Now if only FFR was available anywhere but a Discord channel! At least _this_ time the channel is actually open instead of forcing people to scrub the 'net to get it while being refused access to the channel, unlike the Zelda roguelike that I had to get from some shady slavic mirror site.
I have really been waiting for a video like this to pop up here. The recent "old but new" style of games on the gameplay channel have been an absolute treat and seeing so many fans just make this kind of stuff with such high quality is awesome.
When I saw FFR on a thumbnail in my feed, I thought that was what the video would be about. Didn't even realize it was a ProJared video until after I clicked on it. Just finished downloading the update myself and trying to figure out which characters to try next with the two new ones.
Psycho Waluigi also deserve a spot in the list. If Nintendo dont want to give Waluigi his own game, the fans did. And its great. Fun gameplay, illarious humour, epic bosses.
Man, Super Mario Crossover isn’t something I’ve heard about in a LOOONG time. Back when I was in high school, I followed the project heavily, and I even played back in the 1.0 days. It was so damn cool, and it’s nice to see someone mention it these days. Brings back some fun memories. ^-^
Had a playthrough with a bard on team. Their limit break letting you stack 4 songs was genuinely helpful for the kinda weak team comp I had for that playthrough (Blue mage, Green mage, Evoker, Bard).
One thing about Super Mario Bros. Crossover, is that it is more than just Mario 1. It's the whole Mario 1 Trilogy. Super Mario Bros. Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels And finally Super Mario Bros. Special A whole new game made by HUDSON SOFT for computers at the time, like the Sharp X1, featuring some new enemies and powerups. Nintendo doesn't acknowledge this one, but it is officially licensed, and made by the same company that made Mario Party. On actual hardware... It kind of sucks, because the system couldn't do scrolling or the right colors. But in Super Mario Bros. Crossover, the level design gets to shine. Add on to it easy and hard modes for all three games that can GREATLY change the level design, and you have the literal best way to play all three games, even if you just want a vanilla game. Just pick single character and Mario.
Know of a good reliable way to play the game? Tried a download off of Internet Archive but couldn't get it to work, and the other ones I've found are those Flash gaming webpages that all seem very suspicious.
Hoverbat's remaster of Zelda 2 is hands down the superior way to play that game now, no contest. Everything they added feels so natural and perfect, It's always been my favorite in the series and one I was always bummed never got revisited or sequel'd. What HB did with the second quest tho was so brilliant and beautiful that I finally feel like it's a complete game now and fills the void that never getting an actual sequel left behind. 🥰
Thank you for making this video. I play Final Fantasy 1 on my NES at least once a year, and Final Fantasy Renaissance is a fantastic game. Feels faithful to the original, but adds so many more options. I got it after watching your video on it and I love it. Zelda II is another one of my NES favorites, and Zelda II Remastered is like replaying the original for the first time again, was a great experience.
The Classic Mega Man community has churned out a wealth of incredible fan games. One of the most recent (and ambitious) is Make a Good Mega Man Level Contest 3. It's the 3rd in a series of what is essentially a love letter to the series and a compilation of awesome (and not so awesome) stages.
There's one fan game I highly recommend. Mother: Cognitive Dissonance is a fanmade Mother game that attempts to tie the events of Mother 1 and 2, how Giegue transformed into Giygas, who Buzz Buzz is, all while keeping the spirit of Mother intact. Unlike the official games, this one has an active time battle system like in Final Fantasy 6 while keeping the first person point of view. It isn't perfect however, the game can be pretty vague on where to find a few Points of Power, this game's version of "Your Sanctuary", the game can crash every now and then, There's a certain moment in the game where it lags literally every second if your PC is weak, and you can't move in diagonal directions probably due to limitations. Even with these flaws I still think it's a fantastic game that is a must play for any Mother/Earthbound fan. And it's free to download. Please give it a try!
Thanks for another great editing job, Dylan! These are all some great games, I've loved watching them on the gameplay channel, so I'm glad this is here to help spread awareness (or just remind those of us who are forgetful)
One of my favorite fan games to tell people about is Mega Man: 8-bit Deathmatch. It's a Doom mod arena shooter that's not only made to look and feel like the 8-bit Mega Man games in first person, but it also goes all in on recreating EVERYTHING: every character and robot master from the classic series has a character skin, every single weapon has been recreated, and nearly every robot master and Wily stage has its own arena to play in. Which means everything I just mentioned has well over 100 options. The single player is fine enough (the AI isn't always smart), but it's so much fun to get 4-8 friends together for a night. Even if you're not the biggest megaman fan, it's just so impressive and fun that you could play for hours and hours and still experience new stages and weapons.
