Nintendo can’t let fans have anything can they? In 1996, alongside the release of Super Mario 64, Nintendo released a comprehensive strategy guide fitted with a slew of real-world dioramas acted as a 3D map, fittingly called Super Mario 64 Complete Clear Guide.
Of course, since this is pretty cool, Nintendo never released it to the West and didn’t keep the book on sale for that long. This means to actually find a copy means to drop by the likes of eBay, drop a couple hundred bucks, and take your chances of not even getting what they’re advertising.
Even with all this, Nintendo being the company it is, they couldn’t let fans have this and sent a take down request to the Internet Archive where the files were hosted. According to the uploader of the scans speaking to Kotaku, they really didn’t think this would be a problem, after all the book is seriously out of print and didn’t think offering this book would hurt them in any way, only really hurting the people who are gouging the book for $300+ dollars.
Full statement:
“Sadly archive.org sent me their usual takedown notice email telling me Nintendo of America challenged the copyright of the scan and it was removed. Frankly I’d love to challenge the legitimacy of that and how Nintendo of America would have anything to do with a Nintendo of Japan licensed Gem Books guide from 1995 but I can’t really fight the Nintendo legal team here. It’s incredibly disappointing.
While I fully understand protecting one’s IP and copyrights I didn’t think I was hurting anyone by scanning and uploading a 27 year old guide that is extremely out of print. Truthfully I think it helps Nintendo while only hurting the people selling this guide for literal hundreds of dollars. All I wanted to do was spread my love of this incredible guide and to a larger extent my love for the company.
I’m a rookie to the video game preservation scene but I can’t think of anything more depressing than how it’s a bunch of hard working people spending their free time and money painstakingly archiving and preserving history while major corporations like Nintendo are doing nothing to help. In fact they’re actively hindering the cause.”
