Mario & Luigi Brothership ROM Leaks Days Before Release Has Us Feeling A Legal Wrath Is Coming

Man, Nintendo has had quite the year, didn’t it? It’s been suing left and right to protect its IPs, the target of one of this year’s biggest hacks, and having its first-party titles leak every single time.

Despite all the company’s efforts, the latter, in particular, continues to haunt them as a consistent reminder of its mistakes with the V1 Switch. Now, with Mario & Luigi: Brothership leaking nearly 20 days before its release, we’re not gonna lie – we’re afraid of what Nintendo might do next.

Mario & Luigi: Brothership Leaking This Early Might Just Push Nintendo Over the Edge

So, yes, initially assumed to be a fake NSP file whose signatures and hashes hadn’t yet been checked, it has now been confirmed that the ROM was indeed that of Brothership, and the full game is now playable using emulation or a hacked Switch.

Honestly, emulating or playing a legally obtained copy of a game is one thing, but having it leaked this early and being pirated all over the internet? We get Nintendo isn’t a company worth supporting, but even we cannot condone this.

Mario & Luigi brothership rom file has been dumped and leaked online https://t.co/dfyp5L6S7j

— Pirat_Nation 🔴 (@Pirat_Nation) October 22, 2024

For starters, it’s difficult to understand just how this keeps happening. Over the past year alone, all of Nintendo’s first-party titles got leaked online, including Super Mario Party Jamboree, The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Luigi’s Mansion 2 HD, and The Thousand-Year Door remake—some of 2024’s anticipated games on the Switch.

Now, we believe that these leaks have been traced back to the original hardware vulnerability that affected the V1 Switch model early in its life cycle. Despite Nintendo’s best efforts to address these issues, it seems that the console’s security flaws continue to haunt them financially again and again.

Some of these leaks may also stem from internal sources or the distribution chain, where the more hands a game goes through, the greater the risk of a breach. Plus, it doesn’t help with the fact that Switch emulation is simply one of the easiest out there at the moment, adding to the ease and allure of pirating the games early.

So, even with the increasing sophistication of anti-piracy measures, these factors make it nearly impossible to lock down games until launch, harming sales and prospects of future entries (especially for more niche titles like Brothership).

Considering all that, we’re pretty certain Nintendo’s legal team is likely preparing for another wave of court battles, and it’s only a matter of time before news of said wave hits the internet.

With Games Leaking This Early, What’s Nintendo Planning to Do to Secure Its Future?

Over the past year, Nintendo has already filed lawsuits in all directions to protect its console and games, from targeting the developers of Palworld, threatening emulator developers and hardware modders, to cracking down on content creators.

If anything, it feels as though Team Red’s captain is going to great lengths to make the point that the company will go after anyone looking to compromise the success of its products.

It’s pretty important to note, too, that much of the company’s legal shenanigans have started right as rumors about the Switch 2 swirl up and anticipation for the next console continues to grow at a breakneck pace.

From what we’ve seen of the next console so far, the overall architecture seems to remain largely unchanged from the first Switch. So, while there most likely won’t be any hardware vulnerabilities, it’s going to be very easy for people to build emulators for the console and export game files from the cartridges.

In light of these ongoing issues, many suspect that the company may respond with even stricter legal measures. Creators and distributors may find themselves caught in the crossfire of Nintendo’s next legal crusade. What remains to be seen, then, is how Nintendo reacts to the latest “critical hit” dealt to its platform.

With all that said, what are your thoughts on Nintendo’s ongoing legal actions? Do you think this will affect the future of gaming leaks? Let us know in the comments below!