@names_are_useless That's fair, yeah. Definitely falls into a fuzzy gray area with how much it's basically a completely new game, but that doesn't change that it's a mod at its core. I feel like I usually tend to see people just referring to projects like that as fan games (SRB2 being another good example), but that's just the semantics being easier.
There is link's awakening DX HD PC port that smoothes the screen scroll and allow you to zoom the camera in or out. You can potentially play the game with the whole map visible at once if you want
Castlevania: Revamped, AM2R and Zelda 2: Adventure of Link Enhanced Version are the best fan made games I've experienced. I like it when they took older games and make it alot better in today's standard. Fan made games sure can make games better than our current gaming cooperation these days.
Of course they can do better, when the goal is explicitly to do better. But the original creators are still responsible for creating the original works that fans use as springboards to create these 'new' games. Would any of them be as popular or well-regarded if they were exactly the same in terms of gameplay, but were using original characters instead of recognizable ones?
It was a pleasure watching each and every one of these on the Lets Play channel and even got me to download a few, forego watching immediately, and come back to them once I finished the game in question (Castlevania ReVamped!) to see how Jared did things differently than I! I just know that Dungeons of Infinity would have been in this one had you found it earlier.
One of my favorite fan projects is Super Mario Bros. Power Star Frenzy. It personally is my favorite Mario fan game ever made. It doesn't only have the polish of an official release with 100% original sprite work, but it has massive explorable levels with great movement options with a star collection system similar to SM64, Sunshine, or Galaxy as a few examples. And although this diverges from being a fan game somewhat, the Render96 fan project made to work with the native PC port of SM64 is outstanding. It's effectively a fan remake of Mario 64 with 3D models that match the original advertisements of the games. It even has cool stuff like RTX support, unlocked FPS support, multiplayer, playable Luigi and Wario that you can unlock, and more.
Oh my goodness, I remember playing Super Mario Crossover almost 10 years ago! I was in 6th grade, which was the perfect age to play it. I was old enough to understand that it was a fan game made as a labor of love, but I was also young enough for the gimmick to be really cool. I'm so glad to see it get highlighted in a video like this.
Absolutely loved watching you play each of these, either on twitch or your gameplay channel. Along with your current playthrough of the Mega Man X 8 Demake there is just a wealth of fun creative fan games out there and it great to see them get the recognition they deserve.
Oh and I dunno if Jared reads this but even if not: I highly recommend Vinemon, which is a pokemon like fangame with alot of heart, multiplayer options, quite some QoL stuff, quite some references which can also be enjoyed on their own (luckily, same goes for the plot!), original music done by someone who apparently composed it with a GBA soundchip in mind and it's postgame content is still getting worked on! ♥
Great stuff, Jared. Also great to see editor Dylan working with you since the NIT90s days. Some of these games really take me back. Although it's not so much a fan game as it was an actual release, I would suggest River City Ransom underground.
Fantastic video good Sir. I was aware of most of these from watching you play them on your other channel. The only one that I've ever played myself was the flash game Mario Crossover, which was quite fun to mess around with; but your Zelda 2 and Castlevania 1 and Final Fantasy 1 fan-games all look incredible, and my brother is hooked on at least two of those.
One fan game I think you'd enjoy is "Pokewilds". Which is a Pokemon Crystal stylized game, with traditional Pokemon mechanics and some dungeons - all while also being a survival-craft game at the same time. My words here honestly don't do it justice, but I think you'd find it cool.
I would also recommend Super Mario Eclipse, which is a fan mod of Sunshine. It's a fun time to play the same game with new levels, new moves and so on.
Another thing similar to all of these games is Daggerfall Unity, a complete overhall of Elder Scrolls 2 Daggerfall in the unity engine, though some people call it a mod it vastly does a bit more than that, every thing is much clearer, you have multiple game settings that can make things easier or harder for you, and i just think its neat, that's it that's all i gotta say, great vid Jared
I actually played a few of those you showed, but it's nice to know of a few more. Currently playing Renaissance with a Red Mage, a Blue Mage, an Evoker, and a Dancer. It's a lot of fun.
I really really really appreciate videos like this. I love the concept of video game remakes, demakes, romhacks etc., but it's so hard for me to find them.
When it comes to fan games, it's a beautiful time to be alive. I love that these amazing fan-driven projects are creating a strong genre of their own, games fuelled by creative passions, where there's practically something for everybody these days.
If you like beat em ups like Final Fight, Battle Circuit, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs etc i recommend Final Fight LNS Ultimate! plays just like those games, has a massive roster, you can do special moves like hadoukens and such and also super moves! combos and juggles galore! The game has lots of replayability as theres branching paths, secrets, and alt bosses! you even get to play in those levels! quite fun and has increasing difficulty as well as a Musou Mode (Massive Mode) that basically doubles the amount of enemies and bosses!
