Update: Ema – who worked on a fork of the CSE2 version of Cave Story – has gotten in touch to clarify some points:
1. This DMCA is strictly for CSE2, the fanmade decompilation of the original freeware version of Cave Story. Said freeware version is unaffected by the takedown, and can be downloaded at cavestory.org as always.
2. To the best of our knowledge, Nicalis in fact owns the Cave Story IP. We have no reason to believe that this DMCA takedown is illegitimate in any way. While there can be fair use exceptions for decompilations like CSE2, the burden of proof rests on the project, not on the copyright holder.
3. Nicalis has a history of being very supportive to the modding community. At this point, we don't suspect any ill will. We are approaching Nicalis in an attempt to clear up this misunderstanding.
4. The maintainers of CSE2 have no intention of disparaging Nicalis. It's by their good will that the modding community continues to thrive above ground. We unilaterally endorse the official commercial versions of Cave Story.
Original Story [Thu 26th Nov, 2020 09:30 GMT]: Publisher Nicalis is issuing DMCA takedown requests against sites which offer the freeware version of the iconic indie Metroidvania Cave Story, it has been claimed.
Created by Japanese developer Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya over a period of five years, Cave Story was released on PC in 2004 and quickly became famous with fans of indie titles. Nicalis came on board in 2010 to port the game to WiiWare and DSiWare, and also produced the enhanced Cave Story 3D on 3DS in 2011. Cave Story+ – based on an updated version released on Steam – was converted to the Switch in 2017.
Despite all of the various retail versions available, the original computer version of Cave Story has remained a freeware product and can be freely distributed online, and a mod community has grown up around the game.
Twitter user Buttons Montgomery posted the following message (warning: bad language) on November 24th, along with a screenshot showing evidence of a DMCA takedown notice:
So @nicalis has decided to start DMCA'ing the freeware versions of Cave Story and fan made rebuilds of the freeware version that supported mods while also largely not even using the original source code.
Remember: F**k Nicalis. Do not support Nicalis. Do not buy Nicalis games.
The tweet was spotted and reshared by famed indie developer Rami Ismail (he of Vlambeer fame, the studio behind Ridiculous Fishing, Luftrausers, and Nuclear Throne), who then posted the following message:
Cave Story is one of the most important games every made and I will 100% recommend you do not buy it. Download the freeware original, then buy Kero Blaster to support the actual developer of the game, instead of these ugly shenanigans.
One of the developers behind a CSE2 fork – which is a "decompilation" of Cave Story which has "an emphasis on accuracy to the original code" – has also responded to the original tweet, shedding a little more light on why the takedown request was filed:
I'm the main dev behind a major CSE2 fork, so I'd like to clear some stuff here!
Effectively, CSE2 was a decompilation project of the original Freeware release of CS. It appears Nicalis acquired the code of it when they got the IP. The DMCA was filled because of that.
The DMCA claims Nicalis owns the code to CS+ and believes said code exists in the repos, but that's not the case to our knowledge.
Several major participants in the CSE2 project (myself included) are currently planning to approach nicalis to settle on the matter.
It's worth noting that Cave Story remains available for download on sites such as cavestory.org, although, on November 24th, that particular site was updated with the following message:
Removed links to the CSE2 repo due to the DMCA takedown. A note about the CSE2 DMCA takedown was added on both the "download" and "custom engine" pages.
According to the Cave Story Community Encyclopedia, Cave Story is licensed to Nicalis but is owned by Amaya; therefore, it would appear that Nicalis is overstepping the terms of its licensing agreement by trying to snub out freeware versions of the game – although there are have been rumours that Nicalis has "duped" Amaya out of the rights to the game (this video does a good job of covering and even disproving these reports). Whatever agreement Nicalis has with Amaya, it has allowed the company to put characters from Cave Story into other games its has published or developed, including the puzzle title Crystal Crisis and the fighting game Blade Strangers.
This isn't the first time that Nicalis has been accused of questionable behaviour. Last year, a report by Kotaku alleged that the company was ghosting potential business partners and Nicalis boss Tyrone Rodriguez was said to have used slurs and mistreated his staff.
We've approached Nicalis for comment and will update this story if and when we hear back.
Comments 44
I always wanted to play the 3d version but it's impossible to get now for a reasonable price.
Unfortunately I've already bought for switch a few years back. Hopefully the developer saw some of that money...
Good on you for reporting on this!
I still haven't gotten around to playing this. I have the physical Switch version in my backlog. I know I'm super late.
Well, I won't be buying from these jagoffs again.
To put this into perspective, Nintendo did not take legal action against the community that reverse engineered Super Mario 64 because they have no case, but Nicalis are brazenly taking action against the community that reverse engineered the freeware version of Cave Story that does not belong to them.
Despite Cave Story+ itself being a good product (less said about Cave Story 3D), it would make me happy to see Nicalis lose the rights/license to Cave Story.
They keep taking advantage of it by putting Quote, Curly Brace, and many other characters into so many other games whilst Daisuke Amaya seemingly doesn't see any profit from that.
