Sometimes the titles of these news articles amaze me even after I’ve written them down. Nintendo has been in the news a lot recently with their takedowns, cease and desists, and general destruction of the Switch modding and emulation scene. It’s been widely publicised and has put a lot of people off working with emulation for fear of meeting the same fate as Yuzu. So the last thing I would expect as being ‘a good idea’ would be to have ROM hacks for sale online with probably America’s most well-known supermarket chain
For those of you who love your ROM hacks, you’ll know that they’re incredibly fun to play and bring out some ingenious ideas from the gaming community. Some of them are a work of art, but they’re generally always free to play and don’t cost anything to buy as that’s where they can fall into a legally grey area. Or in Nintendo’s eyes, a very clear legal area with no blurred lines in sight.
Well, on Walmart’s online Marketplace, it seems that the ROM hack Shotgun Mario 64 has been listed as available to buy, and Doug Bowser has been made aware of its existence. I discovered the tweet from PAABLOO64 via our friends over at Nintendo Life, and it’s the kind of news that you might use that ‘Micheal Jackson eating popcorn’ gif for because it feels like drama is about to ensue!
Translating the text in the Tweet, it reads ‘In a post on Linkedin in which a user exposes that Walmart acts as an intermediary in the sale of hacked ROMS of Nintendo games, the president of NoA, Doug Bowser, responds with “Thank you for making it visible.”‘ I doubt very much that Walmart is even aware of half of the things sold on their online marketplace, but after Doug Bowser was made aware of the Mario 64 ROM hack and responded to the tip on Linkedin with the comment ‘thanks for the visibility’, I think Walmart will be putting a little more care into what is sold through its internet channels.
I would also imagine that Bowser will be channeling his Nintendo namesake and storming in through the doors of Walmart HQ in Arkansas to figure out how this happened, and I wouldn’t want to be the person at the front desk when he does, especially if there’s a strange mishap and they happen to be called ‘Peach’. While I don’t think this is going to tarnish Mario’s reputation with gamers, I’m interested to see how it all unfolds and will be keeping you up to date as I get more information!