There are two standalone, Castlevania crossover fangames I absolutely love: Ponyvania - Order of Equestria: a fully original Castlevania game set in a darker take of the MLP:FiM setting. There's a lot to be said about fanservice to both ends of it and even other properties, like having deep cuts like Shadowfright, a character exclusive to the comics, be the game's equivalent of Death. The gameplay is really interesting, as it is a mix of Igavania RPG mechanics, and Classicvania linear level design. It also has a character creation system, with 3 different races to choose from with entirely different movesets and stat distributions, and even more unlockable ones! Even if you're not familiar with the source material, I still think it's worth trying out because it's one of the most unique Castlevania experiences you can find. Mariovania: also self-explanatory, it's a Mario take on Castlevania! It's super janky and goofy, but super fun! Also very easy to mod due to all art and music assets just being entirely open to edit, so you can very easily turn the whole thing into a meme nightmare lmao
I loved watching you play through the Final Fantasy Renaissance. The end of it all, when you learned about the new game plus mode has me hyped still for your next playthrough.
Yes! I really wanted a guide like these! I loved Zelda 2 : Link’s Adventure Remake…and I wondered what is out there! Thanks Jared, I’m gonna check out all these games.
I played AM2R back when I was still trying to be a gaming RUclipsr, I think.the playthrough even still exists in here somewhere... but of the more recent ones, Castlevania: ReVamped has to be my favourite. Seeing you enjoying it prompted me to seek it out, and what a great experience that was.
I can attest to the fact that AM2R is probably the best version of Metroid 2 that you can play and I highly recommend that anyone who's interested should definitely give it a try! I didn't know about the other games covered here, but Final Fantasy Renaissance and Zelda 2: Remastered definitely grabbed my attention and I will see about acquiring them ASAP! Thanks for the great video and stay safe out there!
Great video! It's nice seeing these types of fan projects get focus (at least until Nintendo finds them 🤭). Also, the Mass Effect shadow broker footage during the ad read had me laughing. 🤣
I was literally just rewatching the Final Fantasy Renaissance playthrough when this got uploaded. Now thanks to this video I know what gameplay series I'll be watching next
These were great! AM2R & pokerogue i knew of but the others are new to me, gotta check these out, starting with FFR. Would love for this to become a series, just highlighting some great fangames.
Ngl i was waiting for the classic "Bards can get the f*** out of my party" line when Jared was describing FFR's classes. These are some cool looking games and im always looking for something nostalgic yet new to try.
Some truly great hidden gems here. I totally agree with how incredible each one of these passion projects are. Final Fantasy Renaissance is my favorite of the bunch as well. Great video.
I also recommend Super Mario Bros. 3 Mix. Basically, it's Super Mario Bros. 3 with an new story, more playable characters, new worlds & levels, more power-ups, new enemies, new features & content and many wonderful callbacks to many Mario titles like Mario 3 of course, the first game, World, Land 2, Galaxy and so on.
If AM2R is not enough for ya, there's also a fan remake of first Metroid called Metroid Planets. If features the original game, an expanded and with extra bosses game loosely based on the original, you can even create or play player people created maps, of course there is a randomizer too, and to top it all off you can do all that with up to 10 people in online multiplayer!
Ok, DEFINITELY play Sonic Robo Blast 2 and Dr. Robotnick's Ring Racers The first is one of the best Sonic Fan games to date! made on a modified DOOM engine, with development starting all the way back to 1998 AND still getting updates! The second is a kart racer, which started as a mod to Sonic Robo Blast 2, but now is a standalone game. It's definitely not a casual game, though. It has a lot of mechanics and A TON of content for single player! In my opinion, it's the best kart racer, and one of my favorite games of all time! Oh, and both games have offline and online multiplayer and a lot of mods!
Now I consider the Epic Battle Fantasy series a parody of Final Fantasy except it's more 2000s humor, EBF 3 is free on Steam, EBF4 is $15, and EBF5 is $25. I say EBF 3 through EBF5 is the main selling point since they actually have stories contained within them, even if they're VERY simple stories. It's the gameplay and the music that I love the most. I'd definitely recommend playing them. EBF 1 and 2 are more on rail battles if you're into that and also there's the Epic Battle Fantasy Collection which puts those two games and a few other mini games the creator had made throughout the years as extra content. All for $8. Hopefully you'll see this Jared. Hopefully my high school entertainment will suffice for you. Also, EBF 5 has mods enabled so you can add on the mod pack which puts in a crap ton of new stuff called the Tough Love mod. And yes the official game has a randomizer.
