Nintendo has recently gone on a rampage against it’s creative fan base. They have been issuing takedown notices against fan made games based on classic Nintendo franchises left and right as of late, as well as making copyright claims on massive amounts of YouTube content.
In the past 2 months, Nintendo has actively pursued the eradication of two long in development fan games. Another Metroid 2 Remake (AM2R colloquially) and Pokemon Uranium both garnered significant press coverage. Just enough coverage, in fact, to get them both shut down. I would link you to Uranium’s homepage, but sadly it no longer exists.
I personally have been looking forward to both projects, especially AM2R, for many years now. I have been checking in on AM2R’s progress several times a month since very early in it’s dev cycle. Metroid is an important franchise to me, and Nintendo has not used the IP in a way I (and many others) find interesting in a very long time. The task of creating new Metroid content for fans such as myself has been left up to the community. Yes, I am a bit invested, and a bit (very) angry.
AM2R, a fan-made remake of the GameBoy’s Metroid 2, has generated nothing but praise despite Nintendo’s efforts.
The most recent example of this behavior can be read about here. Nintendo issued over 500 takedown notices to GameJolt, an indie game portal. They were told to take down fan games based on the Mario, Pokemon, and Zelda franchises. There is a major difference between this case and the ransacking of AM2R and Pokemon Uranium though. Unlike the aforementioned titles, the games hosted on GameJolt were money-making ventures. Ad revenue generated from page views on GameJolt is shared with contributing developers. A nice gesture which helps to support the little man, most certainly, but not necessarily legal when the games in question are using copyrighted IP. The developers of these fan games could potentially make a profit from their work.
Taking these games down makes perfect sense to me. It sucks, sure, but it does add up. AM2R and Pokemon Uranium though? Not so much. These were highly polished works of art made by dedicated fans and given away completely for free.
All of this goes hand in hand with Nintendo’s handling of YouTube content. Many prominent “Let’s Play-ers” have abandoned Nintendo titles completely after being hassled ceaselessly over copyright claims. Despite the terms of FAIR USE, Nintendo (and others such as Konami and Koei Tecmo) have made it a point to stop and/or take ad revenue out of content creator’s pockets, essentially stealing from these entertainers.
In response to this issue, Nintendo created the Nintendo Creators Program , an ad-revenue sharing “service” which YouTube content creators can sign up for in order to claim a percentage of revenue generated from their own content. Again, The Big N isn’t the only video game publisher going using copyright against its fans, but they are notorious in their efforts. Even my own live streams on YouTube Gaming have been hit with copyright claims, despite intentionally leaving monetization features turned off. We’re allowed to enjoy the likes of Splatoon or Donkey Kong Country, as long as we don’t share that entertainment with anyone else.
The Irony
There is a great irony in all of this, as the title and opening suggests. It took awhile to get there, I know. Sorry about that. Some context was necessary. Some would see Nintendo’s original claim to fame, Donkey Kong, as a rip-off of a very famous franchise – King Kong. In fact, Universal Studios sued Nintendo over the game. Nintendo won the case in the end, only because Universal didn’t actually hold the rights to King Kong as they had claimed. If they had, would Nintendo have still won? I doubt it, but we will never know.
AM2R’s demise is particularly interesting (read: infuriating) considering the IP it utilizes. Most every Metroid fan knows the series is heavily based on Ridley Scott’s Alien. The similarities and direct references are both numerous and obvious. One of the most iconic characters in the franchise is named RIDLEY, for god’s sake. The co-creator of the franchise, Yoshio Sakamoto, goes as far as outright name dropping the first Alien film in this article from Retro Gamer Magazine. The Metroid Wiki has a nice list of Alien references right here, for your reading pleasure.
“I think the film Alien had a huge influence on the production of the first Metroid game. All of the team members were affected by HR Giger’s design work, and I think they were aware that such designs would be a good match for the Metroid world we had already put in place” – Yoshio Sakamoto
The Queen sure does look angry.
Metroid isn’t the only case of Nintendo being “influenced” by the works of one Ridley Scott. His 1985 film “Legend” bears a striking resemblance to many aspects of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, released in 1998. For specific examples, look no further than this conveniently hyperlinked sentence right here. There’s quite a few aspects of the N64 title which are directly “influenced”, if not straight up stolen, from Legend.
