@NuXCOM_90Percent dude it's not rocket science...
- The activity is LEGAL, so your country (actual law enforcement) probably won't actively search for you.
- Even if it's legal, Nintendo still doesn't like it, and they have enough money to extend every single legal process and crush you on debt unless you stop like yuzu (which will be pricey anyway).
- Now, if you add 1 and 1, you'll see Nintendo can't rely on any government's collaboration in order to search for the devs, but the game is over the moment they know your name. Hiding your name for your country is really hard, but from a japanese videogame company? Just do not tell them your name.
I never talked about the likelihood of getting money, i know less people donate that way, but I was just talking about the possibility. Shell companies are also traceable, if you put it that way, but it's more complicated and costly to set up, and you'll look even more suspicious in your government's eyes; which are the most relevant here. I can justify to both my government and a company wanting to hire me the fact I'm developing free software but i prefer to take the donations money anonymously for whatever reasons; no one cares really as long as I'm declaring the earnings and paying my taxes. Same using shell companies, but you said it yourself, why would anyone do that? Sure you can trace money through crypto, but small amounts of money not reported to be stolen or a scam isn't gonna get you caught.
And yes i ultimately would agree people deserve being credited for their good work, but in this scenario i don't think it's worth it. Blame nintendo for this one, they're the ones abusing copyright laws to kill cool projects just for extra pennies. If, hypothetically, you had the resources to put up sith their crap, then by all means develop an emulator and make your name very public. Every time they lose in court it a point to the rest of us.