The Great Giana Sisters are Back. Hooray?

Those of you old enough to remember The Great Giana Sisters would probably remember the controversy that surrounded it. You would probably also remember walking 6 kilometres to school in the snow, and lavish six-course dinners for a tickie.

What you wouldn’t remember though, is where you’ve put your teeth.

For the many of you too young to remember, here’s a history lesson. Released on Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST and Commodore 64 in 1987, The Great Giana Sisters was a platformer intended to capitilise on the NES’ successes with Super Mario Bros.

Unfortunately, instead of merely paying homage and using a similar formula, it ended up being a clone – right down to the enemy sprites being almost exact replicas of Mario Bros’ trademark goombas.  It was such a point of contention in fact, that Nintendo’s legal division successfully had the game removed from shelves  shortly after release.

That was 1987 though. In 2009, Nintendo seem to have softened their stance a little, and have even licensed a remake of the original game for their ubiquitous DS hand-held. I have to question why though? The DS is home to the excellent New Super Mario Bros.

You can find out more about the DS port at the game’s official site here.

Last Updated: March 11, 2009