Nintendo is suing Japanese mobile game company Colopl for $40 million dollars, alleging the game Shiro Neko Project infringes on its patents. Initially, a Twitter hashtag appeared to be supporting the mobile studio, but it’s now turned into Nintendo shitposting.
Colopl is a major smart device developer, making titles like TsumTsum Land for Disney. It also licensed patents with Capcom last fall.
According to IT Media, Nintendo is suing for five different alleged patent infringements, including “using a joystick on a touch screen.” As Nintendo Life explains, that appears to be in reference to the Nintendo DS Wrist Strap, which doubled as a joystick-like control for the handheld. Though, it might not be that simple, and the claim could cover placing arbitrary coordinates on the screen and then dragging it like a joystick motion.
As you can see in the above tweet, the Nintendo DS featured touch controls that allowed Mario to go from a walk to a run, and similar controls are allegedly in Colopl’s game. At the time, Nintendo claimed these types of touch controls were a first.
A patent attorney on Yahoo News! Japan indicated that the claim was rather complex, and that Nintendo’s original patented control scheme was wide-reaching. “I think it’s possible to call it what’s known as a ‘killer patent,’” the attorney wrote.
Colopl, however, is denying that it infringed on a single Nintendo patent and will fight the lawsuit. It predicts that the suit will cause the company “distress.”
IT Media reports that somehow the hashtag #任天堂を許すな (“Nintendo wo yurusuna” or “Don’t forgive Nintendo” was supposed to be for Shiro Neko Project fans to support the mobile game maker. But it ended up as a forum for light-hearted shitposting—not all of which is critical of Nintendo in the least.
“Before evolution and after evolution.”
“This was a great freakin’ commercial.”
“Me, I’ve had a Switch since over thirty years ago.”
“Release Kirby Air Ride. What are you hesitant for?”
“The crime of causing children to cry and go hoarse on Christmas Day is serious.”
“Port Undertale to the Switch.”
“I want you to put out a new Famicom Wars.”
“Release Smash Bros. on smart phones.”
“There still isn’t a new one?”
“Before evolution and after evolution.”
Shitposting and patented controls aside, Shiro Neko Project’s hero does look familiar, but not to a Nintendo character...
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