Clone (computer and video games)
Encyclopedia
A video game clone is a video game or game series which is very similar to or heavily inspired by a previous popular game or game series. Some video game genres are founded by such archetypal games that all subsequent similar games are thought of as derivatives.
The term is sometimes derogatory, implying a lack of originality, however clones can be anything from a pure "ripoff
", to a legitimate derivative or improvement on the original or even a homage
.
lawsuits, such as the one Capcom
filed against Data East
over the game Fighter's History
also began to be filed, however are not common due to the legal complexities involved. With the adoption of software patent
s in some countries, e.g. in the United States
in the 1990s, clone games are at far greater legal risk.
At times, games can be considered clones by the uninformed gamer if they resemble a modern popular game regardless of whether or not the game that has been "cloned" was completely original or not. An example of this is the way the majority of isometric
RPG titles are considered clones of Blizzard's popular Diablo game, despite the fact that Diablo did not pioneer this style of gameplay and was in itself heavily influenced by Ultima VIII
.
Early arcade games such as Space Invaders
have been cloned very widely especially in 1980s and still in early 1990s. Most clones have been published by freeware
computer game designers, but there have also been many commercially released clone games. Freeware-released versions have often been almost exact copies of earlier games, with only some minor elements and possibly the game's title changed.
The Fedora operating system
will not include any rhythm game
s (for example Frets on Fire
and Stepmania
) that may infringe on patents in Guitar Hero
or Dance Dance Revolution
.
Many famous titles by Jeff Minter
were clones of arcade games in which graphics were turned from the original robot/spaceship graphics to animal creatures.
The term is sometimes derogatory, implying a lack of originality, however clones can be anything from a pure "ripoff
Ripoff
A ripoff is a bad financial transaction. Usually it refers to an incident in which a person overpays for something. A ripoff is distinguished from a scam in that a scam involves wrongdoing such as fraud; whether or not something is a ripoff, on the other hand, is a matter of opinion.In a related...
", to a legitimate derivative or improvement on the original or even a homage
Homage
Homage is a show or demonstration of respect or dedication to someone or something, sometimes by simple declaration but often by some more oblique reference, artistic or poetic....
.
History
In the early video game industry, making a clone of a game was not illegal, provided that no outright copyright violation or trademark infringement occurred. As the gaming market grew large developers gained the ability to sue the developers of clones which were too similar to originals. Look and feelLook and feel
In software design, look and feel is a term used in respect of a graphical user interface and comprises aspects of its design, including elements such as colors, shapes, layout, and typefaces , as well as the behavior of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes, and menus...
lawsuits, such as the one Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
filed against Data East
Data East
also abbreviated as DECO, was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was in operation from 1976 to 2003, when it declared bankruptcy...
over the game Fighter's History
Fighter's History
is a series of competitive fighting games that were produced by Data East during the 1990s. The original Fighter's History was first released for the arcades in and then ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in...
also began to be filed, however are not common due to the legal complexities involved. With the adoption of software patent
Software patent
Software patent does not have a universally accepted definition. One definition suggested by the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure is that a software patent is a "patent on any performance of a computer realised by means of a computer program".In 2005, the European Patent Office...
s in some countries, e.g. in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the 1990s, clone games are at far greater legal risk.
At times, games can be considered clones by the uninformed gamer if they resemble a modern popular game regardless of whether or not the game that has been "cloned" was completely original or not. An example of this is the way the majority of isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
RPG titles are considered clones of Blizzard's popular Diablo game, despite the fact that Diablo did not pioneer this style of gameplay and was in itself heavily influenced by Ultima VIII
Ultima VIII
Ultima VIII: Pagan is a video game, the eighth part of the computer role-playing game series Ultima. It was not as well-received as its predecessors, Ultima VII and Ultima VII Part Two: Serpent Isle...
.
Early arcade games such as Space Invaders
Space Invaders
is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
have been cloned very widely especially in 1980s and still in early 1990s. Most clones have been published by freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
computer game designers, but there have also been many commercially released clone games. Freeware-released versions have often been almost exact copies of earlier games, with only some minor elements and possibly the game's title changed.
