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{{trope}}
{{Video Game Examples Need Sorting}}
Hmm...do any of these video game characters [[Expy|look familiar to you]]?
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Examples of [[Expy|Expies]] in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
* According to David Gaider, one of the top writers at ''[[Bio Ware]]'', virtually every ''Bioware'' character is an [[Expy]]. When posting about their writing process on the official forums, Gaider said that Bioware's writers build characters by taking characters from other media and giving them new names and backstories. His example was Alistair, who he is heavily based on Xander from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''▼
** Bioware characters also tend to be expies of each other, often sharing personality types, abilities and backstories. [http://www.cracked.com/funny-3872-bioware/ This] ''Cracked'' article scratches the surface.▼
▲* According to David Gaider, one of the top writers at ''[[
▲** Bioware characters also tend to be expies of each other, often sharing personality types, abilities and backstories. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130906182818/http://www.cracked.com/funny-3872-bioware/ This] ''Cracked'' article scratches the surface.
** [http://www.behindthename.com/name/alistair Alistair] is the Scottish form of Alexander, meaning Xander and Alistair even have the SAME NAME.
* Any game with a reasonably decent
* Being based off ''[[
** For the Minirobots (good guys)
*** Fuzors, being your resource-producing machines, are based off the sunflowers. Papa Fuzors are similar to Twin Sunflowers.
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** And from the first ''[[Luminous Arc]]'' game, Nicolai is pretty much [[Pokémon|Brock]], except with Witches instead of Jennys/Joys.
*** And he gets his own expy in ''[[Luminous Arc 2]]'''s Kaph.
* In the Valve universe, we have the Scout from ''[[
** ''[[Persona 5]]'s remake (Royal) has Takuto Maraki, whose appearance and {{spoiler|goal of creating an illusionary world}} reminds one of Sosuke Aizen from ''[[Bleach]]''. But unlike Sosuke Aizen, Takuto Maraki {{spoiler|wishes to create a utopia.}}
** There's also Gman from the ''[[Half-Life]]'' series and the Spy from ''[[
* In a more mainstream example, we have Samus from ''[[Metroid]]'' and Master Chief from ''[[Halo]]''. Both are from military science fiction (FPS) games that wear full body armor, fight aliens and hardly ever say a word to anyone. They are both part of an elite group of fighters (Samus with the Bounty Hunters, Master Chief with the Spartans), and are considered the best within the groups. They have both fought 2 groups of aliens: A complex race of intelligent aliens, and a parasitic race of aliens (Samus with the Space Pirates and Metroids, and Chief with the Covenant and the Flood). Furthermore, both intelligent races have kicked their asses so many times over that the aliens have given nicknames to them ("The Hunter" for Samus and "The Demon" for Chief)
** There is no "the Bounty Hunters." There's just a bunch of random bounty hunters Samus briefly worked with in the beginning of one game. If anything, Samus's "elite group of fighters" would be the Chozo, though even that doesn't ''quite'' fit the bill.
** Just because two characters are similar does not mean that one is an expy. What MC and samus have in common could just as easily be due to the rule of cool.
** Master Chief and Samus? What about Master Chief and the Security Officer from ''[[Marathon
** And don't forget the crewmen from Halo and the BOBs from ''Marathon''.
*** Another Halo example is Emile, a slightly unhinged super soldier who wears an EVA helmet. If you remove the word 'slightly' you get an accurate description of [[Red vs. Blue|The Meta]]
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** Not just Nico Bellic, mind, [[Older Than They Think|but also Tommy Vercetti from]] ''[[Grand Theft Auto Vice City|Vice City]]''.
*** Probably not so much, since Nico and Marston both seem to be conflicted characters, weary of violence, but grudgingly resigned to the inevitability of it despite looking and hoping for another way, while Tommy is an unrepentent (and indeed, proud and happy) psychopath.
*** Continuing the [[Grand Theft Auto]] and [[Red Dead Redemption]] comparison, [[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas|Officer Tenpenny]] and [[Red Dead Redemption|Agent Edgar Ross]]. Both are badge wearing [[Manipulative Bastard
* ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'' is the king of this trope. The designs of all of the agents (save for Kahn...no, not "that" [[Star Trek II:
** And again in ''Ouendan 2'' where the original ouendan have to face off against a completely different set of expies. If you were lucky enough to download the expansion you could play as the [[Elite Beat Agents]] as well. In the end Ouendan 2 wound up having SIXTEEN expies!
* There's often an Expy-like relationship between player characters in video game sequels where you play as [[
** Text adventures like ''[[
* [[Jak and Daxter|Daxter]] is an expy for [[Animaniacs
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' has Meryl Silverburgh, an [[Expy]] of the original Meryl Silverburgh, a character in ''[[Policenauts]]''. The original Meryl, in turn, started life as an Expy/[[Distaff Counterpart]] of Solid Snake from ''[[Metal Gear]]''. All games were created by [[Hideo Kojima]]. He later lifted Benson Cunningham from ''[[Snatcher]]'', gave him a celebratory [[Race Lift]], and put him in ''[[Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops]]''.
** After the revelation of {{spoiler|Solid Snake being an imperfect clone of his nemesis Big Boss}}, the appearances were further retconned. Pretty much evident by how Naked Snake (Big Boss in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'') is basically Solid Snake with an eyepatch and 1960s-1970s equipment, complete with the same voice actor, and further evident in ''Portable Ops Plus'' with the optional appearance of "Old Snake," aka Solid Snake from ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]]''...
*** {{spoiler|It makes sense that Naked would be just like Solid, the latter IS his clone...}}
** Dr. Pettrovich Madnar, who was the Metal Gear engineer in ''[[Metal Gear
** Drebin from [[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots]], is a blatant expy of Smuggler from [[
* The common criticism of Tetsuya Nomura's work ([[Author Appeal|apart from]] [[Memetic Mutation|buckles and zippers]]) is that he really only knows how to draw [[Only Six Faces|a handful of faces]], and just adds different eye colors and hair, and maybe mix-and-matches qualities from other character designs he's already done.
** Though it's a lot more subtle than most examples, Sora of the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series is technically an [[Expy]] of Mickey Mouse. They share a lot of similar personality traits, and his outfit in the first game was actually based on Mickey's classic look. Appearance-wise, Sora is also the expy of Sion Barzahd from one of Tetsuya Nomura's earlier games, ''The Bouncer''.
** For a less subtle example from the same series, Axel from ''[[
** Vexen and [[Final Fantasy VII
** Larxene also somewhat resembles [[Final Fantasy VII
** Hayner is very similar to Zell from ''[[
** Also, Terra resembles Zack Fair from ''[[
** Nomura designed Xion as an Expy of Kairi as a [[Red Herring]], to throw fans off her actual origin of {{spoiler|a Sora replica.}}
** Here's another: He's [[The Lancer]] to his best bud, and early portions of the first game hinted at some kind of [[Love Triangle]]. He becomes a [[Rival Turned Evil]], but eventually gets over his [[Face Heel Turn]] and spends a large portion of the series as [[The Atoner]]. He realizes his weaknesses and confronts his [[Enemy Within]], [[Took a Level
** Xehanort, whether it's as {{spoiler|Master Xehanort,}} Xehanort the [[Deceptive Disciple]], Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, or Xemnas, comes off as the bizarre lovechild of [[Final Fantasy V
* [[Yoshitaka Amano]] enjoys reusing character designs and design elements. (He just doesn't get called out on it - at all.) Let's see...
** [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070411215900/finalfantasy/images/b/b9/FFV-amano_leena.jpg Lenna's] and [http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20070411215942/finalfantasy/images/6/67/5-cara-a.jpg Krile's]{{Dead link}} designs, both from ''[[
** The unnamed Warrior/Knight depicted in Amano's early illustrations for ''[[
** Lovely blonde princess rescued from the [[Big Bad]] by the hero and his party, who afterward expresses some attraction to the hero. Who am I talking about--[http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080828212849/finalfantasy/images/4/4d/Princess_Sara.jpg Princess Sara] from ''[[
*** Load up one of the newer remakes of FFI & head to Lufenia. Compare their features with those of Cosmos. Not a character, but interesting. Especially since {{spoiler|Cosmos comes from a Lufenian woman.}}
** The best example of recycling designs from ''[[
** Compare the main heroine of ''[[
** [[Final Fantasy VI
** Don't forget how Amano has a fondness for pale skin (May be justified with Cecil, given that Lunarians can have pale skin), frizzy white hair, spiked armor, catsuits, capes, eye shadow and black-blue lipstick. The CG-I renders for ''[[
** The characters are also expys of characters from different series. Zidane from ''[[
* Beyond the visual designs of Nomura and Amano, ''Final Fantasy'' recycles a lot of character concepts from game to game. In any given game there's a good chance your main character has [[Laser-Guided Amnesia]] and is gonna fall in love with a [[White Magician Girl]]. During the game you'll likely to meet up with a [[Chivalrous Pervert]], a woman who is [[Last of His Kind|last of her kind]], A [[Hot Chick
** All three SNES ''Final Fantasy'' main characters are [[Halfbreed|half-breeds]] of two different worlds.
** [[Final Fantasy X
*** Ditto [[Final Fantasy XIII
*** Wakka from ''FFX'' is very similar to Raijin from ''FFVIII''; a lovable oaf who is unquestioningly loyal, is pared up with a short tempered, authoritative woman who keeps him in line, and has a [[Verbal Tic]] of asking for confirmation whenever he makes a statement.
* ''[[
** Nephilim is an Expy of Elly from Xenogears, which is made more obvious when {{spoiler|she grows up in the ending of episode 3}}. Elly herself may or may not be an Expy of Elle, from ''[[Terranigma]]'', who is similar to Elly both in name and appearance.
* The Huckebein series of [[Humongous Mecha]] in ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' [[Sarcasm Mode|most certainly do not resemble]] the titular mecha of [[Gundam|a certain long running mecha franchise]]. The fact they're designed by one of [[Gundam]]'s more common mechanical designers is completely unintentional.
** The [[Original Generation]] of [[Super Robot Wars]] really run on lots of Expies. ''[[Super Robot Wars Z]]'' introduces us to [[Significant Anagram|Asakim Dowin]], a darker [[Expy]] of [[Super Robot Wars 2|Masaki Andoh]], justified that he was one of the early original character designs in the beginning of the franchise. Their expy qualities come mainly from their voice actor ([[Hikaru Midorikawa]]), drive on revenge and the fact the Shurouga (Asakim's mecha) is pretty much a black/anti-Cybuster (Masaki's mecha): similar attacks, but with added sadism for the Shurouga. That, and while Masaki's just a [[Jerk
*** Has no one noticed out that Ibis Douglas and Sleigh Priesty are nothing but less fanservice-y versions of Kazumi and Noriko from [[
*** Reiji Arisu and Xiaomu, the original characters from ''[[
**** When I first heard of ''Namco x Capcom'', I was hoping that [[Devil May Cry|Dante]] would be in it. When I saw Reiji, I realised he wouldn't be, since they were too similar. Bishonen demon hunters who use guns and swords and magic, have blonde sidekicks/love interests that are actually demons, dress in read jackets and black pants, father was died due to demons? Pretty blatant to me!
