Another Metroid II Remake

[Dark Jaguar]

By now, I'm sure you've heard of it. A group of fans worked together to remake Metroid II in the style of later 2D games, specifically Zero Mission. Nintendo forced a take down, but it can be obtained.

Nintendo's takedown request is rather interesting, if only because they didn't bother with the takedown until the product actually came out. Of note is that many many other people had started similar attempts to remake Metroid 2 (hence the "Another" in the title) but this is the only one that actually saw a release. Nintendo likely noticed all the other projects and didn't really care until one of them actually saw completion. Also, they might still have ignored it except news of it's release spread like wild fire across all the various gaming news outlets. It's not often a fan project gets that sort of attention. I think those factors were the main thing. Still though, I think it was bad form for Nintendo to do that. Firstly, there's all the countless other fan projects using Nintendo IP that Nintendo has ignored (things like Zelda Badlands or, well, Thoughtful Mario World). The only reason this one got targeted was the massive attention it got at large I think. Heck, this one uses LESS Nintendo IP on the simple grounds that it's a fan-built game engine rather than depending on an existing game ROM (though apparently it does rip a few sprites from some of the recent games). I'm not going to get into whether this sort of thing is covered by fair use, because that's been a sticking point in a lot of projects. Rather I'll simply say this isn't a good way to treat their fans. When all we're getting is a decent but decidedly "not Metroid" game like Federation Force, it's no wonder fans will want to tackle something like this.

Here's the thing, Nintendo had other options that would have shown an active defense of their IP while still cultivating good relations with their fans. The example I've referenced over and over again online is Activision and it's handling of Sierra based fan projects. Activision is no stranger to bad conduct, but they really did Sierra fans right. Firstly, they were happy enough to look the other way when AGD remade 4 different Sierra games.
http://agdinteractive.com/games/games.html
Check out that link. They've done KQ 1-3 and Quest for Glory 2. The goal was much like AM2R. They wanted to update the older titles in those series to match the gameplay and graphics of the newer games. They also went the "intentionally retro" low resolution style. In the case of Quest for Glory 2, Quest for Glory 1 had already had a stellar remake, so they updated the second one because it was the odd one out. Infamous Adventures also remade two Sierra games, King's Quest 3 (again) and Space Quest 2.
http://www.infamous-adventures.com/home/
Similar deal, they are still there and Activision seems content to let them be. Some other groups have attempted to start up KQ4 remakes now and then, but they all seem to have fizzled out. Now, if Nintendo just let them be, I think it would be fine. They could go even better though.

http://www.postudios.com/company/games/thesilverlining/

Up there is The Silver Lining. This is a very interesting project. When it was made, there were no signs Activision would be making a new King's Quest game any time soon. These fans took it upon themselves to make their own unofficial sequel and dub it King's Quest 9: The Silver Lining. (I'd have done the standard KQ thing and made a joke out of that subtitle like... Every Silver Lining Has A Cloud.) At first, Activision was a bit harsher on this one than the remakes and gave the ol' cease and desist. The fan complaints reached them though, and they ultimately came up with a clever strategy. They would publicly "approve" this fan sequel so long as no money was made off of it (which was already the case) and the title was changed so that the public would not confuse it for an official sequel. So, they changed it to simply "The Silver Lining". They made the first 4 chapters but then moved on to other projects. I had feared it dead, but checking the site now it looks like they've officially confirmed that they WILL be finishing this fan project this year. This project stands out for having Activision's blessing rather than their ambivalence. Capcom too took a fan project (Megaman X Street Fighter) and gave it their blessing. Capcom even went and put it on their web site, which means they've basically published it for the fans that made it in the same way a game company might publish some fan art.

If Nintendo doesn't want to hire this team outright, they should use this "conditional blessing" route. That should show an active engagement in defending their IP (because they make it clear this is conditional and at their discretion) while delighting the fans with tacit approval of such projects. The discussion online is white hot, but no one seems to remember any of these outlier cases they can refer to. This tactic would also be great for that Pokemon fan project and the upcoming "Mother 4" fan project (in those two cases, they really would have to request renames to prevent confusion with official releases).

