Seems like Drama more than Copyright takedowns based on what I heard. Seeded the archive for most of the day. I seldom used the site but the few hacks I did download was a good time. The whole site archive is on...well the Internet archive. 11 Gigs I downloaded in case it needs to be re-uploaded someday
@@VideoGameEsoterica Couldn't you go into the folders and look for the exact file? It's not ideal but at least you don' have to download 11 GB worth of data. If Nintendo is doing this then I'm not buying the Switch 2.
I think the post was pretty clear on why its shutting down. They who runs it tried to get others to run it, because they are stepping down, and the new people scammed/tricked them. That is at least how I understood it
This is a community I've been part of fairly actively of late, and unless their staff had been completely quiet on the matter there were no legal threats against the site. I think the possibility helped push towards this but I don't think it was a major factor. I think the larger issue at hand here was maintenance of the site and growing friction between the owner and the staff. Having read some statements from other staff/mods of the site, it sounded like the owner of the site was the sole maintainer of an aging infrastructure and backend and pushes to get it modernized and/or transferred over to other hands did not go well (late last year the site went down due to a huge influx of bot traffic and it took days to get back up), and after enough internal dispute it reached the breaking point we're at now. At this point it's speculation what exactly went down between these individuals. But it's a tragedy for the wider community none the less
Thanks for this info. I noticed things had remained the same for some time, but didn't suspect the reason or what was going on. That still doesn't make it better that the site it gone.
@@blumiu2426 The site isn't gone. They're just not taking any more new rom hack submissions going forward, but what is there will remain accessible for the foreseeable future, until the people paying for the content hosting decide to stop
Reading the announcement on the website, it doesn't seem like copyright takedowns had anything to do with this. It was apparently the work of hateful, predatory individuals.
@@VideoGameEsoterica It was a minor issue compared to the harassment he received after being doxxed & threatened. Why are you harping on copyright takedowns when his entire 3rd paragraph emphasizes that the doxxing & harassment was the real issue?
The admins were toxic. I couldn't access the site for the last 6 months using my VPN, and the admins had gotten pissed when it was suggested that the site be archived (just in case). Which is ironic now, eh lol
you will own nothing and like it hey, wait, don't make backups of our games! its insane to me though that romhacks are even on the radar at this point, fml having that repository was so nice... and safe too.
The DMCA system is just messed up. There's no other way to describe it. All the DX patches for GameBoy games are hosted there, also Tetris (v1.1 international for GameBoy) has lots of cool hacks hosted there. I probably go there again tomorrow and grab whatever picks my interest, hoping a replacement is right around the corner.
Shuntaro Furukawa's Nintendo is a pretty bleak one. Their success means litigation for anyone interested in messing with their IPs for fun. Makes me want to boycott big N big time.
I think it was Nintendo Op's - pretending to be other people. Since sometimes the other route isn't working. Plus if you Turn them on each other you don't have the problem of the Hydra growing another head.
You fuckers need to stop spreading misinformation! While DMCAs are a factor, its a small one compared to what Nightcrawler had to say. His biggest reason for the takedown was because some scumbags within the community that he thought he could trust stabbed him in the back, doxxed him & threatened him & his family. So he's severing his ties to them by taking down the website, gradually. Here's the 3rd paragraph in his post that you need to pay attention to: _"I was finally looking to wind things down at the end of last year. I wanted to provide the site database and file archive to the general public. At that time, an internal group suddenly emerged with an offer to help continue the site. I questioned their intentions, but I thought it could prove to be a more community friendly path forward. However, it turned out to be the opposite. We had a rocky phase 1, moving the downloads into their possession. When I went to startup phase 2, I discovered a most dishonest and hate filled group. I learned that I had been dehumanized for a very long time. My personal details had been given out. Secret deceitful plots had been made to cut me out, and drop a bomb like I am a target to destroy. My family has seen this and after discussion, we are immediately ceasing all related site operations. We are cutting ties to Discord and Twitter social media outlets, and will have no further contact with these individuals. Lines were crossed. I had hoped this community especially would have learned from what happened to Near. This behavior is not OK for handling disagreements, miscommunication, anger, or anything else."_
I get rom hosting sites being taken down, but rom hacks would definitely be fair use. after all I could just be backing up my own carts and modding those.
Yes but if the hacks contained say sprites from a game (putting a character in a game they were never in) then it could fall on the wrong side of things technically
@@VideoGameEsoterica ...Sir, you are a total *_Clown:_* The whole point of the *_patching process_* is so that copyright material is never hosted or transferred by *_RHDN:_* Hence, freeing them from all liability: ...And in the case of *_DKC X Mario_* then they would have to create a special patcher that extracts the assets from one game & inserts it into another game.
