While imitation might be the highest form of flattery, sometimes artists and creators go a little too far with the inspiration they draw. This is most common on the collegiate level when you’re up at 2 A.M. finishing a long 10-page paper and that excerpt from Wikipedia begins to look all too tempting. But plagiarism is just as common in the movies we watch, the music we listen to, and believe it or not, the video games we play.
Even the earliest games to be released back in the late 70s and mid to early 80s are guilty of ripping off their counterparts. With the video game business being one of the fastest-evolving industries it’s pretty easy to rip-off an idea especially when new genres were being birthed left and right under the span of 20 years.
How could you not want to emulate the same mechanics of an insanely groundbreaking game like Super Mario Bros., or Halo, or even PUBG, for that matter? In an industry with so many creators on the professional and underground level, you’re just gonna have your fair share of copycats.
But instead of chastising all the games that are guilty of perhaps taking too much inspiration, we’re going to look at 15 games that built upon an already great formula and 15 that completely butchered the ideas from the games they copied.
Just to set a few ground rules, sequels obviously don’t count even if they were handled by another studio and the rip-off has to be a pretty obvious one. So Sonic isn’t copying Mario, and Castlevania isn’t ripping off Metroid as they’re similar but clearly aren’t rip-offs of each other. Without further adieu let’s jump into it.
30 Better Than The Original: Fortnite (PUBG)
Hold off on taking out your pitchforks, PUBG fans—let me explain first. Believe it or not, PUBG is definitely the game I personally enjoy more, but Fortnite took their formula and not only delivered a better game from a mechanics standpoint, but one that is undeniably more popular.
With PUBG devs going as far as trying to sue Epic Games and the Fortnite developers, you better believe this counts as a rip-off.
Not only is Fortnite less broken and more polished than PUBG, but it’s probably the best game to come out of the battle royale genre.
29 Ridiculous Rip-Off: Garfield Go (Pokémon Go)
Granted, there’s probably an endless amount of shameless video game rip-offs that tried to emulate the same formula that Pokémon popularized. That being said, I don’t think anyone really anywhere thought that Garfield would get in this mix.
Garfield Go is just such a bad game that it makes you think it’s just some giant joke that someone's getting off to.
Instead of tossing Poké Balls at Pokémon, you throw slices of lasagna at Garfield while he lets out a various assortment of moans. Don’t believe me? Download it and find out its terribleness yourself.
28 Better Than The Original: SimCity (Utopia)
Many like to give credit to SimCity for paving the way for games like Civilization and Cities: Skylines, but unbeknownst to much of the gaming world, it didn’t create this timeless formula, Utopia did.
Released in 1981, Utopia is regarded as one of the first city building games ever and is responsible for inspiring games like SimCity. Despite being the first game in this genre, the game has not aged well. Yet its influence is still felt today, especially in globally popular games like SimCity.
27 Ridiculous Rip-Off: Bubsy (Sonic)
Oh, Bubsy, where to begin with this bad series of games? Bubsy is an action-platforming game created to take on legendary gaming icons Mario and Sonic. While the games do draw a bit of inspiration from side-scrolling Mario games, the series feels more like a Sonic rip-off.
With five games in the series, it’s anyone’s guess as to how these things keep getting made. But the first three titles, Bubsy in Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind, Bubsy 2, and Bubsy in Fractured Furry Tales rip-off Sonic while offering some of the worst platforming mechanics in any game.
26 Better Than The Original: Farmville (Farm Town)
Don’t even try to hide it, you, me and everyone else on this planet was addicted to Farmville at one point or another—and to be honest, I can’t really tell you why.
Sure, making your friend's farm look like a ditch in comparison to your own was fun, but this game had each one of us in an almost unbreakable grip.
The funny part, though, is Farmville wasn’t the first farming simulator game on Facebook. That honor goes to the significantly less popular Farm Town. Both are carbon copies of each other, so while Farmville is technically a shameless rip-off, it’s one that seriously worked out.