But, back to the game itself. I just got done playing it. I went in on "Hard Mode" right from the start, so bear that in mind. This game allows a host of control customization. I went for a mapping similar to Super Metroid (individual buttons for diagonal up and diagonal down, and general button placement) with a few nice perks from the GBA games (hold a button to shoot missiles for quick use). I love it. I would love it if they combined the GBA and SNES missile select modes into one, with "toggle" missile mode but a separate press to cycle through types of missiles (and the toggle when in morph ball would be exclusively for power bombs). I would also have allowed the option to assign running to a button for more direct control of when I actually want to use the speed booster. These are tiny nitpicks though, as overall the controls work fine and the options are good. This game adds a few more nice options too, like being able to "climb morph" into head-level tunnels by tapping jump while pushing against it, or roll directly into a ball while moving into foot-level tunnels by just pressing diagonal down-forward when approaching them. Those two little options really make traversing morph ball tunnels feel very snappy. It'll be hard to adjust to their absence in the official games. They also let you assign both the morph ball and spider ball to distinct buttons rather than having to press down to activate them. Samus controls very much like she did in Zero Mission and Fusion. Her jumps are very quick and snappy, less floaty like Super Metroid. Some prefer the Super Metroid floaty jumps, but I'm okay with the GBA jumps. Also, much like the GBA games, wall jumping and space jumping have very forgiving timing. Bomb jumping is also very forgiving, and "shine sparking" gives you a pretty good size window to activate the dash. This game is all about making the controls as silky smooth as possible. I think there's a bit too much of a "dead zone" when shooting. The hit box doesn't start until the end of Samus' gun, which means anything directly in your face may not get hit, such as some doors or blocks you'll find yourself stepping back from. The firing rate for shots is pretty high too, until you get the plasma beam, which reduces it rather noticeably but not enough to really hurt your play by that point in the game. All in all, the engine isn't janky or anything like that and performs beautifully. This game controls just as good as the GBA games, if not better. It certainly controls better than the original version of Metroid 1 and 2.

The game's presentation is very nice. They went for a graphical style similar to Zero Mission, but running at the resolution of Super Metroid (which makes sense, since the SNES output at a higher resolution than the GBA, in both dimensions). They kept the old-school blocky sprite style, likely to make it "fit in" with Zero Mission and Super Metroid, which this is supposed to take place in between. They've given the environments a massive facelift. While many locations looked very similar in Metroid II, in this remake they did a lot to make areas very distinct from each other. Even the Chozo temple areas all got very particular styles fitting with the "roles" of those temples that have been added to the lore. A number of enemy sprites do rotational trickery similar to the GBA games, with some "massive enemy made of many rotating sprites" stuff similar to the GBA Castlevania games. Those in particular can appear kinda rough at times though, sometimes betraying a few issues with the sprites. For the most part, the game meshes together very well, but there are a few areas where you can really tell the various art designers weren't in the same room when making them. (It's a staple of fan projects to have little clashes like that though, and I kinda dig that "rough around the edges" feel these projects can have.) Overall though, those clashes are few and far between, and the game tiling usually works very well. In addition to this, there are a number of graphical after-effects like the lighting on Samus' suit or the shadows in dark areas. These work to give the game a distinct look from the official Metroid games and generally look pretty good. The lighting on Samus' suit is clearly inspired by the Prime series, for example, with the Tron style glow on the various lines in her suit design. The sound design in particular stands out. The lead on this project really knew what he was doing. The sounds (when they aren't ripped straight out of other Metroid titles) really fit the series well. The music is also amazing. Both music and ambient sound are based on the original version, but it's been taken up several notches. The main theme is reused through the game, but remixed in every new location into something that sounds distinct. The "Metroid encounter" theme also gets heavily remixed into one of the best boss themes I've heard in the series. Even the "ambient tracks" from the Gameboy original, which were grating to a lot of people, are redone in a way that actually makes those areas as moody as I imagine the sound designers on the original version intended. If there's one thing I might fault with the soundtrack it's that standard fan remix trope of "technoing", but adding a techno back-beat is used very sparingly and still sounds Metroidy when done, so it's forgiven.

