AtariAge Summer Homebrew Releases!

[Dan Iacovelli]

if the music is the problem as well change the pitch and speed thats why they do on youtube.

[108 Stars]

Communicate what the exact complaint is and fix it.

Don't expect to get an answer on the exact complaint though. To be safe Nintendo has probably made a statement that does not specify single sprites etc, but used more generic terms to Mario-related characters and music.

 

To do the changes Sprybug has to use his own common sense. Replace the two things that are cleary infringing, being Mario's sprite and the music, and anything that he believes may be to recognizable.

 

About Giana Sisters:

It is a bit of a myth surrounding the game being pulled from stores. To this day we do not know exactly what happened, to my knowledge there are no official comments on the issue. Much like with Princess Rescue, it is just what is assumed happened.

On the other hand, if the Gameplay really can not be copyrighted the thing smells fishy, as Nintendo old have no leverage in that case; it is only the game concept that was cloned, no characters or music.

 

Lastly, if Nintendo really had the game pulled... I can even understand it. The similarity was more than jumping on enemies' heads, Giana Sisters really was a blatant (yet somewhat inferior) clone of SMB1. Giana Sisters is closer to SMB than the masses of jump'n runs that followed over the next decade. Had it had Mario's perfect controls you could have mistaken it for a SMB hack.^^

For a company like Nintendo trying to sell their console on the attractiveness of their original exclusives, it was obviously really dangerous to see such a clone come out on homecomputers in Europe. I'd even say that gameplay should be able to be protected; maybe for a limited time, say 5 or 10 years. A way for creative minds to really benefit from their innovation instead of being ripped off immediately.

 

It's a whole different story with Princess Rescue imo, after almost 30 years, released on a console no longer on the market nobody should really have reason to complain as long as the content does not put Mario in a damaging light.

[+FujiSkunk]

if the music is the problem as well change the pitch and speed thats why they do on youtube.

 

That doesn't make it non-infringing, that just makes it harder for YouTube's automatic filters to pick up on it.

[mkiker2089]

People are forgetting one thing about Giana Sisters, who re-released it. That would be Nintendo. they own it now or at least a large part of it. If they wanted to release Princess Rescue they could.

 

You can't see Giana Sisters as coup against Nintendo. Really it's just Nintendo showing a sense of irony.

[PFL]

^

Black Forest released. Nintendo was just another company which allowed the last title to be sold on Wii-U. It was initially funded through Kickstarter and released on PC before anything else happened. The DS version, again, is not owned by Nintendo. They just conceded a losing battle...

[108 Stars]

Nothing to do with a losing battle, but with changed times. SMB is now old news, the jump'n run genre has e volved and so has Giana Sisters. While close to the original, the DS game is still more original, not to mention the Twisted Dreams game.

[Dan Iacovelli]

I think what stardust4ever said to change characters so that they would be female would work also if you change the color of the main characters would also work as well.

just be glad those who have got the cart got theirs and those who d/l the rom can be happy as well, maybe spry or al can send a pdf copy of the manual to those who got the rom

for free that is.

drops the mic and walks off I'm done with this topic.

[Mayhem]

About Giana Sisters:

It is a bit of a myth surrounding the game being pulled from stores. To this day we do not know exactly what happened, to my knowledge there are no official comments on the issue. Much like with Princess Rescue, it is just what is assumed happened.

 

It had already been on sale in Germany for a year before the game was pulled, and I'm not sure it got removed from sale in Germany even after the kerfuffle. Anyone in Germany care to chime in? The press at the time here in the UK reported that it was on demo at a UK computer show, a Nintendo rep saw it, and and injunction occurred shortly after the game went on sale here. Approximate time on sale, 1-2 weeks. Enough time for a reasonable amount of copies to shift before it was recalled. I know it was recalled from talking to someone in a shop about the game, as I'd wanted to buy it, but didn't have enough money to afford it. Went back two days later and it was gone.

