Chinese Knock Off Table of Contents
Oct 16, 2016 16:32:13 GMT -5
arsenette, thatoneuser, and 3 more like this
Post by Eclipse on Oct 16, 2016 16:32:13 GMT -5
There are tons of knockoffs and someone asked for a list, so I'm going to set up a unified list here:
Chinese Name: 极限勇士
English Name: X Warrior
This show is a ripoff of: ANW 6 / Sasuke
Broadcast History: 2015 (1 season)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: The infamous Sasuke X Warrior China. This show started off as a very cheap looking knockoff of ANW6, but after the threat of legal action from TBS, they licensed Sasuke and rounded out the National Finals and Vs. the World with a nicer course. The team competitor featured 4 1v1 battles from a total of 5 teams, plus a 5-way rope climb-off. This show is the only on this list to feature the familiar 4 stage course.
Show Aesthetic: 6/10. The show looks generally very cheap and uninspired, but not bad either.
Show Quality: 8/10. X Warrior, despite being a knockoff, follows a fairly faithful and fair spinoff format, and the VS competition is a treat for Sasuke and ANW fans.
Chinese Name: 全能极限王
English Name: Challenge the Limit
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke
Broadcast History: 2015 (1 season)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: Challenge the Limit was a super low budget attempt to compete with X Warrior. This show cheaped out and had only 2 stages, an ANW City Qualifier tier mixed Stage 1/2, and the Final Stage rope climb (no limit, but fastest wins).
Show Aesthetic: 3/10. The show's red and yellow theme mixed with cheapness make it reminiscent of McDonalds Playplaces
Show Quality: 4/10. A combination of having only one bland course for the whole season, confusing design choices (footholds on the spiderwalk, really?) and poor editing give this show a failing grade.
Chinese Name: 勇者大冲关
English Name: Brave Crusher
This show is a ripoff of: Wipeout, Sasuke
Broadcast History:2015-2016 (2 seasons)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: Filmed in tandem with X Warrior, Brave Crusher leaned more towards the Wipeout format, while keeping some Sasuke obstacles.
Show Aesthetic: 9.5/10: This show's unified theme and high-budget design pays off and actually looks gorgeous, from the statue in the coliseum center, to covering the course frames so they resemble greek/roman palaces. This is probably the nicest looking of the spin-offs, only negative points are for some rainbow obstacles that don't fit the theme.
Show Quality 6/10: Filled with some genuinely refreshing obstacle mix-ups (Goren Hammer x Conveyor, Metal Spin x Log Grip), this is worth a short watch. Unfortunately with over 10 hours of show airing per week and only 1 major course change, this show is much too stale to watch through.
Chinese Name: 男生女生向前冲
English Name: Boys and Girls Forward
This show is a ripoff of: Wipeout
Broadcast History: 2011-present (10 seasons)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: Boys and Girls Forward is probably one of the most popular obstacle shows in China.
Show Aesthetic 7/10: This is probably what this show is most known for outside of China. Boys and Girls Forward regularly switches up its course theme, notoriously having courses based on Lego and Super Mario Bros. The courses don't always look amazing, but the themeing still makes it a bit nicer than other spinoffs
Show Quality: 5/10: This show has a simple premise which works for it, although an abundance of episodes with too frequent course changes can lead to it being stale. Most novelty comes from the courses themselves. This show is worst checking out if for the course themes alone, and can be enjoyable and fun in small doses.
Chinese Name: 智勇大冲关
English Name: Just Go!
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke, Banzuke 9-Area
Broadcast History: 2008-2011 (4 seasons)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: Just Go! is a fun Sasuke knock-off that benefits from varied courses, random chance and a clever pre-run format. Prior to running in Just Go!, competitors can be required to show off a personal talent, or compete in a small minigame fastest-finger style to earn the right to run.
Show Aesthetic 5/10: Just Go! Looks a bit cheap, but fully embraces this with a huge variety of colors making the course look "fun". It's not slick, but it doesn't look bad.
