Pirated Copies Of Super Mario Party Appear Online, Switch Piracy Concerns Continue To Grow

Now that's one way to understand the rumors on hardware revisions.

They already have the game on pre-order obviously, these are just "early backups"....honest. [jk]

Why can't people wait a few days??? I'm getting my copy tomoz, nice and cheap at £29

Jesus Christ the game is out in tomorrow can people not wait?

@NintyNate Where from?

A Game Before Time ?

I mean it's not like this happens all the time with anything right? /s

@iLikeUrAttitude they don't want to wait until release day, they don't want to wait until they've got the money for it either. If you see what i mean.

@neufel Nintendo is already making/selling Switches with the Tegra X1 exploit fixed at a hardware level.

@Bosh_Factory Oh I had no idea!
That means without a clear new rev model, it's harder for common people to find a hackable switch in the wild, I guess.
Thanks for the heads up!

Gotta love the indignation people are showing. I'm not going to defend piracy at all, but it has been a thing for a long time and is not going away.

It's about homebrew!

welcome to computers. nothing is safe.

everything can be hacked.

Wait, I was informed here that the eBay auction was just a “troll bid” and the transaction would never actually occur. “LOLZ u gais! Nobody actually buys stuff on eBay. Get a clue idiots.”

@VexingInsanity GAME

@NintyNate how. GAME is expensive

Where did they come from? It’s a mystery!

@1UP_MARIO where else do you get them real cheap??? ... I got money off so I'm using it

I really doubt its the fact they couldn't wait. I think its more of they don't want to take an chance of spending money on the game they may not like the game.

They are disappointed in launches of ARMS, Mario Tennis Aces, Kirby Star Allies, Nintendo Online, and etc.

Hopefully those are pirating the games are simply trying out the game before buying them.

Dear, People who made Pirated copy of Super Mario Party....
To tell you if one day you will be punished by Bad Karma because of your Sin.
It's Beyond the Crime to make and distribute Pirated games BEFORE the time.

@NintyNate Game!? Really a cheap deal from GAME! I AM IN COMPLETE DISBELIEF!

And hey, good job NL for giving it a spotlight! Had you not posted an article about it, so many eyes which only follow your site for Switch news would have went through their day not knowing that pirating SMP was an option! What would we do without you! /s

I didn't even know people COULD pirate Switch games. Been buying them all legitimately like we all should.

@ryancraddock

Gotta agree with @onex.

Not very clever to give this a big stage and spotlight for all to see... It also really does highlight how much trouble Nintendo are in going forward if unreleased games are already being pirated.

Sometimes i think NL have just as much to gain from Nintendo's pain as their pleasure.

I was seeing playthrough videos pop up and got pretty upset at these channels, considering reviewers could only show off certain parts of the game and whatnot. Gonna try and stay away from those channels.

I did a search of the game on Reddit to get some news and there the ROM was; like wut?!?

Actually, ignoring negative news by not posting them kind of brings more attention to itself.

@ryancraddock

Actually, it does. There are people out there that think, "Oh, this was something I could do??"
It's not like piracy lives in a vacuum, where the only pirates that exist are set in stone with zero recruitment from curious minds stumbling upon its alleyway.

Interest in piracy spreads based on information accessibility, sir.
Interest in ANYTHING for that matter.

Games being leaked has been a thing a long time ago. I think the last Pokemon games got leaked one week before release.

“Well I for one buy all the games I torrent.”

Said the filthy pirate

People cheat & steal all the time and use the excuse that games are too expensive... completely forgetting that a good chunk of a game's price will take piracy losses into consideration. Games developers are not charities and have to regain lost revenue from the honest gamers.

@onex Information that can easily be Googled. I find it hard to believe anyone following this site isn't already aware that pirating games is a thing. And if its something they truly want to do, they will get their information elsewhere and are probably pirating other forms of media already

@Yosheel: Jinkies!

