Fan-Made 'Link's Awakening DX HD' Port Taken Down By Nintendo

This is a wonderful version of one of my favorite games, and I'm glad I got to download it.

It sure is a shame it got advertised on so many sites, therefore making more visible on the radar of Nintendo's legal department though. 👀

Will they ever learn? Just start with it as a basis if you like, but then turn it into something else. Something you can actualy, legally release.

It's not like it is impossible to come up with a similar but different story.

Yep downloaded already and enjoying it. Itch.io isn’t the place to put it though.

Thank goodness I nabbed it in time although I'm sure it's easy enough to spot elsewhere. It's really a very cool way to experience a classic (that I've purchased countless time before).

"Now you'll pay the ultimate price!"

zzzzzap

GAME OVER

"Would you like to play again, THIEF?"

@Daniel36 I don't think they "made" this in any way, they literally just worked with the original nintendo code. So even if they did their own stuff it was still built on nintendo's code. Though I agree with your general sentiment, that's how a lot of my best ideas are born, and stuff like Star Wars, and Watchmen as well.

@LadyCharlie The news outline don't care if it gets taken down, it just means they can make another article to get clicks when it does. So it is beneficial to them to do so.

@Sisilly_G There's a great cheat here. You name your character THIEF to begin with, then they can't hurt you.

As expected. Make your own game.

Maybe don't poke the bear.

This was 100% patent infringement and 110% within Nintendo’s rights. Even worse, the game is available by Nintendo directly, albeit in its original (and still very much playable) form.
But as a proof of concept, that HD DX thing was freaking amazing…
I’d almost rather that then the remake we got. The remake is fantastic in its own right but if you’re a nostalgia-holic such as myself, Well… ya… you know what one I’d pick over the other.

This surprised exactly 0 people

a lot of people managed to download the game before it was taken down.... and are enjoying it..

@Drac_Mazoku using a billion dollar IP gets more eyes/attention which is invaluable online.

It's hard to get people to play an unknown IP by an unknown person.

I’ve come around on this issue. Back in the AM2R days I was staunchly against Nintendo’s takedowns. I’m not anymore. Nintendo is one of the few remaining publishers of real video games who haven’t jumped full on to the live service model. If protecting their IP helps them continue to make good games, so be it.

One day I want to read an article about one of these fans making their own original games.

@Dr_Lugae that is a cop out/lazy. These billon dollar IPs didn’t start out that way. And many indies make it all the time. It’s hard work to make a product, especially a successful one. But it should be honest work. You take your lumps like everyone else. Success is rarely a straight line, but you keep pushing or fail ultimately. You don’t steal from others.

I think at this point, everyone, creators included, just accept that the takedowns are part of the process of getting it out there. Something good will come out, it'll gain traction, and everyone rushes to download before it gets taken down. Then those who downloaded initially will re-upload and life goes on. So it isn't like totally disheartening.

Glad I got it in time.

I see, they left Mysplaced alone because even though it was a near identical title didn't have Link, Koholint, or the bosses. This is a recreation of dx title.

@Drac_Mazoku @Ryu_Niiyama Yeah I agree with you. I'm just saying that's why these people choose to do this.

Even getting C&D is promotion.

It could use a few tweaks, but it was pretty good. Sometimes your sword attacks didn't register, though.

What I really liked is that a lot of the transitions were REALLY quick!

@Poodlestargenerica It is highly unlikely anyone in 2023 went back and reprogrammed the whole game, which is written in machine language. Not only is assembly tedious and time consuming and there are only a handful of people in the world that know Game Boy assembly, but they would also have to program their own custom emulator just for that one game. It's not known if Game Boy assembly could even pull off the things that are done in this release.

On release it was called a PC port, meaning it wouldn't be Game Boy code, if the author of the release and news sites reporting it used the terminology correctly.

It is vastly easier to just remake the whole game with fresh code.

The things I keep find from this article is the tendency of using Zelda or Mario games as fan games that get closed by Nintendo for violating copyrights.
Some peoples out there get obsessed with Zelda or Mario stuffs too much.

