RTA in Japan, a well-established charity speedrunning contest, has removed Nintendo games from its upcoming Summer 2025 event, despite showcasing them for the past nine years. This is because they suddenly received a warning from Nintendo about using games without permission. The non-profit hopes to feature Nintendo titles again in future events, likely having to lodge individual applications on a per-game, per-event basis. But why has Nintendo suddenly done this now?
First held in 2016, RTA in Japan is a charity speedrunning event. Contestants apply to play through all or part of their chosen game, aiming to break records or just smash their personal best in front of an audience.
As a result, a huge number of games have been featured in previous events, ranging from NES classics to recent titles. Their upcoming event, RTA in Japan Summer 2025, takes place in Tokyo from August 9-15, with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières). The line-up includes Cuphead, Castlevania Dracula X, Final Fantasy IX, Silent Hill 2 remake and Wattam, to name a few. However, all the Mario and Kirby titles that have been part of the event in previous years are glaringly absent.
On August 4, RTA in Japan posted an official announcement on their website, explaining exactly why the Summer 2025 event will not feature any Nintendo titles. According to the announcement, Nintendo pointed out to the non-profit organization on June 13 that “organizations require prior permission to use Nintendo games,” adding that RTA in Japan’s previous use of Nintendo titles was “unauthorized,” as permission was not obtained in advance.
Upon receiving this notification, RTA in Japan began negotiations with Nintendo, in the hopes of using the Japanese game giants’ titles again for future events. As of August 4, it has been decided that RTA in Japan will apply for permission on a per-event, per-game basis, basically having to ask Nintendo every single time one of their contestants wants to play through a game (even if it has been featured at a previous RTA in Japan event). In their announcement, RTA in Japan revealed that they were unable to establish clear guidelines on this process in time for the Summer 2025 event, hence the decision to omit Nintendo titles this time round.
RTA in Japan also apologized to those who had applied to speedrun Nintendo games for the Summer 2025 and had their hopes dashed. Considering the number of Nintendo titles including classic games like Super Mario 64, in previous RTA in Japan event line-ups, it seems likely that many applicants were disappointed.
At first glance, this seems like over-protective Nintendo picking on a small charity event. However, the majority of Japanese-speaking users commenting on the matter via Twitter / X took a balanced view of the situation or even sided with Nintendo, with many saying they understood why Nintendo had taken this action now.
RTA in Japan started off as a small, volunteer-run effort. However, over the past few years it has grown into a large public event with major sponsors, and the organizer is now registered as a general incorporated association, with all the bureaucracy and responsibility that brings. The event’s growing prominence is likely what made Nintendo sit up and take notice. Some commenters even said RTA in Japan should have been more responsible and proactively taken measures to ensure that they had Nintendo’s permission to avoid disruption to speedrun events (comments archived on Togetter).
On a side note, with the Summer 2025 event, RTA in Japan will be doing restreams of speedruns with English commentary for the first time, making the event more accessible to viewers overseas.
Photo by RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