I was surprised at first that it's mostly drama over more DMCA garbage, but then not surprised. The retro game and modding communities can be pretty weird and mean sometimes. Power grabbing purity spiraling pieces of crap aplenty. I suppose that's a lot of hobbies now.
Well it's lame af, but everyone should be making efforts to archive and preserve stuff like this. Same goes for old forgotten games, live-service game content, and so on. They can take things down at any time so we have to archive it.
@@VideoGameEsoterica Yet they can't even do that because there are games where the licensing is in a swamp of dead companies. Or they are too obscure so they won't make a profit.
Game companies: "We're suffering major loss, so you should too!" Just because you are failing and the industry is declining doesn't mean everyone doing creative works for free should fall too
Okay so I'm still able to go to the site and download rom hacks. Is the shutdown just immenent? Quick what are the list of things I should quickly grab?
@@VideoGameEsoterica sometimes there are some things that can't last forever. I ❤ this site for many years and it's shocking moment since it will sadly be closed permanently due to many reasons (internal and external problems). I just couldn't get used to this one without them for many years to come 😢😭
Hardly surprising but as has been said before, those with ownership have legal rights to protect their IP. At the same time, in particular Nintendo, their representatives or others claiming to represent them have sat back for decades watching all the modding, with almost zero attempt at intervention, therefore allowing standard practice to become prevalent. However, to get a legal decision on standard practice, there has to be a court case, which I believe Nintendo and many others will lose. But Nintendo will not be keen to bring it, so the choices are simple, even if difficult. So probably best for people to move on, let things go and focus on the next shiny thing. Or find a generous billionaire to fund a legal team.
Romhacking shutting down is a huge blow not only for emulation but for game preservation as well,this year has been the year of companies (mainly Shitendo) going full *sshole mode and trying to destroy emulation as much as possible.
another reason was extreem bias of the mods agaisnt people with reserved viewpoints on the cspan area i am left but even i think they took it to pluto with how far the bias was. It sucks becase my motto is "treat people well be respectfull and kind and fight for rights you belive people should have.
It probably was Nintendo going after them. They had gotten Pokemon Grape taken down a while back as far as I know. That being said, it seems like the drama and maintaining a dated website could have been just as problematic if not moreso.
It's nothing to do with Nintendo this time, despite the thumbnail. Its actually disputes about how to keep the site going that led the founder to archive and close it.
No other company acts that stupid than Shitendoo do... As i said many times. Im against hacking and coying consoles and games that you can legal buy in stores. But what the hell is wrong with them striking people due to hacking and copying games which you cant buy anymore ? If i buy from you privat 1 game for one million dollar... the wont see any cent... So there could be no public interest. Shitendoo follows their own sick poilicy..: it goes like... The games are old and you dont need them anymore. This is so sick. Instead being thankfull that such talents mod their greatest games. Can be there a bigger appreciation ? I dont think so. If Shitendoo would sell licene keys i would buy them ....
patches don't have original code in them only differences - without verified dumps these patches are useless. Go pound sand Nintendo (if true that they are the cause)
Unfortunately Nintendo is spearheading this, burn you changing policy now is if they don't like your content they we'll have it pulled in you possibly shut down. 😂
Pretty soon no one will remember Nintendo. It's always their fans making these Rom hacks. Soon if a kid draws a Mario picture, he/she will get hit with a DMCA.
Breath man, don't speak so fast, is bad for your health. I bet nintendo, or craptendo has something to do here. They became the worst video game company ever in 2024. Those fuckers deserves to lose insane amount of money.
![Gucci Mane & Sexyy Red - You Don't Love Me [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/j7IBqyFKT4c/mqdefault.jpg)
Seems like Drama more than Copyright takedowns based on what I heard.
Seeded the archive for most of the day. I seldom used the site but the few hacks I did download was a good time.
The whole site archive is on...well the Internet archive. 11 Gigs I downloaded in case it needs to be re-uploaded someday
The worst part is when someone wants one patch they’ve gotta get a whole site collection for one file
If it was a copyright takedown, they wouldn't mirror the site's contents on the Internet Archive.
If they’d removed individual items they certainly would
Its the unemployed 🏳️⚧️s causing endless drama 24/7
@@VideoGameEsoterica Couldn't you go into the folders and look for the exact file? It's not ideal but at least you don' have to download 11 GB worth of data.
If Nintendo is doing this then I'm not buying the Switch 2.
The modern copyright act is a joke that keeps on giving. This garbage should've never lasted more than patents.