Perhaps in 30 years, this ROM will be downloaded and sold by Nintendo, who are at that point releasing a Virtual Console for Switch games (or a Switch Classic, etc), like they did not too long ago with a ROM of Super Mario Bros. on the Wii's Virtual Console.

@Tyranexx Zoinks!

@UmbreonsPapa You're completely omitting the part where I stated there are those that have no clue that piracy of certain games, this one in particular, is even an option.
I know you can Google for it, you know you can Google for it. Not every single visitor of this site knows it's an option they have. By providing an article highlighting it exists, it provides a window for knowledge of Switch piracy to spread. Homebrew? Yeah, OK. Grey area. News on outright piracy? Not cool.

But hey, I'm just a self-righteous white knight in a sea of audacious thieves. A few of my friends pirate ROMs all day without hesitation, but as an artist, I understand its effects. I'm that weirdo who used to download music illegally, then purchase the physical media to support the artist. Or even go to a show to purchase their CD, be told they're sold out, and notify the guitarist at the merch table I'd be downloading their music illegally when I get home, but wanted them to have 20 bucks anyway when the CD cost 15. True story. I'm certain 99% of the Neo's out there wouldn't do such a thing.. especially in the gaming sphere. That's not the point.

The damage is done, and NL is an instigator.

@c2017nlifemedia They're allowed to pirate their own creation if they feel like it.

@ryancraddock actually if you read the comment from @sleepinglion just above my comment you will see that it still does.

You could also argue that by not giving it any attention in the media at all, that it would dilute the issue greatly and make it into a non issue.

By ignoring it completely you are not giving it the time of day, and in turn not giving the news a chance to flourish in peoples minds, negative wording or not.

I would say Nintendo's fan sites biggest mistakes have been shouting out to the world that the Switch is probably the easiest hardware to hack since the Dreamcast.

Negative or not, publicity is publicity.

well on plus side its only half the game at moment so you need switch online for the rest.

@UmbreonsPapa this really goes back to the fact that if it isn't shouted about in every media outlet then nobody would have a reason to google it.

To search for something on google you have to know its a thing first.

You only know its a thing because its being shouted out everywhere.

@Razer well i havent read on any site that antman and wasp was avalible but i watched it last night so. But this can also let Nintendo etc know whats happening so they can try and combat it.

@Razer "If newspapers never mentioned any murders, there would be no murders, because nobody would know murdering people was something they could do!"

@Anguspuss Ok, and how did you know where to find that movie? Why use Google when you already know the source?
You're already in that loop.

That's not the point being made here.

@c2017nlifemedia Strawman argument, and you know it.

@onex That's not a strawman, it's an exaggeration.

@onex point is most people that want it are already in the loop. You need a hacked switch to play it so you have to be on the path to the darkside already.

@NintyNate how you get it that cheap

@onex Would you rather live in ignorance?

People that want to pirate currently avaliable games go to places other than NL to find out about that I imagine.

Question is, how did someone get it early enough to get it and rip it?

"Nintendo has been taking positive strides towards the combat of illegal ROM sharing lately...as filing lawsuits against several well-known ROM sharing websites"

Well apparently this author is a corporate apologist then. Because being able to play Golden Sun on my phone (because its not on 3DS/Switch) is very wildly different than pirating a readily-available brand new game. Taking out rom sites is not a positive step

@c2017nlifemedia telling the world that people have died is a million miles away from telling them they can exploit a specific hardware to play certain forms of entertainment.

Your example makes no sense.

@Razer "A madman killed two people today (now it's your turn to go out and kill people)"

"A madman shared a copy of his game cartridge on the internet today (now you have to stop buying games forever)"

What's the difference?

@c2017nlifemedia dude how stupid is this logic?

Informing people they can exploit a specific type of hardware puts that news to light.

Informing people a killer has killed people doesn't give people an incentive to kill people.

Killing people is not even remotely relatable to hacking hardware... How stupid is this?

Your example is stupid and if I'm honest a little worrying you actually think this way.

