Out of all the big gaming companies out there, Nintendo is infamous for their low tolerance for fan-made games using their IPs. While the defense of intellectual property is important in the age of the internet, Nintendo's actions can be seen as far too draconian.

Related: 5 Game Companies That Listen To Their Fans (& 5 That Never Do)

The sheer size of Nintendo's financial might often scares creators into giving up projects that have sometimes taken years to make. Some lost labors of love are greater than others, including games that people have been asking for for years that could have seen the light of day, but never did nor will.

10 Pokénet Tried To Bring The Regions Together

Pokémon MMORPG Cancelled

For years, veterans of the Pokémon series have daydreamed about a game with every region in it. Traveling from Kanto to Hoenn or Galar to Johto in order to battle and catch all different types of Pokémon would be a dream game, the ultimate entry in an expansive franchise.

Unfortunately, other than the Johto-based games, players haven't gotten the chance to do this in any official title. Pokénet looked to make the dream a reality as well as allow the player-base to interact in real-time like World of Warcraft. Of course, Nintendo shut it down.

9 Another Metroid 2 Remake Was Anything But Generic

Another Metroid 2 Remake Cancelled

Created in 2016 by DoctorM64, Another Metroid 2 Remake sought to solve the lack of an official Metroid 2 remake. Its title alluded to the fact that there had been many attempts to create a faithful remaster of the game by fans, as the original game was extremely popular with the Metroid community.

When AM2R was announced, however, it was obvious this remake was different. AM2R featured entirely new assets, new bosses, and a map feature that had fans drooling. The chance to play such an improved version of an underrated classic was stripped away by a Nintendo Cease and Desist later that year.

8 Full Screen Mario Was Simple But Great

Mario Fan Game Full Screen Super Mario Bros.

In an attempt to create a version of the original Super Mario Bros. for the NES, programmer Josh Goldberg made Full Screen Mario. It took him a long time to create due to the difficulty in recreating Mario's jump physics as well as a plethora of bugs, but, eventually, the game was released for online play and download.

Related: 10 Multiplatform Games Where The Console Matters

Full Screen Mario didn't receive recognition until a few years after its completion, but when it was picked up by an online gaming magazine, the popularity exploded. In 2016, Nintendo filed more than one DMCA,  getting the game removed from most platforms.

7 Zelda Maker Could've Let The Fans Live Their Dream

Mario Maker But Zelda

A response to Nintendo's Mario Maker games, Justin Sink created Zelda Maker to prove that such a game wasn't as hard to develop as Nintendo was making it out to be. Made in Game Maker, the game would've allowed players to build their own Legend of Zelda maps with premade assets.

Fans of the franchise were ecstatic. A fan-made game that would let anyone craft their own maps was a dream come true. Nintendo, however, was unimpressed and filed a DMCA as quickly as they possibly could. The developer changed the game to Runiya to avoid a complete loss, but the dream project itself was lost to Nintendo's ego.

6 No Mario's Sky Was A Hilarious Little Game

No Man's Sky And Mario Put Together

As the name of the game indicates, No Mario's Sky was a mash-up of the game No Man's Sky and Super Mario Bros. Instead of traveling between worlds via land, Mario could instead take to the sky in a cute little spaceship and blast off to literally another world.

The concept and demo for the game looked fantastic, having a unique art style that captured the feel of both the original Mario games and a sci-fi world. The creators were forced to rebrand the game after Nintendo sent them a DMCA. The game can now be found under the rather tongue-in-cheek title, DMCA's Sky.

5 Ocarina Of Time 2D Cut The Classic Down Perfectly

Legend of Zelda Fan Games

One of the many remakes of old games, Ocarina of Time 2D was an ambitious project that attempted to bring the N64 classic down a dimension. The project began in 2006, then took a huge break until 2014. It was slated to release during the summer of 2016, as the game was basically finished after many years of hard work.

Related: Zelda: 10 Things You Didn’t Know About The Anniversary Game & Watch

Following a Cease and Desist order from Nintendo, the entire project ground to a halt. It's still possible to visit the website where the download would have been, the button stating excitedly that it will hopefully be released in June.

4 Zelda 30 Tribute Was A Way To Say Thank You

Legend Of Zelda 30th Anniversary

This is one of the more upsetting shutdowns Nintendo has carried out because the game was made in celebration of Zelda's 30th anniversary. A 3D, isometric remaster of the original The Legend of Zelda, Zelda 30 Tribute was made out of love for the franchise. Its art style even kept the blocky, pixel art style of the originals. Nintendo, of course, didn't take kindly to this egregious use of their licensed franchise and shut the whole thing down, removing it from the internet as best they could.

3 Pokémon Uranium Was Fun And Fully Original

Cancelled Pokémon Fan Game

The excitement surrounding the release of the fully fan-made Pokémon game, Pokémon Uranium, cannot be overstated. For the most part, fan games were just ROM-hacks of existing Pokémon titles, but this was a game made with entirely original assets and Pokémon to play with.

Such a solid fan-made game hadn't been seen from the Pokémon community in years. Once again, before its release, Nintendo demanded the game be shut down, and for a time it was. However, the game has been remade and can still be downloaded today.

2 Super Mario 64 HD Showed Nintendo It Could Be Done

Bob-omb Battlefield HD Remake Fan Game

While it wasn't a full remake of the original Super Mario 64  on the N64, the HD fan-remake of the Bob-Omb Battlefield stage that was released in 2015 made people talk. It showed that Nintendo could easily make their games more accessible on newer consoles if they wanted to. If one guy could do it, why couldn't they?

Related: The 5 BEST Nintendo GameCube RPGs

Videos circulated around YouTube, with small creators and large entertainment websites alike giving the demo a shout-out. As many expected, Nintendo had it removed completely.

1 The Game Jolt Mass DMCA Struck Down Hundreds

Game File Share Website

In January of 2021, Nintendo initiated the biggest shutdown of fan games ever. Targeted at Game Jolt, a hosting website, Nintendo sent out a mass DMCA. They did so because Game Jolt made it possible to monetize one's content, and when fan games become products, they become undisputedly illegal.

This order resulted in a whopping 379 fan games being dropped from the site entirely. Of all the Nintendo shutdowns on this list, this is certainly the most reasonable. However, it still sent ripples through the gaming community.

Next: 10 Games Unfairly Called Pokémon Rip-Offs (& Why They Aren't)