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Mario clones

Randam

Member
Even before seeing the Zelda clones thread I was thinking about Mario clones today.
And I couldn't think of any.
I'm talking about jump n' runs with power ups.
Are there any?
I don't even know if Gianna sisters has power ups.
 
Mario clones? Really? Is this the 90s again? Are we going to start talking about Doom clones again soon?

But to answer your question lots of jump'n runs have power ups including Giana Sisters.
 
Giana Sisters has powerups. The original had just the punk power up I think (which was basically a fireflower) but later game added bubble gum you could float around in and a bottle of soda you could fire at enemies and destroy blocks with

Pac Man and the Ghostly Adventures is a powerup focused 3D Platformer and most of the powerups feel like "We played Mario Galaxy 2, and ya know what might as well crib from the best"
 
Wait, do you want us to list like almost every mascot platformer from the mid 80s to the mid 90s plus all the Mario 64-likes?
 
Giana Sisters and Giana Sisters DS have power ups. In the DS version, her punk form functions the same way as Mario's fire flower, which you can kind of guess by looking at the cover. I think it's a fairly decent platformer despite some amateurish level design later on, but it's good that the creators retooled how the game works to stray away from Mario.

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Also, search for platformers on the iOS or Android store for some "how the fuck did they get away with that?" Mario knockoffs.
 
It's actually really interesting to see how Giana Sisters has changed upon being rebooted to really not resemble mario at all. Someone did good work with that property.

For clarity, I'm talking about Twisted Dreams.
 
Why are Nintendo fans always trying to reduce games to "Nintendo IP"-clones or -likes and create some kind of monopoly on vaguely similar concepts? Genres exist, deal with it.
 
Why are Nintendo fans always trying to reduce games to "Nintendo IP"-clones or -likes and create some kind of monopoly on vaguely similar concepts? Genres exist, deal with it.

I can understand Zelda (not many games have its mixed style of genres) but Mario style platformers aren't that uncommon. It's just that not many of them are as good.
 
Does Sonic count? I mean he has running and Jumping and depending on the game obtain power ups.

The reception to PSASBR since its announcement, two threads today where some very rough similarities between games have people tossing around "clone".

Just something annecdotal I've observed over time.

Playstation All-Star Battle Royal was regarded as a clone because it was clearly trying to copy Smash Bros formula, not that there's anything wrong with that.

However the problem was that the developers clearly didn't understand why Smash Bros works and as a result the game was crap to play.
 
Giana Sisters has powerups. The original had just the punk power up I think (which was basically a fireflower)

No, the original had lots of power ups. Punk power up let you crush blocks (basically a mushroom). Lightning gave you a bouncing ball (fire flower). Double lightning gave you a homing bouncing ball. Pineapple gave you a homing bouncing ball that could go through bricks.
 
The reception to PSASBR since its announcement, two threads today where some very rough similarities between games have people tossing around "clone".

Just something annecdotal I've observed over time.

Didn't the developers liken the game to Smash Bros anyway? Plus, it followed nearly the same mechanics, with some of their own twists as well, but it didn't do too good of a job differentiating itself from Smash.
 
For a literal super mario bros clone, check out Super Boy on the MSX, Sega Master System, and Colecovision:

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Later super boy games on the SMS began stealing from later mario games, like Mario World:

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For a literal super mario bros clone, check out Super Boy on the MSX, Sega Master System, and Colecovision:

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Later super boy games on the SMS began stealing from later mario games, like Mario World:

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This is hilarious and sad at the same time lol.
 
Didn't the developers liken the game to Smash Bros anyway? Plus, it followed nearly the same mechanics, with some of their own twists as well, but it didn't do too good of a job differentiating itself from Smash.

Unless my memory fails, didn't the official trailer for it have super smash bros as the tag on youtube?
 
Giana Sisters and Giana Sisters DS have power ups. In the DS version, her punk form functions the same way as Mario's fire flower, which you can kind of guess by looking at the cover. I think it's a fairly decent platformer despite some amateurish level design later on, but it's good that the creators retooled how the game works to stray away from Mario.



Also, search for platformers on the iOS or Android store for some "how the fuck did they get away with that?" Mario knockoffs.

Twisted Dreams was such a massive disappointment after playing Giana DS. I'd take notMario over that badly-designed mess any day.
 
No, the original had lots of power ups. Punk power up let you crush blocks (basically a mushroom). Lightning gave you a bouncing ball (fire flower). Double lightning gave you a homing bouncing ball. Pineapple gave you a homing bouncing ball that could go through bricks.

More than just that, too: http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/The_Great_Giana_Sisters

"After the strawberry there is an alarm clock, a bomb and a water drop. The alarm clock and bomb are activated by the space key. The alarm clock temporarily stops the time (which is practical, e.g. to jump easily over to bouncing balls), the bomb kills directly all killable monsters on the screen and the water drop makes immune against fire (Be careful: in some versions the water drop doesn't work properly). Alarm clock and bomb have to be collected again after use."
 
Why are Nintendo fans always trying to reduce games to "Nintendo IP"-clones or -likes and create some kind of monopoly on vaguely similar concepts? Genres exist, deal with it.

