Pokémon Uranium is the Latest Ambitious Fan-Made Game to Run The Gauntlet

Ooooh, gimme!

I played the game a while back while in was in beta, but have since stopped following it. Is it finished yet?

And... 5....4...3...2...1....

So it's a free PC game based off of Nintendo IP that is using Nuclear Meltdown and explosions as the key point to the game.

Will the Japanese company Nintendo take exception to any of this? Let's wait and see....

This was around for a while. It's a nice effort but a little too out-there for Pokemon.

Nah, No thanks.

lol...the Pokemon Company is going to do more than take this down. lol

According to reddit this was up 4 days ago.

https://m.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/4whfp2/pokemon_uranium_an_incredible_pokemon_fangame/

When you see Pokeclones survive in app stores, the decision to brand this original work as Pokemon leaves me scratching my head.

Pokemon Chernobyl edition?

When willl they learnnnn

@rjejr What's wrong with an msi file? It is simply an archived, executable installer package, nothing else.

Grabbed it!

@JoaoEsteves
Psst.... Pokemon Neptunium, Pokemon Plutonium, Pokemon Radium, etc.... Enter any kind of Radioactive name. XD
Just kidding...

looks awful

Eh, why not.

I thought it was a DPPt ROM-Hack, but turns out that wasn't the case.

I'd say that 'Nintendo will take this down', but Rom hacks have been up for years with no issues so maybe this has a chance. After all, it's not Nintendo's property; it's The Pokemon Company's.

@ThanosReXXX I know what it is, I just wasn't being first. Think I'm going to just go delete my entire earlier comment now that I've looked into it, seems legit.

@rjejr First what? To install it and try out? So that is also what you meant with "Still waiting anyway"?

@DekersHekers
If this were a ROM hack then I think it unlikely that it would receive a C&D, however as this is a PC application....

Seriously this is yet another breach of copyright. nintendo are likely to go hard on this given the popularity of pokemon. Fan made doesn't make this ok.

Well it's made from scratch and not a bootleg of a Nintendo made game so I think it'll be alright.

@RCMADIAX Yeah, that's helping out your stellar reputation by encouraging people to release MORE ripoffs on the eshop like you do. This group could put their efforts towards making the game wholly original with their own take on Pocket Monsters and a changed up battle system. Better than just rehash and rerelease.

Nine years working on it and they have no problem having Nintendo find out and shut down the thing?
I mean... By the trailer it seems that there are a ton of custom stuffs in it, they could have the game work without the official Pokemon assets (or at least without the most obvious one) and they would have been safe.
They wouldn't even lost the publicity, I don't think you NEED to infrange the copyright for have your game mentioned around the net as a Pokemon fanmade game >.>;

@shaneoh Either way the Pokemon Company has only really done one fan game takedown before, whilst Nintendo's done several.

Original fan games like this one usually get left alone. I'd say that giving these projects media attention harms their chances of survival more than anything. Just my two cents.

@RCMADIAX You're joking, right?

I'm sorry, but I'm sure there are tons of other places people would turn to before you.

Edit: Missed the rebrand part

@Mega_Yarn_Poochy Crystal Monsters on DSiware is so close to the sweet spot of being a poke clone. It could happen with just a few changes and touches.

I still don't appreciate it when you write articles about this stuff.

Calling it now, TPC dishes out a DMCA.

I don't think I'll be hooked up on this as I am on the original Pokemon games but since I'm gonna be waiting for the next Pokemon game for months now, this will occupy me for a bit :3

Looks pretty sweet.

Cease & Desist in 3... 2... 1...

RIP

Eh. Until they make a fan- based pokemon game with gen 5 sprites, I'll be staying away from these

A pokemon RPG, just like the main series located in a tropical region? That sounds similar to Sun & Moon....
Definitively, these guys are gluttons for punishment. I can smell the Cease & Desist letter from kilometers.

It's a very solid game. I've watched a playthrough of it and it is a quality game. Go ahead and play it if you're a Pokemon fan.

Nintendo, you better not shut this down. I would be ticked off if they did.

..it's getting glowing reviews..but it's sure to blow up in their face..

@Fidu Generally, yes, but this one's in a bad situation by creating brand new unofficial monsters while still using the Pokémon name. Nintendo, Game Freak, and the Pokémon Company may not appreciate them cheapening the brand like that.

got myself am2r and now this....suh-weet.