Show Quality: 6/10: Just Go! mixes things up with branching course, Jumping Bars on Stage 1, hurdles and items on the reverse conveyor and other things that make the show less serious, but actually makes the show more enjoyable due to some random chance.
Chinese Name: 全民运动会
English Name: All-Star Athletic Games
This show is a ripoff of: Banzuke 9-Area Courses
Broadcast History: 2011 (1 season?)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: All-Star Athletic Games is an obstacle course show, but it doesn't really take any influence from Sasuke. Competitions include running courses on Piggy Back and Team Ninja Warrior style competitive courses, but all of them play on twists like Banzuke rather than a straight skills course
Show Aesthetic 3/10: All-Star Athletic Games does not coordinate it's colors or materials and the course ends up looking like a cheap bouncy castle version of Takeshi's Castle.
Show Quality 3/10: Bad editing and unclear objectives make this show a slog to watch. Check it out if you're very curious, but it's not worth a serious watch.
Chinese Name: 快乐向前冲
English Name: Happy Forward
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke
Broadcast History: 2009-present (10 seasons)
Sample: Sample Video
Description: If you've ever seen those clips of "Chinese Ninja Warrior" with the guy speedrunning the course in seconds, this is your show. Originally more goofy, this show fully embraced its speed style. Its 1 stage course is barely difficult for anyone with experience or athletic ability, but this show shines through the tight speedrunning and optimization mentality.
Show Aesthetic: 4/10: This course is not ugly, but just very bland and cheap looking. But due to the somewhat serious nature of the show, I think that's fine.
Show Quality: 7/10: While repetitive with few courses like many other entries on this list, this show's serious nature and focus on skill and speed actually redeems it enough to recommend a watch over other entries here.
Chinese Name: 突出重围
English Name: Highlighting
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke, Banzuke 9-Area
Broadcast History: 2012 (1 season?)
Sample: Sample Video
Description: Created by the same company as X Warrior and Brave Crusher, this early project feels like it was popped out of the 90s in both appearance and objective. A 1 stage Banzuke style course with primitive versions of the Fishbone and Balance Tank offer an interesting course and pleasant but dated feel. The show's main vice is that in the entire run there was only a single course, and slack rules with and overly difficult final obstacle meant that >90% of competitors failed at the same point, crippling an otherwise alright show. There seems to be no tangible penalty for failing many obstacles other than the time it takes to swim back to the course, and the final obstacle is a duel/wrestling match on a bungee bridge, where the competitor must knock off a cast member.
Show Aesthetic 6/10: A heavily 90s era Banzuke / Ucchan Nanchan's Challengers of Fire styling feels dated but also cohesive, giving this show a uniquely enjoyable feel
Show Quality 4/10: An interesting concept is ruined by poorly executed rules and one bad obstacle. Worth a single watch, but not much more.
Chinese Name: 活力大冲关
English Name: Vitality / People's Game
This show is a ripoff of: Wipeout
Broadcast History: 2010-present (8 seasons?)
Sample: Sample Video
Description: An uninspired knockoff of Wipeout that fails to reach the quality or concept of Boys and Girls Forward or Brave Crusher.
Show Aesthetic 3/10: A bland course that lacks the high budget and heavily inspired themes of similar shows.
Show Quality 2/10: This show has nothing unique about it to justify a watch. I'd recommend watching literally any other show on this list before this
Chinese Name: 我爱桃花源
English Name: I Love Peach Blossoms
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke, Banzuke, fever dreams
Broadcast History: 2015 (1 season?)
Sample: Sample Video
Description: So, there's a 4 story tall statue of Mario from Super Mario Bros, and he overlooks a massive, cartoon farm with giant claymation-looking animals. 2 teams compete on 7 games to determine a winner. These games include trying to grab crops from Mario's moving hands while running on a conveyor, a lamp-grasper knockoff that consists of hanging on cow udders (they even spray you when you put weight on them), and a worse Daruma 7.
Show Aesthetic 9/10: This show is extremely weird, but with a central and well coordinated theme that is completely unlike any other spinoff, I'd recommend a watch on that alone
Show Quality 5/10: This show is very stale with the same 7 events repeating indefinitely, but the novelty of the bizarre theme actually increases the entertainment value enough to say this show is worth watching at least once.
