Dcubed

Bit of an odd one for them to review really. I mean... it's exactly what you'd expect, no glaring issues to speak of. Looks and runs exactly as you would expect. The 16:9 cropping is unfortunate, but also expected. Shame that there's no option to just use the original aspect ratio. I will say though that the presentation is really going to be missing something without the stereoscopic 3D effect.

Trademark infringement is much easier to prove than copyright infringement, and Nintendo have already (inadvertently) set a legal precedent that allows for plagerism to take place with so called "spiritual successors", so long as assets are not stolen. Nintendo were able to DMCA take down the Pokemon Palworld mod almost immediately because it was a blatant and inarguable infringement on their existing trademarks, but that's not something that can be applied to Palworld proper because it does not explicitely feature the actual trademarked characters seen throughout the Pokemon series. Even though anyone with a working brain can see what Pokemon characters are being ripped off with Palworld, they're not actually the same characters and thus are technically legally distinct as far as trademark is concerned. Now. There is legal precedent that protects the infringement of Trade Dress with video game mechanics and design, specifically Tetris Holding, LLC v. Xio Interactive, Inc., but Palworld would be unlikely to fall under this form of infringement, because its gameplay mechanics do not steal from Pokemon; only its character designs and models. And as previously determined by Nintendo VS Enterbrain? Similarity in visual design is not enough to prove copyright infringement. If they want to make a legal case, they need to prove that actual Pokemon game assets were stolen or appropriated in such a way that the models seen in Palworld could not have been made in any other fashion. That's not an easy thing to prove, and also comes with potential serious commericial ramifications for them, as well as the entire Japanese video game industry, if they fail to win such a case. It's not impossible though. But it's something that will take time for Nintendo to dig into Palworld's assets and build a legal case against.

Nice to see that the Switch version is a bit less shit this time around; even if it probably should be better. At least Falcom seem to be somewhat trying this time.

The N-E smileys are really quite iconic at this point though, I'd be mortified to see them go. They're my favourite smileys on the interwebs Likewise, I'll always choose to give a "Thanks" rather than a Like because it's the classic N-E response

Also, I'd just like to point out that it's absolutely possible for assets to be ripped and then later modified, but still found to originally be rips... https://www.eurogamer.net/orion-dev-admits-his-game-ripped-off-call-of-duty-assets This has never been tested in court however, and this has also never specifically been tried in Japanese courts before. The closest that we have to this situation is Nintendo VS Enterbrain (Tear Ring Saga), where Nintendo failed to prove that the game to be performing copyright infringement, but did win a settlement where they got Enterbrain to pay a fine for "unfair competition". The kicker here was that no actual assets from a Fire Emblem game were proven to be stolen, but the game was deemed to be close enough to be stealing its trade dress for the purposes of unfair competition; particularily because it was being released on a rival system. I would also like to point out that this particular case is the Japanese legal precedent that allowed for games like Mighty Number 9 and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night to be made and released. I do think Nintendo have a case here. However, it would be risky because if they lose? It sets a very bad legal precedent not just for them, but for the entire Japanese video game industry; because the Japanese video game industry will shortly become an asset theft free-for-all. This is probably why they're being so slow to respond publically. Their case will need to really be watertight as the cost of failure would really be severe... However, this is industrial espionage/asset theft on a scale that the industry has simply never seen before, so I think Nintendo will have no choice but to respond with legal action. Palworld is simply too big for Nintendo to consider turning a blind eye to at this point, because the cost of allowing this to happen is at least as bad as what would happen if they were to lose said case.

The gameplay footage does remind me of Puppeteer for the PS3... which is a good thing, because that game was rad! Dying to know who's making this one... NST?

I can't help but feel this game has been delayed for so long that it has kind of missed its window of opportunity now. Sonic Mania, and now even Sonic Superstars, have long eaten its lunch. Still, I'm hoping it's good. Always up for a good Sonic style platformer

I hope you won't be saying anything then when your precious Sony start getting assets stolen from their games; while their competitors flip them for millions of dollars in profit without repurcussions. If Pocket Pair get away with it here with Palworld, you bet that this is going to start happening on a much wider scale with other IPs elsewhere. It's almost as if there's a parable to go along with what's happening here...

Had no idea that Human worked on this one. Man, they really got around didn’t they? Also weird to think that this was one of only two games that Human ever made for the N64.

Agreed. The notion of a game being released in “Early Access” is entirely a misnomer. Your game is “done” as soon as it’s available for sale; and should be judged accordingly. Besides, most AAA games are released in such a blatantly unfinished state that they may as well be called Early Access anyway

Knew it. Knew that if people started ripping the models they'd find the smoking gun. Now they need to start looking at the (surely) stolen character rigs and TPC/Nintendo may well have a case on their hands.

Very cool! Interesting that the design language was already set in so early. Would’ve expected it to more closely evoke the Wii U & 3DS considering that this menu design hails from circa 2015-2016.

Considering the time frame of its release? This honestly looks pretty impressive, especially for a cheap licensed game. 3D platformers are amongst the most difficult types of games to make, but especially in the mid 90s where nothing was standardised and middleware didn’t yet exist. This honestly looks fairly comparable to Croc 1, which is no mean feat. Kudos!

Oh how I miss it so much

Pfft, he's not that hard... Who needs Mia anyway!?

