Nintendo says it has been inundated with requests from YouTube personalities who want to strike partnership deals.

The backlog of requests has become so long that the 72-hour wait time for video approval has been extended, the company claims.

"Due to your enthusiasm for the program, we're receiving a higher volume of applications to register channels & videos than expected," the company announced on its website. "It is taking longer than we anticipated to confirm the applications. We appreciate your patience as we work through them as quickly as possible."

The apparent flood of requests for video approval come days after prominent YouTubers, including PewDiePie, criticised Nintendo for the terms and conditions of its partnership program.

Nintendo has the authority to take all the ad revenue (after Google's cut) from any YouTube video that features its copyrighted content. However, if YouTubers send their videos to Nintendo for approval, the ad revenue will be split.

While some complain that Nintendo is one of the first companies to take a slice of the content creators’ ad revenue, others take issue with Nintendo rewarding positive coverage (or, content it approves) with cash.

That Nintendo Creators Program is just... shudder. Newp. Nope. Nah. No. — Jim Sterling (@JimSterling) January 29, 2015

"I think this is a slap in the face to the YouTube channels that does focus on Nintendo game exclusively," PewDiePie wrote recently.

"The people who have helped and showed passion for Nintendo's community are the ones left in the dirt the most.”

He concluded: "There’s just so many games out there to play. Nintendo games just went to the bottom of that list."