Pokemon, Super Mario, Zelda and other spinoffs from Nintendo's popular titles were slapped with copyright infringement notice. Nintendo seems relentless in its pursuit, issuing DMCA takedowns to 500 fan-made games.
The Next Web reported that Nintendo particularly bombarded the indie group Game Jolts. Nintendo's sight is also hot on trio megahits Super Mario, Pokemon and Zelda. These are the most frequently picked parodies by developers who are sharing their projects for free. Other spinoffs like Metroid and Youtubers were not spared by the DMCA as well.
Nintendo issues double-edged statement regarding intellectual property issues. While the company is strict on tracking developers that "copy" characters and features of classic games, same right was given to legitimate developers. Nintendo's corporate statement clearly stresses that anyone can notify them should there be claims that they are copying themselves.
Meanwhile, there were varied reception about the DMCA notices. Some indie developers admit that it is within Nintendo's right to request spinoffs removal. Others simply rebranded their games and decided to "tweak" a bit.
Ben Porter, a member for developer team of parody game "No Mario's Sky" said that they decide to design different characters instead. Also, the team cleverly pulls a trick to rename the project into "DMCA's Sky." Porter added that the new title is basically the same genre that offers nostalgic "Mario" but less the copyrighted contents.
In an report from Kotaku, Porter was cited as saying that they did expect the takedown. However, he defended their project as a clear parody without any intent of financial gains since it was offered for free. In spite of the DMCA notice, Porter says that the consolations are enjoying the time developing and the good reception it receives.
No Mario's Sky is a product of 72-hour work of Porters team. It breached about 100 thousand downloads via Game Jolts.
