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Another Metroid 2 Remake (AM2R)

In June 2017, Nintendo announced that a remake of Metroid II: Return of Samus, released on Game Boy in 1991, was in development for its 3DS handheld and would be released later that same year. On the same day, the company revealed that Metroid Prime 4 was in development for its Switch portable console, and targeting 2018 for release. Fans rejoiced. Aside from Metroid Federation Force, a multiplayer-focused 3DS game published in 2016, the double-whammy announcement was the first Nintendo had spoken of single-player Metroid titles since 2010's poorly received Metroid: Other M for Wii.

Lifelong Metroid fan Milton Guasti, known to fans by his online handle "DoctorM64," was not content to wait for Nintendo to reunite him with bounty hunter Samus Aran. Way back in 2006, four years before Other M had rendered Metroid taboo, he began writing AM2R—short for Another Metroid 2 Remake. Guasti aimed to recapture the ominous and mysterious atmosphere of the Game Boy title, but enhanced with more weapons, items, and terrain to explore.

Working from his studio in Argentina, Guasti recruited a passionate and remote team of volunteer artists and designers such as Steve Rothlisberger to make the game even better. More than 10 years later in August 2016, Guasti uploaded AM2R for free, only for Nintendo to squelch it. The game became taboo. Undeterred, fans mirrored AM2R, determined to share it. All's well that ends well, however. A year later, Guasti's design skills were recognized when he announced that Moon Studios had hired him as a level designer on platformer Ori and the Will of the Wisps.

Before Guasti got his happy ending. I spoke to him as well as Rothlisberger to write a profile for Waypoint (formerly VICE Gaming) on AM2R shortly after the game's release. Our unabridged interviews follow, rolled into one Q-and-A style chat.