The powerups in this game have been expanded to what one expects to see from Super Metroid on. There's now the Gravity Suit, Super Missiles, Power Bombs, Speed Booster, a number of different beams (which can now be combined) and all of these can be turned on and off just like Super Metroid. You have the Zero Mission "Power Grip" from the start, which is just a storyline excuse for being able to grab ledges, but it's welcome. These are in addition to the powerups from the original, namely Power Bombs, Morph Ball, Space Jump, High Jump, Jump Ball, and Screw Attack. Notably, they didn't add any brand new unique powerups to this game. Instead, they're relying on this game's own unique powerup, the Spider Ball, and they use it well. As I mentioned earlier, they made the spider ball a lot easier to activate (so you can more easily just jump onto the ceiling and trigger it midair before hitting it). They also cut down the length of wall climbing sections and made it a little less dangerous so you don't get bored with the slow crawl or frustrated with that ONE enemy that just keeps knocking you down when you're defenseless. All in all, while there's nothing really "new" new here, the items they added are the series staples and drastically add to the experience.

The biggest and yet most restrained change is the level layout. Metroid II is often derided as having a "boring" map that's just a linear circle down and back around to start. It's a fair criticism, and you'd think that the map would be an entirely new invention as a result. However, it's actually still based on that original layout. However, it's been expanded and tweaked and reworked throughout in order to fix that biggest issue while still being true to the original design as best it can. It really goes to show how much respect the team lead showed the original game, warts and all. In various areas, they've kept little visual "hallmarks" of the same region in the original map, enough to make those who played the original say "oh, hey I know this place", even when that place has otherwise been completely reworked. For example, when you find the Varia suit, it has been hidden in almost the same pile of breakable rocks, but the way into that room is more well thought out. Each of the Metroid "nests" has also been reworked, so that while there are only 4 types of Metroid evolutions, the room makes each encounter unique. They use elements like darkness, obstacles, and in one case just one massive onslaught of alphas. They also reworked the 4 forms to make them more distinct. The alphas work most like the original AI, while the Zeta and Omega metroids have been reworked into entirely new sorts of encounters (for example, they can't fly, which makes sense if you've played Fusion). As I mentioned above, they've gone through to make every region of the map distinct. As is a staple, they make you go through a small underwater section before getting the Gravity Suit. Notably though, they save the ice beam for last, and as a result there's no "freezing enemies to make platorm" puzzles to be found. In fact, when you freeze an enemy in this game, they fall to the ground and shatter. That's okay though, because this game doesn't have to reuse every trope from the other games. I just wish Metroids didn't fall down because sometimes they fall in hard to reach locations so I have to wait for them to thaw before I can hit them with a missile. Anyway, a large number of side areas have been added to allow for exploration and item finding. They also added in a number of little shortcuts and alternate routes for sequence breaking, time trial runs, and easier backtracking. In one of the brand-new areas (an underwater facility), they even added in a room full of fast travel tunnels connecting several zones to each other, though you get to this room pretty late in the game. All in all, while it still does resemble one big circle, they've broken it up in such a way this time that it gives way to exploration much more now. In that vein, they've added a secondary "objective", finding the research team and the rescue team that got here before you. (Spoiler alert, you don't find them in any respectable condition.) Locating those two teams constitute 3 other smaller new areas, one inside a ship containing a unique "Genesis" monster. There's even a cute reference to the opening cinematic of Fusion with a small cave containing one familiar looking frog. No X parasites though. I mean, this is before their discovery or their predator's extinction, so it wouldn't make sense for them to show up at this point in time. The original game only had like one non-Metroid boss. That boss makes a return, but they've also added a number of others, ranging from Chozo creations to natural fauna. They really put a lot of work into those boss encounters, with interesting mechanics and means of defeating them. All in all, the changes to the map are welcome and really breathe new life into the game, making it a joy to explore.