It is wild how long they’ve extended it
@@VideoGameEsoterica Its criminal how long they've extended it.
@@metroidragonkudos to Disney
They ruin everything
It's all because Disney wanted to keep Steamboat Willie for as long as possible.
I think the post was pretty clear on why its shutting down.
They who runs it tried to get others to run it, because they are stepping down, and the new people scammed/tricked them.
That is at least how I understood it
Yes that seems to be part of it. Just not the whole story. But I don’t go in for the other half. I’m just here for the claim portion
@@VideoGameEsoterica But there's literally no proof at all that DMCA takedowns were even taking place.
This is a community I've been part of fairly actively of late, and unless their staff had been completely quiet on the matter there were no legal threats against the site. I think the possibility helped push towards this but I don't think it was a major factor. I think the larger issue at hand here was maintenance of the site and growing friction between the owner and the staff. Having read some statements from other staff/mods of the site, it sounded like the owner of the site was the sole maintainer of an aging infrastructure and backend and pushes to get it modernized and/or transferred over to other hands did not go well (late last year the site went down due to a huge influx of bot traffic and it took days to get back up), and after enough internal dispute it reached the breaking point we're at now. At this point it's speculation what exactly went down between these individuals. But it's a tragedy for the wider community none the less
Def a tragedy and I’m sure getting DMCA requests was one nail in the coffin
Thanks for this info. I noticed things had remained the same for some time, but didn't suspect the reason or what was going on. That still doesn't make it better that the site it gone.
Bummer all around
@@blumiu2426 The site isn't gone. They're just not taking any more new rom hack submissions going forward, but what is there will remain accessible for the foreseeable future, until the people paying for the content hosting decide to stop
Some many old school games that got rom hacked improvements . I hope atleast they keep what's on the site
Reading the announcement on the website, it doesn't seem like copyright takedowns had anything to do with this. It was apparently the work of hateful, predatory individuals.
I referenced that in the vid but takedowns was also referenced as an issue
@@VideoGameEsoterica It was a minor issue compared to the harassment he received after being doxxed & threatened. Why are you harping on copyright takedowns when his entire 3rd paragraph emphasizes that the doxxing & harassment was the real issue?
@@Animebryan2Because he hates Nintendo and this is a quick opportunity to vent some pent up rage.
Because I did mention it and stated that’s not something I delve into on the channel. I am intentionally avoidant of that
@johnnys8190 I don’t have Nintendo. Not all of it at least
The admins were toxic. I couldn't access the site for the last 6 months using my VPN, and the admins had gotten pissed when it was suggested that the site be archived (just in case). Which is ironic now, eh lol
Bummer that happened
you will own nothing and like it
hey, wait, don't make backups of our games!
its insane to me though that romhacks are even on the radar at this point, fml having that repository was so nice... and safe too.
Please pay monthly to rent them for eternity
The DMCA system is just messed up. There's no other way to describe it.
All the DX patches for GameBoy games are hosted there, also Tetris (v1.1 international for GameBoy) has lots of cool hacks hosted there.
I probably go there again tomorrow and grab whatever picks my interest, hoping a replacement is right around the corner.
When one site closes another usually takes it’s place
This is absolutely horrible news. I hope something can replace it.
I’m sure something will eventually
Shuntaro Furukawa's Nintendo is a pretty bleak one. Their success means litigation for anyone interested in messing with their IPs for fun. Makes me want to boycott big N big time.
Nintendo is always great games, bad business practices
The industry is bleeding money so they're lashing out in desperation. A lot of companies are going to go out of business.
Budgets have gotten too big for most games. So hard to turn a profit
As a sprite ripper, this is terrible. I relied on this site for translations of obscure Famicom games that would've been impossible to play otherwise.
Yeah it’s a big bummer
Aww hell nah 😮😢 no more Rom Hack site
A major loss
Nintendo saying. You can’t have roms and you can’t legally buy the games neither. Time to go underground. IRC or something
Well as I said in the vid N wasn’t specifically mentioned. Just a ton of claims on content. So could be anyone but we know who’s most likely
@@VideoGameEsoterica Yes but... come on man... we know its them. They have the deepest pockets for this stuff.
I wouldn’t bet against it
I think it was Nintendo Op's - pretending to be other people. Since sometimes the other route isn't working. Plus if you Turn them on each other you don't have the problem of the Hydra growing another head.
You fuckers need to stop spreading misinformation! While DMCAs are a factor, its a small one compared to what Nightcrawler had to say. His biggest reason for the takedown was because some scumbags within the community that he thought he could trust stabbed him in the back, doxxed him & threatened him & his family. So he's severing his ties to them by taking down the website, gradually.
