Nintendo Begins Takedown Proceedings on Super Mario 64 HD Fan Project

Yet another example of someone showing off his talents by copying someone else's work. Funnily enough, the Demo wasn't created from scratch, as the last article here told that the Character model was ripped from Mario Galaxy. So where is the originality, the creativity in this demo?

Maybe I should try to write the Lord of the Rings HD to show off my writing skills...

Oh come on, because other publishers would not have done THE EXACT SAME THING. But only Nintendo is the mean, "out of touch" bully. Sure...

"Perhaps in future Nintendo could sanction online Game Jams to actually encourage coders to improve their skills by playing around with its retro classics in Unity, for example, with the reward being a spot as an authorised developer for the eShop."

I'm not sure exactly how this would benefit Nintendo though.

Makes a lot of sense, especially if N64 games are coming to Wii U VC in the future.

Maybe Nintendo are bringing it down because they're miffed that King Bob-omb is missing

Ripping a fully rigged model and a piece of music from Mario Galaxy, and a fully designed level from Mario 64, and giving it to people for free, is against the law, whether he makes money or not.

The Minitroid guys made their own art, level design, and music, and were never asked to take down their tech demo.

Nintendo are extremely friendly on fan games in general, but straight up distributing their assets for free should never be tolerated.

Those Game Jams would actually be a great idea they would definitely benefit me

Anyway, I was going to make a Mario fangame, just as a physics test for my own game, but I guess I shouldn't

I liked how people liked this demo, and then when Nintendo tries to take it down, everyone is against the demo. What the hell happened?

Maybe the fact that some sites like the Verge reported this with headlines like "Play Super Mario 64 In Your Browser" have something to do with it. Which could be seen as a misrepresentation of their product, since this in fact is not SM64.

This was a demo for the character controller, not Super Mario 64.
What better way to demonstrate something than putting it in terms people understand, or in this case, a game people know?
"...this was created purely for demonstration purposes of the character controller..."

Unpopular opinion: Nintendo did nothing wrong here and questionioning their ethics because of this matter is a waste of time.

Nintendo: Nope. Wanna play Mario? Buy our systems.

@MagicEmperor I agree
I wonder if Nintendo are remaking Super Mario 64 for the 20th anniversary(1996) on the Wii U .🗾

If only people that do this junk on YouTube would realize that copyright laws are still in tact. This is why lawsuits and jail time happen constantly. Sometimes it would be nice if YouTube was shut down completely, instead of having videos of someone getting into a car wreck and somebody filming it to post it, instead of helping the victim out. This is why the country is going down to hell.

Hey if it belongs to Nintendo then don't tamper with it. That's like someone taking something that belongs to you and messing with it without your permission. We live in a society of entitlement. We think we can do what we want with whatever we want. Good for you Nintendo for taking back what's yours.

I wonder if this is an example of the use it or lose it nature of copyright in action

It would be nice to have a Super Mario 64 remake for the Wii U, or even one for the 3DS. I forget how old the version is for the DS...just make it the original and not having to find character hats like in the DS version. Maybe their next system, they'll start the re-release some of the old classics in HD.

Nintendo Remake Mario 64 ! You did it for StarFox why not Mario 64?

I knew this would happen. Why do people still bother to do these kinds of things? They're great but they're guarenteed to get torn down by Nintendo, which ultimately makes them a waste of time.

@DinoFett They already have, Super Mario 64 DS.

In my old age I forgot and it's very early in the morning where I'm posting at a place of employment.

No surprise here! Can't blame Nintendo for wanting to protect their own ip. If Nintendo wants the game to receive an HD upgrade they will do it themselves.

Not one Bit Surprise

to be fair there would have been no problem if he didn't offer it for download, he should have just used a video as a proof on concept

offering up what you do not own as a download even free is illeagl, whether you intend to make money off it or not you are distributing a copyrighted ip you have no ownership of or right of distribution

Nintendo are well within their rights to take it down and they should take it down it's their ip and they have a right to protect it

Noooooooooooooooo

This kind of thing makes me want to give someone at Nintendo a good slap on the jaw. I love Nintendo to death, but sometimes even the ones you love need a good slap.

I totally agree with most people are saying. Nintendo owns the Mario IP and the copyright to this game. Making your own "version", especially one that uses assets from other Mario games and then uploading it for everyone to play, regardless if you make money from it or not is entirely illegal.

I am on Nintendo’s side with taking action against such projects/games.

"Seems a little harsh" xD they litteraly ripped assests straight from Mario Galaxy! Sure, this shows off someone's skill, but certainly not their creativity!

@RupeeClock When did Nintendo make it fair game to create non-profit fan games with their characters?

@jordanmarsden How? They're taking something down because of copyright issues. How is that being 'out of touch'?

Well, the creator DID rip a bunch of models from Super Mario Galaxy, so...

@Pod Yep, even if you don't charge people you still can't give away something Nintendo made, it would be like me distributing this article for free without the ads.
They should replace those assets with some free assets, it would be interesting to see some non-Mario stuff in Mario 64.

