Someone Actually Put Pokémon in ‘Palworld’—and Nintendo Isn’t Happy

Did you purchase Palworld, put your first 10 hours into the game, and immediately say, “This is cool, but I wish someone actually put Pikachu into Palworld?” Well, today’s your lucky day!

An intrepid modder has replaced Palworld’s creatures with real Pokémon. Except you might be hard-pressed for a shot at that mod, because the YouTuber behind the project was already DMCAed by Nintendo over a brief preview clip displaying his hard work.

Ouch.

Can you download the Pokémon Palworld mod?

YouTuber and prolific game modder ToastedShoes went viral on Twitter yesterday morning after showing off a preview clip for his Pokémon Palworld mod. The tweet, which now has over 12,000 retweets and 45,000 likes, no longer shows the video. “This media has been disabled in response to a report by the copyright owner,” a notice from Twitter reads.

ToastedShoes confirmed the copyright claim was from Nintendo, and while he said a “large influx of people” want their hands on the mod, which he’d like to release it for free, his team wants “to tread lightly for the time being.”

One user suggested Toasted drop the mod anyway, to which he replied, “if you pay my legal fees when I get sued then sure lol.” So yeah, don’t expect to capture and kill Pokémon in Palworld any time soon.

But if you want to know what, exactly, the Pokémon mod for Palworld entails, read on.

What is the Pokémon Palworld mod, anyway?

Nintendo’s DMCA claim against ToastedShoes hasn’t stopped the YouTuber from posting his full mod video on his channel. This morning, he shared “I modded ACTUAL Pokémon into Palworld,” a 16-minute gameplay video which shows off the mod in full. Ash Ketchum stars as the player’s Pal Tamer, where he quickly stumbles across Misty as a castaway on the game’s island. Did I mention she has a shotgun, and all the Pokémon ate her fellow travelers? Yikes.

The video proceeds to show Ash punching a Torchic to death, capturing a wild Pikachu after nearly killing her, and the Pokémon trainer putting his now-tamed Wooloo and Pikachu to manual labor, building up his base. Pikachu even gets tired from all the hard work, much to ToastedShoes’ dismay!

I’ll admit, there’s something truly surreal about the whole experience. Case in point, Ash Ketchum uses a bow and arrow to shoot Eevee right in the head, and then tries to throw a Poké Ball at the near-dead Pokémon—except Fennekin sneaks in a fatal blow last minute. That’s right, no “fainting” in this game. You straight up murder wild Pokémon.

And if that isn’t enough? You better believe Jessie from Team Rocket features in the mod, complete with an extensive boss battle segment where she rides an Electabuzz.

Granted, it’s unclear if Nintendo will eventually DMCA this YouTube video. as well. But hey, it’s nice to know that you can actually turn Palworld into a straight-up Pokémon game. Just don’t expect to play as Ash Ketchum with a pistol in your own Palworld playthrough any time soon.

In the meantime, this gives credence to the idea that Nintendo won’t be suing developer Pocketpair any time soon. After all, Palworld has been publicly showcased for years now, whereas ToastedShoes’ Twitter clip was pulled offline with a swiftness. So don’t worry, Palworld is likely safe — as long as it remains a Pokémon parody.

(feature image: ToastedShoes)