The concept of a 2-D platformer where the main hero has the ability to explode himself, thus propelling him through levels to escape from an evil laboratory seems pretty specific and unlikely to tread on any other games' footsteps. That was, of course, before the release of "Splosion Man" from Twisted Pixel back in 2009. Anytime after that, any game featuring a main hero that has the ability to explode himself, thus propelling him through levels to escape from an evil laboratory is basically a giant rip-off. Enter "MaXplosion," a Capcom Mobile game. Behold the official description of the game:
MaXplosion is a pick up and play platformer that challenges you to escape the clutches of the nefarious M.A.D. (Ministry of All Destruction) organization. Fortunately, as Max you have the ability to explode at will allowing you to "bounce" off surfaces and reach far flung locations. Max’s predilection to explode also comes in remarkably handy as an offensive weapon against the M.A.D. scientists and evil minions attempting to thwart your escape.
Not since every GameLoft game ever has there been such a shameless rip-off. The Twisted Pixel folks voiced their disappointment about "MaXplosion" in a statement the other day, saying that they wouldn't pursue legal action, despite the fact that "the similarities are pretty nauseating."
Today, Capcom released a statement about the plagiarism concerns which came about as close to admitting fault as you can possibly get, saying "we are saddened by this situation and hope to rebuild the trust of our fans and friends in the gaming community."
Probably the best way to rebuild that trust would be to yank "MaXplosion" from the App Store, which hasn't happened at the time of this writing.