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Update: “This is stealing and selling for a profit”
Update #2 []: YouTuber Goati_ has put together perhaps the most comprehensive look yet at how Kai Magazine Software’s Death & Lead leverages stolen and AI-generated artwork, with the stolen elements appearing without credit to the original artists.
Kai Magazine is operated by Oscar Kenneth Albero, and has released several games on Sega’s 16-bit console. Two of them – Metal Dragon & Life On Mars – have been published on Evercade (Time Extension previously contacted the Evercade maker, Blaze, about this issue, but the company has declined to comment).
“This is stealing and selling for a profit,” says the YouTuber. “This is the most evil Mega Drive game. This time, [Albero] product isn’t even trying to look good at the beginning.”
Update #1 []:
Since this article went live earlier today, Krokodyl and other BlueSky users (including IkariDC) have identified more examples of traced artwork in another one of Kai Magazine Software’s games: the Sega Mega Drive / Genesis action title Metal Dragon.
This is one of the two games from the company that is currently being sold on an Evercade cart, alongside the video game Life on Mars.
According to these fresh claims, Metal Dragon features material traced from the 1989 Sega title Tough Turf, as well as a background that is a copy of a piece created for Cardboard Sword’s The Siege and The Sandfox This is an indie game that was released this year for PC earlier this year, but has been sharing development updates for nearly a decade online. We’ve reached out to both Evercade and Cardboard Sword for comment.
In response, Olly Bennett, the CEO of Cardboard Sword, issued the following statement, “We were not aware of this at all, and certainly did not give permission for any of our work or assets to be used or reproduced like this.”
We are still waiting to hear back from Evercade.
More stolen assets by Kay Magazine for their game Metal Dragon:
In the intro, the buildings are from a phone wallpaper and the background from an indie game called "The Siege and the Sandfox"
The artwork is literally the banner for the Twitter account of the devs. A version of this artwork was shared as early as 2016: forums.unrealengine.com/t/the-siege-…
Original Story []: Kai Magazine Software, the developer of homebrew games like Metal Dragon, Life on Mars, and The Secret of the Four Winds, has been accused of using stolen artwork on its upcoming Western-themed shooting gallery Death & Lead (alternatively titled Dead & Lead).
The retro developer and fan translator Krokodyl is the person behind the new allegations, having publicly accused the company on BlueSky of using “assets traced over existing sprites… and AI-generated backgrounds” for the €60 game.
Responding to a video from the YouTuber Retro Gamer Boy, Krokodyl outlined an instance where Kai Magazine Software appears to have used AI-generated artwork to create a cutscene background, before listing a number of other occasions where the developer seems to have traced over other pixel artist’s work without their consent.
This is why you cannot trust YouTubers and publishers in the retrogaming space. This 2025 megadrive game presented as "better than most snes game" has assets traced over existing sprites (Wild Guns and Shinobi III) and AI-generated backgrounds. Garbage game, garbage company, garbage shill youtuber.
I think I found where they lifted the locomotive from: www.artstation.com/artwork/X12rmn It's not easy to tell because theirs is lower res but the shapes in the smoke are very similar as well as the details on the engine.
Some examples Krokodyl highlighted, for instance, include Kai Magazine Software lifting animations from classic video games like Shinobi III (1993) and Wild Guns (1994), and perhaps more egregiously copying the work of a Vietnamese pixel artist named Dwayne Tran.
We tried to reached out to Kai Magazine Software on three separate occasions for a comment to see if they had any response to these allegations, but have yet to hear back.
Reaching out to Tran, one of the artists whose work was allegedly copied, he told us, “This is shocking! I never knew that my artwork was stolen and used for commercial purposes. I can confirm 2 things: The locomotive was indeed a tracing of my original artwork here and I’ve never heard of Kai Magazine Software until now and have not received any contact from them [for permission]. I think some actions more or less should be taken for this act”
According to Krokodyl, this unfortunately doesn’t seem to be an isolated instance either, with the developer later going on to name several more instances present in Kai Magazine Software’s video game Life on Earth, where the studio appears to have, yet again, traced over other people’s animations and assets without their permission.
