Glover was an odd game from the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 era that had you controlling a hand that was trying to guide a ball to a goal, requiring you to change the ball to different weights in order to get past puzzles. It was considered a financial failure, and publisher Hasbro ended development of the sequel before it could be released. It went on to become a cult classic, loved by a handful of people that had played the game in their childhood. So when the German studio Golden Mushroom announced a Glover 2 nearly 20 years after the first game, it baffled many. They even took to Reddit, claiming that the game was indeed real, and not a joke. Things got even more confusing when another studio, Piko Interactive joined the fray, saying that they owned the full rights to the Glover series, and were contacting Golden Mushroom Studios about their claim on the IP. Golden Mushroom fired back, saying that they owned and paid to have the trademark of "Glover" transferred to their company, after "extensive research" from their legal team.

And thus things made a lot more sense. While you can have a trademark for a name, that's a different matter entirely as compared to having the copyright. Golden Mushroom can indeed make a game called Glover, but they cannot actually use any IP from the Glover game, as Piko owns the copyright. When the two companies tried to work out a deal, Golden Mushroom backed down, and said they'd be fine with creating a spiritual successor to Glover, instead of an actual sequel.

 

[Deleted User]

It's not even a good game.

Yes it is.

 

[froggestspirit]

I still love this game. I used to try and find out how much of the game you can beat only using the crystal ball with a friend. I was always heartbroken that the 2nd one got cancelled. It was partially due to someone ordering twice the amount of n64 cartridges that was advised to order, so Hasbro was stuck with an abundance they couldn't sell, got salty, cancelled the 2nd game. Piko Interactive is the company doing the 40 Winks revival for N64, so with any luck, they'll read this and do a kickstarter to finish Glover 2. The second game was around 60% done IIRC.

Edit: also worth noting, the PS1 version was utter crap. I grew up with the PS1 version, but after playing the N64 version at my friend's, I got a copy and even the PC port (which is pretty much the N64 version).

 

[wolf-snake]

That sounds like one of those kids making a Kickstarter campaing to remake Pokemon on Minecraft.

 

[Pleng]

This is probably the most ridiculous thing I've seen this week.
A.) A studio wants to remake some random N64 game
B.) They announce it via Reddit
C.) They pay a legal team a ton and yet don't know the difference of trademark and copyright
D.) Why Glover???
E.) Tfw you can't even get the rights to Glover

Maybe they knew all along that they didn't have the rights to the IP, but announcing a bona fide sequal then downgrading to a "spiritual successor" most likely generates more hype than going directly down the SS route.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

I wanted this game so bad as a kid for some reason. I don't know why. I never got it. I've never played it to this day.

I was the same. Saw it on commercials and in stores, thought it looked neat...never bought it. I have played it once or twice on an emulator for 10 minutes or so, never bothered again

 

[CMDreamer]

"Spiritual Successor"

Does that mean they're going to use a mitten on a tire for their title?

Something more like Yooka-Laylee on Switch being a "spiritual successor" of Banjo-Tooie from N64. As Microsucks ruined Rare and all the games related.

Glover was not a great game, but kind of fun on its own way.

 

[VitaType]

Oh, that game with the creepy orange fog should come back? (I can't be the only one, right? The orange fog. Come on. It's creepy for what ever reason )

 

[SimonMKWii]

"We own enough Switch Devkits and we will never show it in the public, it's not allowed from side of Nintendo."

So they claim they have multiple devkits, but of course, you don't need multiple EDEV units to submit a title for distribution.
You only need one for debugging purposes.
Also, not allowed by Nintendo to show proof???
Yeah, I suppose the hundreds of game companies tweeting out pictures of their games running on a Switch devkit are getting in massive trouble then.
They should be called Brown Mushroom Studio, because they're full of shit.

 

[Bladexdsl]

i remember hiring this game on the n64 and absolutely hated it

 

[smileyhead]

Things got even more confusing when another studio, Piko Interactive joined the fray, saying that they owned the full rights to the Glover series, and were contacting Golden Mushroom Studios about their claim on the IP.

"Whoops."

 

[pedro702]

they could sstart remaking the first one before making a sequel, barely anyone today will remenber glover to buy a agme called glover 2 lol.

and this copyrighted stuff is what makes old agmes hard to re release, too much crap and burocracy and lost rights.

i would love a remake and a sequel if they had the rights they could include an n64 emulator with the first game along with the sequel.

 

[Jayro]

There's nothing stopping them from MAKING the game. Now, distribution in any way, shape, or form might get them busted, even released free as a fan game.

 

[abelxcane]

Oh man I love this game and still have it for the 64. I use to love the cheats for it. I am gonna hold my breath until they release this game, Buck bumble , Blasto and Tiny Tank for the PS1.

 

[shaunj66]

Didn't a similar thing happen the other week with regard to the Tomb Raider I-III rereleases?

You've got to appreciate their optimism.

 

[Kourin]

Suprised anyone would want to revive Glover, I would honestly say the OST is the only redeeming part of the game.

Spiritual successor also doesn't sound like it'll go over well. Glover isn't Megaman or Banjo Kazooie, I really doubt people will be that interested in the successor of a game that was never popular in the first place.

 

[cracker]

As I remember it, the controls were pretty craapy. But that explains many N64 3D games.

 

[SimonMKWii]

I want Buck Bumble 2, not Glover 2.

 

[linuxares]

Wasn't Glover a love or hate kind of game? I never played it so I can't say.

 

[InsaneNutter]

I played the demo of this on the PC back 98 and really enjoyed it.

 

[FAST6191]

I can't remember if I ever played this.
That said most of the lesser N64/PS1 era platformers blur together for me.

Anyway you know that thing where someone makes a fan game, gets publicity, gets smacked down and then releases it without the questioned IP in it? This seems like the big company equivalent of that.

I had hoped we were going to get a nice contested IP (someone bought something at bankruptcy but actually other regions... sort of thing) but I guess we can't have an interesting thing happen.

Guess we will see if this gets called GINO (glover in name only) when it drops.