Nintendo

Nintendo

Basic information
Founded	1889
Legal Structure	Public
Industry	Electronics, Entertainment Software
Also known as
Official website	https://nintendo.com/

Founded in 1889, Nintendo Co., Ltd. is a multi-billion-dollar video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan with multiple subdivisions outside of Japan. They manufacture video game consoles and handhelds, the most recent of which being the Switch 2. Some of their best-known systems include the Wii, Nintendo 64, Switch, GameCube, and Game Boy. They are well-known for various popular video game franchises, such as Super Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, Animal Crossing, and Metroid.

• User freedom: Extensive history against hardware and software modification; currently disables online functionality completely on modded consoles, which can, in some cases, effectively brick a system.
• User privacy: Historically has ignored individual consumers; confirmed to be spying on Nintendo Switch 2 hardware to detect modifications.
• Business model: Hardware sales, software sales, more recently subscriptions such as Nintendo Switch Online and micro-transactions.
• Market competition: Limited home console competition from Sony and Xbox; limited portable console competition coming from emulation handhelds and Valve's Steam Deck.

This is a list of all consumer-protection incidents this company is involved in. Any incidents not mentioned here can be found in the Nintendo category.

United States Copyright Law, Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 117 effectively states that making a copy of a computer program that you still own the original copy of (e.g., a video game, like Super Smash Bros. Melee) is legal if copying it is necessary in order to use the program with a machine (e.g., the Dolphin emulator) and that it isn't used in any other way, or to archive the program^[1]. Emulation is also legal in this context, as proven by Sony v. Connectix^[2] and Sony v. Bleem^[3]. Despite this precedent, however, Nintendo is well-known for their extensive history of combating emulation of their games and hardware.

• In 1999, Nintendo sued Nintendo 64 emulator UltraHLE.^[4]
• On November 19th, 2020, The Big House, a Super Smash Bros. Melee and Ultimate tournament, announced that Nintendo had sent them a cease and desist because of their use of a Super Smash Bros. Melee modification that required the use of a GameCube and Wii emulator known as Dolphin.^[5][6] This led them to have to cancel the tournament. Full section: The Big House Online Tournament (2020)
• In 2024, Nintendo took down Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu, as well as the Nintendo 3DS emulator Citra.^[7]
• Nintendo has also pressured for restrictions to access emulators, such as Dolphin's non-inclusion as a core for the Steam version of RetroArch.^[8]

Further Reading: Game Genie lawsuit, Le Hoang Minh lawsuit, Team Xecuter and Gary Bowser lawsuit, ModdedHardware lawsuit, Nintendo's May 2025 Policy Updates See also: Controversial agreements and policies

Nintendo is known to frequently get into legal altercations with the creators of hardware modifications.

• Nintendo has sued the creators of cheat code devices, such as the Game Genie^[9] and 10NES circumvention^[10] which allowed users to enter cheat codes into their games and bypass the security lockout chip to prevent piracy.

• On November 18th, 2020, Nintendo of America sued Le Hoang Minh for selling RCM Loaders (plug in USB devices allowing unsigned/homebrew software to run on a Nintendo Switch), accusing him of selling piracy devices.^[11]
• On April 16th, 2021, Nintendo of America sued Gary Bowser, head of video game modchip development and sales group Team Xecuter for over $150,000, accusing him of selling piracy devices.^[12]In a subsequent criminal case, Bowser plead guilty to conspiracy to circumvent technological measures and received a 40 month sentence in prison.^[13] He was released after serving 14 months and reported to be destitute and struggling to pay rent as he owes Nintendo $14 million dollars.^[14]
• On June 28th, 2024, Nintendo sued modded game seller ModdedHardware for selling Nintendo Switch flashcarts, modded Nintendo Switch consoles, and a mail-in console modding service with the argument being raised that a modded system is capable of running pirated software alongside allegations of ModdedHardware pre-installing pirated games, despite citing no evidence in the legal document.^[15]

• In May 2025, Nintendo updated their privacy policy^[16] to reserve the company the right to remotely disable consoles owned by consumers if it detects modified hardware or software attempting to run on the system.^[17]
• On February 13th 2026, Nintendo issued DMCA takedown notices to several GitHub pages of popular forks of Yuzu and Ryujinx, including Eden, Citron and MeloNX. At the time of writing Eden has refused to comply to the request, stating that the project doesn't infringe on GitHub's hosting policies^[18].

