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Zelda tribute game taken down as Nintendo lawyers end the quest

The makers of a popular browser-based Legend of Zelda tribute game have confirmed it has been taken down after Nintendo’s lawyers intervened.

The Zelda30Tribute game, a partial remake of the original game in 2.5D, had been accessed by more than half a million people online since it launched this week, Eurogamer reports.

However, the availability of the game – made in commemoration of the 30th anniversary of Zelda – was short-lived following a copyright claim.

Developers Scott Lininger and Mike Maghee wrote: “Nintendo asked us to remove Zelda 30 Tribute from the inter-web for copyright infringement. I guess it was a little too pixel perfect.

“We’re sad about that, but we get it. We started this project because we love Nintendo and the joy they have given us throughout the years. From the start of development, we knew this result could potentially happen. Nintendo has every right to protect their IP. No complaints from us, we had a blast working on this tribute and made some friends along the way.”

See also: Nintendo NX: What we’d like to see

However, it’s not all bad news for those seeking to play out Link’s quests on the web. The developers say they’re planning to remove all of the Nintendo IP and bring it back online.

The pair wrote: “We learned a bunch and wrote some code that others might learn from, too. We plan to post the project to Github soon, once we’ve had a chance to remove Nintendo-owned assets.”

The news comes on the day it was rumoured the next Zelda game will launch on both the Wii U and the forthcoming NX console.

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Speculation also suggested gamers will be able to play as both a male or female lead character.

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