What does Capcom’s new App Store game MaXplosion and the Twisted Pixel Xbox Live Arcade game ‘Splosion Man have in common? Everything, much to Twisted Pixel’s dismay.
Twisted Pixel originally released ‘Splosion Man back in 2009 on the Xbox 360 console. It’s a great game that I played to death at the time: basically, you play as a flaming maniac who can only run left and right and explode up to three times in a row, which not only allow you to “jump” but also destroy enemies. It’s a fantastic game, and surprisingly unique.
Unique no longer, though. The $0.99 MaxPlosion essentially rips off ‘Splosion Man‘s graphics, music, level design and even gameplay wholesale.
It’s even more unscrupulous when you consider the fact that the developer is Capcom… a much beloved publisher which has not only dealt with flagrant rip-offs of its properties itself on countless occasions, but was actually one of the first publishers Twisted Pixel met with to pitch the ‘Splosion Man concept to.
Twisted Pixel’s being pretty gracious about the whole thing, partly because they know Capcom has more money to win a lawsuit than them, but partly — in the wry words of CEO Mike Wilford — because “we owe them one for inventing Mega Man.”
Perhaps the best revenge would be to do their own kick-ass App Store game anyway… and that’s just what Twisted Pixel has in mind. Any chance you guys would consider an iOS port of ‘Splosion Man‘s sequel, Ms. ‘Splosion Man?
