We all know the gaming world is filled with plenty of, "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." How many times have we seen battle royale games piggyback off each other, with a continuous cycle of pinching each other's features? We're looking at you, Fortnite Reload.

Of course, there's a difference between imitation being the sincerest form of flattery and blatant rip-offs. Palworld knows all about the wrath of Nintendo, with the Pokemon-inspired game just about scraping through under fair usage. Now, Sony could be in hot water, as one angry gamer has accused Astro Bot of copying Nintendo. 

Astro Bot accused of ripping off Nintendo

Team Asobi's Astro Bot is everywhere right now, and despite some writing it off as a game for kids, the PS5 exclusive is already looking like a hot contender for Game of the Year. With Team Asobi's work on the likes of The Playroom and Astro's Playroom, Astro Bot is a much grander affair that reminds us of Little Big Planet's glory days.

Astro Bot is being lauded as one of the greatest platformers of all time, but with decades of that genre already under the industry's belt, you can imagine there were always going to be some comparisons. Now, X account Pyramidhead has accused Sony of directly copying elements from the likes of Mario Sunshine.

In this side-by-side video, we see Astro Bot footage spliced with Mario Sunshine, Pikmin, ARMS, Mario Odyssey, the classic Super Mario 64, Mario Galaxy, and Splatoon. Although some elements are similar, can you really copyright a video game character rolling around on a ball? If so, Super Monkey Ball would like a word.

The OP writes, "Astro Bot is a copy of many Nintendo games and with this I prove it 🚨🚨 Sony Playstation has no shame, Nintendo should sue them for plagiarism. You are miserable people, and the Pipera video game press is more of the same, f**king sellouts."

Others simply didn't agree, as someone added, "Astro is a cool game. The Mario series is too. It's fun to watch people get angry while pulling each other's hair out. In the end, the players win 🤝." Another joked, "Are you telling me that Astro Bot is not the first platform game in video games? 😱😅" and a third concluded, "How annoying it is that Sony does what Nintendo has been doing all its life and does it so overwhelmingly better."

Nintendo is notoriously litigious, and if there was any chance that Sony could be accused of copying major IPs like Mario, we're pretty sure it would have no problem in sending its legal eagles. The problem is, while there might be some similarities, you'd struggle to prove Astro Bot has copied any of the above. 

We don't need anyone else to stir up the console wars, and as Nintendo seems largely at peace with doing its own thing away from Microsoft and Sony, we somehow don't see the Astro Bot comparisons going much further.