Hi again

WOW, it’s been a hot minute since I wrote here, hasn’t it?

So, last you saw of me, SMB1R was still in development, and was yet to be publicly announced.

Since then, A LOT has changed. SMB1R released to great success, and I couldn’t be more grateful for all the support and feedback the community has given me to help make it better and better :)

However, one thing that MAJORLY struck out to me was the MASSIVE amount of concern and malice that was focused on the fear that Nintendo will potentially take down the project, as it is in violation of DMCA laws.

The concerns were specifically raised due to the strong and long history that Nintendo has had with issuing takedowns and legal action against fanworks and emulators in the past, with the media SPECIFICALLY loving to highlight said actions in order to spread fear and a general dislike for Nintendo because of these actions.

This will NOT be a “Leave the multi-billion dollar corporations alone” post. Nintendo has had a STRONG issue with performing various anti-consumer practices, and I fully disagree with all of those actions just as much as everyone else.

However, it’s been incredibly disheartening seeing how many ill-informed people there are who genuinely believe that Nintendo WILL take down any of my previous works, and various other talented developers works, due to this past that they have had with fanworks, and I would like to address them fully and properly. Since this has not only affected myself, but many other talented fangame developers, they become misguided and scared into believing that making a fangame of their favourite franchise will cause Nintendo to sue them into the ground, meaning that they become demotivated and scared into not exploring their passions and talents further.

Over the years, I’ve become VERY informed about these fangame takedowns and have very quickly noticed a pattern with which fangames get taken down and which ones don’t. Because of this, I would like for this to become a new point of reference which people can use when trying to better educate others about these takedowns.

NOTE: Nintendo can VERY easily null and void every single argument I’m about to make here by taking down both SMWR and SMB1R.

DISCLAIMER: I am NOT a lawyer or legal professional. These are all basic assumptions and observations made through basic pattern recognition skills that any functioning adult should have.

The 5 rules.

So, the basic pattern I have found with these takedowns is that each takedown falls into 5 of these basic rules:

  1. The fangame / fanwork has made money / profit through Nintendo’s IP in some way, shape, or form (ads on YouTube, donation pages linked, pay-what-you-like practices, in-game purchases, etc.)
  2. The fangame is harmful to Nintendo’s brand PR and/or is NSFW.
  3. The fangame directly competes with a recently released or soon-to-be-released (within 1–2 years) game.
  4. It’s a Pokémon fangame, where takedowns are issued by The Pokémon Company, and NOT Nintendo. (Nintendo only PARTIALLY owns the Pokemon Company, so not all decisions by the Pokemon Company, were made by Nintendo specifically, including takedowns.)
  5. The fangame directly attempts to pretend to be an official Nintendo game (SMBX / SuperMarioBrothers.org).

If a fangame is in violation of at least one of these rules, then Nintendo will or has taken it down. When referring to multiple sources (linked below), nearly EVERY FANGAME fell under violation of one of these rules.

There have been some instances where a fangame was NOT in violation of these rules, however may have another reason for its take down, which I am not aware of, however these take downs have been INCREDIBLY rare, and the latest of which happened back in 2018. It is unlikely that another fangame takedown will follow this.

So why is SMWR / SMB1R different?

This next point isn’t EXCLUSIVE to my games and applies to many others. However, due to the fact others weren’t made by me, I do not feel comfortable speaking for other developers on their behalf. It is likely that they follow the same practices my games do as well.

SMB1R / SMWR have not made ANY profit AT ALL.

Yep, since they both started development, they have made me a total of zero dollars and zero cents throughout their existence. Ironically, the SMB1R videos on my channel have pre-roll ads in them; however, I can ASSURE you that these were not enabled by myself and have not made me ANY money at all from them. YouTube automatically permanently enables advertisements on videos that do well in order for YouTube to make SOME money from hosting them. Because of this, I end up watching ads on my own videos and don’t see a single cent of it, which is kinda funny. Aside from that, both games are completely free and hosted on GitHub, with no donations or sponsorships enabled on either the repositories or my personal GitHub account. People have approached me privately asking to support / sponsor the projects; however, I have declined every single one.

SMB1R / SMWR are not harmful to Nintendo’s brand reputation and are not NSFW.

A common set of fangames which get taken down are ones that are in “bad taste” or are NSFW. These games are commonly titled things like: “Mario smokes weed” or “Luigi murders a prostitute”, etc., which are directly in violation of Nintendo’s personal brand standards and could potentially be harmful for children to engage with. Many “Top 50 Fangames taken down by Nintendo” lists are FLOODED with these types of games due to how many there are, thanks to their low-effort, shitpost-y nature.

SMB1R / SMWR, on the other hand, are both SFW, tasteful, and respectful to Nintendo’s brand and IPs, with no inappropriate content being featured in either game.

SMB1R / SMWR do NOT compete with any recently released / soon-to-be-released Nintendo games.

While SMB1R specifically has a level editor and custom level browser (provided generously by Level Share Square), which one could argue is in competition with Super Mario Maker 2, Mario Maker specifically is not a recently released game. Mario Maker 2 had its last update over 6 years ago (as of writing this: 2026). Because of this, Mario Maker 2 is not a priority to Nintendo, nor are its sales, since no updates / patches have happened since 2024, and no re-releases / sequels have been announced yet. meaning that MANY Mario Maker-esque fangames have been able to exist for MANY years (Super Mario Construct, Super Mario Maker: World Engine, Mario Multiverse*, etc.). Unless Nintendo is soon to be releasing a brand-new Mario Maker 3, these fangames should be able to exist for a long time and should have no worries about being taken down by Nintendo.

  • Mario Multiverse is a special case, as the developer has purposely tried to keep the game under lock and key so that people cannot freely play it, in an attempt to prevent Nintendo from potentially taking down the project.

