Recycled in Space/Video Games


 * Mafia II is Grand Theft Auto IV IN THE 50'S !
 * Super Mario Galaxy is Super Mario 64 IN SPACE, AND IN LINEAR LEVELS ! Although it works out pretty well.
 * They're taking this a step further with Super Mario Galaxy 2. It's Mario IN SPACE, IN LINEAR LEVELS AGAIN ! WITH YOSHI !
 * On a similar note, Super Mario Sunshine is Super Mario 64 ON A TROPICAL ISLAND !
 * Super Mario 3D Land is Super Mario Galaxy ON THE GROUND !
 * Day of Defeat: Source is Counter-Strike IN WORLD WAR II
 * Batman: Arkham Asylum is Metroid Prime WITH BATMAN ! It's "Metroidvania" gameplay with a renowned crimefighter who must collect upgrades to his suit and stop the spread of a Psycho Serum
 * Batman: Arkham City is Escape From New York WITH BATMAN !
 * Dino Crisis is Resident Evil WITH DINOSAURS !
 * Dead Space is Resident Evil 4 IN SPACE !
 * Dino Crisis 3 is literally Dino Crisis IN SPACE !
 * System Shock is Ultima Underworld IN SPACE !
 * Bio Shock is System Shock WITH BIOPUNK !
 * Bio Shock Infinite is Bio Shock NOT QUITE IN SPACE!
 * By necessity, the Ratchet and Clank series is Spyro the Dragon IN SPACE WITH BFGS, MORE COMBAT-INTENSIVE GAMEPLAY, A PROTAGONIST OF HUMANOID SHAPE, AND A MEAN SPIRITED SENSE OF HUMOR ! So maybe not so much.
 * However, Ratchet Deadlocked is The Running Man IN SPACE !
 * Heretic is Doom IN A DARK FANTASY SETTING ! (The game engine was even the same.)
 * Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri is Civilization IN SPACE ! In all fairness, the game did innovate a lot, but the basic mechanics are clearly transplanted from Civilization and the developers made no secret of it.
 * This is true thematically as well, since game lore hints that the rocket launch victory in Civilization ends up being the UNS Unity, the colony ship from Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri.
 * It's certainly more of an aversion (and even an inversion), since, while sharing the aforementioned basic mechanics, the game introduces a lot of new concepts that simply weren't present in the previous two instalments of the Civilization series, but were included in later versions - borders and advanced social policies just to mention two.
 * Galactic Civilizations is also Civilization IN SPACE (literrally)!
 * Age of Mythology = Age of Empires WITH MYTHOLOGICAL CREATURES !
 * Each Total War games realeased after 2001 is Shogun: Total War IN WESTERN MEDIEVAL ! IN ANCIENT ROMAN ERA ! IN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION PERIOD !
 * Starcraft is not War Craft IN SPACE ! It's much more sophisticated!" However, many elements introduced in Starcraft were reused in Warcraft 3, along with further refinements -- such as the Undead, who are essentially the Zerg NOT IN SPACE !
 * Tabula Rasa is, however, WoW In Space, at least according to Zero Punctuation (see: the art at ~1:35).
 * Speaking of Battlefield, Frontlines: Fuel of War and Battlefield 2142 are Battlefield Twenty Minutes Into the Future!
 * Knights of the Old Republic was Neverwinter Nights AN EVEN LONGER TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY ! Some reviewers even joked it was "Baldurs Gate with lightsabers"
 * Mass Effect has also been described as simply "KotOR IN SPACE !", which is stupidly funny. On a slightly more serious note, Mass Effect is often described as Knights of the Old Republic WITHOUT JEDI AND LIGHTSABERS !
 * Dragon Age is Mass Effect IN A MEDIEVAL FANTASY SETTING!
 * And Mass Effect 2 is Dragon Age IN SPACE to a certain extent if you take into account the Dragon Age armor IN SPACE.
 * And Knights of the Old Republic II is sometimes referred to as Planescape Torment IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY !
 * Star Fox Adventures became The Legend of Zelda IN SPACE ! (it even had the same you-just-solved-a-puzzle music) when Nintendo replaced the setting with Star Fox characters and also made it a game that didn't please the fans of the series at all. Before that, it was more like Zelda WITH FURRIES !, something Rare has done quite a few times with more success (Mario 64-> Banjo-Kazooie, Mario Kart -> Diddy Kong Racing, not to mention the older Donkey Kong games).
 * Worms: A Space Oddity is Worms IN SPACE ! ON THE WII !
 * Grandia Xtreme is Grandia WITH MARK HAMILL ! (and XTREME !)