The Fedora operating system
Fedora (operating system)
Fedora is a RPM-based, general purpose collection of software, including an operating system based on the Linux kernel, developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and sponsored by Red Hat...
will not include any rhythm game
Rhythm game
Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to press buttons in a sequence dictated on the screen...
s (for example Frets on Fire
Frets on Fire
Frets on Fire is a free, open-source Finnish music video game created by Unreal Voodoo. Players use the keyboard to play along with markers which appear on screen, with the aim to score points, achieve a high point multiplier, and complete a song...
and Stepmania
StepMania
StepMania is an open source and cross-platform rhythm video game and engine. It was originally developed as a simulator of Konami's arcade game series Dance Dance Revolution, and has since evolved into an extensible rhythm game engine capable of supporting a wide variety of rhythm-based game types...
) that may infringe on patents in Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in...
or Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
.
Many famous titles by Jeff Minter
Jeff Minter
Jeff 'Yak' Minter is a British computer/video game designer and programmer. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and his recent works include Neon , a non-game music visualization program that has been built into the Xbox 360 console, and the video games Space Giraffe , and Space Invaders...
were clones of arcade games in which graphics were turned from the original robot/spaceship graphics to animal creatures.
Notable cloned games
- ArkanoidArkanoidis an arcade game developed by Taito in 1986. It is based upon Atari's Breakout games of the 1970s. The title refers to a doomed "mothership" from which the player's ship, the Vaus, escapes.-Overview:...
. The 19871987 in video gaming-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
release of the computer conversion of this arcade game - which is itself a clone - triggered a flood of clones made for leading home computers of the day. - The success of the Grand Theft Auto series has led to many clonesGTA cloneGrand Theft Auto clone is a genre of sandbox action adventure video games characterized by their likeness to the Grand Theft Auto series, in which players may find and use a variety of vehicles and weapons while roaming freely in an open world setting...
. - Commando (19851985 in video gaming-Notable releases:* Brøderbund releases Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, the first game of the prolific Carmen Sandiego series* Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros. on September 13, 1985, which eventually sells 40 million copies making it the best-selling video game of all time until 2008.*...
), a vertical scrolling shoot 'em upShoot 'em upShoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
, produced many clones such as Ikari WarriorsIkari WarriorsIkari Warriors is a 1986 arcade game by SNK, published in the United States and Europe by Tradewest. Known simply as in Japan, this was SNK's first major breakthrough US release and became something of a classic. The game was released at the time when there were many Commando clones on the market...
, Rambo II, Dogs of War, Leatherneck, Battle Isle. - Dungeon Master (19871987 in video gaming-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
) was the first 3D-roleplaying game (though early Ultima games contained similar dungeons). It was followed by many clones, though it took few years before the clones really start coming. Some of the clones took the game idea to a science fiction setting but most of them remained in fantasy world. - TetrisTetrisTetris is a puzzle video game originally designed and programmed by Alexey Pajitnov in the Soviet Union. It was released on June 6, 1984, while he was working for the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre of the Academy of Science of the USSR in Moscow, Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic...
has been ported to all but the most obscure platforms, often under different non-infringing names. See Tetris variantsTetris variantsThis a list of variants of the game Tetris. It includes officially licensed Tetris sequels, as well as unofficial clones.-Official games:- Unofficial games :These games are not official Tetris products:-External links:...
. - In the 1990s, first person shooters were called Doom-clones. Doom (19931993 in video gaming-Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993....
) itself was the spiritual sequel to Wolfenstein 3DWolfenstein 3DWolfenstein 3D is a video game that is generally regarded by critics and gaming journalists as having both popularized the first-person shooter genre on the PC and created the basic archetype upon which all subsequent games of the same genre would be built. It was created by id Software and...
(19921992 in video gaming-Events:-Notable releases:* Gremlin Graphics releases Zool, Amiga's answer to Mario and Sonic. It goes on to become the best selling Commodore Amiga game, boosting the already popular computer to be the leading gaming machine in Europe....
