Tracing the Influence - Stolen Images in Games

[robbytheautomaton]

Hey everyone,

Long time reader of HG101, first time poster. I was reading the fantastic Tracing the Influence article and saw some Metal Fangs portraits I recognized.

The portrait thought to be of Will Smith is in fact probably the rapper Slick Rick (the Ruler) from the back of his album "The Great Adventures of Slick Rick".




The portrait labeled "Elvis Costello" looks a bit too Asian; maybe it's Sean Lennon? Could be anyone today with those glasses, but back in the 90's...


Also, the one labeled MC Hammer might be comedian/actor/talk show host Arsenio Hall, based on the eyes, forhead and haircut--if you look at a photo of MC Hammer without sunglasses you'll see that he has "sad" eyes that turn downwards at the outer edges. Although the nose and mustache look closer to Hammer, so it could be a composite.






The two younger looking guys are rap duo Kris Kross of Sega CD fame, based on the poses and haircuts:




Finally, the woman in the middle is Shannon Doherty, "Brenda" from Beverly Hills 90210.

[derboo]

Made several additions to the first two pages, including a particularly stunning connection for the oft-copied Cabal cover MP83 sent me, and other images not posted on the forums.

I'll get to put in more of the character portraits stuff. Eventually...

[drpepperfan]

oh my god it's reb brown of Space Mutiny "fame". That is amazing.

[omarlexus]

I noticed Kio Marv from the Metal Gear pics looks a lot like Rooney from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986) the movie fits the time frame too.

[Wildcat]

This is marvelous stuff. I'll have to pop the article at my blog later on today.

[kjn]

Then there are companies like Phoenix Games that really tries to look like Disney- and other movies including:

The Land Before Time



Bedknobs and Broomsticks



101 Dalmatians




Pinocchio



The Lion King



Snow White and the Seven Dwarves



Peter Pan


Peter Pan also features Destiny Island from Kingdom Hearts in the background.

[muteKi]

I'd say some of those barely qualify as games, being non-interactive movies (which are poorly animated and voiced, natch).

(Of course, one immediately wonders why they weren't released on, say, DVD instead...)

[TheChosen]

Jan 2, 2013 2:35:53 GMT -5 muteKi said:

I'd say some of those barely qualify as games, being non-interactive movies (which are poorly animated and voiced, natch).

(Of course, one immediately wonders why they weren't released on, say, DVD instead...)

And they have...sort of.

www.dingo-pictures.de/en/licenses.htm

I do recommend everyone to check this stuff out on Youtube. Its fantastic.

[Dee Liteyears]

Those were excact those games I thought of, when i saw the "Who the hell buys this stuff" thread xD

[PooshhMao]

Found another Jackie Chan ripoff in the arcade game Silent Dragon;

[PooshhMao]

Sometimes the sound designers or music composers just plain rip off other things as well.

Here's a track called 'Jupiter Jazz' by Underground Resistance;



Sounds familiar?

Maybe you're thinking of



or



They're not pictures but they do sort of fit the thread.

[TheChosen]

The latest entry on Did You Know Gaming. They also linked to this article.

[maxwellsdemon]

This portrait is based off HP Lovecraft.

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/27/Lovecraft1934.jpg

This YouTube clip shows off an early version of Shadow of the Comet (a demo, to be specific), and the same portrait is used here (albeit with the hair and suit recolored). However, instead of it being the character from the final game (I think his name was Underhouse), it's supposed to be Lovecraft himself.

[drpepperfan]

As pointed out in the Youtube comment for the theme tune to the game:

The title screen for the Commodore 64 game The Vikings... (sorry for small image)



Is identical in pose to the main guy on the poster/title screens for the game Shaolin's Road.





Perhaps both are traced from another source? Or maybe this is the original?

[derboo]

I think there was a 70s Honk Kong actor that looked just like the Shao-lin's Road guy, but I can't be sure... the pose might be from Bruce Lee.