The 8 Best Fan Remakes Of Classic Video Games

Sometimes fans want to see a video game remake that the original developers just didn’t intend to make. Some of the most discerning fans take this as a sign that they have to do the work themselves, recreating their favorite games in new styles and on new platforms. The passion displayed in these projects is magnificent to behold, but some stand out from the crowd. Here are the best fan remakes we’ve seen, listed in alphabetical order.

Related: The 10 games that most need a remake

AM2R

Another remake of Metroid 2, commonly abbreviated as AM2R, is Nintendo’s quintessential fan game. Created for the series’ 30th anniversary, it reimagines the GameBoy Metroid 2 title in the style of Super Metroid on the Super Nintendo. Original designer Milton Guasti, aka DoctorM64, stopped working on the project after Nintendo sent a DMCA takedown notice, but the Metroid community took it upon themselves to complete the job.

black mesa

The creators of Black Mesa had the opposite experience. For over a decade, Crowbar Collective has worked to reconstruct the original Half-Life as it was meant to be played, restoring cut content and extending other footage while dramatically increasing graphical fidelity. The result is a runaway success that original developer Valve openly sells on Steam.

BloodbornePSX

Not all remakes move forward in terms of visuals – sometimes the smartest move is to re-imagine a game on older hardware. That’s what developer Lilith did in Bloodborne, taking the modern PlayStation 4 classic and rewinding it into the original PlayStation Polygons. The game includes boss battles against Beast Cleric, Father Gascoigne, and even an original monster. Next, Bloodborne Kart.

DRL

DRL, otherwise known as DoomRL or Doom the Roguelike, changes the shooter in every possible way, converting it into a top-down roguelike adventure. Pitched by Kornel Kisielewicz and Derek Yu, the latter of whom also designed Spelunky, the project eventually saw its own spiritual successor. Jupiter Hell is the same principle, but without anything that can annoy id Software’s lawyers.

GoldenEye: Source

GoldenEye 007 may now be part of Nintendo Switch Online, but the team at GoldenEye: Source is remaking the N64 shooter years in advance. By moving the retro game to Valve’s Source engine, the creators were able to make the game absolutely amazing. Aesthetically, it really looks like James Bond going through Half-Life.

Grand Theft Auto Vice Cry: Remastered

Long before Grand Theft Auto 6 leaked and tipped its hat to the Vice City setting, this mod pushed the Floridian GTA game forward. Vice Cry is a mod for GTA V, bringing the entirety of Vice City and making it look like something from today. Not only did it give the existing game a fresh coat of paint (the water is gorgeous), but it also included a number of new models and other goodies.

Skyblivion

Likewise, Skyblivion is working to integrate all of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion into Skyrim. It’s not officially released yet, but that’s understandable given the scale of the project. There’s a whole team of volunteers working on this one, and a quick analysis of the gallery on the blog shows how stellar their work is. Over 10 years of development has gone into this mod, which will allow users to customize how many changes they actually want to see in the final product.

Sonic Triple Trouble 16 bit

Finally, we have something for Sonic fans. Sonic Triple Trouble was originally a Game Gear release, but developer Noah Copeland wondered what it would look like as a Sega Genesis game instead. The result is a game with a higher pixel count, a wider color palette, and an assortment of new level layouts. This could be a great appetizer before Sonic Frontiers releases in November.