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Super Smash Bros. Melee is a 20-year-old Nintendo game with a huge cult following; it's considered one of the best fighting games of all time. Nintendo abandoned it years ago, but the fans have kept it alive.
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Fans used Dolphin (an emulation environment that can simulate the Gamecube and Wii) and mods from Slippi that let users play head-to-head over the internet. This combo has enabled many gamers to turn pro, winning esports contracts.
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All that was true before the pandemic. Now, with the world in lockdown, SSBM tournaments have only grown in popularity. @TheBigHouseSSB was about to host one of the largest of these tournaments when Nintendo shut them down with a copyright threat.
https://twitter.com/TheBigHouseSSB/status/1329521081577857036
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https://twitter.com/TheBigHouseSSB/status/1329521081577857036
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In its statement to @Kotaku, the company said it had "no choice" but to shut down the tournament because Slippi "requires use of illegally copied versions of the game" (this is categorically untrue).
https://kotaku.com/nintendo-shuts-down-smash-tournament-over-some-absurd-b-1845719656
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https://kotaku.com/nintendo-shuts-down-smash-tournament-over-some-absurd-b-1845719656
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I love the idea that the company has "no choice," as though an affronted lawyer is holding the entire executive team hostage with a suicide vest that'll blow if they don't sign off on the legal threat. Oh, you poor, defenseless, powerless things!
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Slippi has allowed players to engage in competitive SSBM matches without risking life-threatening viral infections. The alternative to using Slippi is effectively abandoning SSBM.
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A grassroots of Nintendo customers have put in thousands of hours of unpaid software development hours, hundreds of thousands of hours of unpaid marketing, millions of hours of unpaid tournament play - and Nintendo's response is to terrorize them with legal threats.
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Nintendo seems incapable of taking yes for an answer. A company that cared about profits - rather than soothing the ire of vindictive lawyers in suicide vests - would figure out how to harness this customer devotion, rather than punishing it.
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They could license Slippi, or hire its developer, or incorporate it into a reissue of SSBM. They could sponsor the competition and use it to launch a mega-pack of beloved retro games. They could incorporate Dolphin into new consoles.
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They could have parent-child tournaments where each team had one adult and one kid, and play required that they triumph in both a 20-year-old game and a modern update.
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The existence of a viable 20-year-old product is a tiny miracle. Almost all creative works - books, games, music, movies - vanish after 10-15 years. The exceptions are the stuff that fortunes are made of.
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Fuck, Nintendo could cash in by selling t-shirts and Funko toys. There are a million ways that the company could thank its most loyal customers for keeping the flame burning for DECADES. Instead, they're extinguishing the flame.
By pissing on it.
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By pissing on it.
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