Also in light of the fukushima incident you'd think they might change it slightly to like Pokemon Radiant or something. They had like 5 years to retitle it but keep the nuclear type. Not a PC thing but a sort of sensitivity thing...

These "Pokemon" don't really feel like pokemon to me

Saw this a couple of days ago, but only managed to download it today. That should speak about its popularity. I'm eager to find a chance to try it out.

It's weird that I'm playing more Nintendo games on my PC than on my 3DS these days.

@SH007ME The Pokemon Company will likely throw a cease and desist atom...

Just do a remake of pokemon red and blue and firered and leafgreen don't count! GEN 1 BABY !

What the hell is wrong with this site? Just because it's non-profit and these fan-devs say "I don't own the rights" (which in that sense is admitting to theft) and "please support official releases" or however big a fan they claim to be, doesn't make it okay. They're doing more harm than good by doing this.

It pisses me off seeing NL, among others, constantly supporting these projects, then call foul play on Nintendo & Co.'s part for rightfully attempting to protect their property.
I'll give credit where it's due, some of these people do really great work, but this practice has gotta stop. If it's not official, then drop it.

@locky-mavo on the one hand, I totally get where you're coming from. On the other, TPC hasn't really been creative with their pokemon designs lately(minus a few here and there) and I'm curious to see what some fans came up with. I'm still going to purchase Pokemon Sun but it's something to try for me.

downloaded it. So far it looks nice and it has alot of care for it. I hope Nintendo doesn't take it down. But then again they have basically ignored the endless sea of Rom Hacks.

I think Street Fighter X Megaman is the kind of thing companies should learn from.

@locky-mavo Your attitude is repulsive. Fangames like this should be celebrated, not condemned, as they're in turn a celebration of the source material.

@DiscoDriver43 Now that you say it, who was the first (notice that I say "first" in the most emphatic way possible) AAA company that ever accepted a fan-game, and decided to make it official?

We have various examples like Black Mesa, Mega Man X Street Fighter, and the upcoming Sonic Mania. But again, which was the first one?

@John_Enigma i am not sure to be honest. I just mention Megaman X Streetfighter because it is like the most recent example that i can think of

Anyway, my criticism is that the framerate is not good and i hope the developers have a patch coming soon or if Nintendo doesn't strike back before they can make one.

Hello!

Can someone explain me How to install the Game?

Pretty plz!1

Kind of interested in this. I'm not too sure why it caught my eye, but I really hope it won't let down.
That may be hoping for too much, though.

I love it so far. Kinda hard. Never been so proud to beat the first gym leader. Cubbug is really cute, even if most of the designs are sub par.

I'm really glad I bought that USB adaptor for SNES controllers...

Why not ditch the Pokemon name and make their own 100% original game?

@MitchVogel
...lol..yea you're right, they'll probably nuke this one, which has it's positives and negatives..but they'll never catch 'em all...

@MitchVogel A wild Cease & Desist???

I have seen plenty of fan-made games (even those who more blatantly rip off the official games) who are still up and downloadable. Granted most have and probably never will leave their beta stages. But I'm always open for really well-made fangames like these. I may not be a huge fan of the designs but what the heck it's a free game that looks great so who am I to complain?

@MitchVogel
Boom Boom!

Might as well give it a shot. Unlike with Metroid, I'm not particularly starving for a Pokemon game, but its always fun to try out something a bit different and fangames and the like do usually provide that.

Shinies are still a thing, apparently.

@Aerona and they have the old probability of 1/8192.
I wonder if legendaries can be shiny too.

@Gridatttack Thanks, I was wondering if they'd been made more common. Too bad it's just Barewl.

@Fath I'm sorry you find my attitude towards theft and causing damage in exchange for a bit of "fan" self-satisfaction, repulsive.
I just find it wrong when there are plenty of people who manage to respect the IP owners and still manage give us amazing games, inspired or a spiritual successor, why can't these fan-devs do the same?
I mean this here we have a project 9 years in the making, with original creatures and everything, yet they've still decided to ride on the Pokémon name. They've got no one to blame but themselves when the "big guys" decide to act, but who get the flak when they do? Thus the reasoning of my "attitude" toward these things.
I understand my opinion isn't the popular one, especially on this site, I can appreciate hard/good work when I see it, but I just can't find it in myself to paise, support or "celebrate" when anyone does this, no matter how good a job they've done.
If you still find my attitude repulsive, well, not much more can be said on my part.