This includes tracing over assets from games like Parasite In City (2012) and Blade of Vengeance (1993), material from the anime Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, and artwork from Reddit and pixel art websites like PixelJoint.
The walk animation of the main character
The walk animation of an enemy
The "crazy eyes" from the intro is taken from the anime Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
One of the spaceship is traced over an existing artwork (www.reddit.com/r/PixelArt/c…)
“I can confirm that we never heard about that nor gave any right [for] anyone to do that,” a developer on Planet Centauri told us via Facebook, before later telling Krokodyl, “Thanks for bringing this up. Not sure what we can do on our side but I’ll see with my colleague.”
As Krokodyl notes, if this was a free fangame, none of this would arguably matter all that much, with most people willing to look the other way for much of the older examples as long as no money was being made, and appropriate credit was given.
But, considering this is a premium product costing the same as most full-priced Switch games and the developer has also had other games (Metal Dragon/Life On Mars) published on an Evercade cart, it isn’t exactly the greatest look to be borrowing so liberally from other sources without their permission, especially when there is a potential profit to be made.
“This is an insane thing to write about game development”
A fool and his money are easily parted
The original James Pond designer Chris Sorrell is also not involved
[source bsky.app]
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About Jack Yarwood
Hailing from Manchester, Jack has a particular fondness for point-and-click adventure games. In the past, he’s written about lost games from studios like Sony Manchester, Genepool Software, and DMA Design, and has made a habit of debunking video game rumours.
Comments 58
I’m not surprised at all. One of his previous games used mostly assets from Mercs and nobody seemed to care…
Edit: Reading what I wrote on Discord when I tackled that game on my site, I also mentioned the possible use of AI.
Another scummy developer.
Their games always felt janky, too me.
I wish retro games could go back to being next to worthless so that scumbag companies and grifting youtubers would just buzz off already.
I mean, who are you gonna believe? Them or your lying eyes.
This is what gAI is going to/has already normalize/d.
I posted more evidence on Bsky: https://bsky.app/profile/krokodyl.bsky.social/post/3lvbfze6g622m
including another indie game artwork stolen (The Siege and the Sandfox)
I also found sprites from Metal Slug and Samurai Showdown.
The ending for Secret of the Four Winds also uses stolen assets: Last Blade – Moriya stage and Last Blade 2 – Graveyard stage as well as Far East of Eden: Kabuki Klash (Hudson, 1995).
You can also notice that almost all of the stolen assets are horizontally flipped which makes it harder to notice or to reverse image search.
I should also point out that I found some of the assets myself but a good chunk was actually found by other people and mentioned on forums, social media, youtube comments and whatnot. I merely compiled all of it.
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@failaz1986 It was a ***** practice then and it is a ***** practice now.
Especially when using artworks from other indie devs.
I knew there was something fishy about Kai Magazine not selling digital copies of their games!
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@Krokodyl Let's assume that with this complaint you manage to get the game stopped from being produced. I ask you: What do you gain from this?
Only your personal satisfaction at the expense of the frustration it will cause both the developers and those waiting to enjoy the game. Imagine if in the 80s and 90s it was common to stop game production for the same reason. We would no longer have epic games, and the history of gaming would be very poor. Think about it.
@failaz1986 Are the epic games where every cutscene uses stolen assets in the room with us?
If your business can only exist with the exploitation of other people’s work without compensation then your business should not exist at all.
Video games are a luxury, not a necessity. You’re not entitled to any game just because you want it, regardless of how it’s made.
That's not great, however ask yourself how many times does this happen? Putting the spotlight on a company is all well and good but I very much doubt in Evercade's growing library this is a one off scandal. 🤔
@failaz1986 I have to agree here. It probably happens all the time with bigger titles past and present.