Y'know Nintendo lawyers are often treated as the most over the top no fun allowed unless you give us money type of people possible, but if you really think about it, this is the bare minimum. Like they sure did take it down, exactly once, on one site. Clearly, this port is gone now and will never be found again!

Wish I could get paid for essentially accomplishing nothing.

I am surprised at how many people are posting that they downloaded infringing Nintendo content on a Nintendo website. Might not be the smartest idea considering Nintendo's reputation regarding its IP.

They could have taken the time and effort to make this to create their own game.

Anyone who didn't see this coming was kidding themselves.
While on the other hand, Nintendo is kidding themselves thinking they killed this port when it's already on the Internet.

“How dare you make us look bad for not putting much effort into our remasters!”

@DestructoDisk I didn't say it was a Gameboy rom, I said they stole from Nintendo. Your supposition of them coding an entire game just to do this is just as ridiculous. You can take rules and functions from an old game and port it while also changing things, people do it all the time.

People stop creating games based on other people's IPs. Or just blatantly stealing their game and releasing it on a different platform. (like with this one) Create your own games, with your own characters in your own worlds. And your games can even be featured on the platforms from the companies you love so much you want to steal their games.

For example, if you want GB style games there is the very awesome GBStudio to get you started.

And @Nintendolife and other gaming media, stop making these people famous. Unless they actually make something that's their own.

@Daniel36 Hi, as someone's who in the rom hack scene let me clarify a few things.

1. It's not easy being creative and doing your own thing. Not everyone is a born artist.

2. Not everyone is trying to create their own thing. Rom hacks or this case a full reverse engineering is just a fun project. People have being doing this in the scene for over a decade now and it's fun.

People in general like to break things down and see the internal organs.

2. It's just that, a fun hobby. There is no profit to be gained and I assure you alot on the scene do not support piracy or trying to make a profit.

3. It's thanks to big hacks like these I am able to play games on defunct hardware, or fun games that never got translated outside of japan.

4. Alot of indies got there start from hacking games and went on to make fully successful games.

Rats. I should have downloaded it when I had the chance. Curses.

@Vexx234

2. It's just that, a fun hobby. There is no profit to be gained and I assure you alot on the scene do not support piracy or trying to make a profit.

This is piracy. Plain and simple. Piracy doesn't mean you need to make money off of it.

1. It's not easy being creative and doing your own thing. Not everyone is a born artist.
4. Alot of indies got there start from hacking games and went on to make fully successful games.

You are contradicting yourself. So, just let's say.. start with point 4. and skip 1.

I can understand Nintendo wanting to protect their intellectual property, especially for newer games, and I know that Link's Awakening DX is available on Nintendo Switch Online...

But Link's Awakening DX is 25 years old now. Nintendo really couldn't have been losing money on this, right?

Also, people always bring up the argument that these developers should use their skills to make their own games instead, but having developed video games for college projects before, I want to say that creating a brand new idea for a game is not easy. Moreover, sometimes a project like this is more interesting when it's based on an existing property you like rather than something unknown. (I still have big admiration for the people who can come up with new ideas, though.)

and you wonder why people hate Nintendo

Old Man: 'It's dangerous to make fan games of our IP'
Link: 'Ugh, Okay....'
Old Man: 'Here, take this' hands over cease and desist

@SuperBro64 Nintendo recently sold new Legend of Zelda Game&Watch with Link's Awakening, they rent Link's Awakening DX on Switch online, and they even remade the game on Switch.

Releasing this "game" is hurting Nintendo's sales.

@KBuckley27 Why though? For them wanting to protect their property? Don't you like to play Nintendo games? Because if everyone could just make their own 'Nintendo' games, Nintendo would stop doing it themselves.

I don't hate Nintendo. I do hate pirates and criminals who steal from Nintendo.

You can still find it and download the game, if you know where to look.
I don't know why Nintendo even bothers going after these projects, when they'll just pop up somewhere else. Just like a Hydra. Cut off one head, and another one will grow 😂

@sanderev I did forget about Link's Awakening being on the Game & Watch, so that's true (although it wasn't the DX version, it was the original). And you are right, the Switch remake does exist, too.