), by the same designers. - Great Giana SistersGreat Giana SistersThe Great Giana Sisters is a platform game developed by Time Warp Productions for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, MSX2, and Commodore 64. It was released in 1987 and published by Rainbow Arts. The Commodore 64 version was programmed by Armin Gessert...
(19871987 in video gaming-Notable releases:* January 14, Nintendo releases Zelda II: The Adventure of Link in January for the Famicom Disk System in Japan only. The game would go unreleased in America for nearly two years afterwards.* February 20, Konami releases Contra...
), famous platform game for late 1980s home computers, was a Super Mario Bros clone to the extent that its publisher was threatened to be taken to court and the game was withdrawn from market. - WarcraftWarcraftWarcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game , developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Entertainment. The MS-DOS version was released in November 1994 and the Macintosh version in late 1996. Sales were fairly high, reviewers were mostly impressed, and the...
was originally a Dune IIDune IIDune II: The Building of a Dynasty is a Dune computer game released in 1992 by Westwood Studios...
clone being a second game of the new genre. - World of WarcraftWorld of WarcraftWorld of Warcraft is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment. It is the fourth released game set in the fantasy Warcraft universe, which was first introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994...
has been cloned multiple times, commonly by companies that allow their games to be downloaded freely on the internet. Popular examples are Runes of MagicRunes of MagicNot to be confused with RuneScape.Runes of Magic is a free massively multiplayer online role-playing game developed by the Taiwanese developer Runewaker Entertainment and adapted for the English and German-speaking market by German company Frogster Interactive...
or Neo steam. - Guitar Freaks has spawned a great number of clones: Guitar Hero, Frets On FireFrets on FireFrets on Fire is a free, open-source Finnish music video game created by Unreal Voodoo. Players use the keyboard to play along with markers which appear on screen, with the aim to score points, achieve a high point multiplier, and complete a song...
, Freetar, Guitar Zero and Flash Hero are the more notable ones. - Famous early arcade gameArcade gameAn arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s were cloned often, especially by freeware game designers- AsteroidsAsteroids (computer game)Asteroids is a video arcade game released in 1979 by Atari Inc. It was one of the most popular and influential games of the Golden Age of Arcade Games. Asteroids uses a vector display and a two-dimensional view that wraps around in both screen axes. The player controls a spaceship in an asteroid...
(clones include Stardust, SinistarSinistarSinistar is an arcade game released by Williams in 1982. It belongs to a class of video games from the 1980s called "twitch games". Other "twitch games" include Tempest, Defender, and Robotron: 2084. Sinistar was developed by Sam Dicker, Jack Haeger, Noah Falstein, RJ Mical and Richard Witt...
, Comet Busters!Comet Busters!Comet Busters! is an improved version of Asteroids created by Steven E. Hugg for Windows 3.1/95. It was originally released in 1991 with a registration cost of $9. A shareware version was also distributed and has since become free to download...
, and Minestorm, which was built into the notable VectrexVectrexThe Vectrex is a vector display-based video game console that was developed by Western Technologies/Smith Engineering. It was licensed and distributed first by General Consumer Electric , and then by Milton Bradley Company after their purchase of GCE...
console) - DefenderDefender (game)Defender is an arcade video game developed released by Williams Electronics in 1980. A shooting game featuring two-dimensional graphics, the game is set on a fictional planet where the player must defeat waves of invading aliens while protecting astronauts...
(clones include Star Ray, Attack of the Mutant CamelsAttack of the Mutant CamelsAttack of the Mutant Camels was a surrealist computer game released for the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit computers in the 1980s by Jeff Minter's Llamasoft. It is a horizontally-scrolling shooter.-Summary:...
, DatastormDatastormDatastorm is a Defender-like game for the Amiga published in 1989. Written by Søren Grønbech, it was inspired by Dropzone for the Commodore 64. As such, the exact gameplay deviates from Defender in that the task on each level is to carry the 8 pods through a portal, with points on completing a...
) - Gravitar (clones include ThrustThrust (computer game)Thrust is a computer game originally for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. The perspective is 2 dimensional platform-based and the player's aim is to maneuver a spaceship by rotating and thrusting, as it flies over a landscape and along corridors....
