Zap! Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 We all know about video gaming "cease and desist" letters and lawsuits towards games that were so similar to originals titles that it enraged the company that made them first. The Great Giana Sisters comes to mind, which Nintendo felt ripped off Super Mario Bros. Then there are games that are so similar, that you just expect a lawsuit...but it never happens. Which game clones were super-similar to others yet no lawsuits materialized? Neutopia for the Turbo Grafx 16 comes to mind. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad no lawsuit came about because I love this game. Still, the similarities are strikingly similar. There's no way Nintendo didn't notice this one. The reason isn't because they didn't consider the TG16 to be a threat. That's not how Nintendo operates, as they've gone after Rainbow Arts and even homebrews. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonGrafx-16 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 (edited) The TG-16 not a threat? Maybe in the US... but the PC Engine in Japan was definitely a threat... the 16 bit console war in Japan was Super Famicom vs PC Engine (yes the PC Engine/TG-16 had hybrid 8/16 bit hardware)... the Mega Drive only sold half that of the PC Engine did in Japan. Edited July 30, 2019 by DragonGrafx-16 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Atari holding the home computer/console rights to Pac-Man and actually suing or threatening a handful of competitors with more or less Pac-Man clones, makes me wonder how e.g. Clean Sweep on the Vectrex wasn't removed unless of course they had worked out a license deal in the background. One might argue that the Vectrex was just as little threat to Atari as the TG-16 might've been to Nintendo but then again why were the somewhat obscure VTech forced to rework Crazy Pucker into Crazy Chicky? I figure Atari went after Magnavox because K.C. Munchkin came to the market prior to Atari 2600 Pac-Man, simply a first mover advantage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magmavision2000 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Almost every pong console ever I don't know if this counts, (because Magnavox actually sued Atari for copyright infringement) but it's a little surprising that Atari or Magnavox never tried to sue any of the pong console manufacturers (besides that one occasion), I guess no lawsuits ever occurred because the object of hitting a square against two (sometimes four) sticks is pretty generic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carlsson Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Regarding Pong systems, many used the GI AY-3-8500 Ball & Paddle integrated circuit which makes me think that if General Instruments were cleared to implement the game on a chip, all system manufacturers using it would be clear too. Eventually even Atari used the AY-3-8500 chip in the Hockey-Pong edition, though earlier versions of Pong, Super Pong, Ultra Pong etc used different chips or discrete electronics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr_me Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 (edited) Pretty much every major video game manufacturer paid the magnavox/sanders patent license: atari, general instruments, williams, bally, mattel, activision, nintendo to name a few. Coleco even enlisted Sanders and Ralph Baer to help them with their telstar pong system. Regarding zelda, nintendo can't sue someone unless there is infringement. There were similar looking graphics in games prior to zelda. Similarly pacman wasn't the first dot eating maze game. The enemies in clean sweep do look a little like pacman. Edited July 30, 2019 by mr_me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Clae Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Bloodstained, Mighty No. 9, Blazing Chrome. I guess it's impossible to copyright anything about a game other than its title and characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted July 30, 2019 Author Share Posted July 30, 2019 49 minutes ago, DJ Clae said: Bloodstained, Mighty No. 9, Blazing Chrome. I guess it's impossible to copyright anything about a game other than its title and characters. After seeing the previews, I was so worried that Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night would suffer a lawsuit that I immediately got it for the Xbox One when it came out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flojomojo Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 The Lord of the Rings games on GBA are little Diablo clones/rip-offs and I'm surprised Blizzard didn't want a piece of that EA/movie action. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eltigro Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 Were any of the Shinobi games involved in copyright lawsuits? I mean, Spider-Man, Bat Man, Godzilla... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Dragon Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 1 hour ago, Eltigro said: Were any of the Shinobi games involved in copyright lawsuits? I mean, Spider-Man, Bat Man, Godzilla... Sega made changes for the version of Revenge Of Shinobi on the Sega CD compilation disc, so they must have been fearful of a potential lawsuit, if nothing else. Edd The Duck was a blatant Rainbow Islands clone : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd30 Posted July 30, 2019 Share Posted July 30, 2019 2 hours ago, Eltigro said: Were any of the Shinobi games involved in copyright lawsuits? I mean, Spider-Man, Bat Man, Godzilla... Sega paid for the rights to use a couple of those characters and had to change other ones in subsequent revisions of Revenge of Shinobi. