Metroid 2 Remake AM2R Released!

[Sarge]

I think I have somehow missed the Ice Beam until this point. Unless it's a late-game pickup.

I can understand why Nintendo issued the DMCA, as I understand it with the way US copyright law is, they pretty much have to. At least they let it come to fruition and get disseminated a bit before issuing it.

I'm a bit more annoyed, though, at all the news sites that ran the story of archive.org having all the issues of Nintendo Power, which were apparently just snatched straight from Retromags. So of course, Retromags has pulled the NP mags, too, just to be safe.

[MrPopo]

I think I have somehow missed the Ice Beam until this point. Unless it's a late-game pickup.

Late game pickup. Since you get the space jump so early the freezing enemies aspect of the ice beam is unnecessary (and frequently a pain as it forces an extra attack). So now it's the last beam, is a damage upgrade, and only freezes appropriate enemies.

[samsonlonghair]

It occurs to me that if the makers called this game "Bletroid II" or "Jetroid II" or "Schmetroid II" or something silly like "Axiom Verge" instead of Metroid II, they wouldn't be facing these legal issues.

[noiseredux]

It occurs to me that if the makers called this game "Bletroid II" or "Jetroid II" or "Schmetroid II" or something silly like "Axiom Verge" instead of Metroid II, they wouldn't be facing these legal issues.

I don't think that's true. It's not just similar to Metroid II, it is meant to look like Samus and uses the same map and enemies. Plus, it's technically called AM2R. (Though they did put "Metroid 2" in the title screen).

[prfsnl_gmr]

I can understand why Nintendo issued the DMCA, as I understand it with the way US copyright law is, they pretty much have to.

That's right. If you don't protect your intellectual property, you lose your rights to it (to a certain extent).

Also, the creator could, if he or she so desired, swap out some of the sprites, remix the music a bit, and change the names of some of the power ups. That would probably be enough to get the game back out there. See Capcom U.S.A., Inc. v. Data East Corp.

It would be best, however, if Nintendo helped the developer port the game to the 3DS or Wii U. If it did that, I would definitely buy it.

[Exhuminator]

The developer knew that they'd get hit with the C&D upon release, and have it taken down by Nintendo. There's no way they didn't know that. The developer also knew once the game was downloaded, it was never going to disappear from the net. Someone would always make it available.

The developer called the game Metroid II on the title screen and used the Nintendo logo for a simple reason. They wanted this to be -exactly- the game they wished Nintendo would have made, had Nintendo bothered to remake Metroid II. It's as simple as that, and keeping all the original IP stuff in tact just makes the experience feel that much more authentic. I applaud the developer for their gusto.

The developer did what they wanted to do, no exceptions. Nintendo did what they had to do, no exceptions. It makes sense from both angles.

[samsonlonghair]

The developer did what they wanted to do, no exceptions. Nintendo did what they had to do, no exceptions. It makes sense from both angles.

Are you talking about World War I or a video game?

[Exhuminator]

No exceptions.

[Tanooki]

The developer knew that they'd get hit with the C&D upon release, and have it taken down by Nintendo. There's no way they didn't know that. The developer also knew once the game was downloaded, it was never going to disappear from the net. Someone would always make it available.

The developer called the game Metroid II on the title screen and used the Nintendo logo for a simple reason. They wanted this to be -exactly- the game they wished Nintendo would have made, had Nintendo bothered to remake Metroid II. It's as simple as that, and keeping all the original IP stuff in tact just makes the experience feel that much more authentic. I applaud the developer for their gusto.

The developer did what they wanted to do, no exceptions. Nintendo did what they had to do, no exceptions. It makes sense from both angles.

And I applaud them for doing the right thing and sticking it to Nintendo at the same time for not doing it themselves for over a decade now since Zero Mission popped up because fan crying for it to happen has been that long. Neither side are fools and really Nintendo could have buttoned that up before it hit, makes you wonder if they just let the fans have it and then did the classic CYA (cover your ass) move with the C&D. It looks bad on them from a fan side, but also good if you think about it as they didn't pull that dick move Square did with the Chrono Trigger sequel waiting for it to be done, then murdering it just before it went live wasting those peoples years of work as that was just calculated and cold.

[Sarge]

And I applaud them for doing the right thing and sticking it to Nintendo at the same time for not doing it themselves for over a decade now since Zero Mission popped up because fan crying for it to happen has been that long. Neither side are fools and really Nintendo could have buttoned that up before it hit, makes you wonder if they just let the fans have it and then did the classic CYA (cover your ass) move with the C&D. It looks bad on them from a fan side, but also good if you think about it as they didn't pull that dick move Square did with the Chrono Trigger sequel waiting for it to be done, then murdering it just before it went live wasting those peoples years of work as that was just calculated and cold.

I would argue that that's exactly what Nintendo did. They let it come to fruition, and let it be released, then did the DMCA to cover their legal bums. Really, people shouldn't be getting mad at Nintendo for issuing the request, they should be thanking them for not putting the kibosh on it when it was about to release.

I don't think the devs intent was to "stick it to" Nintendo, though. I think it was a passion project, and they wanted a product as close to what Nintendo would have developed as possible. Will it cause Nintendo to reevaluate the Metroid series? Probably not. Was that the intent? Probably not. In some ways, this is going to be a means to an end for the dev, too. I believe that they're going to be ready with something new, especially with all this work they've put in. They've shown some nice design chops, reenvisioning Nintendo's four-color creation into something far greater than it was. I'm actually impressed by a few of the one-time setpieces scattered through the game.

Kudos to Sega for not squelching Streets of Rage Remake as well before release. It's the closest analogue I can think of for this, both in situation and quality level of the final product. (Seriously, guys, both of these games are the bomb.)