Nintendo of America has requested the closure of popular iOS Game Boy Advance Emulator app GBA4iOS. A tweet from developer Riley Testut officially sealed the smash-hit emulator’s fate after Nintendo issued a Digital Millennium Copyright Right (DMCA) forcing the site to be closed, suspending further downloads.
The GBA4iOS emulator app 2.0 update has been live since February, with Testut claiming that over one million downloads have been recorded for the emulator. But in order to sidestep Apple’s terms and conditions, the high-school student allowed users to download the app through a website hosted on GitHub without jail-breaking the intended device. For those wanting to relive the classic Mario games, iOS devices would require users to set back their internal clock to an earlier period in February.
A statement from Nintendo’s legal team was issued to GitHub requesting the removal of the emulator app. A visit to the now defunct website will result in a 404 error. Testut’s case isn’t the first time Nintendo of America has filed a copyright claim against other parties, as college student Josh Goldberg’s Full Screen Mario game was forced to close last November. Nintendo’s official statement reads:
“We represent Nintendo of America Inc. (“Nintendo”) in copyright matters. Certain material posted on the website located at gba4iosapp.com infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo. GitHub, Inc. is identified as the internet service provider for this web site and IP Address 192.30.252.153. This notice is provided pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC § 512.
“Nintendo requests that GitHub, Inc. disable public access to the web site at gba4iosapp.com. This website hosts a downloadable mobile application for iOS that provides users with access to unauthorized and illegal copies of Nintendo’s copyright-protected video games in violation of Nintendo’s exclusive rights.”
Lmao.
Fuck.. Sony bashes us
Good.
First
Curse my slow 3G
Eh, not only do these pirate guys probably have like a hundred other sites from which to download it, but most people probably wouldn’t even bother skirt the legal lines like this if Nintendo had provided the iOS crowd with some sort of viable option to play the classics on their system.
And kill the 3DS in the process, that’s not a good marketing plan on their part.
I’d say Nintendo games don’t need to be on iOS because if you really cared you would buy their product.
good. fuck emulators.
i use emulators for my laptop and i still buy the games, i would use the gcn emulator but it is very laggy on my pc, and its a good pc too. im still waiting for gcn for wii u vc.
It obviously isn’t that good if you have lag issues
Good. If anyone gets mad about this, oh well. Time to support the developer by buying a console that does virtual console games. 300 plus 5 to 15 dollars for virtual console is not that much money if you handle your money just right.
Shut it, people shouldn’t have to buy a certain device to play games that are 20 years old
What? You think you’re special & should be able to play games for free just because they’re over 20 years old? Hahahaha! Oh wait, you’re serious? Let me laugh even harder! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Your a dick
Why in God’s name are you replying to a comment from over a year ago? Thanks for doing so, though. It’s nice to reminisce once in awhile on the past.
You shut it. People shouldn’t be allowed to use age as an excuse for theft!
Thank you! I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s one of those people pissed off he’d have to pay over 15 dollars for the Wizard of Oz bluray because it’s over 75 years old. lol
What do you expect fool? Its their property and right to decide how, where, when and who to distribute it. You don’t wanna buy their consoles to play their games and also support them to create more in the future, that’s your business.
Stop supporting piracy because you’re either you’re a cheap bastard to support Nintendo or a dumbass bastard to hate Nintebdo for some goddamn stupid reason.
These people are so damn cheap if 5-15 dollars is overpriced. It’s a freaking video game, not a movie, so they can charge more than 5-15 dollars if they really wanted to.
amen to that, i pirate and buy their products, one i do i dlete them, its how i do with some wii games and of course some are not even worth pirating i use to pirate xenoblade and the last story, was going to pirate the pal ver of pandora’s tower and as soon as i heard it was coming to n.america, i placed my pre-order and as for the other 2 i did buy them, xenoblade i had to pay $55 used, yes that was the cheapest i could find and this was back in 2013, dec to be more accurate, that last story i had to buy if from the place where they screw you over and bend over (gamestop) and that was about 2 months ago. you are either a bad pirate or a good pirate,bad as in never supporting the companies by buying their products and a a good one is pirating but also buying their products and yes in the end its still pirating.
They have to since those games are classics and if people aren’t willing to pay for them then they don’t deserve to play them.
Nintendo dosnt get any of the profit so your a moron
The virtual consoles on PSN and Nintendo Network are terrible. Both are missing an amazing amount of games that should be there, such as pokemon red.
I either downloaded games that A) were no longer avaible in any form( Megaman Battle Network 1), or B) I had bought multiple times on multiple consoles (Link to the Past)
Fuck Nintendo, no one wants to buy your overpriced GB games
LOL!
No one wants to hear your whining, dumb ass. xD
Go back to eating Nintendo’s dick
What’s wrong? You don’t like paying for video games? Too bad. Deal with it.
Maybe if Nintendo actually put old games up people would buy them. Ex. Pokemon red still isn’t avaliable.
