Mega Man producer reacts to game that seemingly rips off Mega Man Zero/ZX series
Takuya Aizu, a Mega Man series producer, recently reacted to an X post about an upcoming game that resembles the original Mega Man games a bit too closely. While acknowledging a shocking degree of similarity, the creator’s response to the alleged rip-off remained humorous and light-hearted.
On February 5, a thread introducing an upcoming game’s striking similarity to Mega Man games, particularly the Mega Man Zero/ZX series, went viral on Japanese X as users jokingly called it a word-for-word copy and “basically a sequel.” The game in question is Virtua Unlimited Project, an upcoming 2D platformer by Chinese developer Virtua Ride System. Comparisons being made are based on the demo version currently available.
Q: What’s wrong with it?
A: Everything.
The Attack motions, dashes, the feeling of the controls, sound effects, the concept of hit priority and game system – everything’s the same (as in Mega Man) to the point that you can’t even tell the difference.
The original poster named various Mega Man elements that Virtua Unlimited allegedly imitates, such as the battle mechanics and even sound effects, and other users chimed in too. Some of the similarities in motion can be seen in the comparison video below.
It seems that the anime/Vtuber style graphics are the only thing that majorly distinguishes the game from Mega Man. The X thread on Unlimited Virtua Project ultimately spread so far it reached even Takuya Aizu himself.
Takuya Aizu is the CEO of Inti Creates, a game development studio he founded with fellow ex-Capcom staff. Aizu and Inti Creates have been involved in numerous Mega Man titles over the years, including Mega Man Zero, Mega Man X, Mega Man 9 and many others.
I thought I made this for a moment, must have been my imagination…
Quoting the aforementioned post, Aizu made a joking response, suggesting that the game is similar enough for him to mistake it for his own. A subsequent comment reveals his decision to take the imitation as flattery. Aizu also reminded users that he is not in a position to comment on legal issues as his company does not own the IP.
*I would like to note that my company is not the rightsholder, so I am unable to comment on things related to copyright.
Amber V
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