Kung Fu Panda...a Rip Off?

Kung Fu Panda's been out for a while now. I saw it, enjoyed it, identified with the main character. Overall, Dreamworks impressed me. However, for the last month, I've been reading/browsing reviews looking for someone to make the same connection I made with the movie.

This is going to highlight how nerdy I really am.

The whole time I was watching Kung Fu Panda, I couldn't stop thinking about a Super Nintendo game called "Brutal: Paws of Fury." Does anyone remember this game besides me? Someone called "Davidspackage" (heh) on the Something Awful forums thought back to Brutal just like I did.

It's a fighting game, think Street Fighter meets Animal Planet. Asian sounding music played as the animals kicked the cartoon crap out of each other. There's no panda bear, but Ivan the Bear met all your Ailuropoda melanoleuca needs.

Here's a fifteen minute series of clips from Brutal gameplay. I knew it's what you wanted.

While no one at Dreamworks has probably ever even heard of Brutal, you've got to admit, there are some similarities. My rip off theory is even more disproved thanks to the fact that Tiger, Monkey, Snake, Mantis, and Crane are all martial art styles. Maybe Pixar will try to jump on the fighting animal bandwagon and make a big-screen adaptation of one of my favorite childhood games.

That's pretty much all I had to say about Kung Fu Panda and Brutal: Paws of Fury. Anyone else out there in blog-o-land happen to remember this game? I know someone must.