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Nintendo Demands Student Takedown Super Mario 64 HD Project - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 31 March 2015 / 6,845 Views

Student Roystan Ross has recreated the first level of Super Mario 64 in high definition using the game engine Unity. He has stated he has no intentions in making any money on the project or even recreated more of the game.

Nintendo has now requested Ross to takedown the recreation, according to Go Nintendo and a released DMCA copyright infringement complaint to the creator.

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A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. Outside, in the real world, he has a passion for the outdoors which includes everything from hiking to having received his B.A. in Environmental Studies. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.


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35 Comments
WolfpackN64 (on 31 March 2015)

I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner.

  • +5
FujiokaMidori (on 01 April 2015)

Incoming Nintendo defenders...
HOW DARE THIS GUY TO INFRINGE NINTENDO'S PRECIOUS PROPERTY

  • +3
PikminDude123 (on 31 March 2015)

Poor guy but he should've expected it

  • +3
ofrm1 (on 31 March 2015)

Hey look. Nintendo being stupid about ANOTHER thing.

  • +3
Proxy-Pie ofrm1 (on 01 April 2015)

Yeah, as if Sony/MS wouldn't take down an Uncharted/Halo remake...

  • 0
ExplodingBlock (on 31 March 2015)

Or else what

  • +2
bradm1978 (on 31 March 2015)

Nintendo HAS to take these projects down, even if they don't want to. Under the law, they could and I stress the word could risk losing any future claim on Copyright by allowing people to do this. It's not a guaranty, but any good attorney could argue that case. Talk to any competent entertainment lawyer and they'll tell you the same thing.

The problem isn't with Nintendo, it's with people that do not comprehend or respect the law and then blame them when they are forced to act. You as an individual are allowed to do whatever you want with almost anything. Make it public and you're toast.

  • +2
Chazore bradm1978 (on 31 March 2015)

I cannot actually believe people are dwonvoting you, someone who is actually poitning out the truth and that it's the law for Nintendo to follow onto this sort of case, they have to protect their property and it's part of how copyright works, but sadly we live in this day and age where copying and emulating is "free advertising" along with twisting the line to hard to blur it for others to do the same thing over and over while egtting away with it.

  • -1
Ljink96 (on 31 March 2015)

I knew this would happen. Any game that looks this good, Nintendo had to take down. Like, what happens if he continues to develop without any online activity and releases it via torrent?

  • +2
ArchangelMadzz (on 01 April 2015)

They had to! This would've definitely hurt Mario 64 sales...

Oh wait.

  • +1
garretslarrity (on 31 March 2015)

Funny how this happens a day after a leak said that N64 games (including Super Mario 64) will be on the Wii U eShop, a leak that happened to accurately claim that there would be a Direct tomorrow...

  • +1
TechnoHobbit garretslarrity (on 31 March 2015)

It got the time totally wrong though.

  • 0
Raven (on 31 March 2015)

Considering that the project was distributing assets ripped from Nintendo's games for free, this is really no surprise.

  • +1
Teeqoz Raven (on 31 March 2015)

Do you know if it actually used assets from the original SM 64?

  • -2
Raven Raven (on 31 March 2015)

Its using the exact same character model of Mario from Super Mario Galaxy

  • +2
bunchanumbers (on 31 March 2015)

This was expected. There was no way Nintendo was going to let this fly. I'm pretty sure that MS and Sony would have done the same thing.... probably.

  • +1
Goodnightmoon (on 31 March 2015)

Nintendo... you really need to be less paranoic against everything.

  • +1
binary solo (on 01 April 2015)

Nintendo has the right to do this. But they also have the right to choose not to exercise their rights. It's a fine line between seeing this as no harm no foul, and seeing it as "if we let this go what will be next"? Not an easy call.

  • 0
solidpumar (on 31 March 2015)

Nintendo has its priorities all wrong.