@Exerion76 Are you kidding??? Metal Dragon is awesome!
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@failaz1986
Do you work at Kai?
The amount of damage control your making for them is just pathetic.
@failaz1986 That's some astonishingly strong bad faith in that argument, well done. I don't know though, maybe if you had like ten more examples I would be turned.
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@Coalescence Did you mean to praise me or criticize me?
@Krokodyl Thank you for exposing these frauds. You're doing a great service for those that put in the work and create things without resorting to plagiarism and lazy Ai trash.
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@Hexapus
No, he's not. He's just trying to satisfy a personal desire.
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This is far from the first game in history to be found tracing art.
As long as there has been games, there has been, yes, even professionals, who have done this.
@KingMike That's what I'm talking about. But these people are trying to stir up controversy with this. These are people who don't like games, but rather enjoy engaging in activism that leads nowhere.
Wow, what a risky move to lift that shot from Kabernari Iron Fortress. Anime studios have been known to be protective of their intellectual property and that anime is pretty recent too.
This is why I don't like these aftermarket Sega Genesis games. A majority of devs that made these made them with stolen assets.
It's true that this used to be extremely common. A startling amount of the assets from the original Duke Nukem (no, the original Duke Nukem) were traced from MegaMan for DOS and from Turrican. The Turrican series ripped off art from heavy metal albums and music from Transformers: The Movie.
But video games as an industry and as an art form were much younger then. It's not normal now. It's not as easily overlooked now. We're all supposed to know better now. It's past. That's not hypocrisy, it's growth. Chris Huelsbeck, who once copied from Vince DiCola has now collaborated with him.
Imagine if Yuzo Koshiro caught this kind of smoke for his SOR tracks
No different from Revenge of Shinobi. Golden Axe. Bloody Wolf. Street Fighter II. A thousand other games. Every hip hop song from the early ‘90s and before.
I'm not sure how to feel about this. Most of the examples don't seem to be stolen wholesale and just copy/pasted into the games. Many were "heavily inspired by," traced over and edited, etc… obviously it's not a GREAT look for someone charging money for games – these aren't casual hobby projects with free downloads – it changes things when you start charging and putting out physical carts.
But many of these inspirations see like just that – heavy inspiration, with alterations made. Several other commenters above noticed parallels with other legitimate games from back in the day.
But my question, why are people noticing NOW? Haven't these games been out for a while now? Games like Metal Dragon etc…
@Honkshot
Well spoken out, i just sign your Post, as i see it exactly the same.
Some seem overdrawn, some just very inspired.
Edit:
Sincerly, the Games are pretty fun, he (is there even a Team?) should just go another Route for the Artwork
and maybe buy Stock Assets or contact an Artist.
Heavily inspired is ok, as ALL the retro inspired Games do that.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9RYuvPCQUA
I would say this shows very well that taking others Work and using it to do something new is something very common in the World.
It is common since People begun to exchange Goods and Culture before recorded History.
You can see it in ancient Art, just compare Roman, Greek, Punic and Egypt Columns and Temples.
You will see how it shares Art and transforms from one to another between the Neighbours.
@Krokodyl
That super retro boy youtuber is responding to comments about this with 'proof?' and then when they link to your comparisons he's either ignoring them or deleting them.
@Exerion76 Don't forget the scummy SuperRetroBoy youtuber who's shilling AND running bad faith defence for them in his comment section.
@ShyGuy_McJones
This guy?
He shills for every new game, no matter how bad it is. Everything is the greatest ever…
https://youtu.be/zGfshzdwGjM?si=-gbr1F_pC6aj9fDc
@Exerion76 He's obv making commission from the pre-order links that he pins.
@ShyGuy_McJones
There's a "block links" option in the youtube channel settings. Any comments with a URL will be held (they don't show and need manual approval). Most youtube channels have it on to avoid spammers. He's probably not deleting comments with links as much as he's ignoring them.
