Mere days after being circulated around mainstream media outlets, the unofficial PC port for Link’s Awakening DX has been hit with a DMCA takedown notice by Nintendo’s lawyers.
Nintendo as a company is notorious for taking down fan-games and other projects that leverage its intellectual property, such as game mods or fan-made remakes.
More often enough Nintendo specifically target illicit sites that allow you to download Game ROMs, hilariously enough Nintendo themselves will gladly resell you pirated ROMs via the Nintendo eShop.
The individual known as ‘linksawakeningdxhd’ shared a PC adaptation of the 1998 title The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening DX, featuring enhanced HD visuals, smooth 120fps scrolling, and widescreen compatibility on itch.io. However, the game’s files were subsequently removed due to a copyright claim.
Obviously its takedown was inevitable considering how Nintendo released an official Link’s Awakening remake of its own for the Switch back in 2019, the company seemingly so desperate to make you buy its inferior wares will gladly shut down any and all projects that utilize its IP, more often than not many such fan-games, remakes and projects are hit with DMCA takedowns during development, the obvious reasoning as to why is simple.
Those who make fan-games or remakes of Nintendo IP seemingly cannot help themselves but to open their mouths that they’re making something, be it a Mario remake, a Zelda remake or especially Metroid.
Nintendo will go even as far as to DMCA takedown pornographic content that utilizes its IP.
If you truly want to create such a project without facing the scrutiny of the world’s most invasive lawyers you really aught to complete your project first and foremost before actually publishing it online for all to see, because the second the mainstream media outlets get their hands on it, it’s already dead.
Over the years I’ve seen far too many fan-games being shut down by Nintendo just as they’ve started development, simply because their developer could not shut the fuck up.
Outlets such as IGN, Polygon and PC Gamer all plastered this fan-remake on their websites, and more than likely all three of whom snitched to Nintendo in the process of making their articles.
Thankfully, “Link’s Awakening DX HD” as the unofficial PC port is called was completed before being made available to the public, a rarity in this field, given the fact that majority of those who create many such projects of Nintendo’s intellectual property want to market their in-development project for fanfare or perhaps donations.
Since the project is completed, you can easily play through the game in its entirety, especially considering how you’re easily able to access it thanks to archived pages
