Thursday, November 7, 2013

Half-Baked iPhone Game Shamelessly Steals Mega Man Characters


Hotel Romeo Media is a mobile developer with a reputation for releasing titles whose settings and characters can sometimes be wholly unoriginal.  The company's latest "masterpiece", A Boulder Sprinkle Adventure: Boom of the Giant Sheep Tsunami Splash, flagrantly steals a few familiar faces from the Mega Man universe.





The free app has players dodging boulders and rescuing sheep as one of the six original characters above.  From left to right: Mega Micah Man, Mega Jayden Jet, Mega Brady 12, Mega Angel Star, Super Mega Sherman, and Ultra Mega Warrior. Most of these bottom-of-the-barrel DeviantART abominations don't come free. All but Mega Micha Man require thousands of in-game currency to unlock; gold coins that run upwards of $9.99.

Worse than outright copying characters, the game practically pleads for your money. Constantly.  Every time you die (which will happen a lot) you're greeted with an ad for some other crummy app. But no worries; fork over a cool $10 and they'll never bother you again. 

All in all, we're looking at the dark side of mobile gaming. A Boulder Sprinkle Adventure: Boom of the Giant Sheep Tsunami Splash perfectly encapsulates the contemptible lack of quality, copyright regulation, and developer practices within the mobile market. It's quite disgusting.

If you *have* to play this, just be wary of ads. One or two false taps can lead to trouble.

Thanks to Russell for the tip!

23 comments:

  1. Remember, Capcom themselves were guilty of ripping off Ms. 'Splosion Man some time back.

    Turnabout is fair play, although I certainly wouldn't give this the time of day as it is.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I swear those character names were pulled out of a blender.

    (Sheep are a prominent element, huh? Reminds me of this old running gag of mine...)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Now all it needs is a Ultra Mega Mega Man and we'd have the whole gang. :>

      Delete
  3. This entertainment would be praised by us 20-somethings if Inafune were behind it. Let's not forget Mighty Number 9 is a Mega Man ripoff too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're so off base its funny.

      Delete
    2. I just hit a homerun so I was not on the bases for long.

      Delete
    3. We 20-somethings are discerning enough to tell the difference between a labour of love and a quick cash-in, regardless of who made it.

      Delete
  4. And people say MN9 and RKS were shameless.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's getting so you won't be able to tell Capcom's half-assed cell phone games from these half-assed cell phone games anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  6. MN9 is made by the creators, so I would say no it isn't shameless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well they should be shameless. I don't see what's to be ashamed about.

      Delete
  7. It's a Hedgehog Dash all over again! http://img-ipad.lisisoft.com/img/7/2/2727-1-hedgehog-dash-hd-super-quick.jpg

    ReplyDelete
  8. That orange character is going to haunt me in my nightmares. :| The blue and black are not that far behind in the fugly department, either. They're really gross-looking. Whoever drew them can't draw eyes for shit.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Finally a new Mega Man game! And we thought the anniversary would be a dud :P

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I laughed at this far harder than I probably should have.

      Delete
  10. Oh my god damn freakin' hell...
    Who ever made this thing is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo DEAD.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Reminds me of Candy Crush Saga and all these "currency" games ever since Temple Run came onto the scene, inspiring many developers to put mass in-app purchases

    ReplyDelete
  12. This is so bizarre I don't know what to think...
    But lol to some comments.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Rip off games run rampant in the mobile scene. I recently saw a game called "Word Chums."

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think the author meant "be WARY of ads," and not "weary," even though I have long been weary from advertisements.

    ReplyDelete

Keep it friendly. Disparaging, belittling and derogatory comments are not permitted.