Rumour: The Sailor Moon Manga In Punch-Out!! That Allegedly Cost Nintendo Millions

Wow, never realized Sailor Moon was inside Punch Out Wii !

Tsuki ni kawatte oshioki yo !

Well that blew up in their face. Still a funny tidbit though.

What a ridiculous kerfuffle over nothing. Although it should be pretty obvious not to use other companies’ assets without permission, this was blown way, way out of proportion.

Breaching contract by moonlight, settling fees by daylight

Not only were they fined, they were punished by being contracted to make Federation Force

Huh? Huh?! Is ragging on Federation Force still a thing? Or did we all get over ourselves and admit it was a badly timed announcement that people got angry about which, in hindsight, was a bit harsh considering that was the last fan feedback Iwata ever received before his passing.

Surely if it's just a little nod Easter Egg of a tiny bit of the work you can't sue for copyright infringement, especially considering you can't even see the art in the game and even if you could it's so low resolution you can barely make anything out? This situation seems way blown out of proportion and utterly ridiculous to me. I can't believe any company that isn't playing to the whims of a bunch of completely worm-like lawyers would seriously give a flying crap about such a tiny example of their work being [not even] shown in a game as a loving nod to said work.

Never knew this. Too late in production to change a texture? Were the discs already pressed and shipped? Nintendo will pull things from shelves and replace them.

That guy and guy in charge as a whole probably cost jobs and future jobs. I wonder if Nintendo thinks oh let's make another Punch Out if they look at the fact these idiots cost them $2 million out of the gate so it wasn't that big of a winner when it comes to finances so it will sit on the shelf another decade.

Morons, never use copyrighted work. You too YouTubers. Production companies have dedicated legal staffs to get written permission for stuff like this.

@tendonerd Even times when you use your own work youtube content bots will come in and claim that piece of work as someone elses. One case where someone created an original piece of music and was Copyright claimed where it belonged to someone else.

It's not like they don't have Zelda, Mario and Samus manga to use. They were all over Nintendo Power for years when Nintendo managed it.

@SilentHunter382 The Final Fantasy 7 cover? Didn't it also use a bit of the real song?

You can never see Sailor Moon in Punch-Out!! (Wii) officially. It's a texture in a 5 second cutscene that cannot be seen by players. You can't change the camera perspective to get a glimpse of it, there's no in-game cheat to do it either. It's totally out of bounds.
As long as everyone played the game it's supposed to be played an issue would never occur.

Then someone hacks the game with unlicensed external software, finds a blurry, pixely low-res Sailor Moon texture, and produces a 2 million dollar dilemma. Obviously we should not put copyrighted stuff in a game, however well it's hidden. Someone is going to break and find it. I bet Nintendo reviewed and scanned all of Next Level Games for similar stuff.

Never ever ever use something you don't have the rights for. Not even as placeholders.

You WILL forget to change it every now and then.

I'm sure if Nintendo found anything with Mario related without their approval they would sue the other companies as well. This is business. You can't allow people get away with a stolen project of yours. Well that's a very very high price to pay

@SKTTR

I didn't watch the video, but the article makes it sound like before the game was released Nintendo found out about the Sailor Moon image and took action. It was seen later by hackers, but it was an issue long before then.

That said, the guy at Next Level who did that was an idiot and should have known better.

Why didn't they use another manga from Nintendo itself.

@tendonerd No it was an original piece of music. It wasn't a cover of anything.

@HappyMaskedGuy If they hadn't caught it and Bandai Namco found out about it later, it could have cost them much, much more than this. The ridiculously litigious nature of corporations combined with draconian copyright law means Nintendo has to take it seriously, regardless of what should be. After all, the Big N knows how viciously they protect their own assets!

What an idiot. Why didn't the guy just scan in a Poke'mon or Legend of Zelda Manga from Viz Media?

@TheDanslator The art director was supposedly let go and Next Level was informed it had breached its contract. The North American version allegedly had to be pulled from production until the artwork was changed and Next Level was required to settle the situation with Nintendo for the sum of one to two million USD.

Sounds an awful lot like like a mega corporation throwing the little guy under the bus to protect its millions to me.

I would think bandai would be happy to see sailor moon referenced in a nintendo game. Go figure.

That's so ridiculous. I really don't think it was that big a deal to have a sailor moon reference in the game. The movie "The Core" mentions sailor moon and no big deal was made. It's just more publicity for the brand! They should be flattered.

@HappyMaskedGuy They didn't just make a reference, they straight up stole assets and used them without even asking Nintendo, with whom they contracted to do the work, let alone Bandai. That kind of action would absolutely be prohibited by their contract. And for Nintendo to avoid a lawsuit, they needed to show that they took it seriously: that means holding the people responsible accountable, and making a proactive offer of payment.

I'm not saying it's not ridiculous. But this is the world that billion dollar corporations move in, and they're the ones who've lobbied to have laws written to maximize their profits and crush competition.

@TheDanslator They didn’t steal anything, for goodness sake.

