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Present in all sorts of media, although the term [[Spiritual Successor]] may have originated within video games (also known as companion games). It's a common phenomenon in the video game world because developers might own the engine and game code with publishers owning the trademarks to the franchise.
A spiritual successor may succumb to [[Better
The series version of an [[Expy]]. Often overlaps with [[Serial Numbers Filed Off]].
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== Anime ==
* ''[[Kiddy Grade]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[
* [[Keiko Takemiya]]'s ''[[
** Both of these series in turn are spiritual successors to ''In the Sunroom'', a lesser known manga of hers, which also have similar story elements of the two series mentioned above.
* ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'', both series being created by Shinichiro Watanabe.
** ''[[Michiko to Hatchin]]'' is a further succession, judging from the art style and Watanabe's involvement.
* ''[[Blue Submarine
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'' is sometimes considered to be spiritual successor of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. Note that Soul Eater's writer Atsushi Okubo has worked as Hiromu Arakawa's assistant.
** Their animated adaptations even suffered similar fates. Both shows started to overtake the manga on which they were based and, rather than try to pad out the show with filler, the writers came up with [[Gecko Ending|their own ending]] for the show to tie up the loose ends. They faced similar [[Base Breaker|responses from the fandom too]].
*** Also there [http://www.mangareader.net/157-10197-1/soul-eater/chapter-52.html this cover page].
* ''[[
* ''[[Noir (
* ''[[
** The average person who has watched ''[[
*** That's because both of them can be considered as spiritual successors of [[Megazone 23]], with [[Humongous Mecha]].
* ''[[Touka Gettan]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] of sorts to ''[[Yami to Boushi
** ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'' has occasionally been cited as a [[Spiritual Successor]] of ''[[Yami Bou]]'', but that probably has more to do with their typical [[Girls Love]] character designs.
* ''[[The Five Star Stories]]'' by Mamoru Nagano is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Heavy Metal L
** There are hints in the manga that it is, in fact, in the exact same continuity - that it is a prequel of sorts, pre-dating L-Gaim by a good span of time.
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Subverted to hell and back with ''[[Daitarn 3]]'', by [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]]. Similar name as the series that came before it, ''[[Zambot 3]]''? Check. Similar design for the robot? Check. Similar weapons like a "Sun Attack" which is almost identical to Zambot's "Moon Attack"? Check. Three main characters? Check. [[Kill'Em All]] ending? HELL NO! Although Zambot 3 was one of the first [[Deconstruction|Deconstructions]] of the [[Super Robot]] genre, Daitarn was a more humorous crossover with [[X Meets Y|James Bond in a Super Robot.]] Doesn't stop them from having team attacks in [[Super Robot Wars]], though.
** Speaking of Tomino, ''[[Overman King Gainer]]'' is one to ''[[Combat Mecha Xabungle]]''.
** ''[[
*** ''[[
* ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Key the Metal Idol]]''.
** And ''[[Despera]]'', in return, is the spiritual successor to ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]''.
*** [[Development Hell|When it some day comes out...]]
* ''[[Princess Mononoke]]'' has been stated to be a spiritual successor to ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of
* ''[[Darker Than Black]]'' shares a lot of similarities with the Russian novel ''[[Strugatsky Brothers|Roadside Picnic]]'', but the scale and focus are different.
* ''[[Ninku]]'' shares many similarities with Naruto despite coming first. Examples like the fact that Fuusuke is a wind ninja who wears orange and uses the kuatsuken (resembling Rasengan).
* [[One Piece]] is the successor to [[
* "[[Fairy Tail]]" is this to Mashima's earlier series"Rave", containing a few characters with the same name and/or design, and even a few plot elements with the same name but different functions. Eitherion, Oracion Sei, etc.
* ''[[Durarara]]'' is this to ''[[
** They also happen to share the universe, though taking place in different countries and decades apart, only two characters from the first make a brief cameo in the second.
