What Nintendo does

As news broke yesterday about the latest bed Nintendo has decided to shit in, targeting a longtime fan with DMCA strikes for sharing videos featuring their games, I was reminded of a few things.

Unfortunately, this kind of hostile behaviour is what we've come to expect from Nintendo. Never mind the cute alarm clock or music app—they're one of the most needlessly customer-hostile companies. Remember the Nintendo Creators Program? Or the restrictive guidelines they've enforced on Super Smash Bros tournaments over the years? So why do we celebrate them every time they release something cute or nostalgic?

What's particularly frustrating, as we've seen countless times in their battles against emulation sites, is that Nintendo themselves aren't interested in offering any legal way to play many of the games featured on Crandall's channel. They even shut down the virtual console back in 2019 and cut off access to over 400 classic titles.

As much as I've loved their games and hardware over the years (my first console was an SNES!), it's hard to keep cheering for a company that refuses to work with its customers in any meaningful way or, worse, punishes them for their loyalty.

Nostalgia isn't a free pass to treat your fans like shit.