Good clean fun, or a vicious theft of someone's intellectual property? |
Sales of the game were handled through AtariAge.com and seemed to be going splendidly until one day, a few months later *POOF* Princess Rescue was suddenly nowhere to be found in the AtariAge store. The retro-gaming forums were soon running wild with speculation and theories as to why this game was no longer available. Although it was never verified, the consensus seems to be that Nintendo's lawyers sent a cease and desist to AtariAge and Bingo, immediately and unintentionally boosting the game to Super-Duper-Rare status. So Super-Duper-Rare, in fact, that there's a copy on eBay that, as of this writing, is going for $250 US. It seems pretty ridiculous that a gaming company as huge as Nintendo is even aware of the existence of Princess Rescue let alone feels threatened enough by it to take legal action. Perhaps if Nintendo spent as much time actually releasing games for their new Wii-U system instead of picking on a niche community of retro-gaming enthusiasts, they might actually have a chance of becoming a relevant player in the console world again. For those of you who've never seen the game in action, check out the video and get ready to be impressed...and then sad because you will NEVER, EVER GET TO PLAY IT!
It looks more fun on Atari.
ReplyDeleteI see a version available that makes no feigned concession to copyright as "Princes Rescue." Here's one called "Mario Bros. by Nintendo." Ballzy!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GM3FOK/