Edit: It appears that Nicalis is claiming that the reverse-engineered code based on the freeware version, contains code from their privately developed retail version, on the basis that they received the source code for the original freeware release.
https://twitter.com/ikuyo_194_/status/1331282703203897349
Keeping in mind that the original freeware release is not open source. It was actually re-constructed a long time ago using something known as NXEngine, and is widely distributed as a Retroarch libretro core. Said core uses the freeware Windows package as a data source and can be played on multiple devices thanks to it.
The recent CSE2 reverse engineered source code allows the game to be natively compiled with added fixes, improvements, and enhancements, for new target devices such as a build for the Nintendo 3DS.
Well I'm glad that I had just redownloaded the free version. I still have not gotten the golden ending. It was sooooo hard! That's super scummy though, seriously guys...
(Plus that's the only translation that has "HUZZAH!" which is objectively the best thing.)
Such an awful company.
I'm still annoyed that they're sitting on 90's arcade racer. That should've been released ages ago.
"Cave Story is one of the most important games every made and I will 100% recommend you do not buy it. Download the freeware original, then buy Kero Blaster to support the actual developer of the game, instead of these ugly shenanigans."
Ugly is the key word here. So sad to see this happen to one of the earlier indie success stories and such a fun innocent game. So innocent that it was released for free. I've always felt many Cave Story purchasers did so to support the developer. This ***** taking advantage of that good will is just flat out gross.
I never really liked how Nicalis treated the EU market to begin with (Ive literally imported every Sitch Nicalis release)
But this along with the Littl Dew 2 fiasco is makeing me rethink supporting them.........just after Ikaruga lol
The 90's Arcade Racer con was enough to tell me they were shady and to not support them.
Yep, trying to get rid of something on the internet. Good luck with that.
It's almost like they don't want Pixel to enjoy the legacy of having started the modern indie movement.
Sad to see a publisher relatively well loved for bringing over physical editions of many indie titles that otherwise wouldn't have go on a downward trajectory so hard.
I didn't know about this, and it's actually kind of painful. I thought they were some of the more loving publishers that understood what they're doing (physical releases with colour manuals and some extra's, some absolutely lovely games,... I do have Cave Story on Switch (physically) and Cave Story 3D on 3DS, together with the digital game on Wii and 3DS, and I'm waiting for my order of Blade Strangers and Ikaruga on Switch. I have several others of "their" games on several platforms, and love most of them. This is sad news to me, apparently not very "new" news if it's been going on for so long.
An all time great Indie. Real shame and outrageous how the original dev's dream creation is effectively being treated by Nicalis.
Star Control and King's Bounty both went though this type of license / owner dispute. Legally it generally pops up because the license agreement is poorly written, but I can't say in this case.
The good news is that in both cases the courts sided with the owner / original creator, which would be Amaya in this case.
Bad news ... both cases took DECADES, and are still not completely resolved.
While this sounds incredibly scummy I'm afraid I'm going to have to block my ears and close my eyes for this one. Nicalis' Binding of Isaac Repentance is by a countrymile the release I'm looking forward to the most atm and I can't give up on that.
But I'll probably stash away the freeware CS just in case too, love that game so much.
Nicalis sound as shady as the Modders/hackers!!!
I played the original freeware so many years ago. Bought CS+ on Steam mostly to support the great grandfather of one-man indie studios. I learnt better since then
Can't say I will be supporting them in the future.
To be fair they don't seem to try to remove the actual game. You can still get it on cavestory.org. They explicitly mention that they had to remove some stuff due to a DMCA takedown. But the freeware version of the game itself is still there. I also found it on several tech websites and stuff.
They seem to only go against fan projects based on the freeware version, which is still bad, but at least a little justified, because "freeware" doesn't automatically mean "open source".
These pieces of trash screwed me with Ittledew 2 and with that save me mr tako game. I will NEVER support them again and I hope they go out of business.
What a ***** storm. I remember when it was coming out. They took forever to release the game. It was delayed for a very long time with no explanation as to why. They didn't tell the fans anything. I won't be buying anything from them anymore which sucks cause of games like the end is nigh (spiritual successor to super meat boy) and runner 3 (continuation of the bit.trip series) who knows what indie classics they will take next
I boycotted these jerks ages ago.
I suggest you all do the same.
I first played this on GP2X, as a free port of the freeware version (I believe it was ported to the handheld by the original dev himself in fact), then on PC, the original freeware version. I loved the game so much, then it released on 3DS so I got the 3D version. I don't share the hate towards it, but I'll agree that it was not quite as appealing as the original but I was happy to own this masterpiece physically. Now I also own it on Switch and I'm glad I do, this game deserves to be on physical media.
With that being said I hold no ill will or hate towards Nicalis, as long as Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya does get his royalties on each unit sold by Nicalis.I wanted this on a cartridge and I got it because they stepped up (not out of the goodness of their heart but for profit, I know, but still, they did deliver). I'm not OK with them putting Quote and Curly in other games if it is without the consent of Amaya san or without paying him royalties for it though, unless he sold off the rights to them, but I don't know if that is the case. If he did, it was a mistake on his part, cause I feel like Quote and Curly should not be over-exploited like this.
Having said all that the last version I played was the freeware one, on Wii U through RetroArch.