[Albert]

I've commented about Princess Rescue here:

 

http://atariage.com/forums/topic/212554-princess-rescue-now-available/page-33?do=findComment&comment=2829209

[108 Stars]

It had already been on sale in Germany for a year before the game was pulled, and I'm not sure it got removed from sale in Germany even after the kerfuffle. Anyone in Germany care to chime in? The press at the time here in the UK reported that it was on demo at a UK computer show, a Nintendo rep saw it, and and injunction occurred shortly after the game went on sale here. Approximate time on sale, 1-2 weeks. Enough time for a reasonable amount of copies to shift before it was recalled. I know it was recalled from talking to someone in a shop about the game, as I'd wanted to buy it, but didn't have enough money to afford it. Went back two days later and it was gone.

I am German.

I don't know how long the C64 version was out, but it was released in 1987, while the pulling from the shelves happened in 1988 shortly after the Amiga-/ST- version release. So the C64 was available at least for a couple of months.

And yes, it was of course also pulled from shelves in Germany, which is why it is quite rare in any format, but especially 16-bit. Those had not been available for more than a few weeks here either.

 

I can't comment on Nintendo seeing the game at an event or anything; the press everywhere to my knowledge just guessed/spread rumors they heard. No official statement from Nintendo or Rainbow Arts was given. In more recent years Armin Gessert stated he was not aware of a cease & desist or other legal action; which may indicate that Nintendo bypassed the legal system by putting direct pressure on distributors and sellers. They had done so in the US regularly, threatening retailers with stopping all deliveries of Nintendo products if the retailer carried other systems, or carried unlicensed games.

[Mayhem]

It was on sale here in the UK (the C64 version) around August 1988 for the record. It was definitely during the time I had off from school in the summer. I never saw the Amiga/ST version until much, much later, and presumed that it had gone on sale around the time of the C64 version here in the UK, and suffered the same fate. I don't think the Spectrum version was even released.

[simbalion]

Well, mI am just finding out about all this and am very disappointed. Had hoped to buy that game this year to kick off a new round of buying homebrews once the early winter bill season was over. Well, I have a little note for the big N now: I was pondering buying a 3DS or even trying out the Wii-U this year, but I now refuse to buy anything new from the big N. I'll keep all my older consoles, but I think my move to Sony and the X-box series is now complete. Bye, Big N!

[+Gemintronic]

As a side RetroFiends got me a contact email address for Black Forest games. I'm hoping to see what can be done for an Atari 2600 license for Giana Sisters. At the very least some sort of agreement not to sue if I continue with The Sensational Santuci Sisters.

 

No response yet but it looks like most of the crew was on hiatus (not even the forum is really active).

 

That would be pretty rad if AtariAge could serve up a classic Great Giana Sisters game in 2014!

[Albert]

That would be pretty rad if AtariAge could serve up a classic Great Giana Sisters game in 2014!

[Andromeda Stardust]

Well, mI am just finding out about all this and am very disappointed. Had hoped to buy that game this year to kick off a new round of buying homebrews once the early winter bill season was over. Well, I have a little note for the big N now: I was pondering buying a 3DS or even trying out the Wii-U this year, but I now refuse to buy anything new from the big N. I'll keep all my older consoles, but I think my move to Sony and the X-box series is now complete. Bye, Big N!

You'll miss out on a lot of great stuff... Whatever you do don't buy MS X1 with their stupid spy camera add on. Sony is the lesser evil in that regard.

[simbalion]

You'll miss out on a lot of great stuff... Whatever you do don't buy MS X1 with their stupid spy camera add on. Sony is the lesser evil in that regard.

Eh, I've been growing more and more away from Nintendo and modern gaming for the past few years. Very little of the new games out there interest me enough to get me to let go of my money. My Wii has been collecting dust most of its life since I bought it and I am just saying Nintendo's bit with Princess Rescue just finished giving me the last little nudge to leave the brand. A far as a new system goes, I am going after an X-box 360 so I can play the new GTA and a few games I have been wanting for the system. Other than those, I doubt I'll go much further. I find it more fun to plug in one of my vintage consoles, which have already lasted longer than most of these disc systems will. My PS2 is getting fussy now, will probably have to switch to the spare soon.

Edited January 23, 2014 by simbalion