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Facepalm: Nintendo has long had a reputation for hating anything that emulates its IPs with a brightly burning passion. It makes the discovery that the Nintendo Museum in Japan appears to be using Windows PCs to emulate Nintendo games slightly ironic.
The reveal comes from X user @ChrisMack32, who posted a video showing them unplugging a Super Nintendo controller – connected via USB – at one of the Nintendo Museum's booths. Removing the cable from the controller results in what sounds like the familiar noise that plays when a Windows device is disconnected. If you listen carefully, you can also hear the Windows 'device connect' sound when the controller is plugged back in.
@BobWulff pic.twitter.com/6HjWqN4DRH
– Chris (@ChrisMack32) October 14, 2024
Assuming the video hasn't been edited and this is the real deal, it seems Nintendo has decided to emulate some of its own games, including the 1990 classic Super Mario World that's shown in the clip, at the museum.
The reality is that emulating the games on PC has advantages over placing an original console in every one of the museum's booths, especially as it avoids having to maintain all that ancient hardware.
While Nintendo will doubtlessly be using its proprietary, in-house emulators, much like it does for many games available through Nintendo Switch Online, the fact it is using them at all has angered many, considering the company's history of aggressively protecting its IPs.
In March, Tropic Haze, developer of the popular open-source Switch emulator Yuzu, agreed to pay Nintendo $2.4 million and cease all operations. Nintendo had launched legal action against the firm the previous week.
Another example of Nintendo's hatred of third-party emulators came in 2023 when it requested Valve prevent the Dolphin emulator's launch on the Steam store, citing DMCA law.
More recently, Nintendo told riperiperi, developer of Switch emulator Ryujinx, to stop working on the app and delete its GitHub repository.
There have also been plenty of instances of Nintendo hitting ROM sites, such as RomUniverse, LoveRETRO and LoveROMs, with copyright infringement lawsuits.
Despite Nintendo using first-party emulators in the museum, the outrage from most of the post's commentators is plain to see, with many calling the company hypocritical.