25 Ridiculous Rip-Off: Killer Instinct (Mortal Kombat)
I hate using the word “shameless” here, as this rip-off is less of blatant one, and more of one that felt like a heavy amount of inspiration was drawn. Killer Instinct was developer Rare’s way of breaking into the fighting industry, and it was clear what game they were trying to style theirs after.
A gritty atmosphere, similar rosters of characters, and combat that feels explicitly raw are just some of the similarities the games share. There is enough to set these two apart, but universally, Mortal Kombat is seen as the better game and series.
24 Better Than The Original: Forza Series (Gran Turismo)
When comparing the libraries of Xbox and PlayStation, there are a few debates that are sure to be heated—Halo vs. Killzone, Gears of War vs. God Of War, and perhaps the most lively debate, Forza vs. Gran Turismo.
Gran Turismo dropped in the late 90s and was revolutionary for the time, but once Forza rolled around in the mid-2000s there was clear competition. Now, the Forza series is the clear king of racing games and has even evolved past the formula that the Gran Turismo series rehashes every year with the Horizon series.
23 Ridiculous Rip-Off: Kirby's Avalanche (Puyo Puyo)
Nintendo’s usually on the forefront of innovation with the games and hardware they release, but even they’ve found themselves releasing a few rip-offs throughout their history.
One of the worst is Kirby’s Avalanche, which is a blatant rip-off of the successful Puyo Puyo franchise. The funniest part here is that the Puyo Puyo series draws inspiration from Dr. Mario, a Nintendo-produced game so it kind of gets a little blurry as to whose really ripping off who here. That being said, Kirby’s Avalanche is just too obvious to let it slide.
22 Better Than The Original: Angry Birds (Crush The Castle)
Who would’ve thought that one of the most popular mobile games of all time was also a blatant rip-off? Crush the Castle is a physics Flash game released in 2009 where you launch a different assortment of boulders at various different structures and enemies.
It’s literally an exact schematic for a game like Angry Birds.
Where the game lacked in atmosphere and personality, Angry Birds made vast improvements and also updated the game's mechanics. The two aren’t that different, but Angry Birds is clearly the better and more popular game.
21 Ridiculous Rip-Off: Sonic Shuffle (Mario Party)
Sonic Shuffle is a really, really bad game that I feel sorry for probably introducing you to, and not to mention that it’s perhaps the most shameless of the shameless rip-offs.
Released at the tail-end of the N64 Mario Party games, Sonic Shuffle replicates the Mario Party formula without bringing anything new or interesting to the table. Instead of Mario characters, you have Sonic characters, and instead of Mario themed boards, you have Sonic themed ones. Oh, and any elements that were added are absolutely abysmal.
20 Better Than The Original: Rock Band (Guitar Hero)
Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Guitar Hero—those late nights with the boys staying up to see who could last longer on “Through the Fire and Flames” are memories I’ll just never forget. But Rock Band came in out of nowhere, and it seriously changed the game.
Introducing us to the drums, bass, and vocals, Rock Band took the tired Guitar Hero formula and ran wild with it.
It was the first step that lead to the downfall of Guitar Hero and instrument-based rhythm games in general—guessing Rock Band didn’t anticipate that at the time.
19 Ridiculous Rip-Off: Star Wars Dark Forces (Doom)
The first Doom is a game that was just so innovative for the time that everyone and their momma couldn’t help but rip it off. Star Wars: Dark Forces is just one of the many games that emulated Doom’s formula, but like others in this section it’s honestly pretty good.
Just because it’s a shameless rip-off doesn’t make it a bad game, as Star Wars: Dark Forces is quite enjoyable. Problem with the game is that it wears its influences too greatly on its sleeves; good game nonetheless.