There, downloaded it and have it kept for if Nintendo tries to take it down, I can upload it elsewhere.

What a dull looking game. With absolutely no pokemon animations...

@ikki5 Oh gosh, I think you may want to delete your 8 other duplicated comments Seems like you had a connection error.

@locky-mavo If it didn't have the "Pokemon" brand slapped on people would pass it off as an ordinary Poke-Clone potentially wasting all the hard work these people did. Its very shameless and silly yes, but this would have never gotten people's attention if it was named something else, which would have been far better imo since they could have possibly sold it on Steam without fear of legal trouble. On a related note, I wish the fan game "Mother 4" was called something else like "Father" or something.

@KTT yeah, I downloaded the game and when the patch started, it froze up my internet a little

All fixed now

This is getting tiring.

So why don't they just make a clone game, and remove all references to pokemon. Surely they know The Pokemon Company will go after this without prejudice.

Those online features are quite natty - I can't imagine them staying up once The Pokemon Company brings the hammer down (although ultimately, the game will be available through torrents, I'm sure).

With that being said, it looks like a well polished game - that's probably because it "borrows" sprites and UI design from the official games, and the unique pokemon look quite nice too (certainly better than the more infamous bootleg examples).

I'd rather stick with the official games to be honest.

Melting servers? More like Nuclear Meltdown servers.

I would had love it if it wasn't Pokemon. To all passionate indie devs or fan devs out there, know that an original game win my respect more than a wannabe game. Same reason I said about AM2R, a great fan made game but was hamper on the fact that it want to be a Metroid game. Had it not being for it wannabe a Metroid game, it would had been a stunning original indie PC title that would surpassed even Axiom Verge.

@locky-mavo I feel the same way, blatant abuse of copyright helps no one. A genuine fan, and someone with any shred of authenticity, could make a game "in the style of" rather than a direct hack/copy/poach/rip-off!

@SanderEvers OMG such refreshing honesty, you absolutely nailed it man!

@SH007ME Hopefully the creators don't have a meltdown

@TheRedCap30 It's true, there's no denying the hard work and effort put into some these fan-made games, but reality is they do more damage to the IP owners than good. Some of these projects being 9, 4 or however many years in the making, they DO know better by now, that their projects are gonna be rightfully shutdown by the IP owners.
But then the IP owners are the ones who cop the flak, damaging their name in the process, look at the backlash to the AM2R take down, a prime example, Nintendo's the "bad guy" there. And even if it's free, it's still causing damage, why would someone pay for a console and game when there's a version available for free somewhere else? And people then saying it's "free advertisement", a complete game available to the public is free advertisement? Sure it is, smh, or that they should hire these people or make a deal for their own property? After they've already released it to the public for free? Righto. These guys are potentially costing them millions!
Plus sites like this, just adding fuel to the fire? It's not right man, it's just not right. That's why I can't stand it when "fans" do this.

@BulbasaurusRex Oh yes, using the Pokémon brand name was definitely a mistake. What I'm saying is, writing articles about fan games isn't going to help them. That almost guarantees that the IP holder will find out about the game and will possibly be required to shut it down.

Everyone is screaming that this is going to be c&d but really I would be surprised if it came to that. The Pokemon Company seems to have been chill with these game releases for years whether it be rom hacks or new games from the ground up. As long as these guys don't do something stupid like charge money for this game that they don't own the property to they should be fine.

Music is kickass.
Reminds me of Megaman

Much to @SanderEvers' chagrin and @ThanosReXXX's amusement, here's how this situation... sounds like to me.

I wanna be the very best,
like no one ever was,
to take them down is my real test,
to C&D's my cause.
I long traveled across the land,
searching far and wide,
fan games oughta understand
the power that we hide...
Nintendo! We need to talk (just you and me)
I know it's our destiny
Nintendo! Oh, we know you're annoyed
but FF's the next Metroid
Nintendo! Yeah we know you're screwed
you can hate our attitude
you'll teach us but we won't learn
Nintendo!
'Cause we gotta earn,
yet no F-Zeroooo,
Nin-ten-do!

Downloaded this and the AM2R Metroid fangame as well. Interested to try them out.

if you're going to make a fangame, you can at least get permission to do so, right?

