Nintendo takes YouTube videos with emulated games offline

Nintendo has taken videos of multiple speedrunners and hacks of Nintendo games offline. According to the Japanese company, the use of an emulator and ROM with such a YouTube video is a copyright infringement.

According to Kotaku, this includes YouTube user PangaeaPanga. He hacks into the Super Mario World ROM to create almost impossible levels, which he uploaded to YouTube.

Modifying the ROM ensures that, according to Nintendo, it is an ‘unauthorized copy’ of the game. The company has no problem with ‘normal’ videos from Nintendo properties, according to the statement from Nintendo that YouTube user Switchpalacecorner has put on Pastebin.

This shows that Nintendo also has objections to tool assisted speedruns, in which the gamer completes a game as quickly as possible and uses, for example, the save state function of an emulator to play part of a game again. The gamers make recordings of the whole, after which they paste the images together and place the final time in leaderboards.

Nintendo launched the Nintendo Creators Program last year. YouTube users can register there, after which they send a portion of the advertising revenue to Nintendo. In return, they are free to make videos of Nintendo property as long as they follow all the rules set by Nintendo.

It also states that the Japanese manufacturer must approve each video before publication, which can take three working days. PangeaPanga is also in the Nintendo Creators Program, according to his surviving videos.