Did Pixar's lawsuit against DMA Design in 1994 inadvertently pave the way for the iconic Grand Theft Auto? This is the intriguing claim made by retro gaming fan Animathias. Uniracers, a technical marvel on the SNES, was at the heart of this legal dispute, which forced DMA to pivot and eventually gave birth to the game that would become Grand Theft Auto.

The story begins in 1994 with Uniracers, DMA Design’s ambitious racing game. Shortly after its release, Pixar sued the studio for allegedly copying unicycles from their 1987 short film, Red's Dream. As part of the settlement, Nintendo agreed to provide a game development kit and halt publication of Uniracers, leaving DMA in an awkward position.

Without this project, DMA had to start over. Their relationship with Nintendo soured as they struggled to find another hit franchise. A small team worked on Body Harvest, but it didn't see the light of day until 1998. Meanwhile, DMA's other projects such as Kid Kirby failed to materialise.

Digging deeper, Animathias suggests that without this legal wrangle, DMA might have continued with Uniracers and potentially become a major Nintendo IP. More dramatically, the team behind Grand Theft Auto might never have embarked on their groundbreaking project. As Animathias writes, ‘If Pixar hadn't done a Disney, we might be Uniracing in Mario Kart World right now; meanwhile Grand Theft Auto might be nothing more than a spark in David Jones' eye.’