I'll add a small note about how this game handles story. For the most part, it shows rather than tells, just like Super Metroid and Zero Mission, and not like Fusion. Where a game like Fusion breaks into your game to have long dialog about this that and the other, Super Metroid trusts you to just see what's going on in an area and deduce for yourself what's going on. Outside of some quick notes in the manual, you're on your own as far as narrative goes. The manual may make it clear that Phantoon is some sort of extra dimensional ghost-like creature, but everything about that ship and what seems to have happened there since it crashed is something you figure out just exploring the ship. AM2R goes this route, with one very notable exception. Remember scanning in Metroid Prime? This game borrows from that franchise. However, unlike Prime where you would have to intentionally switch over and scan things yourself, in this game the "scanning" is automatic. A small message appears whenever a lore dump is about to occur and you can either press Start to check it out right away or just ignore it and get back to it later (or not at all). This means it isn't a distraction from the game. It doesn't occur too often, namely only happening when you discover a brand new area or a new boss (for the Metroid forms, only the first time you encounter each one). Since information on the bosses and areas is something you'd see in the manual for a game like this anyway, this isn't even all that different, except it's in-game now. It also takes the time to let you see an area before dumping the lore on you, so often you'll get the general idea of that area before the lore spells it out for you in greater detail. Even then, that initial bit is usually all you'll get, so any other discoveries are left up to you. The boss stuff is a bit different. It'll give you some hints on how to fight the boss but it won't spell it all out for you. You can also, as I said, just ignore it. Speaking of ignoring things, the game doesn't bother playing the long jingle every time you pick up a new health tank or missile tank. It does it the first time you find that kind of upgrade, and every other time you just get a quick note so you can get moving faster. All in all, they did a very nice job handling it. Along those lines, if you're expecting to find map stations, they're nowhere to be found in this game. I didn't even really notice their absence until about 3/4s of the way through the game myself. That's probably because the original game didn't have a mapping system at all, so having anything at all was enough of an upgrade for me. It's generally very good at making the secrets easy enough to find and so long as you pay attention to the parts of the map you have uncovered, it'll usually be pretty clear what areas you've missed. It does the Fusion/Zero thing of letting you know right away if there's a hidden item in any particular square too. All in all, they've done a great job handling lore and secrets in a way that doesn't spoil everything or drag everything down.

Now I've gotta tackle the difficulty curve. I can't speak for "Normal", but I jumped in on "Hard", and I can say the curve is just a bit off in that mode. Overall, it gives a good challenge that USUALLY curves up gently enough. I died a few times, as expected on a "hard" mode, but it really only got thrown off when I fought my first "Zeta" metroid. That's a massive curve ball that will tear you apart. Eventually, I got used to the pattern I need to defeat them, but it really was frustrating as there's VERY little room for error fighting them. I walked away with most of my health gone after each Zeta, and I wasn't having a good time there. The boss of that area was also a massive jump up, but I came back to that boss after going ahead a bit and coming back with a big stash of power bombs. After THAT, the difficulty curve went down a bit, so I'd say that area needs some balance adjustment. From experience I can say the later Omegas aren't nearly as big a jump and they're probably easier than Zetas. Bosses after that weapon tester boss were also notably easier. Anyway, once you get the screw attack, fighting enemies is basically on auto pilot until you encounter the next metroids. There's a few new enemies introduced, if you noticed what you just buzz sawed through. In that way the screw attack is a bit overpowered, so that section of the game comes across as a bit too easy. The omegas as the next challenge, followed by the classic larval Metroids further on. It was good to find something resembling a challenge before fighting the Metroid Queen. Good news, she's tough as befits an end boss. It took me several tries to really get a grip on her patterns. They added enough to her phases to make more of a fight of her, while working in the secret "blow her up from the inside" trick, though you only get a chance to pull that off late into the fight so don't kill yourself trying to get in her belly right from the start. All in all, the difficulty is mostly okay, but that area near "The Tower" can really use some adjustment, as well as making the new enemies introduced in the final section of the game a bit more of a challenge to a screw attackin' maniac like myself.

All in all, I'm very impressed with this fan remake and highly recommend it. With a few tweaks here and there, it'd be perfect. As it stands, I'm already going to say this is a full-on replacement for the original Gameboy game. It's just such a massive improvement over the original design that it supplants it. I would only recommend buying the Gameboy game to support Nintendo, and then you don't download the game and just start playing AM2R instead. In that way, it again emulated Zero Mission, which itself functions as an outright replacement for the original Metroid 1. If you can find it, try it out.