But still... Even with various news sites reporting on this project, I feel like the number of people who actually knew about this was probably quite small in comparison to those who don't read much or any gaming news and have purchased Nintendo's products (which includes myself, I've bought and played both the Zelda Game & Watch and the Switch remake). Just my take on it.

@Steel76 That's the issue with stopping criminals, there is always one more. But you do need to stop them, otherwise crime would go unchecked. Same applies here.

@sanderev I know you enjoy defending the mega billion dollar corporation, but I assure you Nintendo isn't going to award you a cookie for being their white knight.

@Drac_Mazoku Maybe they’re legends in their own minds, impressing nobody but themselves?

@Anti-Matter You should’ve visited my daughter’s video game store when she ran it. 90% of customers want Mario, Zelda, and GoldenEye. Everything else just sits around, unless it’s anime/Japanimation related/influenced.

I learned the cartoony art-style by drawing Mario characters back around 1990, Nintendo’s Valiant comic books. I guess it’s natural for people to want to create their own from their passsion? I don’t know. I don’t assume to answer for others.

Strange how everytime you guys report on a fangame, it gets taken down huh?

You know Nintendo looks over this website. If you truly care about fans, you wouldn't talk about them.

@GoshJosh I am not defending any company. I am simply stating what law says about it. (in my own words)

Also I would've said this about any company or person. Even the worst person or company on the planet. Because two wrongs don't make it right.

@Poodlestargenerica You said they literally worked with Nintendo's code. That isn't possible unless they edited the ROM, wrote new assembly, and wrote their own emulator. Assembly isn't code in the same sense as a modern programing language. It isn't transferable in any way. Assembly is literally instructions to the hardware. The EXE that was released is instructions to the OS.

Rewriting the whole game from scratch is infinitely easier. Like I said there is a handful of people that can even read Game Boy assembly in the world today. So even if what you meant by "Literally use Nintendo's code" is reading the code and then writing new code in a modern language, that is still highly unlikely. It would first require the ability to do that.. and even someone who can program or read Game Boy assembly would find it far easier to remake the game from scratch than going through someone else's assembly with no notes.

It's easier to just play the game and test the mechanics and rip sprites. This is the way almost all of these remakes from old 80s and 90s assembly games are done. The man hours to use code from assembly just makes no sense at all. Machine language is crazy difficult to understand and time consuming.

If you knew much about assembly you would understand making a game from scratch that mimics an original machine language game (without actually diving into the code) is not (just as) ridiculous, it is common sense. This is why there are modern tools like NESMaker and GB Studio. Nobody in their right mind wants to work with assembly. Even the original Game Boy devs have long forgotten Game Boy assembly. It's largely useless code knowledge, because it is only compatible with Game Boy, and no other game or computer platform in the world. The code means nothing unless it is in relation to the Game Boys chips.

@Ryu_Niiyama Right on the money. Where are people's creativity?

I’d like to think all these people just refuse to ever support Toby Fox considering he made the grave error of creating ROM hacks of Earthbound. Clearly these heathens deserve the death penalty for not making an entire indie game.

@sanderev Yeah I'm making my own inspired by the Mario RPGs. But I'd never try and intrude on Nintendo's copyright, even though with the same or less effort (wouldn't have to do the art) I'd probably have gotten coverage from a website.

https://azzie.itch.io/reindeer-story

I'm hoping once the Switch 2 is out Nintendo will make getting a Switch dev kit a bit easier for solo indie devs without a publisher, so I can port it to Switch for 2025.

These fangames frustrate me to no end. People whine when they make something they know will inevitably be taken down. I feel like people are genuinely wasting their time making these games. Make something original. You could make a bit of money off it, and even maybe even put it on a resume.

Send me a Link!

oh...

@sanderev I didn't contradict myself. I said people who made successful games got their start from hacking games. I also said, alot of people just hack games for fun and nothing more.

1. Is an option people choose to pursue
2. Is just a hobby with no greater goal other than breaking something apart.

These two things can co-exist and they do. If you weren't so hell bent on seeing the scene as evil people who's only motives in life is to destroy companies, you'd find many of them have various motives for why they do these things.