*** Monolith Soft, the developers of ''Namco x Capcom'', then made ''[[Endless Frontier|Super Robot Wars OG Saga: Endless Frontier]]'', which features [[Gender Flip|gender-flipped]] Expies of Kyosuke and Excellen, a regular [[Expy]] of Lamia, plus guest-stars Reiji, Xiaomu, and KOS-MOS herself (also including T-ELOS). The aforementioned director that made ''Namco x Capcom'' was involved in this too, so it's no wonder.
**** Strictly, they're not gender-flipped: they're ''name''-flipped. Kaguya Nanbu is the [[Expy]] of Excellen, and Haken Browning takes after
*** The sequel ''Endless Frontier EXCEED'' introduces Aledy Nassh, a blatant [[Super Robot Wars Compact 3|Folka Albark]] on foot, with a different hairstyle. He also comes along with an Ialdabaoth [[Expy]] painted black.
**** By the way, here's a list of that line of expies: Aledy is the expy of Folka, who is the expy of [[Fist of the North Star|Kenshiro]], who is an expy of [[Bruce Lee]]. Ooh, boy...
**** Subverted with Neige Hausen in EXCEED: she may have the "Fairy Dancing" theme song and the Royal Heart Blaster [[Combination Attack]] with the Fee-Kleid, the mecha expy of the Fairlion, but she isn't the expy of [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'s Shine Hausen.
*** Design-wise, [[Super Robot Wars L
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]'': Pick an archetype, any archetype: [[Crutch Character|Jeigan]], Kain, Abel, Oguma, Nabarl, Est, Rena, and Julian seem to have counterparts appear in every game.
** It gets interesting when they have similar/the same Backstories. Kashimu from ''Mystery of the Emblem'' and Fir from ''The Sword of Seal'' were similar, while Oguma from ''Mystery of the Emblem'' and Deick from ''The Sword of Seal'' were the same. Kain and Abel in ''The Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light'' became Alan and Lance from ''The Sword of Seal''
** Going beyond just archetypes: Klein, from ''Sword of Seals'', is of noble blood, joins the party as a Level 1 Sniper, is a stern but loving big brother (to Clarine), and [[Bodyguard Crush|can have a relationship with a subordinate who is a Pegasus Knight]] ([[Spell My Name
** Also going beyond archtype, Dieck from ''Sword of Seals'' looks remarkably like [[One Piece|Roronoa Zoro]]. Don't believe me? Compare their features: short green hair, scarred and very muscular, swordsmen, good relationship with their [[True Companions|Nakama]], etc.
** I can't believe nobody's mentioned Marth yet. A good number of lord class main characters in the series (Ike for one) resemble him to some degree. Usually with [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair|the blue hair]].
*** Actually, Ike was stated by [[Word of God]] to be intentionally based off of Hector from ''Blazing Sword'' due to Hector's popularity (and given Ike's own popularity despite being one of the more recent ''FE'' protagonists, one could say that this worked). However, whereas Hector is impulsive and [[Hot-Blooded]], Ike is (usually) reasonable, level-headed, and mellow, making the similarities to [[Spell My Name
*** Speaking of Hector, he is rather simmilar to Lex from the same game.
* Players of ''[[
** French Hypocrite Remy has the same moveset as Air Force Soldier with an Army Uniform Guile, except that Remy throws his Sonic Booms (which are smaller but otherwise look identical) one-handed. Incidentally, Guile's ''other'' Expy from the ''[[Street Fighter Alpha
** Failed experiment Necro is a mixture between Yoga guru Dhalsim and the green-and-orange apeman Blanka.
** Urien (and, by extension, Gill) is really just a magnetism-based Sagat with a few new moves.
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** African princess Elena is an all-kicks version of British amnesiac agent Cammy.
** Dudley, the African-British gentleman boxer, inverts this, as he is the complete opposite of the unchivalrous African-American boxer Balrog.
** Wrestler dude Alex is based off [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] T. Hawk (and against Hugo, a [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Hulk Hogan]] as well). His design is also based on Biff Slamkovich from ''[[
** German Gigantic Wrestler Hugo is, quite obviously, based off of Russian Gigantic Wrestler Zangief, though he also has an origin as an enemy character named Andore in ''[[Final Fight]]'', [[Captain Ersatz|who is based off the Original Gigantic Wrestling Master]], [[Andre the Giant]].
** Q = Unwiedly robotic Balrog with slightly [[Street Fighter EX
*** Additionally, Q is pretty clearly based on a [[Robot Detective|Certain Shotaro Ishinomori creation]]...
** Zangief himself is an expy of Haggar from ''[[Final Fight]]'', who came out a year before the original ''[[
* Most of the Psychopaths in ''[[Dead Rising 2]]'' are mix-and-match expys of the Psychopaths from the first game.
* In ''[[Samurai Warriors]]'', the spinoff of the hack and slash series ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'', Sanada Yukimura has a lot of similarities with Zhao Yun, starting from being the pretty poster boy with similar faces, spear as their preferred weapon, and their personalities as a generic soldier, but powerful general. And when both series crossed over, a lot makes comments just how similar they are.
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* The ''[[Pokémon]]'' series as a whole has a ton of these, especially in the beginning of the games.
** The [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Player_character#Characters primary (male) character] of any ''[[Pokémon]]'' game (except Brendan) is remarkably similar to the original protagonist, Red.