* First, Junichi Sato directed ''[[Prétear]]'', a [[Magical Girl]] series that is (very) loosely based on "[[Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (
* ''[[Space Carrier Blue Noah]]'' to ''[[Space Battleship Yamato]]'', by the same producer.
* ''[[
** And ''[[Star Driver]]'' is this to Utena.
** Many fans are also calling ''[[
* ''[[Tamayura]]'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Kamichu!]]''. Not only is the show about a tightly-knit group of teenage girls, with the mood, art style and theme practically lifted from its illustrious predecessor, but it also [[Real Place Background|takes place in Takehara]], an old town not far from ''[[Kamichu!]]'s'' Onomichi and similar to Onomichi in many respects. Still, an argument could me made for ''[[Sketchbook]]'' as an influence, considering the age of the characters and the art theme (not to mention the opening).
* ''[[Nodame Cantabile]]'' is seen as the spiritual succesor to ''[[Honey and Clover]]''. Both are about students in art schools (drama ensues, obviously), both anime adaptations were made by the [[
* People have started seeing ''[[Kenichi:
* Several themes in ''[[
** And to [[Bokurano]]
* ''[[Dororon Enma-kun]] Meramera'' to [[Shin Mazinger]] - they both take famous [[Go Nagai]]'s manga, revamp it for modern audience and introduce new plotlines and characters, including at last one [[Canon Immigrant]].
* Both the anime and game series ''[[Inazuma Eleven]]'' is this to ''[[Captain Tsubasa]]''.
* ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'' to ''[[
* ''[[
* ''[[Guilty Crown]]'': General consensus is that this series could be considered a partial one to ''[[Code Geass]]'', particularly in the beginning, given that it shares the same "resistance group taking on oppressive entity" premise. While Shu and Lelouch have very different personalities and interests, they are both 17-year old youths accompanied by mysterious girls (Inori and C.C. respectively, who also differ from each other) and capable of using mysterious powers. To a certain extent, it also doubles as a [[Whole-Plot Reference]] when the series isn't heading in its own direction.
* ''[[Claymore]]'' and ''[[Vinland Saga]]'' are often said to be the spiritual successors of ''[[Berserk]]''. In fact, if you put ''Claymore'' and ''Vinland Saga'' [[X Meets Y|in a blender,]] you'd get a serving of ''Berserk''.
** Speaking of ''Berserk'', [[Kentaro Miura]] cites several works as his influences, but the series seems to take the most from ''[[
* The author of ''[[
* ''[[Puni Puni Poemi]]'' is usually best described as ''[[Excel Saga (
* [[Fist of the North Star]] is this for ''[[Mad Max]]'', [[X Meets Y|but with]] [[Bruce Lee]].
* The ''[[Pretty Cure]]'' franchise as a whole is this to ''[[Sailor Moon]]''
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== Comic Books ==
* [[Greg Rucka]]'s ''[[
** Likewise, his book ''Stumptown'' is supposed to be a modern day version of the ''[[The Rockford Files]]''.
* The Metabarons is heavily inspired by and can be seen as a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Dune]]''. The Shabda-Oud are the Bene Gesserit devoid of any concern for humanity's growth or future, the Technopriests are the Harkonnen with heavy doses of the Tleilaxu, and the Metabarons themselves are the Atreides with even more tragedy.
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== Fan Works ==
* ''[[
* Horrifyingly, [[Fanfic/Sweet Apple Massacre|Sweet Apple Massacre]] could be considered this to [[Cupcakes (Fanfic)|Cupcakes]].
** There's also ''Muffins'' and ''Dresses''.
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== Film ==
* ''[[Colombiana]]'' to ''[[The Professional]]''
* ''[[Parker Lewis Can't Lose]]'' is seen as the [[Spiritual Successor]] to the movie ''[[Ferris Bueller's Day Off
* ''[[The Wonder Years]]'' is reasonably seen as a [[Spiritual Successor]] to the movie ''[[Stand
** It's also seen as a successor to ''[[A Christmas Story]]''.
** And don't forgot ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' which stars Ben Savage, the younger brother of Fred Savage, who was the main character in ''The Wonder Years''.