Chinese Name: 极限勇士
English Name: X Warrior
This show is a ripoff of: ANW 6 / Sasuke
Broadcast History: 2015 (1 season)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: The infamous Sasuke X Warrior China. This show started off as a very cheap looking knockoff of ANW6, but after the threat of legal action from TBS, they licensed Sasuke and rounded out the National Finals and Vs. the World with a nicer course. The team competitor featured 4 1v1 battles from a total of 5 teams, plus a 5-way rope climb-off. This show is the only on this list to feature the familiar 4 stage course.
Show Aesthetic: 6/10. The show looks generally very cheap and uninspired, but not bad either.
Show Quality: 8/10. X Warrior, despite being a knockoff, follows a fairly faithful and fair spinoff format, and the VS competition is a treat for Sasuke and ANW fans.
Chinese Name: 全能极限王
English Name: Challenge the Limit
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke
Broadcast History: 2015 (1 season)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: Challenge the Limit was a super low budget attempt to compete with X Warrior. This show cheaped out and had only 2 stages, an ANW City Qualifier tier mixed Stage 1/2, and the Final Stage rope climb (no limit, but fastest wins).
Show Aesthetic: 3/10. The show's red and yellow theme mixed with cheapness make it reminiscent of McDonalds Playplaces
Show Quality: 4/10. A combination of having only one bland course for the whole season, confusing design choices (footholds on the spiderwalk, really?) and poor editing give this show a failing grade.
Chinese Name: 勇者大冲关
English Name: Brave Crusher
This show is a ripoff of: Wipeout, Sasuke
Broadcast History:2015-2016 (2 seasons)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: Filmed in tandem with X Warrior, Brave Crusher leaned more towards the Wipeout format, while keeping some Sasuke obstacles.
Show Aesthetic: 9.5/10: This show's unified theme and high-budget design pays off and actually looks gorgeous, from the statue in the coliseum center, to covering the course frames so they resemble greek/roman palaces. This is probably the nicest looking of the spin-offs, only negative points are for some rainbow obstacles that don't fit the theme.
Show Quality 6/10: Filled with some genuinely refreshing obstacle mix-ups (Goren Hammer x Conveyor, Metal Spin x Log Grip), this is worth a short watch. Unfortunately with over 10 hours of show airing per week and only 1 major course change, this show is much too stale to watch through.
Chinese Name: 男生女生向前冲
English Name: Boys and Girls Forward
This show is a ripoff of: Wipeout
Broadcast History: 2011-present (10 seasons)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: Boys and Girls Forward is probably one of the most popular obstacle shows in China.
Show Aesthetic 7/10: This is probably what this show is most known for outside of China. Boys and Girls Forward regularly switches up its course theme, notoriously having courses based on Lego and Super Mario Bros. The courses don't always look amazing, but the themeing still makes it a bit nicer than other spinoffs
Show Quality: 5/10: This show has a simple premise which works for it, although an abundance of episodes with too frequent course changes can lead to it being stale. Most novelty comes from the courses themselves. This show is worst checking out if for the course themes alone, and can be enjoyable and fun in small doses.
Chinese Name: 智勇大冲关
English Name: Just Go!
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke, Banzuke 9-Area
Broadcast History: 2008-2011 (4 seasons)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: Just Go! is a fun Sasuke knock-off that benefits from varied courses, random chance and a clever pre-run format. Prior to running in Just Go!, competitors can be required to show off a personal talent, or compete in a small minigame fastest-finger style to earn the right to run.
Show Aesthetic 5/10: Just Go! Looks a bit cheap, but fully embraces this with a huge variety of colors making the course look "fun". It's not slick, but it doesn't look bad.
Show Quality: 6/10: Just Go! mixes things up with branching course, Jumping Bars on Stage 1, hurdles and items on the reverse conveyor and other things that make the show less serious, but actually makes the show more enjoyable due to some random chance.