 * Space Siege is Dungeon Siege IN SPACE WITH CYBERNETICS !
 * Ironically, Call of Duty 4 itself was Call of Duty IN NEXT SUNDAY AD !
 * Now taken to the next level. Call of Duty literally IN SPACE!
 * Fallout New Vegas is Fallout 3 IN VEGAS !
 * And Fallout 3 is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion WITH GUNS !
 * The Mystical Ninja/Ganbare Goemon games stars the Japanese folk hero Ishikawa Goemon IN A Schizo Tech EDO! Ishikawa Goemon, in turn, is ROBIN HOOD IN FEUDAL JAPAN ! All oddness and cultural differences aside, they're actually pretty good.
 * Mega Man Star Force is Megaman Battle Network IN SPACE!
 * Megaman Battle Network is Mega Man IN CYBERSPACE!
 * Elite Beat Agents is Osu Tatakae Ouendan WITH FUNNY-HAIRED DANCING MEN IN BLACK !
 * Sonic the Hedgehog: Sonic and The Secret Rings is Sonic Adventure IN ARABIA !
 * Likewise, Sonic and The Black Knight is Sonic and The Secret Rings IN MEDIEVAL TIMES ! AND WITH SWORDFIGHTING !
 * Both Sonic Adventure games parody this trope with posters for movies called Chao in Space and Chao in Space 2. Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (Xbox 360/PS3) later continues this with Chao in Space 3.
 * Look at the architecture for the Death Egg in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. It is quite literally Chemical Plant IN SPACE !
 * Sonic Colors is Sonic Unleashed (minus the Werehog) and Sonic Rush Series IN SPACE (FOR THE WII AND DS, RESPECTIVELY) ! It works out pretty well, though.
 * Sonic Generations seems to be going the route of Sonic Unleashed and Sonic Rush Series, but IN OLD SONIC LEVELS (FOR THE PS 3/360 AND 3DS RESPECTIVELY) PLUS SOME CLASSIC-STYLE PLATFORMING FOR BOTH VERSIONS!
 * The current formula for Sonic levels introduced with Sonic Unleashed Day levels is arguably Sonic Rush Series IN 3D !
 * X-COM: Terror from the Deep is a sequel that is the first game UNDERWATER !! And EVEN HARDER !
 * Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. It's Puzzle Quest... IN SPACE !
 * Lethal Enforcers II is Lethal Enforcers IN THE WILD WEST !
 * Viper Phase 1 is Raiden IN SPACE !
 * Tetris the Grand Master 3 is Tetris: The Grand Master IN SPACE !
 * Magicians Quest Mysterious Times is Animal Crossing AT Wizarding School !
 * Jak II: Renegade is Jak and Daxter IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE ! AND WITH A Super-Powered Evil Side !
 * Victory Road, the sequel to Ikari Warriors, is Ikari Warriors IN SPACE !
 * 2020 Super Baseball is Baseball Stars IN THE FUTURE !
 * 1941: Counter Attack is 1943 IN EUROPE !
 * 19XX: The War Against Destiny is 1941 ALL OVER THE WORLD ! And the Final Boss is IN SPACE !
 * Inverted with Life Force / Salamander, which is Gradius IN ONE BIG WOMB LEVEL !
 * San Francisco Rush 2049 is San Francisco Rush 40 YEARS FROM NOW !
 * Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden is Charles Barkley: Shut Up and Jam AS A JPRG ! And sometimes IN SPACE ! IN CANON !
 * Darkstalkers is Street Fighter WITH MONSTERS !
 * Rival Schools is Street Fighter IN HIGH SCHOOL !
 * Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II is Street Fighter IN A WRESTLING RING!
 * Perfect Dark is Golden Eye 1997 IN THE FUTURE !
 * Dynasty Warriors Gundam is Exactly What It Says On the Tin... the classic Dynasty Warriors Hack and Slash format, recycled WITH LOADS AND LOADS OF Gundam CHARACTERS ... AND (Occasionally) IN SPACE!
 * Similarly, Samurai Warriors is the Dynasty Warriors format IN SENGOKU ERA JAPAN! WITH Oda Nobunaga !
 * Both franchises eventually got their own crossover with Warriors Orochi, which is Dynasty Warriors meets Samurai Warriors IN ANOTHER DIMENSION ! (They were summoned there by an Orochi that's crossed the Bishounen Line.)
 * And now we have Dynasty Warriors IN A POST-APOCALYPTIC MARTIAL ARTS SETTING ! (Hokuto Musou.)
 * 3D Pinball for Windows is pinball IN SPACE !... for WINDOWS XP !... or 2000, ME, 98, 95, NT, Vista and 7!
 * Sunset Riders is Contra IN THE WILD WEST !