Further Reading: Storefront shutdown#Wii U/3DS eShops (2012–2023), Storefront shutdown#Wii Shop Channel (2006–2019)

In late January of 2019, Nintendo shut down their first digital storefront, the Wii Shop Channel.^[19] Super Mario 3D All-Stars was pulled from the Nintendo eShop and store shelves on March 31st, 2021. ^[20] Anyone who downloaded the game or purchased a physical copy was granted access past the expiration date. On March 27, 2023, Nintendo shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops.^[21] These shutdowns have made it nearly impossible to legally obtain new copies for hundreds of games. Titles affected include Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, Pokémon Picross, and more.^[22] As of now, over 1,000 digitally exclusive games can only be obtained through piracy, and a subset requires additional modification to run.

In early 2025, Nintendo Switch Online (NSO) delisted a game for the first time, Super Soccer.^[23][24] With the previously mentioned events of delisting of products a consumer owns for their consoles, such as a physical game on disc or a previously downloaded digital title, consumers still had the ability to play these games, and in some instances, even reinstall them. However, with NSO acting as a streaming service for games it provides to consumers, when a title is delisted, consumers completely and totally lose access to the game, unless the company who requested the title to be delisted were to re-list the game on the service. This event has caused rightful concern among consumers, because this may set a dangerous precedent for access to retro games in the future.^[25]

Further Reading: Nintendo authorized repair Nintendo refuses to repair water damaged Switch 2 console

A man sent in their Nintendo Switch to Nintendo for repair of a broken charging port and was given an estimate of £132 (161.51 USD) to replace the entire motherboard, which would result in data loss and noted screen damage. This was despite the only damage to the console being to the charging port and a screen protector, and not the screen itself.^[26]

Around early-mid July 2025 there have been findings of brand new Nintendo Switch 2 having rust on internal components.

On June 30th, 2025 a YouTube channel "BGA TECH ASSISTÊNCIA E TECNOLOGIA" uploaded a video titled "Swich 2 vs Oled, Technical Review, weight, motherboard, which has the biggest battery?". During the process of disassembly of the new device they discovered rust on an internal component (which can be seen in the video at around 17:16). ^[27]

On July 8th, 2025 a Nintendo customer made a post on Reddit^[28] describing how Nintendo refused to repair a defective device under warranty. In this case, customer's device stopped turning on about a week after a purchase, but it still kept drawing some power. Customer sent the device to Nintendo for repairs. Nintendo replied that "CPU and LCD housing were corroded due to water damage", refused to repair device free of charge under "twelve (12) month from the day of purchase" limited warranty^[29] and wanted to charge customer around 35,000 yen (~$240) for a repair. Nintendo also confirmed that water damage indicator stickers did NOT change color. Customer refused receiving a repair, received unit back and made an unboxing video of this device. ^[30]

Joy-Cons are the included controllers (retailing for $80) for the Nintendo Switch, and they are prone to failure via "stick drift" within a few months of purchase. According to the 2022 study by the British consumer protection group 'Which?', 40% of Nintendo Switch owners experienced Joy-Con drift.^[31] This defect is also found in other official Nintendo controllers, like the Pro Controller (Pro-Cons), and the Switch Lite, a version of the Nintendo Switch that has its Joy-Cons built into the handheld system. Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa apologized for the "inconvenience" and subsequently launched Nintendo's "free repair program."

The way the "free repair program" works is that the user will send the defective Joy-Cons to Nintendo for "repair," which, in most cases, involves replacing the defective Joy-Cons with new ones. The problem arises in cases involving limited edition Joy-Cons, where you have to sign off on consenting to the possibility of your limited edition or "non-standard colored" Joy-Cons being replaced with a standard color Joy-Con if they are sent to Nintendo for "repair." This leaves consumers with these limited edition Joy-Cons without a guaranteed way to get their products repaired if they use Nintendo's official repair service.

