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Rook and Bishop: Rip-offs of a rip-off?

In 2011, a Nintendo DS game called Doctor Lautrec and the Forgotten Knights was released.

With its puzzles, animated cutscenes and gameplay it was clearly inspired by the popular Layton series.

The protagonist even bares a striking resemblance to Layton himself.

In the game, there are two minor characters named Paul and Jean. Besides their names, they aren't based on any current Layton characters.

They are the stereotypical dumb henchmen to the big boss. One is tall and thin, the other is short and fat. They wear matching uniforms and sunglasses. They show up occasionally to be a slight nuisance and provide comic relief. At the end of the game they leave the Boss to become better people.

Fast forward two years later and the latest game in the Layton series comes out.

Lots of new characters are introduced but two are very close to my heart.

Rook and Bishop. The stereotypical dumb henchmen to the big boss. One is tall and thin, the other is short and fat. They wear matching uniforms and sunglasses. They show up occasionally to be a slight nuisance and provide comic relief. At the end of the game they leave the Boss to become better people

It's probably a coincidence, but it's funny to imagine that Level 5 were so mad that someone ripped off their game that they decided to steal their characters to see how they like it.

And naturally, Level 5 improved the characters.

Paul and Jean were fired by their boss for their incompetence, which led to them helping the protagonists and becoming better people.

Rook and Bishop on the other hand made the decision to quit by themselves. They never acted out of spite or because they had nowhere else to go, they wanted to be good people. This makes them more compelling characters.

(Also Rook and Bishop don't flirt with the female characters and make them uncomfortable. They just have gay little conversations with one another.)

In conclusion: Don't rip off Level 5. They will take your characters and make them better.