** Similarly, [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Colosseum_Wes_3D.png Wes] from ''[[Pokémon Stadium|Pokémon Colosseum]]'' gets his own Expy, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130508213124/http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/File:Michael.png Michael], in the sequel ''[[Pokémon Stadium|Pokémon XD]]''. [[Replacement Scrappy|Not all the fans were happy.]]
** With [[Pokémon Black and White
*** Subverted when they both evolve. Piplup becomes an emperor, while Oshawott becomes a samurai, and then {{spoiler|walks on all fours, due to being a samurai lord-horse combination, in turn due to Nintendo wanting to cram in some Fridge Brilliance.}}
** Compare Rattata, Sentret, Zigzagoon, Bidoof, and Patrat (Patrat is even called a Scout Pokémon like Sentret, though they have different ways of keeping watch; the former just constantly keeps watch in a pose with its paw above its eyes, and the latter stands on its long tail to raise itself up).
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*** Tentacool as an aquatic Pokémon is infamous, appearing in every stretch of open sea in every game prior to Generation V, often the only Pokémon to be found. In Generation V, Frillish fills a similar role. Both are jellyfish Pokémon.
*** Voltorb and Electrode are Pokémon shaped like Poké Balls, which happen to be the universal overworld icon for any general item; in previous games, attempting to pick up an item could result in being attacked by a Voltorb or Electrode instead. In Generation V, Foongus and Amoonguss are Poké Ball-shaped mushroom Pokémon, often fought when mistaken for items.
*** There's also the fact that Mewtwo, of [[Pokémon Red and Blue|Generation I]] fame, is suspiciously similar to Giegue/Giygas' form in ''[[
**** And let's not forget the similarities between Mewtwo and Frieza of ''[[Dragonball Z]]''.
*** Sawk and Throh are the Generation V Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, except that it's possible to obtain both normally in ''Black and White Versions''; one's just way rarer than the other in the wild, depending on the version.
*** Mewtwo, in turn, has expies in the forms of Deoxys in [[
** Each generation also includes Pseudo-Legendaries, rare three-stage Pokemon with a base stat of 600 who are (usually) caught late in the game, (usually) have dragon-like qualities and (usually) have a double weakness to a certain type.
*** [[Pokémon Red and Blue]] started the trend with the Dragon/Flying Dragonite, although it's far different from the later Pseudo-Legends in that it's a [[Badass Adorable|cute]] [[Gentle Giant]] instead of a vicious predator with a double weakness to Ice.
*** From [[Pokémon Gold and Silver]], we have Tyranitar, a vicious Rock/Dark [[Godzilla]] expy that set the trend for future Pseudo-Legends to be more fearsome than friendly, and has a double weakness to Fighting-type attacks.
*** [[
*** [[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl]] gave the world Garchomp, a [[Lightning Bruiser]] [[Land Shark]] with Ground/Dragon typing. It's so powerful, it was banned from competitive play like many actual Legendaries!
*** [[Pokémon Black and White]] gave rise to Hydreigon, a Dragon/Dark-type who's an Expy of [[Godzilla|King Ghidorah]], perhaps to compliment Tyranitar. Unlike the others, it's more Special-based.
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** Penny is a [[Creepy Child]] who enjoys destruction and can take advantage of natural conditions, similar to Lash.
** Nell from the original ''Advance Wars'' was already an expy of Caroline from ''Super Famicom Wars'' (both being "Lucky Girls", even Nell's Japanese name, "Catherine", sounds similar to "Caroline"), while rich-boy Colin is based on Billy Gates. Oddly enough Sensei (Yamamoto in Japan) is '''not''' an expy of Mister Yamamoto from ''Super Famicom Wars'', who is much closer to Kanbei than anyone else.
* Several characters in ''[[
** Marin and Tarin from ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
** To continue the chain, Zelda is an Expy of [Princess Peach, who is an Expy of [[Donkey Kong|Pauline]], who is a [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[King Kong|Ann Darrow]].
** Prince Richard from ''Link's Awakening'', himself a cameo from a Japan-only Game Boy game, became Ralph in ''Oracle of Ages''.
** ''[[Nintendo Power]]'' ran a 12-part manga based on ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
** As a [[Mythology Gag]], Fado in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
** In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
*** The big difference is Groose [[Took a Level In Kindness|takes quite a few levels in kindness]], while Gaston....[[Ax Crazy|doesn't]].
*** Also from Skyward Sword, [[Agent Peacock|Ghirahim]] is Zelda's answer to [[Final Fantasy VI
* Kurtis from the ''[[Disgaea]]'' series resembles Jet Link AKA Cyborg 002 from ''[[Cyborg 009]]'', having a similar face, being a cyborg, and also demonstrating the powers of flight and super speed in his attacks.
* Lots of Expys of ''[[
** Another Star Force theory makes Luna the Expy of Mayl, while Strumm is the Expy of Roll.
*** Really, a lot of the Expyism in Star Force involves two Battle Network characters having some traits combined into Star Force characters.
** This is just a few of the expy examples. The amount of Mega Men in the series is absurd ([[Mega Man ZX|ZX]] actually makes this a title), and Roll has an Expy in [[
** Based on what little we currently know of them, the sister/brother pair Quentia and Jack of ''[[Star Force]] 3'' are quite blatant expys of Pandora and Prometheus, right down to the base personalities ([[Emotionless Girl]] and [[Blood Knight]], respectively), and elemental affinities.
