This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.

It’s been a weird journey for Cooking Mama: Cookstar. After an initial leaked trailer the game arrived on the eShop last week before being taken down again, despite showing up on store shelves at a few retailers.

Despite rumours it was pulled due to the gaming using user’s consoles to mine cryptocurrency, a developer confirmed that that aspect of the game was removed before release. It now appears that the listing was removed due to an IP dispute between the IP holder - Office Create - and the game’s publisher, Planet Entertainment.

That’s according to Nintendo Life, who cite an anonymous developer saying the following:

“There is a legal battle between the publisher, planet entertainment and the IP holder, Office Create... Planet Entertainment released the game against a request by Office Create to keep polishing the game, or perhaps even cancelling it. At one point the Japanese Office Create clients came to oversee development. An argument started and the clients were told to go home if they weren't being ‘constructive’. Once they found out that Planet Entertainment released the game, they used their Nintendo contacts to pull it from the eShop and stop production of cartridges.”

Despite that dispute, Planet Entertainment has now made the game available to purchase directly from them for $59.99. You can do so here if you’re interested.

There’s a trailer for the game below. Let us know if you manage to get hold of a copy!

Source: Nintendo Life