FF Renaissance just got a new update too that lets you play a Hunter and a Spellblade! There's some classes I didn't even try yet but I'm getting there! Link is Adventuresome is also on the list there when I get some time off irl work. And while I do love Castlevania and I recognize the amazing effort done with this game, it felt... kinda linear? I feel like there weren't many places you could see inbetween progress items/whips.
Rayman Redemption is definitely worth looking at. It takes what was a beautiful but brutally hard game and adds a lot of modern improvements and features while toning down the difficulty in order to make an amazing experience out of a game many people never got far in!
@drewbocop Oh, if THAT wasn't enough, Intelligence has NO uses. Luck wasn't programmed properly, but Intelligence was NOT programmed! It does absolutely nothing.
I am currently playing through the top 100 games (assuming they meet a certain level of quality) of every system in chronological order and recently I have been debating adding "fan games" as a system. Only downside is I already have 2900 games on my list and I'm only 300 games in. So it is likely years until I run into the genre and by that point the landscape may not be anywhere close to the same.
if you like Beat em Ups, I would check out games that use the OpenBOR engine, TMNT Rescuepalooza, Power Rangers Beats of Power, He-Man, Marvel Infinity War
I disagree that the Zelda 2 game and Castlevania game maintain the spirit of the original, but they're still good games and everything on this list is worth a try.
I love these true to the original fan remakes like FFR and Zelda2 HD. Rayman Redemption is another one I recently completed and one that makes Rayman 1 actually really good. MKF while not the same as these is a banger as well. Now if only Megaman X Corruption would finally release...
The fact the people have taken it upon themselves to make FF1 and Zelda II easier to play (and finish, which I have never managed in all of my 37 years) makes me so happy. I know what I'm doing on vacation.
Final Fantasy Renaissance 2.1 just came out. I'd personally love to see Jared give the new version a try. They added two new jobs this update. I suspect that Jared would like the Spellblade.
I will never stop loving Jared's absolute distain for bards
Bard: "Toss a coin... " Jared :"Shhhh, shhhh..., no"
Why does Projared hate bards so much? Does he not like music?
Too bad. In FF5 the class rules. You can beat Exdeath with 4 bards and Exdeath cannot even attack.
Yeah the punching bag joke. I don't like it
Are they bad jobs or something?
The Final Fantasy Renaissance and Zelda II games were amazing! Thank you for showcasing them!
Yep
Now if only FFR was available anywhere but a Discord channel! At least _this_ time the channel is actually open instead of forcing people to scrub the 'net to get it while being refused access to the channel, unlike the Zelda roguelike that I had to get from some shady slavic mirror site.
I have really been waiting for a video like this to pop up here. The recent "old but new" style of games on the gameplay channel have been an absolute treat and seeing so many fans just make this kind of stuff with such high quality is awesome.
0:48 I was totally expecting him to say "and bards can get the f*** out of my party."
2:06 nevermind, he said it 😂
Coincidentally, Final Fantasy Renaissance just launched their 2.1 version today! Congrats FFR!
When I saw FFR on a thumbnail in my feed, I thought that was what the video would be about. Didn't even realize it was a ProJared video until after I clicked on it. Just finished downloading the update myself and trying to figure out which characters to try next with the two new ones.
Awesome, I need to go back and play it again.
Psycho Waluigi also deserve a spot in the list. If Nintendo dont want to give Waluigi his own game, the fans did. And its great. Fun gameplay, illarious humour, epic bosses.
Man, Super Mario Crossover isn’t something I’ve heard about in a LOOONG time.
Back when I was in high school, I followed the project heavily, and I even played back in the 1.0 days. It was so damn cool, and it’s nice to see someone mention it these days. Brings back some fun memories. ^-^
1:56 the classic line
All Bard playthrough of Final Fantasy: Renaissance.
Give the people what they want!
It's as fun as Hydlide, but turn based! 🎉
one of my favorite teams was three dancers and a bard. The bard doesn't really add much though, so four dancers would probably be better
Classic line up: Black Belt/Master, Thief/Ninja, Black and White Mages.
But I'd love to see the Classic Projared lineup take a run through this one.
Had a playthrough with a bard on team. Their limit break letting you stack 4 songs was genuinely helpful for the kinda weak team comp I had for that playthrough (Blue mage, Green mage, Evoker, Bard).
One thing about Super Mario Bros. Crossover, is that it is more than just Mario 1.
It's the whole Mario 1 Trilogy.
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2: The Lost Levels
And finally Super Mario Bros. Special
A whole new game made by HUDSON SOFT for computers at the time, like the Sharp X1, featuring some new enemies and powerups.
Nintendo doesn't acknowledge this one, but it is officially licensed, and made by the same company that made Mario Party.
