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Everywhere you look, ideas are being shamelessly being ripped-off. When meteorite disaster flick Deep Impact hit the cinemas, meteorite disaster flick Armageddon landed hot on it’s heels. Even the telly’s at it, with ITV’s rubbish docusoap Holiday Airline, which was hard to tell apart from the Beeb’s Airport.
Yes, from Coca-Cola to Sony Walkman, having your idea ‘borrowed’ has a long and guilty tradition. Just look how Mr Wheel ripped off that hairy cave geezer’s top idea for revolutionising transport... And if you’re into your videogames, you’ve probably seen more identical ideas (if you can call them that) and copycat concepts than most. You see, totally original, like finding consoles that don’t have a version of Rayman on it - are hard to find.
Inevitably, other developers’ own ideas may be influenced by the best bits of such rare releases. But its the shameless didn’t-even-try-to-hide-it ripped-off game ideas that raise a collective groan every time they’re regurgitated ham. And again, they leave a sour taste in my mouth.
Videogames rip-offs have been around around since day one. After the success of Tatio’s Space Invaders in 1978 (yes, I have done my homework) it wasn’t long before arcades were swamped with alien attack copies such as Galaxians, most developers happy to just add a few twists to a popular genre rather than trying to think of anything new. And then when somebody did - thank you Nintendo and Donkey Kong - ideas-starved companies switched to pumping out platforms instead.
One of the earlier code copycats in the UK was The Giant Giana Sisters, which appeared on the Amiga and Commodore 64 in 1988. This colourful platform romp featured two playable characters, secret warps and hidden treasures, and bore more than a passing resemblance to a certain Nintendo game with two Italian brothers as heroes...
Unsurprisingly, Nintendo made sure that this brazen Super Mario Bros. rip-off was withdrawn in a matter of weeks. Aside from the games looking and playing exactly alike - some of the maps were pixel-perfect copies - the publishers didn’t help their defence by saying in the advert ‘Move over Brothers, the Sisters are here!’ Oh dear!
Videogames have an uncanny knack for soaking up inspiration from other media. Done well, this can produce some unforgettable moments: the Indiana Jones boulder chase scene mimicked by Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot and others; the Lylat Wars mothership level which is the final battle from Indepenace Day; and the whole Res Evil series, which owe their zombies to George A. Romero’s Living Dead movies.
Nor is there anything to say that developers shouldn’t take inspiration from other games. After all, without the success of Mario Bros, its unlikely that we’d have had the chance to sample Sonis the Hedgehog, which took its lead from Nintendo but added Sega’s unique brand of Gameplay. But the games comparisons opposites show how many developers go way beyond occasionally expanding on the rival’s idea.
As some genres are more popular than others, its understandable that developers churn out endless racing and fighting games, since they’re more than likely to make a tidy profit. And when the same genres are being plundered time and time again, its inevitable that most new games will remind you of something you have played before. But in fact, it could well be the gamers ourselves that are making the whole sorry situation worse. How often have you heard someone say ‘It’s good, but not as good as...’?
It seems many players are always on the look-out for games that offer the similar (enjoyable) playing experience to what has come before, just with a graphical lift - posivitely encouraging developers still further to imitate or make blatant rip-offs. Which might go some way to explaining why, when genuinely fresh or original titles such as PaRappa the Rapper, Ecco the Dophlin or Vib-Ribbon come along, few gamers are actually interested, and publishers shy away from taking risks in the future. So, perhaps we’re simply getting the games we deserve.
Crazy Taxi Vs. The Simpsons Road Rage
If your looking for a good example of rip-off gaming, The Simpsons Road Rage is certainly the most shameless.
This game involves picking up passengers on the streets and taking them to their destination in the quickest possible time, driving over anything and everything that gets in the way. Yeh, you guessed it. Road Rage is a barefaced copy of Sega’s aracde speed-test Crazy Taxi.
Road Rage doesn’t just pinch the games concept, though. It also looks like Crazy Taxi, with coloured rings surrounding waiting passengers and stylish environments which rockets past as you drive from A to B.
Road Rage has the advantage of having the best tv license around but, for our money, the city’s Sega game is much more fun to race around than Springfield and Crazy Taxi’s sensation is more convincing and, well, scary.
