Sony Smash Bros.

So apparently Sony thought it would be a good idea to create their own fighting game, featuring an ensemble of first-party characters. Problem is, the entire thing looks almost exactly like Super Smash Bros. in just about every way imaginable. While I do think that just means the game's going to turn out to be pretty fun, I can't help but roll my eyes at how blatantly lifted it is.



There seems to be a lot of dissent about whether or not this actually qualifies as a ripoff, and I generally prefer not to call things ripoffs unless they're more or less the same thing. And this... is. You'll see comments about how being in the same genre doesn't make it a ripoff, but this game isn't just eerily similar to Super Smash Bros. in a few superficial ways. From what I can tell just looking at the gameplay footage, it's nearly identical down to the subtlest little nuances.

The character physics and the way they all move is pretty much exactly the same, not to mention the way each arena is constructed. Hell, even the interface and the way that the camera moves are identical. Amusingly enough, if you look closely, you'll notice that Fat Princess has the same butt-slam attack as Peach.

Honestly, I don't think these are all necessarily bad things. There's nothing wrong with developers drawing inspiration from existing games--especially existing games that are known to be popular, essentially ensuring that this will sell well--but they could at least acknowledge it, y'know? The guy in the video above is mostly just like "Oh, yeah, we had this really cool idea," as if no one would notice.

Overall, this game is to Super Smash Bros. as Neutopia is to Zelda. As a friend of mine pointed out, Nintendo doesn't own the Super Smash Bros. formula just for having made the game. I agree wholeheartedly, but I also think that people ought to be more upfront about where they get their ideas. Being a shameless copycat is kind of tasteless, if you ask me.

That said, I do kind of wish I could play the game. Unfortunately, I don't have a PS3 and the console doesn't have enough exclusive titles I'm interested in for me to buy one. One thing that concerns me about it, though, is that I didn't see Crash or Spyro in the footage. Maybe they just didn't show all the characters, but damn, those two better be in there somewhere.