@Trajan id guess a review copy from nintendo. lol

@Razer News is news. If you want to bury your head in the sand, only watch official (state) Nintendo propaganda.

BREAKING NEWS: New Nintendo game regardless of quality 10/10 GOTY.

@Trajan It's not ignorance!

Do you see SPIN, Metal Hammer, Kerrang! (just a few examples of popular magazines) going on and on about the availability of artist's music through devious means?
No, they leave that out of their content because it's unnecessary spotlight, and frankly disrespectful to the artists.

Pirates ALREADY know where to look. They didn't discover it reading a magazine or an online article(other than an article on a ROM site). It's spread through word of mouth. Why? Because piracy is considered a sector of the "dark web". I fail to see how shining a light on this topic on a game site supposedly not condoning the act is in ANY WAY helpful, unless it is a ROM news site dedicated to pirated wares.

@Razer The difference is that this article doesn't go into any detail on how to hack your device so that it can play backups (and, in fact, backups can exist even without a system that can be hacked to play them). Likewise, an article about a murderer mentions what happened, but doesn't go into any detail on how to become a succesful murderer.

@Trajan Well just reading the comments section here tells me quite a lot of people got this news first hand from a Nintendo fan site.

Would they have found out otherwise? Maybe, maybe not... How many will see this and decide to look for a means to exploit the hardware? Who knows...

At the end of the day most people generally live with their head in the sand, by making this stuff news, you make them take notice.

@c2017nlifemedia dude murder and hacking hardware isn't remotely relatable and I'm done with your twisted examples... Bringing murder into this debate and trying to make it relate is about the dumbest thing I've seen this month so far.

@Trajan I do wonder why people would ever visit a third party website if all they want to see is the latest advertising campaigns of their favourite corporate overlords. Those have their own advertising channels, why even go elsewhere?

@Razer I know game piracy is a thing because I've been gaming for over 30 years and its always been an issue and a topic of discussion in the gaming community. My assumption (having been a member of this particular community) is that many of us have been gaming for just as long or quite awhile and most likely have some knowledge that game piracy is a thing. If they aren't already pirating media, I doubt an article on NintendoLife is gonna turn them on to it. Now you can argue about this particular game and say someone wouldn't have known and maybe some kind of point is made on this particular instance. I just don't see a problem in reporting on something that is gaming related and is relevant news. No one is condoning it.

@c2017nlifemedia

noun: strawman
1.
an intentionally misrepresented proposition that is set up because it is easier to defeat than an opponent's real argument.
"her familiar procedure of creating a straw man by exaggerating their approach"

A strawman is an exaggeration, ya goof.

@onex No they leave it out because its been common sense since 2002 that you can get any album online. No, lol it is not the dark web.

@Razer Yes I am learning about it here too because I don't pirate current games nor have any interest in doing so. It is interesting to learn however.

I wouldn't even play this game if it was free. Just interesting to hear. I would like to continue hearing about all the latest Nintendo news. Hence why I come here.

@onex No, that is not a strawman. I didn't say anywhere that that was someone's real point of view, I only used it show the logic doesn't really hold up if you apply it to a more familiar domain.

@c2017nlifemedia On the other hand, I get the feeling that the only reason this site writes these articles is because they get lots of attention from people who are already convinced that their point of view is holy. There's nothing particularly interesting or special about the fact that a game is leaked a whole day (wow!) before its official release.

@c2017nlifemedia your logic in that you can compare informing people of murder will result in people killing each other is even remotely the same as informing people that they can hack their hardware is just totally misplaced.

Your example doesn't relate because if you even care to read the comments sections... Many people have been informed from here... Will those people decide to hack their Switch's? Maybe some will maybe not...

But that is not even remotely the same as informing people that a murder has happened and they can go murder too... And as i said comparing the two things as such actually makes me worry about the type of person you are.

It just makes no sense at all.

@c2017nlifemedia You're taking something that's deemed "bad" and comparing it to another thing deemed "worse" in an effort to disprove a point because you have no real counter-argument. How is that not a strawman argument?

