DKC Atlas Forum

[Blaziken257]

So, it has come to my attention that there exist reproduction carts of various ROM hacks of the DKC games (as well as DKL3). Many DKC trilogy ROM hacks on this site have been made into reproduction carts on the Internet and they're sold on sites like eBay, Etsy, and Amazon. I'm not going to give any links because I feel that people selling these shouldn't be making money off of them. And that's because it's unlikely that any of these have been made with permission from the creators. And in many cases, there's no acknowledgement as to who made these ROM hacks in the first place.

I say that they're all likely made without permission because one of these hacks is my English patch for the GBC version of Donkey Kong Land III, and any reproduction carts of these were definitely not made with any permission from me. (It's worth noting that in at least one case, one seller made a custom box with typos in the game description... no doubt that someone buying it will think I made the typo-ridden box when I had nothing to do with it.) Also, some of these carts originate in China, a place notorious for piracy. So having said that, it's safe to assume that none of the reproduction carts for any DKC/DKC2/DKC3 ROM hacks were made with any permission from the creators. (If any ROM hacker here did give permission for a seller to make a reproduction cart, please let me know and I'll note it here!)

So, if you come across a reproduction cart of a ROM hack (not just DKC/DKL but any other game as well), please don't buy it unless you're absolutely certain that the seller had permission from the ROM hack creator(s) do to so. Instead, either just use an emulator, or if you want to play them on real hardware, use a flashcart (e.g. SD2SNES or Everdrive GB) to play them instead. ROM hacks are generally created as a hobby and people who create them generally don't intend to profit from them, so it's not right for people to profit off of another person's hard work.

Finally... is there anything that can be done about this? I can't really think of anything apart from spreading awareness of the issue (and perhaps I should have added some sort of splash screen to my DKL3 English hack... I didn't think it would have been necessary to take the time to do so when the DKL games are overshadowed by the DKC games, so I never bothered). Since ROM hacks are derivative works, I don't think people creating them have much legal ground to stand on. Any advice here?

[wuffalo]

I dont believe much can be done to stop them selling repros, seeing as the hackers technically have no legal ownership over their hacks. The best that can be done is telling others not to buy 'em, i guess.
and its probably cheaper to just buy a flash cart, honestly.