It has to be one of the most imitated games of all-time. T-shirts, keyrings, baseball caps, mugs and more are readily available in high street stores and supermarkets. Even now, 40 years on, it’s still possible to purchase Space Invaders merchandise. It was a pop culture phenomenon, leading Taito’s classic to become a household name. We don’t need to tell you that Space Invaders was a colossal hit. It was a darn sight more imaginative than dull old Alleyway. Woody Pop for the Game Gear was a popular release during the system’s early days, so called due to the bat being a wooden log known as Woody. Sticking with handhelds, SEGA had their own take too. It wasn’t the best choice to bundle with the system, highlighting how blurry the screen became when handling fast moving objects. The Watara Supervision (known as the QuickShot Supervision in the UK) even came packaged with a bat and ball game, known as Crystball. Although a popular release, being one of four GB launch games, it wasn’t rated highly by critics due to failing to add anything new to the genre. The Game Boy also had its own brick breaker in the form of Alleyway. Generally, though, Breakout clones are known as either ‘paddle’ or ‘bat and ball’ games.Īrkanoid was Taito’s rendition – released ten years after Atari’s original – and it became a huge arcade hit, gaining numerous sequels. In France, the genre is known as ‘casse-briques’ (brick breaker), while Japanese gamers refer to it as ‘block kuzushi’ (block destruction). Even the genre it belongs to has different monikers. Breakout – 1976Ĭlones of Atari’s Breakout were so rife that you may not even know it by its original name. In fact, blatant plagiarism in the video game market can be traced back all the way to gaming’s inception, as we dare to delve into below. This is how new genres are formed, inducing some friendly competition. Once a studio finds themselves with an unexpected hit, a dozen imitators will surely follow. Indeed, it’s impossible to stop rival developers from copying currently popular trends. It’s almost as if they’re taking credit for creating the whole Battle Royale genre, despite a few examples – including DayZ and H1Z1 – existing before PUBG’s release.Ĭan you imagine if Nintendo claimed ownership of the side-scrolling 2D platform genre following the success of the original Super Mario Bros? The NES would have missed out on several key titles, most of which became long-running franchises. While PUBG Corporation/Bluehole have every right to protect their brand, some allegations push the boundaries somewhat. Both are under heavy scrutiny and may end up being yanked. One clone features a frying pan as a melee weapon, while another uses the term ‘Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner’ in their marketing. The creators of the vastly popular PlayerUnknown’s Battle Grounds made gaming news headlines last week, taking legal action against a handful of games mimicking PUBG a little too closely.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |