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Nintendo steamrolling pirated software (Netherlands, 1994)

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SoH

SoH

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,733
UPDATE: Many more pictures discovered. https://www.resetera.com/threads/ni...software-netherlands-1994.18849/post-20151564

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Newspaper clippings surfaced recently of Nintendo destroying what looks to be largely pirated Game Boy games. They are pretty incredible and need to be shared. Mario curbstomping bootlegs is a personal highlight.

Images were found by the archive spelunkers over at @gamegeschied

Translation from first image:
Video game company Nintendo is using a roller to combat piracy. At Lelystad airport ten thousand counterfeit video games were crushed. The Japanese company has started a targeted and structured worldwide campagn to combat forgeries of their video games. The destroyed games came from Hong Kong and were confiscated from a Dutch importing company.
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(Source: Nederlands Dagblad, September 16th 1994)
f3FQMJQ.png


(Source: Leidsch Dagblad, September 16th 1994)
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(Source: Trouw, September 16th 1994)
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Now in color!
(Source: Telegraaf, September 16th 1994)
w2s4Nl8.png


(Source: Club Nintendo Exta, year 2 issue 7, Nintendo Netherlands BV, 1994)
Fk2buaa.png
 
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Deleted member 442

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,431
Jeez, I wonder if any of that stuff was grey import rather than counterfeit.

I'm reminded of the episode of The Wire where the Police Commissioner is fixated on getting "dope on the table" purely to get a seemingly positive story in the press.

Would a publisher would go to this kind of length nowadays?
 
meppi64

meppi64

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Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,479
I remember seeing that on tv.

Could even have been on Power Play with Martijn Krabbé, not sure.

There are a bunch of episodes on youtube but not all of them.
I wish someone would rip them from old VHS tapes...
I had a ton of them on VHS back in the day but they were thrown out when we moved. :(

ibrahima said:
Jeez, I wonder if any of that stuff was grey import rather than counterfeit.
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Nah, they never mentioned anything about import games when that made the news.
It was purely pirated software.
 
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BasilZero

BasilZero

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Oct 25, 2017
36,331
Omni
I am not gonna ask about the Mario costume guy but if the pics were taken in 1994, no color why?

Reference to the original gameboy? Lol
 
tsab

tsab

Member
Nov 3, 2017
893
ibrahima said:
Jeez, I wonder if any of that stuff was grey import rather than counterfeit.

I'm reminded of the episode of The Wire where the Police Commissioner is fixated on getting "dope on the table" purely to get a seemingly positive story in the press.

Would a publisher would go to this kind of length nowadays?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Grey imports are not counterfeit though, Nintendo published/licensed it. It's not illegal to own or sell them.
 

kappa_krey

Banned
Jan 24, 2018
630
Some creepy-ass photos...

...Yeah I'm not a fan of Nintendo's overly zealous efforts in stopping piracy. Not necessarily referring to this case, but more in general. Or what they perceive to be violations of IP rights, like shutting down that fanmade Metroid game or having people remove tourney ARMS footage. Way to kill free advertising for your games, there :/
 
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SoH

SoH

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,733
BasilZero said:
I am not gonna ask about the Mario costume guy but if the pics were taken in 1994, no color why?
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These came from newspaper archives that recently became available. Sourcing the original photos, if those were even in color themselves, would be an immense amount of work.

Color print found. We've entered the 20th century.

(Source: Telegraaf, September 16th 1994)
w2s4Nl8.png
 
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tsab

tsab

Member
Nov 3, 2017
893
Bony Manifesto said:
This was in 1994 though, where Nintendo were really going after grey importers (until they got slapped with that massive fine in the EU for price-fixing).
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Believe me, I know. But they only could deny you free warranty service (as a consumer) if it was an import/grey market here. Also, in reality why Nintendo destroy their OWN products? It's not a pirated copy, it's a legit copy sold by Nintendo to a retailer and then bought by the "grey market" (usually from a different country in EU)
 
Amalthea

Amalthea

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Dec 22, 2017
5,665
I can only make out Robocop 2 games. So even if they were actually legit it's not a big loss.
 
Axisofweevils

Axisofweevils

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,836
ibrahima said:
Jeez, I wonder if any of that stuff was grey import rather than counterfeit.

I'm reminded of the episode of The Wire where the Police Commissioner is fixated on getting "dope on the table" purely to get a seemingly positive story in the press.

Would a publisher would go to this kind of length nowadays?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Not a game, but Terry Pratchett ordered his unpublished works to be steamrollered when he died and it happened last year.
 
Irminsul

Irminsul

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,033
What's with that literal steamroller? Surely there were a bit more, err, modern versions available in 1994?
 

Deleted member 24550

Ac
Banned
Oct 29, 2017
2,398
Ha I vividly remember reading the newspaper article around this event, with the exact first picture (Yes it was in color... though I can't speak for the Christian religious newspaper Nederlands Dagblad where the first image is sourced from, they like to pretend we're living in the 50s anyway). Funny how that imprints itself on your mind.

meppi64 said:
I remember seeing that on tv.

Could even have been on Power Play with Martijn Krabbé, not sure.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Power play met Martijn Krabbe <3.
 
-shadow-

-shadow-

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,110
Damn... Nintendo didn't fuck around here...

Edit: Well someone was going to do it, might as well be me:

untitled-1kms9y.jpg
 
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7threst

7threst

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,297
Netherlands
meppi64 said:
I remember seeing that on tv.

Could even have been on Power Play with Martijn Krabbé, not sure.

There are a bunch of episodes on youtube but not all of them.
I wish someone would rip them from old VHS tapes...
I had a ton of them on VHS back in the day but they were thrown out when we moved. :(


Nah, they never mentioned anything about import games when that made the news.
It was purely pirated software.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I remember that too, not sure if it was Power Play though.

For anyone who is curious: classic Dutch television!
 
jts

jts

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Oct 26, 2017
3,018
What they don't let you see is that they steamrolled the pirates themselves afterwards.

Let it be a cautionary tale, folks.
 
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SoH

SoH

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,733
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(Source: Club Nintendo Exta, year 2 issue 7, Nintendo Netherlands BV, 1994)
Fk2buaa.png


Bonus Mario (double check the other color image, he is there)
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