I think FPS are far more clone-y than their fans might believe. And definitely not Nintendo's cup of tea.
 
More than just that, too: http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/The_Great_Giana_Sisters

"After the strawberry there is an alarm clock, a bomb and a water drop. The alarm clock and bomb are activated by the space key. The alarm clock temporarily stops the time (which is practical, e.g. to jump easily over to bouncing balls), the bomb kills directly all killable monsters on the screen and the water drop makes immune against fire (Be careful: in some versions the water drop doesn't work properly). Alarm clock and bomb have to be collected again after use."

I never used the bomb because using the space bar on the C64 was so frustrating mid-game, and the game never really needed it. Once you got the balls that homed and could go through walls, realistically you should never die again in the game unless you miss a jump.
 
I never used the bomb because using the space bar on the C64 was so frustrating mid-game, and the game never really needed it. Once you got the balls that homed and could go through walls, realistically you should never die again in the game unless you miss a jump.

The one I had was the hack with Mario characters drawn in, and man was the jumping bad in that. Up to jump. Eventually I got the hang of it and finished the game, but not after a ton of work.
 
No, the original had lots of power ups. Punk power up let you crush blocks (basically a mushroom). Lightning gave you a bouncing ball (fire flower). Double lightning gave you a homing bouncing ball. Pineapple gave you a homing bouncing ball that could go through bricks.

Youre right. I think I got it all mixed up because Ive only played through the original once or twice, but Ive played through DS a lot.
 
The one I had was the hack with Mario characters drawn in, and man was the jumping bad in that. Up to jump. Eventually I got the hang of it and finished the game, but not after a ton of work.

Yep, I had that hack too, in north america that hack was much more prominent than the real game.

I, only this year, got used to using up to jump on real commodore hardware. At the time, I couldn't do it at all, I had a special gravis gamepad that had up mapped to a button. The trick to "up to jump"? A good joystick. That sort of mechanic will never feel right on a gamepad. It feels normal now on a joystick. I've actually just finished building a new C64 joystick last night, actually. Modded a second button onto the unit along the top, which runs to port two on the C64 so it acts like a space bar button.
 
Does Sonic count? I mean he has running and Jumping and depending on the game obtain power ups.

I wouldn't say so at all, Sonic plays with a heavy momentum focus within layered stages of multiple paths to narrow it down to a more immediately noticeable difference in game structure.
Though Sonic Colours is a game that intentionally apes a few Mario aspects (power ups in particular though more akin to the restricted 3D Mario style) but ultimately retains and more prominently features Sonic like aspects, it doesn't really come across as cloneish, well except the Cube power up basically being the P block.

Really I can't think of much that really goes straight for the Mario formula outside of the relatively obscure retro rip offs, even among Nintendo's own platformers that relate to the same universe they branch off in different directions with Donkey Kong Country being the closest counterpart, more so with Kong Partners being similar to power ups in Retro's take on the series, coming to think of it this is probably one of the better clone contenders.
I also suppose that the Mario Land off shoot Wario Land 1 has the power ups, even then it plays out in a deliberately different style when it comes to character movement and the series beyond that is very much its own thing focusing on exploration gameplay.

Kid Chameleon had powerups and "?" blocks atleast. It's pretty fun.

I was trying to remember this one yet for some reason my mind kept going to Decap Attack as that one Mega Drive platformer I vaguely remember having the ? blocks.
Yeah Kid Chameleon has a few points here, though level progression was really unusual if I recall.
 
Ok, saw super boy just now.

Wow.

But any original ips?

Once the IP becomes original, is it really a clone anymore? Like, you could easily call Kid Chameleon or Mr Nutz or McKids a mario clone, but they're not shameless like Great Giana Sisters or Super Boy.

I've actually been wanting to make a topic for a while suggesting similar, lesser known games to fans of popular genres, i.e. "If you like mario, try Meyhem in Monster Land" which I think fits the spirit of what you're asking for more than just blatant clones.
 
The 8-bit illusion series (Castle of Illusion, Land of Illusion, Legend of Illusion) is, not counting super boy, probably the closest the Sega Master System got to Mario. The games, especially castle and land of illusion, are some of the very finest 8-bit platformers on any system. Gameplay wise, they are much like a mix of mario 2 and mario 1. Mickey can pick up items and throw them, similar to how you can pick up veggies in mario 2, but you can also defeat enemies by jumping on them (and pressing jump again in the air to "butt-bounce.")

Terrific, terrific games:

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I much prefer these games to the Genesis Illusion games.
 
How about Sega's original Mario Clone?

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This is actually a really good mario clone. Really fun if you dig the 8-bit mario games. The sequels to this progressively get worse, however, except for the last game in the series, Alex Kidd in Shinobi World, which is a shinobi clone, not a mario clone.
 
Playstation All-Star Battle Royal was regarded as a clone because it was clearly trying to copy Smash Bros formula, not that there's anything wrong with that.

However the problem was that the developers clearly didn't understand why Smash Bros works and as a result the game was crap to play.
Can't stress this enough.
 
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