If you’re a Nintendo employee, today is a red-letter day; a massive leak has popped up on 4Chan containing files of a litany of items that never saw the light of day, including the original source code for multiple classic titles.
From the code to Star Fox (that users can compile and run) to Mario Kart, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past to a bizarre Yoshi game where you have to take care of the world’s most annoying infant (starring Mario), a massive slew of secrets just came pouring out of Nintendo due to a bad actor somewhere.
It’s fascinating if you’re a Nintendo fan, and an absolute headache if you’re an employee.
this proto is top tier pic.twitter.com/NtTRelr1oE
— AK (@Akfamilyhome) July 24, 2020
Pooping eggs has never been so much fun, and finding a babysitter has never been easier when Shy Guys are…abducting (?) babies left on the ground. It’s not difficult to see why that prototype was abandoned. The prototype linked in the above tweet seems like the beginning of an outlandishly surreal horror game.
Yet this is even beyond titles: the Ensata repository (the official Nintendo DS emulator for PC that the company uses) has leaked, the full development repo for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, a master ROM database for Famicom and the Nintendo Entertainment System.
There's also this slightly broken Super Mario Kart build with no drifting (?) and unused tracks, including a unique title theme
Versions of games like Mario All-Stars and Mario RPG have also been found and are being researched into rn pic.twitter.com/YMHaiLjXmd
— AK (@Akfamilyhome) July 24, 2020
At the moment, the leak is being pored over by multiple researchers that are interested in what Nintendo may have shelved, or how they’ve developed in the past.
It’s worth noting that if you’re keen to find some modern dev-repo for the Nintendo Switch, this isn’t it. The leak almost entirely contains older titles and consoles that, some have speculated, could show their face in some form on the Nintendo Switch in the future.
While the data is being pored over, this tweet highlights the finds thus far.
https://twitter.com/nb_zeraora/status/1286700597778022401
The repositories are of particular interest to many: they show changes to the game’s code over time as developers continue to iterate on titles throughout development. This will give many a close look at how Nintendo operates or at least did in the past, which will likely bring out a fascinating perspective that could be read through lines of code and title iterations.
The leak stems from the breeding ground of such actions, for better or worse: 4chan. Be warned that, in the past, when leaks pop up on 4Chan many ultimately end up heading over to attempt to find them, which then encourages 4Chan users to post interesting images in an attempt to shock and disgust visitors.
More will be updated as the data is combed through, which will take time; likely a week to thoroughly parse the data contained within the files. The big question Nintendo needs to answer at the moment is where this leak stemmed from, and what they can do to plug it before more modern titles come to light.