  • 0
kljesta64 (on 31 March 2015)

smells like an announcement from nintendo

  • 0
TheGreatGamerGod (on 31 March 2015)

Maybe they thought that they don't have enough hate against them with the ludicrous Youtube program they have going and Wii U game drought.

  • -1
AlfredoTurkey (on 31 March 2015)

Nintendo obviously has plans at some point to release their own high definition version of Mario 64. There's not other reason for doing this.

  • -3
GdaTyler AlfredoTurkey (on 31 March 2015)

Wouldn't count on it though.

  • +1
snyperdud (on 31 March 2015)

Nintendo needs to reevaluate this. Essentially, this is free advertising for one of their IP's, plus, it renews interest in this paticular game. They should take advantage of the situation and hire this guy to produce a full-fledged remake of Super Mario 64. This strategy has worked tremendously for Valve in the past, I imagine it would for Nintendo.

  • -4
Chazore snyperdud (on 31 March 2015)

Who says it will 100% work properly for Nintendo though?, just because it worked for valve doesn't mean it'll work for Nintendo, in fact if we twist this as much as we want, let's make every single big N game and call it free advertising and hire people that can try emulating a tiny portion of what Nintendo makes.

Honestly though this is just Nintendo defending their property at the end of the day and people like him should know business 101/law school 101 by now.

  • -3
snyperdud snyperdud (on 01 April 2015)

No, I get that they want to protect their property. But, I don't see the harm in Nintendo embracing the project and supporting it. As a Wii U owner, I am starved for games at the moment, and this would help bolster their lineup for the Wii U. But no, you're right, let's shut down the project because Nintendo is afraid of this guy damaging their IP somehow.

  • -1
Chazore snyperdud (on 01 April 2015)

"As a Wii U owner, I am starved for games at the moment, and this would help bolster their lineup for the Wii U."

So then you;re saying and claiming it 100% will get you 3rd part games and 100's of new games this year alone?.

But yeah let's let everyone copy already existing ideas because originality is dead.

let's all get super cynical because someone has a different view of the law and copyright.

  • 0
snyperdud snyperdud (on 01 April 2015)

When did I say that it would get additional 3rd party games? It would net me exactly one game (Super Mario 64 HD). You're making a lot of assumptions based on my previous statement. Maybe I'm not communicating in a clear way. Allow me to break it down.

1; Nintendo allowing this to go forward will help bolster the line up in the sense that we would get a Super Mario 64 remake. I think it's universally agreed upon that adding at least one game (and only one) still would qualify as bolstering a line-up. This has nothing to do with third party games.

2; So we should never have remakes in gaming because they are not original? I guess I shouldn't have bought Wind Waker HD because it wasn't an original game, even though it's one of my favorite games of all time, and I wanted to play through it again with a new coat of paint. The point is, just because it's a remake and not an original game, that shouldn't take anything away from the game at all. If you find a game fun, play it. It's that simple.

3; Who's being cynical? Nintendo doesn't want their IP to be potentially damaged, and thus, told this guy to stop his project because they are afraid of that happening. That's not being cynical, that seems to me like an accurate observation of the situation.

4; Yes, I'm sure you have a vast knowledge of copyright law. However, as I've stated in my original post, their have been companies that have allowed the use of their IP to the gain of their fans. In my observations, I've noticed that this has had a positive affect for the fan community and the IP itself. Not to sound like a broken record player, but look at Valve and Half Life. A series widely viewed as important and held in very high praise. And actually, resulted in the creation of other major series (see Counter Strike). There clearly are advantages to not keep an iron grip on your IP. Sure, it may not work for Nintendo like it has other companies. But, Nintendo is in a situation where there aren't many big games coming out for their flagship console, and I don't see the harm in endorsing a project they don't have to even allocate resources for if they didn't want to. In my opinion, more games for the Wii U (even if it is one game, and a remake at that) is better.

  • -1
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fluky-nintendy (on 31 March 2015)

Nintendo worse than EA.

  • -6
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