Shortly after a successful showing for Dark Myth: Wukong at The Game Awards 2024, where it won in several categories, an apparent copycat apparently “inspired” by its success appeared on the Nintendo eShop, drawing mockery from Switch owners and Dark Myth: Wukong fans alike. First released in August 2024, Dark Myth: Wukong had a very positive reception from the players, having been nominated for Game of the Year.
As reported by IGNhowever, a game with an extremely similar title, Wukong Sun: Dark Legendappeared on the Nintendo eShopin an apparent attempt to capitalize Black Mythpopularity and success. Wukong Sun is set to be released on December 26, 2024, and the game's cover art features a 3D rendering of an anthropomorphic ape, presumably Wukong, who bears a resemblance to Black Myththe very cover image of its main character, The Destined One. As Black Myth, Wukong Sunthe description relates it to Journey to the West.
Wukong Sun: Black Legend, arrived on the eShop
Wukong Sun: Dark Legend has several similarities to Dark Myth: Wukong
While Wukong Sun: Dark Legend does not appear to be an entirely “fake” game, as screenshots of the game on its eShop page show it to be a 2D cartoon platformer, the similarity of the game's title and cover to those of Dark Myth: Wukong created some doubts about the developer's intentions. The title, especially, stands out as being what could result from the confusion Black Mythand using a thesaurus to get “Legend” instead of “Myth”, and the in-game screenshots don't exactly convey the “Crowded battles, stunning environments and legendary enemies” promised by the description.
In a user-posted topic LORD in ResetErafan reactions to the game were uncharitable at best, with comments referring to Wukong Sun like “overly inspired“,”Black Myth: Wukong at home“, and a”shovel money catcher“. Some comments pointed out, however, that although Wukong Sunthe title and cover art bear a more than suspicious similarity to Black Myththe game is also not technically wrong, legally, if seen as an adaptation of Journey to the Westwhich is in the public domain – although Nintendo probably wouldn't need a legal pretext to pull the game anyway.
Our take: More and more worrying titles are appearing on the Nintendo eShop
Wukong Sun is not the first “copy” to appear on the eShop – and it probably won’t be the last
As pointed out in the IGN article, Wukong Sun is far from the only “copy” of a much more popular title to appear on the Nintendo eShop. Infamously, a game titled The Last Hope: Survival in the Dead Zoneapparently intended to be a “copy” of The last of us was previously released on the platform and later removed from it, as reported by Eurogamer. Independent title Unpacking also had copycat issues on the platform, with several misleading “Unpacking“Games, not affiliated with the original, were removed from the eShop only after a public call from one of the game's developers.
Notably, Wukong Sun nor is it the first eShop title to bear some superficial similarities to Black Myth – a game titled WukongSon of: Myth of the Monkey Kingwhich appears in the screenshots to look more like Vampire Survivorswas released just a month later Black Myth. Fortunately, the third Wukong game on the eShop Sun Wukong VS Robot, appears to be a completely original indie Metroidvania, released in 2021 – and although it looks nothing like Dark Myth: Wukongis currently on sale for $2.49 and is probably a better use of money than any of the other Wukong games.
Sources: IGN, LORD/ResetEra, Eurogamer
Black Myth: Wukong is an action role-playing game from the developers at GameScience. Based on the original Chinese novel Journey to the West, Players take on the role of Sun Wukong, a legendary ape warrior who battles beasts and mythical beings to save his world.