Ninja Arashi: Quick introduction to forks and clones
They have been envying his success for 10 years... Now they want to have their piece of the pie...
He-he-he-he...
Developer comes home and finds out that his idea is destroyed... His work stolen...
A-a-a-a-argh!!!
He knows who did this...
And he is going to find them.
42866
Ninja Arashi is the great representative of its genre, with immersive atmosphere, nice visuals, responsive controls, lots of platforming, and spectacular killing. When I first installed it, I played almost non-stop until all levels were finally finished, and all secrets found. Naturally, I thought, a lot of developers will be inspired by this if not masterpiece, but gem for sure, and create their own versions of the game, with similar aesthetics, action-packed platforming, and unprecedented charm.
Boy, was I wrong in my assumptions! "Inspired" is not the right word I should used here. "Copycats", "ripoffs", "1-to-1 clones", "money-making cash grabs" (or, how Arashi says himself: "Trash!") would be the more accurate description, since everything: backgrounds, models, gameplay mechanics, traps, enemies, power-ups, even level designs - EVERYTHING was copied without second thought, and published as the original work, paying no tribute to the predecessor. But adding tons of annoying ads.
At first I wanted to do the thorough review of all the games - install a dozen of them, play carefully through each and every level to point out some distinct features, strong differences, and so on. But there simply was not enough material to hold onto. If you want my review on Ninja Arashi - here it is, but others... others don't offer much to talk about. Besides, I still haven't recovered from the initial shock, so my incomprehensible mumbling is all you're gonna get.
Don't expect any serious research from me - I haven't finished any of these games - I haven't even reached the point where "the game starts to shine". In most cases, playing through first couple of levels was enough to see exactly the same gameplay, without any fresh ideas. Still, I will list the games I found and write short descriptions for them (I didn't install them for nothing, right?).
With this being said, here we go! (Note: The games are listed in reversed alphabetical order. Because: why the heck not? I am still not giving preferences to one over the other).
Looks extremely close to the original - almost impossible to tell the two apart. Surprisingly polished, contains almost no bugs (aside from weird texture glitches and the possibility to stick to the ceiling and run on it Spider-Man style). Shows banner ads at the bottom, completely ruining the grim atmosphere of the ninja game.
Replaces original silhouette model with the fully colored one (with disappearing textures when player enters houses, and the possibility to get stuck in the walls). Poisonous fountains became... blood fountains instead - which looks kinda cool. We play as ninja Shimazu (has nothing to do with Arashi), who opposes the demon Takeda (has nothing to do with Orochi) and tries to recover his kidnapped son. Nobody cares, but this was the very game that sparked the idea of writing the current article (I was amazed by its great level design, until I remembered I have played something similar a couple of years ago).
Features original levels. And cool animated character models. Would have been a great game (probably), if not for the clunky controls and overall feel of "laggyness". The only game I would reluctantly recommend to check out (but hey, I didn't say this).
Even more original levels, with cool enemies and traps. Made by the same devs as the one above. Even better models and more fluent animations. Feels like a complete product, rather than a cheap ripoff, but still bears this clear resemblance to original NA, not allowing me to stop comparing the two. I actually like the movements in this one a bit better (but again: I didn't say that).
Another ripoff, made to milk some money from the popular "franchise". Throws ads left and right, and has annoying flashy banners to buy "this cool shiny thing" for only $0.99. Looks and feels the same way as the original, so why prefer the former over the latter?
Mentioned games
Comments
Latest
No more comments. Why not add one?
