These primarily cover throwing an object in a specific direction to either summon a battle character or to capture a creature in the field - mechanics Palworld shared with Pokémon at launch.
sounds like a mechanic found in a number of video games.
That’s because it is, Pokemon didn’t come up with it, they just made it popular.
Like what? I can’t think of one off the top of my head.
in minecraft you throw eggs to hatch chickens
ghostbusters, throwing trap to catch ghosts
They should go after Rockstar for the mechanic of throwing a rope at an animal to catch it, if this is the criteria. Ridiculous.
Bulma keeps machinery in tiny capsules
The VG made by pocketpair before the patent was issued for one.
Ratchet and Clank’s glove of doom fits the bill
Summoning a dedra in skyrim?
You don’t throw an object for that, you cast a spell, and I don’t remember being able to target it, but then I never really used those spells.
It is a spell but iirc the animation is a little ball that goes where you point it.
Does Ghostbusters count?
Uh, nets IRL for starters, but there are shitloads of games with capture and summon mechanics ranging from Ghost Busters to ARK to Ratchet and Clank to fucking Skyrim.
Edit: Downvote all you want, but don’t ask the question if you don’t want the answer.
Interesting, every example people have given you in response is pretty weak. (I’m not saying I agree with Nintendo have any exclusive claim here.)
That’s the weird thing. It doesn’t seem to matter. The patent was filed after PalWorld was released. I’m guessing this is some quirk of Japan’s patent system I’m unfamiliar with.
Make it so you launch the ball thing from a sling shot, that’s not throwing the object and it fits the universe
So fucking stupid. I remember a time when Nintendo was constantly losing legal battles like this one.
They probably just learned to pay judges, not lawyers.
make it so you shoot them out with a gun
If Palworld devs were as petty as I am they’d probably make a Pal that looks like an obese and hostile Pikachu with a Mario hat.
- Name: Renjiyu / レンヂユ; after a really shitty Mandarin joke with Nintendo’s name (basically calling it hell’s company).
- It would make a noise that sounds a lot like uttaeru / 訴える “to sue, to complain” with an incredibly whiny voice
- Drop: meat and sulphur (the in-game sulphur looks a lot like fool’s gold)
- “Utility”: when it’s running around your base, Renjiyu makes your pals drop whatever they are doing to listen to its ramblings. As in, negative utility.
Bonus points if the logo in the hat resembles a pokeball from a distance.
This sounds awesome; requesting permission to use it if Palworld doesn’t? It’s for a book.
requesting permission to use it if Palworld doesn’t? It’s for a book.
You’re welcome to use this idea for whatever reason you want, mate.
Yay! Thanks.
How do Japanese patents differ from USA/CAN? My general understanding of patents is that they expire after 20 years - Pokemon is older than that. Do Japanese patents have a longer duration? Did Nintendo patent a game later than the originals?
These patents were granted to Nintendo this year.
I’m not patent savvy - of they are only granted this year (as a point of origin for the patents’ eventually expiry), wouldn’t the years of previous Pokemon games invalidate these patents due to prior art?
This game is still in early access so I hope this is only temporary and they will retool this to not be similar to Pokemon. There’s no way this will be final right…?? No summon animation at all??!
Worried what this means for Nexomon 3