[A Black Falcon]

I have heard of AM2R of course, and I think we discussed Nintendo's killing the project before, but it's interesting to hear your thoughts on the game itself. I probably should try the game, but haven't gotten around to it, yet anyway... of course I'm not a big Metroid or Metroidvania fan, so I wasn't following this in development and still haven't gotten around to trying to find somewhere to download it, but some of the Metroid games are pretty good, particularly when they have a good map and aren't too annoyingly reliant on backtracking with few clues. On the other hand, I don't exactly go out of my way to play Metroidvania games, with how I generally prefer traditional platformers, and have rarely played rom hacks or fangames. I like the idea of creating your own levels for games of course, but there is so much stuff out there and the quality is so uneven that I've usually just stayed away... I probably shouldn't, as while many are rough some are surely very good much like player-created levels in Mario Maker, but yeah, I haven't looked into AM2R too much, beyond being frustrated with Nintendo's awful response to it. As you say, there are good ways to deal with the IP issues here that do not involve sending fan teams takedowns like that.

Now of course, this isn't an entirely original game, it's based on Metroid II for the GB. I'm sure basing it on a real Metroid game helped a lot, versus entirely original ones, but I've never cared for fan retellings of things made by others... I'd probably rather see an entirely original game or a strict remake with some basic added features (like the badly needed map!) than something like this, unless it was an official product of course. Maybe the creators should have turned this into an unrelated game inspired by Metroid games, instead of a fan-made Metroid game that was asking for trouble with how badly Nintendo acts on the internet at times -- see their taking Youtube video revenue all the time, etc. But they clearly really wanted to make a Metroid game, and Nintendo shows no interest in such things so if something like this was going to exist it almost certainly HAD to be unlicensed, unfortunately, but still... I don't know, this isn't the "real" Metroid 2. On the other hand Metroid Zero Mission is not the "real" Metroid 1, it's a better game (in my opinion) with the same basic story but quite different gameplay along the way, so something like this or the fan remake of Quest for Glory 2 are pretty interesting, in taking a classic and updating it with features from newer games in the series... though it sounds like this game goes a lot farther than that one does in changing things from the source material. I often prefer to play the original versions of games when I can (I still have not bought any of the remakes of Cave Story for instance, because I have and played the original freeware version back in the mid '00s... or I'd rather play the NES Mario games than their SNES All-Stars remakes... etc) , but yes, sometimes later versions of a game are better than the original one was, no question. And in this case, adding a map alone certainly makes this better than the original! That it doesn't have a map is one of the reasons why I stopped playing Metroid 2 fairly early on; it seemed alright, but I want to know where I am... so yeah, a map would be very nice. But if they really did add as much as you say here, this isn't really 'Metroid 2 but with a map', it's a new and probably better game with a similar concept, so I guess we still don't have that game... if it is better maybe that doesn't matter too much, but if they don't exist, it'd be awesome to see hacks of Metroids 1 and 2 which add maps in. I pay some attention to rom translation projects, but not hacks, so I wouldn't know...

[Dark Jaguar]

If it's a good remake, I'm fine with games that completely rework the source material into a new experience. There's nothing stopping me from just playing both. I usually will play the original before playing a remake when I hear about a good one, so long as the original is easy enough to come by.

When you mentioned Quest for Glory 2, you should know that particular remake is a more subdued one. The game has pretty much identical design aside from switching from parser to cursor interface and updated graphics. The same goes for King's Quest 1. Those would be the "Metroid with a map added" sort of remake. King's Quest II on the other hand is a total reworking, and in spirit is more like what they've done for Metroid II. It really bears repeating that most people consider Metroid II the weakest in the series, so just adding a map was never going to be enough to make people say "okay, NOW this game is good". It really needed the Zero Mission treatment.

