Pokemon Uranium ‘more alive than ever’ despite Nintendo’s takedown

It’s gone underground like the metal itself

A story in two headlines: Fan-made Pokemon: Uranium finally releases after nine years, August 11. Nintendo drops the hammer on Pokemon Uranium, August 13. Yes, Nintendo put the kibosh on the years-in-the-making, not-for-profit fan project quickly, but not until after a developer-reported 1.5 million people downloaded it. And that ignores friends and e-pals trading the files freely.

Pokemon Uranium has proliferated like our Cold War nukes and gone underground like the nuclearly-necessary metal it’s named for. But while Nintendo succeeded in removing the main download page, support for the game persists. The online features still work.

“We’ve released a 1.0.1 patch already that fixes some [bugs],” 22-year-old creative director “Involuntary Twitch” told Kotaku. An in-game patch system allows devs to “[try] to improve the game even more” by way of fan feedback and possibly “add on additional content to the game in the form of ‘Sidequests’ that will allow players to capture the 8 missing Pokémon in the Tandor Dex, and more.”

Involuntary Twitch isn’t bummed about Nintendo’s takedown, but rather heartened by the response she’s seen so far:

Our game project, the one we devoted so many hours of our lives into and the thing that was for both of us the single greatest creation in our young lives, had been download more than 1.5 MILLION times. That’s an incomprehensibly huge number of people playing our game. We are seeing the joy that players get when they enter the Tandor Region, this world that we created. They are sharing the game with their friends, and documenting their playthroughs on YouTube and on every social media site. They are rejoicing in finding shiny Pokemon, breeding to get that perfect 6IV competitive set, and are helping each other to formulate strategies and discover secrets we hid deep within the game.

Despite Nintendo’s best — and maybe even necessary — efforts to bogart its IP, Pokemon Uranium is “more alive than ever before.”

Despite Takedown, Pokémon Uranium Creators Say It’s ‘More Alive Than Ever’ [Kotaku]