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They Copied It, So It Sucks: Difference between revisions
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One thing's for sure, though: The reviewer will act as though the similarity is all you need to know. It was [[Better by a Different Name]].
There's a high demand for innovation and new ideas, so if a new work has similarities to an older or more popular one, expect those similarities to be the dominant subject in discussion about the work, even if they're entirely superficial. Some people go on to say "if you can't come up with an original idea, don't even bother trying to make the game." Despite the fact that most original works get ignored because of lack of advertising or that it's just not something publishers recognize and they're afraid to give it a chance. You can see the obvious Catch-22 situation, here, when genuine attempts to shake up the market or are ignored, whereas [[Strictly Formula]] works that copy ''much'' more than ''you'' did fly off the shelves merely ''because'' of the familiarity.
Of course, many times creators do [[Older Than You Think|borrow ideas from another work]] as inspiration to create new stories and concepts. Considering that just about everything has been done, it's difficult to properly think of something new and fresh. This is not always the case, however, as sometimes creators [[Follow the Leader|deliberately try to copy]] off a [[Cash Cow Franchise|particular franchise]] as soon as its success becomes evident. They will immediately try to make something to compete -- and most of the time it will fail miserably, because it was rushed or just implemented poorly. Other times it might come up with a really cool and ingenious new spin on the idea, and still never reach the same kind of popularity as its competition because somehow being too much like the original is deplorable.
The error here is the automatic assumption that just because something is ''similar'', it can't have any value on its own merits. If everything that was derivative was that bad, it wouldn't be done so much. Some can actually be quite good on their own. And enough followers can even make [[From Clones to Genre]].
This assumption can be infuriating to creators of products that are similar to products being designed simultaneously. Your options are to either reduce the quality of your work in order to get it out first, or be written off as a cheap imitation of your competitor's product (which ''they'' probably watered down to beat ''you'' out of the gate). Many "ripoffs" were in fact in development at the same time, but due to the development window for most modern media, could be released months or even years apart. This can also make the fans of the more "popular" feature look really [[Hypocritical Fandom|hypocritical]] if the alleged victim of ripoffs wasn't all that original to begin with.
The absurd extreme of this is when old-timers show off their long memories by dismissing new shows as rehashes of older productions which don't just fall outside [[Small Reference Pools]] but at least have been [[Keep Circulating the Tapes|out of public release]] for many years, and possibly don't even survive except within the old-timers' recollections.
There are some things that don't typically get called out on it despite using it merely because it just ''works''. Such as say, several [[RPG Elements]] and control schemes in general.
You'll notice that sometimes this trope is invoked not ''only'' by [[Fandom Rivalry|rival fans]] and [[Hate Dumb|trolly haters]], but people who actually aren't fans of the genre, even so much as [[Hatedom|hating it in its entirety]]. You'll notice that when people are typically not fans of a genre or series, similar to its cousin [[Its the Same So It Sucks]]. The two almost go hand-in-hand, this way, since a non-fan would not really notice how many subtle differences since, after all, they see it and aren't looking for that stuff, that is, [[Blind Bashing|if they actually see the work they're invoking this trope, on]]. Sometimes people are actually calling out things based upon ''meta-concepts'' of the genre.
This is the justification behind [[Sequelphobic|Sequelphobia]]. Compare [[Older Than They Think]]. Compare and sometimes contrast with [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]] when the original suffers due to amount (and sometimes the quality) of similar works released later. Not to be confused with [[They Changed It, Now It Sucks]], where a sequel or an official adaptation changes an aspect of an original work for better or worse. Also not to be confused with [[It's the Same, Now It Sucks]], the polar opposite.
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** There was also that TV show called ''Mutant X'', where Mutant X was the name of a team of young adult mutant with superpowers (such as cat-like agility, [[Super Strength]], [[Mind Probe|telepathy]], [[Intangible Man|density shifting]], the [[Shock and Awe|ability to throw lightning]]), formed by a scientist to defend the mutants and work for their integration in human society while an evil government conspiracy tried to capture or eliminate them and study them. [[X-Men|Sound familiar?]]
*** It should. The show was created by Marvel Studios, and the suing and counter suing between Marvel, Fox and Tribune is epic.
** ''[[Push]]'' gets similar treatment, despite having far fewer similarities. Most people seem to ignore the fact that [[Stock Super Powers]] were around before ''[[X-Men]]''.
* ''[[Duel Masters]]'' had this issue in being compared to ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' for a good while, and ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' itself is scoffed at by fans of ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]''.
** Which is interesting, because the author of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]!'' stated on a website that he based the card game in his series on ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]''.
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** Not to mention the fact that Star Wars isn't really even sci-fi at all. It's fantasy with some sci-fi trappings.
* Name a movie, and the odds are that someone has derided it for elements it shares with another film. For example, the train fight in ''[[Batman Begins]]'' is accused of being a rip-off of the one in ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider Man]] 2'', and many Disney films are accused of plagiarizing from anime, the latter of which is ironic because Walt Disney's style inspired early anime and manga and that Disney has "plagiarized" from many other sources that hardly get fussed over.