On actual hardware... It kind of sucks, because the system couldn't do scrolling or the right colors. But in Super Mario Bros. Crossover, the level design gets to shine.
Add on to it easy and hard modes for all three games that can GREATLY change the level design, and you have the literal best way to play all three games, even if you just want a vanilla game. Just pick single character and Mario.
Know of a good reliable way to play the game? Tried a download off of Internet Archive but couldn't get it to work, and the other ones I've found are those Flash gaming webpages that all seem very suspicious.
Hoverbat's remaster of Zelda 2 is hands down the superior way to play that game now, no contest. Everything they added feels so natural and perfect, It's always been my favorite in the series and one I was always bummed never got revisited or sequel'd. What HB did with the second quest tho was so brilliant and beautiful that I finally feel like it's a complete game now and fills the void that never getting an actual sequel left behind. 🥰
Thank you for making this video. I play Final Fantasy 1 on my NES at least once a year, and Final Fantasy Renaissance is a fantastic game. Feels faithful to the original, but adds so many more options. I got it after watching your video on it and I love it. Zelda II is another one of my NES favorites, and Zelda II Remastered is like replaying the original for the first time again, was a great experience.
The Classic Mega Man community has churned out a wealth of incredible fan games. One of the most recent (and ambitious) is Make a Good Mega Man Level Contest 3. It's the 3rd in a series of what is essentially a love letter to the series and a compilation of awesome (and not so awesome) stages.
I would watch a level contest play series
There's one fan game I highly recommend. Mother: Cognitive Dissonance is a fanmade Mother game that attempts to tie the events of Mother 1 and 2, how Giegue transformed into Giygas, who Buzz Buzz is, all while keeping the spirit of Mother intact. Unlike the official games, this one has an active time battle system like in Final Fantasy 6 while keeping the first person point of view.
It isn't perfect however, the game can be pretty vague on where to find a few Points of Power, this game's version of "Your Sanctuary", the game can crash every now and then, There's a certain moment in the game where it lags literally every second if your PC is weak, and you can't move in diagonal directions probably due to limitations.
Even with these flaws I still think it's a fantastic game that is a must play for any Mother/Earthbound fan. And it's free to download. Please give it a try!
Sounds like a good time.
CogDis! Alinivar, Col. Saturn, Larice, Zarbol, Niiue... and poor Googie.
@@chaosmiles07 Lovable cast
Thanks for another great editing job, Dylan!
These are all some great games, I've loved watching them on the gameplay channel, so I'm glad this is here to help spread awareness (or just remind those of us who are forgetful)
I recommend Rayman Redemption, the definitive version of Rayman 1.
One of my favorite fan games to tell people about is Mega Man: 8-bit Deathmatch.
It's a Doom mod arena shooter that's not only made to look and feel like the 8-bit Mega Man games in first person, but it also goes all in on recreating EVERYTHING: every character and robot master from the classic series has a character skin, every single weapon has been recreated, and nearly every robot master and Wily stage has its own arena to play in. Which means everything I just mentioned has well over 100 options.
The single player is fine enough (the AI isn't always smart), but it's so much fun to get 4-8 friends together for a night. Even if you're not the biggest megaman fan, it's just so impressive and fun that you could play for hours and hours and still experience new stages and weapons.
I think Doom WADs fall under the category of Mods, even if it's a Total Conversion
@names_are_useless That's fair, yeah. Definitely falls into a fuzzy gray area with how much it's basically a completely new game, but that doesn't change that it's a mod at its core. I feel like I usually tend to see people just referring to projects like that as fan games (SRB2 being another good example), but that's just the semantics being easier.
There is link's awakening DX HD PC port that smoothes the screen scroll and allow you to zoom the camera in or out.
You can potentially play the game with the whole map visible at once if you want
He’s resorted to fan games over final fantasy 13
"And bards can get the *#&! out of my party." I'm so glad he kept this running joke going.
Castlevania: Revamped, AM2R and Zelda 2: Adventure of Link Enhanced Version are the best fan made games I've experienced. I like it when they took older games and make it alot better in today's standard. Fan made games sure can make games better than our current gaming cooperation these days.
Of course they can do better, when the goal is explicitly to do better. But the original creators are still responsible for creating the original works that fans use as springboards to create these 'new' games. Would any of them be as popular or well-regarded if they were exactly the same in terms of gameplay, but were using original characters instead of recognizable ones?
@qactustick Good point.
Final Fantasy Renaissance is honestly one of the best ways to play the original NES game.
It's been super fun watching Jared play through all of these on his channel and definitely got me to find and play some of them myself.
I can't believed you had footage from Abobo's Big Adventure and you didn't talk about it. That game was the coolest shit back in the day.
