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Over this past weekend Metroid fans had a fan-made effort to thank for providing a welcome celebration of the franchise with AM2R, rather jokingly being an abbreviation for Another Metroid 2 Remake. Sadly, and predictably, Nintendo has reacted to the overwhelming positivity and broad coverage of the four year project by shutting it down.

Links to the free download have disappeared from the official website for the project, and Nintendo issued a standard statement to Polygon explaining the takedown of the download's various mirrors found around the web, highlighting that they violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Nintendo's broad library of characters, products, and brands are enjoyed by people around the world, and we appreciate the passion of our fans. But just as Nintendo respects the intellectual property rights of others, we must also protect our own characters, trademarks and other content. The unapproved use of Nintendo's intellectual property can weaken our ability to protect and preserve it, or to possibly use it for new projects.

It seems like a real pity, especially as it was a non-profit, free fan-made project. We're used to Nintendo doing this, and it is likely to be in the right legally, but regardless of the letter of the law plenty will dispute the spirit of this move.

The game itself is an impressive effort, remaking Metroid 2 with a visual style and gameplay more reminiscent of the likes of Metroid: Zero Mission; it impressed our video man Alex, too:

Another fan project bites the dust, though the scale of coverage and interest in this one is certainly interesting, as there may be a more vocal debate around the merits and otherwise of Nintendo's takedown notices.

[source metroid2remake.blogspot.co.uk, via polygon.com]