Mother 4 is a fan game that has been development for some time and has developed a major fan following. However, the devs involved have now decided to rebrand the game completely. This is being done in order to avoid DMCA Takedowns.. The game will keep its story and visuals, but it won’t use any direct references to the series and will downplay any and all ties.
The game has now changed from being a fan game to being an indie game and a spiritual successor to the Mother series. This is the best case scenario for everyone. The game has a following and stays going, Nintendo doesn’t worry about copyright violation and doesn’t take it down and perhaps the game might even see its way to a Nintendo system in the future.