Hololive’s Usada Pekora Plays Potentially Hacked ‘Pokémon Emerald’ Cart, Nintendo Demanded VOD Made Private, VTubers Stick To “Guidelines”
![Mew (Kôichi Yamadera) in Pokémon: The First Movie (1999), Warner Bros. Entertainment and Pekora in [Anime] Danger: Do Not Wake, YouTube](https://boundingintocomics.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=788,height=444,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/Mew-Pekora.png)
Hololive’s Usada Pekora has caused a bit of a stir after playing an official but potentially hacked cart of Pokémon Emerald on stream. This led to Nintendo asking the VTuber agency to make the whole video private, and that their talent stick to “guidelines” by avoiding playing hacked games. What’s more, they’re not entirely wrong to ask for it either.
Pekora had been playing Pokémon Emerald on stream, and even went the extra mile and got an official cart (played via the GBA Player on the Nintendo GameCube). Automaton reported that Pekora had sought out used copies of Pokémon Emerald off auctioning websites, hoping to find one that had a special item to obtain Mew.
Pekora was delighted to discover the game did indeed have the Old Sea Map (as seen in the translated third-party clip below by Ameki Ch.). Japanese players could only obtain this item during two real-life events in 2005 via the Mystery Gift function, to access a special area to catch Mew. It also had the Mystic Ticket (available in 2004, 2006, and 2007) to catch Lugia and Ho-Oh.
However, it seems Pekora’s efforts to acquire such a rare official cart only caused more issues.
While Pekora stated on X that she would replay the encounter until she got a shiny Mew, the official upload of that stream is no longer available. Hololive released an official statement five days after that stream (machine translated via DeepL), titled, “Notice Concerning Response to Game Distribution Suspected of Violating Guidelines.”
“Thank you very much for your continued support of Hololive Productions, Inc. We have consulted with Nintendo Corporation, the distributor of the game software in question, regarding the content of a recent game distribution that was suspected of violating the guidelines, and have been discussing how to respond,” Hololive began.
Hololive explained, “Nintendo has requested us to: Keep the video private because its continued release may cause misunderstanding; Avoid future video projects that may risk violating the guidelines; remind our talent members of the need to comply with the guidelines.”
Hololive continued, “In addition to making the video private, we will take measures and make improvements, such as improving the flow for implementing the project, and educating and instructing the talent affiliated with the company. We apologize for any inconvenience this incident may have caused to fans and related parties.”
“We will continue our activities with the utmost care so that everyone can enjoy our content with peace of mind, and we ask for your continued support of Hololive Productions. Please refrain from contacting the talent or related parties directly regarding this matter,” Hololive concluded.
On X — both under a third-party English translation and the official tweet — English-speaking fans were outraged. They felt it was Nintendo being against emulation yet again, even for a game they no longer actively sell. Yet, Japanese fans seemed to be more grateful that Pekora wasn’t in trouble, and that the other VTuber talents could continue their work without jeopardizing themselves.
There are also unverified claims that some Japanese users wanted a harsher punishment for Pekora, though there are Japanese tweets calling for peace and to put the matter to rest.
The reason anyone would feel Pekora had done wrong is due to Japanese law. In 2019, Japan amended their Unfair Competition Prevention Act to protect data. While this was to prevent key reselling, it was also to prevent selling software, games, and consoles that have been altered.
Specifically (as translated by GamesIndustry.biz), this banned “distributing tools and programs for altering save data, selling serial numbers or product keys that are unauthorized by the maker of the software in online auctions, [and] offering services that modify save data on the customer’s behalf.”
Punishments range from damages, to fines up to ¥5 million JPY (around $34,870 USD), five years in prison, or even both.
In April 2024, a 36-year-old man was arrested for selling rare Pokémon for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. He admitted that he was making a living off it, such as selling six Pokémon for $30. In December, a 32-year-old man was arrested for selling hacked copies of Pokémon Sun, featuring save data with over 800 Pokémon (including event Pokémon) for about $35 each.
Hardly Team Rocket, unless we’re talking Jessie, James, and Meowth…
On a similar note, this month saw a 58-year-old man being the first to be given a suspended prison sentence for selling modded Nintendo Switch consoles (to play pirated games). He got a two-year prison sentence (suspended for three), and a fine of ¥500,000 JPY (around $3,500 USD).
Furthermore, Japanese streamers who work for a living tend to ask major publishers for permission to stream their games, eliminating any issues that may arise from the money they make during the stream, copyright, DMCA, and the like. As such, publishers can dictate guidelines to the streamer.
Japanese law, and especially Nintendo, tend to look on emulation as no different from piracy. Nintendo would also wish to make it clear to Japanese lawmakers and their investors that they’re taking proactive measures to protect their IP, and prevent crimes that infringe upon it.
This is likely why Pekora sought out physical copies of Pokémon Emerald, going the whole-hog to look for ones with rare event items. It seems she had unwittingly bought a hacked cart among her haul — a far cry from her exceptional luck in games.
It should be noted Pokémon Emerald is not one of the Game Boy Advance games available via the Nintendo Switch Online subscription.
There are claims on X that viewers had warned Pekora the offending cart was likely hacked. But in her typical persona fans had come to love, she didn’t get what the big deal was, and blundered forth with bratty head-strong abandon to fulfill her desires.
Nonetheless, Pekora would address the matter during an April 3rd stream (with the segment translated in a third-party upload by Pekora Clips). Therein, she explained more about the suspicions over the hacked cart, and the card it came with (featuring a code to redeem for the Old Sea Map) may have been fake.
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The VTuber said, “About the shiny Mew, I’m sorry but the conclusion is it’s a grey zone, I don’t know, so I won’t do it anymore. Many things are being said about it, to explain it simply, at where the Mystery Gift is, there is a new ticket card right? At the end of the ticket [it says], ‘Before getting the ticket, do not throw this card away.’ ‘This card’ is written on Pekora’s cartridges.”
“There’re suspicions that the ROM has been modified. The suspicion is that ‘this card’ is not written on the real thing. Before I’m 100% sure, Pekora doesn’t want to do it if it’s fake, too. I won’t do it. So I put the Mew stream on pause.”
![Usada Pekora stands smugly in front of a clock tower's face in [Anime] The Gang's All Together, YouTube](https://boundingintocomics.com/wp-content/uploads/Pekora-Smug-788x443.png)
“But there’s new information. If you read the information on the flyer of that time, ‘Don’t throw this card away’ is written. So… Eh? Since I have ‘this card’, some say that it hasn’t been ROM modified. After reading the flyer from that time, ‘Don’t throw this card away’ is written on the flyer! Who is right?! I don’t know anymore!!” Pekora fumed.
Arguably keeping in character, Pekora rejected the idea of catching Mew if it was via a fake event code, or fraudulent save file.
“It’s honestly too suspicious, so I don’t know. I don’t know who is right. It will be meaningless if it’s fake. So I just won’t do it. That’s the decision that I ended up with. I apologize for causing a fuss over this. I’m sorry. Some of you might have been looking forward to it, I’m really sorry. I won’t be catching Mew anymore,” Pekora concluded.
Pekora wasn’t stopped, as she has gleefully dived into Pokémon Fire Red.
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