Reading 1UP's feature on game ripoffs reminds me of one of the most amusing and bizarre game ripoffs, Super Noah's Ark 3D. It's an unlicensed SNES game from Christian games developer Wisdom Tree, a Wolfenstein 3D knockoff. Instead of a soldier shooting evil Nazis with machine guns, you're Noah lobbing sleep-inducing berries at unruly goats on the Ark. Yes, really.
To understand just how funny this game this is, remember that Wolfenstein 3D is the single game that has most shaped the current game industry. The original first person shooter. Violence and blood as a core reward. Beating up on Nazis. And unlike many other pioneering games, Wolfenstein 3D was a hugely successful game.

The rumour is that Super Noah's Ark 3D came about because id leaked them the code as revenge for carebear changes Nintendo demanded of the SNES port of Wolf3D. The story's probably too good to be true, but none the less we can still enjoy spectacle of a Christian games company making an unauthorized SNES game that's a knockoff of an ultraviolent and hugely innovative game. Truly the great ripoff.

culturegamesemulation
  2006-02-04 17:50 Z