Poking Nintendo: Why the ‘Lockpick’ DMCA Blitz Should Surprise Absolutely No One

Poking Nintendo: Why the ‘Lockpick’ DMCA Blitz Should Surprise Absolutely No One

Hacking software and hardware, to achieve functionality that was never intended, can be fun and rewarding. When motivation is directly linked to restrictions perceived as unnecessary or unfair, that can lead to moral justification. That's understandable in some cases, but when a company like Nintendo counters by targeting a tool like Lockpick, that's not surprising; it's inevitable.

Nintendo’s N64 console went on sale in Japan in June 1996, selling for ¥25,000 (around US$185). By the end of day one, all 300,000 units had sold out.

For hardcore gamers in Europe facing a release date eight months away, importing an N64 was a tempting but expensive option. Adjusted for inflation, imported Japanese N64s changed hands for the equivalent of $1,400 in today’s money; a copy of Super Mario 64? A snip at $165.

Months before the console was finally released in Europe, N64 went on sale in the United States. Imported into the gray market in Europe, US cartridges were cheaper than their Japanese counterparts. Unfortunately, Japanese console owners soon found that while US cartridges would play on their machines, Nintendo had ensured that they wouldn’t physically fit in the slot.

The restrictions could be removed by dismantling the N64 but removing Nintendo’s security screws required a special tool that was difficult to source. Jumping through these hoops to play a*genuine*cartridge on a*genuine*console not only felt ridiculous but probably amounted to a breach of license/copyright. Had Nintendo’s slot shenanigans been in digital form today, circumvention would likely constitute an offense under the DMCA.

Yet, despite Nintendo deploying tactics equivalent to these across many consoles spanning decades, some people appeared surprised by news of Nintendo’s latest circumvention crackdown. The gaming giant couldn’t prevent its special screws from being removed in private homes but, since the modern equivalent is playing out in public, action was always inevitable. Only the timing was in question.

Nintendo Targets Lockpick_RCM & Lockpick

News of Nintendo’s decision to target Lockpick_RCM & Lockpick first appeared in a*tweet*posted by*Simon Aarons. In common with many others, Aarons forked the tool on GitHub, and when Nintendo filed a DMCA notice to have Lockpick taken down, he received an early heads-up and decided the internet deserved one too.


In layman’s terms,*Lockpick_RCM*&*Lockpick*allow Switch owners to extract encryption keys for use in other software including*hactool,*hactoolnet/LibHac, and*ChoiDujour.

At that point, there’s a fork in the road. The road on the right leads to homebrew and emulation, which developers and some parts of the modding community insist is the only way. The road branching to the left is somewhat darker, leads to piracy, and puts Lockpick and those dependent on it in jeopardy.

Nintendo Doesn’t Mention Emulation Directly

Some believed this ambiguity was enough to keep Nintendo at bay but, as this*tweet*attempts to explain with the help of ChatGPT (and forgiving the first Bowser reference), Nintendo now fears the worst.


The DMCA notice submitted to GitHub is yet to be officially published, and at the time of writing, the repos haven’t been taken down either. GitHub often grants developers a short period of time to address complaints filed by rightsholders, to avoid entire repos being unnecessarily removed. According to Nintendo’s take on events, not much can be done short of removing all functionality.

The company explains that the Switch contains multiple technological protection measures, including those that permit the console to interact exclusively with legitimate Nintendo video game files. In summary, this prevents users from playing pirated copies of Nintendo’s games on Switch devices but also prevents users from copying and playing games on devices that are not Nintendo Switch. An emulator reference, presumably.

Nintendo: Circumvention of TPMs is Illegal

“The reported repository offers and provides access to circumvention software that infringes Nintendo’s intellectual property rights. Specifically, the reported repository provides Lockpick to users,” the complaint reads.

“The use of Lockpick with a modified Nintendo Switch console allows users to bypass Nintendo’s Technological Measures for video games; specifically, Lockpick bypasses the Console TPMs to permit unauthorized access to, extraction of, and decryption of all the cryptographic keys, including product keys, contained in the Nintendo Switch.”

In discussions over the weekend, some users highlighted that the keys in question are extracted from their own devices, devices they paid for and therefore own. They also note that pirates are unlikely to extract their own keys, but by effectively declaring that emulation/homebrew fans can’t extract keys from their own devices, Nintendo will force them to obtain keys in other ways.

While the prediction concerning key acquisition seems valid, in the unlikely event Nintendo addresses key ownership, licensing agreements would almost certainly tilt in favor of the gaming company. In practical terms, citing the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions is more than enough.

“The decrypted keys facilitate copyright infringement by permitting users to play pirated versions of Nintendo’s copyright-protected game software on systems without Nintendo’s Console TPMs or systems on which Nintendo’s Console TPMs have been disabled,” Nintendo informs GitHub.

“Trafficking in circumvention software, such as Lockpick, violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of the United States (specifically, 17 U.S.C. §1201), and infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo.”

After Several Years, Why Did Nintendo Act Now?