Why bother with Pokemon Red when you can just go buy Pokemon FireRed instead? It’s practically the same game just with better graphics, new features, & Pokemon not previously available to the original game.
Because those loser are nostalgic of course? Why play Red when X and Y and soon to be Sapphire/ Ruby remakes are so much better?
Oh right. This is one of those cases where I can’t really forgive nostalgia. It’s like sticking with the Gamecube original of Wind Waker simply for nostalgia when Wind Waker HD on Wii U is ten times better because it fixes a lot of those annoying things about the original like that blasted Triforce of Courage shards quest. It’s because of that quest that I HATE Tingle with a passion.
i still the original WW despite its flaws. still planning on buying the HD ver.
I mostly refer to the ones that stick with the original & don’t bother getting the HD remake. The original does have one advantage: the long sailing as the game loads the next square makes the Great Sea feel bigger than what it really is.
I speed run Wind Waker, Super Swim OP fuck sailing.
WOW are you actually fucking retarded???? The majority of my generation grew up with the original game. Do you just throw away every meaningful part of your childhood because there’s something more recent on the market? Fuck you!
Calm down, dude. If you really did grow up in that generation, you should be more mature than this. I’ve played Yellow & Gold so I understand why some people would prefer those over the remakes. But to insult my opinion when I wasn’t even being mean is childish. Now go take out that anger of yours on someone that is actually being a dick to people.
Oh no $7 dollars is soooo much for a full game especially one of such quality that only Nintendo can provide smh
Hahahaha! Oh wait, you’re serious? Let me laugh even harder! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
ACTUALLY. The games aren’t overpriced. More than half the time, the hard copies go for much higher on eBay and amazon
That’s because their age increases their value, which in retrospect is really fucking stupid.
$5 for a Gameboy title or $8 for a Gameboy Advanced title is SO OVERPRICED today…grow the fuck up because its not that difficult to make or even find $8 today to buy either one of their GB games you cheap ass idiot.
Are you some kind of wizard or just a dumb ass, did you read every ones mind to know that no one wants to buy there GB games??
Good for Nintendo. Videogames are in a similar place to music circa 2002. There will need to be some regulation of content to ensure piracy –even of old games — doesn’t cannibalize the business too much.
that’s just a drop in the bucket.. trying to stop piracy is ultimately pointless..
better to just roll with it and instead offer compelling products with very easy access so that many people don’t even bother with copyright infringement
that of course won’t stop piracy either but it will increase sales
Limewire was da shit!
Asshole nintendo. I thought you were noble.
as if that’s going to drive people to go buy those extremely limited and overpriced gba games on the eshop. there are far more alternatives to gba4ios.
So the gb games are more limited on wiiU and not your phone? Lmao. At least with wiiU you get the virtual game manual in full color and perfectly preserved an $7 isn’t over priced for something they took the time to emulate and works with out a hitch on the VC. But I guess if you’d rather bine nintendo an steal their games then yeah they are over priced smh
that’s right. they’ll never learn. which is fine. they’re only hurting themselves in the end.
Hahahaha! Oh wait, you’re serious? Let me laugh even harder! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Excellent, another victory achieved!
On a separate note:
Finally you can all stop wondering when I’ll be getting my Wii U…
Because of the Mario Kart 8 promotion High Command is conducting now in Scandinavian territories now aswell, I’ve decided to buy my Wii U somewhere around mid-june after my current semester is over…
And I’m getting Pikmin 3 finally…
See you at the racing tracks!
yay! ^-^
I just took a look at your art, you really have some skills there!
wowowow, thank you for the kind words^^
Can I add your friend code when you do get one? I want to race people in Mario Kart!
Of course…
The more of you slav…I mean comrades, the better!
Hey, I want to add you too when you get a Wii U! but if I beat you then you will have to be my slav…oh never mind, we will still be friends!
Haha…
Indeed you shall get it…
Welcome to the Wii U front Commander!
Thanks…
Now true victory shall be achieved!
I’m happy that they will give us scandinavian players that Mario Kart Promotion. Before i wasn’t sure if i buy Mario Kart but now i will download it Day 1.
Nice, see you on the racing tracks!
It’ll be replaced within a week by something else and now that it’s a story people will do it with vengeance
People.. emulators and roms are illegal, people bashing nintendo for shutting down those illegal sites are nonsense..
It’s okay. They’re just mad they can’t rob Nintendo anymore from that particular place. It was probably full of games that they either have on virtual console or are planning to put on virtual console.
Emulation isn’t really wrong if you OWN the Games and the Console your playing. It kinda defeats the purpose to be a nintendo zealot when you buy a game and nintendo tells you that you aren’t allowed to play it any way you want through your own means. I use emulators and I own all the games i play on virtual console as well as physically. I mean if I can only use a game I buy physically for one console then get bashed for finding a way around it….. kinda just says you don’t own the game their just letting you pay to play it. if that was the case i would rather just go to a Sega arcade.
ok, but the majority don’t do this,a example for nintendo ds, a lot of people bought the DS but used to download the game roms on internet using R4 without buying the game, especially in my country where ds games used to cost around 60/70 dollars in the DS time
I cant blame people for taking advantage of Nintendo’s blind eyes or any companies. it is Kinda their own fault that they haven’t taken down ROM SITES for supplying the real problem. To take down a ios emulator is just flat out retarded. i mean they can always just make another and just call it something else. If they really want to fix this take Down Rom Sites.
and not the ability to play the game you own , and have the right to play any way you choose away from you to make a small dent in the world of piracy.