** Disney often receives criticism for its plagiarizing of fairy tales as well.
*** I'm pretty sure adapting [[Public Domain]] fairy tales into movies with the same name isn't plagiarism.
* Do ''not'' ever start drawing comparisons between the new ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' series (starting with ''[[Casino Royale]]'') and the [[The Bourne Series (film)|Jason Bourne films]] in front of a large group of Bond fans. Half will agree with you and the other half will ''unleash the fury''.
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** And all three had the misfortune of being released nine years after box-office hit ''[[The Blair Witch Project]]''. Although ''Cannibal Holocaust'' did [[Apocalyptic Log|it]] [[Older Than They Think|first]].
* ''[[13 Going on 30|Thirteen Going On Thirty]]'', has often been criticized for ripping off on ''[[Big]]'' - completely disregarding the fact that the former has [[Time Travel]] in it, while the latter didn't.
** [[Your Mileage May Vary|YMMV]]. While the method of ''how'' she becomes 30 is different, it's probably generous to say that means it's nothing like Big.
*** The [[Robin Williams]] movie ''Jack'' was accused of ripping off ''Big'' as well. This was mostly by people who never saw the actual movie, [[Never Trust a Trailer|just the trailers]]. ''Big'' was a comedy, ''Jack'' was a ''[[Tear Jerker]]''.
* The Jude Law action vehicle ''[[Repo Men]]'' has drawn some rather unhappy comparisons to ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]''.
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* The 2011 movie ''The Tall Man'' is about [[Slender Man Mythos|a tall, humanoid figure that kidnaps children.]] There's (perfectly plausible) rumors going around that this movie's ''concept'' actually came before Slenderman, but don't expect any of his fans from /x/ to hear a word of it.
* ''[[The Island]]'' is frequently accused of ripping-off the extremely obscure TV movie ''[[Clonus]]'', mostly known for being featured on ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''. After [[Mystery Science Theater 3000]] fans compiled a list of a hundred similarities between the movie, ''Clonus'' producer Robert S. Fiveson would sue Dreamworks and a court would rule that he had a prima facie case of infringement. Before the case went to trial, Dreamworks would settle privately out of court.
* ''[[Reservoir Dogs]] ''has been accused of being rather similar in terms of plot, dialogue and characters to the film ''City On Fire''. However, this is rather debatable if you compare scenes from both movies back to back.
* With the release of ''[[The Hunger Games (film)|The Hunger Games]]'' movie comes the inevitable comparisons to [[Battle Royale]].
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** Inverted with ''[[Stargate Universe]]'', which from the moment it was announced was mockingly referred to as ''Stargate: Voyager''.
* [[Unhappily Ever After]] was so strikingly similar to [[Married... with Children]] because both were co-created by Ron Leavitt. [[Word of God]] says it wasn't their intention to be so similar to ''Children'', but it simply turned out that way.
* This happens a great deal with Singaporean television, especially the childrens' programming. ''My Classmate Dad'' is a [[Body Swap]] [[Sitcom]] that basically is ''[[Freaky Friday]]'' with a lower standard of spoken English. ''Cosmo and George'' is about an alien who befriends a human who shows him the ropes of living on earth, [[Mork and Mindy|which is a startlingly]] [[Sarcasm Mode|original concept]]. The Chinese-language drama serials are almost as bad in this respect. ''CID'' is ''[[CSI]]'', ''The Time Machine'' is [[The Time Machine|uh...]], ''Baby Blues'' is [[Baby Blues|uh...]], ''[[Fan Service|Beach. Ball. Babes.]]'' is ''[[Dead or Alive]]'' (specifically volleyball tournament game, that is), and a really new one, ''Mrs P.I.'', is pretty much ''[[Scarecrow and Mrs. King]]''. The best part is that even if the shows are ''tenuously'' original, the English translations of their names, as you can gather, ruin everything.
* When [[Password]] became a hit on CBS, NBC countered with [[You Don't Say|You Don't Say!]], using names instead of regular words. It was identical to the set up which had host Tom Kennedy's lecturn in the middle of the panel. Threatened with a lawsuit from Goodson-Todman, the lecturn was moved to the viewer's left. Regardless, it had a nice six-year run.
* [[Rhyme and Reason]] was ABC's answer to [[Match Game|Match Game '75]] on CBS.
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== Music ==
* This is the response that most cover versions of famous songs get.
* ''Extremely'' prevalent in music fandom/journalism. How many times have you heard "______ is just doing the same thing [[The Beatles]] did in the '60s"?
* Especially in the early tot mid 1960s a lot of rock groups looked and sounded like Beatle clones: [[The Rolling Stones]], [[The Monkees]], Herman's Hermits, The Dave Clarke Five,... Some bands eventually created their own sound, but others have been forgotten as being nothing more than pathetic attempts to cash in on the Beatles' success.
** Speaking of The Beatles, it would take no less than a miracle of God to get critics not to use this argument against Sean Lennon or any other musician related to a Beatle. (Paul's son James wants to gather the sons of the other Beatles and form a group. Sean, Dhani Harrison and Jason Starkey are interested.)