Sega did this years ago with the Streets of Rage re-make, so it's not like Nintendo is alone in trying to stop people from doing things like this.

@VeeFlamesNL because you do not have to act on a law just because it exists. This doesn't hurt Nintendo a bit. Everyone who downloads this has the game anyway. Noone will not buy cause of this demo. It's just stupid. That's all it is. And Nintendo Fanboys and Fangirls are growing out of touch with their favorite company together.

Nintendo owns the IP. Nintendo gets to call copyright whenever they want. It's not fun, but it's their right. Nintendo hasn't done anything wrong with this. Should they remake this game in HD? Maybe, but if it gets made, Nintendo has to okay it. Profit doesn't matter; it's Nintendo's property. I can't walk into your yard and take your lawnmower for a while just because I'm not using it to make money.

@Monsti No one said this will hurt Nintendo. Nintendo is taking this down because of copyright issues. And yes, I played the game(Unity one) and enjoyed it.

On my Twitter feed this news story is directly below a story about Valve giving their blessing to a fan-made Half-Life 2 update. I mean surely that's more of a threat to the money-making ability of HL2 than this is to Mario 64.

@Usagi-san They have never done anything about the Dojin stuff that used Nintendo assets as it felt like. There is another one where you can play Super Mario Bros with characters from different games. Probably sites like this are the reason things get taken down.

He did take models from Galaxy so he should've expected this.

Seems pointless to me. There's no way that this game would have had a negative effect on Nintendo, but it might have helped raise awareness for Nintendo's games.

@Peach64 It's not that it's a fan remake, it's that they are using actual assets from Nintendo. It's not a remake in that case.

Why does nobody make it a parody. (As far as I know in that case you can use what you like).

Put a cheat code in to enable normal mode (Call it test mode).

I'm not surprised at all.

Still sounds to me like "LOKTEKO"

Also, boo Nintendo! Boo!

If the person responsible for this "Remake" just made it as a video titled 3D Modelling Show Reel then there would be no problems form Nintendo. Why? Because Show Reels are a means to show off your skills to potential employers not to infringe on copyright.

Some people are saying he ripped assets from the Mario Galaxy games as well which might be true, but that health meter look original to me as I have not seen one like it in any other Mario game before unless someone corrects me.

I can see why it got shot down. As others mentioned, the creator admitted to have used original assets of copyrighted Nintendo games, so there's that.
But look a bit further: this is aiming to be a HD version of a game that already exists - releasing an HD version of Super Mario 64 basically undermines any potential plans Nintendo might have or already work on, and would prove to be very hurtful to sales figures of any future versions of the game.
And another thing that tends to be overlooked by many is the advertisement effect. Whether intentional or not, the creator receives attention through his project, meaning it raises his reputation as a game creator, something that might have an impact on original projects he's involved with. It's basically a "of Super Mario 64 HD fame" banner, and it still infringes copyrights.

I don't think this is a pity at all. I get that people want free access to these kinds of things, but this does more harm than some of you may think.

And the creator won't really grow until he creates something of his own. In the long run this should be the best for him too. And as pointed out earlier, the assets were even ripped from other official games.

I don't understand why he didn't just make his own damn game. If all it was going to be was a way to test physics and mechanics, he could've bothered to do it was some originality.

We all know how Nintendo loves to stamp down on things like this. Seems a fool's errand from the start.

Maybe it's because Nintendo is working on a Super Mario 64 HD Remaster for the Wii U

Nintendo need to chill out...

@jordanmarsden "Because this makes Super Mario 64 relevant again, and it has people talking about Nintendo's properties..."
Eh. I doubt a fanmade software would ignite anything for a timeless classic. If anything, the developer took a lot of inspiration from SM64. Yes, the software is harmless, but there is nothing wrong with Nintendo taking it down. It's a matter of copyright issues.

@Ducked

I would like that. There hasn't been any more word on DS games coming to Wii U has there? SM64DS would probably look like yuck in HD though. Either way...

I just hope Nintendo's legal eagles leave AM2R alone.

Actually its considered fair use IF there is proof that the violation does no harm to the copyright holder. (Not the same as non-commercial).

Given that he just made a simple demo, if he had the money for a lawyer, they could argue that.

@Lycidas Ah yes, a HD book. My favourite!

Why do people do these projects expecting the companies that OWN the copyright to let them release these games free of charge without getting into trouble. It baffles the mind to no end that there are stupid people out that think that the law does not apply them when they do stuff like this.

To the people attacking this guy for hilarious reasons, ever consider this to be a learning project?

Though if that's the case, they're likely to want to get rid of it on the assumption that a learning project may have so many problems with it that it may damage the Mario IP's brand and image. Somehow.

EDIT: Editted this comment because Nintendo fans are the most volatiles of all the fanboys.

