Nintendo May Have Nuked This Palworld Pokémon Mod

Depending on whom you ask, Pocketpair's "Palworld" is either an affectionate parody of the winning "Pokémon" formula or a craven attempt at cloning one of the most popular franchises of all time. What cannot be denied, however, is that "Palworld" is a bonafide hit. The early access title has sold millions of copies in its first week of release and sparked numerous debates over the legality of its Pokémon-esque creature designs. It seems "Palworld" finally hit a bit too close to home for Nintendo, thanks to an ambitious mod from YouTuber ToastedShoes.

Nintendo has come for me, please leave me in your thoughts and prayers pic.twitter.com/HGg65y67Qp

— Toasted (@ToastedShoes) January 23, 2024

As teased on X (formerly Twitter), this mod overlays the game's Pals with creatures from Game Freak's Pokédex. It also replaces the protagonist with Ash Ketchum from the "Pokémon" anime, as well as adds a few other familiar faces from the games and cartoon series. Unfortunately, the clip uploaded to social media was not long for this world. Nintendo quickly took notice of ToastedShoes' efforts, and it seems the company is none too pleased with this development. Nintendo quickly sent a DMCA strike, resulting in the clip being removed from ToastedShoes' X account. 

If you're curious to see just how much this mod changes things from the base version of "Palworld," you can check out ToastedShoes' high-energy preview below (unless Nintendo has already asked for it to be pulled down, as well).

ToastedShoes is clearly a fan of his own mod, frequently hooting and hollering as he plays through some select combat encounters and cutscenes. At a few points in the video, Ash Ketchum also uses a bit of adult humor (by way of what sounds like an AI copy of voice actor Veronica Taylor). As ToastedShoes points out, putting Pokémon into Palworld weirdly reinforces some of the darkness already inherent in the "Pokémon" franchise, but the mod also leads to some hilariously upsetting moments of its own. For instance, if you've ever wondered what it would look like to see Ash Ketchum punch out a Torchic or put Pikachu to work in a gravel pit, ToastedShoes has got you covered!

At this point, it's unclear if ToastedShoes will still release the mod to the public. The YouTuber is trying to be as careful about this release as possible, which makes sense when one considers the possibility of legal action from Nintendo. The gaming giant has a history of shutting down mods and unsanctioned fan projects in the past, after all. "I've been getting a large influx of people asking where they can get the mod etc.," ToastedShoes explained on X. "We want to release it for free to everyone, however due to Nintendo sending a DMCA over the last tweet we want to tread lightly for the time being." He added in a comment on YouTube, "I don't want to let this stop us but if needs be, we will comply with [Nintendo]."