*** Jakob [[Bob Dylan|Dylan]] has the same problem.
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* [[Muse]] are frequently accused of copying [[Radiohead]], despite having much more of a rock and classical mentality.
* Mr Bungle fans will frequently tell you that [[Faith No More]] is a watered down version of Mr Bungle, despite the fact that [[Mike Patton]] is in both bands so they're mostly fans of both anyway. Mr Bungle fans will also try to tell you [[Red Hot Chili Peppers]] copied Mr Bungle, missing the point that Red Hot Chili Peppers released several records before Mr Bungle did (not counting demo tapes). Red Hot Chili Peppers had [[Fandom Rivalry|a long lasting rivalry with]] Mr Bungle/Faith No More's singer Mike Patton in which Patton did some things he later apologised for. Red Hot Chili Peppers [[Fan Dumb]] will often still proclaim their hatred for Mike Patton nonetheless.
* [[Power Pop]] group Ozma have never quite shaken the [[Weezer]] comparisons. It's not always negative though - it seems that for every one person who dismisses them as too derivative, there's someone else who's a fan of both Weezer ''and'' Ozma. The fact that their debut came out a few months after Weezer's [[Broken Base|base-breaking third album]] may have even contributed to their popularity.
* Even though [[Michael Jackson]] clearly learned a lot from [[James Brown]]'s dancing style: many pop artists since the 1980s have been accused of copying Jackson's dancing moves.
== Newspaper Comics ==
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** Current Roster, add in what they've siphoned from the WWE development, previous refrees/commentators, copied gimmicks...if TNA even signs a guy who's been looked at by a WWE employee wrestling fans will complain.
** From the wrestler's point of view, it makes sense to go to TNA after the WWE sent you walking. It's the next biggest wrestling promotion after all. Still, it seems that every time the WWE fires or releases a wrestler it takes less than month for them to resurface in TNA. It also doesn't help that some of the time TNA has the wrestlers do their same WWE gimmicks but under another name (Team 3D being the biggest).
*** "Less tham a month" is generally an exaggeration, given that the typical No-Compete clause (which prevents a released performer from appearing with another company) in a WWE contract has a 90 day window.
*** Additionally, Team 3D ''legally'' can't call themselves the Dudley Boyz anymore due [[Disney Owns This Trope|WWE]] just as they own the rights/names/gimmicks to previous wrestlers (i.e. [[In Name Only|"Fake Diesel," "The Real Double-J."]])
== Video Games ==
* Jim Sterling discusses this trope, as well as its prevalence amongst the Video Game format [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTewf9XZtOA here].
* Any sort of show or game with a [[Mon|monster-collecting]] or -raising element as a [[Sidequest]] or main premise will inevitably draw comparisions to the genre codifier, ''[[Pokémon]]''.
** ''[[Bomberman]]'' has seen the harshest of criticism thus far with their Charaboms.
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** A strange example, the ''Rumble Arena'' series is almost invariably likened to ''Super Smash Bros.'' (although not necessarily seen as a negative) or, alternatively, attacked for ''not'' being like ''SSB''. Amusingly, ''Digimon World'' is occasionally accused of [[Did Not Do the Research|ripping off]] ''Tamagotchi''. <ref> For those unaware, ''Digimon'' was conceived by Bandai, makers of ''Tamagotchi'', as - you guessed it - a ''Tamagotchi'' for boys.</ref>
** The ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'' series gets hit by this very hard: despite having made its debut on the Famicom, ''[[Mega Ten]]'' is usually known as "[[Pokémon]] with demons".
** This is true even for individual aspects of monster-collecting games. See [[Dragon Quest Monsters]] - with its in-depth breeding system - which released in Japan in 1998, more than a full year prior to [[Pokémon]] Gold and Silver... [[Older Than They Think|yet it still catches a lot of flak for copying breeding from Pokemon]].
*** Not to mention that similar to the [[Mega Ten]] example above, the [[Dragon Quest]] series had already dabbled in the monster recruiting arts in its [[Dragon Quest V|fifth]] and [[Dragon Quest VI|sixth]] installments, though the [[Nintendo DS]] remake of the latter replaced that feature with the ability to learn moves typically used by monsters (the remake of the former on the same system still has the monster recruitment feature, though).
* A strange inversion with most [[Multiplayer Online Battle Arena]] games - it doesn't tend to be "You copied ''[[Defense of the Ancients]]'', so you suck", it tends to be more "You ''didn't'' copy ''Defense of the Ancients'', so you suck."
* ''[[Magical Doropie]]'' aka ''The Krion Conquest'', a departure from the original [[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]] series by Vic Tokai. Combined with [[Bad Export for You|ludicrously butchered]] and [[Bowdlerize|ludicrously off-line]] localization, this game became a complete critical disaster. {{spoiler|[[Your Mileage May Vary|In some instances, however,]] [[Better Than It Sounds|this wasn't even what the game deserved.]]}}
* The original ''[[Dark Cloud]]'' game was compared to ''Zelda''. Its sequel was, however, [[Surprisingly Improved Sequel|much more well-received]] - Although this actually [[Tropes Are Tools|wasn't thought of as a bad thing by some magazines]].