Well no sh@! this was gonna happen.
If you use any copyrighted material that's NOT YOURS without the explicit written consent of the original IP owner it will be taken down, simple as that.

What surprises me are the idiots that keep trying to do it.

Hmmm. I wonder if that is anything to do with tomorrow's Nintendo Direct?

Ouh!

Ouh!

@Usagi-san Maybe they get apart of the profits for what is earned from the game.

Take note Nintendo. That's what HD is instead NDS version. lol

Hard to say if this is fair use or not. Fair use is generally case-by-case anyway

Janky demo directly ripping assets from an existing game and attempting to make a 1-to-1 copy of other existing game assets gets a shutdown notice. I forget why I'm supposed to care. Imagine doing this in the movie or business software industries, and maybe then you'll consider Nintendo's response less harsh.

SPOILERS

They aren't doing this to be dicks, they're doing it because they probably have something similar in the works.

Sheesh, everyone is acting like the creator is committed a huge crime or something.
Yeah, the game was meant to be a tech demo, but when you advertise it as an HD remake of SM64 using Galaxy assets... oh boy legal trouble.
As a developer myself, I'll admit to borrowing assets for temporary purposes and nothing more. I ain't got an infinite amount of time nor infinite amount of skill to be making new art/music/sounds every time time I want to test a new idea/mechanic.* Granted, I'm not going to refer to my character action combat system tech demo as a "Bayonetta remake" or something though some people who would probably skim through my long blog post declaring what is and call that anyway.
(No, the last thing I mentioned remake doesn't exist, don't bother looking it up.)

*EDIT: Throwing in this disclaimer that I do indeed replace the assets in the finalization process though.

This is just a matter of Nintendo protecting its IP, nothing against fans or the project. The only thing I found stupid of most people is that they know this kind of thing will likely happen yet they continue doing it. Almost as if they never learn, you plagiarized something especially a copyrighted material, chances are it's going to be taken down.

Nintendo can't let any infringement slide. If they do then an actual theft could use Nintendo's previous leniency against them. Sad that is has to come down, but it's a natural order of things when current law constantly sources previous incidences as justification of action.

I'm a game developer, and from the videos that I've seen, the project looks completely illegal. It would have never received press time without nintendo's assets and trademark usage. Think what happens when someone else creates a game with similar amount of work, but without using nintendo's assets and trademark. People would just ignore such project. So the only reason why this project is significant is because it utilizes known company's concepts and designs. This is also the reason why it's illegal. You can easily get famous without ever doing the hard work, i.e. marketing your project yourself. Attaching your project to millions of marketing budget is easy way to make yourself famous, but it's illegal for a reason.

Really, people? It's not a "game" it's a tech demo.
Don't bitch and moan about others demonizing Nintendo for taking down something with their assets, and then demonize the programmer who did in fact work hard to make the underlying code.
@terop: If you're really a game developer then you'd recognize that the bulk of the work that went into this is the physics which is much more complex than a handful of 3D models. The models themselves are largely irrelevant to the coding of the physics themselves.
You know what, this IS a harmless demo. Is Nintendo losing anything by it's existence? No.
And anyone that says otherwise if full of crap.
Is Nintendo a dick to want their content removed, No.
But they do look like overprotective paranoids.
As a matter of fact it's even a bit counter productive because they are expending money to take down a piece of software that is intended for educational purposes.

Funny also how everyone is suddenly a game developer and conveniently don't provide any credentials.

It's moves like this and bad pr like this that is the reason nintendo is pretty much a shadow of its former self....

Nintendo when will you learn?

@VeeFlamesNL Well if it doesn't hurt them then why act on that copyright. Thousands of Star Wars Fans are breaking the copyright every year by making fanfilm. You know what Lucasfims/Disney does: A competition with a price for the winner.
Again: Just because it's protected doesn't mean you have to act on that every single time.

All this shilling for Nintendo...

This is entirely in Nintendo's right, but may have been prompted by all the news sites calling it a "Mario 64 remake." Heck, I even saw it pop up that way in my Facebook trending sidebar.

@Peach64 Half-Life 2: Update is a fan mod that requires owning Half-Life 2 to run. That's a huge difference.

@unrandomsam No, parodies still must adhere to copyright law. All works must. Even if they didn't, putting in a "test" mode as you said would still be illegal, because it's rereleasing someone else's work under your own name.

Nintendo obviously took it down to detract from their own HD remaster of 64 - oh wait, still an hour left until April 1st here in TX so this won't count as April fools.

One level? Come on, one level. You are insane Nintendo.
F**k you very much.

Grumblevolcano said:
"Makes a lot of sense, especially if N64 games are coming to Wii U VC in the future."
It takes them many light years to do that. (yes i know that light year is measure of distance not time)

The purpose of this thing is to see how the engine works. Nothing more. The creater just thought it would be cool to show it of. Dont we all have that urge when we make something like a drawing or a video on youtube? It was never meant to be a game and has done its purpose so lets move on.

That looks awesome to me