Anyways, I agree with your last comment. This news is pitiful mindshare.

@onex to be honest hacking isn't even that bad, it doesn't actually harm or hurt anyone other than big corporations and even then its a minor financial inconvenience for most.

To compare that to harming people really throws ones mental stability into question as neither are remotely relatable.

@Razer Yeah, but piracy is the same as stealing(considered "bad"), yet justified in the digital age by the culprits because "hey, it's just digital copies".

@onex A strawman argument would be if you said something like "I think it's a bad thing that people share digital copies of art" and I replied with "So you want everyone who's ever played a ROM to be sentenced to death? You're sick!", or perhaps a less offensive variant "So you're saying poor people aren't allowed to enjoy art because they can't pay for it?"

@NintyNate lies, they always sell at full price, unless you had reward points or traded games in to get that price.

@UmbreonsPapa you know my problem is more related to the news from its very beginning has been made into this huuuge deal...

Where as the situation with the 3ds was vastly different, there was news but nowhere near as much and as a result i really didn't hear about 3ds hacking until quite late in 2015, more than 3 years after buying it.

Now take the situation with the Switch... Every single media outlet fansite or not has an article to do with a subject related to Switch's ease of hack-bility.

I bet even parents who dont read into this news when buying the 3DS had no idea how easy it was to hack, the same parents will prob have heard the Switch's hacks, now can that effect their buying decisions? Who knows...

I just dont think making all this hubbub about something a small group is doing is good for the general image of the console.

@onex yeah but even old age piracy resulted in many deaths...

Digital piracy tends not to result in any deaths.

@onex Different discussion, but stealing and sharing copies are most definitely two different things. It's unfortunate that copying has no 'real world' analogy (unless you count 3D printing), but creating/sharing a copy is not the same as stealing something. You can steal a game by going to a shop and stealing the game. You can also steal it from someone else by taking it whilst they're not looking (or if you're a real daredevil, whilst they are looking), and never giving it back. That way, the shop or person in question is deprived of the object and no longer has it. If you create a copy, the shop/person will still have the game. Feel free to argue pro/contra digital copies (and physical copies should those ever be possible), just don't call it by something it isn't. Technically speaking, you can also steal software, but it's really difficult, as you would have to either steal its only physical carrier(s), or erase all traces of it everywhere.

@Razer True. Although money is this world's #1 fixation, and so without it, people perish. C'est la vie.

I wouldn't want to pay money for a game this mediocre either.

FWIW, I think it's news, NL is press, and they have the freedom (some might say DUTY) to report on it.
I'm a responsible adult with enough morals to know piracy is theft, and "it's not a victimless crime," as we're reminded nearly every time we start a movie.
I do not see a problem in exposing criminal activity in the press. I would rather be informed than coddled.
Perhaps the greater question is why so many people who initially find out about piracy go on then to commit it.

@Anti-Matter Blunt honesty here: There are times I seriously wonder if most of what you post was done through Google Translate.

@c2017nlifemedia I understand why you justify such actions that way. I can respect that, however that's not how I choose to operate. I show the artist appreciation whichever way I can. If I download an album early and enjoy it, I buy it when it releases, or go to a show and buy merch(no downloading anymore since streaming platforms are the norm). If I want to see a movie, I go to the theatre and pay admission(or Netflix/Hulu/Prime etc, again streaming platforms). If I want to play a game, I search for reviews or download a demo if available, and buy the game if it favored well with my concerns... maybe wait for a sale if budget's tight. But I want the artists to know I appreciate their efforts, and as a consumer, that's done by paying a fee for the pleasure of experience.

Slightly off topic, but if the previously mentioned trends are anything to go by, the future of gaming media will be streaming regardless. And I feel NSO is a test water for Nintendo to start providing full game streaming, so they won't even have to worry so much about pirated games in the long run.

@Yosheel: Ruh-Roh!

