The first Nintendo emulator, now one of the largest Pokemon fan gaming sites, hit with DMCA takedown

ruins castle, the largest Pokemon Fan gaming sites everywhere have apparently been shut down due to sudden DMCA takedown notices.

Earlier this month, Switch emulator Yuzu was shut down after its creator reached a settlement with Nintendo. This also resulted in 3DS emulator Citra being shut down as well, marking another victory for Nintendo in its ability to remove all power from its library of nearly impossible-to-play games. Now, Pokémon fan gaming site Relic Castle appears to have been shut down as well, although it’s unclear who did so (thanks, Kotaku).

For those of you who haven’t heard of Relic Castle before, it’s a forum founded in 2014 where people can share their love for Pokemon fan games. It’s also common practice to share links to these fan games, which people can download from third-party sites, but it’s worth noting that Relic Castle itself has never hosted any of these games. Essentially, it’s just a convenient place to find any fan games you might want to play.

Earlier this week, the official Relic Castle Twitter account shared that the site was now completely shut down due to a DMCA takedown notice, but the statement provided did not specify the source of the notice – which Nintendo apparently takes special care of for games famous. It’s intellectual property, but it’s possible that The Pokemon Company filed this one specifically.

“Relic Castle has always been a non-profit, ad-free, close-knit community, and we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished,” the statement read. “Members feel welcome with us, make friends, and even earn Career. It is with great regret that I inform you that the Forum section of this community, which would have turned 10 this year, has now had to be cancelled. With over 20,000 members and 65,000 posts, Relic Castle is home to many of us. Discord The server does not go away and the site is still visible as an archive using the Wayback Machine.”

This won’t eliminate the plethora of fan games on the internet, as these are often hosted elsewhere, but it will obviously make them harder to find. Pokemon fan games are extremely popular, with countless unique takes on the popular RPG series, and they apparently won’t impact the main series’ sales either, which makes the move all the more frustrating.