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

 

[The Catboy]

I’m shocked, SHOCKED! Well, I am not that shocked

 

[chrisrlink]

supprised their not playing wack a mole with the indigo disk music on YT yet like how they killed silvergunners channel oh and go f- yourself doug bowser

 

[rantex92]

Remember kids its allways ok to pirate nintendo games

and now lets get serious its NOT nintendo directly atleast in germany

there are some low class laywers who will bountyhunt for any copyright infringement not just for nintendo

when they find something they will got to the publisher and then they send a c&d if that will again be broken they will charge u in the publishers name

they even put themself movies and games on torrent sites just to catch some without vpns and yes this is somewhat of a catch22 case you could turn the whole thing on them since they provided u with a non legal copy in the first place

 

[chrisrlink]

Remember kids its allways ok to pirate nintendo games

and now lets get serious its NOT nintendo directly atleast in germany

there are some low class laywers who will bountyhunt for any copyright infringement not just for nintendo

when they find something they will got to the publisher and then they send a c&d if that will again be broken they will charge u in the publishers name

they even put themself movies and games on torrent sites just to catch some without vpns and yes this is somewhat of a catch22 case you could turn the whole thing on them since they provided u with a non legal copy in the first place

pretty sure thats illegal (at least in the US) equivalent to dmca abuse by pretending to be said publisher supprised it doesnt get thrown out if the do it say on youtube which is an american company (google)

 

[NinStar]

Nintendo action has no meaningful affect in the game as it is essentially finished (as all public fangames should be) and people will share it everywhere on the internet, they can't do anything about it. And those who downloaded it already also have the source code, so anyone who wants to improve it still can do so, it will just be a matter how to distribute new forks from now on.

Also, the only reason Nintendo lawyers found out about the existence of this fangame was because Nintendo youtubers decided to cover it... As it always happens.

 

[rantex92]

pretty sure thats illegal (at least in the US) equivalent to dmca abuse by pretending to be said publisher supprised it doesnt get thrown out if the do it say on youtube which is an american company (google)

they only act "officially" when they have the ok from the publisher

but something like the catch22 with the torrents they wont disclose that to the publishers in the first place

 

[SylverReZ]

For now

For now at least, yeah. Until it may get mirrored to other sites that Nintendo can not take control of, even if they try.

 

[rantex92]

Also, the only reason Nintendo lawyers found out about the existence of this fangame was because Nintendo youtubers decided to cover it... As it always happens.

thats somewhat naive to think i bet there are some nintyninjas right here on gbatemp and on other sites too

they would be dumb if they dont use sites like gbatemp

 

[FoxStorm1]

View attachment 408864​

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.



Source

Is there any way to still download this game?

 

[ShadowtearX]

This.. it's so weird to see everyone jump on the hate train to fit in.. does no one understand how the law works?

Thanks for adding some sense in the topic, I'm legit getting headaches from seeing all the hate for something that seems like the most logical thing to do, perhaps they need something they have made stolen for once and see how they react to the situation

 

[danieladams]

Well, ain't that a classic Nintendo move? No sooner does a fan project like Link's Awakening DX HD start getting some buzz, Nintendo swoops in with the DMCA hammer. RIP, dreams of a fan-made Zelda masterpiece. The game was up on Itch.io for less than a day, and poof, it's gone.

Nintendo's copyright infringement claims strike again, and this time it's hitting a fully playable version of Link's Awakening. They wasted no time dropping the hammer, and now the game's vanished from the platform. The DMCA notice, as expected, is all about Nintendo protecting its turf. Can't have folks playing a fan-made Zelda when Nintendo's got its own Link's Awakening out there, right?

But hey, these fan projects always find a way to linger in the shadows. The game was uploaded post-completion, so I'm betting there's a sneaky backup floating around in the vast expanse of the internet. The never-ending game of cat and mouse between Nintendo and fan creators continues. Let's see how this unfolds in the ongoing saga of fan-made gaming adventures.

 

[rantex92]

Is there any way to still download this game?

we cant provide links but its outthere

 

[FoxStorm1]

we cant provide links but its outthere

Ok

 

[Attila13]

Can't say I didn't see this coming....Oh well...
At least I got to download it in time.

 

[NinStar]

This.. it's so weird to see everyone jump on the hate train to fit in.. does no one understand how the law works?

Thanks for adding some sense in the topic, I'm legit getting headaches from seeing all the hate for something that seems like the most logical thing to do, perhaps they need something they have made stolen for once and see how they react to the situation

Here's the thing. Just because something is in the law doesn't mean everyone will agree and think it is logical, it is not hard to understand why so many people hate when something like this happens. I'd be glad to see someone using my art and ideas for their fan projects and I believe a lot of artists and developers that worked on these games also would share similar feelings, and even as a corporation Nintendo could've handled these situations much better, same applies to other stuff not related to fan games, like tournaments.

 

[Sd4930Ur]

Is something broken? I don't even want to play it, not even on a Nintendo console



!! too late NINTENDO!!

 

[MaxiBash]

I like how this already has 155 responses, almost double compared to the announcement post. Like, folks, are you really surprised at this point? This fan remake was clearly planning for this to happen by using a burner itch.io account and including the source code with the download. Just stop gasping whenever this happens. This is Nintendo. Get used to it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've noticed a pattern in which Nintendo only takes down fan projects that are based on their existing games, as long that they're still available on their current gen consoles or the eShop. I yet have to see Nintendo do anything about that NSMB Mario vs. Luigi Unity fan remake, because even if you bought the Wii U VC version, it was impossible to actually play the Mario vs. Luigi mode unless you owned the original game, which is long out of production. However, Mario Royale and Prime2D were taken down relatively quick because they were based on games that were still available for purchase on the Wii U eShop/NSO NES.

 

[FoxStorm1]

Found it, just search for it on Google.

 

[BeniBel]

So much ignorance and entitlement here. This wasn't just a fan game, this was just simple piracy. Piracy from a game Nintendo is still making money from to this day through their online subscription. Had they gone another, where you had to provide your own rom to extract assets, it would have been another story.

I also saw some posts about Sony deleting your paid content. Please get informed, they deleted the app because of legal reasons (contract with Discovery expired), you can still access all that content through apps for other devices or the Discovery webpage I believe.

Don't like Nintendo, or need a reason so you can justify pirating? Go ahead, but this isn't one of them.

 

[Bladexdsl]

nintendo in a nutshell: we hate you and all are fans but hey we'll take your money when we port all our OLD shit from previous devices and make the same mario game over and over again charging you FULL PRICE!!
we'll shut our online down and completely LOCK you out of ALL your purchases but that's OK you can sign up again on our new device and buy it ALL OVER AGAIN HA HA you dumb fucks fall for it every time we are laughing our way to bank every time!!