** ''[[Everybody Hates Chris]]'' could be seen as the African-American version of ''The Wonder Years''.
* ''[[Dead Set]]'' can be seen as the spiritual [[Prequel]] to ''[[
** Actually, this can't be a case. Dead Set is about undead zombies, 28 Days Later is about rage-infected (but still living) victims who do not consume flesh.
* ''[[The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]]'' has been considered by some by some reviewers as a spiritual successor to ''[[Forrest Gump]]''. The films share a screenwriter.
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* 1997's ''[[Fierce Creatures]]'' featured the same core cast and much of the same crew as 1988's ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]]'', and includes at least one explicit [[Shout-Out]] to the earlier film, although they are in no way connected to each other.
** The actors also play more-or-less similar characters, with Kevin Kline as a dimwitted egomaniac, Jamie Lee Curtis as seductive and manipulative, John Cleese as a stuffy square, and Michael Palin as a weird guy.
* ''[[
** ''[[Mirror Mask]]'' was designed to be the [[Spiritual Successor]] to both (but mainly ''Labyrinth''). The original plan was to get [[David Bowie]] to play the Prime Minister of the White City, but scheduling conflicts forced them to just have Rob Brydon play the PM ''and'' Helena's father.
*** All three films have been released as a single DVD set called the "Jim Henson fantasy film collection" (which was, incidentally, a ploy to move unsold copies of the original ''Dark Crystal'' and ''Labyrinth'' DVDs after the deluxe versions came out).
* The Dee Wallace Stone comedy ''[[Invisible Mom]]'' had both a [[Spiritual Successor]], ''Invisible Dad'', and an official sequel, ''Invisible Mom 2''.
* ''[[Hot Fuzz]]'' is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]''. It stars several of the same actors and making a number of references to the zombie comedy. ''Shaun'' is in turn the successor of Britcom ''[[Spaced]]''; the characters from ''Spaced'' who do not star all appear either in the other group of zombie fighters Shaun and his friends encounter, or in crowd scenes. Also many of the running jokes between [[Hot Fuzz]] and [[Shaun of the Dead]] (e.g. 'We're not gay - thanks babe.' and Cornettos) originally come from ''Spaced''. The so-far unwritten ''The World Ends'' is planned to be the third part of Pegg and Wright's ''Blood and Ice Cream Trilogy''. All three will feature a mention of Cornetto ice cream.
* ''[[Scream (
* ''[[Talladega Nights]]: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'' is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Anchorman]]: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'' (and indeed was described by Ferrell as the third of his "[[Ted Baxter|unreasonably confident people]]" series).
* ''[[
** Henry Selick's ''[[James and
*** In fact, Jack Skellington makes a cameo in ''Peach'' as an undead pirate.
* ''[[Pride and Prejudice]]'', directed by Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley, was highly touted and received a couple of Oscar nods. The two got together for ''[[Atonement]]'', [[Oscar Bait|a serious attempt at the awards]].
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* The western comedies ''[[Support Your Local Sheriff]]'' and ''[[Support Your Local Gunfighter]]'' were made by more-or-less the same production crew and cast, and share much in terms of theme and tone, but the second is not a sequel to the first, and no characters reappear.
** Replace those titles with ''Flesh for Frankenstein'' and ''Blood for Dracula'', and the statement is still valid.
* ''[[From Beyond]]'' shares ''[[Re-Animator]]'''s over-the-top approach to [[
* ''[[Best in Show]]'', ''[[A Mighty Wind]]'', and ''[[For Your Consideration]]'' are all spiritual successors to ''Waiting for Guffman'', which in itself was a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]''.
