Nintendo has taken popular indie gravity-flipping platform game VVVVVV down from the 3DS eShop after hackers revealed the game can be used to help load unsigned code onto the system. On Sunday, a hacker going by the handle ShinyQuagsire published the newly revealed hacking method, which uses a modified save game to allow the system to load unsigned homebrew software.
The new hack is a bit redundant, since it requires first using an existing 3DS exploit (such as Ninjhax) to load the modified save file onto the 3DS' SD card in the first place. That distinction doesn't seem important to Nintendo, which took the game down from the North American 3DS eShop within a day of the hack's publication (though it is currently still available in the European eShop).
Creator Terry Cavanaugh expressed surprise at the existence of the hacking method on Twitter and said that the need to stack the exploit on top of another hack would "hopefully [mean] I won't need to patch anything, woo." But the game will likely need to see some sort of modification before Nintendo agrees to let it back on the eShop.
Last August, free-to-play 3DS download Ironfall Invasion was also removed from the eShop after a hack involving the game was revealed. A fixed version of that game eventually returned to the online store in October, and VVVVVV will likely similarly return after some modification to prevent this hacking method.
Still, for now, the download-only VVVVVV is unavailable on the 3DS for the first time since it was released on the system in late 2011. The Steam version of the game has sold over 900,000 copies, according to Steam Spy.
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