For instance many old games as I said, have been left into the dust. Either due to companies no longer supporting it, or licensing issues preventing it. The "evil" hackers manage to preserve some of them thanks to breaking things down and bringing it over to modern hardware.

For example there is a gba series of games that Nintendo and Konami have never to ported over and it's forever stuck on GBA.

It's easier, and free for me to play the rom, vs constantly investing in GBA's that eventually become e-waste, and buying the game on Ebay that will continually scale in price the more said game becomes obscure due to limited cartridges.

Why don't you instead ask why big companies don't do a better job at creating a permanent solution to persevere games and make sure none get left behind to time?

There are so many games that can only be played due to emulation, but are illegal at the same time because companies haven't invested in preserving them.

Sorry, Im just not jumping on the bandwagon of labeling everyone who does this as pure evil monsters like alot of folks seems to do on this site.

I knew this was going to happen. Nintendo is notorious for taking down fan projects like this, but well within their legal rights to do so.

I just hope that they don't go after another fan project that I've had my eye on for the better part of a decade now, especially since it does not appear to use any official assets from Nintendo. I won't name the project, much less the series it's based on, lest Nintendo catch wind of it and shut it down, too. That being said, they probably already know about it, as it has been gaining some traction within the fandom in the last couple of years.

But that aside, I just don't understand why anyone would need HD visuals and 120 frames per second on a 25 to 30-year-old game, especially if it uses the same graphics as all those years ago. If I want to play an HD version of the game, I'll play the official one, with brand new visuals and built from the bottom up to support HD, not just an upscaled version of a game that's almost as old as I am.

It was an unnecessary “port” or whatever you want to call it. Meh.

Oh no. Now how will anyone ever find it?

Now that surprises me. I thought this was a reverse-engineered version of the game in the same vein as Ship of Harkinan (Ocarina of Time PC port)... seems like the fatal mistake was using Nintendo IP in the game's code.

It would still be live if they called it "Lonk's done with his nap" and changed a few things in the game. But they just want to use that Nintendo game. Oh well... What's the next Nintendo DMCA story?

In before the "LEAVE THE BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATIONS ALONE" lol

Nintendo Life: Look everyone, it's a Link's Awakening HD port.

A few days later:

Nintendo Life: It's been taken down, how did Nintendo find out about it?

If they were going for proof of concept, at least there's that. If this wasn't a basic lift of the game's code and some assets and functions were changed, this probably would've passed.

Not really surprised at all. Glad I snagged it when I did, though!

That aside, it's odd that they only target the really well-made fan-made stuff, and not the half-hearted/lazy/no-effort-put-in-it-at-all fan-made stuff. Really makes you think...

All that being said... As hard as they try, it's like cutting off the head of a hydra: If you slice one off, dozens more take its place as fan-made stuff like this gets uploaded to other sites.

@sanderev Do you know Christian Whitehead? He is the dude behind Sonic Mania. He made fangames and even reversed engineered Sonic CD on a custom engine.

Guess what Sega did? They hired him. Not bad for a pirate.

Would a fan-made version of Nintendolife get taken down?

Great port. I’m happy for those that got it. Enjoy

Another reason ill never feel guilt when I accidentally forget to pay for any games with Nintendos official seal of "quality".

@Drac_Mazoku Most people don't really care about draconian "intellectual" property laws. Especially with AI being far too advanced to ever put back, it's a losing battle when it'll be able to make it's own version of Mario with a couple clicks within 5 years.

@ninfriendo_1973 NintendoLoaf, with writer Alina Hogues.

Now You're Playing With Nintendo's Lawyers!

@DonkeyBrainKing anyone who ever says "most people" agree with X thing tend to be full of it. But I am willing to bet the creators of most fiction and art in general would prefer their creations aren't outright copied by others.

Luckily I already downloaded it, I saw this coming. They should have not included any of the original code or assets, have it load the rom like Ship of Harkinian does.

I wouldn't have known about it if not for John Cartwright at GVG (formerly of this website). While I share his love of Link's Awakening (it's my favourite in the series), the fact that the game is readily available on Switch in both HD and DX versions, as well as on Game & Watch in its original Game Boy version, means this is the sort of project no one should be touching, let alone advertising to the world. AM2R at least lived as long as it did because no one thought Metroid 2 was getting a real remake.

