The Nintendo leak of the century continues to deliver, this time giving fans the opportunity to peer directly into the source code that made Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and the Nintendo 3DS tick. Nothing quite as groundbreaking as what was found in recent leaks has yet to be uncovered, but this constant drip of illicitly obtained company secrets is no doubt a growing thorn in Nintendo's side, prompting the company to take an increasingly hard line against hackers.
This wild month in the sphere of rumors that perpetually revolve around the reticent Japanese developer was all kickstarted in late April when an anonymous leaker suddenly unleashed the Space World 1999 demo of Pokémon Gold and Silver source code, the Pokémon community's veritable holy grail. A second major leak sprung earlier this month when the source codes of the Nintendo 64, GameCube, and Wii were surprise-dropped online, presumably from the same unauthorized source. Since determined to be obtained by hacking vulnerable Nintendo networks remotely, onlookers got a better sense of the shocking breadth and scale of the hacked files when even internal Nintendo documents began to surface.
Without skipping a beat, the source code for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and the Nintendo 3DS has popped up and is being dissected by fans at the time of writing. As is custom by this point, ResetEra users are leading the charge in making heads or tails of what - if anything - will come out of this latest phase of the leak. Past leaks have so far revealed truly unprecedented data like never-before-seen Pokémon Gen II prototypes and glimpses into Nintendo design philosophy, whereas this has yet to blow anyone's minds, at least for now. However, the obvious value for ROM hackers and homebrew enthusiasts is in the completely cracked files of the Nintendo 3DS's source code, a development that no doubt has only strengthened Nintendo's resolve to bury this and prevent source code leaks for even newer software.
Nintendo has proven time and time again its vehement opposition to even its games of the last millennium going open source, as the developer, publisher, and console manufacturer is fiercely protective of its IP (and, most importantly, its value). The Nintendo 3DS, meanwhile, released only a little less than a decade ago and was only semi-recently discontinued. While 2011 seems about as far away as the Jurassic Period to many gamers, that's recent history for a company that's been around for 1889, and Nintendo still isn't quite finished collecting revenue - however small - from the beloved handheld. Additionally, if the Nintendo 3DS source code still isn't the most recent OS ripped by the hacking party, that means that Nintendo's revenue streams from more current consoles could be at risk.
Although the developer has increasingly begun to experiment with surprising players with exciting reveals and surprise Nintendo Directs, that's not enough for a small subset of players variously dedicated to illicit profit, free development tools, and the preservation of gaming history. If Nintendo's notoriety as a unsympathetic legal juggernaut doesn't make it clear enough what will come next, it bears explaining that things might get very ugly for any parties found responsible for this unparalleled series of leaks.
Source: Resetera