what's your favourite legally-distinct video game character? I'm talking a character clearly meant to seem like someone else but just different enough to not end up in court.

Maybe not the characters themselves so much, but the game as a whole.

The game was designed by Armin Gessert and Manfred Trenz. They were tasked with developing the game after Marc Ulrich of Rainbow Arts had seen the popular Nintendo video game Super Mario Bros. (1985) and was excited to create a game that did not have an equivalent on the home computer market. Gessert and Trenz were told to create a game that was obviously recognizable as being like Super Mario Bros. while still being legally distinct.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Giana_Sisters

And: yes, I am that old that I have played it when it came out. 🧓

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Hm, not a video game rip-off, but a character rip-off. I loved the old Tekken games, and Law is just...so exactly Bruce Lee. We played so many hours of Tekken 1 and 2 in the arcade, and it was my friend's favorite character, so I have oddly fond memories of getting beaten up by him.

I'd have to go with "Herlock Sholmes", from DGS (Dai Gyakuten Saiban, or The Great Ace Attorney). It's even funnier for me since in japanese they had no trouble calling him Sherlock, but copyright forced them to localize him with a funny name.

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Yooka-Laylee is a modern-day version of Banjo-Kazooie. The just changed the animals but ... it was clear for me on the first screenshot. It was even made by some of the same people who worked on Banjo-Kazooie, so it has a lot of the same vibes. You’ve got the same kind of 3D platforming, collecting stuff, and quirky characters.

I'm talking a character clearly meant to seem like someone else but just different enough to not end up in court.

This comes immediately in mind

maybe not that similar if you consider the games, but Alex Mercer had such strong hooded Assassin's vibes..

I liked Paul Walker acting in Fast and Furious saga, and the standard Commander Shepard in Mass Effect looks very similar

All of the important characters from the first Evoland ^^
Here's a little screenshot with two of their names XD

Snake from MGS is Snake Plissken from Escape From New York :D

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Waluigi from the Mario universe of games (particularly Mario Party games). Made by Nintendo, but still, it is a riff on Luigi. ;)

Not a football games fan (well, because I suk at them 😂😆) but the PES series are famously hilarious...Roberto Lactose or Ryan Greggs 😂😆

Ive played '2x' or similar xp on EVERY survival game ive played. The only one i played multiplayer for awhile (Ark) me and my friends went into a similarly tweaked server. Other stuff also altered- like come on, i like the idea of survival but those games want me to eat-drink every 3 minutes or so? In some if you dont eat for awhile you die- and heck i literally did a 14 day fasting once.

So yeah, im with you, im also proud of it. I get the loop and the idea but come on... grind for grinds sake is just padding.

Favourite legally distinct character?
Favourite goes to Freedom Planets characters. I dont recall names but the game is charming, clearly a passionate work of love and an awesome game on top of it all

But the first legally distinct character that comes to my mind... goes to mighty number 9
Because... come on

Sure the artist worked on Mega Man as a character designer but when he got in the project Mega Man himself was already done and decided. He made Zero. So why Mighty aint more like Zero but so so much like the blue guy?

The games actual worth and the issues during development aside i never understood why he chose that. The project clearly was started on his names worth, the kickstarter as well, even on launch every outlet would mention it- he didnt really needed to make such a 'legally distinct' character. Why havent he like, idk, made the kind of character designs he personally wouldve liked back then but couldnt because mega man was already set? Or a callback to Zero, or idk, at least doing Mighty in another color perhaps?

I have no feelings toward the game or the character btw, aside from Keijis design choice. I havent played it... but i find the last image funny

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It's my giveaway I can do whatever I want. Plus like.

luv. ya.
so much!!1

Question: what's your favourite legally-distinct video game character? I'm talking a character clearly meant to seem like someone else but just different enough to not end up in court.

I was thinking way too much of this, but now I think I'll just go with the roster of Broforce. Rambro, Bro Hard, Brodell Walker, Brobocop, etc :)

Not a character, but first Doom music - legend has it, Romero dropped his metal albums on Bobby Prince's lap and told him "you're a lawyer, so you know how much you can steal from them before they can sue us".

There's a Super Mario Sunshine reference in Asterix and Obelisk XXL 2 that is pretty cool.

Here's a timestamped video.

I can't think of any, I'm pretty sure you can ask any Yakuza fan about Hannya Man and his identity, and they wouldn't be able to answer (100% guaranteed!)

I'm pretty sure Goromi is Goro Majima in disguise, but I can't confirm that either!

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Haven't played myself, but I would say Spark from Spark the Electric Jester 3.

3D Sonic game, but actually good?

My favorite legally-distinct video game character has to be Mario. He's clearly a rip-off of Jumpman. Just wait until the Nintendo lawyers get a hold of... themselves!

I wish I could say Donkey Kong, but clearly that neck-tie makes him completely different from King Kong -- so much more sophisticated! That, and DK's only scaling buildings before they are finished. King Kong is such a beast in comparison.

How about The Incredibles vs the Fantastic Four? They shuffled the powers a bit, but they're basically the same.

Oh man, Illbleed had Cork Inda, a simultaneous bootleg Woody AND Indiana Jones, on a demented quest to rescue "Sexy Doll" from a giant demonic Sonic the Hedgehog. I still don't know how Sega let them get away with it, except perhaps that Pixar wasn't owned by Disney quite yet.

Palworld is a great time with friends cough and also boosted gains I aint got time for this grind shit I got stuff to do cough
Thanks for the giveaway. I have it so I'm not here about that. BUT

My favorite Legally Distinct is about the Ghost Face killer in Dead By Daylight. I hear the devs didn't get the license through the Scream movies. Instead, they got licensing rights or however you want to call it from the costume company that created the costume set that was used IN the movie. So rather than get Ghostface, they made Ghost Face. Who is definitely not the Ghostface killer from the popular Scream franchise.

Just reeeeeaaaaaallllllllyyyyy towing the line of copyright infringement. I love it.

I've been replaying Earth Defense Force 5 recently with some friends and I always make myself giggle whenever we have to fight a certain laser-breathing, giant reptile.
For some reason, I just can't stop myself from singing "Ohhhh noo! It's legally distinct, Atomic Lizard! WoOOOooOoo 🎶" to the tune of BLUE OYSTER CULT's iconic song

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i heard palworld is gonna shut down cuz of nintendo copyright, is this true ? :C and if yes, why give the game away?

Hi, I have accepted your friend request. :)