In sad news for anyone who enjoys fan games and remakes of retro titles, Nintendo has shut down a fan-made The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening PC port.
Eurogamer reported on this disappointing turn of events for the Zelda fangame community, and reiterating its features only makes its loss sting. The Link’s Awakening PC port included some lovely features, including supporting up to 120 frames per second, widescreen, and zooming options that could let you see virtually the entire world map at once. That still doesn’t change how ardently protective Nintendo is over its properties, so it called for the game be pulled from Itch’s pages.
According to the Nintendo representative who sent the notice of infringement, “It has come to our attention that the following game, https://linksawakeningdxhd.itch.io/links-awakening-dx-hd, offered on Itch.io infringes and makes unauthorized use of Nintendo’s copyrights in The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening video game.”
Any downloads for the Link’s Awakening port are no longer available on its Itch.io page. Its takedown is a shame, but not a surprise.
Nintendo is infamous for its ironclad control over its IPs, with well-documented fights with other fan projects. There are plenty of cases in the past of projects like this gradually picking up internet infamy, then receiving a cease-and-desist.
While Nintendo’s within its legal rights to go after these projects, it’s sad to see interesting projects like these go. Link’s Awakening is still available on Switch, either through the remake or Switch Online’s Game Boy collection.