* A lot of [[Jackie Chan]] movies can be considered spiritual successors of each other, especially his earlier works. You could argue this extends at least some extent to other martial arts movie starts like Bruce Lee and Jet Li.
* 1997's ''[[
* There is some discussion over whether ''Confidence'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] or an updated remake of ''The Sting''. Both feature a team of small-time conmen accidentally ripping off an underling of a crime boss and getting out of it by pulling a much larger and more elaborate con on him.
* Similar to the ''Knocked Up'' example, ''[[Pineapple Express]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Superbad]]''. Both being written by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, produced by Judd Apatow and Shauna Robertson, and distributed by Columbia pictures. In fact, ''Pineapple Express'' was greenlit based off of the early positive reaction to ''Superbad'' footage.
* ''[[War, Inc.]]'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]''. They both feature John Cusack as a hitman having doubts about his career choice with Joan Cusack as his assistant and Dan Aykroyd in a supporting role.
** ''[[Grosse Pointe Blank]]'' itself is a spiritual successor to ''Say Anything'' - although there are some important differences in the backstory, Martin Blank feels in many ways like an alternate history version of Lloyd Dobler 10 years later, with the point of departure being when he joins the army out of high school instead of hooking up with the girl. They're both played by John Cusack (and they both kickbox).
* ''Definitely, Maybe'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Love Actually]]''
* Richard Linklater's ''[[Waking Life]]'' is at least a visual companion to ''[[A Scanner Darkly]]''
** Though it is a spiritual successor to Linklater's 1990 film, [[Slacker]].
* ''[[Starship Troopers]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''[[
* The 2003 live action film version of ''[[The Cat in
* The films ''The Snapper'' and ''The Van'' were spiritual successors to ''The Commitments''. They all revolve around a Dublin family with a father played by Colm Meaney and all are based on Roddy Doyle novels. (The novels themselves were actual successors, but due to copyright issues, the name of the family in each of the films was changed).
** In [[The Commitments]] Outspan ended up as a busker on the streets of Dublin. Twenty years later the same actor, Glen Hansard, starred in ''[[Once]]'' which opened with his character ...busking on the streets of Dublin. Bonus points due to his character in ''[[Once]]'' being unnamed.
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* In South Korea, the film ''[[Windstruck]]'' is considered to be the spiritual successor to the wildly popular romantic comedy ''[[My Sassy Girl]]''. Both were written and directed by Kwak Jae-Yong and starred Jeon Ji-Hyun. Of course, ''Windstruck'' should almost be considered a spiritual prequel, as {{spoiler|its end is a painfully obvious allusion to its predecessor, with two future lovers meeting at a train station.}}
* ''You've Got Mail'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Sleepless in Seattle]]''.
* ''[[A Fistful of Dollars]]'', ''[[For a Few Dollars More]]'', and ''[[The Good, the Bad
** Similarly, because they all feature a protagonist who is nameless, are all Westerns, and all star Clint Eastwood, ''[[High Plains Drifter]]'' and ''[[Pale Rider]]'' are sometimes seen as ... somehow ... part of the same Weird West world as the spaghetti Westerns. ''[[High Plains Drifter]]'' in particular was directed by Eastwood in a direct homage to Leone's work.
* ''[[Runaway Bride]]'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Pretty Woman]]'' (shared lead couple).
* ''[[Foxy Brown]]'' was the successor to ''[[Coffy]]''. It was originally meant to be a sequel titled ''Burn, Coffy, Burn,'' but the [[Executive Meddling|producers changed it at the last minute.]]
* [[Tim Burton]]'s version of ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (
* ''[[eXistenZ]]'' is essentially ''[[Videodrome]]'' for the new millennium.
