Mix and Match
Take one existing show genre, add another, and presto! you've got a brand-new genre.
The most famous example is Star Trek: The Original Series, pitched as a Wagon Train to the Stars (The Western + Space Opera).
See also X Meets Y (for when it's works, not genres/tropes) and Recycled in Space (for when it's a work plus a genre or tropes). Compare and contrast Genre Busting.
Examples of Mix and Match include:
Anime and Manga
- High School Drama + Lighthearted Comedy + Harem Genre + Shounen + Every Magic Trope Imaginable + Every Science Fiction Trope Imaginable X Serial Escalation= Mahou Sensei Negima. You may think that's an exaggeration. You would be wrong.
- High School drama + Humongous Mecha + Moe + Star Crossed Lovers + Transformation Trauma + Dysfunction Junction + Tear Jerker + Downer Ending + Kill'Em All + Nightmare Fuel Fridge Logic = Saikano
- Magical Girls + Devices from Humongous Mecha + Shounen Combat + Surprisingly Dark Plot + The Military + InSpace = Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha
- Magical Girls + Toku + Softcore Cinemax Skinflick = Ultimate Girls
- Magical Girl can be divided further; for example, Magical Girl Warrior + Magic Idol = Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch
- Girls Love + Humongous Mecha = Kannazuki no Miko
- Mind Screw + Humongous Mecha + Viewers Are Geniuses + Eldritch Abomination + Rule of Symbolism + Dysfunction Junction + Deconstruction + Nightmare Fuel = Neon Genesis Evangelion
- High School Sitcom + Boy Meets Girl + Sci Fi + Slice of Life + Locked Room Mystery = The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya (anime). Well, yeah.
- Magical Girl Warrior + Gender Bender = Mahou Shounen Majorian
- The Western + Hammer Horror + After the End = Vampire Hunter D
- Gentleman Thief + Coming of Age Story + Steampunk = The Daughter of Twenty Faces
- MagicalGirls + Nightmare Fuel + Faustian Rebellion= Puella Magi Madoka Magica
- Magical Girls + RPGs + Humongous Mecha = Magic Knight Rayearth
- Lolis + Mind Rape + unreliable narrators + The Power of Friendship + What Could Possibly Go Wrong? + Gorn + Crowning Moment of Awesome + Crowning Music of Awesome = Higurashi no Naku Koro ni
- Magic Idol Singer + Wholesome Crossdresser = Brocken Blood
- High school drama + Feudal Future + Knight in Shining Armor + Humongous Mecha + Serial Escalation (Magnificent Bastard + Wham! Episode)³ = Code Geass
- Youkai + New Transfer Student + Cute Shotaro Boy + Petting Zoo People + Fan Service + Marshmallow Hell + More Fan Service = Kanokon
- Children Raise You + Coming of Age Story + Parents (and Children) As People + Parent with New Paramour + Boys Love = Sakende Yaruze
Comic Books
- Medical Drama + The DCU = Samaritan X
Film
- Body Horrors + Mind Screw = The Soultaker
- Blaxploitation + Our Vampires Are Different = Blacula
- Serial Killer + Buddy Cop Show = Se7en
- Sexploitation/Erotica + Crime Mystery Film Noir + Slasher Movies = Giallo
- Horny Vikings + Instant Awesome, Just Add Dragons = How To Train Your Dragon
- (Fallout 3 - I Love Nuclear Power) + (The Drifter x Badass Preacher x Disability Superpower) + (The Bible x Can't Stop the Signal) = The Book of Eli
- A Streetcar Named Desire + Gender Flip + So Bad It's Good = The Room
Literature
- Government Procedural + Boarding School of Horrors = Gormenghast
- Great Detective + Affectionate Parody + Romance Arc = Lord Peter Wimsey
- Our Souls Are Different + Waxing Philosophic + Rule of Cool + Film Noir with a Bifauxnen Heroic Sociopath Jerk with a Heart of Gold protagonist = Kara no Kyoukai:
- Film Noir + Functional Magic + (Badass Longcoat + Genre Savvy + Occult Detective + First-Person Smartass + The Nicknamer) + lots of Shout Outs = The Dresden Files
- (Pokémon + Lost Roman Legion) + Five Races + Succession Crisis = Codex Alera Super extra bonus points for the ones in brackets not only being this trope deliberately invoked, but the very reason for writing the book.
- Punk Punk settings usually start as Cyberpunk mixed with another genre. For example, Cyberpunk + Medieval European Fantasy = Dungeon Punk.
