The Video Game History Foundation, a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving various aspects of video game history, accused Nintendo of behavior “actively destructive” to video game history on Thursday, and called on the company to improve access to its legacy library. This statement comes two days after the developer announced it would shutter the 3DS and Wii U’s digital shops in March 2023.
An analysis performed by VGC estimated that shops’ impending closures will force up to 1,000 digital-only titles to no longer be accessible through official means. While the foundation sympathized with Nintendo’s business reasons for shutting down the shops, it criticized the company for not providing a legal way to play these soon-to-be-lost games. “What we don’t understand is what path Nintendo expects its fans to take, should they wish to play these games in the future,” wrote the foundation.
The nonprofit went on to claim that Nintendo “actively funds lobbying” meant to prevent legitimate institutions, such as libraries, from providing access to its legacy titles. “Preventing institutional work to preserve these titles on top of [shutting down its digital shops] is actively destructive to video game history,” the foundation said. “We encourage […] Nintendo to […] work with existing institutions to find a solution.”
Following the announcement of the shops’ closures, Nintendo briefly discussed the topic of preservation in a now-deleted Q&A segment that firmly communicated that the company would not offer classic content in any other way beyond the NES, SNES, and N64 libraries included in its Nintendo Switch Online membership plans. Fans and industry professionals alike were none-too-pleased by this answer, likely prompting Nintendo to remove the segment from its Q&A altogether. However, Video Game History Foundation co-director Frank Cifaldi screenshotted the controversial statement and shared it on Twitter for posterity’s sake.
Nintendo has a knack for not bringing many of its classic titles onto modern systems. Because the price of both legacy games and consoles have skyrocketed due to a money-hungry resale market, playing a classic game like the original Super Smash Bros. on an actual Nintendo 64 can cost you several hundred dollars if buying from a reseller; there is no official way to purchase legacy consoles or original copies of older games from Nintendo.
Naturally, this high cost has pushed many in the direction of using emulators to play ROMs of Nintendo games. While this method is free and much more accessible to a mass audience, it exists in a legal grey area and could be considered piracy. Because of this, Nintendo has a track record of pursuing legal action against ROM-hosting sites.
Preservationists have often expressed concern over Nintendo’s seemingly ardent desire to take down ROM-hosting websites, while simultaneously not offering official ways to play its games that would be lost to time, if not for such sites.