18 Better Than The Original: Bayonetta (Devil May Cry)
A lot of these entries are going to come down to toss up’s with a dash of personal opinion to spice things up. So while both Bayonetta and Devil May Cry are undoubtedly great games, the formula was vastly improved in Bayonetta.
Video game designer Hideki Kamiya is responsible for creating and writing the stories for both games, so it’s hard to call Bayonetta a true rip-off. Yet while the later entries of Devil May Cry felt stagnant, Bayonetta came in to give the genre a much-needed breath of fresh air.
17 Ridiculous Rip-Off: N.O.V.A (Halo)
Trust us, there’s an endless amount of Halo rip-offs in the gaming market, even today you find games that hijack Halo’s timeless framework. But when it comes to the game series that perhaps went too far with their rip-off we look to N.O.V.A.
Developed by Gameloft studios, N.O.V.A. just feels like a severely discounted Halo for mobile devices.
The weapons are virtually the same, the maps feel identical to ones found throughout the Halo series, and that’s really just the start of it.
16 Better Than The Original: Super Mario Bros. 2 (Doki Doki Panic)
Sit down (if you aren’t already) and prepare to hear the notorious and somewhat degrading story of Super Mario Bros. 2. If you don’t know already, the Western version of Super Mario Bros. 2 is much different than the Japanese version.
The original sequel to Super Mario Bros. was deemed too difficult for western gamers (told you it was somewhat degrading) and was instead swapped with a reskinned game. And the game to receive its Mario makeover was Doki Doki Panic, a strange 2D platformer that most would now recognize as Super Mario Bros. 2.
15 Ridiculous Rip-Off: Fighter's History (Street Fighter 2)
Now, sometimes a rip-off is just so bad that we almost want to throw it into the bootleg category—say hello to Fighter’s History. Fighter’s History is a 2D fighting game that’s surprisingly pretty good, well that’s if Street Fighter II never existed.
The comparisons could go on for days, they even stole that time slowdown effect that happens when you defeat your opponent.
And unlike some other rip-offs on this list, the character models seem to be exact replicas of the ones in Street Fighter II.
14 Better Than The Original: Overwatch (Paladins)
This one’s a little confusing, as the timeline for both of these games is quite cloudy so it’s not very clear which game or idea came first. That being said, Overwatch feels more polished and has garnered much more popularity over the years.
Honestly, both games are worth your time and it’s up to you which one you enjoy more.
But from a ripping off standpoint, this one is pretty hard to call so we’ll just take the third option and say TF2 is better than both of them.
13 Ridiculous Rip-off: Final Combat (Team Fortress 2)
Speaking of Team Fortress 2, this game is responsible for birthing an army of rip-off games, some even putting Overwatch and Paladins into the rip-off fray. But none are as terrible, or as obvious as Final Combat.
Final Combat is a blow for blow rip-off of TF2—it’s the type of game you find at a weird flea market.
It’s like you're staring at TF2 yet somehow it looks 1000 times worse, oh, and it’s severely laggy. Final Combat is just a terribly made game that should’ve never been released.
12 Better Than The Original: Battlefield (Call Of Duty)
Put your torches and pitchforks down, because despite what the title says, it’s up to you which game series you’d go to cross over. The point we’re trying to make here is that unlike most of COD’s contemporaries, Battlefield was able to evolve and move past the tired FPS formula.
Battlefield opened us up to larger maps, new weapons, and vehicles, and massive amounts of players in lobbies. COD is just now catching up to some of these concepts and it’s been lacking in innovation for a while now.
11 Ridiculous Rip-Off: Crash Tag Team Racing (Diddy Kong Racing)
I love the Crash Bandicoot series; the original games came out at a time when platforming was starting to get stale and I was glad to see their universal appreciation with the recent re-releases.
That being said, the Crash games do have one misstep and it comes in the form of Crash Tag Team Racing. For some reason, the devs thought it’d be a good idea to replicate Diddy Kong Racing and add the bare minimum from their ends. The result being a kart-game that feels all-to forgettable.