* It could be said that ''[[
* Both ''[[
** The three films also share a screenwriter. The director and screenwriter consider the three films a trilogy.
* Mexican director Luis Estrada has made a series of satirical films depicting the country's ailments, starting with ''La Ley de Herodes'' depicting the political corruption, continuing with ''Un Mundo Maravilloso'' portraying the poverty of the people and finishing the trilogy with the upcoming ''Infierno'' that will deal with the violence of the drug cartels. All of them cast the actor [[Dami Ã]]¡n [[Alc Ã]]¡zar ([[Hey, It's That Guy!|aka:]]''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|Lord Sopespian]])'' as the lead.
* A sequel was planned for ''[[Blade Runner]]'', and after the script was rewritten and handed down through several different creative teams, it eventually reached the screen as ''[[Total Recall]]''. The same process led from ''[[Total Recall]]'' to ''[[Minority Report]]''.
** Not surprising since all three movies are based on works by ''[[Philip K. Dick]]''.
** Another attempt at a ''Blade Runner'' sequel (written by [[David Peoples]], co-writer of ''Blade Runner'') became the blueprint for the Kurt Russell film ''[[Soldier]]''.
* The ''[[Tales
* The film ''[[Revolutionary Road]]'' is an interesting subversion of [[Spiritual Successor]] status. It's set in America, it starred Leonardo diCaprio and Kate Winslet (as husband in wife) in their first film together after they'd co-starred in ''[[Titanic]]''. Some people initially thought it therefore as Titanic's spiritual successor. The storyline, however, is, if anything, entirely the opposite of ''Titanic'' and [[It Got Worse|only gets worse from there.]]
* ''[[
* Many elements that make up the movie ''[[
* ''[[Mystery of the Wax Museum]]'' is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[
* ''Adventureland'' carries all the hallmarks you'd expect if they made a ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]'' movie.
** This one is more of a spiritual successor to ''[[Garden State]]'' than anything, as they feature very similar narratives, characters and settings (Pennsylvania borders New Jersey).
* 15 years before ''[[G.I. Joe:
* ''[[The Lion in Winter]]'' is a spiritual successor to the earlier film ''Becket'' in that they're both historical dramas starring Peter O'Toole as Henry II playing him as an old man in ''Lion'' and younger in ''Becket''.
* ''[[The Seven Ups]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''[[The French Connection]]'' in that it stars Roy Scheider as a New York detective similar to the one he played in the latter movie and had the same producer and composer and even had a car chase like the one in ''The French Connection''.
* ''[[The Cannonball Run]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''[[Smokey and
** It also has much in common with [[
* Right after directing ''[[The Outsiders]]'' Francis Ford Coppola made a movie based on another SE Hinton novel, ''[[Rumble Fish]]'' with many of the same cast and crew. The movie came out months after ''[[The Outsiders]]''.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros. (
** Really, just about every movie made in the decade or so after ''Blade Runner'' combining science fiction and [[City Noir]] sensibilities has been invariably compared to that film.
* ''[[Zathura]]'' to ''[[
* ''[[Carlitos Way]]'' to ''[[Scarface]]''. Both are about Latino crime bosses and have the same director ([[Brian De Palma]]) and star ([[Al Pacino]]).
* ''[[Made]]'' starring Vince Vaughnn and Jon Favreau is a spiritual successor to their previous movie playing best friends, ''[[Swingers]]''
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** Preminger's ''Whirlpool'' was described by Jose Ferrer as "like a sequel to ''Laura'' -- it had the same star, the same mood and atmosphere."
* Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon made a handful of movies that were all spiritual successors to the original ''[[The Odd Couple]]'' film. The spiritual successors began with ''[[Grumpy Old Men]]'' and included ''[[Grumpier Old Men]]'' and ''[[Out To Sea]]''...the actual sequel was largely considered a lesser effort than all of the above.
* The box office disaster ''[[Torque]]'' was a spiritual successor to ''[[The Fast and
* ''[[Zookeeper (
* ''[[
* ''[[
* Darren Aronofsky has stated that ''[[
* The movie ''[[Tomboy (
* ''[[Horrible Bosses]]'' to ''[[Office Space]]''. Both feature three men getting revenge on a boss and have [[Jennifer Aniston]] in a supporting role.
