for every successful video game to hit
the market there are dozens of clones
that will try and cash in welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be taking
a look at the top 5 most outrageous
video game ripoffs number five the great
giana sisters it’s no surprise that the
Super Mario Brothers has been ripped off
countless times for its innovative
gameplay and iconic design however few
games have actually taken it upon
themselves to simply give it a new paint
job yet in 1987 a shareware company
called rainbow arts did just that
instead of starring the brothers it
start Gianna and her sister Maria the
game’s not so subtle differences
included the gals ability to shoot
bubbles instead of fireballs replacing
goombas with owls and collecting
diamonds instead of coins as you can
imagine the watchful eye of Nintendo’s
legal team caught on and the title was
pulled from the shelves
despite its misguided bid for gender
equality number 4 Golden Axe warrior if
any game could match the popularity of
Mario it’s The Legend of Zelda as it
turns out sega sought to capitalize on
its success by releasing a shockingly
similar action-adventure spin-off of its
own called Golden Axe warrior in 1991
while this game tried to hide the fact
that it was a clone it was obvious the
moment you ventured into the forests
complete with identical level art and
similar spear-throwing pig monsters the
game even went ahead and ripped off
entire portions of Zelda’s dungeon
stages and music
ironically the one thing they couldn’t
mimic was it’s fun gameplay mechanics
number three fighters history mom won by
everyone knows how big Capcom’s arcade
hit Street Fighter 2 the World Warrior
was back in the day and so did developer
data East going above and beyond a
standard act of plagiarism they created
fighters history in 1992 they were
instantly sued for simply renaming its
cast of characters and special moves but
they somehow managed to get off
scot-free as the court didn’t buy the
notion that ryuko was based on street
fighters Ryu REO boom hmm
number 2 Battletoads yep that’s right
anamorphic amphibians are not exempt
from cloning in this case konami z’
hugely popular Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle series was parodied by developer
rare in 1991 labeled Battletoads the
arcade style beat em up at least had the
decency to not give their fighters
Renaissance names instead they gave us
the skin disorders rash pimple and zits
number one ninja gaiden since we started
with the most obvious let’s end our top
5 with the most controversial believe it
or not 1989 s ninja gaiden is based on
the design and layout of the original
Castlevania
complete with identical life bars and
the ability to slash at lanterns to
reveal hidden weapons however unlike the
other clones ninja gaiden is different
for having made several notable
improvements on the original which
include refined controls increased
maneuvering speed the ability to stick
to walls and the addition of spectacular
cutscenes
unfortunately these top 5 rip offs only
represent the tip of the iceberg as many
game developers are too weak to resist
the temptation of an easy payday instead
of creating an original work
the market there are dozens of clones
that will try and cash in welcome to
watchmojo.com and today we’ll be taking
a look at the top 5 most outrageous
video game ripoffs number five the great
giana sisters it’s no surprise that the
Super Mario Brothers has been ripped off
countless times for its innovative
gameplay and iconic design however few
games have actually taken it upon
themselves to simply give it a new paint
job yet in 1987 a shareware company
called rainbow arts did just that
instead of starring the brothers it
start Gianna and her sister Maria the
game’s not so subtle differences
included the gals ability to shoot
bubbles instead of fireballs replacing
goombas with owls and collecting
diamonds instead of coins as you can
imagine the watchful eye of Nintendo’s
legal team caught on and the title was
pulled from the shelves
despite its misguided bid for gender
equality number 4 Golden Axe warrior if
any game could match the popularity of
Mario it’s The Legend of Zelda as it
turns out sega sought to capitalize on
its success by releasing a shockingly
similar action-adventure spin-off of its
own called Golden Axe warrior in 1991
while this game tried to hide the fact
that it was a clone it was obvious the
moment you ventured into the forests
complete with identical level art and
similar spear-throwing pig monsters the
game even went ahead and ripped off
entire portions of Zelda’s dungeon
stages and music
ironically the one thing they couldn’t
mimic was it’s fun gameplay mechanics
number three fighters history mom won by
everyone knows how big Capcom’s arcade
hit Street Fighter 2 the World Warrior
was back in the day and so did developer
data East going above and beyond a
standard act of plagiarism they created
fighters history in 1992 they were
instantly sued for simply renaming its
cast of characters and special moves but
they somehow managed to get off
scot-free as the court didn’t buy the
notion that ryuko was based on street
fighters Ryu REO boom hmm
number 2 Battletoads yep that’s right
anamorphic amphibians are not exempt
from cloning in this case konami z’
hugely popular Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtle series was parodied by developer
rare in 1991 labeled Battletoads the
arcade style beat em up at least had the
decency to not give their fighters
Renaissance names instead they gave us
the skin disorders rash pimple and zits
number one ninja gaiden since we started
with the most obvious let’s end our top
5 with the most controversial believe it
or not 1989 s ninja gaiden is based on
the design and layout of the original
Castlevania
complete with identical life bars and
the ability to slash at lanterns to
reveal hidden weapons however unlike the
other clones ninja gaiden is different
for having made several notable
improvements on the original which
include refined controls increased
maneuvering speed the ability to stick
to walls and the addition of spectacular
cutscenes
unfortunately these top 5 rip offs only
represent the tip of the iceberg as many
game developers are too weak to resist
the temptation of an easy payday instead
of creating an original work
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