The fact that Pokérouge is using Gen 5 sprites really makes me very very happy. I freaking love the Black & White games.
There’s a ton of great Sonic fan games you should cover at least 1 or 2 in a part 2 of this video maybe
It was a pleasure watching each and every one of these on the Lets Play channel and even got me to download a few, forego watching immediately, and come back to them once I finished the game in question (Castlevania ReVamped!) to see how Jared did things differently than I!
I just know that Dungeons of Infinity would have been in this one had you found it earlier.
Paused the video. Downloaded Castlevania ReVamped. Played for an hour already.
Hey, Editor Dylan is back!
Excellent return to form for you, Jared! It's so exciting to see you doing this kind of content again!
Fan games are amazing and not just because of nostalgia (though that helps); many stand well enough on their own merits.
I love ProJared being back. He was vindicated and I'll always stand by my boy.
Wasn't that like 2 years ago?
@@kentknightofcaelin4537We can forgive, but we should never forget.
I never doubted him i know flagrant vagrant bs when i see it
@@kentknightofcaelin4537 Like, four
Yea, im sure its.affected your life in SO many ways 🙄
One of my favorite fan projects is Super Mario Bros. Power Star Frenzy. It personally is my favorite Mario fan game ever made. It doesn't only have the polish of an official release with 100% original sprite work, but it has massive explorable levels with great movement options with a star collection system similar to SM64, Sunshine, or Galaxy as a few examples.
And although this diverges from being a fan game somewhat, the Render96 fan project made to work with the native PC port of SM64 is outstanding. It's effectively a fan remake of Mario 64 with 3D models that match the original advertisements of the games. It even has cool stuff like RTX support, unlocked FPS support, multiplayer, playable Luigi and Wario that you can unlock, and more.
Oh my goodness, I remember playing Super Mario Crossover almost 10 years ago! I was in 6th grade, which was the perfect age to play it. I was old enough to understand that it was a fan game made as a labor of love, but I was also young enough for the gimmick to be really cool. I'm so glad to see it get highlighted in a video like this.
Absolutely loved watching you play each of these, either on twitch or your gameplay channel. Along with your current playthrough of the Mega Man X 8 Demake there is just a wealth of fun creative fan games out there and it great to see them get the recognition they deserve.
Oh and I dunno if Jared reads this but even if not: I highly recommend Vinemon, which is a pokemon like fangame with alot of heart, multiplayer options, quite some QoL stuff, quite some references which can also be enjoyed on their own (luckily, same goes for the plot!), original music done by someone who apparently composed it with a GBA soundchip in mind and it's postgame content is still getting worked on! ♥
Great stuff, Jared. Also great to see editor Dylan working with you since the NIT90s days. Some of these games really take me back.
Although it's not so much a fan game as it was an actual release, I would suggest River City Ransom underground.
Fantastic video good Sir. I was aware of most of these from watching you play them on your other channel. The only one that I've ever played myself was the flash game Mario Crossover, which was quite fun to mess around with; but your Zelda 2 and Castlevania 1 and Final Fantasy 1 fan-games all look incredible, and my brother is hooked on at least two of those.
One fan game I think you'd enjoy is "Pokewilds". Which is a Pokemon Crystal stylized game, with traditional Pokemon mechanics and some dungeons - all while also being a survival-craft game at the same time. My words here honestly don't do it justice, but I think you'd find it cool.
I would also recommend Super Mario Eclipse, which is a fan mod of Sunshine. It's a fun time to play the same game with new levels, new moves and so on.
1:57 He's in, boys! he did it! he said it! *air horns*
Another thing similar to all of these games is Daggerfall Unity, a complete overhall of Elder Scrolls 2 Daggerfall in the unity engine, though some people call it a mod it vastly does a bit more than that, every thing is much clearer, you have multiple game settings that can make things easier or harder for you, and i just think its neat, that's it that's all i gotta say, great vid Jared
I actually played a few of those you showed, but it's nice to know of a few more. Currently playing Renaissance with a Red Mage, a Blue Mage, an Evoker, and a Dancer. It's a lot of fun.
Great video. Loved watching you play these.
I really really really appreciate videos like this. I love the concept of video game remakes, demakes, romhacks etc., but it's so hard for me to find them.
When it comes to fan games, it's a beautiful time to be alive. I love that these amazing fan-driven projects are creating a strong genre of their own, games fuelled by creative passions, where there's practically something for everybody these days.
I like this idea Jerd. Perhaps you can talk about Sonic fan games later, there's a lot of good ones (with amazing soundtracks, as usual).
If you like beat em ups like Final Fight, Battle Circuit, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs etc i recommend Final Fight LNS Ultimate!
plays just like those games, has a massive roster, you can do special moves like hadoukens and such and also super moves!
combos and juggles galore!