Wow. Looks like I missed some excitement!
I had seen rumours (maybe on a TE comment thread?) that there was something dodgy about Kai Software when Metal Dragon and Life on Mars came out. I held off buying it, but typically I jump on new indie games on Evercade.
I'm torn on how bad this is from the comments in this thread, but I think I will hold off as it feels off. The line between copy and inspired-by is hard to define, but tracing over exactly to the pixel feels too close to the bone? I've no idea of the legal lines however (and if Blaze might be upset by this as the publisher of a cart)
Isn’t copying the greatest form of flattery? I can understand one wanting to replicate an iconic look from a game, movie etc in their past.
As for the tracing, I have no personal problem with it, but I can understand an artist getting upset by it. Not everyone can produce brilliant works of art without needing some reference. And Kai’s games certainly have a measure of amateurishness or derivativeness in them. We’re talking about a developer whose first game basically starred Solid Snake and their latest–Blade Runner. What does one expect?
Close enough. Welcome back, Limbo of the Lost.
@rshmglsky There's a huge difference between using a reference image for a drawing/painting and just tracing an image. The artist for Metal Gear obviously used the promotional image of Reese from The Terminator as a reference image but I highly doubt it was traced, I don't think a Japanese developer would tolerate it either.
Tracing takes little to no skill. If you have zero drawing abilities, you can trace something and have it look decent. Tracing was also seen as cheating by everyone as far back as I can remember. Even little kids would ask "Did you trace that?" because they knew it was not the same thing as actually drawing.
If you don't believe me, try drawing from a photo, any photo and then trace the photo and compare. It may not matter to you but if you call yourself an artist or "art director" you should strive to be a competent illustrator that can draw from imagination or a reference image without needing to trace.
It's just basic competency that the consumer expects if they're paying money for your products.
These people are a cancer in homebrew, the Mega Drive in particular because of it's ease of development.
Players and especially reviewers simply have to start telling the truth about new homebrew games, most of them are very badly made, or outright criminal cash-grabs.
There are too many youtube reviewers giving everything 8 or 9 out of 10 and barely playing the game.
It is morally correct to spread ROM dumps of Kai Magazine Software games.
Damien could you give it a res… (checks article writer)…oh okay… 🤔
@stankybeans According to you it's morally okay to stalk and harass others online.
@Hexapus You're comparing apples to oranges. We're not debating about a professional Japanese developer back in the day. Kai Magazine has always had an amateurish quality to their games. You can continue on whatever crusade you want; it's your choice, of course, but I won't shout for "professionalism!" from those who simply don't have the skills.
It was probably coded by ai too
@rshmglsky my dude, what crusade? You brought up reference material(photos, other art, 3d models, etc.) equating it to tracing, as if they’re the same. That’s all I was talking about.
Where was all this outrage when Piko put out Water Margin and the rest of those Taiwanese Mega Drive games on every console and handheld on the market?
I wonder if it makes any difference sales wise it doesn’t look like a bad game (Not that I buy these type of carts)
Now you found the graphics but you might find the same with music. At least, some stages of his MSX games had music from MD or SNes games.
In comics, commercial illustration, and animation this is called swiping and it’s been going on for over a hundred years. Without getting into the right and wrong of it, devs and artists are on tight deadlines. Swiping a character pose or tree or car parked on the side of the road saves time and money.
It’s how most people first learn how to draw as kids but is no substitute for a strong foundation in art that gives you the skills to draw and paint anything or anyone from any angle.
I’d be very interested to hear what Evercade plans to do about this if anything.
A very dirtbaggy thing to do to another artist or person who thinks the game they are buying is legitimate.
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“This Is The Most Evil Mega Drive Game” – Developer Kai Magazine Software Accused Of Using Stolen Artwork
Update: “This is stealing and selling for a profit”
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