Super Mario Battle Royale Game Gets Shut Down

The Super Mario-themed battle royale game Mario Royale has now officially been shut down due to the risk of infringing on Nintendo‘s property, the game’s creator has said. Mario Royale’s short stint as a battle royale game featuring 99 different players controlling Mario went through a stage where the creator tried to modify it enough to keep it alive, though the changes weren’t enough. There are some who are still trying to keep the game alive, however.

InfernoPlus is the content creator responsible for building the battle royale game that previously let you control Mario in his classic form. The individual created it as a free-to-play browser game, and all you had to do to take part was give yourself a name, learn the controls. From there, you could revisit some classic Mario levels with a twist: 98 other people were trying to finish the level as well all fighting for items and trying to take each other out indirectly.

It wasn’t long before the game was faced with copyright notices from Nintendo, according to InfernoPlus. In response to those, the game was tweaked to star a new character named “Infringio” who wore a red shirt and hopped around a lot like Mario would. Other parts of the game were changed to remove any direct references to Nintendo’s iconic character, but the similarities were too strong still.

Head to the site where the battle royale game was previously hosted and you’ll now be met with a message that begins with “Sorry, your battle royale is in another castle” instead of the usual page.

“Unfortunately, Uncle Nintindie’s lawyers have informed me that, despite my best efforts, the game still infringes their copyright. They refused to give me specifics (I asked multiple times) but it would seem that either the level design or general mechanics are still too close to the original game. As a result I can’t just blindly change the game and leave it up. Doing so would put me at risk of further legal action. I’ll likely talk in detail about the game and it’s short lifespan on my youtube channel in the coming weeks. I’m sorry about this guys. It was fun while it lasted.”

Some are trying to keep the game alive now that InfernoPlus has taken it offline though. Dark Side of Gaming reported that the game’s been brought back as a free open-source project, though considering how quickly these first two attempts were acted on, there’s no telling how long this latest workaround will be available.