The Great Giana Sisters

The Great Giana Sisters is one of those classic games that emerged by totally and unapologetically ripping off another.  And that's not saying it's not a great game, it is, and frankly I'm glad it developed enough of a following to stick around.

Developed by Time Warp Productions and released in 1987, The Great Giana Sisters was a Super Mario Brothers clone released to various home computer markets, most notably the Commodore 64.  The game was so much like Mario (albeit with female protagonists) that it caught the notice of Nintendo, who supposedly played a roll in having the game removed from stores.  But the game's solid design and popularity in the home computer market ensured that it became a fan favorite and continued to spread, copy protection not being what it is today.  The early computer market was rife with crackers who could distribute large quantities of fully-functioning software on floppy disk, often out in the open.

I played the game as a kid, but at the time I did not realize it, because a hack of the game floating around converted some of the sprites to resemble Super Mario Bros., a nod to its close similarity, and also changed the title of the game to reflect this.  Not owning a Nintendo at the time, this was the first Super Mario Bros. game I ever played and little did I know it wasn't even a real Mario game.  Of course that didn't matter since it was an entertaining title regardless.

Time Warp Productions began work on an official sequel, but fearing legal trouble they altered the graphics to reflect a futuristic theme and changed the sisters into robots.  This game was released under the title Hard'n'Heavy, but one look at the game reveals its true intended identity, as even the robot player character looks more like one of the Giana Sisters in cosplay than a truly unique character model.

The game was beloved amongst C64 enthusiasts and would for years be considered one of the top games on the system.  It was also renowned for Chris Hulsbeck's original musical score, with the title theme and main level theme often being remixed.

In the 2000s, the game saw a revival as the Giana Sisters got a new, official game.  Giana Sisters DS was released in Europe in 2009 and America in 2011 for the Nintendo DS.  This new title also included a remake of the original game as unlockable content.

In 2010, the DS title was ported to iOS and Ouya with updated, HD graphics and touch controls.

Most recently, 2012 saw the release of Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams, a downloadable title for Windows and later XBox Live, Playstation 3 and Wii U.  It began life as a Kickstarter campaign called Project Giana.  Noteworthy on this latest release is the return of Chris Hulsbreck, the title's original composer.  The game met with solid reviews upon release.  Hopefully we'll see more of the girls in the future.