Let me ask you this:

Could Nintendo have simply chalked this up to a silly mistake, taken it as the harmless joke it was, then given a stern warning to Next Level games, and humbly informed Bandai Namco of the situation with an apology?

Two million dollars and people losing their jobs and livelihoods over a few scans of a manga which players couldn’t even see is nothing short of excessive and draconian.

People make mistakes. It’s called being human. Nintendo could easily, EASILY afford to have just laughed it all off, leaving those involved appropriately, deeply embarrassed. Lessons learned.

But nope. Money before people.

@Kalmaro I don’t see anything funny about this at all. People losing their jobs is no laughing matter. Ever.

So, why haven't we had a Sailor Moon game for ages now, dear Bandai Namco...?

So the guy should have lost his job. Yeah,it's pretty funny what happened(hiding sailor moon manga in a punch out game). But that guy should have lost his job, he breached protocol. I agree with him being fired.

@HappyMaskedGuy Yeah, who would have guessed that a little bit of copyrite infringement between companies would be such a big deal right? $2M? It could have cost Nintendo substantially more had Bandai Namco discovered the use of its assets first. These are the rules of the real world, not the pretend world of the over entitled internet users.

@HappyMaskedGuy They made the decision to do what they did, they are not innocent and I can't really say I feel too sorry for them. It's a shame they lost their job but you can't just put other people's work in your game... especially straight up scans of people's artwork without permission.

@HappyMaskedGuy Should have used a Manga they owned the rights to. Seriously, they were idiots. Doesn't matter how visible it was, it was copyright infringement and theft and Nintendo has to take that seriously. Also they probably did apologize to Bandai and even had to pay Bandai Namco to use the assets as well as they didn't want to recall the versions that already had the Easter Egg. so Next Level had to pay for the halt of manufacture and the license for the IP.

@Kalmaro @AnnoyingFrenzy @Trikeboy

It’s weird how incapable you lot are of sympathising with real, actual people, and instead choose to side with soulless mega corporations that would think nothing of swatting you like flies if you presented anything like an obstacle to their pursuit of billions of dollars. These companies were not pushed into any kind of corner here. They had the capability of letting it go. To deny that is ludicrous.

These images were never intended to be viewed by the players. It looked to me like an innocent in-joke. They didn’t ‘steal’ anything. It wasn’t used for commercial gain.

Again: people make mistakes. There was literally nothing malicious in their actions, so why are you all so bloodthirsty and spiteful? It’s weird.

And as if any of you are bloody infallible or immune to dumb mistakes. Show some humility and empathy.

@TheDanslator
Yeah it also probably got them a little good-will with Bandai Namco. Like you say it was definitely better to be safe than sorry

@rdrunner1178 Yeah, best protect those shareholder trust funds. To hell with the actual human beings who lost their livelihoods over pretty much nothing.

So long as Nintendo and Bandai can keep being money-buddies, right?

@HappyMaskedGuy They did it, they joked about it and when their employer found out, they were dealt with. Sorry the real world isn't a sitcom where they will get a rap on the knuckles, get told not to do it again and everything is back to normal by the next episode. I feel sorry for the families of the people involved but not the ones who actually did the deed.

@HappyMaskedGuy You keep saying they didn't steal anything, but they did and they did so knowingly. I empathize that they lost their job, but I also recognize that they lost it for a good reason which you can't seem to grasp. Was it a mistake? Yes, and mistakes have consequences. Nintendo is a business and these people in Next-Level cost them.

@Trikeboy What on earth are you drivelling on about? Sitcoms?

Sorry, but I only speak to grown ups.

@AnnoyingFrenzy Honestly, you’re acting as if those scans were in any way consequential to the sale and profit of the game.

They weren’t. At all.

@HappyMaskedGuy Then try acting like one. Their little joke had the potential to cause a high profile legal case for Bandai Namco and Nintendo which Nintendo would have been 100% at fault, as it was their project, even though it was outsourced. If a team you hired for a job puts you in that situation, you fire them. The offenders were dealt with. It has nothing to do with the sale and profit of the game.

@HappyMaskedGuy And you are acting as if Bandai Namco wouldn't sue Nintendo for theft of IP in a commercial product. These Next Level employees are in the wrong here and Nintendo was forced to do damage control.

@HappyMaskedGuy Stealing doesn't require intent with copyright. They took a manga they don't own the rights to, and scanned pages pages for use in their for-profit product. Under current law that would be enough for Bandai to sue Nintendo, and given the money involved in the Sailor Moon property overall, two million is chump change.

Yes, it's money over people. That's how they roll; that's how the whole world rolls. I'm not endorsing it, but to act like this was an anomaly is baffling.

@HappyMaskedGuy Ohh, sorry, I didn't realize you were a troll. Your profile:

"I believe that NLife is a joke of a ‘news’ website; that the concept of investigative journalism is about as alien to them as stupidity is to me. I’m here to annoy people, and there’s nothing you or anyone else can do about it—especially the INCOMPETENT STAFF OF NINTENDO LIFE."

