Valve shuts down a cool-looking deconstructed version of N64 Portal, but its developer doesn’t want you to be mad at anyone

Portal 64A very cool-looking Portal deconstruction inspired by the Nintendo 64 was canceled earlier this week due to Valve, but its developers don’t want you to be mad at anyone.

We all love a good deconstruction, and Portal 64 looks to be just that – a deconstruction of a classic puzzle game, presented in a style similar to what you’d see on the N64. Unfortunately, as announced on project creator James Lambert’s Patreon (via Time Extension), Valve actually reached out to the project to shut it down. Lambert explained: “Because the project relied on Nintendo’s proprietary library, they asked me to take down the project.” After all, Nintendo is notoriously litigious, so Valve’s move makes sense. It was an unfortunate move though.

Now, in a new YouTube video from Lambert, the developer has added more context to the situation (thanks to PCGamesN). “I can’t say I didn’t expect this at some point. It’s their IP on the Nintendo console. I wish I could have done it, but it’s not unexpected.” To briefly explain what Lambert means, Portal 64 dev The author is actually making this game so that it can be played on the Nintendo 64, and uses Nintendo’s official SDK LibUltra (the tool used to make all N64 games).

“While I may not be a big enough target for Nintendo to go after, Valve is. So if they put their stamp of approval on this project, that could be a reason for Nintendo to go after them… I don’t blame them at all, and I think you do too It shouldn’t be. Don’t be mad at Valve here, this project was probably doomed from the start.”

Valve does often allow massive fan-made projects for its titles, which is part of the reason why communities around its games still thrive, but considering Nintendo actually put one man in debt for the rest of his life for hacking a Nintendo console, It doesn’t make sense. It’s no surprise that Valve wants to shut down a project like Portal 64.

On the bright side, Lambert is now looking into making his own game, with plans to make it playable on the N64 and PC, so if you’re interested in his work, there should be some more.