Conny

[taizou]

well i noticed NusuttoSan/Qiezei/Mr. Burglar posted a couple of videos from the Conny PDC (Pocket Dream Console):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMYGkyD0n5w Piggy's Adventure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2VgcGGaaII B.P. (Bomb Princess)
theyre a company i've been kinda curious about for a while, so i guess now would be as good a time as any to post something about them.

Conny seems to be a bit more legit than most Chinese console makers, TakaraTomy distributed a version of the PDC in Japan and I assume they wouldnt get involved with any shady bootleggers. plus their PuzzLoop clone, Joe Ma 2, is actually licensed by Mitchell Corp (makers of the original game), which not even PopCap bothered to do. although the HUD font in Piggys Adventure does seem to be ripped from Rayman, but hey.

their website hasnt been updated for a long time, but it does list some awesome sounding stuff like "PNP Steeling Wheel" and "TV Virtual Frighter". but actually the French distributor Videojet is a way better source of information, they have much newer consoles listed - including some with a touch screen - and (low-res, but still) videos of every single game on them.

Conny also made a Wii clone, the Q3, which has actual accelerometers and stuff- there seems to be an early version with 5-ish sports games built in, which is available on DealExtreme, and a later one with 40 (presumably the other 35 are non-motion stuff from the PDCs, but i'm not sure)

[Barver]

I never knew of this thing until I saw Nusutto's video. I'm surprised this thing has gotten distribution even in Japan since the same company making it made a game that steals graphics .

Am I the only one who immediately thought of Cony Soft when I saw the companies name? =p

Edit: According to the thread's subtitle, apparently not!

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Barver

Jan 28 2011, 03:38:38 AM

Am I the only one who immediately thought of Cony Soft when I saw the companies name? =p

Edit: According to the thread's subtitle, apparently not![/quote]I was thinking that as well, but in some ways I guess it wouldn't really make sense. Cony frequently changed their company name in an attempt to avoid getting lawsuits over ripping off Street Fighter II and such, and I somehow doubt they'd go to the trouble of getting licenses off other companies. Not to mention, they seemed to go out of business in about 1998, which I think is long before the PDC was made.

Edit: From what I've noticed, the sound effects in Battle Fighter are taken from that pinball game that comes with Windows XP.

[codeman38]

There's another blatant ripoff on the PDC that rather surprised me.

Here's the Pocket Dream Console's game "Talent".

If that doesn't seem at all familiar, here's the indie PC game "Professor Fizzwizzle" for comparison.

Edit: Oh, yeah, "Professor Fizzwizzle" is from 2005. As in, two years before the PDC was released. Usually they pick something slightly older to rip off...Speaking of indie PC games, Pretty Café is not only a Diner Dash ripoff, but also uses a certain sound effect from Sonic the Hedgehog which I know I've heard in one of those Wii clones too. (Edit: It was the Zone 40. Waixing/NiceCode connections here, perhaps?)Oh, yeah, and I forgot the most hilarious ripoffs: I've definitely had plenty of entertainment from AIM, but I had no idea that Windows' Disk Defragmenter was that entertaining. (The Action and Puzzle icons, respectively.) And just to be OS-neutral, they also ripped off the Mac OS networking icon for the upper-left of the menu screen.

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codeman38

Jan 28 2011, 10:16:32 AM

Speaking of indie PC games, Pretty Café is not only a Diner Dash ripoff, but also uses a certain sound effect from Sonic the Hedgehog which I know I've heard in one of those Wii clones too. (Edit: It was the Zone 40. Waixing/NiceCode connections here, perhaps?)[/quote]I don't get why these companies have some sort of obsession with that sound effect, but I doubt the companies are linked. As far as I'm aware, the PDC is only sold or endorsed by Conny, and apart from the sound effect I didn't notice any similarities between the games.

It's a pity the bloke who did the video didn't show Sim Farm. I'm willing to bet that it's a complete ripoff of the PC game.
BTW, gotta love the crates in Cyber Bike which are actually taken from Crash Bandicoot.
And I just realised that one of the sound effects in Catch Me is actually stolen from Pac-Man World. (I think)

[codeman38]

Another stolen thing: the font used for the score in Backyard Hoodle (what is it with Chinese manufacturers calling pinball "hoodle", anyway?) appears to be straight out of Super Mario 64-- or at the very least, it's too similar to be a coincidence. Also, there's that pinball bumper sound again!Oh, yeah, I forgot about the fact that Videojet (the French distributor) has video footage of all the games on their site! Turns out that Sim Farm is a Harvest Moon clone. Of course.