And calling it a PC Port? This was inevitable, and blatantly illegal, even if they completely rebuilt it from the ground up from scratch. They infringed on the IP, the scenario, the gameplay, the basic controls, the music, the sprites used, etc.

In contrast, Panic's Playdate has a game called "Resonant Tale" which is a very direct homage to Link's Awakening, in digital fonts, in sprite work, in world design, in genre, but it's 1-bit black and white graphics, and controls entirely differently and has its own map and puzzles that are entirely different. That's how you do a tribute to your favourite game; making something inspired by it, not making an illegal port of it that "improves" on it with lighting and shaders and item slots but also prevents you from locking the viewshed to the original gameboy screen transitions.

Finally, one more comment on building up the architecture from the ground up, because sometimes I see this thrown around as a way to get around the claims of piracy: OpenMW had to navigate a very delicate legal tightrope on this front when it recreated the engine of Morrowind to break the 2002 coding rules and open up the floodgates for game mods. But they had a few legal tools in their utility belt: (1) to play Morrowind in OpenMW, you need a copy of Morrowind. You could code your own game with the OpenMW using Morrowind as a guidepost but without many of its limitations, but to legally play a game with Morrowind's assets and scenario you need to actually own a copy of the game and install it. (2) Morrowind came with the Construction Set and Bethesda actively encouraged modding as long as you stayed within the licensing agreement – you're not distributing the game to others illegally, for example, or trying to sell your own game using their assets. (3) OpenMW completely rewrote the code, and I understand this game used some of the original code of Zelda GB.

Even STILL, Bethesda issued OpenMW a cease and desist at the time, only to retract it after the lawyers spoke with each other about it and clarified what OpenMW is and isn't.

This game breaks all of those guiding frameworks. The only thing really going for it is that it's an old game, but an old game easily available means it felt dirty even to see GVG making a video about it.

Maybe NintendoLife should stop reporting and posting news articles on fan games? It's pretty obvious Nintendo looks at this website. It's like you guys WANTED to see it get taken down.

So many good little paypiggies here.

It’s the internet, you’ll be able to find it everywhere now

@SuperBro64 Nintendo has the Ip rights to F-Zero, yet doesn't want to make another game nor willing to sell the Ip to another company to make one. It will sit there and rot till Nintendo "feels" like throwing it a bone.

Yet people keep cheering on Nintendo as superheroes who only care.

It's taken down because articles like these alerts Nintendo. You guys do more harm then good to the mod community. I hope the money you guys made on these articles were worth it

@Devann that's exactly what they do so they can make another article like this. These guys will do anything for a quick buck and Nintendo probably pays them to do it

Well jeepers... it's almost like widely covering this project painted a big red target on it, along with the words "I love being DMCA'd". Maybe we could avoid doing that in the future?
I doubt we've seen the last of it though.

I mean....... this was honestly a phenomenally stupid thing to do if they didn't expect this to happen. I'm not one to cheer for a giant corporation's win over an independent creator, but at some point, you have to start losing sympathy for the people who keep poking the bear in the eye.

@WaffleRaptor01 I'm certainly not cheering for Nintendo's legal team. But this is the definition of a shocked Pikachu face situation.

@demacho Im guessing it's more of criticism of IP's themselves. Many companies have IP's they refuse do anything with, but hold onto them with dear life as to prevent anyone else from touching it.

I'm going to look at this from another angle and say this was all planned. For one, youtube is well known platform, so why even choose it?

I'm going to hazard to guess the creator got their 15 minutes of fame, and now the game will be seen by more than thanks to media, and sought out (like it will even be hard to find since people with a copy will upload it somewhere)

In the end I say the creator is the winner here. In that case. Go him!

If we still have good and sucessful Mario and Zelda games after 30 years it's because Nintendo it's so protective of their IPs. So good work.

@Devann In a lot of Nintendo's accolades trailers and promotions they use this site's reviews, so obviously they do.

Make actual fangames instead of remakes, Nintendo comes after Remakes harder.

Already got it downloaded from the high seas, safe from the Big N’s grip.