 * While Mystic Warriors is Sunset Riders WITH NINJAS !
 * The Dolled-Up Installment Contra Force could easily be considered "Contra IN THE PRESENT !" if it weren't for the fact that the localizations of the early games already changed the setting of the series from the future to the present.
 * Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey is Shin Megami Tensei IN ANTARCTICA. IN HELL. IN SPACE!
 * Backyard Football 2006 is Backyard Football... ON AN ISLAND !
 * Red Dead Redemption is, in spite of being a "sequel" to a Western-themed level-based third-person shooter, Grand Theft Auto IV IN THE WILD WEST!
 * Alternatively, Grand Theft HORSE IV.
 * Its prequel, Red Dead Revolver, is Max Payne IN THE WILD WEST!
 * Space Quest is the snarkier, slightly raunchier, and somewhat Darker and Edgier little brother of King's Quest.
 * Rune Factory is Harvest Moon WITH COMBAT!
 * Alien Swarm is Left 4 Dead WITH ALIENS! Since the game was also made by some of the people who developed Left 4 Dead, the similarites are not surprising.
 * 7 Days a Skeptic is 5 Days a Stranger but JUST WANTED TO GO INTO SPAACE!
 * Infinite Space, according to some, is Skies of Arcadia IN SPACE!
 * And Nostalgia is Skies of Arcadia IN THE 19TH CENTURY!
 * Singularity is Bio Shock IN SOVIET RUSSIA, WITH TIME TRAVEL!
 * 999 is Ever 17 ON A BOAT!
 * The original Command and Conquer is Dune II ON EARTH!
 * Red Alert was pretty transparently CnC VERSUS STALIN!
 * Star General is Panzer General IN SPACE!
 * Mole Zhuangyuan is Club Penguin WITH MOLES!
 * Monster World IV is Wonder Boy in Monster World with an Action Girl hero IN Ancient Arabia!
 * Final Zone is Last Alert (both were developed by Telenet) IN THE FUTURE!
 * Cyber Police E-SWAT is the arcade version of Shinobi WITH A ROBOCOP-ESQUE POLICEMAN INSTEAD OF A NINJA!
 * Shinobi itself is Rolling Thunder WITH NINJAS!
 * Kenseiden is Castlevania IN Feudal Japan!
 * Zaxxon and Congo Bongo are Scramble and Donkey Kong IN Isometric Projection!
 * Hyperdimension Neptunia is Console Wars AS A VIDEOGAME!
 * Super Cobra is Scramble WITH A HELICOPTER!
 * Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zenin Shuugou! is River City Ransom IN FEUDAL JAPAN!
 * Catacomb Apocalypse is the two previous parts of the trilogy IN THE FUTURE!
 * Snow Bros is Bubble Bobble WITH SNOWMEN!
 * Angband has dozens of variants - it has been recycled in A STEAMPUNK FUTURE, HELL , LOVECRAFT UNIVERSE as well with variants WITH NINJAS or NEW SKILL SYSTEMS !
 * Off-Road Thunder is Hydro Thunder WITH DUNE BUGGIES !
 * Critical Depth is Twisted Metal UNDER THE SEA!
 * Barnyard Blast is Castlevania ON A FARM !
 * Angry Birds is Crush The Castle WITH BIRDS AND PIGS !
 * On top of that, there are three Angry Birds sequels which are respectively holiday themes, based on the film Rio, and IN SPACE !
 * Kirby and The Amazing Mirror is Kirby's Adventure PART TWO !
 * Kirbys Return to Dream Land is also known as  KIRBY'S ADVENTURE WII  in Europe.
 * On the subject of Final Fight, we have:
 * Captain Commando: Final Fight IN THE FUTURE!
 * The King of Dragons: IN MEDIEVAL TIMES !
 * Knights of the Round: Same as The King of Dragons, but this time WITH KING ARTHUR !
 * Armored Warriors: WITH HUGE MECHA!
 * While Cyberbots is Armored Warriors AS A FIGHTING GAME !
 * Battle Circuit: IN THE FUTURE AGAIN !
 * Final Fight Revenge: Final Fight AS A FIGHTING GAME !
 * Cybernator is Contra WITH Mini Mecha!
 * Truxton is Fire Shark IN SPACE!
 * Darksiders is The Legend of Zelda AFTER THE END!
 * Halo (Combat Evolved) is Aliens meets Die Hard IN SPACE!
 * Port Royale is The Patrician IN THE CARIBBEAN!
 * Dark Rift is Soul Edge AS A DARK AND EDGY Nintendo 64 GAME !
 * Assassin's Creed III is Assassin's Creed IN AMERICA!