When it comes to fan projects, I don't really delve into that whole community too deeply. I wasn't even aware of this particular one until I saw an article on Polygon or something after it was completed. That works for me though, because generally the cream will rise to the top and I can generally be assured whatever I find out about is probably the best of the best. I do agree that most of these fan projects, until Nintendo changes their attitude, should probably differentiate their tributes enough to make them distinct properties. Some of them in fact do do this, and isn't it weird how that stigma over a "fan project" disappears the moment it gets reskinned into "original product". (FreeDoom is kinda an exception here, that being an attempt to provide free alternatives to all the resources in Doom's official release so people don't need to buy Doom to play custom levels. However, the resulting art resources are pretty janky and don't really look all that good compared to the original.) Another big project coming down is Mother 4. I was made aware of that one on an Earthbound fan site I frequent, and I've thought the same thing from the start. Firstly, calling it Mother 4 is a big no-no. Even if Nintendo were more generous about this sort of thing, they wouldn't accept naming the game something that would confuse people into thinking it's an official sequel. Secondly, near as I can tell it has nothing to do with the plot of previous Mother games. All I have is trailers, but if that's the case they really should rename it and strip out any direct references to previous games and release it as a standalone "inspired by" project, like Undertale. Heck I'd pay for it.

[A Black Falcon]

If it's a good remake, I'm fine with games that completely rework the source material into a new experience. There's nothing stopping me from just playing both. I usually will play the original before playing a remake when I hear about a good one, so long as the original is easy enough to come by.

The original game is what it is, though. Saying "I can make a better version of this game from other people"... sure, I can understand why someone would want to do that, but I'd rather see you try to do your own thing, instead of a half-knockoff thing.

And on the note of fans v. creators, I can't help but think of Star Wars, where of course I do not think much of all the hate George Lucas and the prequel trilogy get; they're great movies! Sometimes fans do make something better than the original, such as QfG2's remake, but that's rare.

When you mentioned Quest for Glory 2, you should know that particular remake is a more subdued one. The game has pretty much identical design aside from switching from parser to cursor interface and updated graphics. The same goes for King's Quest 1. Those would be the "Metroid with a map added" sort of remake. King's Quest II on the other hand is a total reworking, and in spirit is more like what they've done for Metroid II. It really bears repeating that most people consider Metroid II the weakest in the series, so just adding a map was never going to be enough to make people say "okay, NOW this game is good". It really needed the Zero Mission treatment.

I never actually played the KQ remakes, so I forgot that the KQ2 one changed things significantly... huh.

When it comes to fan projects, I don't really delve into that whole community too deeply. I wasn't even aware of this particular one until I saw an article on Polygon or something after it was completed. That works for me though, because generally the cream will rise to the top and I can generally be assured whatever I find out about is probably the best of the best. I do agree that most of these fan projects, until Nintendo changes their attitude, should probably differentiate their tributes enough to make them distinct properties. Some of them in fact do do this, and isn't it weird how that stigma over a "fan project" disappears the moment it gets reskinned into "original product".

Yeah, regardless of what I said above, just on a 'do you really like the idea of having to abandon all your work when Nintendo/Square/etc. shuts the project down?' level, making something different instead of using a license from a company known to shut down fan projects doesn't seem like a very good idea. I wish everyone else would be as nice about such things as Activision is, but sadly they are not...

For another example of Activision being good in this regard, there was a fan project to make an addon to Netstorm, that RTS Activision published back in '97 that I love. Activision allowed the project to continue, with only the stipulation that they didn't charge for it. The project never completed, but there were some fan-made patches for Netstorm that fixed bugs, added some new map types, and such... and eventually this became incompatible with original Netstorm copies, and has to run via a downloader that downloads the full game itself. Activision must know about this, but they've never tried to shut it down. Yes, Activision did shut down the official servers back in the early/mid '00s sometime, but still they could shut that stuff down if they wanted, but thankfully they do not and that's awesome, because NS is still one of the best and most unique RTSes ever.

There is now another fan-made 3d Netstorm-styled game called Stratus: Battle for the Sky, which is currently in Steam Early Access, but it's carefully not using actual NS assets in order to stay legal. The gameplay is basically exactly the same as Netstorm though, just polygonal.

Another big project coming down is Mother 4. I was made aware of that one on an Earthbound fan site I frequent, and I've thought the same thing from the start. Firstly, calling it Mother 4 is a big no-no. Even if Nintendo were more generous about this sort of thing, they wouldn't accept naming the game something that would confuse people into thinking it's an official sequel. Secondly, near as I can tell it has nothing to do with the plot of previous Mother games. All I have is trailers, but if that's the case they really should rename it and strip out any direct references to previous games and release it as a standalone "inspired by" project, like Undertale. Heck I'd pay for it.

I hadn't heard of that one, but yeah, that sounds like a really bad idea...

