy. The fan remake literally took a decade or so to craft and once the ultimate, final version released a couple years ago, Nintendo caught wind of it and ordered that the remake, simply called AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake), and anything relating to downloading it, be removed from the remake's fansite. People who had been following its progress since day one were furious at Nintendo's response, but it was to be expected. And rightfully so, I think.

 

[TheGuruStud]

They would rather have people buy their consoles, which a LOT of people have been doing.

Only a simp would buy that turd.

 

[Quitessa]

Wasn't too interested in this before, went and got a copy and backed it up several times just out of spite for nintendont

 

[Gmr_Chick]

Well then, I guess I've been a "simp" my whole life

 

[Vayra86]

So why isn’t Nintendo releasing this game themselves on the PC? I’m sure that there are people who would pay to have it. What? Does Nintendo hate money?

They could probably port the game themselves for less cost than hiring these lawyers.

Euh... really?

Just because this is Nintendo, that doesn't mean they have to cater to spoiled kids the way the spoiled kids want to.

Its pretty amazing how exclusivity is misunderstood lately. Not just you, and not just wrt Nintendo either. 'Muh customer choice'... being explained completely backwards. Here's a hint: the definition of choice is that there are differences.

 

[InVasMani]

Nintendo takes legal insert credits to continue action against SUPER STAN64.

 

[ZoneDymo]

Only a simp would buy that turd.

Bit of a silly remark to make.

 

[wahdangun]

No, this has everything to do sadly with how IP ownership works, Nintendo (and any company) has to take action like this or risk their property becoming public domain.

no, just look at sega, they embrace their modding community, even hired them to make that excellent sonic mania.

 

[Exceededgoku]

This reminds of a similar case involving the insanely good fan remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus that was originally released on the Game Boy. The fan remake literally took a decade or so to craft and once the ultimate, final version released a couple years ago, Nintendo caught wind of it and ordered that the remake, simply called AM2R (Another Metroid 2 Remake), and anything relating to downloading it, be removed from the remake's fansite. People who had been following its progress since day one were furious at Nintendo's response, but it was to be expected. And rightfully so, I think.

Thanks for this, just downloaded and playing it now, they've just released 1.5 which is really good. Works on Linux and Windows

 

[Manoa]

whare to download ?

 

[Caring1]

I'm not sure of the meaning of Simp, but It could be short for Seductive Imp?

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I'm not sure of the meaning of Simp, but It could be short for Seductive Imp?

Simpleton, there are no Seductive Imps on the internet!

Nintendo could profit from this but the port was put out for free. I think thats the real issue, no profits from this, the IP suit is clearly to save face.

 

[TheDeeGee]

To bad for Nintendont it's out on the Internet by now.

 

[Baum]

ah this is bad just don't sue...

it is an oportunity to get people on the "nintendo" ecosystem but not how nintendo handles this.

 

[MIRTAZAPINE]

I hate nintendo pulling crap like this. They could go have just paid off those hard working coders. Nintendo clam down on "piracy" damages more than it protect. I remember the debacle about emulator and roms a year or 2 back. Because of Nintendo alot forgotten games are removed not just nintendo related games but old pc and obscure console games, erasing tons of old games that would have otherwise be preserved. Pretty sure over half of the old game archives are gone because of that.

Nintendo is not getting a dime from me.

 

[Vayra86]

I hate nintendo pulling crap like this. They could go have just paid off those hard working coders. Nintendo clam down on "piracy" damages more than it protect. I remember the debacle about emulator and roms a year or 2 back. Because of Nintendo alot forgotten games are removed not just nintendo related games but old pc and obscure console games, erasing tons of old games that would have otherwise be preserved. Pretty sure over half of the old game archives are gone because of that.

Nintendo is not getting a dime from me.

I don't disagree at all about the piracy part of 'preserving software' because its a real thing and we should be doing this in a more official way. There is already an Internet Archive, we need something like that for all software, globally and legally. But OTOH, Nintendo is also still marketing and using the same franchise and its software. Including the good old games, remember their NES mini and stuff, or ports for new devices.

There is real financial damage here and like it or not, this is still IP.

 

[Octopuss]

If anything, I am surprised anyone is still interested in playing this thing that has been milked upside down for almost 40 years.

 

[Logoffon]

If anything, I am surprised anyone is still interested in playing this thing that has been milked upside down for almost 40 years.

So you're saying that the original SMB is completely the same as SM64, and so does Sunshine, Galaxy, Odyssey, Kart, those sport games, etc. just because they're reusing the characters?

 

[Octopuss]

I never played any of that stuff because I find it about as interesting as Tetris, but when you have a cartoon character jumping up and down, yes, I would say it's the same stuff over and over.

 

[Vayra86]

If anything, I am surprised anyone is still interested in playing this thing that has been milked upside down for almost 40 years.

Just for some perspective

Still shooting demons. Do you need more examples? There is one for each genre... platformers too.

Also, nostalgia, one the things that tie us to the PC platform for decades.