Without permission, apparently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csM9yi9X8Tk
http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm6487384 (registration is needed)

This guy seems to have done the same thing in the past.

I'm not sure I understand what's going on. They're using Lufia music in the game without permission?

I've skimmed through the 2sf rip and couldn't find the track playing in the youtube video. Dunno, maybe it has an intro part or something, but are you sure it's not a hoax or anything?

In short, plagiarism. Adam, if this title isn't telling it well, please edit it.

Not sure, but multiple persons who played the game have noticed it. It's the theme for the 5th stage.

The composer, Kennosuke Suemura, also allegedly ripped WarCraft II.

Actaully, you're right, NTR-YSDJ-JPN-003c.mini2sf is the song you linked to. Don't recall Lufia's OST all that well, but it's there.

//EDIT

Actually, the next song, NTR-YSDJ-JPN-003d.mini2sf rips of Chrono Trigger. Set is available on Manly! Archive, but if someone wants a sample, I can upload.

BNGI, officially (finally!), avows its plagiarism.
http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/cs_su … /spwk.html

I didn't think the similarity to CT track was so evident, but yeah, BNGI confirmed it anyway.

"Battle With Magnus"

So, uh, are the remaining copies of "Super Robot Wars K" taken off the market, or did the mentioned settlement pretty much turn those "pirated" pieces into unplanned cameo appearances?

I got from the translation that they issued a public apology and made a private settlement.

How are the Magus references not obvious?

That what I got as well. Doesn't sound like the game was pulled. Wonder by how much this additional "publicity" increases sales of the game. =P

Yeah. You just have to get through the first 30-45 seconds of the song (from SRTK), and then from there it's basically the same melody.

This is serious news. The Namco Bandai apology I hope to get translated in full and posted on RPGFan.

Ramza

The Lufia song I wouldn't have recognized until I heard the original because I'm not so familiar with the soundtrack...the Magus one is just ridiculous.  How can someone take a song that well known from a game that popular and think he wouldn't get caught?

http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2009/420.html

News posted.

In the spirit of not plagiarizing: Cedille, if you'd like, I can add you as a "news source" or "tip" to the article. We did some extra work on the translation of the text, but I wouldn't have known about this story at all without you posting the story here at STC.

Ramza

wait a sec, the composer was Kennosuke Suemura? The guy who worked on Battle Fantasia, Guilty Gear Judgment, Nanobreaker, Samurai Spirits Tenkaichi/Zero, a bunch of other stuff?

http://www.aqualoft.com/kennosuke/

The guy may not be an A, B, or even C-list composer, but he's been around for over 15 years, working on titles here and there, sometimes handling whole soundtracks and sometimes co-composing.

We have three blatant instances of plagiarism so far, but the guy has years of work in the industry. This isn't a case like Commando Steel Disaster when you can just chalk it up to a no-name Chinese developer having good reason to think they'll fly under the radar. I can't even begin to think of what was going through this guy's head.

I wonder how much plagiarism does go on without us knowing. This one was bound to get caught, given how popular these games are and how shameless the arrangements are, but I'm sure a lot won't notice when more obscure music is ripped. Although debatable whether its actually plagiarism, it says something that it took so long for people to realize Tappy Iwase's inspiration of Metal Gear Solid theme.

Yeah, he's very prolific and experienced in games and other music. I'd at least classify him as a B-list game composer in Japan. I've always found him derivative, but I didn't realize quite that bad. Has anyone listened to the full soundtrack to see if they can find further refs? I'd expect some more examples.

Hey, this doesn't offer anything new, just a more journalistic spin on things. Weren't you able to get a full translation?

Which is...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTcNUoxCmHI

This is the video that was circulated a while back for MGS.

Thanks for the link, I missed that whenever it was making the rounds. Kojima seems a little flustered!

The Metal Gear Solid theme's questionable origins were discussed briefly in another thread, from about here.

i think this whole thing be remedied by releasing a DS cartridge with both lufia games..