The game has lots of replayability as theres branching paths, secrets, and alt bosses! you even get to play in those levels!
quite fun and has increasing difficulty as well as a Musou Mode (Massive Mode) that basically doubles the amount of enemies and bosses!
There are two standalone, Castlevania crossover fangames I absolutely love:
Ponyvania - Order of Equestria: a fully original Castlevania game set in a darker take of the MLP:FiM setting. There's a lot to be said about fanservice to both ends of it and even other properties, like having deep cuts like Shadowfright, a character exclusive to the comics, be the game's equivalent of Death.
The gameplay is really interesting, as it is a mix of Igavania RPG mechanics, and Classicvania linear level design. It also has a character creation system, with 3 different races to choose from with entirely different movesets and stat distributions, and even more unlockable ones! Even if you're not familiar with the source material, I still think it's worth trying out because it's one of the most unique Castlevania experiences you can find.
Mariovania: also self-explanatory, it's a Mario take on Castlevania! It's super janky and goofy, but super fun! Also very easy to mod due to all art and music assets just being entirely open to edit, so you can very easily turn the whole thing into a meme nightmare lmao
I’ve been watching old ProJared reviews and I would loooooove some more of those old school style reviews. They are all such great videos.
I loved watching you play through the Final Fantasy Renaissance. The end of it all, when you learned about the new game plus mode has me hyped still for your next playthrough.
Yes! I really wanted a guide like these! I loved Zelda 2 : Link’s Adventure Remake…and I wondered what is out there! Thanks Jared, I’m gonna check out all these games.
It’s been a delight watching you play these great fan games, and I’d absolutely watch more!
FFR and Zelda 2 are probably my favorites series you've done. In fact i think i'll start rewatching Zelda 2 tonight.
I played AM2R back when I was still trying to be a gaming RUclipsr, I think.the playthrough even still exists in here somewhere... but of the more recent ones, Castlevania: ReVamped has to be my favourite. Seeing you enjoying it prompted me to seek it out, and what a great experience that was.
I can attest to the fact that AM2R is probably the best version of Metroid 2 that you can play and I highly recommend that anyone who's interested should definitely give it a try! I didn't know about the other games covered here, but Final Fantasy Renaissance and Zelda 2: Remastered definitely grabbed my attention and I will see about acquiring them ASAP! Thanks for the great video and stay safe out there!
"Bards can get the fuck out of my party" gag is still funny.
Great video! It's nice seeing these types of fan projects get focus (at least until Nintendo finds them 🤭).
Also, the Mass Effect shadow broker footage during the ad read had me laughing. 🤣
I was literally just rewatching the Final Fantasy Renaissance playthrough when this got uploaded. Now thanks to this video I know what gameplay series I'll be watching next
These were great! AM2R & pokerogue i knew of but the others are new to me, gotta check these out, starting with FFR.
Would love for this to become a series, just highlighting some great fangames.
Ngl i was waiting for the classic "Bards can get the f*** out of my party" line when Jared was describing FFR's classes. These are some cool looking games and im always looking for something nostalgic yet new to try.
Some truly great hidden gems here. I totally agree with how incredible each one of these passion projects are. Final Fantasy Renaissance is my favorite of the bunch as well. Great video.
To make things even better, Final Fantasy Renaissance just updated to version 2.1 today! Two new classes were released as well; Spellblade and Archer.
I also recommend Super Mario Bros. 3 Mix. Basically, it's Super Mario Bros. 3 with an new story, more playable characters, new worlds & levels, more power-ups, new enemies, new features & content and many wonderful callbacks to many Mario titles like Mario 3 of course, the first game, World, Land 2, Galaxy and so on.
If AM2R is not enough for ya, there's also a fan remake of first Metroid called Metroid Planets. If features the original game, an expanded and with extra bosses game loosely based on the original, you can even create or play player people created maps, of course there is a randomizer too, and to top it all off you can do all that with up to 10 people in online multiplayer!
Ok, DEFINITELY play Sonic Robo Blast 2 and Dr. Robotnick's Ring Racers
The first is one of the best Sonic Fan games to date! made on a modified DOOM engine, with development starting all the way back to 1998 AND still getting updates!
The second is a kart racer, which started as a mod to Sonic Robo Blast 2, but now is a standalone game. It's definitely not a casual game, though. It has a lot of mechanics and A TON of content for single player! In my opinion, it's the best kart racer, and one of my favorite games of all time!
Oh, and both games have offline and online multiplayer and a lot of mods!
I was waiting for a whole video on FFR, but to also spotlight several other of these types of games is amazing
*GET THE LIST READY!!~*
I realy hope Jerd goes back and plays Final Fantasy Renaissance, using 4 classes he didn't use last time.
