Game art: homage or rip-off?
I know a lot of games had artwork which "borrowed heavily" from other sources but stuff was usually altered a little bit so that it wasn't quite a straight lift. However, I just found this and think it's got to be one of the most blatant I've ever seen!
Original image taken from page 4 of "Xenozoic Tales" issue 2 by Mark Schultz and, errr, reproduced virtually identically in the advert for "Where Time Stood Still" and on the back of the inlay too (although it's more "subtle" in that I think one of the R's has been removed from RRRRRRRR!)
I'm sure all the other comic book images in the ad are probably direct copies too but I couldn't spot them in the same issue. Along the same lines, does anyone think that the girl on front cover is very similar to Corinne Russell on the front cover of Vixen? Well, her or some other 80s page 3 girl at any rate.
This next one is just something that I only read about recently so sorry if it's nothing new! I thought I'd post it as it's another Bob Wakelin image. Target Renegade with the original image from "How To Master Bruce Lee's Fighting System" by Joe Lewis.
I know he mentions some of his sources on his website but there must be loads of other game covers by other artists which used images as "reference" when they were being put together. The first one I ever spotted was years ago when I realised that the cover of Operation Thunderbolt looked uncannily like the cover photo of an SAS book I'd seen in the "Home Bookclub" leaflet that seemed to be in every magazine at one point. Yup, another Wako image!
Anyone got any others? (I know about Wako's "borrowing" of Arnie for at least one game cover). Post comparison pics if you've got 'em :)
Original image taken from page 4 of "Xenozoic Tales" issue 2 by Mark Schultz and, errr, reproduced virtually identically in the advert for "Where Time Stood Still" and on the back of the inlay too (although it's more "subtle" in that I think one of the R's has been removed from RRRRRRRR!)
I'm sure all the other comic book images in the ad are probably direct copies too but I couldn't spot them in the same issue. Along the same lines, does anyone think that the girl on front cover is very similar to Corinne Russell on the front cover of Vixen? Well, her or some other 80s page 3 girl at any rate.
This next one is just something that I only read about recently so sorry if it's nothing new! I thought I'd post it as it's another Bob Wakelin image. Target Renegade with the original image from "How To Master Bruce Lee's Fighting System" by Joe Lewis.
I know he mentions some of his sources on his website but there must be loads of other game covers by other artists which used images as "reference" when they were being put together. The first one I ever spotted was years ago when I realised that the cover of Operation Thunderbolt looked uncannily like the cover photo of an SAS book I'd seen in the "Home Bookclub" leaflet that seemed to be in every magazine at one point. Yup, another Wako image!
Anyone got any others? (I know about Wako's "borrowing" of Arnie for at least one game cover). Post comparison pics if you've got 'em :)
Post edited by richl on
Comments
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Errr ... people may want to know that soandso.kom is potentially NSFW!
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One runs the potential of getting an inappropriate ad either before or after viewing pics posted there ... at least I did when I clicked your pics (sorry!) :grin:
Aside from that ... Cool find there about the WTSS panel.
I'm guessing you're referring to The Vindicator inlay ... it reminds me of a Commando poster (I think).
[EDIT] Imageshack seems to be ad-free at the time of writing so I've put the pics there instead. Obviously people can still click on the links in the bit you quoted from my original post if they want to experience imagevenue's idea of "family safe" advertising. What a bunch of jokers they are!
Makes you wonder if Ocean knew about those pics in the WTSS ad and had licensed them from the maker of the comic. I will asume they did not ...
I read somewhere that for the cover illustration of the first Metal Gear game on the MSX (?) they based it off Kyle Reese from Terminator 1.
Yeah, I just checked, it is even written on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metal_Gear
That's probably more of a hommage than a blatant rip-off though.
I'm sure it happened a lot more and we just never noticed.
On a related note, a few months ago I made a topic on a different forum - it was about game art changed for western releases of originally Japanese games. In the 80s, the manga/anime style was still very "alien" and supposedly hard to stomach in the west, especially the U.S. Some of the western game covers from that era are truly horrible. Look up the Bomberman cover for the TurboGrafix16 ...
I remembered another one. Wakelin is "involved" again (but I am very sure he was not the perpetrator this time):
Cabal (Wakelin)
Line of Fire (US Gold, don't know the artist)
Of course we don't know if Wakelin ripped off that soldier in first place. But at least his artwork is vastly superior.
http://downloads.khinsider.com/album_images/6147-fvmakgjgac.jpg
http://www.olivertwins.com/images/firehawk.jpg
I dunno.. The Adult Friend Finder ad with the video was awesome. The girl gets her kit off when you go all the way through it.* I feel sorry for whoever has the email address aofhdiehwri@dfojosdefjew.com though ;)
Andrew
* for scientific research purposes only.
I don't think they are all that similar
Yes, both soldiers on the cover are Arnold from Predator. Here is from a thread some year ago when I made some compare pictures.
Filler.
The main guy on the cover of Firehawk is basically Dan Aykroyd with a "slightly different" head glued on so I'd say it was a good spot!
Oh, and cheveron.... quality post! :)
Now, I never played the game so I have no idea if I'm wrong here: but why the hell does it show the 3 blokes with the flamethrowers? Filler? If they are enemies, they would face the gunship and try to fry it, or stay in cover - they surely wouldn't turn their back to it? Well, I suppose they might be the troops that the player has to pick up ... but flamethrowers may not be the best weapon due to low range compared to conventional firearms. Guess they had to have flamethrowers for a better connection to "FIRE"hawk?
Edit: Gameplay video (albeit for the NES version which may differ from the miggy one) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpETJSESa3I
Hm, no flamethrowers spotted there ;)
Gryzor also had a nod at the Aliens movie i see
Timex 2048 & divIDE 57c
http://hg101.classicgaming.gamespy.com/thunderblade/thunderblade.htm
All the incidental images between levels are frames from the film too, but I never found any credits to that effect.
Another good rip-off (though not visually) is Konami's Lethal Enforcers. Play it for a bit, listening to all the things the bad guys call out ("You can't kill me!", "Eat lead, copper!"), then go and watch those six episodes of Police Squad back-to-back and listen out for all the samples.
- IONIAN-GAMES.com -
Denizen ZX Spectrum
Courtesy of Dr Derek Doctors
Can't see the second image.
I do beg your pardon :oops: Should be able to see it now
here:
but it's not an speccy game anyway.
Found another one. No prizes for guessing what this is ripping off:
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-inlays/g/GuerraDeLasVajillasLa.jpg
Isn't that an intentional spoof, though?
yeah i think so, unless the conversation went.
'how can we stop george lucas from suing us?'
'erm, put some sun glassers on obi wan'
the fallout 3 thing is a homage too. but yeah where does it stop being an homage, most storylines in modern games are ripped off from films.
Anyway, check out the inlay for Wally Kong and the cover of Crash Issue 2 ... surely some inspiration there, even though the girl is in a different place.
And then there's Bedlam (1983) ... yeah right! :D
Any more thoughts on the phoenix logo?