The gaming industry is a very specific type of industry. It’s somewhat different than most others, as it is one where the user base and clientele have a lot more chances to be vocal on certain topics. Whether it’s the latest trend in video game marketing or the introduction of new microtransaction shenanigans, gamers tend to be rather vocal as a group. It isn’t even the case that CEOs of big companies in gaming are more likely to listen to their audience, the thing which makes it different is that gamers themselves tend to be rather passionate about their favourite series or franchises. So passionate in fact, that some go above and beyond the average avid fan, and decide to take things in their own hands, getting involved in some sort of game development themselves. Fan projects related to games are not the most uncommon things in the world, but ones that turn out to be something noteworthy are actually somewhat of a rarity. Let’s look at two success stories related to fans who just worked on fangames purely out of love and passion for the medium, and ended up making something truly amazing.

By the mania, for the mania

If you have been around the planet we call “Earth” for the past two decades, you may have heard of a certain blue hedgehog. Being the titular hero of his own games, Sonic made his big break in 1991, with his first game aptly named “Sonic The Hedgehog”. Being made as direct competition for possibly the most known gaming icon in the world, Mario, he had quite the big shoes to fill. Fortunately for SEGA, everything went well and Sonic was a massive success. This obviously garnered quite a bit of attention from the general public, and many were captivated by the simple yet satisfying gameplay which rewarded the player for doing sticking to harder routes in levels, and lightened the penalty on getting hit, allowing Sonic to live up to his name. After years and years of mostly quality Sonic games, the Franchise has hit quite a patch of some mediocre releases, and fans were constantly disappointed, to say the least. Fortunately, some long-time fans in the Sonic fan community going by the aliases “Taxman” and “Stealth” were picked up by SEGA as well as their teams of choice to create a true masterpiece. A beautifully crafted, 2D, sprite-based, full length classic Sonic game which has been critically acclaimed across the board, and loved by fans everywhere. Sonic Mania was the fruit of their labour, and it really does feel like a game from the “golden era of gaming”.

Just another remake

The Metroid franchise has been a fan favourite and a Nintendo staple since its initial release on the Famicom and NES. After a series of semi-regular game releases, it was hailed as one of the greatest gaming series in the world, constantly delivering on quality, atmosphere, and gameplay like no other. However, unlike the Sonic franchise which has gotten mediocre releases, Metroid simply got no releases whatsoever (Federation Force does not count). This left fans yearning for a new game for ages, with each Nintendo Direct being full of people hoping a new Metroid title would at least be in the works. While the fans finally got their wish in the form of a short and cryptic teaser boldly displaying the number 4, teasing the 4th game in the Metroid Prime series, another game has finally shown its face after a long wait of about ten whole years. AM2R, which stands for Another Metroid 2 Remake, is indeed just that. While the older release in the franchise which started it all, Metroid, got some love and an official remake on the Gameboy Advance in 2004, the second game in the franchise, Metroid II: Return of Samus, was seemingly forgotten by the Nintendo overlords. That is until the fans decided to give it a revamp, thus AM2R was born, and after being lovingly and painstakingly for near a decade, it finally got an official release. Sadly, it got DMCA’d by Nintendo shortly after its release, which many fans were in outrage about, making the creators take down download links from the website and stopping distribution. Fortunately, as we all know, once something gets on the internet, it does not disappear that easily, so if you would still like to download it, visit the website and try it out for yourself. Whether you’re an avid Metroid fan and have not given this masterpiece a try yet, or if you are just curious, it is definitely highly recommended, and considering the game is free, there isn’t much to lose.