The "free repair program" is not available in the Nordic countries as Nintendo does not directly distribute their product there. Instead, Nintendo products are distributed by Bersala AB whom does not recognise the existence of a widespread issue and will charge around $40 for the repair unless the console is still under the 2 years warranty. To qualify for the warranty, the console must have been purchased from an approved local retailer. Hardware purchased on online retailers like Amazon do not qualify and customers are forced to pay full price for repairs.

Historically, Nintendo's faulty joysticks date back to the Nintendo 64. The N64 gamepad's design, which used gears and optical encoder wheels,^[32] led to easy part degradation ever since launch,^[33][34] leading to games that heavily relied upon the joystick input, such as Super Mario 64, to become virtually unplayable.^[34]

On November 19th, 2020, The Big House, a Super Smash Brothers Melee and Ultimate tournament, announced on X (formerly known as Twitter) that they had received a cease and desist from Nintendo of America, and would be forced to cancel the tournament.^[6] Nintendo had told The Big House that they were not allowed to host their online tournament because of their use of a game modification. The modification was Slippi, which runs through a GameCube and Wii emulator called Dolphin to enable online functionality for Super Smash Bros. Melee.^[35]

Because of the COVID-19 Pandemic, The Big House tournament was going to be run online primarily for attendees' safety. Melee is a video game from 2001 that does not have built-in online functionality, so it would have been impossible to run an online tournament for it without the use of modifications. A Nintendo of America spokesperson claimed that the cease and desist was issued to "protect [Nintendo's] intellectual property and brands". The spokesperson also stated that allowing the tournament to run would "condone or allow piracy of [Nintendo's] intellectual property". In other words, the spokesperson claimed that using Slippi would have required the use of pirated copies of Melee^[5], despite the fact that professional Melee players typically play legitimate copies of the game on official hardware to practice and compete.

On or around June 19, 2019, popular YouTuber Desmond Daniel Amofah known by his YouTube username Etika was found deceased after having committed suicide following a series of mental health issues. He was known for his livestream reactions to Nintendo's online events such as Nintendo Direct presentations. Known for his over-the-top reaction style, his fanbase became unofficially known as the "JOYCONBOYZ". Among tributes following his passing, fellow YouTuber JoyConJames created custom shells for the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con controllers known as Etikons which contained the official fan phrase "JOYCONBOYZ" printed on them with a proceed of sales for each shell going to mental health awareness and mental health research facilities. On December 6, 2020, JoyConJames uploaded a YouTube video announcing that he had received a cease and desist (C&D) notice from Nintendo prohibiting him from selling the Joy-Con skins. The notion that the skins were being sold for charity and in honor of a fan of Nintendo and their work drew anger and criticism from the company's fan base.^[36]

Nintendo is suing Pocketpair, the developers of the extremely popular video game Palworld,^[37] for patent infringement, despite filing the patent after Palworld was already released to the public.^[38][39][40]

Main article: Nintendo Creators Program

In 2013, Nintendo placed advertisements on let's play videos where their games were played, taking 100% of all revenue made by said adverts.^[41] In 2015, Nintendo started a YouTube partnership program, which required the removal of all non-Nintendo related videos on the channel, creators being given 60% of revenue per video or 70% of the channel's gross revenue. The program only allowed games on an internal Nintendo-made whitelist which infamously lacked multiple large/popular releases of the time.^[42] In 2017, Nintendo announced that live streaming wasn't allowed for creators in their Creator Program.^[43] It ended in 2018^[44], with Nintendo stating they “encourage you to create videos that include your creative input and commentary” and that “Videos and images that contain mere copies of Nintendo Game Content without creative input or commentary are not permitted.”^[45]

Nintendo Switch 2 and its dock transfer information like all other USB-C connections, but they will talk in code effectively denying all other connections seeking to display video. Research from The Verge has shown that this language is almost exclusive to the Switch 2, but did find one notable exception: the Antank S3 Max TV dock at the lower price point of $29.99. ^[46][47] In practice, this means Nintendo has a near monopoly on docks and it would be possible for them to enact a firmware update to stop all independent companies who may have found a way to make their technology compatible. ^[48] To buy an official Nintendo Switch 2 dock from the Nintendo store it costs $124.99 and many customers would prefer a cheaper alternative. ^[49] Customers report the device's Ethernet port occasionally disconnects and others say it can overheat due to the poor design blocking ventilation. ^[50]

USB-C port restrictions in order to halt third-party competition with docks and other accessories. These restrictions are caused by encrypted communications between the official dock and the console, as 3rd-party devices use a universal standard that Nintendo refuses to use.