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted August 3, 2019 Author Share Posted August 3, 2019 On 7/30/2019 at 2:18 PM, Eltigro said: Were any of the Shinobi games involved in copyright lawsuits? I mean, Spider-Man, Bat Man, Godzilla... There are at least four revisions of The Revenge Of Shinobi on the Genesis. What stinks is there's no way to tell without putting in the cartridge and playing it. The box, instructions, and cart look the same. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 I still have to play Neutopia but I was under the impression that Golden Axe Warrior for the Master System was an even more blatant ripoff of the first Zelda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 It is I used to have it. The SMS game is very very similar to Zelda more than Neutopia, if for any reason just because the overworld art is quite similar to where you'll easily draw conclusions pretty fast wondering how much they did copy and change just a bit for art style in the overworld. I had the game before when I've owned the SMS and it's fun, in some ways better than the old Zelda, but stylistically especially on art it's a clear knockoff. Neutopia 1/2 are like that set of two games too, but it looks and sounds nicer due to the better hardware and plays similarly but different enough too it's less fair calling it a clone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonGrafx-16 Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 I really want to like Neutopia, but I hate the way the sword works in the game. It's kinda not-good... and being someone who's played every 2D Zelda game (not counting Zelda II) up to the Oracle games, it's downright terrible in comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted August 4, 2019 Author Share Posted August 4, 2019 11 hours ago, DragonGrafx-16 said: I really want to like Neutopia, but I hate the way the sword works in the game. It's kinda not-good... and being someone who's played every 2D Zelda game (not counting Zelda II) up to the Oracle games, it's downright terrible in comparison. No diagonal sword swinging is a huge letdown, but putting that aside it's a fantastic game. Neutopia 2 addressed this issue. Speaking of Zelda clones (I don't consider it a true clone but many others do), ever play Golvellius on the Sega Master System? Now that's a game with poor control. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanooki Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 I have had Golvellius as I've had a SMS twice before over the years and yeah it's loosely like Zelda but damn those controls were awful. Years back there was this iOS conversion that has long since been pulled (before the ios11 shake up even) and the game controls were so bad on the SMS, that lack of responsiveness felt right at home on a touch panel as it actually wasn't worse for wear due to that change which speaks to it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamemoose Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 Deadly Towers for the NES I wished would have been yanked for a Zelda "Look and Feel" just to save folks from the awful music. I can't think of many console games I played where I'one would say "oh yeah, it's [insert game here] with the serial number filed off". Now on the computer side...the CoCo had a ton of rip offs that made me wonder how software companies got away with it. Even their ADS compared their game to the arcade in a tongue in cheek way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramses Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 7 hours ago, Tanooki said: I have had Golvellius as I've had a SMS twice before over the years and yeah it's loosely like Zelda but damn those controls were awful. Years back there was this iOS conversion that has long since been pulled (before the ios11 shake up even) and the game controls were so bad on the SMS, that lack of responsiveness felt right at home on a touch panel as it actually wasn't worse for wear due to that change which speaks to it. The enemies really needed some knock back when they get hit. That would have helped some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zap! Posted January 28, 2020 Author Share Posted January 28, 2020 CD-MAN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatPix Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 On 7/30/2019 at 10:29 AM, Magmavision2000 said: Almost every pong console ever I don't know if this counts, (because Magnavox actually sued Atari for copyright infringement) but it's a little surprising that Atari or Magnavox never tried to sue any of the pong console manufacturers (besides that one occasion), I guess no lawsuits ever occurred because the object of hitting a square against two (sometimes four) sticks is pretty generic. Probably due to the lawsuit between Atari and Magnavox that said that while the tech and certain elements like names could be copyrighted, you couldn't copyright a generic gameplay like tennis. So basically even before the first Pong on a chip was born, Atari knew it would be a lost battle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pablum Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 How did Golden Axe and Golden Axe: The Revenge of Death Adder get away with using sound clips from Conan the Barbarian and First Blood? I presume the movie studios didn't know or didn't care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roots.genoa Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Speaking of sound clips, I suspect a heashot sound from the first Max Payne to be taken from Sean Penn's death in Carlito's Way, but I've never had the occasion to verify... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd30 Posted January 28, 2020 Share Posted January 28, 2020 Kung Fu Heroes uses sounds from Kung Fu and Super Mario Bros. NES Defender II uses music from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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