At this point, it’s worth highlighting that Lockpick was first uploaded to GitHub on December 8, 2018, with Lockpick_RCN uploaded on March 4, 2019. Despite functionality being clear from the start (and a naming convention suggesting that circumvention of digital locks was always the aim), it’s taken Nintendo four years to take action. So why now?

Absent any comment from Nintendo, only speculation remains. However, if one was attempting to compile a shortlist of credible reasons, people playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom*on PC*almost*two weeks before the game is officially released on Switch, would be extremely difficult to beat.


Not only does this example supply motivation to act in spades, there’s almost a need to justify it beyond the explanation in the takedown notice.

Regardless of any objections over the right to maintain emulators or arguments over legitimate reverse engineering and related fair use defenses, this isn’t a case of Nintendo being massively unreasonable, it’s Nintendo reading the law, liking the odds, and then recalling that anti-circumvention notices cannot be countered.

In addition to the repos mentioned above,*Nintendo’s notice*also requests the removal of around 80 forks. If every last trace of Lockpick is eventually removed from GitHub, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. It was always inevitable; someone just had to poke the bear in both eyes at exactly the right time.

I have been following this scandal since news dropped a few days ago!

The history of N64 is interesting but this Nintendo Paranoia actually goes back even further, around 40 years ago with Release of original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). During late 70s and early 80s there was a market crash for gaming due to all the shovel ware and crap that was being released. One famous example was the ET game released by Atari that sold so poorly, that the company actualy buried 10,000s unsold copies in the desert lol.
The other problem is early 80s was the rampant rise of copied games being sold illegally or even JUST friends sharing copies with each other. So when Nintendo finally released it incredibly popular NES console, they made sure to add "Official Nintendo Seal of approval" on all their games to show that it is genuine and not fake. This point in history was the start of Nintendo growing aggressive and zero tolerance on any one that remotely tries to infringe copyright, even if legal because of grey areas that all of us are allowed to exploit fairly.
Its not just a business or copyright issue. Nintendo is a Japanese company with their own cultural approach to how they treat customers and worse, their employees and business partners. You would not beleive how badly they treated their business partners, especially third party companies who made Nintendo games for them. The same issue on their employees and naturally no surprise how they treat customers. Without any of these parties, Nintendo would be Nothing!

The other main problem is this stupid argument against piracy and confusion on what is the actual truth of matter! Pirating software to resell is a genuine problem and i am against it 100%. But to copy a game that is yours, to share with a friend or even to download is fine. The argument against downloading for personal or fair use is that all COMPANIES say that every downloaded game represents a lost sale. This is biggest lie and propoganda in creation of existence. Ok maybe not that big, but still BIG.
Many of us download to try and maybe never play again. In 99% of my case or most people, if we never had the option to download for free, we would have gone on with our lives and never thought about the software again until it was in second hand store for $2. And thats the other problem. Companies like Nintendo, Sony and Micrsoft DO NOT like retail stores that have resell section for used games. The same companies even tried to develop a security system against the resell option of games which FAILED miserably.

The point of all this is do demonstrate the flaws and exploits of Corporations and what they actually think about their customers, consumer rights and creativity in wonderful communties who actually improve these consoles or hardware because they are limited or dont actually follow trends of market. The truth is that small exploits like lockpick or homebrew is not really a big issue. Coroporations mindset is that every shared game is a lost sale. They are convinced so much on this lie that they insist that any form of creativity or sharing outside their closed market places, must be crushed!! They want ALL the money Where large % of that does not exist and they want you to be afraid of them.

All the bullshit about loving there fans, loving youtube channels, twitter gushing, etc etc is just useful PR for them. They ultimately do not understand a big % of their customers because whole point of homebrew and custom Roms, etc etc is exactly because these corporations just sit on their small success and licenses and then do nothing to improve them or listen to feedback from their actual fans.

Sorry for ramble, but i could literally go on and on. Another interesting point that i will end on. Why nOW with Nintendo? Well again its a number of factors but main two are these. [1] With release of Steamdeck and the new reanaissance of handheld consoles that have allowed amazing emulation opportunites. [2] Zelda is basically biggest franchise and money maker for Nintendo. They hate that it got released 2 weeks early because again of number of factors. I gurantee you, it will now be massive success due all the PR on all social platforms. Just look at the post sales data when it finally launches. Proof that coprporations dont want to accept, that filesharing can actually be huge tool for improving their profits. It doesnt matter for Nintendo. Like i explained before, corporations are parnaoid and selfish and brutal. They want all the money despite the fundamental lack of understanding of both Filesharing and even more important, their customer base.

If anyone from these Companies are reading this, hire me as consultant and i will show you what your CEO, shareholders and lawyers simply fail to understand. Fist rule, the more you attack communities and filesharing, the more you drive a passion for filesharing. Every head you cut, five more heads will grow in its place and thrive. Torrenting is a movement that will never die and any actions to crush it will result in alienating your customer base and the growth and interests in usefnet and Trackers!