In October, gaming past YouTube transmission DidYouKnowGaming reported connected a failed 2004 pitch for a Zelda tactics crippled connected the Nintendo DS called Heroes of Hyrule. Two months later, the Mario shaper has present utilized a copyright onslaught to erase the video from the internet. The channel, which has made hundreds of videos astir Nintendo games and their history, says it’s the archetypal clip the institution has ever responded with a takedown notice.

“Nintendo has removed our Heroes of Hyrule video from YouTube,” DidYouKnowGaming tweeted precocious Wednesday night. “This was a journalistic video documenting a crippled that Retro Studios pitched to Nintendo astir 20 years ago. This is an effort by a ample corp to soundlessness immoderate journalism they don’t like, and a slap successful the look for video crippled past preservation.”

The original video by contributor Dr. Lava documented the Metroid Prime developer’s decades-old transportation for a Zelda game that sounded a batch similar Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. A turn-based strategy crippled with puzzle-solving mechanics, it focused connected children speechmaking a past publication astir the decision of Ganon, and past playing done those humanities battles. The children would find caller pages and magical objects successful their clip that would past impact battles that took spot successful the book.

DidYouKnowGaming’s study was sourced to the archetypal 22-page transportation papers for the game, arsenic good arsenic an interrogation with the Retro programmer who had crafted it, Paul Tozour. While determination was nary crippled to stock aboriginal physique footage from, it did see immoderate illustrations from the papers (Kotaku included 1 successful our erstwhile coverage of the video and has not yet received immoderate ineligible complaints). In summation to describing what the crippled mightiness person been, the video besides told of the studio’s burnout from Metroid Prime 2 astatine the time, and immoderate unit members’ desires to instrumentality a stab astatine a antithetic benignant of project.

It was a cleanable illustration of the type of quality YouTube gaming journalism transmission DidYouKnowGaming has go known for, and of however easy fascinating moments successful the medium’s past tin beryllium mislaid without radical putting successful the clip and effort to papers them. But apparently, the information that the transportation was from astir 20 years agone and yet unsuccessful didn’t forestall the notoriously litigious Nintendo from treating it similar a highly delicate commercialized secret.

“The Heroes of Hyrule video was created utilizing the aforesaid process and video editing benignant utilized for astir different videos connected the channel,” DidYouKnowGaming told Kotaku successful an email. “What sets the video isolated is that it’s 1 of the fewer videos connected the transmission that documents a portion of Nintendo past that was archetypal uncovered and reported connected by us.”

The radical believes the sum of the transportation falls nether just usage protection, and stands by its archetypal reporting. “We had heard from respective sources during the video’s accumulation that Nintendo were becoming upset with the magnitude of erstwhile Nintendo employees that were consenting to speech astir and stock worldly from unreleased games, failed pitches and different canceled projects,” the transmission said. “This did not deter america and volition not deter america from documenting video crippled history.”

While the Switch shaper has go infamous for YouTube copyright striking everything from free instrumentality mods to old video crippled soundtracks, this appears to person taken the knee-jerk pettiness to an wholly caller level. “This is Nintendo trying to bully and soundlessness autarkic humanities researchers doing wholly supra committee work,” tweeted Liam Robertson, who did not enactment connected the Heroes of Hyrule video but has been a contributor to DidYouKnowGaming successful the past. “They should not get to prime and take what is said astir them connected YouTube.”

Nintendo and YouTube did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

Correction 12/8/22 10:54 a.m. ET: A erstwhile mentation of this nonfiction said the video was created by transmission creator Shane Gill.