Well can't let the project go to waste, now just replaced all the Zelda stuffs with original stuffs and get the game back online. It can still used all the Zelda assets, it just can't be a Zelda game.

Probably would be a better use of time and skills to make something original instead of a useless port of a perfect game which can be emulated on any device.

@Quiet2down I was thinking about that possibility. No possible way a creator this capable would be oblivious to the fact that this would get DMCA'd into oblivion. They just wanted to put it out there for as long as possible before the inevitable end.

That or they're just incredibly, incredibly naive

@Ultimapunch
Seems like Sony are bailing on that idea as well after seeing how recent live service games have been performing. Guess they realized that you can't make every game something that you can play forever because not everyone is going to be able to devote that amount of time to them.

@demacho Im going with the idea it was planned from the get go.

1. Nintendo is well known for taking down anything
2. Youtube is like the 1# platform when it comes to video content
3. Nintendo stalks that platform like a vulture

To be that naive would be incredible, but not impossible. I'm going to say he knew it was going to come down , but atleast got it advertised long enough for sites like NL to post it front and center.

Besides this isn't the first nor last time hackers basically jumped in the lions den. Many of them enjoy the thrill of challenge and baiting companies. It's like a rush.

Not hard to find. It seems so futile and infantile to bother taking it down. Meh. I grabbed it.

@Bwight33 it takes five seconds and find it, and maybe go somewhere else if you think that NL are so nefarious? And that's not flippant or trying to be gatekeeping or a big meanie. If you honestly think this place is ran by such miscreants, than why come here?
Why would they even post that the mod has been taken down? Do you not think that NL were predicting that it would be removed and also prepared for the comments here blaming them?

@Bwight33 What's the point of a release like this if no one knows about it? Sure, the coverage alerts Nintendo, but it also brings other, more positive attention to the project.

Anyway, I feel like this project should've used a similar release model as the PC version of Super Mario 64, so that it would've required the original game and would've taken all of the sprite data, music etc directly from the ROM.

Wait, it was unironically on Itch.io? Might as well have submitted it as a Steam freebie while at it...

I find it hilarious, how people white knighting for Nintendo.
They don't care for you. Only your money.

These fan games, doesn't hurt Nintendo in ANY way.

The Super Mario Bros port for C64, Nintendo shuts it down (though it's still easy to find).
The Sonic (Master System) port for C64, SEGA don't care.

Nintendo should be glad, that fans care so much about their games, making their own takes/versions on their franchises, just like people make covers of music, on Youtube/Live.
It's a celebration, not an evil act.
But Nintendo don't allow fun.

Nintendo can continue to waste time, trying to take them down. Once something hits the Internet, it's there forever.

Looking forward to read all the white knight comments, about how wrong I am, etc.

@Steel76 Yeah you are wrong. It's OK to be inspired by a series, but if you were really a fan you'd have respect for Nintendo's position on the use of their IP.

But these are IP Nintendo have built up over decades. They're highly desirable, they attract attention and a following which is valuable in the social media age. You'd be deluded to think that unofficial Zelda on PC doesnt take some attention away from official zelda on Nintendo. so you can't really dismiss using these without permission away by just saying 'I'm a fan'.

There should be more Undertales and less of this stuff. I don't think you have a single good reason fans shouldn't be using their own IP.

@Steel76 You're wrong, Nintendo do allow fun. All the Nintendo-brand fun you could possibly want for prices as low as $49.99!

@Dr_Lugae Keyword being SOME. Really how much sales is Nintendo going to get out of a 1993 game? They've gotten their money's worth back then, still get a few bucks here and there now, and even more thanks to the remake.

You make sound way worse than it is. The amount of people who will download this game is a drop in the bucket compared to the users who already have/will purchase the Nintendo Switch Online pass on a daily basis. Really, it's not going to do anything to Nintendo.

You can argue legalities, but lets not start pretending a 1993 game being reversed engineered is suddenly going to cost Nintendo billions due to everyone on earth choosing the pc version of a 1993 game that released in 1993.

Did I mention it released in 1993?

