Nintendo Wipes Emulators and Mod Chip Firmware Off GitHub

Nintendo has taken another step in its fight against game copying. According to the report, the company sent four DMCA notices to GitHub targeting two Switch emulators and mod chip firmware. GitHub removed 144 repositories in response, replacing them with copyright takedown notices.

This is not Nintendo's first notice to GitHub, nor even its first attempt against the Yuzu emulator. But according to the article, the focus this time is mainly on firmware loaded onto mod chips. Chips like Picofly can be soldered onto the Switch motherboard and flashed with this firmware to bypass the console's copy protection.

In its November 6 notice, Nintendo stresses that the Switch's protection measures allow the console to work only with licensed game files. The company argues this system prevents pirated copies from being played and stops games from being unlawfully copied onto unauthorized devices. According to the report, the sweep cleared a large number of repositories, yet the same firmware appears to still be hosted elsewhere on the site.

The move may signal that Nintendo is tightening its stance on emulation once again. In 2024, the company issued a notice targeting 8,500 copies of Yuzu across 12 different mirrors. According to the article, emulation is now a more complicated landscape thanks to AI-assisted ports and mods, which makes copyright disputes even harder to untangle.