SMB1R and SMWR are both remakes of “Super Mario Bros.” and “Super Mario World,” respectively. However, both games are available at no extra cost as part of Nintendo’s “Nintendo Switch Online” subscription service. However, both games are not headlining features of the service, as dozens of other games featured on the respective consoles are also available as part of the subscription. This means that it is HIGHLY unlikely someone would not subscribe to Nintendo Switch Online BECAUSE they do not need to play SMB1 and SMW due to SMB1R and SMWR’s existence. Nintendo is NOT losing any money from SMB1R and SMWR being available to play for free, which has been a common argument used as to why Nintendo issues these takedowns, due to potential loss in sales / profits

Alongside this, both SMWR and SMB1R make it VERY CLEAR when downloading and loading the games that they are not replacements for the original games, as they both make DRASTIC changes to the core design of both games, which some people may not prefer over the originals.

SMB1R / SMWR do NOT pretend to be official Nintendo products.

While both games do feature the original games in their titles, both games include SEVERAL disclaimers and warnings showcasing the fact that they are unofficial, unlicensed games not made by or belonging to Nintendo. The rule this refers to was specifically made to cover the fact that a fangame called “Super Mario Bros. X” was taken down by Nintendo due to the game’s website using the URL: “SuperMarioBrothers.org”, which someone could naively think was an official Nintendo website / game. The fangame’s forums were re-uploaded shortly after under a new website (smbxgame.com), where it and various other forks of the game have remained active for over 10 years with no issues whatsoever.

Some famous fangame / fanwork takedowns, and the rules they violate

With you now understanding the “rules” and policies Nintendo potentially has when it comes to dealing with fangames, here is a list of some of the more notable / “famous” takedowns that have happened, and which of these rules they violate:

  • AM2R (“Another Metroid 2 Remake”): Taken down 1 year before “Metroid: Samus Returns” (an official remake of the same game) was released.
  • Fullscreen Mario – Taken down 1 year after Super Mario Maker was released; featured a level editor.
  • No Mario’s Sky – Violation / parody of No Man’s Sky copyright; taken down to avoid potential copyright issues with Hello Games (developer of No Man’s Sky).
  • 300+ GameJolt fangames taken down – Many were NSFW / distasteful; it’s likely that it was just easier to take down ALL GameJolt games in a single DMCA request rather than individual takedowns. GameJolt also allows developers to make money off games uploaded onto the site.
  • Garry’s Mod takedowns – Assets were famously being used in NSFW / distasteful content.
  • Mario Royale - Competed with Super Mario 35. (SMB1 Battle Royale), and has since existed under “Mario Royale Legacy”, since Mario 35 has since been de-listed and it’s servers were shut down.
  • Heaven Studio – Competed with the soon-to-be-released Rhythm Heaven Fever.
  • C64 Port of Super Mario Bros. - Unlicensed Homebrew version of Super Mario Bros. for the Commodore 64, most likely taken down due to potential copyright issues for releasing an unlicensed game on the C64.

So… Now what?

That’s essentially my argument as to why Nintendo’s fangame takedowns are not as random and unpredictable as people make them out to be. Games journalists have a BIG issue with purposely hyping up and driving fear amongst the community that Nintendo will send ninjas to every developer that even THINKS about making a fangame, when that’s very clearly not the case anymore. There are THOUSANDS of fangames that have continued to exist and be enjoyed by many, regardless of popularity. SMB1R and SMWR are no different, and I’m sure that they will exist for a long time.

SMWR’s been out for over a year with no issues, and SMB1R was publicly revealed over half a year ago now to LOTS of attention. It’s likely that Nintendo is familiar with these games; however, they see them as no real issue and/or threat to take action against. Alongside journalists promoting these takedowns, which MASSIVELY destroys public opinion on them, it’s possible that Nintendo now just doesn’t think it’s worth it to take down any fangame that doesn’t directly violate any of the aforementioned rules. I’m obviously not a Nintendo legal representative, so I have no idea if they have a “ruleset” for this kind of stuff; it’s all purely speculation on my part.

There is one final takeaway I want to leave you all with:

Be nice about this stuff to other developers.

Seriously. I have seen so many comments on other fangame trailers and videos that simply doom and gloom and fearmongering the idea of: “Nintendo will take this down!”, “Incoming Nintendo Ninjas!”, etc.

Fun fact: on the SMB1R reveal trailer, before the game was even released, out of 5000+ comments, roughly over ONE THOUSAND of them mention the words “takedown”, “nintendo ninjas”, “lawyers”, “dmca”, etc. That’s 1/5.

It doesn’t particularly bother me, but it does highlight a MAJOR issue within the fangame community as a whole: that there are lots of people who love to just repeat the same point that hundreds of others have also repeated, even if the point itself is completely irrelevant. For me personally, I’d rather 1000 comments giving actual criticism on the game than just spitting out this monotonous DMCA slop. It’s ironic too, since so many of these commenters act as if they’re all legal experts who are oh so confident that these takedowns will actually occur, as if they’re part of Nintendo’s legal team themselves.

I see it in other fangame videos too, ALL these people spouting the same stuff, and it’s really upsetting to see it happen to other developers, since with the few that I’ve spoken to, it really bothers them and can really affect their motivation to actually work on these projects that these commenters ACTUALLY DO want to play.

I hope this blog post can be a sort of “turning point” in the community, where we stop looking at ALL fangames as this “guaranteed / likely lawsuit”, and instead just celebrate them for what they are: just some silly projects which we sink our time and effort into (hopefully for free), for others to enjoy.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I hope you will all join me in playing and enjoying any future fanworks with peace of mind.

Sources