Nintendo Switch hit title Suika Game plagued with bootlegs and asset theft, developer shares about their struggle
Suika Game recently exploded in popularity, and as is often the case with viral games, fake versions have been popping up one after the other. The developer of the game Yanase has been sharing updates about their struggle with the widespread dupes.
Suika Game, the addictive fruit-stacking puzzle game, was released by Aladdin X as a built-in app for a projector, and was made available for the Nintendo Switch back in 2021. In September this year, the game suddenly went viral after being popularized by influencers and Let’s Play streamers, reaching over 300 million downloads (Related Article). On the other hand, fake versions of the game have been multiplying recently, and even after an official warning was issued, the problem persists.
The free game ranking on the Apple App Store (Japan) is a clear indication of this situation: 4 out of the top 5 games for the iPad and 3 out of the top 5 games for the iPhone are Suika Game dupes. Because its basic rules are simple, Suika Game is quite easy to roughly recreate if you have knowledge of programming, which has led to numerous copycats appearing.
That said, the gameplay of Suika Game was originally influenced by existing puzzle games (including the Chinese browser game Héchéng dà xīguā). But taking influence is one thing, and the problem of the Suika Game dupes is different – a lot of them usurp the title “Suika Game” as it is and/or steal assets.
The games that can be found in the App Store free game ranking are titled “Suika Game – Puzzle Challenge 3D,” “Suika Game – Fun Puzzle Game,” and “Suika Game 3D – Suika Game” respectively, clearly appropriating the original title. Not only is it unethical, but stealing assets and BGM is explicit infringement of copyright (the BGM is a paid resource). The dupes are quite obviously made with the goal of baiting users, so this is not a matter of game content being similar or not.
So, what are these dupes really like? I’ve played my fair share of Suika Game, so I decided to go through about 10 different bootleg versions and see what’s the deal with them.
The app most blatantly identical to the original Suika Game was the game at the top of the App Store ranking, which uses the same BGM and same assets for almost everything except for the cherries. The fruits all seem to have a white edge around them, making them look like they’ve been cut out. The game itself behaves differently than the original, and as the game field is much taller and wider, the game’s tempo kind of drags. Although it’s low quality, this dupe does the best job of pretending to be the original game, so it’s likely quite successful in baiting downloads.
Next up, the game ranked No. 2 in the App Store ranking. It also rips the name “Suika Game,” but the fruit designs seem to differ somewhat. The size of the fruit is also different than in the original, so gameplay has a different feel to it as well. There are some rather violent physics going on in the game, and the game field likewise suffers from being too wide and too tall.
Last and least, the game ranked No. 4 in the App Store ranking. It presents itself as a Suika Game dupe on the store, but as I launched it, a mysterious game called “Animal Merge” appeared before me. As I tried playing it, I realized it works the same way Suika Game does, but with entirely different designs and music. If it weren’t called “Suika Game,” it could just work as game of its own, but it probably also wouldn’t rank as high. It remains dubious whether the assets used in it are original too.
These three games have something in common. The developers are listed as individuals rather than companies, and they all have Blogger blog pages linked as their means of contact. Looking things up on LinkedIn, they all turn out to be working/have worked for well-known companies. Since this same “M.O.” is being used for each game, it seems doubtful that these names are really behind the Suika Game dupes. The fake games are all filled to the brim with in-game advertising, and some of them have purchasable ad-free options.
To make matters worse, when you look up “Suika Game” on a search engine, rather than the official site, the first thing to pop up is a fake browser game. As is the case with the App Store dupes, this one also has very similar visuals to the original and feels off gameplaywise. The fine print on the bottom of the site states that the website is not affiliated with the developer in any way, but in all other ways, the site presents itself as the real thing, most likely with the purpose of farming ad revenue.
As it turns out, the specific feel of the original Suika Game is quite hard to get right, which is why none of the dupes have that satisfying feel to them. But only those who’ve played the original on a Switch can tell this difference, which is why the fake versions seem to be enjoying fair success.
On the other hand, a search of Japanese and U.S. trademark database sites shows that no trademarks related to “Suika Game” have been registered as of yet. It takes time to register trademarks, and even though the game was released two years ago, it only started selling to this extent in September this year. Therefore, the developers cannot call upon a trademark to defend themselves yet. They are most likely taking legal measures at the moment.
With the Suika Game growing in popularity increasingly and becoming almost a genre of its own, it remains to see what Aladdin X will do with the game in the future. Suika Game is available for the Nintendo Switch and Aladdin X (projector). It has recently come out with a pumpkin-themed update.
Written by. Amber V based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2023-10-30 16:02 JST)