It's disgusting and quite frightning that such shameless levels of thievery are being rewarded so handsomly... This is going to set a bad example for a lot of conmen in the future with many a similarily "legally distinct" game coming from other shameless developers/AI generation scams in the future if they get away with this... Unless they can prove that the designs were AI generated from Pokemon artwork? (pretty much impossible to prove), or that actual model/animation/texture/rigging assets were outright stolen? (quite possible... and pretty likely I'd say), there's nothing that Nintendo/TPC/Game Freak can do. Since the designs aren't a 100% match, this wouldn't legally fall under copyright infringement (even though it's blatant plagerism). The only way Nintendo could win a law suit is if they can prove that the Palworld models are actually built out of stolen assets (and I wouldn't be surprised that it could be proven if someone were to datamine Palworld and look at the model/rigging assets... because I'm sure that they actually have built these models by stealing the Pokemon 3D models from the 3DS/Switch games and modifying them...). Ironically, it's Nintendo's own law suit against Shouzou Kaga/Enterbrain for Tear Ring Saga that sets this precedent. As long as Nintendo can't prove that the game actually uses stolen assets, they can't win. See also Capcom VS Data East for a similar (if much less blatant) example of precedent.

Doesn't surprise me that Kamiya would be outspoken about this situation. He left Platinum Games for this exact reason; he doesn't want to work on GAAS games that are focused on carving themselves up and being sold piecemeal. Anyway, this move doesn't surprise me in the slightest. SEGA/Atlus have been doing this sort of thing with most of their games for quite some time now (I mean, this is the publisher that is so desperate that they actually took out menu animations in Sonic Origins to sell seperately).

Great job fixing that PS2 @Julius. Soldering isn't nearly as scary as it looks and once you've done it for the first time, you realise that it's actually pretty easy and simple for the most part

It's surprising that nobody else has ripped this game off. It's such a simple concept that's immediately understanding and appealing. You could even be super cynical and fill it full of gangsters, hookers and cops chasing after you; with pedestrians that you can also mow down... kids would love it! But then again... you'd have to actually be talented to make good level design that would be fun, and good level design is hard; so maybe that's why it has never happened?

Four Swords Adventures is great! Though obviously better in multiplayer, as that's what the game was really built around, the single player experience is great too. It's the perfect bite-sized Zelda experience that's perfect for when you don't want to commit to a longer game; but you can just as easily binge-play all the stages to the end too. It's the most versatile Zelda game ever made (Also both Shadow Battle and Tetra's Trackers kick arse! Amazing party game experiences that are well worth tracking down four GBAs and four link cables for!)

The title actually would've made sense if it were a third person game, because then it'd be coming full circle with it being a Tomb Raider ripoff, which is an Uncharted ripoff, which is a Tomb Raider ripoff, which is an Indiana Jones ripoff. Missed opportunity that.

And thus, King of Pro Baseball's existence was immediately rendered pointless as soon as PP4 released

That’s… not who I would’ve expected! Though I suppose it isn’t too crazy a choice of developer, considering that ASW have their own detective series of games (Jake Hunter); I’d imagine it’s the Jake Hunter staff who would’ve been working on this.

Turok is low-key, one of the most important games in the N64’s library (and one of the most important for western developed video games in general). It was the first ever fully 3D FPS game for a home console (and I believe second only to Quake in general, which launched on the PC about 8 months prior). It also codified the “standard” control scheme for FPS games on the N64 in general (which isn’t actually all that far off the modern FPS dual analog setup, just in reverse owing to the c-buttons being on the right side of the controller). But perhaps most notably of all? Turok 1 & 2 are the prototypes for Metroid Prime. I mean this in both a figurative and a literal sense. Turok 1 & 2 are not just first person shooters, they are straight up Metroidvania games. Now, Turok Dinosaur Hunter is not the first First-Person Metroidvania game, that title belongs to 1996’s Powerslave/Exhumed for the SEGA Saturn, but its ties to Metroid are a lot more explicit than you might realise… because the team at Iguana Studios behind the development of Turok 1 & 2 would split off after the completion of Turok 2’s multiplayer spinoff Turok Rage Wars, to found none other than… Retro Studios. Yes, the very same Retro Studios that made the Metroid Prime series. Though half of the staff at the studio would end up getting fired before Metroid Prime 1 really moved into full production (including studio head and founder, Jeff Spangenberg), around half of the people who worked on Metroid Prime 1 had previously worked on Turok 1 & 2 (including the Director, Mark Pachini). And when you go back and play Turok 1 & 2 after playing Metroid Prime? The influence is immediately obvious. Metroid Prime’s platforming is a direct evolution of what was first done with Turok Dinosaur Hunter; including the iconic downwards head bob that shows you where you’re going to land when you jump. Prime’s basic locomotion gameplay is built directly off of Turok 1 & 2, as are many of its gameplay subsystems; hell, you can even shoot birds out of the sky in Turok, just like in Metroid Prime! The non-linear, exploration focused level design also immediately reminds you of what was later done in Metroid Prime (albeit much more limited, owing to the N64’s hardware and cartridge space limitations). Without Turok Dinosaur Hunter? There is no Metroid Prime. Not a bad legacy for a game based on a comic book! You’re not far off, it came out just 3 days after the N64 launched in Europe (on the same day as the US release even). So it basically was a launch day title over here.

Well bloody hell, would you look at that! Actual Namco support for Nintendo? Harada must be furious Perhaps the feud is finally over and there’s now some genuine hope for Namco support on Switch 2 going forward?