I was sorting through my various bookmarks saved when I reinstalled Chrome and Opera on my laptop after having to replace the hard drive and noticed that I had a bunch of these fan-made games compiled that I was either keeping tabs on their development progress or had them bookmarked to try out for myself whenever I got a chance.
Before I get into any legal trouble for bringing awareness to this games on this blog, I don't endorse piracy, but that's your own choice if you seek out these games for your own profit or personal gain. I don't gain any profit nor benefit for shedding light about these labors of love from my fellow gamers. I just want to enlighten my readers on some of these excellent byproducts out there.
AM2R: Another Metroid II Remake
I personally consider AM2R the definitive Metroid II: Return of Samus remake and the main reason Nintendo got off their asses to do Metroid: Samus Returns for the 3DS. You can still find copies of this online floating around, but Nintendo has done one hell of a job hounding every website and host client to take down the files. This is the only game on this list that I personally had a chance to review in-depth actually.
I personally think that if you're a Metroid fan in any capacity that you should go out of your way to play this "remake" of sorts. DoctorM64's work on this game landed him a job with Moon Studios (creators of Ori and the Blind Forest) and he definitely deserved it with the impressive visual resume he displayed his talents within this fan-made game.
He-Man & She-Ra The Video Game
bWWd, a name that you're going to hear about again throughout this post, developed this fan-made game in the same vein of classic 2D beat 'em ups, but with the look and feel of the Masters of the Universe and Princess of Power cartoon series.
bWWd is still doing regular bug fixes and adding additional characters as of this posting.
Hyper Dragon Ball Z
Before Dragon Ball FighterZ was a gleam in the eye of Arc System Works, there was this game that essentially took everything that players loved about traditional '90s era 2D fighters (namely Capcom) and developed this game to satisfy that craving for something different than what was being offered from the tired and true Budokai series. This game came out in 2014 and still stands as the prime example of what could be done with the DBZ license if passionate fans were behind it.
Fast forward to the beginning of 2018 and we got that with Dragon Ball FighterZ. Hell, Arc System Works need to be thanking these guys (Z2 and the community effort behind this game) as far as I'm concerned.
For those wondering, this game was made out of the MUGEN engine and isn't the only one of it's kind as there's a Naruto game floating around in the same vein as this too.
Maverick Hunter X: Giga Mission (WIP)
This is a strange twist on Mega Man's iconic gameplay. This game takes everything that we love about Mega Man and turns into a 2D beat 'em up set in the Mega Man X timeline - specifically after the controversial Command Mission video game. The game is still pretty early in development, but I personally love what I'm seeing so far. You can follow it's ongoing progress in development over on it's Twitter account.
Mega Maker
In the same vein as the popular Super Mario Maker, you can create your own Mega Man levels.
Despite it's initial release, the game is still in development and receiving ongoing updates/fixes.
Mega Man 2.5D
Mega Man 2.5D is an unofficial fan-made game created by Peter Sjöstrand and Edgar Cebolledo.
The project began in 2009 as an animated mockup. Due to the positive response to it, development began on an actual playable version. The main aspect that sets the game apart from other Mega Man games is the Co-op Mode, which has two players fight side by side in order to get through the game. Another thing that's different in Mega Man 2.5D is the use of changing camera perspectives, which is featured heavily in the single-player mode of the game. Because of these game mechanics, Mega Man 2.5D features separate level designs for its co-op and single-player modes.
The idea is to have Mega Man 2.5D be a "greatest hits" type game that brings back stages and bosses from various Mega Man games, while at the same time putting a new spin on them.
Mega Man Unlimited
This game was created by MegaPhilX as a pseudo-sequel to Mega Man 9 as a bridge between the classic Mega Man series and Mega Man X series. In development, the legitimate Mega Man 10 was announced by Capcom, so a lot of things in-game had to be changed as a result. One funny thing to point out is that Capcom accidentally used some screenshots and media from this game for the marketing for Mega Man 10 in some media outlets, thinking it was the same game.
Zero appears in this game as the final boss as the "Z-Prototype" and is actually playable in an alternate adventure. The plot is similar to Mega Man 10's Roboenza viral outbreak spreading across Dr. Wily's Robot Masters, forcing Dr. Light and Dr. Wily to join forces to develop a cure. This virus is more akin to the Maverick Virus that is commonly known in the X series that causes Reploids to develop violent tendencies and go maverick.
