Top 10 Fan Creations Attacked by Media Companies

If you’re a fan of beat ‘em up games, you’re surely aware of this classic side-scroller for the Sega Genesis. While Streets of Rage spawned two sequels and has been subject to multiple re-releases in the years since. Before the fourth game was announced in 2018, there hadn’t been a new entry in the series since 1994. So when an indie developer called Bomber Link spent a reported 8 years building a massive remake of all three games from the ground up with entirely original coding, and then gave it away for free, you’d think the original company would see the effort as a labor of love... but no. Instead, Sega sent a cease and desist letter after its release. However, the game continues to circulate in modding communities nonetheless.

For gamers, it’s always frustrating when fan-built games are shut down, especially when they present little-to-no competition to the economic interests of the actual franchise. But for the companies involved, maintaining strict intellectual property rights is their primary concern, regardless of the financial ramifications or lack thereof. DoomRL was a simple, free game that randomly generated Doom-themed maps that you could then play through in classic rogue-like style. But due to the use of copyrighted material, Doom’s parent company Zenimax served the developers a cease and desist notice – forcing both a name change and removal of the offending materials. Confusingly, this legal action came shortly after Zenimax seemingly endorsed the fan-developed gameplay mod, Brutal Doom.

#8: “Super Mario 64 HD” Must Cease & Desist

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There isn’t an industry-wide standard for companies to follow when it comes to dealing with fan games. Sega waited until the Streets of Rage remake was released, despite a very public development prior, while DoomRL was targeted years after its release. In the case of this particular fan remake, however, Nintendo acted lightning quick. Developer Erik Roystan Ross had only recreated a single level of Super Mario 64 in HD – the Bob-Omb Battlefield – when the Nintendo legal team took to their keyboards. The project was in fact essentially little more than a tech demo rather than a full game, but Nintendo nonetheless saw reason to defend and enforce their property rights. But then, after all, with Mario... it’s all about the coins.

#7: A Punisher Fan Film Gets Punished

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While the quality of live action Marvel projects has jumped by leaps and bounds in the past decade, many fans are still waiting for a proper Punisher adaptation. Filmmaker Mike Pecci took it upon himself to make such a project. His short, “The Dead Can’t Be Distracted,” was, in his own words, an attempt “to create a pilot for a potential web series.” The short teaser immediately garnered overwhelmingly positive responses when he released it online in 2013... but it also drew attention from Marvel. The company issued a cease-and-desist, effectively ending the project. Considering a re-invented small screen Punisher made his debut on Daredevil in 2016, which led to a series of his own, Marvel likely already had plans for the character.

#6: Nintendo Shuts Down “AM2R”

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As the company with arguably the largest catalog of popular characters in video game history, you can imagine that Nintendo’s lawyers stay very busy in this modern age of indie fan games. Metroid II: Return of Samus was originally released exclusively for the Game Boy until fan developer DoctorM64 revamped it. Dubbed AM2R – or Another Metroid 2 Remake – the developer used the old Metroid game as a basis and mixed in elements from Metroid: Zero Mission and Super Metroid. While players saw these as improvements, Nintendo saw it as violating multiple copyrights and filed DMCA notices to hosting sites and eventually the developer himself. In 2017, Nintendo revealed their own Metroid II remake at E3: “Metroid: Samus Returns,” which was well received by the fan community, including the creator of AM2R.

#5: Star Wars Theory VS. Warner/Chappell

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On December 21, 2018, YouTuber Toos, who runs the popular channel Star Wars Theory, released “Vader Episode 1: Shards of the Past” to immediate praise from the fan community. However, on January 14th, 2019, Warner/Chappell - publisher for the Walt Disney Music Company - filed a copyright claim for the video’s use of a rendition of “The Imperial March” and began collecting the video’s ad revenue. Fortunately, in response to strong fan reactions, LucasFilm quickly intervened, and the claim on the video was ultimately released, and a disclaimer was added to the video explaining that the video is not monetized in accordance with LucasFilms guidelines.

#4: “Star Wars: Galaxy in Turmoil” Gets Disapproval from Electronic Arts

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Sometimes even the companies involved can’t seem to agree on when to enforce intellectual property law. Of the many games developed by fans, “Galaxy in Turmoil,” is among the most impressive. Developer Frontwire Studios took the remnants of the abandoned Star Wars Battlefront III and aimed to complete it. But after a distribution deal was announced, Lucasfilm requested the project be suspended. Ultimately the game was scrapped, but surprisingly it wasn’t because of the notoriously protective Lucasfilm. Instead, it was Electronic Arts – who held proper rights, licenses, and contracts for Star Wars material – that objected. In the end, EA held onto their Star Wars exclusivity, while “Galaxy in Turmoil” got a notably un-Star Warsy cyber-punk makeover.

#3: “Pokémon Uranium” Gets Slammed with Takedown Notices

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Pokémon Uranium was so much more than most fan games; it was a full-blown, unlicensed entry in the Pokémon franchise that took two creators 9 years to complete. The pair created an entire line-up of 150 unique Pokémon, a new area of the Pokémon universe to explore and an original plot. When it was released in August 2016, the free game was downloaded 1.5 million times until Nintendo had it shut down. It’s certainly not the first time the company has taken such action: in 2010 they put the kibosh on the fan-made MMO, PokeNet, and they once issued a DMCA notice for over 560 fan games from indie game site Game Jolt alone. Talk about ruling with an iron Power Glove.

It’s almost a rite of passage for any serious Trekkie to don the uniform and boldly go film a low-budget adventure of their own. 2014’s “Prelude to Axanar” short film was well received at the San Diego Comic-Con and was followed by a crowd-funding campaign for a feature-length film titled “Star Trek: Anaxar.” The campaign was a huge success, earning over a million dollars, but Axanar Productions was hit by a copyright infringement suit just a few months later. Subsequently, the line was redrawn as to what is and what isn’t acceptable for a fan film, causing Axanar to severely change course.

#1: Power Rangers Fan Film Gets Taken Down by Saban

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Remember Dawson from “Dawson’s Creek”? Well, as the Red Ranger in this super gritty, fan-made Power Rangers short, he was far from the crying teen from Capeside, Massachusetts. Titled “Power/Rangers,” starring Katee Sackhoff, and produced by Adi Shankar, it was, quite frankly, awesome. With a “bootleg universe” including films like “The Punisher: Dirty Laundry” and “Venom: Truth In Journalism,” the Joseph Kahn-directed picture was well received by fans and even some original cast members. But the actual owners of the Power Rangers franchise, Saban Brands, were not thrilled with the hyper-violent interpretation and had it pulled from both Vimeo and YouTube in short order. Eventually, however, a deal was cut and the film was re-uploaded – albeit with numerous disclaimers.