News

ROM Hack Pokémon Prism receives Cease and Desist

Within a week from the ROM hack’s release, Koolboyman has announced the game is cancelled. What does this mean for other ROM hacks in future?

By , December 21, 2016, 3:14 AM

Today it has been announced by Koolboyman (also known as Coolboyman) on Twitter and Facebook that ROM Hack Pokémon Prism is cancelled. It received a Cease and Desist (C&D) from Nintendo.

Pokémon Prism is a ROM hack of Pokémon Crystal, a second generation game. Its release date was the 23rd of December. This ROM Hack was recently hyped up in popularity. Part of this popularity was a successful fan trailer which received over a million views. Said trailer was taken down following the C&D. However, you can watch a different source of the same trailer below.

This is the first Pokémon ROM Hack to have received a take-down notice by Nintendo. It is not, however, the first fan-made game to receive a C&D. Pokémon Uranium was taken down due to it being an unlawful use of the Pokémon IP, much like Prism.

On Twitter, Koolboyman attributed the take-down to the popularity of the trailer. He also asked fans to “please remain calm and don’t attack Nintendo”. The release site, Rijon.com, has linked to the Cease and Desist notice and mentions that “more information (is) forthcoming”.

Where do you stand on this news? Were you looking forward to playing Pokémon Prism? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Edited by ddrox13 and Incineroar.

bobandbill is a staff member on The PokéCommunity forums, and the Head Editor of PokéCommunity Daily. He likes discussing and writing about Pokémon on top of playing the games. He is not, contrary to popular belief, two people.