** ''[[Mega Man (
*** Not to mention Tornado Man being one of Harpuia.
** There's also Model A in ''[[Mega Man ZX]] Advent''. Both his appearance and personality are strikingly similar to that of Axl in the ''X'' series. {{spoiler|He's actually the biometal for Albert, [[Big Bad|a completely different character]].}}
*** Don't forget the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|Enemy Mega Men]], which blatantly parallel the [[Four Is Death|Four Guardians]] of ''Zero''. Even their Biometals are expies of them.
*** And of course, Girouette. [[Bishonen]]? Check. [[Badass Long Hair]] [[Hair of Gold|Of Gold]]? Check. Being [[The Obi-Wan]]? Check. Being [[Mind Control
** Concrete Man bears a striking resemblance to Guts Man.
** Being the very first [[Sequel Series]] in the mythology, ''[[
* ''[[
** Sylvanas is pretty much Kerrigan with a different name.
*** To put it into perspective, what happened to Kerrigan was against her will and hated what she had become but nevertheless was ambitious, powerful and angry enough to embrace becoming the Queen Bitch of the Universe. Sylvanas was transformed against her will and she too hated what she became but could not embrace it, leading her to split from the Scourge and seeking her own path. Arthas was already ambitious and had a vengeful side to him that caused him to cross to the Scourge more or less willingly and embrace [[Complete Monster|what he became]], turning to the Lich King.
** Arthas is also pretty obviously inspired by [[The Elric Saga|Elric of Melniboné]], and [[Evil Weapon|Frostmourne]] by Stormbringer. They have the same motive, the swords have the same modus operandi (stealing souls of loved ones in particular), and to drive the point home, Arthas even essentially becomes an albino after being possessed.
* ''[[
** The [[Powered Armor|Power Armor]] of the Terran marines resemble that of the Space Marines from ''[[Warhammer
** The dropship pilot takes it to [[Captain Ersatz]] levels.
** The Zerg are an expy of ''Warhammer 40,000'''s Tyranids, which themselves are an expy of the ''[[Aliens]]'', making the aforementioned Undead from the ''[[
** The Battlecruiser captain is an expy of [[Robotech|Captain Gloval]]. Swarthy russian man with a [[Porn Stache]], wearing an officer's cap.
* 3/4 of the party from ''[[MOTHER 1
** There are also several characters in ''[[
* Masked magician Guile from ''[[
** There's also Glenn, a green-haired knight who, like Frog from ''[[
*** He even shares a dual tech called X-Strike with the silent protagonist: but another key difference is that while Frog is almost absurdly loyal to the Guardian throne, even after he stops being a knight, Glenn betrays the Dragoons to help Serge.
** Then there's Leah, an expy of Ayla. In the best ending, she even mentions that she'll be naming her daughter Ayla.
** ...And Luccia, an expy of Lucca.
** can't forget the similarities of the two [[
* Another criticism of [[Akira Toriyama]]'s artwork is how similar a lot of his characters look, in not only just the manga he writes, but also the video games he does the art for. Again, ignore how hard it can be to create a bunch of unique faces ''period'', given how much Akira Toriyama actually ''does''.
** In ''[[
*** Good morning [http://rpgmaker.net/media/content/users/1/locker/good_morning_crono.png ,Crono]
** ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' is ''full'' of characters with similarities to other characters by Toriyama.
*** Lessee, Nimzo/Mildrath's first form in ''[[
*** The final boss of ''VI'', in his first form at least, looks like the [[
*** Jessica in ''VIII'' looks ''very'' similar to [[Chrono Trigger
*** Shu could practically act as [[Dragonball Z|Gohan]].
*** This was probably intentional in ''IX'', but you can actually make the characters in the game look like Android #17 and Android #18, as well as Lucca, Crono, Goku, Shu (Pretty much almost ''everyone'' from ''[[Blue Dragon]]'')...
*** Doesn't Abbot Jack's [[One-Winged Angel]] form in ''IX'' look a bit like [[Dragonball Z|Cell]]?
* In ''[[Shadow Hearts]]: From The New World'', Anne Lafitte looks a ''lot'' like Anastasia from ''Covenant''.
** To say nothing of Lady and Killer, whose blatant similarities to the main characters from the previous games caused quite a bit of speculation among fans. Essentially: Killer looks like Yuri with a bad haircut, Lady looks like Alice ... with a bad haircut, Killer has similar dialogue, a similar fighting style, and a similar relationship to Lady, who serves a role very much like Alice's. All of this is probably more than coincidental, given the popularity of the couple from the first two games, but it may have made Lady and Killer [[Unintentionally Sympathetic
* ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' shamefully plays this to the hilt, deriving many of its NPCs from earlier versions (or even direct copies!) of the same characters. Particularly shameless in ''Magical Melody'' and ''Harvest Moon DS'', which added only a handful of new characters and pulled its entire list of normal marriage candidates (i.e. not goddesses, witches, or gender-bending rivals) from older Harvest Moon games.
** One of the weirder ones is Pierre from ''Island of Happiness''/''Sunshine Islands''/''Frantic Farming'', who is the Gourmet from ''Back To Nature'' and others as a [[Adorably Precocious Child]] instead of a grotesque [[Gonk]].
** Though this may be missed by fans, Muffy is an [[Expy]] of Eve. They're both blond, wear red dresses, work at a bar, are flirty, are outgoing, and they both have abandonment problems.
* Touhou expies include Minamitsu Murasa and Byakuren Hijiri, from Touhou 12 (Undefined Fantastic Object), who share a number of similarities to Chiyuri Kitashirakawa and Yumemi Okazaki, from Touhou 3 (Phantasmagoria of Dim.Dream). Both Minamitsu and Chiyuri are young-looking sailor girls; Byakuren and Yumemi are their older superiors. Indeed, one fan hypothesis prior to the release of Undefined Fantastic Object was that Yumemi would be returning (due to her connection to spaceships).
