Capcom's MaXplosion is "complete theft"

'Splosion Man developer Twisted Pixel has hit back at Capcom for what appears to be a shameless rip-off of its game.

59 pence iPhone, iPod touch and iPad game MaXplosion features explosion-themed gameplay and a character design that apes that of the popular Xbox Live Arcade game. Check it out in the video below.

Its official description on iTunes reads: "MaXplosion is a pick up and play platformer that challenges you to escape the clutches of the nefarious M.A.D. (Ministry of All Destruction) organization. Fortunately, as Max you have the ability to explode at will allowing you to 'bounce' off surfaces and reach far flung locations. Max's predilection to explode also comes in remarkably handy as an offensive weapon against the M.A.D. scientists and evil minions attempting to thwart your escape."

"MaXplosion gameplay video makes me sad," tweeted Twisted Pixel programmer Mike Henry. "If you're going to outright steal a game, you should at least understand what makes it fun."

And then, in a later tweet: "Borrowing is great. Hell, we do it all the time. But that game is a complete theft."

Twisted Pixel co-founder Michael Wilford also took to Twitter to voice his concerns.

"Not sure what to say about MaXplosion," he said. "Pisses me off. Guess we're just gonna have to make a better iPhone game than them. Shouldn't be hard."

Then, "Best part is, we originally pitched @Splosion_Man to Capcom and they said no."

He added: "I'll always love Capcom bc of what they brought to my childhood, but WTF have they turned into? First they lose Inafune, now this."

Capcom is yet to comment on the matter.