, Gravity ForceGravity ForceGravity Force is a computer game released in 1989 for the Amiga by Kingsoft. It is a 2D Thrust-clone, with single player missions and a 2-player multiplayer mode. It is primarily notable for inspiring the far more popular unofficial sequel Gravity Force 2.In 1994, Jens Andersson and Jan Kronqvist...
, OIDSOidsOids is a video game released in 1987 by FTL Games.The game was originally released on the Atari ST, followed by a conversion for the Apple Macintosh. The Atari ST version was a cult favorite in the UK, where it received rave reviews....
) - Pac-ManPac-Manis an arcade game developed by Namco and licensed for distribution in the United States by Midway, first released in Japan on May 22, 1980. Immensely popular from its original release to the present day, Pac-Man is considered one of the classics of the medium, virtually synonymous with video games,...
(clones include Munch Man (the most popular TI-99/4A game) and countless others) - Space InvadersSpace Invadersis an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...
(clones include GalagaGalagais a fixed shooter arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan and published by Midway in North America in 1981. It is the sequel to Galaxian, released in 1979. The gameplay of Galaga puts the player in control of a space ship which is situated on the bottom of the screen...
, PhoenixPhoenix (arcade game)Phoenix is a shoot 'em up arcade game developed by Amstar Electronics in 1980, released by Centuri in the United States and by Taito in Japan. Bootleg versions of Phoenix were released by TPN and others...
, TI InvadersTI InvadersTI Invaders is a video game designed in 1981 exclusively for the Texas Instruments TI-99/4A home computer. The game is essentially a Space Invaders clone.-Object:...
) - Missile CommandMissile CommandMissile Command is a 1980 arcade game by Atari, Inc. that was also licensed to Sega for European release. It is considered one of the most notable games from the Golden Age of Video Arcade Games...
(clones include LiberatorLiberator (arcade game)Atari Force Liberator is an arcade game based on the Atari Force comic book series. Atari Force was published by DC Comics from 1982 to 1986. The story "Code Name: Liberator" describes the premise of the arcade game in detail and was included as a special insert in two comic books cover dated...
, Bio-ship PaladinBio-ship PaladinBio-ship Paladin is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game from 1990. It was later ported to the Sega Mega Drive. While the game is essentially a standard horizontally-scrolling shoot 'em up, it has an innovation that makes it unique in the genre...
) - QixQixQix is an arcade game, released by Taito America Corporation in 1981.-Gameplay:The objective of Qix is to fence off, or “claim”, a supermajority of the playfield...
(clones include Gals PanicGals PanicThe Gals Panic games are variants of the classic puzzle game Qix. The objective is to uncover the silhouette portion of background with a marker until at least 80% of the silhouette is uncovered...
, XonixXonixXonix is a video game in the style of Qix by Ilan Rav and Dani Katz.Xonix was very popular at the Dorodnicyn Computing Centre, where Dmitry Pavlovsky, one of the original developers of the video game Tetris, was a computer engineer, and was the direct inspiration for Antix.-External Links:* at...
, JezzBallJezzBallJezzBall is a video game in which red-and-white balls, referred to as atoms, bounce about a rectangular field of play, or room. The player advances to the next level by containing the atoms in progressively smaller spaces, until at least 75% of the area is blocked off...
) - TronTron (arcade game)Tron is a coin-operated arcade video game manufactured and distributed by Bally Midway in 1982. It is based on the Walt Disney Productions motion picture Tron released in the same year. The game consists of four subgames inspired by the events of the science fiction film. It features some...
(clones include Armagetron AdvancedArmagetron AdvancedArmagetron Advanced is a multiplayer game in 3D that attempts to emulate and expand on the light cycle sequence from the film Tron. It is available for Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, AmigaOS 4 and OpenBSD as free software released under version 2 of the GNU General Public...
, GLtronGLtronGLtron is an open source computer game based on the light cycle portion of the movie Tron. It is released under the GNU General Public License and is available on multiple platforms.-Gameplay:...
)
- Asteroids