WinterDrake, an indie dev, was working on an 8-bit version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It was called Breath of the NES and was designed to imitate the gameplay and environments from Breath of the Wild, but in 8-bit form.
It didn’t take long for the project to spread throughout the great expanse of the interwebs via gaming websites looking for a few good clicks, and overnight WinterDrake became a smashing sensation with people taking bets on how long it would be before Nintendo took him to the Smackdown Hotel, tied him to the bed, and spread his legs, and rammed the DMCA vibrator up his rump like Bill Nye jams things up there for butt science. Well, it didn’t take long.
Looks like @NintendoAmerica wasn’t a big fan of Breath of the NES! pic.twitter.com/PvMxDrU7oz
— WinterDrake (@WinterDrakeDev) April 30, 2017
For those of you who can’t read it or access it, it basically says…
[…] “Nintendo recently learned that content available on [itch.io] infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo. This notice is provided pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC § 512, and itch.io’s Terms of Service. We submitted a notice through itch.io’s web form yesterday, but the infringing content still appears.”
“I have a good faith belief that this use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. I hereby state that the information herein is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that I am authorized to act on Nintendo of America Inc.’s behalf.”
“We would appreciate your expeditious removal of all infrining content. Please contact me immediately with any questions.”
It’s interesting that Nintendo didn’t actually find out about the project, nor did they actually personally issue the cease and desist, but the legal team working on their behalf did it.
It does make you wonder if Nintendo would be okay with the project if someone managed to actually ask one of their higher-ups?
Anyway, WinterDrake isn’t giving up. In fact, he says that the project will come back bigger and better than ever before, and I’m sure there will be a DMCA vibrator bigger and better than ever waiting for him along with Nintendo’s legal team.
@Shinnonda Don’t worry, the project will come back bigger and better than ever!
— WinterDrake (@WinterDrakeDev) April 30, 2017
To his credit, he does mention further down the thread that he will be making the project more original and that the project isn’t entirely dead.
I don’t know how well an 8-bit not-Zelda game would do with not-Zelda hype and not-Zelda marketing hype behind it. The only reason WinterDrake gained any sort of recognition and a bunch of headlines in the press was because it was an 8-bit version of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
I guess it’ll be worth keeping an eye on him to see what he does with the project and what his not-Zelda game will be like when it eventually resurfaces.
