SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia, today.

TOP

» Internet
» Era’s Adventures in Intellectual Property Rightsland

Featured

Weird
Studio Ghibli
Jobs

Era’s Adventures in Intellectual Property Rightsland

Master Blaster Apr 30, 2013
Tweet

Recently a new game developed for Android devices, Era’s Adventures was turning heads for its main character, Era’s slight resemblance to Nintendo’s famous dinosaur Yoshi. The attention had gotten so big that it caught the eye of Nintendo’s legal team who decided to have a chat with the developer, Botond Kopacz.

First, here’s an image of the original Era from Era’s Adventures.

And here’s Yoshi (in puzzle form because, you know, who doesn’t like a challenge?)

Image: Amazon

I know what you’re thinking and I agree. Nintendo is clearly overreacting. First off Yoshi’s shoes are orange with yellow soles while Era’s shoes are completely yellow. Era is a girl and Yoshi is a boy… who, confusingly, lays eggs.

However, because he’s a nice guy, Mr. Kopacz decided to bend to the will of Nintendo and completely overhaul the appearance of Era.

Honestly, I think this is an improvement. Yoshi was a bit of a wimp and would eat other creatures thus offending our vegan brothers and sisters. And who among us can honestly say Yoshi was our go-to choice when playing Mario Kart? Aerodynamic issues aside, that dino didn’t exactly fill one with confidence as a driver.

Era, on the other hand, seems to have it going on. He’s got a stylish cap on backwards and slightly crooked, because he knows what time it is. Also that lame shell on his back has been replaced with a row of spikes.

Along with the color change and diamonds in his eyes, Era is a completely original character who shoots an ass-load of fireballs to eliminate any and all obstacles in his path, because jumping is for suckers.

He also included a disclaimer on the Era’s Adventures Google Play page so that others may avoid copyright infringement.

“Copyright notice: Some assets in the game may look similar to assets from Yoshi’s Island / Super Mario Bros. series from Nintendo, but please note that Era’s Adventures 3D has no relation with Nintendo or Nintendo’s characters (Yoshi / Super Mario).
Yoshi’s and Super Mario’s rights are reserved to Nintendo of America Inc.”

This story is a learning experience for budding game developers like myself and my upcoming Supersonic the Echidna app.

Source: Era’s Adventures via Yahoo Japan (Japanese)
Videos: YouTube – ErasAdventures, deaktamas77
Era’s Adventures on Google Play
Supersonic the Echidna Image: RocketNews24

Copyright notice: Some assets in the article may look similar to assets from Sonic the Hedgehog / Sonic Labyrinth series from Sega but please note that Supersonic the Echidna has no relation with Sega or Sega’s characters (Sonic).
Sonic’s rights are reserved to Sega Corporation.

▼ The original Era’s Adventures video

▼ The new Era’s Adventures video