Really mate. For everyone 1 person who downloads this pc game, 100 more will buy a NSO pass and play it there. It's really not that terrifying.

Nothing dies on the internet. Like a weed, it will only pop up all over the place now, only in darker and darker places on the internet, from different people, and possibly altered with malicious code. I already downloaded it on my phone to check out when I get the time to get on my laptop, knowing 100% that this project was doomed from its inception.

I should add that I own the original GB/GBC black cartridge which I got in the 90s, so Nintendo got my (well, actually my parents') money back then. I have also bought it on the 3DS Virtual Console, and I also own the remake on Switch. And on top of that I have been an NSO subscriber for four or five years now, currently w/ Expansion Pack, and I can therefore play the game on there.

Nintendo, I own (or "rent" in case of subscription model) your game like four times over, and I still think you taking this down--although inevitable--is pretty damn pathetic. Ridiculous.

@Jiggies this happens all the time, like every indie game like star dew valley or axiom verge.

The whole point of this was that it had the existing ip. If it didn't, there wouldn't be this article or this amount of attention.

Buddy is probably going to get offered a job at Nintendo anyways

@Steel76 Yeah but can you imagine how awesome this game will be if it was another game instead.

I downloaded it. I'll be adding it to my Steam Deck in some fashion to play it.

And nothing is ever truly gone from the internet. It can still be found out there, if you know where to look.

It is ok folks, there are several other places that have already reuploaded it.

There are a lot of people who think places like Nintendo Life reporting on it is what got it taken down. They released this port publicly and people were already sharing it on social media. Do people think no one at Nintendo would have become aware of it's existence? I would guess guess most of the people who downloaded it wouldn't have known themselves if it hadn't been shared around online to begin with.

Thinking Nintendo won't know about it if the news doesn't report it makes many of you look naïve to say the least. If they didn't want Nintendo to find out they made it then they shouldn't have released it in a public way.

I am not taking either side here but some people always act shocked when a company like Nintendo doesn't want a property they own getting a PC port they didn't authorise released and think because they have money it makes them evil for doing it.

@JohnnyMind It does use an existing game engine, but one that has a modding community built around it, since the original developer released the source code under a non-commercial license. Nintendo doesn't own any of the game engine's assets or source code, nor do they own the character models, which are original to the fangame.

But knowing how zealous they are in protecting their IP, they could claim copyright infringement anyway, simply due to the fact that they own the universe and characters that the fangame is based on. After all, look how they went after AM2R and Pokémon Uranium. I don't believe those fangames used any Nintendo-owned assets or source code, but they were taken down anyway, because they looked and played like Metroid and Pokémon games.

It's the same argument that I made when it was reported a couple years ago that a group of fans reverse-engineered Ocarina of Time. Even if Nintendo doesn't own the game engine's code or assets, they own the universe and the characters that the fangame is based on. So it is possible, if not likely, that they would try to shut it down, citing copyright infringement.

For informational and educational purposes only: Interesting how Nintendo can’t scrub the game from Internet Archive. Just googled it. It’s there.

@sanderev > Releasing this "game" is hurting Nintendo's sales.

Why did you put "game" in quotation marks like that?

@Vexx234 I understand completely what you are saying. I may have not made myself clear enough. I understand the reverse engineering part. I completely understand not being creative enough to come up with something from scratch. Which is why I understand.

But once you have done all of that, simply create and swap the assets, create something new from what you have hacked. Just don't upload stuff like this because you know it will be taken down.

Why are some of you so angry?
I don't get it

Usually if it gets to close to Nintendo IP that in current ideas that would invite Nintendo Ninja as well.

This version is amazing. That said, I knew Nintendo would take it down and yeah it's their right, but you can't legally buy this game anymore from Nintendo anyhow. It is part of their larger paid service, but not directly. I am all for fans enhancing old games anytime.

@BreathingMiit Because before posting it I had a different word in that place. But I knew people wouldn't be happy with it, so I replaced it with "game".

Nintendo Prove Themselves Less Evil Than Their Competitors Challenge (impossible)

Such is the way of every multinational organization that values profit and control over innovation and artistry.

@EriXz they wish they worked here...

... Aaaaand of course Nintendo is the bad guy here.