Here's the 3rd paragraph in his post that you need to pay attention to:
_"I was finally looking to wind things down at the end of last year. I wanted to provide the site database and file archive to the general public. At that time, an internal group suddenly emerged with an offer to help continue the site. I questioned their intentions, but I thought it could prove to be a more community friendly path forward. However, it turned out to be the opposite. We had a rocky phase 1, moving the downloads into their possession. When I went to startup phase 2, I discovered a most dishonest and hate filled group. I learned that I had been dehumanized for a very long time. My personal details had been given out. Secret deceitful plots had been made to cut me out, and drop a bomb like I am a target to destroy. My family has seen this and after discussion, we are immediately ceasing all related site operations. We are cutting ties to Discord and Twitter social media outlets, and will have no further contact with these individuals. Lines were crossed. I had hoped this community especially would have learned from what happened to Near. This behavior is not OK for handling disagreements, miscommunication, anger, or anything else."_
I get rom hosting sites being taken down, but rom hacks would definitely be fair use. after all I could just be backing up my own carts and modding those.
Yes but if the hacks contained say sprites from a game (putting a character in a game they were never in) then it could fall on the wrong side of things technically
@@VideoGameEsoterica ...Sir, you are a total *_Clown:_* The whole point of the *_patching process_* is so that copyright material is never hosted or transferred by *_RHDN:_* Hence, freeing them from all liability: ...And in the case of *_DKC X Mario_* then they would have to create a special patcher that extracts the assets from one game & inserts it into another game.
Hide yo emulators hide yo ROMs they coming for everybody out here.
🤣 I get the reference
@@VideoGameEsoterica YES!!!! That makes me smile 😃. Have a great weekend!
Same to you!
I hope someone is backing these up to make available at a later time.
it is backed up, and that information is in the announcement
They have yes
What a bummer. I'm currently playing Final Fantasy VI on SNES with the GBA translation that I downloaded from there last week. Hope it comes back.
I’m sure it’ll end up somewhere
Getting the popcorn and soda pop with all the information finding out about this VGE. 8^)
It’s a bit of a wild story
what a weird time to be alive.
Every month it’s something lately
@@VideoGameEsoterica for real dude.
Maybe 2025 will be our year
@@VideoGameEsotericasurely!!! :)
Romhacking was the Beauty, Nintendo is the Beast.
I’m sure it’s much more than that but it doesn’t help
6:08 "Tale as old as time..."
I was surprised at first that it's mostly drama over more DMCA garbage, but then not surprised. The retro game and modding communities can be pretty weird and mean sometimes. Power grabbing purity spiraling pieces of crap aplenty. I suppose that's a lot of hobbies now.
It seems impossible for communities to avoid it once they get a certain size. Which sucks
This is sad news! 😢😢Thank you for the heads up! ❤❤
It’s def a bummer
Well it's lame af, but everyone should be making efforts to archive and preserve stuff like this. Same goes for old forgotten games, live-service game content, and so on. They can take things down at any time so we have to archive it.
Live service stuff is the most likely to go extinct sadly
They want a pay to play system. Netflix for games.
Which people would pay for if they’d just put everything up all at once
@@VideoGameEsoterica Yet they can't even do that because there are games where the licensing is in a swamp of dead companies. Or they are too obscure so they won't make a profit.
This kind of thing hits harder than a AAA studio closing. These are archives for things that don't come back (despite someone popping up later).
Yes some things could easily be lost
Game companies: "We're suffering major loss, so you should too!"
Just because you are failing and the industry is declining doesn't mean everyone doing creative works for free should fall too
They just don’t get their own fans
Okay so I'm still able to go to the site and download rom hacks. Is the shutdown just immenent? Quick what are the list of things I should quickly grab?
Yes it seems like this is a “here’s what happening” post but it hasn’t happened yet
2024 just keeps getting more and more worst for the many fans
Things def aren’t getting better
@@VideoGameEsoterica 2024 could be the end for all game related well mostly the fan stuff ?
It’s certainly not a good year
@@VideoGameEsoterica indeed it is not
Dammit. I love that site :(
Yeah it’s a pretty big bummer
@@VideoGameEsoterica sometimes there are some things that can't last forever. I ❤ this site for many years and it's shocking moment since it will sadly be closed permanently due to many reasons (internal and external problems). I just couldn't get used to this one without them for many years to come 😢😭
Time to go Tor/Onion I guess
I’m sure a new site will pop up eventually
Hardly surprising but as has been said before, those with ownership have legal rights to protect their IP.