I kept tabs on this game as I personally thought this was an excellent way to explore and bridge the lore for the classic and X series - something that Capcom themselves hasn't done to this day outside of sprinkling breadcrumbs throughout the later entries of the X series prior to Inafune's departure from the company.
Mega Man X: Corrupted (WIP)
Mega Man X: Corrupted is an unofficial, fan-made game by John K. Bacchus (also known as JKB) coded in AS3 using Flex compiler on Flash Develop. The game is modeled after the MMX series' features and gameplay, in the graphic style of the SNES Mega Man X games, with a non-linear interconnected environment, and skill trees to enhance characters and weapons.
Unlike standard MM and MMX titles with boss selection, the game uses a non-linear structure similar to the ones in MMZ1 or ZX games, effectively referred to as the Final Four Effect.
After completing the intro stage, you start in the hunter base and are tasked with stopping the eight Mavericks, but with your current equipment you can only reach three. Upon each of their defeat either you gain a weapon that allows you to travel somewhere new, or the Maverick's destruction causes something to change in the world and grant new places to explore. Examples of such would be Force Starfish, who gives you a weapon that can break hard blocks and crystals, and Sparking Scorpio, who relinquishes his energy back to the power plant so all its devices can function. The world is non-linear and many paths are dependent on the defeat of certain bosses.
The Mega Man X: Corrupted Mavericks don't just wait in their boss room for you to come kill them. They have agendas, and they want to make your life miserable. Each and every Maverick has a mission he's on for the first half of the game, and if you don't go after them, they succeed in carrying it out. One example is Warfare Milodon, who has taken over the weapons factory for the purpose of creating new and powerful mechaniloids for his force, and if he's not one of the first four bosses you defeat, he completes his research and elite enemies start appearing in the world, and Milodon himself gains a powerful new attack. This is the case for all of the last four Mavericks remaining, and all have some effect that makes the world harder and their boss fight harder. When in Sigma Class (Σ Class) all effects are active at once.
The Final Four Effects are :
Warfare Milodon - Upgrades the standard enemies, making them stronger and giving them a red paint job similar to Milodon's. Certain enemies also get new special attacks.
Sparking Scorpio - Adds the black out effect on certain areas from some of the stages, reducing visibility. Certain Buster projectiles can produce a light source for a very short amount of time.
Crystal Rafflar - Creates crystal vines on certain stages, restricting the player's movement and reflecting X's buster shots. Some vines also include insta-death spikes.
Plasma Puffer - Corrupts some of the enemies, making them drop poisonous LE/WE/1-UP after they explode. If the player picks up one of the poisonous capsules his LE/WE/Lives will be reduced. The poisonous capsules can also be destroyed by shooting/slashing them.
Force Starfish - Upgrades the mini-bosses (and the Sentinel enemy), making them stronger, upgrading their attacks or even giving them new ones. They also receive a golden-yellow paint job, similar to that of Starfish's.
Warp Vulpex - Creates vortexes in certain areas of the map that will spawn random corrupted enemies.
Hurricane Hoatzin - Creates a storm effect on some of the map's areas that pushes the player back when moving. It also spawns a new type of enemy across the map - the Storm Balloon.
Neurohack Mosquito - Spreads infectious mosquitoes everywhere on the map that will infect a random enemy on sight, increasing their reaction time, health, and damage. They are immune to status effects while infected.
Very little has been revealed about the story, though JKB has confirmed that the game will take place as an alternate time line after Mega Man X5, thus Axl will not make an appearance.
Sadly, this fan-made game has been development for a VERY long time now and the last time I've checked since back in March of this year, there's no release date. JKBGames has been burning the midnight oil with video updates of his progress here and there on his YouTube channel though.
Mushroom Kingdom Fusion (Formerly known as Super Mario MF, then Super Mario Fusion) is a fan game created by Fusion Team. The main engine of the game is based off of Mario, but with many other characters playable including Sonic and Tails. It is a crossover of many video games.
On March 10, 2015, this game has been cancelled due to development issues, but as of 2017, the game has been scrapped completely due to Nintendo's numerous copyright strikes. That being said, there's still some playable builds of this floating around the 'Net, sporting over 50 levels and playable characters. There's a wealth of people still wanting to make this fan game a reality with playable patches and updates to the original demo/build, releasing as recently as May 2019.
I wouldn't mind giving this a shot over those insane Mario Maker levels that you have to be god-tier good at Mario games to beat.
