Pokemon Prism, a fan-made hack of the ROM for Pokemon Crystal, Â joined similar fan efforts last week when Nintendo’s lawyers hit the project with a cease-and-desist letter mere days before the game’s official release. Unfortunately for Nintendo, pirates had something else in mind.
The game has been released to the Internet anyway, and although we won’t link to where you can download the game, it’s not hard to find. It’s also being well-received, as many within a subreddit dedicated to the game are calling it even better than official releases.
Prism apparently runs quite well on various models of the Nintendo 3DS, as shown on the video below:
Pokemon Prism 3DS Gameplay Video
The team that worked on Prism told Kotaku they’re surprised with how fast the game has spread online, noting that Nintendo’s strict policies concerning their IPs haven’t seem to have phased the game’s reach in the least.
This is the latest in a long line of Nintendo using its lawyers to protect its characters and properties, despite the intent of the fans making the tributes. This year alone, Nintendo shut down both Pokemon Uranium – a fan game built from the ground up instead of a ROM hack – and AM2R, which was a remaster of Metroid 2. Both projects involved a considerable amount of work by the fans, and neither were being sold for profit.
Both are also still widely available, if you know where to look. They also have thriving subreddits.
As for Pokemon Prism, developer “Koolboyman” spent 8 years working on the game, and his work is being recognized by those who took the matter of releasing Prism into their own hands.
“You really captured something,” one fan wrote, “that the Pixelmon era still has a place. That we can still be entertained no matter what the game looks like. That the community can provide content if they feel up to it.”
If you do decide to try out Prism, leave a comment below to let us know how you liked it.
