Before getting on topic; I wanted to say hello again to everyone, as it's been a very long time since my last post here (about 5 years). I'm not sure why I stopped talking... probably felt there wasn't much going on at the time. Perhaps I'll be more active again in the future. Also wanted to thank the admins for not deleting this account given how long it's been inactive for.

Anyway, onto what I wanted to ask. I've been involved with open source games over the last years, some being fan games or projects inspired from popular titles. After playing JJ2 again, I looked for another remake, but all projects I remember since 2005 seem to be dead.

Since I have a basic experience with simple game codes, I was thinking I could try starting (or modding) an own game if I could find some free sprites and a good side-scroller making kit. I'm still not sure about one detail however, especially after I seen another fangame taken down for this reason:

If someone would code a new engine from a scratch, and make completely new sprites and media, would they still be at legal risk for using the game name and character names after such a long time? Or is only the media and code forbidden to use as long as you don't sell it, not the characters and names as well? Also, can you use a character as long as you change its name and other details even if it looks the same (or very similar to the original)?

I seen some topics about this, but wanted to be sure before trying to make anything. If there is a way that's 100% legal from this point of view, I could perhaps give a shot at doing a remake of my own