Pokémon Uranium is a fan-made game based on the Pokémon series. The game was in development for nine years, and used the RPG Maker XP engine. The game adds 150 new fan-made species of Pokémon, along with a new region. Similar to the official games, Uranium contains both online trading and online battling.
I'm not even hardcore into Pokemon (not anymore anyway...), yet I've heard about this one. Nintendo has been notorious about shutting down any site that hosts download files for this game, so you're on your own to fish up a copy. Boy, people think Nintendo are on the nuts of the emulation folks as of late, but that doesn't have nothing on how bad they have been hounding the guys who made this game.
This entry looks and plays like a sequel to the SNES/Sega Genesis original Power Rangers video games set in the Mighty Morphin' era of the franchise with sound clips and audio cues from the show.
This was released back on July 24, 2014 by Merso-X, who is getting pretty popular in this article at this point. The update to that initial release, dubbed Beats of Power - Special Edition, released February 25, 2017 as a PC only update that added 4-player local co-op, additional enemies, along with various bug fixes.
Merso-X has a sequel in development, dubbed Beats of Power 2, focusing exclusively on the Power Rangers Zeo series.
A sequel is being developed but rendered in the same visual style as the original Mortal Kombat games. I would love to know how they are animating this without the original cast, unless they are just using the stock footage from the first few seasons. So far this looks awesome.
This sequel is currently in development by Merso-X, who recently finished working on another noteworthy entry at the bottom of this list.
After the lackluster reception of Brawl and then Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS, fans got together and developed this title as a proper return to form in the vein of the beloved Melee from back on Gamecube, except with the enhancements to the game brought in with Brawl. This game was so beloved by fans that it became a tournament standard in some major competitive scenes until the almighty (or rather notorious) Nintendo stepped in.
In a bizarre way, I feel that this game is entirely responsible for Smash Ultimate having as many characters that it did along with Nintendo going out of their way to please their player base.
For those worried about possibly damaging their Wii/Wii U's attempting to install and/or run this fan-made game can rest assured that there are plenty of ways to play this legally without tampering with your console.
Out of all of the fan-made games on this list, I believe that this is most recognizable (or rather most popular) one in terms availability and accessibility.
Sonic: After the Sequel is a 2013 platform video game created by Brazilian student Felipe Daneluz (LakeFeperd). It is an unofficial game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series and set between the official games Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Daneluz's second Sonic game, it follows Sonic: Before the Sequel, which set between the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Like its predecessor, After the Sequel stars Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick Tails in a quest to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Doctor Eggman.
After the Sequel was inspired by Sonic Heroes and other games both inside and outside the Sonic series, and it was developed with Sonic Worlds, an engine based in Multimedia Fusion 2 that reduces the amount of computer programming involved in game creation. It was released as a free download for Microsoft Windows personal computers on June 15, 2013. The game was very well received by video game journalists, who lauded its preservation of retro Sonic gameplay and its eclectic, 1990s-style soundtrack. The trilogy of Before the Sequel, After the Sequel, and their successor Sonic: Chrono Adventure performed unusually well for fangames, having been downloaded 120,000 times by March 2014.
I saw a bit of footage of this game in action and I thought it looked amazing to say that I'm not even too crazy about Sonic's 3D outings if I'm perfectly honest. It seems like that a lot of the mechanics from previous games were implemented here to please old and newer Sonic fans.
Super Thundercats: The Lost Eye of Thundera is a remake of the 1987 game. It features updated graphics and music, smoother gameplay, stages featuring the Thundertank, and a much needed final confrontation against Mumm-Ra (the original game ends abruptly after completing the last stage).
Sadly, this fan-made game has been development for a VERY long time now and the last time I've checked since back in March of this year, there's no release date. JKBGames has been burning the midnight oil with video updates of his progress here and there on his YouTube channel though.
Mushroom Kingdom Fusion
Fusion Gameworks (Developers' Blog)
Discord Server Link (For general info, updates, & reporting bugs)
Mushroom Kingdom Fusion (Formerly known as Super Mario MF, then Super Mario Fusion) is a fan game created by Fusion Team. The main engine of the game is based off of Mario, but with many other characters playable including Sonic and Tails. It is a crossover of many video games.
On March 10, 2015, this game has been cancelled due to development issues, but as of 2017, the game has been scrapped completely due to Nintendo's numerous copyright strikes. That being said, there's still some playable builds of this floating around the 'Net, sporting over 50 levels and playable characters. There's a wealth of people still wanting to make this fan game a reality with playable patches and updates to the original demo/build, releasing as recently as May 2019.