At the same time, in particular Nintendo, their representatives or others claiming to represent them have sat back for decades watching all the modding, with almost zero attempt at intervention, therefore allowing standard practice to become prevalent.
However, to get a legal decision on standard practice, there has to be a court case, which I believe Nintendo and many others will lose.
But Nintendo will not be keen to bring it, so the choices are simple, even if difficult.
So probably best for people to move on, let things go and focus on the next shiny thing.
Or find a generous billionaire to fund a legal team.
Had nothing to do with Nintendo ..
Well we don’t know it was specifically Nintendo or just Nintendo
Weird times we live in ...
2024 has been lackluster for sure
Crazy... truly a tragedy 😢
A huge bummer indeed
Ensh$#ification. Death throes of quality internet. Dehumanised sweeping ai bots.
We keep losing more and more each year
@@VideoGameEsoterica Yep. Unfortunately I think it's inevitable. Was good while it lasted.
Sad but true
Romhacking shutting down is a huge blow not only for emulation but for game preservation as well,this year has been the year of companies (mainly Shitendo) going full *sshole mode and trying to destroy emulation as much as possible.
It hasn’t been a positive 2024 in any front retro gaming wise sadly
@@VideoGameEsoterica But cheer up,Ninty has suffered huge financial loses this year lol.
If i had a nickel for every game related copyright takedown id have enough for a taito x2 multogame motherboard
Haha good use of the nickels
That's just going to create The Streisand effect
Let’s hope it does!
No!!!!
So long to the Super Metroid SA-1 project and all the SNES fast rom releases.
It’s backed up on archive but as one massive torrent so if you need one file…disaster
*Are you serious!?*
Sadly yes
Why so serious, son?
another reason was extreem bias of the mods agaisnt people with reserved viewpoints on the cspan area i am left but even i think they took it to pluto with how far the bias was. It sucks becase my motto is "treat people well be respectfull and kind and fight for rights you belive people should have.
CSPAN?
@@VideoGameEsoterica politics
Dang that sucks bro.
Really does
@@VideoGameEsoterica Exactly bro this is an uttered completely insane.
Just keeps happening too
It probably was Nintendo going after them. They had gotten Pokemon Grape taken down a while back as far as I know. That being said, it seems like the drama and maintaining a dated website could have been just as problematic if not moreso.
Seems like one big mix of issues
Don’t buy Nintendo any more
It's nothing to do with Nintendo this time, despite the thumbnail. Its actually disputes about how to keep the site going that led the founder to archive and close it.
Mixed with takedown requests and I made sure in the vid to say we don’t know who’s sending them
No other company acts that stupid than Shitendoo do...
As i said many times. Im against hacking and coying consoles and games that you can legal buy in stores.
But what the hell is wrong with them striking people due to hacking and copying games which you cant buy anymore ?
If i buy from you privat 1 game for one million dollar... the wont see any cent... So there could be no public interest.
Shitendoo follows their own sick poilicy..: it goes like... The games are old and you dont need them anymore. This is so sick.
Instead being thankfull that such talents mod their greatest games. Can be there a bigger appreciation ? I dont think so.
If Shitendoo would sell licene keys i would buy them ....
It’s odd when companies copyright claim things that are ancient and just mods but they do
patches don't have original code in them only differences - without verified dumps these patches are useless. Go pound sand Nintendo (if true that they are the cause)
They could claim “used X assets in Y patch” on those particular titles
Looks like Nintendo finally got what they wanted
They’d love it all to be gone
*insert this is fine meme*
Surprised Pikachu
Another one bites the dust
Sad but true
Unfortunately Nintendo is spearheading this, burn you changing policy now is if they don't like your content they we'll have it pulled in you possibly shut down. 😂
It had nothing to do with copyright. It clearly mentions the reason on the website
And copyright is mentioned as a contributing factor
Pretty soon no one will remember Nintendo. It's always their fans making these Rom hacks. Soon if a kid draws a Mario picture, he/she will get hit with a DMCA.
Slapping six year olds with cease and desists lol
Shit …
Not good news
way too many streets of Rage 2 hacks!
Probably one of the most modded games ever
Breath man, don't speak so fast, is bad for your health.
I bet nintendo, or craptendo has something to do here. They became the worst video game company ever in 2024. Those fuckers deserves to lose insane amount of money.
It's their IP, and they're showing their investors that they actively protect it ahead of the Switch 2 launch
I’ll be talking about this soon
Just Nintendo being Nitendo. As usual. How can this company be so stupid as to shoot itself in the foot?
Well nobody said Nintendo specifically as I specify in the vid
@crossover - Incorporated don't worry they (Nintendo) will continue to shoot their foot even more until they'll no longer have one.