* ''[[
** Valkenhayn R. Hellsing is the werewolf version of Slayer.
** Ragna the Bloodedge, the [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] version of Sol Badguy with only two belts, and uses demonic powers instead of [[Playing
** Ky Kiske - [[Shock and Awe|Lightning]] - [[Knight in Shining Armor]] + [[Knight Templar]] + [[An Ice Person|Ice]] + [[Psycho for Hire|Total Asshole]] = Jin Kisaragi.
** Iron Tager - Mecha-Potemkin.
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** Bang Shishigami: Chipp Zanuff, take two.
** Litchi Faye Ling: Jam Kuradoberi's [[Chinese Girl|nature]] (and Instant Kill) + I-No's [[Stripperiffic|dressing style]] + Bridget's playing style + Millia Rage's story connections.
** Nu-13: ''Guilty Gear X''-era Dizzy. With Justice's [[Power Armor]]. Or [[
** And let's not forget Hazama, who is just ''too'' similar to [[Bleach|Gin Ichimaru]]. Even the comparison Rukia makes of Gin to a snake in Chapter 145 fits in, as Hazama has a snake-themed motif.
* ''[[Persona 4]]'''s Rise Kujikawa, on first glance, looks like [[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Nena Trinity]] with different hair color and no freckles. While that alone doesn't instantly make her an [[Expy]], it is later revealed that Rise also has the similar cheery, flirtatious personality which functions as a mask (though what they mask is different: Rise is a good girl deep down, and Nena is [[Cute and Psycho]]. And they're both voiced by [[Rie Kugimiya]] while [[Playing Against Type|having nearly NO]] [[Tsundere]] qualities she is famous for and has a knack of wearing [[Zettai Ryouiki]] outfit.
** The "Spacy Girl"'s personality is rather reminiscent of [[Azumanga Daioh
** Naoto looks almost exactly like the main character from ''[[Persona 3]]'', except for the hat and that the lack of hairbangs. Naoto even twirls a gun in battle, much like how the main character from Persona 3 does during a summoning sequence.
*** The hat along with the detective aspirations are a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army|Raidou Kuzunoha]]. The line of Naoto's sideburns also closely resembles Raidou's.
* Nel Zelpher from ''[[Star Ocean: Till the End of Time]]'' has a very similar appearance and fighting style to [[Spell My Name
** To emphasize this, Phia's combat style in the PSP version is altered to make her even ''more'' like Nel, swapping her twin-dagger throwing basic attack for melee twin dagger attacks.
* ''[[Donkey Kong Jungle Beat]]'' did this on an epic scale to the characters from the DKC series, replacing Diddy Kong with The Helper Monkeys, Rambi with Hoofer, Enguarde with Orco, Squaks with the Helibirds and Flurl, amongst others. The fans of the [[Rare
* Cuisses, the [[Team Pet]] who can eat skill stones to fuse them from ''[[Jeanne D
* Parker from the original ''[[Red Faction]]'' and Alec Mason from ''Red Faction: Guerrilla'' are remarkably similar. They look quite a bit alike, and are both [[The Quiet One]], just short of [[Heroic Mime]], who are pulled into a role as hero and figurehead leader of the titular Red Faction through circumstance rather than choice.
* Guy Cecil from ''[[
** Actually, this should be reversed. Abyss came before Vesperia, so Flynn is Guy's replica. In fact, the Vesperia art book even goes so far as to point this out by showing Guy's chibi on the page with Flynn's chibi. Namco tried getting around this in the Tales of Vesperia [[
** Guy and Flynn are actually, it seems, ''both'' expies of [[Tales of Phantasia
** The ''Tales'' series overflows with Expies. Pretty much every character in a Tales game from the last decade or so is either an evolution of an earlier ''Tales'' character or a fusion of two of them.
*** Depends on who does the art, though. Luca in ''[[
* Albus in ''[[Castlevania]] Order of Ecclessia'' a clear Expy of Balthier from ''[[
* [[Big Bad|Willy's]] [[The Dragon|bodyguard]] Raymond in ''[[Double Dragon|Double Dragon Advance]]'' is based on the nameless final boss from the second NES game. While the Mysterious Warrior's fighting style from ''Double Dragon II'' was called "Gen-Satsu-Ken" (Phantom Murder Fist), Raymond's style is known as "Gen-Setsu-Ken" (Phantom Interception Fist).
** Duke, the [[Big Bad]] of ''Super Double Dragon'', also resembles the Mysterious Warrior.
* The Mousemallow species from ''[[Viva Pinata]]'' is probably inspired in Chu Chu from ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]''. They even share the same color, purple. [http://pinataisland.info/viva/Image:Mousemallow.png take] [https://web.archive.org/web/20000929183526/http://rivendell.fortunecity.com/immortal/584/chuchu.jpg a look].
* Elyon in ''[[Breath of Fire
* ''[[Nostalgia]]'' has Doctor Brown, who looks like [[Indiana Jones]] with a [[Badass Moustache]]. Melody also looks wicked similar to [[The Slayers|Lina Inverse,]] except she's got blue eyes and a different costume.
* Much of ''[[Harukanaru Toki no Naka
** While the "expy" characteristic of the cast was slightly toned down in later games compared to ''Haruka 2'', it is pretty obvious that the character designs are still being recycled, just with more significant alterations. This trend continues, as was recently shown by the pictures of the characters from the upcoming fifth installment of the series, which prompted fans to start drawing comparisons to previous games once again.
