The creation of mods are an impressive part of the gaming community, as players can add extra content, fix glaring bugs, and even offer visual enhancements, like with a recentSkyrimmod on the Xbox Series X. Nintendo, however, has instead sought to tamper down on mods for their games, most recently withSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Nintendo and theSuper Smash Bros.community have rarely seen eye-to-eye, especially with a recent controversy surroundingNintendo’s issuing of a cease and desist for The Big House, a massive onlineSuper Smash Bros.tournament featuringSuper Smash Bros. Melee. This controversy began when Nintendo argued that the use of Slippi, a mod that allows for online play in the GameCube gameSuper Smash Bros. Melee,hurt its branding and leaves room for people to pirate Nintendo games. However, Nintendo has not offered another way to purchaseSuper Smash Bros. Melee.
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This seemingly harsh treatment ofSmash Bros.fans has led tomany competitive gamers protesting Nintendo’s actions via Twitterwith the hashtags “Free Melee” and “Save Smash.” If that wasn’t enough to get fans riled up, aSmash Bros.modder named AnimalTV has reported on Twitter that a series of YouTube videos have received copyright strikes by Nintendo for showcasing mods usingSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate. A few of these videos contain purely cosmetic mods like adding new skins for Mario, or replacing Terry Bogard with Goku, yet they have apparently fallen victim to Nintendo’s strict grasp over its intellectual property.
These modders do not actively encourage piracy, or even changeSuper Smash Bros Ultimate’s engine or mechanics in many cases. A lot of mods are cosmetic, and meant for fans to spice up their game with new costumes or a new character model. This attempt to control everything related toSuper Smash Bros.will likely not impact the piracy issue, and may lead to more people resenting the developer for its actions.
One has to wonder what Nintendo is trying to do by clamping down on the fans who, for all intents and purposes, are supporting Nintendo.Super Smash Bros. is an important piece of the competitive gaming scene, even so far asgetting multiple documentaries made about the competitiveMeleescene.
However, fans must keep in mind that the competitive scene is rather small compared to the amount of people playingSmash Bros. The protests will likely continue, but it will take a lot more work to put a dent inNintendo’s continued, massive successas a developer.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimateis available now on Nintendo Switch
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