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* Several people note that [[Follow the Leader|Sony's peripheral devices are rip-offs of Nintendo's controllers]]. From the SNES-like design, to the rumble, the control sticks and, most recently, the motion sensor technology and connectivity between consoles and portables, Sony has been accused of being a copycat.
** Sony's sixaxis was patented two weeks before Nintendo made their unveiling.
** Reportedly, PS Move has actually been in development since before the Wii was even announced (cost being the main reason it didn't launch with the [[PlayStation 3]] itself, as the system cost enough to manufacture as it was [http://kotaku.com/5640867/motion-gaming-gains-momentum\]). While this doesn't quite disprove the idea of Sony having Spies in Nintendo to steal from them, it does highlight the silliness of the issue.
** Despite Rumble being an arcade feature at the time, the controller design coming from the Vectrex, the sticks coming from the Atari 5200 (historically, the first games system with analogue joysticks), and connectivity coming from the Dreamcast. Nintendo rips something off, Sony does it twice.
** Even the first Playstation was originally meant to be an SNES peripheral, so it goes back quite a ways.
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**** This is actually considered the Microsoft business model, where they wait for a market to flourish, then buy their way into it. From Internet Explorer, to [[Xbox]], to Zune to now Bing, Microsoft lives off this trope.
**** Almost every big tech company does this to a certain degree. They are big conservative organisations who really don't like taking risks. It's smaller companies that tend to actually do all the innovating and the big companies (particularly MS but by far most shamelessly apple) who claim that they were responsible for it. iPods, iPhones, iPads ? All concepts proved by smaller companies that apple band-wagoned onto. Only tech-illiterate followers of fashion think apple or microsoft or any big tech company genuine innovated anything. It's essentially the huge PR machine that the big companies have that makes thee world think they got their first.
** The Kinect was called a "Wii Wannabe"...Which is ironic for two reasons. '''1)''' The Motion-Capture and control in the Kinect is only similar to the Wii in that...it's motion-control. '''2)''' It's more comparable to the Sony Eye Toy than the Nintendo Wii.
* A new game in development, called ''Wiki'', looks ''very'' similar to ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]''. Nintendo was already on Sony's case about it.
** Why on Sony's case? They had nothing to do with it.
** Similarly, many people accused ''Starfox Adventures'' of trying to be too much like a ''Zelda'' game.
** On the other hand, is anybody really ''surprised'' that a game called "Wiki" is building on other developers' work?
* ''[[Final Fight]]: Streetwise'' was accused of trying to cash in on the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' franchise. Then again, you can't blame them: the market has thousands of titles just about [[Follow the Leader|trying to be like San Andreas]].
* Any Beat-em-up that was similar to ''[[Final Fight]]'' was basically doomed to be called a "[[Final Fight]] clone". Even its 3D successors, ''[[Dynasty Warriors]]'', suffers the same fate.
** A couple times there actually ''have'' been ripoffs [[Dynasty Warrios]] even moreso than people assume fundamental gameplay tropes - such as ''blatantly copying the interface''.
* [[Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions|Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions]] was accused of being a shameless rip-off of [[Batman: Arkham Asylum]] due to some similarities in Noir's gameplay and his final boss segment.
** [[Sarcasm Mode|Not to mention the fact that using the spotlights to blind Vulture is exactly the same as using a spotlight to escape Scarecrow's nightmare world.]]
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*** Warhammer versus Warcraft [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/4/10/ was discussed in one strip] of [[Penny Arcade]].
** On the technical side, you must admit that [[WoW]] has and will continue to borrow, copy, and abuse ideas that work in other games. Nothing in Warcraft is truly unique or innovative, except perhaps the attitude that it should be a game for every player instead of just the hardcore elitists. Some of the most recent useful changes have come from incorporating fan-Mods like Power Auras into the basic user interface. Because having a text message for "this ability has procced!" is just too complicated for some players.
*** And again...look at tech companies who shamelessly "Steal from each other". Games are no different.
* Some may say that [[Fate Extra]] is just [[Persona 3]] with [[Fate/stay night]] characters and concepts. The fact that bosses happen every full moon and two ex-ATLUS employees worked on the developing team doesn't help.
* A meta-example. During the development of ''[[Quake II]]'' and ''[[Unreal]]'', members of [[Id Software]] and [[Epic Games]]'s teams would often sling mud at eachother in their public .plan files, which reached the point of one of Unreal's staff members openly accusing the team at id of stealing ideas from Unreal. His justification? ''"[http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/june03/dumbestmoments/index2.shtml Unreal has a bald guy and a girl with a ponytail. Quake II has a bald guy and a girl with a ponytail]."''