* ''[[
** [[The Big Guy|Lesley]] (of [[Gratuitous English|Ayako Katagiri]], sharing a love of painting and [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?|a fear of water]]),
** [[Rich Bitch|Linda]] (of [[Alpha Bitch|Mira Kagami]], having the same hair color, the same [[Alpha Bitch|haughty voice]] [[Well, Excuse Me, Princess!|and attitude]], a similar [[Noblewoman's Laugh]], and {{spoiler|comparable [[Hidden Depths]]}}),
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* One of the cast of ''[[Dragon Age]]'' is an assassin sent by the king after [[The Hero]] and fails to kill them but joins the party if his life is spared in turn, is a [[Casanova]] with a [[Lovable Rogue]] sort of persona, and has a Spanish accent. Oh, and he even loves leather boots <s> and is short with pointed ears and a striped face</s>. [[Shrek|Hmm...]]
*** Note: This is from the above admitted masters of Expies, Bioware. Another character is an expy of [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Xander]]
** The Qunari are [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]] with a strict caste system, almost religious devotion to that system, a grasp of technology beyond that of anyone else, a strong aversion to magic, and accept outsiders into their ranks so long as the outsiders accept to be bound by their rules. [[Warhammer
*** Unlike the Tau though, the Qunari are very, very far from being short and terrible in close-quarters combat.
* [[White-Haired Pretty Girl|White-haired]], [[Red Eyes, Take Warning|red-eyed]], [[Boobs of Steel|powerful and well-endowed]] ([[Dark Action Girl|Dark]]) [[Action Girl]] in a tight-fitting black getup who's (unreasonably) loyal to her master and a member of an ancient race, whose powers her master gains in some form. Eh, doc, we talkin' Reinforce I from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]] A's'' (2005-2006) or Selvaria Bles from ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' (2008)?
* ''[[The Club]]'' has Finn or [[Memento
* ''[[Pangya]]'' brings us Max, who is [[Final Fantasy VII
* Drachma from ''[[
* According to [http://www.cracked.com/article_18530_5-pop-culture-classics-created-out-laziness.html Cracked] (assuming [[Unreliable Narrator|their information is accurate]]) [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]], [[
* Mostly [[No Export for You|unknown in]] [[Sega Saturn|the states]], Princess Gradriel in Vanillaware's cult hit ''Princess Crown'' has a long list of expies and growing. The [[Cute Bruiser|cute girl]] swinging a [[BFS|large sword]] while wearing a [[Impossibly Cool Clothes|dress mixed with plate armor]] was too fun of a design not to [[Homage|spread]]. She's practically become the [[Super Prototype|patron saint]] of [[Everything's Better
** [[La Pucelle]]'s Eclair, including her [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Dark Form]].
** Capcom's Gaia Masters has Princess Tiara.
** Saber of ''[[Fate/stay
** Though a departure in weapon and dress, [[Odin Sphere|Gwendolyn]] carries on many of Gradriel's traits (namely [[Big Eater|eating habits]]) since her game is a [[Spiritual Successor]].
** Yggdra of [[Yggdra Union]] takes the classic silhouette to morally ambiguous territories of conquest.
** More of a [[The Cameo|cameo]], a different princess of the same name and costume shows up in [[
{{quote|
* Both [[Miko]] SHMUP Heroines Sayo Yuuki from ''[[Shikigami no Shiro]]'' and Reimu Hakurei from ''[[Touhou]]'' are said to be based on Sayo-chan/Pocky from Kiki Kaikai/Pocky and Rocky. The Bigger Sayo actually shares the same name and arcade publisher (Taito). Reimu in her PC-98 form is essentially Sayo-chan with Purple hair and a bow instead of an headband, and the creator of Touhou apparently was an [[Ascended Fanboy]] of Taito.
* If planes can have Expies, the one in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HGzvFzB0q0&annotation_id=annotation_220314&feature=iv this] ''[[Just Cause (
* Dr. Eggman's robot companions in ''[[
** Also Ix for Fintevius, who himself is one of Dr. Zachary.
*** Mecha Knuckles in [[Sonic Advance]] for Metal Knuckles.
* ''[[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] Day of Reckoning'' has expies of its own characters in its story mode. You play through it once, choose the Raw brand as your character's home, and notice how the storyline captures the characters, their mannerisms, and their motivations very well... and then you play through it again on the Smackdown brand and notice how the Smackdown wrestlers are shoehorned into the exact same storyline. The game even invents a new stable, the New Ministry of Darkness, to be Smackdown's expy of Evolution.
* Grand Master Meio from ''[[Strider
* ''[[City of Heroes]]'' has these everywhere - millionaire playboy with no actual superpowers Justin Sinclair and kilt-clad time traveler Mender Lazarus are only two of the many.
** The most obvious example is actually [[Captain America (comics)|Statesman]] himself.
* Regina from ''[[Dino Crisis]]'' is an expy of Jill from ''[[Resident Evil]]''. In ''[[Resident Evil 3: Nemesis]]'', you can unlock Regina's outfit.
** Speaking of Jill, she is an expy of [[Haunting Ground
* Bowser in ''[[New Super Mario Bros
** Similarly, Dimentio from ''[[
* Eboshidori, the first boss of ''[[Ikaruga]]'', with its elongated headgear and sauropod-like legs, looks like the [[Aliens|Xenomorph Queen]].
