10 Video Game Secrets That Broke The Law
2. Sailor Moon Scans - Punch-Out Wii
2009's Wii boxing game Punch-Out!! offers up surely the most insane legal violation on this list, especially considering the devastating price it ended up costing both Nintendo and developer Next Level Games.
During the player's rematch with fighter Piston Hondo, he is shown reading a manga magazine between rounds.
The thing is, rather than simply rustle up some quick and dirty fake artwork, the developers used actual scans of the beloved manga Sailor Moon.
While there was some pushback from some members of the dev team, it was ultimately felt that the scans were low enough quality that nobody would notice.
But Nintendo eventually caught wind of this on the eve of release, resulting in them deeming Next Level Games in breach of contract for placing them in a legally precarious position by including the artwork.
Investigations claim that Next Level Games ended up paying $1-2 million to Nintendo to have copies of the game reprinted with the manga removed, while Nintendo themselves paid Sailor Moon rights-holders Bandai-Namco to license the manga for copies of Punch-Out!! already in circulation.