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* ''[[Xenogears]]'': Red head heroine, Giant robots and religious tones: "This is an ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' rip-off", said some [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch|uninformed fans of the anime]]. The usual answer they get is "Xenogears is '''very different''': [[Take That|the story actually makes sense]]."
* Fans of RPGs constantly say that FPSes are a ripoff of games like ''[[Doom]]'' and ''Wolfenstein 3D'', and likewise fans of FPSes and "Sandbox games" say the same about RPGs. (It does ''not'' matter where.) Despite that obviously neither of them have played anymore than the actual ripoffs or games trying to be "Traditional".
** Whenever a game with a few similarities to ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' is released, it is automatically compared to ''GTA'' or even considered a ''GTA'' rip off.
*** The First [[Mercenaries]] is probably one of the best examples of this. Despite the obvious differences that Mercenaries takes place in a warzone with little in the way of law enforcement to speak of, and with a heavier emphasis on blowing stuff up as opposed to car chases. It didn't help matters that the game was released roughly the same time as ''[[Grand Theft Auto San Andreas]]''. So several reviewers dismissed Mercenaries while giving glowing reviews to San Andreas.
*** And yet ''GTA 3'' is itself an aversion of this trope; the Leader it ripped off, ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0257570/ Driver]'', is sadly forgotten, and doesn't even have a page here. In fact, ''GTA'' threw out everything unique to its franchise in order to emulate a game that is now as mired in obscurity as ''GTA 1&2''.
**** Ironically, the later ''Driver'' games tried to be more like ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'', however they languished in the marketplace. Driver: San Fransico, the fifth entry in the series, ditched the GTA elements for a new framing device (you switch between cars by "possessing" their drivers - it's a long story) and has, as a result gotten at the very least critical acclaim for it.
** Western RPGs and MMORPGs have somehow managed to escape being flagged as a ripoff of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', even when they outright ''use'' the D20 rules.
*** And there are still old-time MUDders who consider graphic MMORPG's to be a rip-off of MUD, with a graphical front-end to excuse charging money for what they'd played for free for over a decade. Due to similarities, the conviction was so strong that ''[[
**** Rip-off? More like "the same, with peddleable name". The only difference is that the old generation used "chessboard" space. But it was the same with single-player games and you ''could'' put a graphical client on the same DikuMUD looking like an old CRPG.
** Most MMOFPSes have somehow managed to escape being widely compared to other games with similar goals or even ''[[Counter-Strike]]'' - If by using fundamental gameplay tropes is enough to constitute for a "Ripoff", it's amazing how there have probably been three or four original FPS-games made ''period''.
*** And here you can see a rather arrant [[Double Standard]] at work; you'll notice more often than not people will throw "[[They Copied It, So It Sucks]]" at [[RPG|RPGs]] of ''all'' kind when they are not really a fan of [[RPG|RPGs]] and have a minimalistic view of the genre. (Many only seem to view the genre as all being clones of one representative of it.) You can pretty much copypaste "RPG" out with "Platformer", "Wide open sandbox", "FPS", "Shmup", the list goes on and on. Naturally they won't say that to their own genre unless it's ''actually'' a blatant ripoff because, once more, fans are able to tell apart say, ''[[Halo]]'' from ''[[Counter-Strike]]''. Unfortunately; many reviewers fall into this [[Double Standard]] and throw this trope around a ''lot''.
* The music of video games gets this, sometimes. It's often intentional, as is the case with most licensed games (That don't flat out [[The Problem with Licensed Games|ignore the source's soundtrack]]) and even to try replicating the feel of some other famous soundtracks. Given that a lot of game composers are actually still alive and in practice; it remains yet unknown whether or not their successor(s) will get this fate thrown onto their music.
** Thanks to the epic remixes of the song "O Fortuna" (despite that it's not actually a video game song outside of ''[[Dracula Unleashed]]'') as well as the song "[[One-Winged Angel]]" and ''its'' various remixes, you'll have to try ''very'' hard to use a song with [[Ominous Latin Chanting|Latin lyrics]] ([[Bilingual Bonus|especially if they mean something]]) without someone saying it's a ripoff of these two. This fate seems to have fallen "Born Anew" in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'', which ''would'' have gotten a free pass if it was composed by [[Nobuo Uematsu]].
*** The lyrics for "[[One-Winged Angel]]" were all ripped from "O Fortuna" anyway.
* Some people are bashing ''[[TMNT]]: Smash Up'', because it has the ''[[Super Smash Bros.]].'' engine, panning it because they think it will be Super Smash Bros. [[In Space|with Turtles]], but the gameplay is showing that there are some differences, namely that there are health meters rather then stock damage, the enviroments change consistently, and guard breaks are different, and the people developing the game in question? The team who MADE Super Smash Bros., as well as Team Ninja, so they're really bashing themselves.
** And now - never mind it took until 2012 - Sony has its own [[Alternate Company Equivalent]]: ''[[Play Station All Stars Battle Royale]]''. The Nintendo fandom's response has been ''furious''.