All these playthroughs were a blast to sit through and watch.
I share your sentiments. Some of these games are awesome and show how much the people who develop them really love the IP.
Now I consider the Epic Battle Fantasy series a parody of Final Fantasy except it's more 2000s humor, EBF 3 is free on Steam, EBF4 is $15, and EBF5 is $25.
I say EBF 3 through EBF5 is the main selling point since they actually have stories contained within them, even if they're VERY simple stories. It's the gameplay and the music that I love the most.
I'd definitely recommend playing them. EBF 1 and 2 are more on rail battles if you're into that and also there's the Epic Battle Fantasy Collection which puts those two games and a few other mini games the creator had made throughout the years as extra content. All for $8.
Hopefully you'll see this Jared. Hopefully my high school entertainment will suffice for you. Also, EBF 5 has mods enabled so you can add on the mod pack which puts in a crap ton of new stuff called the Tough Love mod. And yes the official game has a randomizer.
Always great tobhear about these kinda projects. Hope to see you play the new FFRenaissance 2.1 release soon!
I love these types of videos, more please Jared! 😃
FF Renaissance just got a new update too that lets you play a Hunter and a Spellblade! There's some classes I didn't even try yet but I'm getting there! Link is Adventuresome is also on the list there when I get some time off irl work. And while I do love Castlevania and I recognize the amazing effort done with this game, it felt... kinda linear? I feel like there weren't many places you could see inbetween progress items/whips.
Fan games are some of my favorite things, and I love getting more of them on my radar
If you need another great fan game Mega Man: Rock N Roll is by far the best classic Mega Man I ever played.
Rayman Redemption is definitely worth looking at. It takes what was a beautiful but brutally hard game and adds a lot of modern improvements and features while toning down the difficulty in order to make an amazing experience out of a game many people never got far in!
Caveat: the Thief was never good at running away in the NES FF1. The Luck stat was borked and not used for any calculations.
WHAT!?
@drewbocop Oh, if THAT wasn't enough, Intelligence has NO uses. Luck wasn't programmed properly, but Intelligence was NOT programmed! It does absolutely nothing.
Abobo's big Adventure, jesus christ do I miss being ten.
glad to see jared still making good content ❤
AM2R
Dragon's Curse Remade
Mario 3mix
Sonic: Triple Trouble 16-bit
Rokko Chan
MM7 Demake
GoldenEye: Source
Metal Sonic Hyperdrive
Literally doing anything but reviewing Final Fantasy XIII 😂
I loved watching the games, people that made these are so creative
I am currently playing through the top 100 games (assuming they meet a certain level of quality) of every system in chronological order and recently I have been debating adding "fan games" as a system. Only downside is I already have 2900 games on my list and I'm only 300 games in. So it is likely years until I run into the genre and by that point the landscape may not be anywhere close to the same.
I would love a ROM Hack video! I have really been getting into them on the N64
if you like Beat em Ups, I would check out games that use the OpenBOR engine, TMNT Rescuepalooza, Power Rangers Beats of Power, He-Man, Marvel Infinity War
Starting with Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Music won't go unnoticed! EoS deserves a review!
I disagree that the Zelda 2 game and Castlevania game maintain the spirit of the original, but they're still good games and everything on this list is worth a try.
Zelda 2 is a "remake", and ReVamped is a total new game
yeah
I love these true to the original fan remakes like FFR and Zelda2 HD. Rayman Redemption is another one I recently completed and one that makes Rayman 1 actually really good.
MKF while not the same as these is a banger as well.
Now if only Megaman X Corruption would finally release...
The fact the people have taken it upon themselves to make FF1 and Zelda II easier to play (and finish, which I have never managed in all of my 37 years) makes me so happy. I know what I'm doing on vacation.
1:57 we were all waiting for it. Just as satisfying as ever.
The bard comment cracked me up for real. I was not expecting that.
Thanks for your videos, Jared. They always make my days better.
Final Fantasy Renaissance 2.1 just came out. I'd personally love to see Jared give the new version a try. They added two new jobs this update. I suspect that Jared would like the Spellblade.
Yay. Mushroom Kingdom Fusion. AM2R! Great taste Jared.
The Zelda 2 Remaster, FInal Fantasy Renaissance, and Castlevania Revamped were amazing playthroughs on Projaredplays.
Zelda Remastered with the soundtrack options is unbelievably good
"And Bard can get the F#$% out of my party"
Never change, Jared.
Awesome glad to see this channel still alive n kicking 🎉 here's to more fresh ideas
Love how this is being posted the same day FFR gets its 2.1 update. 2 new classes for that game, baybeeee!!!