Hey, at least it can't be pirated directly from Nintendo's own servers anymore. Nintendo is, slowly, improving their security game.

But considering every Switch sold in the first 15 months of its life is basically the most hackable console in history, there's really not much more Nintendo can do.

I you want the game and can afford it then buy it. If its only the former than do what you want. Games are expensive and what about those kids whose parents cant afford to buy them a new game every month? Nintendo is rich, they will not make any losses on games they would have never sold in the first place, does that make sense?

@MisterKorman

all it can do is help them sell more consoles

@ryancraddock Agreed. Its not as if software piracy is a new thing. If Nintendo are failing to keep their hardware safe from hackers what does this say about their online infrastructure. The service that holds our credit card numbers for those recuring subscription fees.

This is pretty much why we're near the end of local content. The future of console will eventually be streaming services like OnLive tried to do. It's the only way Sony/MS and publishers can truly protect their creative works. The Switch obviously doesn't fit that model, but a cell-based Switch? Ya, I can see that, especially with 5G networks coming out soon.

@onex No matter what you think or how you posture your own ‘white knight’ (your words) lifestyle, the mere existence of this article does not have a transformative effect on readers which would cause them to go through a process of breaking laws and changing their established habits.
@ryancraddock Ryan, thank you for this article. I consider it news, and thank you for attempting to respond to readers that clearly had no intention to engage in a mutual conversation about their viewpoint.

Everyone, can we agree to be sensible and admit that reporting on an idea or action does not mean readers will then pursue that idea or take that action? This fallacy is presented in the comments every time there is an article about something related to hacks, data mines, or leaks.

@HobbitGamer
Woaaahh...!!!
What happened to your New Avatar ?!

Btw, is @Razer keep talking nonsense about to NOT publish any news no matter what topics inside after i had IGNORED him for very Long time ?

@MegaVel91
"There are times I seriously wonder if most of what you post was done through Google Translate."

Pardon of my "Engrish".
I am Not a native speaker.
Btw, don't really trust with Google translate.
Sometimes you ended up by broken translation.

Terrible. Just terrible.

Tegra X1 fail. This entire debacle is on Nvidia and their Mickey Mouse ARM design. I bet the Mobile industry is happy they completely ignored it.

Most do not download games from sites, and nobody buying Zelda, mario, Xenoblade, Metroid, kirby, yoshi to play online. Top that, most big online games not even coming to Switch.

So taking down rom sites and banning people online, will not do much.

This sort of thing taints hacking. Because hacking doesn't have to be stealing. When hackers are doing cool things like adding custom themes, folders, and emulators - things Nintendo is unwilling to offer us, I am sorely tempted to join in.

But I don't want to pirate games, and I don't want that association. It's one thing to download a rom for a game that's largely out of circulation and no longer available, it's another thing to pirate a game that just released.

@Anti-Matter It’s my Halloween Mii!

@Anti-Matter I just pushed an icepick through both of my ears. Thanks a lot.

@HobbitGamer It's all good, dude. I understand my ways don't align with others. I've chilled out about it.
These are just silly comments on a webpage billions of people will never see nor know about, so there's no reason any of us should get our panties in a bunch over freaking video game news.

I guess I was cranky from being sleep deprived, but I realize how foolish it was to even bother interjecting. Carry on.

@Anti-Matter Banana Triangle Eats Squares?

@icerzerocool Turrrible

@tseliot
Excuse me.
Did you troll me with random feedbacks ?

@onex No worries, happens to all of us!

@Anti-Matter Don't listen to people talking about your english. There are trolls everywhere!

@MegaVel91 I'd be willing to bet a lot of money that Anti-Matter's English is about 5000 times better than your Indonesian, and it's certainly good enough to participate in these forums. GTFO with attacking people's English. Foreign countries exist, get over it.

@Teksetter Well that's an obvious one. Do you physically see any harm caused by you going to the internet and downloading a pirated copy of a game, then playing it? No.

Do you physically see a person die when you stab them 80 times in the heart with a knife? Yes.