The developers could do the same as the developers of Freedom Planet; make some changes and rebrand it as its own series. The game has its own world, own creatures and its new mechanics. It isn't even made on the same engine as Pokémon games are.

They could easily turn this game into its own thing and actually sell it. It already got some attention, so rebranding it would make sense.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

I've been waiting for the full release of this and of course it comes out while I'm out of town and don't have a computer. It'll be impossible to find by the time I get back.

NintendoLife, I love your intentions in spreading the word about fan-made games but a news site as big as yours reporting on them is a death sentence for those games.

I understand completely that these games can hurt bigger companies and all that jazz but I love seeing the creativity people have and how they utilize it to make something special of an IP they love.

I really want to play this. I've been waiting for ages for the full release :c

@SanderEvers
Pretty much what I think. If you want a certain game, make it yourself, don't rely on others to do it.

The worst thing is the name. One of the things I like about Pokemon is that they are partly educational but uranium makes me think of cruel Mr Burns and dangerous nuclear power plants...

Fangames have come a long way. This also looks highly professional. Of course it was 9 years in the making, but still.

@AlexSora89 [youtube:9F-qktISu6w]
EDIT:
Bloody hell, for some reason, posting videos isn't working again. NLife should REALLY fix this issue, it's super annoying. Also because even if it does work, it doesn't do so immediately: the first time you post, you just get text, and then I have to go to edit, do nothing and save it again and only then will the video pop up. It's ridiculous...

Oh well, here's the link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F-qktISu6w
WAY less fun than an embedded video, but them's the breaks, I guess.

It's going to be taken down, Pokemon in the name, and they used actual Pokemon music...

I´m downloading it at the moment. I´ve seen videos of this and it looked promising.

Looks absolutely awesome.

@ThanosReXXX
No biggie, really! Glad you enjoyed the parody!

@locky-mavo Well I hope the next game these guys make is an entirely new property that isn't "Pokemon". If it took them 9 years to make one fan game, I can imagine making their own unique IP wouldn't be that hard.

@Nin_Myski Simple: download it by using the link in the twitter message that is shown in this article (on the download page, choose the option on the right) and when it is downloaded, you just double click it to install it on your PC/laptop.

@Acein210 FireRed/LeafGreen are literally Red/Green but better in every single way (and they haven't aged like garbage). How do they not count as remakes?

You can almost bet now that Nintendo Life has written an article about another fan project of a Nintendo property that it's not going to last very long and will be shut down pretty soon. It almost seems deliberate, what do you have against fan projects NL!?!?

@Fidu Well, I meant that had they stuck to just using existing Pokémon like most fan made Pokémon games rather than inventing their own, then they would have a better chance at avoiding a C&D.

@BulbasaurusRex No matter how original or far removed their product is from the actual series if the Pokemon name is attached Nintendo more than likely will go in for the kill.

@WarlockNem As Fidu commented, there are tons of Pokémon fan games out there that Nintendo doesn't bother shutting down. As long as it's free, doesn't involve modding of Nintendo hardware, and doesn't do something excessive like inventing new monsters, it's generally left alone.

@BulbasaurusRex Or when it doesn't get any press from a pretty well known Nintendo news related fan site.

I'm sorry, but the ''new'' Pokémon are horrible

Looks fantastic. I am glad like AM2R they decided to go the PC original route instead of a ROM hack. As there are things you can't do when locked into the original platform.

I am also very impressed by the online features of it.

This is definitely on my next play list after I beat Zelda ALBW.

Nintendo has already forced them to remove the downloads, but the most important thing is they say (like AM2R) that they will continue to update the game and improve it with bugfixing and so forth. The only difference is users who want to play will need to locate alternate places to download it from. That is not a big deal. They can just post SHA-1 file hashes for it so end users can verify the file they downloaded has the same SHA-1 hash (to ensure it's not someone who snuck malware into the installer).

The newer Pokemon games just aren't as good IMO. So I love that they did this fangame in the graphical style of the GBA remakes. While of course tastefully adding in graphical effects to take advantage of PC graphics rendering.

Major kudos to everyone who worked on this, and also AM2R. And even more kudos for having the bravery to continue maintaining the projects even after a C&D.

Future fan game projects: Just do not host the files yourself, give them to others and have them distribute it through unofficial laissez-faire mediums such as BitTorrent.