You say you only want to talk to adults but behave like an immature child. How sad do you have to be to come to a website you don't like?

@Trikeboy Oh, that makes more sense now. I was finding it hard to believe someone could be this ignorant.

Should've went with Sailor V....she's MUCH better anyways.

@impurekind It can still be considered copyright infringement even if the work is never intended to be seen.

In a more extreme example, that is what caused the "Hot Coffee" situation in GTA: San Andreas. They put a naughty minigame in, then blocked it as a quite censor means. After finding out, the ESRB changed its rules to demand that even unused assets be disclosed. With the fact its ratings logos are copyrighted being the reason they are able to fine rule-breakers.

And remember folks to never EVER use copyrighted material even if it's intended as an inocuous reference, much less from a billion selling entertainment franchise

Nintendo should have been notified before release, and this should have never happened. Copyright infringement is a very serious issue, especially to Nintendo. I'm not surprised at all people got fired.

Typical American attitude vs Japanese cultural behaviour.

Don't believe everything you read/hear/watch. Shesez, the creator of Boundary Break, lost me a long time ago with his GoFundMe to supposedly get his sick father to a better hospital. After his father suddenly passed very early into the GoFundMe, instead of refunding the money, he kept it all claiming he needed it for travel and motel rooms for himself, his brother, and a girlfriend. He did a major bait-and-switch on almost $30,000 in funds, and nobody batted an eyelash.

In addition, his "anonymous sources" for any videos shouldn't be taken too seriously since he has zero background in the gaming or gaming journalism industries, which renders his authority on matters about as good as your childhood friend with "an uncle that works for Nintendo". Also, ask yourself this: If the North American version was "pulled from production", how was it still released first with only a four-day gap between it and the European version? To my recollection, the press at the time indicated no major delays in the game production, and it is hard to believe that a completely unseen and extremely blurry asset would cause that much uproar. Don't be shocked when this story falls apart.

This is absolute untrue rubbish lol
YouTube content creators really go to great lengths to get viewers these days...

Wait I'm confused. If the artwork was changed, why did Nintendo have to pay Bandai Namco any money for it?

I think Nintendo was way overreacting there.

@GameOtaku I think the issue wasn't that a reference to Sailor Moon was made, but that pre-existing Sailor Moon content was ripped right out of the manga and put into the game without permission.

@HappyMaskedGuy They put copywrited material in a game, on purpose. They knew what they were doing and they were punished accordingly. That's all there is to it.

Good advice not to believe everything we hear, especially if it's from unknown sources. That said, the story seems plausible enough - not only does the art asset appear to be from an actual manga, the way Nintendo allegedly acted also seems to be in line with what we know about them in the real world (i.e. they take a tough, no-nonsense approach towards copyright issues).

@HappyMaskedGuy I am an indie game dev who has worked with licensed properties, and I can personally say that using someone else's assets is a serious NO. It's something that any serious dev goes out of their way to avoid. A texture like that, invisible to the player, would take only minutes to put together. Some rough scribbles would've sufficed. This isn't a case of someone just slipping in a reference. If they used copyrighted manga scans, that's a breach of contract. They knew what they were doing and got caught, end of story.

All this doing is reminding me how much I want a Sailor Moon game on the Switch. Come on, guys, make it happen. I don't care if it's an RPG or a VN or a freaking arena battler, just give me some gorram moon power.

I've always thought there should be some allowance for referencing one work of fiction in another. This sort of thing is so petty and sad...

@HappyMaskedGuy "Sorry, but I only speak to grown ups." Shame you can't act like one.

I don't get these lame made up stories, freaking Bandai Namco doesn't own Sailor Moon, Toei owns Sailor Moon. Bandai Namco is just the merchandise and videogame partner to make Sailor Moon products just like Funimations who handles the anime craps and it's being ages since those idiots actually made any worthwhile Sailor Moon stuffs.

@retro_player_22 From what I can tell, Bandai Namco owns the rights to all Sailor Moon video games, therefore anytime Sailor Moon appears in a video game Bandai would get royalties from it.

This is a case where they should have used one of the Zelda/Mario mangas instead.

To be honest. I can barely see anything on that one cover.

It is really unfair that Easter egg in anything is taboo in this today's society.

"The North American version allegedly had to be pulled from production until the artwork was changed." So they did that recently or would older copies of the game still have it?

@IceEarthGuard I'd say they did this about 10 years ago, so not that recently.

@AnnoyingFrenzy Alright, thanks for clarification.

@SKTTR Read the article before making such claims.

Next Level knew it was putting in copyright IP, it was OK-ed by the director and Nintendo found out about it just before the game went Gold. This type of negligence would screw over any working partner that wasn’t informed on such sloppy decisions in the ‘eleventh hour’. This was a known problem on their side well before any hacking of camera angles were revealed to the world.

Had Nintendo had the capability to do so at the time, the whole thing could have been fixed with a mandatory Day-one update, but that was before that was a standard industry practice.

@MsJubilee Sorry but I don’t speak idiot either

So that's why there's still no sequel.