** Series wise, [[Super Paper Mario|Count Bleck and Dimentio]] are expies of [[Paper Mario (
* [[G Senjou Maou|Maou]] or {{spoiler|Kyouhei Samejima}} is such an obvious expy of Lelouch from Code Geass. They look alike, they are both voiced by ''[[Jun Fukuyama]]'', use revenge as their motif, is an absolute ''[[Chessmaster]]'' and ''[[Magnificent Bastard]]'' (in fact, Maou is probably a better Chess Master than Lelouch considering how he never failed), both are leaders of terrorist organizations and both {{spoiler|sacrifice their life at the end of the story}} The only difference between them is that Maou does not have a magical eye and is purely evil while Lelouch is good.
* Ben and Dan from ''[[Ben There, Dan That!]]'' and ''[[Time Gentlemen Please]]'' are reasonably blatant expies of [[Sam and Max]] - mostly notable because Ben and Dan frequently lampshade it. One of Ben's responses when looking at Dan is to call him 'the Max to my Sam', and they occasionally affectionately call each other 'Max' and 'Sam'. The main difference in terms of character is that Max's sociopathic violence has been given to Ben, leaving Dan as a [[Cloudcuckoolander]] and having him act as voice of reason when Ben does something disgusting or borderline evil in the pursuit of [[Adventure Game|adventure]].
* The cast of the ''[[
* Red and Blue from ''[[
* [[Cyberbots:
* Following [[Word of God]], Beowulf from ''Devil May Cry 3'' is strongly inspired on the mythological demon Pazuzu.
* A mouthy teenager with an attitude who goes on adventures whose name begins with "S", and a pink [[Distaff Counterpart]] who's head over heels for him but he doesn't like her back and shows discomfort at this crush? Are we talking about [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic and Amy]] or [[Spyro the Dragon|Spyro and Ember]]?
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* [[Richard Nixon|Senator Nick Richards]] from Tropico 4. [[Blatant Lies|He is not a crook.]]
* Upon the [[Cultural Translation]] of Tecmo's ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]'' to be released as ''Tecmo Cup Soccer Game'', the series ended up creating a huge amount of expies of the original anime/manga casts. The EU only game on Sega Genesis, ''Tecmo Cup Football Game,'' features a whole different storyline, but still retains the expies of the original characters, with an exception of David being Robert's older brother rather than a bestfriend like how Misaki is to Tsubasa.
* In the first ''[[Freddi Fish]]'' game, you can sometimes come across an [[Expy]] of [[Putt
* Very common in the [[Nasuverse]]. With ''[[Kara no Kyoukai
* Augustus Cole ("The Cole Train") from ''[[Gears of War]]'' is Terry Tate, Office Linebacker, a joke character from a series of Reebok commercials.
* ''[[Inazuma Eleven]] GO'' plays this with the [[Three Faces of Eve|manager trio,]] Sorano Aoi, Seto Midori, and Yamana Akane are expies to the prequel's Aki Kino, Raimon Natsumi, and Otonoshi Haruna.
** The commentator Kakuma Ayumu is this to Kakuma Keita. After all, they're brothers that have a common interest and share the same VA.
* In ''[[Prototype (
* Belltower Heavies from ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution
* Lololo and Lalala (aka Fololo and Falala) from the [[Kirby]] series are based on Lolo and his girlfriend Lala from the ''[[Adventures of Lolo]]'' series.
* [[Fatal Fury|Rock Howard]] is an insteresting case: Not only he is an expy of Kaede (with his [[Super Mode]] activated) from [[The Last Blade]], he got two expies based ''on him'': Leina Vance from ''[[
** This is [[Hilarious in Hindsight|funnier]] if you know that [[Ayako Kawasumi|Leina's VA]] voiced [[Fate/stay
** Even more hilarious if you know that Leina pulls off an attack who looks like Rock's (and his father Geese) famous ''Raging Storm'' in the [[
* The Hattori brothers Ryūichi and Ryūji from the [[Kunio
* Two factions are fighting each other. One can appear out of nowhere, while the other fields nigh-unstoppable tanks. Are we talking about [[Command
* ''[[
* SolForce from ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' is one for EarthForce from ''[[Babylon 5]]''. The name and functions are similar, the backstory of SolForce involves a democratic administration being suborned by jingoist militants that eventually get pushed back, just like the other, and the creators have even admitted to being fans of the show.
* Many of the characters in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' are Expies of characters from ''[[Skies of Arcadia]].'' The two most obvious ones are Vaan/Vyse (four letter name that starts with 'v', wants to become a sky pirate) and Penelo/Aika (similar character design, role as the implied love interest).
** Balthier and Fran are also Expies of another pair of pirates with a cool ship, namely Han Solo and Chewbacca. Balthier, like Han, is a former imperial who rebelled when he grew disgusted with how they operated, before saving Chewie/Fran from them.
* The Butcher in ''[[
* The ''[[Donkey Kong Country (
* Kreia from ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]] II'' is an expy of Ravel Puzzlewell from ''[[Planescape: Torment]]''. Both of them are [[Blind Seer|blind]], elderly, sharp-tongued [[Trickster Mentor]] characters. And their creator [[Chris Avellone]] has stated in an interview that he created Kreia because he "thought it would be cool to be in an adventuring party with Ravel!".
** Darth Sion (also from KOTOR 2) bears a strong resemblance to The Nameless One (also from ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'') and is also an immortal.
* Wrath from ''[[The Binding of Isaac]]'' is very similar to bomberman.
* ''[[
* When Baraka was introduced in ''[[Mortal Kombat 2]]'', he was called one of a "nomadic race of mutants" (his people would later be called Tarakans in ''[[Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance|Deadly Alliance]]'') he's got retractable blades in his wrists, a very keen sense of smell... Many fans have wondered it the dev team had a [[Wolverine|certain Canadian comic book hero]] in mind when they designed him.
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