On the 10th of November 2025, multiple users across social media started to report that a firmware update pushed to their consoles broke compatibility with Third-Party dock accessories^[51][52]

Main article: Nintendo's May 2025 Policy Updates

On May 8th, 2025, Nintendo changed their privacy policy^[53][54] and Nintendo Account User Agreement,^[55] with features inside both which have the potential to negatively impact consumers. Highlights such as Section 6 (Adherence to content guidelines), Section 13 (reservation to render hardware/software inaccessible), and section 16 (forced arbitration) are key features that come to the risk of right to ownership of hardware and software that consumers may have paid for.

Considerable backlash occurred especially over section 13, as both consumers^[56][57][58] and outlets^[59][60] believe this means Nintendo reserved the right to effectively "brick" consoles such as the Nintendo Switch or its successor.^[17] This also may concern repair shops, as they may be required to instead purchase proprietary repair software from Nintendo to run diagnostics for the console, or otherwise risk bricking the console running personal/community-developed software.

Users have reported Switch 2 consoles being in stock in some stores,^[61][62] however for these users who did get their hands on the console early among a multitude of reasons, these consoles are locked behind a patch that requires an internet connection to Nintendo servers to use the consoles.^[62][63] While this is a measure used to deter piracy ahead of the system's launch,^[63] this does mean that users will be required to connect to the internet to have any viable console functionality post-launch.^[64][65]

Main article: Nintendo Switch bans

There have been reports from users that the usage of the MIG Switch cartridge on the Nintendo Switch 2 will cause the device to be banned from all online services provided to the console,^[66][67][68] regardless of the usage of the cartridge for legitimately dumped software, homebrew, or otherwise. Compared to previous console generations, the online bans on the Nintendo Switch 2 will cause a soft-brick, as vital features such as the eShop or factory resetting the device are permanently disabled. ^[69]

The disabling of the eShop in particular means the console cannot download games or updates, and in particular disables the functionality of game-key cards, which require access to the eShop to be capable of downloading the game.^[70]

In September 2025, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company were granted U.S. patent US 12,403,397 B2, which covered a method of summoning a secondary character and instantly initiating a "fast mode" battle when an enemy occupies the location. While seemingly narrow, critics warn the wording is broad enough to overlap with common mechanics in MMORPGs, action RPGs, and other real-time combat games. Observers argue that enforcing such a patent could stifle creativity, complicate development of similar features in future titles, and even create legal uncertainty for existing games that already use comparable encounter or companion-summoning systems.^[71]

In September, 2025, Nintendo announced that its ill-fated Virtual Boy would be the newest system added to its Switch online game streaming service. The other system collections have also been offered as free downloads to members of the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service. The Virtual Boy collection was similarly offered for free, but Nintendo also revealed that a required accessory would need to be purchased to make use of the Virtual Boy collection. They offered an option of a $99 replica of the original Virtual Boy device or a $20 cardboard headset. Use of either of these accessories is required to properly play the Virtual Boy Collection as the companion app was not designed with an option to disable the 3D graphics and is also not compatible with a TV by docking the Switch console.^[72] Software emulators fans created for Nintendo's prior Nintendo 3DS console can render the Virtual Boy graphics with the use of the system's auto-stereoscopic 3D display along with allowing the 3D graphics to be disabled by using the system's existing 3D slider. Nintendo also posted an incorrect statement to social media that their existing product, the Nintendo Labo VR Headset, would be compatible with the Virtual Boy collection.

• 3DS/2DS
• Nintendo Wii U
• Nintendo Switch/Switch 2

• Joy-Con
• Switch Pro Controller
• Switch Game Key-Card

• Nintendo Switch Online