Chinese Name: 全民运动会
English Name: All-Star Athletic Games
This show is a ripoff of: Banzuke 9-Area Courses
Broadcast History: 2011 (1 season?)
Sample: Sample Episode
Description: All-Star Athletic Games is an obstacle course show, but it doesn't really take any influence from Sasuke. Competitions include running courses on Piggy Back and Team Ninja Warrior style competitive courses, but all of them play on twists like Banzuke rather than a straight skills course
Show Aesthetic 3/10: All-Star Athletic Games does not coordinate it's colors or materials and the course ends up looking like a cheap bouncy castle version of Takeshi's Castle.
Show Quality 3/10: Bad editing and unclear objectives make this show a slog to watch. Check it out if you're very curious, but it's not worth a serious watch.
Chinese Name: 快乐向前冲
English Name: Happy Forward
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke
Broadcast History: 2009-present (10 seasons)
Sample: Sample Video
Description: If you've ever seen those clips of "Chinese Ninja Warrior" with the guy speedrunning the course in seconds, this is your show. Originally more goofy, this show fully embraced its speed style. Its 1 stage course is barely difficult for anyone with experience or athletic ability, but this show shines through the tight speedrunning and optimization mentality.
Show Aesthetic: 4/10: This course is not ugly, but just very bland and cheap looking. But due to the somewhat serious nature of the show, I think that's fine.
Show Quality: 7/10: While repetitive with few courses like many other entries on this list, this show's serious nature and focus on skill and speed actually redeems it enough to recommend a watch over other entries here.
Chinese Name: 突出重围
English Name: Highlighting
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke, Banzuke 9-Area
Broadcast History: 2012 (1 season?)
Sample: Sample Video
Description: Created by the same company as X Warrior and Brave Crusher, this early project feels like it was popped out of the 90s in both appearance and objective. A 1 stage Banzuke style course with primitive versions of the Fishbone and Balance Tank offer an interesting course and pleasant but dated feel. The show's main vice is that in the entire run there was only a single course, and slack rules with and overly difficult final obstacle meant that >90% of competitors failed at the same point, crippling an otherwise alright show. There seems to be no tangible penalty for failing many obstacles other than the time it takes to swim back to the course, and the final obstacle is a duel/wrestling match on a bungee bridge, where the competitor must knock off a cast member.
Show Aesthetic 6/10: A heavily 90s era Banzuke / Ucchan Nanchan's Challengers of Fire styling feels dated but also cohesive, giving this show a uniquely enjoyable feel
Show Quality 4/10: An interesting concept is ruined by poorly executed rules and one bad obstacle. Worth a single watch, but not much more.
Chinese Name: 活力大冲关
English Name: Vitality / People's Game
This show is a ripoff of: Wipeout
Broadcast History: 2010-present (8 seasons?)
Sample: Sample Video
Description: An uninspired knockoff of Wipeout that fails to reach the quality or concept of Boys and Girls Forward or Brave Crusher.
Show Aesthetic 3/10: A bland course that lacks the high budget and heavily inspired themes of similar shows.
Show Quality 2/10: This show has nothing unique about it to justify a watch. I'd recommend watching literally any other show on this list before this
Chinese Name: 我爱桃花源
English Name: I Love Peach Blossoms
This show is a ripoff of: Sasuke, Banzuke, fever dreams
Broadcast History: 2015 (1 season?)
Sample: Sample Video
Description: So, there's a 4 story tall statue of Mario from Super Mario Bros, and he overlooks a massive, cartoon farm with giant claymation-looking animals. 2 teams compete on 7 games to determine a winner. These games include trying to grab crops from Mario's moving hands while running on a conveyor, a lamp-grasper knockoff that consists of hanging on cow udders (they even spray you when you put weight on them), and a worse Daruma 7.
Show Aesthetic 9/10: This show is extremely weird, but with a central and well coordinated theme that is completely unlike any other spinoff, I'd recommend a watch on that alone
Show Quality 5/10: This show is very stale with the same 7 events repeating indefinitely, but the novelty of the bizarre theme actually increases the entertainment value enough to say this show is worth watching at least once.
