Funny realization about Castle of Dr. Brain

[FamousAdventurer77]

Sierra got sued frequently in the 90's for usage of likenesses in their games, though the most notable ones I can think of off the top of my head are ZZ Top, Toys R Us, and Radio Shack. Sprint had a paid advertising stint with Sierra, with the most obnoxiously blatant placement in the Space Bar in Space Quest V...testament to how adventure gaming ruled the world then.

But in Castle of Dr. Brain, not really an adventure title as much as a first-person puzzle collection with a small underlying plot (but still a fond childhood memory of mine no less), there's that matching game you play with the aliens and home planets.

I forget what the alien's name was but it was some kind of metal thing and the home planet you had to match them with was "Metallica, an importer of heavy metal bands."

Considering how lawsuit-happy Metallica got by the late 90's, I'm surprised they weren't in line to sue Sierra either. I can't be the first person to wonder about this!

[LimpingFish]

That reminds me of the manga series "Bastard!!", and how half the characters and locations in it are named after heavy metal bands, and how a lot of alteration had to take place before the spin-off anime was released in the West.

[FamousAdventurer77]

It's just that I remember that era so strongly! (And then there's that special room in the CD version of Space Quest where you can see all the stuff that merited lawsuits.) Specifically right after the huge Napster blow-up, I remember Metallica sued Revlon or some other big cosmetics corp because they had an eyeliner called "Metallica" then anyone who had one of those suckers new in the packaging? Got big bucks for them on ebay.

But since it wasn't as socially acceptable back then to have most music subcultures mingling with computer gaming (even though I've always been proud to have those beams cross...and have the ambition of asking one of NYHC's finest to provide the soundtrack for a game I'm hoping to produce some day), I guess that was one lawsuit Sierra got spared from. Heh.

That and I don't think Dr. Brain was as famous as the other titles. But the thought totally occurred to me when I was replaying it the other day. And I guess in Japan they aren't as lawsuit-happy as they are in Amerika.