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codeman38

Jan 28 2011, 11:09:00 AM

Another stolen thing: the font used for the score in Backyard Hoodle (what is it with Chinese manufacturers calling pinball "hoodle", anyway?) appears to be straight out of Super Mario 64-- or at the very least, it's too similar to be a coincidence. Also, there's that pinball bumper sound again!Oh, yeah, I forgot about the fact that Videojet (the French distributor) has video footage of all the games on their site! Turns out that Sim Farm is a Harvest Moon clone. Of course.[/quote]Heh, I actually commented on that SM64 font a while back, forgot about that until now. Also, what is it with these companies calling pinball games "Hoodle" anyway?
Looking on that website you linked to, not sure if I'm right on this but the graphics in Diamond seem to be taken from a homebrew Arkanoid clone if I remember correctly. And the music in Crypt Runner is actually the song from that Windows XP pinball game I mentioned earlier. Elevator Wars is a ripoff of Elevator Action. Also, I'm willing to bet that the graphics in Extreme Copter are stolen from a SNES game. Four Island is Ludo or Pachisi or whatever it's called. The bloke in Floor Up looks like Jimmy Neutron, although it's difficult to tell because of the small resolution of the video. The music in the DDR and Guitar Hero derivatives are probably stolen, but they're so generic it's difficult to tell. Jumping Pixie is a rather obvious ripoff of Qbert.

[codeman38]

Cheetahmen

Jan 28 2011, 11:34:27 AM

Looking on that website you linked to, not sure if I'm right on this but the graphics in Diamond seem to be taken from a homebrew Arkanoid clone if I remember correctly.[/quote]I think you're right! It looks very similar to DX-Ball.

Cheetahmen

 

And the music in Crypt Runner is actually the song from that Windows XP pinball game I mentioned earlier.[/quote]LOL, I knew it sounded familiar from somewhere, but I couldn't place it!

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codeman38

Jan 28 2011, 12:28:16 PM

Cheetahmen

Jan 28 2011, 11:34:27 AM

Looking on that website you linked to, not sure if I'm right on this but the graphics in Diamond seem to be taken from a homebrew Arkanoid clone if I remember correctly.[/quote]I think you're right! It looks very similar to DX-Ball.[/quote]TBH, I was thinking of a different one which I can't remember the name of.
Looking at the rest of the games, Snow Power is a Snow Bros. clone, the main character in Street Boy looks a lot like Terry Bogard, Sub Explore is a clone of Sub Scan, Sub War is the same thing as that Corsair game off the Games Xplosion and Tank Defender is a Battle City clone.

[taizou]

just noticed TV Virtual Tennis on Conny's site has pretty much the exact same logo as the tennis game from Qi Sheng Long's Wiwi (the 16-bit version anyway):
http://oi52.tinypic.com/skzx51.jpg

[codeman38]

taizou

Jan 28 2011, 01:33:13 PM

just noticed TV Virtual Tennis on Conny's site has pretty much the exact same logo as the tennis game from Qi Sheng Long's Wiwi (the 16-bit version anyway):
http://oi52.tinypic.com/skzx51.jpg[/quote]Wow, good catch.

Also, their PnP Steeling Wheel (sic, sic, sic, unless they're fans of Gerry Rafferty) looks very much like the one from VTac that Tweeterman reviewed. Actually, on second thought... no, it doesn't. The hardware's fairly similar in design, but the games on Conny's are much higher quality. But I'm leaving that struck out just because... "Steeling Wheel", heh.

[Barver]

Dino Hunter sure looks like it steals graphics from a Metal Slug game, but I don't know which. Maybe it's just similar art styles?

[taizou]

the music in Drummer Beat is (part of) Wings of Love by Grant Miller. now either *all* chinese game developers love 80s italo stuff or theres possibly some kind of connection with Cube Technology here.

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taizou

Jan 29 2011, 01:22:52 AM

the music in Drummer Beat is (part of) Wings of Love by Grant Miller. now either *all* chinese game developers love 80s italo stuff or theres possibly some kind of connection with Cube Technology here.[/quote]Out of curiosity, have you checked the other two music/rhythm/whatever games?

[taizou]

yeah, I have, got no results in soundhound.. but I'm sure theyre ripped from somewhere.btw i've uploaded all the videos from videojet's site here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=H2FMQ2F0
if anyone wants to download them all.