* I'm not sure if there was any back then, but I'm pretty sure ''[[DuckTales]]'' or ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' may have been labeled ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]]'' ripoffs because of similar engines (Okay, Darkwing Duck used the ''5'' engine, but still), Ducktales had it's own original gameplay though, your weapon didn't shoot plasma at the opponent, you had to use Scrooge's cane as a weapon, pogo stick (not making that up), and to trigger things, ''[[Darkwing Duck]]'' works a little more similar to Mega Man, so it's slightly more justified, the only difference? You can grab a hold of something to get higher in the stage.
** Of course, given that they were ''made'' by ''CAPCOM''...Definitive [[Did Not Do the Research|research failures]] there.
* ''[[Thrill Drive]]'', a popular game that ran contrary to ''[[Burnout]]'' concept of taking out other cars in a violent matter had a 4th installation that ran contrary to everything that made Thrill Drive the game it was with [[Power-Up]] items, a system that encourage maximum carnage as well as [[Boost Pad]], Japanese fans were not too amused
* The trailers for the yet-to-be-released ''[[HAVE Online]]'' looked almost ridiculously similar to popular game ''[[Team Fortress 2]]''. Not just ''similar'', people were finding exact shots ripped off from TF2's trailers.
** The Chinese FPS: ''Final Combat'' is receiving the same reception from ''Team Fortress 2'' fans for having a very similar style, gameplay, maps, and trailers.
* ''[[Killer Instinct]]'' was accused of this for trying to be like [[Mortal Kombat]].
* ''[[F-Zero]]'' fans occasionally consider ''[[Wipeout]]'' a rip-off.
* [[Rock Band]] fans often claim [[Guitar Hero]] stole any number of ideas, the most notable one being full band play. The less-informed will argue the opposite, not realizing (or ignoring) that Guitar Hero 1 & 2 were made by Harmonix (Forbes gets it wrong in [http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0202/052_3.html this article]). Meanwhile, Guitar Hero is inspired from Guitar Freaks in Japan, but that game only had three frets, no hammer-ons, and Konami [[Frivolous Lawsuit|seemed pretty determined]] [[No Export for You|to deprive non-Japanese gamers of it]].
* Any Stealth-Action Game will inevitably get compared to and get accused of copying either [[Metal Gear Solid]] or [[Syphon Filter]](...which is accused of being a Metal Gear Solid clone itself)
* Because of the use of [[High Fantasy]] elements and Elijah Wood, many of [[Spyro the Dragon|the older Spyro]] [[Fan Dumb]] bashes the ''Legend'' series for being a [[Lord of the Rings]] rip off... Considering that the ''Legend'' series doesn't even have [[Five Races]], has [[Steampunk]] elements, and no rings involved. [[Fridge Logic|And you play as a dragon...]]
* [[Limbo of the Lost]] gets most of its flak for [[Plagiarism|stealing copyrighted assets]] from games like ''[[Thief]]'', ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'', ''Painkiller'', ''[[Return to Castle Wolfenstein]]'' and ''[[Unreal Tournament]]'', among others.
** Incredibly, this is largely averted by many reviews: despite the ''literal'' copying, this is often only one of many criticisms of the game's overall perceived quality.
* When the ''[[Street Fighter]]'' series got popular with the second installment pretty much any 2-D fighter that anyone ever heard of during the early to mid 90s was automatically deemed a rip-off to ''[[Street Fighter II]]'' regardless of whether it was actually deserving or not. The only ones whom remotely escaped this were ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' (due to digitized actors and the Graphic Violence, though not the first) and ''[[Samurai Shodown]]'' (Weapons based fighter, though not the first). While this attitude was starting to fade during the late 90's and the 2000's it was a rather popular sentiment for the genre back then.
** The Data East fighting game "Fighter's History" plays with this trope a bit. Sure there might be someone thinking "Okay not all 2-D fighters were rip-offs of [[Street Fighter II]] but if anything deserved to be a called a rip-off then this game was it!" and Capcom agreed to that. While Capcom called Fighters History "overly inspired from Street Fighter II", one of the reasons why Capcom lost that case is because Data East called the original [[Street Fighter]] a rip-off of the original arcade version of their 1984 fighter ''Karate Champ''. Even though, Kunio-kun and Double Dragon creator Technos Japan actually developed it while Data East only released it, Technos Japan was founded by three former Data East employees. A little-known Japanese website in English known as [http://www.jap-sai.com/Games/Fighters_History/Fighters_History.htm Jap-Sai] considers it to actually be a tribute and not a 'direct copy'.
*** But this wasn't the first time a company sues another in fighting game history for "copying". Data East lost after they sued Epyx for releasing ''International Karate'' created by System 3, due to resembling Karate Champ.
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** Oddly enough, some people still believe to this day that ''[[Art of Fighting]]'' ripped off ''Street Fighter'' despite the fact that the gameplay is significantly different in every aspect. Of course, a main character named ''Ryo'' and a Guile-like army dude probably didn't remotely help.
