A fan sent in us a link of a site that claimed Flappy Bird to be a ‘carbon’ copy of a 2011 Android game Piou Piou. I set out to investigate this and the results are discussed in this short blog post. The truth is, it is definitely copied, or at least inspired to a large extent.
The game mechanics are exactly the same. Forget Mario’s pipe’s that Flappy Bird ripped off from Nintendo – what it took from a Piou Piou is not just the similar look and feel, but also how the game works. Crashing into cactuses in Piou Piou is analogous to the pipes in Flappy Bird. Falling down and getting killed.
Piou Piou (made in 2011)
It’s very much similar. You get the idea. Piou Piou is playable on Android and the Web since 2011. Here‘s a video from Piou Piou’s creator showing us a demo on YouTube in 2011. I don’t know what happened here, but it almost seems like Flappy Bird is a rip off from Piou Piou. Moreover, Piou Piou is as hard to score but gives you a few chances to crash before the bird dies (so a bit less frustrating).
In a nutshell, the barrier, flying, birds, dying, clouds and tapping on the screen, they all add up to show us how the mechanics plus the look and feel correlate between the two games. Now, since one came before the other, with an almost 2 year gap, it seems natural to believe why Flappy Bird seems to be a copy. I can’t really say, but it’s just a food for thought, since it can be that two people have the same idea without copying each other.
Squishy Bird
If you are bored of preventing flying birds hitting into cactuses or pipes, flush out your anger on this new Flash game made by someone nice. It’s called Squishy Bird and it lets you vent your anger on those Flappy Birds failing to follow your commands. Squish them now! Check it out by clicking here.
About Ali Gajani
Hi. I am Ali Gajani. I started Mr. Geek in early 2012 as a result of my growing enthusiasm and passion for technology. I love sharing my knowledge and helping out the community by creating useful, engaging and compelling content. If you want to write for Mr. Geek, just PM me on my Facebook profile.