- Low Fantasy + (High Fantasy - Hobbits) + Succession Crisis + Character Depth + (Noughties Drama Series - Turn of the Millennium) + 27 * Magnificent Bastard = A Song of Ice and Fire
- (Xenofiction - Cats Are Mean + Badass + Anyone Can Die + Family-Unfriendly Violence) x (Proud Warrior Race Guy + [[[The Clan]] x 4]) x (Long Runners + Loads and Loads of Characters) = Warrior Cats.
Live Action TV
- Police Procedural + Prime Time Soap = Crime-Time Soap (Hill Street Blues)
- Sitcom + Wagon Train to the Stars = Red Dwarf
- Spy Drama + The Western = The Wild Wild West
- Medical Drama + The Western = Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
- Medical Drama + Amateur Sleuth = Diagnosis: Murder
- Medical Drama + Space Opera = Mercy Point
- Medical Drama + Work Com = Scrubs
- Medical Drama + Work Com + During the War = Mash
- Medical Drama + Rescue = Emergency
- The Musical + Dramedy = Glee
- Police Procedural + Work Com = Barney Miller
- Police Procedural + Law Procedural =
- Most famously, Law and Order
- ... which was preceded by the short-lived 1971 Jack Webb production, The D/A/, which used the same basic format
- ... which itself was preceded by Arrest And Trial, a 90-minute 1963 series.
- Police Procedural + Rescue = Third Watch
- Police Procedural + Odd Couple * Gender Flip + Government Conspiracy * Science Fiction = The X-Files
- (The Western + Sci Fi = Space Western) + Government Conspiracy = Firefly
- Travelogue Show + Reality Show = The Amazing Race
- Cop Show + Super Sentai = Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger
- Film Noir + Post Cyber Punk + Kamen Rider = Kamen Rider Double
- Super Sentai + Americanization + Media Adaptation Tropes = Power Rangers
- Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger + (Gosei Sentai Dairanger - The Core Five Costumes) + Ninja Sentai Kakuranger + Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World = Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
- Denji Sentai Megaranger - Video Game Tropes + Space Opera + Rescue Arc + Grand Finale = Power Rangers in Space
- Seijuu Sentai Gingaman + Wagon Train to the Stars + Darker and Edgier = Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
- Mirai Sentai Timeranger + Adaptation Distillation = Power Rangers Time Force
- Bakuryuu Sentai Abaranger + Wake Up, Go to School, Save the World + TOMMY = Power Rangers Dino Thunder
- Engine Sentai Go-onger - Lighter and Softer + Darker and Edgier + After the End = Power Rangers RPM
- Die Hard on an X + Race Against the Clock + Real Time = 24.
Music
- Gangsta Rap + Horror Tropes = Horrorcore Rap
Video Games
- Space Marines + Super Soldiers + Alien Invasion + The Virus + Zombie Apocalypse + Hopeless War + War Is Hell + Military Science Fiction + Space Opera = Halo
- First-Person Shooter + Le Parkour + Action Girl = Mirror's Edge
- Cute Monster Girls + Bullet Hell + Crowning Music of Awesome + Fantasy Kitchen Sink = Touhou
- Take part of the above + Serial Escalation= Mushihime-sama
- Metroidvania + Nintendo Hard + Guide Dang It + Goddamned Bats + Demonic Spiders = La-Mulana
- Retro-futuristic Science Fiction + Underwater Habitat + Hidden Elf Village + Survival Horror + Art Deco + Anarcho-Capitalistic Dystopia + Genetic Engineering Is the New Nuke + What Measure Is a Non-Human? + System Shock = BioShock (series)
- Platform Hell + Nintendo Hard + Ludicrous Gibs + Everything Trying to Kill You + One-Hit-Point Wonder = I Wanna Be the Guy
- The Legend of Zelda + Bullet Hell = Engage To Jabberwock
- Kaiju + Professional Wrestling = King of the Monsters
- Raygun Gothic + Zeerust + Eagle Land (both flavors) + Alternate History + After the End = Fallout
- Roguelike + The Legend of Zelda (the first game) + Nausea Fuel + Nightmare Fuel + Thick Line Animation = The Binding of Isaac.
- Dragon Quest + Monster Girl Encyclopedia = Monster Girl Quest
Web Comics
Web Original
- (Deep-Immersion Gaming x 11) + Les Yay + The Plan+ Corrupt Corporate Executive + Moral Event Horizon4 + Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism / Loads and Loads of Characters - Did Not Do the Research x Rule of Cool + Shown Their Work = KIKEN
- Archie Comics + Super-Hero School + Crazy Awesome + Transgender = Whateley Universe
- Redwall + Usagi Yojimbo + Princess Mononoke + Alternate Universe + Beast Fable + What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids? = Tasakeru
- Any random movie + Winnie the Pooh + Any other nostalgic character + Railroading + Dull Surprise + Captain Obvious + Hey, That's My Line! + Forgot About His Powers = Poohs Adventures