Um...yes, we got a full translation. Two of RPGFan's staff are fluent in Japanese. Nothing more was revealed...it's a fairly short apology, everything said in this thread covered it.

Between this and your recent comment on the zOMG review (to which you haven't responded to my statement), I feel like you're enjoying taking jabs at me. What's the deal?

Well, there's a fine line between plagiarizing and 'being influenced by'.
This one was obviously a shameless ripoff, but there might be dozens of VGM similarities out there that are more meant as a tribute than plagiarism.

I was just being cheeky here and meant no offence. I just felt that nothing was said that wasn't already in the thread or other news articles.

Sorry for not responding earlier to your reply on OSV, but I didn't notice it until just now. The zOMG review was genuinely problematic to me and enough to make me really want to respond. You said there were no rock tracks when there were, specifically “There is no pop, rock, hip-hop, “soul” (see what I did there?), or any other contemporary musical genres.”. If "Surf's Up - The Beach" isn't surf rock, then I don't know what is. There were other influences too that are surprising for Soule, though it'll depend very much on the person as to whether they're classifiable as contemporary or not. But "Surf's Up" as surf rock is irrefutable to me.

Anyway, to me it seemed like you didn't listen to the full album and only had time to glance over it. That's totally understandable given you do an enormous amount, though I was concerned since you still made a lot of generalisations in the review. It's not how I would personally do things, since I try to be as thorough as possible, but that's a problem in itself to some people. I guess in general I'm just not compatible with the OSV approach to reviewing, as I've also told Jayson, so I will just refrain from making comments in the future. I tried to express these concerns in an actual encouraging and casual way, rather than something scornful, but I guess an accusation is an accusation, no matter how politely it is worded. I'm sorry for that, but I'm still interested in the explanation.

Also, I don't have a personal problem with you and would have said if I did. In fact, I was even the one who recommended you to the Eminence post since I didn't have time to commit back then, which shows I have a lot of respect for you as a person and journalist. I actually enjoy your reviews and articles a lot over there too. If I did have a problem, I'd be open with you through email and I recommend you do the same. I'm sorry for my jabs, but I really meant no ill will.

Yeah, that distinction is difficult to establish. MGS Main Theme is probably more influenced by the Russian artist, although the revelation was still embarrassing. It's a bit like all those so-called plagiarism cases with Holst's Mars too. The influence is there, but it can be hard to get a convinction in court. These SRT tracks are simply shameless plagiarism in contrast.

You mean like, just clicking the link to youtube or niconico doesn't fulfill their interests in this incident?

Thanks, but I also 'ripped' this news so don't need to credit me so highly (honestly, I can't think of too many case where I was the first, or even the second source). It'd be awesome if even Activision takes action, and I appreciate this news will spread among English communities (a thread in GAF could have pulled a little attention... but).

a little bloodthirsty, aren't you?

I honestly have no idea if the game is that bad that nobody would want to try the game to check for this themselves. That's why I'm asking. =P Usually in such cases the product itself get pulled from the market, unless the settlement accounted for future sales as well in which case the publicity may be actually wanted.

You mean you're not a fan of drama shows like obviously everyone else? =P

Thanks for reply, Chris.

Just an FYI, if I'm reviewing a soundtrack, I do an absolute *minimum* of one full listen through, usually many more than that. I can't help but take offense when someone says "did you even listen to this thing?"

I guess when I say "rock" I'm thinking of standard garage band rock. Perhaps it has less to do with my ability to listen and more with my ability to aptly describe genres (maybe I'm just a bad writer?). You're right, that absolutely is "Wipe Out" style Surf Rock.

If you would be kind enough to report errors in my writing via email instead of as comments or forum posts, that would help me a great deal. I'm generally just a very sensitive person, as I'm sure you've witnessed elsewhere on the internetz.

Cedille, thanks for getting back to me. I meant to be more like a "tip" -- that is, not that you broke the news, but that I wouldn't have known about it without you saying something. I should've just given you the props without asking, if only so I had another excuse to put a link to STC on RPGFan.