Kirbys Avalance vs. Mean Bean Machine: Which is the rip-off?

[norkusa]

I just picked up Kirby's Avalanche yesterday at a thrift. When I played it, the first thing I noticed is how blatantly identical to Dr. Robotniks Mean Bean Machine it is. I mean sure, there are a ton of Tetris/Columns clones out there, but there is no difference whatsoever in gameplay between these two. They ARE the same game. Even the little "dots" that fall look exactly the same.

So what I want to know is who copied who. Did Sega copy Nintendo's idea, or did Nintendo copy Sega's? Or did both of them copy someone else? And don't they have copyright laws against this kind of thing?

[portnoyd]

Both? Neither? I think it's both. Like, both are Puyo Puyo, am I right? Who made Puyo Puyo - therein lies the answer.

dave

[Ze_ro]

I thought Sega owned Puyo Puyo, and just called it Dr Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine in North America because we obviously have no idea what "Puyo Puyo" means (Frankly, I wish more companies would do that... I'm sick of games with meaningless (to me) Japanese names).

Puyo Puyo was definitely the first. There are plenty of rip-offs of it though... at least as many as Tetris ripoffs.

Try Kirby's Star Stacker for the Gameboy though... that one is fairly unique, and very addictive.

--Zero

[Sand_monkey]

Hmmmmmmm I think that both of the games came out arround the same time, but I think that Meanbean Machine came out first.... or not... Maybe this is a mystery that is not ment to be solved :P

[Oobgarm]

Puyo Puyo was done by Compile.

Dr. Robotnik was in 1993, Kirby's Avalanche in 1995. Both games have Compile credited on the title screens.

[NE146]

Like said above, neither is a rip off. They are both the licensed real deal from Compile and are just repackaged and renamed Puyo Puyo for U.S. consumption.

http://www.robotube.com/furuipixels/images/DSC01370.jpg

[maxlords]

What they said. Compile...makers of good shmups and Puyo Puyo :D

[josekortez]

If you guys wanna go modern with the Puyo action, try Puyo Pop on Game Boy Advance and Dr. Robotnik on the Sonic Mega Collection for GameCube.

Also, later this year, another Puyo game is supposed to come out in Japan for GC, PS2, XB, and my favorite, the Dreamcast!

[maxlords]

Yep, Puyo Puyo Fever is coming for DC! Yay! Will go along well with the Puyo Puyo 4 for DC I don't have yet! I love this series!