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Nintendo
Founded in 1889, Nintendo is a multi-billion-dollar company established in Kyoto, Japan, and has multiple subdivisions outside of Japan. They are well-known for their massive franchises, such as Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, and Metroid, as well as their consoles such as the Switch, Gameboy, and Wii.
Controversial Practices[edit | edit source]
History against emulation[edit | edit source]
Nintendo is well-known for their extensive history of combating emulation, from them suing N64 emulator UltraHLE[1] in 1999, to more modern emulators, such as Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu[2] in 2024. Nintendo has also pressured for restrictions to access emulators, such as Dolphin's non-inclusion as a core[3] for the Steam version of Retroarch.
History against hardware modification[edit | edit source]
Nintendo in the past has sued the creation of hardware modifications, such as the Game Genie[4] and 10NES circumvention[5] which allowed users to enter cheat codes into their games and bypass the security lockout chip to prevent piracy.
De-listing/destruction of access to games[edit | edit source]
In late January of 2019, Nintendo shut down their first digital storefront, the Wii Shop Channel[6], and subsequently on March 27, 2023 shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops[7]. These shutdowns have caused hundreds of games to become impossible to obtain new copies of and for some, additionally play which include Splatoon 1, Super Mario Maker, Pokémon Picross, and more[8]. As of now, over 1,000 digitally-exclusive games can only be obtained via piracy, and a subset requires additional modification to run.
Nintendo Authorized Repair[edit | edit source]
A man sent in their Nintendo Switch to Nintendo for repair of a broken charging port and was given an estimate of £132 (161.51 USD) to replace the entire motherboard, which would result in data loss and noted screen damage. This was despite the only damage to the console being to the charging port and a screen protector, and not the screen itself[9].
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "Nintendo Confirms It Will Sue UltraHLE Creators" - slashdot.org - 12 Feb 1999
- ↑ "Ninten-don’t: Breaking Down the Yuzu Emulator Lawsuit" - romanolaw.com - 11 April 2024
- ↑ "What Happened to Dolphin on Steam?" - dolphin-emu.org - 20 Jul 2023
- ↑ "Museum of IP - Galoob v. Nintendo (the "Game Genie" case)" - museumofintellectualproperty.org - 31 Dec 2007
- ↑ "Atari Games Corp. v. Nintendo of Am. Inc" PDF - copyright.gov - 1992
- ↑ "Wii Shop Channel Discontinuation" - nintendo.com - 2019
- ↑ "Notice of End of Purchases in Nintendo eShop for Wii U and Nintendo 3DS - Update April 2023" - nintendo.com
- ↑ "These are the 1,000 digital-only 3DS and Wii U games disappearing next week" - videogameschronicle.com - 22 Mar 2023
- ↑ "Why Nintendo authorized repair sucks: the incentives are at odds with a good repair experience" - youtube.com - Louis Rossmann - 31 Jul 2021