Metal Gear Solid Vs. Headhunter
The poor old Dreamcast may be on it’s last legs, but there’s still time to squeeze out one more imition adventurer.
Although the story in Headhunter is vastly different to Metal Gear Solid‘s - it’s some gubbins about the near future where the government controls everything, and your role is an law enforcer - the gameplay is shockingly similar. Stealth is the name of the game in Headhunter. You must steer your hero through realistic environment, avioding enemy contact. Even the action where the game’s hero looks around the corner of a wall to spy on the enemies is exactly like on of Snake’s trademark moves. The game also features heavy exchanges of dialouge, similar to Snake’s conversion via his Codec.
But at least Headhunter takes inspiration from an established product and adds its own unique twists, unlike tittles such as Snood, which are almost identical to their successful counterparts.
Mario Kart Vs. Konami Krazy Racers
When the Game Boy Advance finally arrived, most gamkers were disaappointed that Mario Kart Super Circuit wasn’t available at launch. However, obne cheeky game was at the starting grid to fill the comedy racing void.
Konami Krazy Racers was very similar to Nintendo’s kart classics, with characters from famous games such as Mystical Ninja and Grey Fox from Metal Gear Solid racing around cartoon worlds, collecting weapons on the track to knock seven bells out of each other.
As far as rip-offs go, Konami Krazy Racers is pretty good. The actions fast, the tracks are well designed and the mini-games add variety to the traditional kart action. However, this doesn’t hide the fact that KKR bears more than passing resemblance to Mario Kart, but doesn’t quite have the charm of Nintendo’s genre-defining title.
Thanks for Reading
Liquid Sanke
Yes, from Coca-Cola to Sony Walkman, having your idea ‘borrowed’ has a long and guilty tradition. Just look how Mr Wheel ripped off that hairy cave geezer’s top idea for revolutionising transport... And if you’re into your videogames, you’ve probably seen more identical ideas (if you can call them that) and copycat concepts than most. You see, totally original, like finding consoles that don’t have a version of Rayman on it - are hard to find.
Inevitably, other developers’ own ideas may be influenced by the best bits of such rare releases. But its the shameless didn’t-even-try-to-hide-it ripped-off game ideas that raise a collective groan every time they’re regurgitated ham. And again, they leave a sour taste in my mouth.
Videogames rip-offs have been around around since day one. After the success of Tatio’s Space Invaders in 1978 (yes, I have done my homework) it wasn’t long before arcades were swamped with alien attack copies such as Galaxians, most developers happy to just add a few twists to a popular genre rather than trying to think of anything new. And then when somebody did - thank you Nintendo and Donkey Kong - ideas-starved companies switched to pumping out platforms instead.
One of the earlier code copycats in the UK was The Giant Giana Sisters, which appeared on the Amiga and Commodore 64 in 1988. This colourful platform romp featured two playable characters, secret warps and hidden treasures, and bore more than a passing resemblance to a certain Nintendo game with two Italian brothers as heroes...
Unsurprisingly, Nintendo made sure that this brazen Super Mario Bros. rip-off was withdrawn in a matter of weeks. Aside from the games looking and playing exactly alike - some of the maps were pixel-perfect copies - the publishers didn’t help their defence by saying in the advert ‘Move over Brothers, the Sisters are here!’ Oh dear!
Videogames have an uncanny knack for soaking up inspiration from other media. Done well, this can produce some unforgettable moments: the Indiana Jones boulder chase scene mimicked by Tomb Raider, Crash Bandicoot and others; the Lylat Wars mothership level which is the final battle from Indepenace Day; and the whole Res Evil series, which owe their zombies to George A. Romero’s Living Dead movies.
Nor is there anything to say that developers shouldn’t take inspiration from other games. After all, without the success of Mario Bros, its unlikely that we’d have had the chance to sample Sonis the Hedgehog, which took its lead from Nintendo but added Sega’s unique brand of Gameplay. But the games comparisons opposites show how many developers go way beyond occasionally expanding on the rival’s idea.
As some genres are more popular than others, its understandable that developers churn out endless racing and fighting games, since they’re more than likely to make a tidy profit. And when the same genres are being plundered time and time again, its inevitable that most new games will remind you of something you have played before. But in fact, it could well be the gamers ourselves that are making the whole sorry situation worse. How often have you heard someone say ‘It’s good, but not as good as...’?