Going after fan mods isn't new in the industry (although you'd think it would be the dev's job - most of the Nicalis ports are console ones and don't allow modding outside the CFW districts regardless), but are they really trying to DCMA the freeware original? It sure doesn't sound like something within their copyright capacity.🤔
@Alexface CS3D was my first 3DS game :3 I actually thought it was brilliant
Nintendo literally do the exact same thing.
NintendoLife is not saying "Do not support Nintendo, do not buy Nintendo games"
I call BS and hypocracy on this whole story.
This is just the latest of many reasons why Nicalis (specifically its CEO, Tyrone Rodriguez) is pure trash.
Screw Nicalis. They’re one of the scummiest, most horrible publishers out there.
GOSH DARNIT
I just bought Ikaruga off them the other day.
F***!!
@the8thark Amazing isn’t it?
I fell in love with Cave Story when I first played it. The freedom of game modding and the release of different forks of the game created by fans using CSE2 (Cave Story) as the base game made the freeware pc version more popular than what's sold on consoles.
Its truly a shame that Nicalis is doing this...As a long time fan, I'm very disappointed in them.
In that case, I'm glad the standard physical edition of Ikaruga was discontinued. Nicalis may discover that we have many other places to make our discretionary purchases.
Did they also publish the La-Mulana HD versions?
Wonder if they're going to try to erase the MSX1-inspired freeware original version of that game too?
@KingMike
Thankfully Nicalis have had zero involvement with La Mulana since 2012.
The most recent physical release of 1 + 2 on the Switch was handled by NIS America.
Funnily enough, Cave Story 3D though developed by Nicalis, was published by NIS America. There's a Prinny hat and easter egg in the game as a result of that.
Honestly, I would say don’t bother worrying about Cave Story 3D. It lacks all of the charm of original (and upgraded) 2D art. It is a muddy, washed out experience that makes the platforming and combat difficult.
Plus that's the only translation that has "HUZZAH!" which is objectively the best thing.
@Kieroni I consider you 100% correct... but I am a little disturbed by the way your avatar winks at me.
Nicalis has a long running tradition of being bad to work with for many indie developers. I first saw something was wrong when they were supposed to publish La-Mulana on Wii back in 2011. The devs mentioned that there was poor communication, and issues with getting it lot checked, and they cancelled publishing the game in North America with no discussion with the devs (they literally found out the morning as they announced it on Twitter). There was some shady stuff going on there and since then I've had mixed feelings about Nicalis.
I saw them repeatedly re-releasing Cave Story and it did continuously feel like a cash grab from what I could see. Inserting Cave Story characters in everything. It was almost like they were using the IP as freely as they wanted.
Interestingly when the time came Pixel published Kero Blaster with Playism and NOT Nicalis. Mind you I don't think Pixel has ever openly said anything in regards to why he didn't work with Nicalis to publish again. Playism is also the company that ended up publishing La-Mulana in the west finally.
I know that there was a recent thing where Nicalis published Mr.Tako as well and that publishing relationship got broken off for one reason or another.
Edmund McMillan broke off ties with Nicalis in 2019 as well due to the accusations against Tyrone.
So yeah I'm very interested in the fact that Nicalis is now sending DMCA's regarding Cave Story and trying to shut down fan mods of the original FREE release that Pixel made. Cause if they actually have the authority to do that, it means whatever contract they made with Pixel back in the day with Cave Story, it sounds like they screwed him over in regards to control over his IP. Who knows though, that's something that hasn't come out yet.
Also I find it interesting that people are bringing Nintendo into this saying "Nintendo does this all the time"... which to be made clear this is a very different situation.
Nintendo owns the rights to all their IP's, and games.
Nicalis as far as the public knows, shouldn't own control over Cave Story and be able to send DMCA's against these fan mods (Pixel the dev could if he wanted, but he isn't).
So either Nicalis stole copyright control from Pixel using legal contract mumbo jumbo when they published the game 10 years ago. Or they are sending DMCA's to people that they don't have any legal right to be sending. Both are lower than low moves.
@the8thark Yeah except Nintendo games are made by them and are not freeware unlike Cave Story. This story is just Nicalis trying to cease and desist things that aren't theirs to begin with. Just cause you're a publisher doesn't mean you can screw with consumers that bought into the product before your acquisition of that product. It's like if Microsoft takedown all versions of Minecraft from the PS3, PS Vita, and PS4 just cause they now own the IP when clearly it was Mojang that released those games for those platforms to begin with before handing it to Microsoft on a silver platter.
I don't agree that Cave Story is one of the most important games ever made but I think legally Nicalis is in the wrong here since it was already freeware and has been for over ten years. That exceeds the statute for IP.
Ironically, Cave Story+ is going to be the Epic Games Store's free weekly giveaway (permanently, no subscription fee required, just have to put up with their store environment) for the week of Dec. 3rd-10th (see https://www.epicgames.com/store/en-US/free-games or your regional equivalent). Since I can't imagine Nicalis making any money off of a free giveaway, this seems like a better than usual opportunity to avail oneself of the deal.
@COVIDberry I apologize for my overly familiar avatar
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