[A Black Falcon]

If it's a good remake, I'm fine with games that completely rework the source material into a new experience. There's nothing stopping me from just playing both. I usually will play the original before playing a remake when I hear about a good one, so long as the original is easy enough to come by.

The original game is what it is, though. Saying "I can make a better version of this game from other people"... sure, I can understand why someone would want to do that, but I'd rather see you try to do your own thing, instead of a half-knockoff thing.

And on the note of fans v. creators, I can't help but think of Star Wars, where of course I do not think much of all the hate George Lucas and the prequel trilogy get; they're great movies! Sometimes fans do make something better than the original, such as QfG2's remake, but that's rare.

When you mentioned Quest for Glory 2, you should know that particular remake is a more subdued one. The game has pretty much identical design aside from switching from parser to cursor interface and updated graphics. The same goes for King's Quest 1. Those would be the "Metroid with a map added" sort of remake. King's Quest II on the other hand is a total reworking, and in spirit is more like what they've done for Metroid II. It really bears repeating that most people consider Metroid II the weakest in the series, so just adding a map was never going to be enough to make people say "okay, NOW this game is good". It really needed the Zero Mission treatment.

I never actually played the KQ remakes, so I forgot that the KQ2 one changed things significantly... huh.

When it comes to fan projects, I don't really delve into that whole community too deeply. I wasn't even aware of this particular one until I saw an article on Polygon or something after it was completed. That works for me though, because generally the cream will rise to the top and I can generally be assured whatever I find out about is probably the best of the best. I do agree that most of these fan projects, until Nintendo changes their attitude, should probably differentiate their tributes enough to make them distinct properties. Some of them in fact do do this, and isn't it weird how that stigma over a "fan project" disappears the moment it gets reskinned into "original product".

Yeah, regardless of what I said above, just on a 'do you really like the idea of having to abandon all your work when Nintendo/Square/etc. shuts the project down?' level, making something different instead of using a license from a company known to shut down fan projects doesn't seem like a very good idea. I wish everyone else would be as nice about such things as Activision is, but sadly they are not...

For another example of Activision being good in this regard, there was a fan project to make an addon to Netstorm, that RTS Activision published back in '97 that I love. Activision allowed the project to continue, with only the stipulation that they didn't charge for it. The project never completed, but there were some fan-made patches for Netstorm that fixed bugs, added some new map types, and such... and eventually this became incompatible with original Netstorm copies, and has to run via a downloader that downloads the full game itself. Activision must know about this, but they've never tried to shut it down. Yes, Activision did shut down the official servers back in the early/mid '00s sometime, but still they could shut that stuff down if they wanted, but thankfully they do not and that's awesome, because NS is still one of the best and most unique RTSes ever.

There is now another fan-made 3d Netstorm-styled game called Stratus: Battle for the Sky, which is currently in Steam Early Access, but it's carefully not using actual NS assets in order to stay legal. The gameplay is basically exactly the same as Netstorm though, just polygonal.

Another big project coming down is Mother 4. I was made aware of that one on an Earthbound fan site I frequent, and I've thought the same thing from the start. Firstly, calling it Mother 4 is a big no-no. Even if Nintendo were more generous about this sort of thing, they wouldn't accept naming the game something that would confuse people into thinking it's an official sequel. Secondly, near as I can tell it has nothing to do with the plot of previous Mother games. All I have is trailers, but if that's the case they really should rename it and strip out any direct references to previous games and release it as a standalone "inspired by" project, like Undertale. Heck I'd pay for it.

I hadn't heard of that one, but yeah, that sounds like a really bad idea...

[Dark Jaguar]

It was a bad enough idea that the Mother 4 team are officially doing exactly as I suggested and changing the title of the game. They're going even further and stripping out the few Mother references in the game (apparently the story really didn't have anything to do with the "previous" games in the series), so they'll likely be replacing Mr. Saturns with their own weird innocent species. In the end, the game is becoming a distinct IP that they control, and I'm happy with that.

I said before I'd be willing to pay for it considering how good the game looks so far, but they're not going to charge for it even now due to concerns of "selling out". Well, I'm fine with that, but I'd love to see them profit off this work in some way. Maybe they can set up a donation page?