Fans of the Pokemon series may love Pokemon more than most fans love their respective favorite games. At least that is what can be said for this rather remarkable, fan-made labor of love that is Pokemon Uranium. The project, built over the span of nine years, became an instant hit with Pokemon fans after it dropped, adding on to what is already a bit of Poke-mania after the popularity of Pokemon Go brought Pokemon back into the limelight.
Pokemon Uranium attracted more than 1.5 million downloads, says Kotaku, although it seems that number won’t be jumping up anymore. After the creators of the game were informed of multiple takedown notices from Nintendo of America lawyers, they decided that it was time to pull the plug on their fan-made, entirely free game. Although, the creators feel their game will still get played, no matter what.
“We have no connection to fans who reupload the game files to their own hosts, and we cannot verify that those download links are all legitimate. We advise you to be extremely cautious about downloading the game from unofficial sources.”
Many of you have questions regarding where to download Pokémon Uranium. Please read our official statement. pic.twitter.com/XLB1hPoRoM
— Pokémon Uranium (@PokemonUranium) August 13, 2016
We have NOT received a Cease & Desist or been contacted by Nintendo or the Pokemon Company. We chose to remove the links ourselves.
— Pokémon Uranium (@PokemonUranium) August 13, 2016
It seems like they fully understand how the Internet works and that if people really want to play Pokemon Uranium, they will absolutely find a way to play it. Perhaps they should rename it and remove any mention of Nintendo’s trademarks from the game and just release it under its own name? Stardew Valley was so clearly riffing on Harvest Moon and was open about it, telling fans of Harvest Moon to pick the game up even without the same name or any sort of license.
Nintendo fans know the score when it comes to Nintendo and these sorts of projects, but still seem disappointed, none-the-less.
I'm pretty mad at Nintendo for removing every fan made project.
Metroid 2 remake
Pokemon Uranium
When Mother 4 comes it'll go down too…— Dylan 💮 (@KingdomWaffles) August 14, 2016
@PokemonUranium Thank you so much for all the hard work and dedication to this amazing game! I feel so bad with what's happened 😢
— Adam Salt (@AdamSwim) August 14, 2016
NOOOOOOOOOOO https://t.co/yV22HZH4t1
— JAIMMY EAT WORLD (@OMGitsJAIMMY) August 14, 2016
Nintendo took away the Metroid 2 remake and now Pokémon Uranium :/
— ツimmy (@yojimbo_exe) August 14, 2016
https://twitter.com/Pierraira/status/764655215861600256
Pokemon fans seem overjoyed with the game, though, which is all that really matters. Maybe some day Nintendo will make their longtime fans happy by releasing games that their fans seem to really want, but until then, these superfans will continue to pick up the slack and do their favorite series’ justice.
(Via Kotaku)