So it appears it’s OK for Nintendo to “borrow” concepts from other established IPs in order to create a retail product, but using said IP to create a completely free game is a big no-no. Let that one sink in for a minute.
After years of work, developer DoctorM64 has ceased further development of AM2R.
The Right Way To Do It
While other companies like Sega and Valve actively encourage their fans to be creative with the characters and worlds they love ever so, Nintendo goes out of it’s way to stop it.
Sega’s upcoming Sonic Mania, a 2D “retro” style Sonic title for the 25th anniversary of the franchise, is in development by none other than Simon ‘Stealth” Thomly of Headcannon. Simon built ROM hacking tools and modifications for the original Sonic releases, eventually culminating in the creation of a remake of Sonic CD in a brand new engine. This project, spearheaded by a developer known as The Taxman, was picked up by Sega and turned into an official release. Sonic CD was remade from the ground up for modern platforms and released to rave reviews. Pretty big praise from a community who has put up with immeasurable inconsistency in product quality.
While The Taxman finished up work on said project, Sega contracted Mr. Thomly to work on mobile versions of Sonic the Hedgehog 1 and 2. Not only did Sega allow these passion projects to be released, they went as far as contracting the work and selling the products wholeheartedly. Stealth was able to start up a company, the aforementioned Headcannon, and finish work on his retro game engine, HCGE.
Capcom did something similar by promoting the fan game Street Fighter x Mega Man. Back in 2012, they distributed the downloadable PC title for free via their own website. The game’s sole developer, Seow Zong Hui, approached Capcom U.S.A with an early build. Capcom provided funding and distribution for the title, using it to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mega Man.
Hmm..I’m sensing a pattern here. Fan games used to commemorate a series’ anniversary. What a great idea! But, wait..isn’t this year the 30th anniversary of Metroid?
Instead of preventing the hard work of a developer from being released to a fan base who craved more Mega Man in a post-Inafune world, Capcom supported the fans and went as far as facilitating Street Fighter x Mega Man’s it’s release. The game received received a fair bit of press coverage at the time, and rightfully so. It was a big deal to those of us who dig the Blue Bomber, considering there hasn’t been much in the way of Bombing in the shade of Blue to speak of. As a competitive Street Fighter player and fan of Mega Man, this game is right up my alley. The tunes are pretty great. You can listen to the OST right here.
Here’s an idea for you Nintendo. Instead of leaving your franchises in the hands of the fans, why don’t you try making some games? This year marks the 30th anniversary of Metroid, and the only “celebration” to speak of was the release of Metroid Prime: Federation Force. Do I really need to go into why this isn’t an acceptable form of recognition? I think the sales figures speak for themselves. Metroid fans want a Metroid game, not a co-op sci-fi shooter with a shade of Metroid hues and a sports mini-game.
It’s no wonder AM2R garnered such excitement. This is what it had to compete with.
AM2R was not competing with Nintendo for revenue. Nintendo has ignored the Metroid franchise for many years, only recently releasing the aforementioned spin off title after letting the series lay dormant for 6 years. That spin off is a completely different style of game from the original 2D adventures which AM2R seeks to celebrate. Nintendo hasn’t released a 2D Metroid game since 2004’s Metroid: Zero Mission, itself a remake of the original Metroid. They have no competing product, no need to fear the success of Another Metroid 2 Remake. It bears repeating that AM2R is a free game.
There was a point in time when Metroid was a highly regarded series of influential games. A badass female protagonist, still a rarity today, an interesting story told with very little dialogue, and a hauntingly beautiful atmosphere which makes the player feel even more alone and helpless than everyday life manages. That time is no longer. The cipher protagonist isn’t silent nor “badass”, instead re-written as a stereotypical weak woman who must look to her superior (male, of course) for guidance and command. The sense of fear and loneliness thrown out in favor of NPCs and co-op elements. The highly detailed artwork replaced by childish chibi characters. There is very little of what made Metroid special left in the franchise proper. AM2R represents the old vision for a lot of people…an image Nintendo has made a point to destroy.