A copy of the since-cancelled Pokemon fan-made game, Pokemon Prism, has appeared online through different sources.
An unnamed group of pirates managed to grab a copy of Pokemon Prism and has started distributing it through several online websites. While the panel of people is unknown, they mentioned that they are “interested in seeing ROM hacks succeed.”
Kotaku reached out to the panel of hackers responsible for distributing the hack, to find out more information regarding why they went through the trouble to do this: “Regardless of Nintendo’s legal rights, we do believe that they are destroying their fans’ hard work for no reason and at no gain.” they said. “Nintendo could have used this (and any other good ROM hack) as an opportunity to promote the Pokémon series in general. They don’t even have to do anything other than let the games live.”
Pokemon Prism is a ROM hack of Nintendo’s Pokemon Crystal, released on the Gameboy Color in 1999. Over the last eight years, the creator by the name of Koolboyman has been working hard at developing this fan-made project. It wasn’t until December 21st, 2016, four days before it’s launch when Nintendo would send a Cease & Desist letter to the developer, requesting it be removed to avoid legal conflict.
The fan-made game Pokemon Prism was approaching its release date when Nintendo sent an official Cease & Desist statement to the developers. This forced the developer’s hand to shut down the project and keep the game in an unreleased state, not ever supposed to see the light of day. The original release date for Pokemon Prism was December 25th, 2016.
Pokemon Sun & Pokemon Moon are available as an exclusive for the Nintendo 3DS.
