Early Pokémon Sun and Moon Players Banned by Nintendo

Some overexcited Pokémon fans jumped the gun were able to play ROMs of Pokémon Sun and Moon that were leaked a week before the games’ actual release. Unfortunately, those players may have just had a rude awakening. Once Nintendo got a wind of the situation, those who were pirated the ROM got this message: 

Their accounts were banned from Nintendo online services without prior warning. This screenshot above has been making the rounds, serving as a warning for everyone else to not even think of touching those ROMs.

This wave of bans was confirmed by Nintendo itself through Polygon as an effect of players going online through those ROMs ahead of launch. A Nintendo representative gave the following statement:

As a result of a number of Nintendo 3DS users using unauthorized versions of several games, and connecting to the official game servers in violation of our terms of service, these users’ Nintendo 3DS systems that stored the unauthorized game code have been banned from Nintendo’s online network effective immediately.

This leak came only a month after the Paper Mario leak, which contributed to the fact Nintendo is having trouble keeping a watchful eye on their data.

An anonymous user on 4chan somehow got a hold of an early copy of the game, and gave out the ROMs, which soon spread online. Data miners were able to pull out tons of content ranging from things like important plot points, evolution lines, ore even base stats for each Pokémon. Even the game’s soundtrack has been ripped from the ROM.

Meanwhile, the Pokémon fans who jumped the gun and played the games ahead of schedule are now crying out on 4chan and Reddit, where they are met with unsurprising lack of sympathy.