@JohnnyMind I've been looking at YouTube videos of cutscenes and gameplay all day. This game is shaping up to be all kinds of epic, even better than anything Nintendo themselves has ever put out. This is frankly the game that Nintendo wishes the series could be.

It'll most likely never happen, but it would be cool if Nintendo could help finish the game. After all, Microsoft is providing support to the Halo fangame Installation 01, under the condition that the game remain non-commercial. The developers for that fangame won't even take donations.

And that's where things might get a bit rocky with the fangame I previously mentioned. The developer is asking for Patreon donations, which could result in Nintendo arguing that he is making money off of this game, and thus issue a DMCA takedown.

After all, they have done the same thing with Kickstarter campaigns for fanfilms based on Metroid and fan books about The Legend of Zelda. It would not be a stretch to think that they would shut down this fangame based on that fact alone.

@JohnnyMind And the thing we need to understand, too, is that when a fanmade production of a Nintendo property gets any sort of traction with the video game community, Nintendo is swift to shut it down.

That's why I won't name the fangame, the series it's based on, or even the game engine it's using. I am doing everything in my power to make sure this game keep as low a profile as possible, so Nintendo is less likely to find out about it.

Of course, they may already know about it, as it is gaining some traction with the fandom. For all we know, it could frankly be a matter of time before it gets shut down.

This really isn't a fan game, since it's a duplication of an official NIntendo game, so it's far more cut-and-dry that Nintendo isn't just within their legal right, but also justified to take it down.

That being said, the developer was very smart in not announcing it before release, and I look forward to trying it at some point.

The end of an Era before it even began

@JohnnyMind I think it is specifically for the game. As it is, the URL for the Patreon is the title of the game. And the subheading under the creator's name specifically states the name of the fangame, meaning that this Patreon is geared specifically towards the game's development.

But thank you for the words of encouragement. It's based on one of my favorite Nintendo franchises, one that deserves far more love and attention from Nintendo than it does now. It's basically the fans like myself that are keeping this franchise alive.

@LadyCharlie
But guess it makes it more likely to get uploaded on many different Pages elsewhere

I loaded it on my Smartphone when i read it and send it over to my PC and my Cousin.

But no surprise, going through the Files, there is all the Stuff included ^^
Other Ports are the Code only, without any Graphics, Music et cetera.
So it can't be taken down from Nintendo.

Too late Nintendo, I’m just about to start the Face Shrine on my Steam Deck. I like this better than the remake, not least because it hasn’t been drawn out with bloat and has a steady framerate.

Why not work with creators to make things like this available on the Switch? I know you can’t condone or turn a blind eye to copyright infringement as it can weaken your claims over the IP in future legal actions. But when things as good as this and AM2R come along you’re leaving money on the table by not working with the creator. Yes, you have your own (inferior) remakes to sell, but there’s nothing wrong with having both versions (and the originals!) available.

Comment sections like this remind me that so many people do just feel entitled to free stuff. Yes, Nintendo is in their right to remove an unauthorized copy/paste version of their game. No, you are not entitled to play this game on PC free simply because you want to. This wasn't even a fan game with originality.

Wonder if they could have done this with people supplying their own rom/assets. Isn't that what the Ocarina of Time port is doing?

I mean, they released a version of the game featuring all the code and assets for download while Nintendo is actually actively selling both the original (as part of a subscription service) and the remake as a retail game. It's just plain against copyright law with no gray area.

I do wish Nintendo would make this much easier on everyone and actively preserve their own history and give a safe haven for fan projects that they can host and control the information and story around. Really it's getting irresponsible as time goes on and Nintendo should do WAY better at it.

But, yeah, this one is pretty cut and dry, right?

I don't understand what they were thinking by releasing the game with Nintendo copyrighted files included! I was surprised that the download included graphics, music and all in a complete package. Of course Nintendo would take it down.

They should have only released the reverse engineered custom code without any Nintendo-made content. Then include a compiler that would generate the game from the code and from an original ROM of Link's Awakening. This way it could have stayed up! That's how many other ports have been released!

@TotalHenshin can you send me it

@ZeldaFan83 can you send me it