Nintendo Shuts Down Pokemon Prism ROM Hack

Pokemon Prism, a fan project based on Nintendo’s Pokemon franchise, has been cancelled a few days before its Dec. 25 release, the developer announced today. Adam, the sole creator of the ROM hack, took to the hack’s official Facebook page to briefly explain the reason.

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“Pokemon Prism has been cancelled,” wrote Adam in a Facebook post. “Thank you all for your support throughout the years. I’m sorry it ended like this. I will make a longer statement regarding this soon, but expect this page to be shutdown in a few days.”

A letter from Addisons, an Australian law firm, was attached to the post and said the project is an “unauthorized use of Nintendo’s intellectual property rights.” The firm has represented Nintendo before in a 2010 case where an Australian citizen had to pay the game company $1.5 million AUD for uploading a copy of New Super Mario Bros. Wii to the internet.

“Nintendo understands that you are a fan of its original products and its Pokémon franchise,” the document reads. “Whilst this is appreciated, it unfortunately does not alter Nintendo’s important role to ensure that all of its valuable intellectual property is fully protected and that there is no use made of any of its intellectual property rights without proper supervision and authorisation.”

Pokemon Prism and Pokemon Brown, the first version of the project, were ROM hacks for the original Pokemon games on the Game Boy Color. The hacks added new locations, Pokemon, a new story, and more using the games’ engine.

All work on Prism has been stopped and downloads of Brown had to be removed to avoid future legal action. Adam’s website currently links to the legal document and a simple thank you to his fans.

Prism had been in development for eight years. It joins Pokemon Uranium, which was shut down after nine years in development, and other Nintendo fan games that have received cease and desist notices from the game publisher due to copyright.