It seems many players are always on the look-out for games that offer the similar (enjoyable) playing experience to what has come before, just with a graphical lift - posivitely encouraging developers still further to imitate or make blatant rip-offs. Which might go some way to explaining why, when genuinely fresh or original titles such as PaRappa the Rapper, Ecco the Dophlin or Vib-Ribbon come along, few gamers are actually interested, and publishers shy away from taking risks in the future. So, perhaps we’re simply getting the games we deserve.
Crazy Taxi Vs. The Simpsons Road Rage
If your looking for a good example of rip-off gaming, The Simpsons Road Rage is certainly the most shameless.
This game involves picking up passengers on the streets and taking them to their destination in the quickest possible time, driving over anything and everything that gets in the way. Yeh, you guessed it. Road Rage is a barefaced copy of Sega’s aracde speed-test Crazy Taxi.
Road Rage doesn’t just pinch the games concept, though. It also looks like Crazy Taxi, with coloured rings surrounding waiting passengers and stylish environments which rockets past as you drive from A to B.
Road Rage has the advantage of having the best tv license around but, for our money, the city’s Sega game is much more fun to race around than Springfield and Crazy Taxi’s sensation is more convincing and, well, scary.
Metal Gear Solid Vs. Headhunter
The poor old Dreamcast may be on it’s last legs, but there’s still time to squeeze out one more imition adventurer.
Although the story in Headhunter is vastly different to Metal Gear Solid‘s - it’s some gubbins about the near future where the government controls everything, and your role is an law enforcer - the gameplay is shockingly similar. Stealth is the name of the game in Headhunter. You must steer your hero through realistic environment, avioding enemy contact. Even the action where the game’s hero looks around the corner of a wall to spy on the enemies is exactly like on of Snake’s trademark moves. The game also features heavy exchanges of dialouge, similar to Snake’s conversion via his Codec.
But at least Headhunter takes inspiration from an established product and adds its own unique twists, unlike tittles such as Snood, which are almost identical to their successful counterparts.
Mario Kart Vs. Konami Krazy Racers
When the Game Boy Advance finally arrived, most gamkers were disaappointed that Mario Kart Super Circuit wasn’t available at launch. However, obne cheeky game was at the starting grid to fill the comedy racing void.
Konami Krazy Racers was very similar to Nintendo’s kart classics, with characters from famous games such as Mystical Ninja and Grey Fox from Metal Gear Solid racing around cartoon worlds, collecting weapons on the track to knock seven bells out of each other.
As far as rip-offs go, Konami Krazy Racers is pretty good. The actions fast, the tracks are well designed and the mini-games add variety to the traditional kart action. However, this doesn’t hide the fact that KKR bears more than passing resemblance to Mario Kart, but doesn’t quite have the charm of Nintendo’s genre-defining title.
Thanks for Reading
Liquid Sanke
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AfroJoe wrote:
> Yeah, but it was gay when the guy copied the original post too.
;-)
Who are you talking about?
> Yeah, but it was gay when the guy copied the original post too.
;-)
Who are you talking about?
sorry seemed childishly funny at the time but it was a stupid thing that someone was gunna do anyway :)
i'll hang my head in shame.
i'll hang my head in shame.
Yeah, but it was gay when the guy copied the original post too.
;-)
;-)
that was gay
You didn't have to copy it all, Ressurection.
yeah i wouldn't copy anyway one it's sad really ;)
I agree some rip off are not a good idea. But you have to remember that when games are 're-developed' they become bigger and often better. By ripping of games you go from space invaders to r-type. Games get better so you can't justify saying rip offs are all bad...
Good post, deserves to be in Prime.
Unfortunatly, in here, no-one will read it, as it will sink under spam.
Unfortunatly, in here, no-one will read it, as it will sink under spam.
G®åpô²ºº² wrote:
> y so many paragraphs, makes it look longer than it is.
....er anyway dont
> mind me.
it makes it easier to read.
> y so many paragraphs, makes it look longer than it is.
....er anyway dont
> mind me.
it makes it easier to read.
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