*** ''Ryu'' is to Ozwald the Lucky Rabbit, and ''Ryo'' is to Mickey Mouse; same creators, but for different companies.
** Ditto ''[[Fatal Fury]]'', even though both it and SFII were in development at the same time.
*** ''Fatal Fury 2'' is pretty much "Street Fighter 2 with some Fatal Fury 1 elements tossed in", as well as four-button layout instead of SFII's six-button layout, though.
** And ''Time Killers'' is the ''[[Fatal Fury]]'' of ''Mortal Kombat''; both it and MK were in development at the same time.
** ''[[King of Fighters]] XII'' came out right after ''[[Street Fighter]] IV''. Claims of [[Follow the Leader]] were made even though ''King of Fighters XII'' was in development as early as 2006, far before ''Street Fighter IV'' was revealed to the public.
* The most common criticism leveled against [[Donkey Kong Country]] is that it is a [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]] clone, though both were created for Nintendo.
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* Does your [[Simulation Game]] feature real-life aircraft, [[Airstrike Impossible|trench run missions]], a plot where two factions are at war with each other, and the ability to customize your aircraft? If so, then consider your game to be a rip-off of [[Ace Combat]].
* ''[[Castlevania: Lords of Shadow]]'' is declared [[God of War (series)|God of War]]'s ripoff due to their similarities in combat mechanisms. To the lesser extent, Castlevania games on [[PlayStation 2]] are compared with [[Devil May Cry]] because of their battle systems and [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] protagonists.
* ''[[Play Station All Stars Battle Royale]]'' is already getting slammed for being a ripoff of ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]'', despite a Sony version of SSB being in demand for quite a while before the idea for the game was offically conceived. SSB [[wikipedia:Nekketsu Kakut%C5%8D Densetsu|wasn't even the first]] [[Mascot Fighter]]. But in the complainers' defense, it doesn't help that a Nintendo Wii can be seen in the background in a photo on the game's website.
== Western Animation ==
* In the 1930s every animation studio tried to copy Disney, often ending in [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] results with bland characters and storylines.
** In the 1940s and 1950s many animation studio's tried to copy [[Looney Tunes]] and [[Tex Avery]] by creating wild characters, aggressively violent gags or fourth wall breaking jokes. Even plots were copied: compare [[Tom and Jerry]]'s [[The Cat Concerto]] with [[Bugs Bunny]]'s [[Rhapsody Rabbit]] or [[Tex Avery]]'s [[Bad Luck Blackie]] and [[Tom and Jerry]]'s [[The Bodyguard]].
** Certain gags have been recycled as well, including the famous [[Painted Tunnel, Real Train]] joke.
* Despite good reception overall, ''[[The Incredibles]]'' was scoffed at for being a ripoff of the [[Fantastic Four]] (rather than as it was clearly intended, an [[Affectionate Parody|affectionate]] [[Satire, Parody, Pastiche|pastiche]]), considering three of the family members have the same powers save for Dash.
** Realistically, it was only two. Mr. Incredible was more of an [[Homage]] to 40's era [[Superman]]. That, and y'know, he wasn't made entirely of rock.
** Interestingly, they seem to have avoided the whole "It's like ''[[Watchmen]]'' ergo it sucks considering they cover a similar theme (ie. superheroes are seen as nuisances and are made illegal by the government) considering how quick [[Fan Dumb|Watchmen fans]] are to pull this card. It's probably because the extent of the similarities is just that they were made illegal and seen as nuisances; after that the only thing they have in common are probably costume colours.
*** The costumes in the film have also been noted for looking similar to ''[[Freakazoid]]''. In fact, Syndrome himself is said to bear some resemblance to the title character (mostly with the hairstyle).
* ''[[Cars]]'' received some mild bashing for being ''[[Doc Hollywood]]'' [[Recycled in Space|with automobiles!]] - not enough to dent [[Pixar]]'s track record, though.
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*** And, interestingly, ''[[Hamlet]]'' ''itself'' was a pretty blatant copy of the Danish legend of Amled. So supposedly, Disney ripped off a ripoff.
** When you consider that the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y14TwUGQ3xE ending they originally had planned] kinda hits the nail home.
* Speaking of the above, ''Atlantis: The Lost Empire'' would also have produced less [[Internet Backdraft|ranting]] if Disney had simply admitted (with no shame required really) that their character concepts were based from ''[[Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water]]''. There was a counter-argument that Nadia itself had characters and concepts copied from other shows, including western shows.
** Atlantis, from start to finish, was also like the ''Stargate'' movie.
*** The creators have admitted to taking a good deal from [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]].
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* ''[[Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!]]'' - The one review online accuses it of being a ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'' ripoff, despite the fact there was barely anything similar.
* ''[[Detention]]'' was often panned for being a rip-off of ''[[Recess]]''. This was during a time when [[One Saturday Morning]] was beating [[Kids WB]] in the ratings, so WB had to make their own series. It lasted 13 episodes.
* [[Angel's Friends]] was accussed of being a rip-off of [[Winx Club]], which was accussed of being a rip-off of [[WITCH (animation)|WITCH]], which was accussed of being a rip-off of [[Sailor Moon]], which was accussed of being a rip-off of [[Wonder Woman]]
* [[Cow and Chicken]] was accused of being a ripoff of [[Ren and Stimpy]]. This is rather ironic, seeing as how Cow And Chicken is actually [[John Kricfalusi]]'s favorite cartoon from the 1990's.
