Plagiarism in Video Games

[Sumez | 2,994]

Considering Tiny Toons ultimately feels nothing like SMB3, I don't think copying one single mechanic (which, like you said, is perfectly allowed as long as you're not stealing code, and the mechanic isn't patented) is really that "shameful". In fact, taking mechanics and doing something different with them for the benefit of everyone (outside of those focusing entirely on profit) is exactly why most laws allow this.

As a kid I played the hell out of both of those games, and never noticed anything that felt like plagiarism. I actually had a hard time believing it when you said it, so the article is super interesting regardless - I had to see it to believe it  

[Ankos | 463]

9 hours ago, Sumez said:

Considering Tiny Toons ultimately feels nothing like SMB3, I don't think copying one single mechanic (which, like you said, is perfectly allowed as long as you're not stealing code, and the mechanic isn't patented) is really that "shameful". In fact, taking mechanics and doing something different with them for the benefit of everyone (outside of those focusing entirely on profit) is exactly why most laws allow this.

As a kid I played the hell out of both of those games, and never noticed anything that felt like plagiarism. I actually had a hard time believing it when you said it, so the article is super interesting regardless - I had to see it to believe it  

Shameful isn't the word I'd use either. I used shameless because they recreated the physics 1:1 in that case, even at one point having a run meter, but disabling it for the final release. The same blog post I linked also shows that the screen scrolls exactly the same relative to character position in both games. Normally when coping gameplay the physics are slightly off, but they imitated them very closely. I personally don't have that much of an issue with companies ripping each other off, and even stealing some IP, so long as they deliver a mostly original game that works good and is fun. I do find it interesting as far as the game's history goes though, and do not deny it is a shortcut when developing