Byuu, Developer Of SNES Emulator, Allegedly Dead By Suicide After Citing Cyberbullying On Kiwi Farms

Content Warning: Portions of this article make mention of suicide, which some may find difficult or upsetting. If you need support or are dealing with suicidal thoughts, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's website or call 1-800-273-8255.

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Kiwi Farms, the discussion forum and online community dedicated to gossip about various internet users, has once again found itself in hot water this week after reports of BSNES emulator creator Byuu's alleged suicide on Sunday led to an immense outcry online.

This past Sunday, a tweet from the account @marcan42 (Hector Martin), a security consultant and hacker, was posted on Twitter with a document attached that contained a personal account of someone claiming to be a mutual friend of Byuu, detailing their final interaction before they died. The post pointed out a long-standing history of abuse online aimed at Byuu (more recently at the hands of Kiwi Farms) and cyberbullying, resulting in the apparent suicide.

A message about Near from a mutual friend.https://t.co/L5MuTsNGe1

— Hector Martin (@marcan42) June 27, 2021

Byuu, called Near in other parts of the internet, was a prolific figure in the world of emulation making. At a young age, Byuu had always expressed interest in translating retro games and in 2004 decided to create the most accurate SNES emulator possible, ultimately finishing this task in 2011. After finishing the Higan emulator, which was also allegedly used in helping to give Stephen Hawking his voice, Near turned their attention to the collecting and dumping of retro video games online.

He was a light to the community of emulation enthusiasts. That willingness to do better, and keep doing better, setting the bar higher and higher.

Now that light hopefully has passed to us all to carry on that legacy. He will be missed greatly. He is gone too damn soon.

— retrocoregaming (@theguruofvoodoo) June 28, 2021

While many have been using this time for mourning, others have been skeptical while calling into question certain parts of the story as well as the suicide itself. Twitter user @1800Cntbust replied to one of @marcan42's original tweets, asking for the number of the police department for verification, and was quickly blocked.

Mind DMing me the number you called so I can confirm?

— C.Buster (@1800Cntbust) June 28, 2021

Other users online took umbrage with the document and said that the person who wrote it, and @marcan42 himself for knowing these things and not attempting to help Near, indicates that they should have more to answer for.

So if you lived nearby, knew Near was having these issues, and knew which police department to contact about this case, why did you not do anything? And same to the anonymous friend who listened to him take his own life instead of trying to help. Seems like blood is on your hands

— Dobu Wobu (@Dobu_Dobu) June 28, 2021

A call to action was proclaimed on a retweet of the original thread, with Twitter user @Eevee serving as the main hub tweet for people to air their frustrations about Kiwi Farms, as well as openly make plans for attacking the site for what they perceive to be the cause of the alleged suicide.

KiwiFarms should be ashamed to have let this happen, and their sponsors and hosts need to act. This is NEVER okay. NEVER. He had more friends than he realized. More people who cares than he knew about. Now… We are victims too, and now we are without our friend. This sucks.

— retrocoregaming (@theguruofvoodoo) June 28, 2021

Reminder that Byuu:
1. Hasn't been confirmed dead, with the only proof being from a random friend
2. Threatened suicide over a dead, 2-year old, 13 page thread that had some middle school level insults posted at worst, while at the same time trying to bribe null with 1000+ bucks

— Shiny Unown GOT THAT SWAG (@unown_shiny) June 28, 2021

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Article by Brandon Wink