Sorry for my grammar, i suck at typing.
Well it’s one thing to emulate a game you already own so you can play it on other things besides the console. That’s your right. But the moment you start giving out free copies of the emulation, that’s when it becomes illegal. If Nintendo really, really wanted to, they could not only get the site shut down but also sue the person that built the site & is giving out the emulators. These people are lucky Nintendo is being nice & is just shutting them down, since they can be a hell of a lot more vindictive if they chose to.
and people suing nintendo says they are easy targets to get sued. at least nintendo isnt suing left and right like that shitty company that claims the wii u infringes on their product. nintendo can be nice and say “do it one more time and we will sue you”, kinda like how some cops are when you get your first arrest, be nice to you and let you go and tell you not t do it again
Such is new ‘Merica! Sue for quick money if you can win! I hate my country sometimes.
So true
Emulators isn’t consider “Illegal”.
ROMs however, yes.
Of course it’s easy to get emulators and ROMs for GBA games anyway, so it’s ultimately a worthless cause, but they’re well within their rights to do this.
BANHAMMER!!!
I can just envision Thor coming along with Mjölnir & smashing an emulator. xD
Good work.
Can you really blame Nintendo here?
No. No you can’t.
hahaha cheap asses buy your games.
Another sign Nintendo is getting desperate? I think so.
I’ll say one thing and this is no way condoning or condemning piracy and emulators: piracy will always be around no matter what. But when you restrict things (aka adding region locks to your consoles), it just makes people want to pirate even more.
If Sony & Microsoft did this right now with how their consoles aren’t fairing any better than the Wii U, it can just as easily be a desperate move for them, too. It goes both ways.
I own 20 or so gb carts and I have 10 gb vc games on my 3ds I love gameboy. fuck you thieves
I do support Nintendo, but ever snce Gamestop stopped selling Gameboy games I haven’t been able to buy any gameboy games, and adding onto that I just don’t have the money to spend 60-70 dollars on a game that I should be able to get for cheaper. Not adding shipping costs on that, it still comes out to way too much for anyone strapped for cash. Of course, if you have an iPhone and you’re complainng about not having a lot of money you need to just take a step back and reevaluate your priorities anyway.
NOOOOO NOA! HOW DARE YOU ?!
THE INTERNET HAS TAUGHT ME THAT I’M ENTITLED TO HAVE EVERYTHING I WANT FOR FREEEEE !!!!
HOW DARE YOU TAKE AWAY MY RIGHT TO STEAL ?!?!?!
Hahahahahaha! Best post ever on this article. I’m glad I wasn’t drinking anything. I enjoy seeing people like this getting mocked by people like us.
If Game Boy games still have non-expired copyrights, then how are people getting away with making reproduction NES and SNES games? There’s actually websites devoted to doing this.
idk, nintendo has alot of money to work with that they dont have to worry about games they made several decades ago being distributed
piracy is sharing, not stealing, youre all mad
Hah! “Why are you so upset I’m a serial killer!? There’s over billions of other humans! I’m just helping with the population problem.”
I’ve never seen anyone ride a game company’s dick so hard as I have from these comments. This doesn’t end piracy. Hell, this doesn’t even put a dent in it. It’s one site offering one type of game. These games are outdated. Maybe if Nintendo would stop living in the past they wouldn’t be concerned about almost 30 year old video games getting downloaded off the internet. I love Nintendo, but this is ridiculous.
TL;DR Make new games, make them better, and people will buy your new shit
Ouch, commenters…Unfortunately, older games are not easy to find in some countries anymore, not to mention some games are out of production. Buying online is a hassle and not everyone’s parents allow it. There’s also games that haven’t been released in English so the only way to play them is on emulation with a fanmade translation patch. Sometimes emulation and/or piracy is the only way to play specific games. Not every pirate is completely apathetic and heartless .__.
That’s why I said in a previous post that the site they shut down might have been giving out GBA games Nintendo already has on virtual console or is planning to put on GBA virtual console soon.
What’s Luigi doing to Mario? ⊙_ ⊙
Damn it that’s why it says error on the site when I was trying to download the program GBAiso… hope they don’t take down my Drastic a DS emulator from my phone.. I do have a 3DS ill just buy DS games instead.. and 3DS games
And wtf look likes Mario touching Luigi D**K lol.. hey sluts check out my big boat!
I mean Luigi touching Mario d**K
Good get rid of this trash.
As soon we create both Wii U/3ds homebrew and perfect a good emulator, our 2 decade mission to bankrupt Nintendo will be very close to reality.