As much a strawman as most other bs arguments in this comment thread, but you get the point. There's no tangible physical relatable "consequence" from the action of downloading and playing that pirated game. It automatically makes people feel less bad, and in most cases, not care at all.

Why do we have laws? Because without them, nobody would give a damn about those things.

We could take a quick stroll down Google lane on surveys and other investigations into the human mind, but safe to say, people feel less bad when there's no tangible visible consequence to their actions. When they feel that they can safely cast off the blame and say "hey, I hurt nobody".

It just doesn't work that way if you're stabbing someone to death or shooting someone, or pushing them off a bridge. You see what happens. You hurt someone. Someone real that you could see, feel and hear. And you can be damn sure people are coming for you.

When you pirate a game, it's like "eh, nothing's gonna happen. I'm not hurting anybody."

Except you are, you just don't feel you are, because you don't see the suffering you cause.

We're all human beings, and we're engineered to downplay bad things we do or have done all the time.

It's pretty hard to downplay murdering someone. But stealing a game? "Hey, everybody else is doing it, and nobody is dying, it's just a game."

That's the sad reality, and no matter what anyone says, NL is an instigator to it because they're reporting on it being widespread, and telling people that "You can go and pirate Super Mario Party, right now. It's possible to do this. Right. Now."

And you know what? It does have an effect. As much as any other news site, NintendoLife wants to provide us with news of all kinds. But there's a difference to making an article telling people that Nintendo are battling piracy, and one telling people "hey, you can get this game for free, we just won't tell you how, but, you know, google our conscience is clear now."

It's not newsworthy. It's cringeworthy. Anyone who should care about it already knows it, without being provided with this article. Therefore nobody needs this article. Making and publishing this article is introducing more people who can and will care about it.

Heck, it's been cited in a couple of Discord servers I am on, and I've seen at least 10-15 people happily cancelling their pre-orders because they have launch units and modding your Switch is just a youtube tutorial away.

The only reason they hadn't already pirated games like SMP was because THEY DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS POSSIBLE. News had only been circulating about how there was an exploit that let you install homebrew, so people could play older games and so on. So they had no reason to believe it was actually possible to pirate first party games. But now they know.

People can use the Google argument all they want, but believe it or not, most people don't get the info they need from Google. They get it from news. Which is why we have so many news channels around the world with HUGE powers of persuasion. All they need to do is report on something, and it is deemed truth.

But hey... NL isn't hurting anyone, right? Except Nintendo's financial bottom line, of course.

I will buy the game legally... Eventually.
Until then I can just wait, it's not as if I don't have a few other party games or actual boardgames to go around. Ones that are more sophisticated than "roll to move, hope to win".

@HobbitGamer anyone who actually compares the murder of other humans to the hacking and stealing of intellectual property is socially inept.

@JasmineDragon I wasn't attacking him and I don't have a problem with the fact he's from another country unlike a lot of people here in the US.

I sometimes just find him hard to understand or read and was being honest about it, albeit unnecessarily harsh, but if you want to try to make yourself feel good by calling me out and telling me to "get over it", go ahead.

@Blizzia
Thank you for such a long response. You make some salient points and that certainly deserves a decent reply, but more than I can manage on my phone, I'm afraid.
Maybe you're right and giving press to piracy just exacerbates the problem, or maybe not. But I can't help feeling like illuminating a problem is better than ignoring it and hoping it goes away.
It's not first-degree murder, but you don't need much of an imagination to know that piracy DOES hurt the bottom line of developers, artists, manufacturers, vendors, etc, therefore affecting the livelihood of all the people in those employs.
Imagining this keeps me from partaking in piracy, and I guess naively I like to think others can be as responsible. Maybe I expect too much from my fellow civilized humans.
I would like to know what the real stakeholders feel about this reporting. Do artists want the theft of their IP to be hushed up as much as possible, or exposed in hopes that raising awareness finally escalates into actions taken to improve the situation?