AM2R came out swinging, even if it was shot out the gate with a C&D. Through the magic of file sharing, we can still play this great game. A fangame that spent over a decade in development that actually delivered, that fact alone is worthy of recognition (looking at you, Mother 4).

Even compared to the original NES game, M2 always felt strange, for better and worse, but AM2R, despite its humble name and origins, helped breathe new life into the Game Boy adventure and showed us what it could be without its past limitations.The level design feels ripped straight from the best in the series, with clever shortcuts laced throughout the world to allow for sequence breaking and out-of-order item upgrades. It has that dread-inducing atmosphere and the thrill of hunting every last Metroid, but plays and looks as good as the series’ best.

There were some real winners in the nominees, but Samus’ return tore through them. Without getting into the endless Samus Returns-AMR2 shitflinging debate that's plagued /v/ threads for years, we can at least appreciate one of the best fan games of all time, and a fun love letter to Metroid in general, at a time when the series arguably needed it the most.