I wouldn't mind giving this a shot over those insane Mario Maker levels that you have to be god-tier good at Mario games to beat.
Pokemon: Uranium
Pokémon Uranium is a fan-made game based on the Pokémon series. The game was in development for nine years, and used the RPG Maker XP engine. The game adds 150 new fan-made species of Pokémon, along with a new region. Similar to the official games, Uranium contains both online trading and online battling.
I'm not even hardcore into Pokemon (not anymore anyway...), yet I've heard about this one. Nintendo has been notorious about shutting down any site that hosts download files for this game, so you're on your own to fish up a copy. Boy, people think Nintendo are on the nuts of the emulation folks as of late, but that doesn't have nothing on how bad they have been hounding the guys who made this game.
Power Rangers: Beats of Power
This entry looks and plays like a sequel to the SNES/Sega Genesis original Power Rangers video games set in the Mighty Morphin' era of the franchise with sound clips and audio cues from the show.
This was released back on July 24, 2014 by Merso-X, who is getting pretty popular in this article at this point. The update to that initial release, dubbed Beats of Power - Special Edition, released February 25, 2017 as a PC only update that added 4-player local co-op, additional enemies, along with various bug fixes.
Merso-X has a sequel in development, dubbed Beats of Power 2, focusing exclusively on the Power Rangers Zeo series.
Power Rangers Zeo: Beats of Power 2 (WIP)
YouTube Channel (Merso-X's work on this game and others in development)
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| I know someone's going to be mad as hell at the lack of Tanya in this... |
A sequel is being developed but rendered in the same visual style as the original Mortal Kombat games. I would love to know how they are animating this without the original cast, unless they are just using the stock footage from the first few seasons. So far this looks awesome.
This sequel is currently in development by Merso-X, who recently finished working on another noteworthy entry at the bottom of this list.
Super Smash Bros. - Project M
In a bizarre way, I feel that this game is entirely responsible for Smash Ultimate having as many characters that it did along with Nintendo going out of their way to please their player base.
For those worried about possibly damaging their Wii/Wii U's attempting to install and/or run this fan-made game can rest assured that there are plenty of ways to play this legally without tampering with your console.
Out of all of the fan-made games on this list, I believe that this is most recognizable (or rather most popular) one in terms availability and accessibility.
Sonic: After the Sequel
GameJolt (Info Page)
Sonic: After the Sequel is a 2013 platform video game created by Brazilian student Felipe Daneluz (LakeFeperd). It is an unofficial game based on the Sonic the Hedgehog series and set between the official games Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Daneluz's second Sonic game, it follows Sonic: Before the Sequel, which set between the original Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Like its predecessor, After the Sequel stars Sonic the Hedgehog and his sidekick Tails in a quest to retrieve the Chaos Emeralds from Doctor Eggman.
After the Sequel was inspired by Sonic Heroes and other games both inside and outside the Sonic series, and it was developed with Sonic Worlds, an engine based in Multimedia Fusion 2 that reduces the amount of computer programming involved in game creation. It was released as a free download for Microsoft Windows personal computers on June 15, 2013. The game was very well received by video game journalists, who lauded its preservation of retro Sonic gameplay and its eclectic, 1990s-style soundtrack. The trilogy of Before the Sequel, After the Sequel, and their successor Sonic: Chrono Adventure performed unusually well for fangames, having been downloaded 120,000 times by March 2014.
Sonic: Project Hero (WIP)
I saw a bit of footage of this game in action and I thought it looked amazing to say that I'm not even too crazy about Sonic's 3D outings if I'm perfectly honest. It seems like that a lot of the mechanics from previous games were implemented here to please old and newer Sonic fans.
Super Thundercats: The Lost Eye of Thundera
Super Thundercats: The Lost Eye of Thundera is a remake of the 1987 game. It features updated graphics and music, smoother gameplay, stages featuring the Thundertank, and a much needed final confrontation against Mumm-Ra (the original game ends abruptly after completing the last stage).
Another fangame made by the infamous Merso-X. This guy is racking up one hell of an impressive resume with these games based off beloved children's properties. This game however, I wouldn't be putting up to the top of my list of achievements as the original 1987 game wasn't much to write home about anyway, let alone worth making a remake for.
TMNT Rescue-Palooza
(Laughs) April O'Neil is even here in all of her yellow jumpsuit glory.
The title released June 13, 2019 by none other than Merso-X with help from bWWd, who worked on the previously mentioned He-Man & She-Ra game.
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