* [[Johnny Test]] has its haters for being a rip-off of [[Dexter's Laboratory]]. Think about it: It's about two ingenious sisters that make experiments for their brother Johnny. The only difference between the two shows is that the lab rat is the star instead of the genius.
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*** Since The Abridged Genre runs on [[Follow the Leader]], this was inevitable...
* Many people on [[Deviant ART]] are just eager to pounce on people that copied (just short of actually taking the person's work) artwork off someone else or made a similar picture, whether by accident or on purpose. Even putting characters in similar poses will get many people flamed because "true art" is original. The mentality can get so bad that all it takes is one artist making a journal crying that someone ripped off his or her work and the people responding go and flame the hell out of the target.
** Never '''EVER''' draw in anything that's even remniscent of anime. Period. You will immmediatly be told that you copied and now it sucks. Never '''ever''' draw fanart. You are copying.
** One art thief actually tried to use this to her advantage. Jen "Spunkywulf" Seng is a very popular artist and animator, especially in the [[Furry Fandom]]. An artist named "Mochi" may have traced her art and that of others. After Jen and her friend tried to discuss it privately, Mochi wrote a journal entry making Jen out to be some sort of elitist who was begrudging Mochi being "inspired" by her work, presumably expecting Jen to be cowed by the flames of Mochi's few hundred fans. Unfortunately, Jen herself has ''thousands'' of fans, and she was perfectly willing to call Mochi out. [http://www.crushyiffdestroy.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3358 Hilarity ensued].
** One of the more hilarious aspects of DA is how the Whiteknighting sometimes backfires against the artists themselves. Lets say you want to draw things your parents/relations wouldn't agree with too much. Perhaps you're even a squeaky clean artist who wants to throw a couple boobies into your work to avoid people FROM work from finding out and getting you canned. So you make a new name, and upload new works to that, and gain fans. Eventually, one of your thousands of old fans finds the new account and starts watching...And then they notice minor similarities like how you draw hands and how the new account has no signature on pictures. [[Fan Dumb|Cue mass reporting spree for art theft.]] Even if they aren't trying to hide from anyone, if they make a second account on a whim, for example furry artist Inuki...yea...
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*** Really though, this is just one of the ''many'' "artistic-heads" that cause over half of the trends (and problems) in [[Deviant ART]]. If someone has been on DA long enough, has enough artistic talent to win over some fans, and possibly a [[Small Name, Big Ego|big ego]], you can bet your bottom dollar that those fans will mimic the artist's style because they think it's good. Sadly, this results in less variety of styles and more so the whole "tracing/copying wars" that are seen by those who [[The Theme Park Version|think of the place as Deviant Tart]], where as those who actually have their unique style and ideas never really get noticed.
** Probably because deviantART ''was'' ear-deep in <s>filter-processed copypasted pics</s> "[http://encyclopediadramatica.com/Image:Tartletmanual.jpg Tracing]" for long. Which in itself [[Tropes Are Not Bad|isn't "horrible"]], of course -- as long as the works such remix is derived from are given proper credits.
* Several people outside of Japan compare MAD Videos and other similar videos mostly found on Nico Nico Douga (NND) to [[YouTube]] Poop, though Know Your Meme researchers found that [[MA Ds]] were created as far back as 1978, 28 years before [[YouTube]] Poop was created.
** Some people outside of Japan refer to [[MA Ds]] as [[YouTube]] Poop Music Videos ([[YTPM Vs]]), though [[MA Ds]] are usually made with talent and soul, while [[YT Ps]] and [[YTPM Vs]] are often less artistic.
* Every gaming webcomic that isn't ''[[Penny Arcade]]'' has been accused of ripping off the same.
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== Real Life ==
* Romans liked to copy Greek art, often making perfect replicas in marble. Among artistic communities, it's often thought that this copying made the Romans less worthy, artistically speaking. Of course, even today with complicated techniques and high-tech tools, it's very hard to make an exact copy.
** Which says something about the pretentiousness of the art world.
*** Or that good talent shouldn't be wasted on rehashing old stuff.
*** It also should be noted that in many cases the originals did not survive (being made of bronze, they were melted down), so it is not easy to gauge how exact the copies are.
** It's interesting to learn that early artists were not sure how to portray the Buddha. They started off using a symbol (a footprint with a wheel inside), and moved on from there. Many earlier sculptures of the Buddha feature flowing robes and other elements borrowed from Greco-Roman sculpture, and it took quite a while before the present-day image of Buddha became canon.
* A very [[Averted Trope]] when it comes to military technology and techniques - the slower you are to copy, the frequently worse off you are. That doesn't mean you should come up with something new ever, of course.
** Unlike the arts, any sort of applied sciences tend to dodge this, since the idea isn't to impress with one's originality, but rather to find something that works better than anything else currently out there.
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