This Metroid Prime 2D fan demake was more than 15 years in the making

[Shawn Knight]

Editor's take: I personally never played Metroid Prime but absolutely loved Super Metroid for the SNES. After watching the demo playthrough on YouTube, I’m getting a heavy Castlevania vibe. What are your thoughts, and how long do you think it'll take before Nintendo gets its lawyers involved?

Metroid fans have something to keep them occupied while Nintendo and Retro Studios continue work on the next official game in the series.

Team SCU recently published a demo for Prime 2D, an unofficial 2D demake of the original 3D action-adventure game that first dropped for the GameCube in 2002 (and was later ported to the Wii).

Prime 2D has been a long time in the making. A very long time. The earliest posts I can find about the project on the Prime 2D forum date back to mid-2005 but according to Video Games Chronicle, work actually started in April of 2004. Since then, the project has had five main programmers and hundreds of volunteers.

Per VGC, the game was built using a proprietary engine. “Instead of copying the source material exactly, we are instead focused on taking the core concepts, translating those, and then implementing them in a logical 2D solution,” the team said.

“By doing this we allow ourselves to focus on building a good game first and foremost, and then using that as a base on which to create a familiar experience, rather than constraining ourselves to trying to implement 3D ideas in 2D space,” the developer added.

The biggest threat to the project at this point will likely be Nintendo’s response. The Japanese gaming giant is notoriously protective of its intellectual property, and despite not using the “Metroid” name in the title, we all know what Prime 2D is about.

Back in 2016, Nintendo killed a fan remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus that had been in development for more than eight years.

With so much time, energy and passion put into these fan remakes, it’s a bit of a shame that they almost always get shut down. Then again, you have to understand Nintendo’s position and their fierce desire to protect the characters and franchises they’ve spent decades building up.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/89182-metroid-prime-2d-fan-demake-more-than-15.html

 

[QuantumPhysics]

If you've played ANY Metroid game, you've played them all.

The first game was more straightforward with very little presentation. The 2nd game (my first Metroid: Return of Samus) was a little easier than the 1st game, yet still learnable, playable and beatable.

The next Metroid I played was Metroid Zero Mission. Short of the comic presentation additions of the newer games, the base Metroid gameplay doesn't really change.

 

[Inthenstus]

I never understand why people do this. If you’re going to rip off another IP for a game you spend THOUSAND OF HOURS on, reskin it, release it as your own game with unique characters and sell it like Yooka-Laylee was a spin-off of Banjo Kazooie.

 

[stewi0001]

I never understand why people do this. If you’re going to rip off another IP for a game you spend THOUSAND OF HOURS on, reskin it, release it as your own game with unique characters and sell it like Yooka-Laylee was a spin-off of Banjo Kazooie.

To be fair, Yooka-Laylee is by some of the same people who made Banjo & Kazooie. Stuff like this is typically done by fans and this is how they enjoy expressing their passion for it. Kind of like how there is fan art, cos-plays and etc. I do get your point though.

I think, at least with a game like this, that Nintendo could turn it into a business advantage. However there are a lot of stuff that would have to be figured out, so I will not go into detail.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

I never understand why people do this. If you’re going to rip off another IP for a game you spend THOUSAND OF HOURS on, reskin it, release it as your own game with unique characters and sell it like Yooka-Laylee was a spin-off of Banjo Kazooie.

It's a passion product. Why do people spends hours creating cosplay outfits for their favorite characters, or drawing art of characters from novels, ece? Same reason.

 

[0dium]

Nintendo taking it down in 3...2...1

 

[mbrowne5061]

At least these guys were smart about it. Never announce a Nintendo fan project until after you are done and it is released into the wild - preferably as a magnet link torrent. (and then abandon all accounts and contact info associated with the game, and deny all involvement is the lawyers find you)

 

[Michiel]

Looks amazing!
The problem with Nintendo is also that they leave some of their franchises, including this one, on the shelf for years and years. It's been 13 (!) years since the last big Metroid adventure (Metroid Prime Echoes). I know they were working on a sequel which got sent back to the drawing board, but why not have some more projects in the franchise? Why did Nintendo never develop another 2D Metroid game themselves? Obviously there's a market for exactly that. Personally I would like to see it in a modern 2D style like Ori and Blind Forest, and not neccesarily a pixel/16-bit style like this example.

 

[ZedRM]

If you've played ANY Metroid game, you've played them all.

The first game was more straightforward with very little presentation. The 2nd game (my first Metroid: Return of Samus) was a little easier than the 1st game, yet still learnable, playable and beatable.

The next Metroid I played was Metroid Zero Mission. Short of the comic presentation additions of the newer games, the base Metroid gameplay doesn't really change.

You seem to have skipped Super Metroid... What a shame.. While MZM is excellent, Super Metroid is easily the best of the series.