* ''[[The Hangover]]'' to ''[[Very Bad Things]]''. The former features nearly the exact same premise as the latter, but [[Lighter and Softer]] (for one, a baby replaces the dead hooker in ''The Hangover'').
* ''[[Halloween (
* [[Jerry Lewis]]'s comic style has been so influential in movies that many latter-day comedy film stars have been dubbed his successors. Pee-wee Herman, [[Jim Carrey]], and [[Adam Sandler]] have all been explicitly compared to Lewis.
* The plot points don't match up exactly, but 1999 Best Picture Academy Award winner ''[[American Beauty]]'' feels uncannily like a [[Darker and Edgier]] retelling of the 1955 [[Billy Wilder]] comedy ''[[The Seven Year Itch]]''. Both feature as their protagonists disillusioned, frustrated middle-aged men, [[Henpecked Husband|harassed by their wives]] and sick of their jobs, who develop a sexual fixation on a much younger woman (in the case of ''American Beauty'', ''[[Lolicon|much]]'', [[Lolicon|much younger]]); both men are prone to [[Imagine Spot|Imagine Spots]], as well. What makes this theory tricky to refute is that one of the producers of ''American Beauty'', while accepting his award, actually acknowledged Wilder as an influence; ostensibly he was probably referring to the {{spoiler|"dead man" narration}} from Wilder's ''[[Sunset Boulevard]]'' that he recycled for his own film, but he just might have been thinking of ''The Seven Year Itch'' too.
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* The 1980 musical film ''[[Xanadu]]'' is a spiritual successor to the 1944 movie ''Cover Girl''. In Xanadu Gene Kelly plays an older version of Danny Mcguire (his character in Cover Girl). His character doesn't make any direct references to the story or characters in the older movie except for the mention of once owning a nightclub. Danny also remembers meeting Kira before somehow. Rita Hayworth's role in the older film doesn't really suggest any connectios to Kira or the muses. But In the 1947 film ''Down to Earth'' (the direct inspiration for Xanadu), Hayworth actually does play the muse "Terpsichore". And ''Down to Earth'' does make references to ''Cover Girl'', however.
* ''[[Bedknobs and Broomsticks]]'' is Disney's spiritual successor to their adaptation of ''[[Mary Poppins]]'', right down to sharing a lead actor (David Tomlinson).
* ''[[Streets of Fire]]'' to ''[[The Warriors (
* ''[[Coming to America]]'' is, in many ways, a spiritual successor to ''[[Trading Places]]''. Both films were made by [[John Landis]], feature [[Eddie Murphy]], and both deal with [[Sliding Scale of Shiny Versus Gritty|issues of wealth and poverty]]. ''Coming to America'' even includes a cameo by {{spoiler|Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy as the still-poor Duke Brothers.}}
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* Frank Herbert wrote four short stories, published later as "The Godmakers", they shared theme and concepts with his masterpiece ''[[Dune]]''.
* [[David Eddings]] various works were ''made'' of this, being all [[High Fantasy]] epics told from a slighlty different slant. ''[[The Belgariad]]'' was a basic coming-of-age story; ''[[The Elenium]]'' followed a loosely similar plot but was [[Darker and Edgier]] with a world-weary adult hero; ''[[The Redemption of Althalus]]'' was largely the story of that universe's [[Eccentric Mentor|Belgarath-equivalent]]; and ''[[Literature/The Dreamers|The Dreamers]]'' was the most out-there, being told from the perspective of [[Physical God|the gods]].
* ''The Divine Invasion'' by [[Philip K. Dick]] is a Spiritual Successor to his earlier novel ''[[
** The relationship between ''VALIS'' and its earlier version ''Radio Free Albemuth'' is actually a much more typical example of the trope, as they heavily overlap in themes but are emphatically ''not'' part of the same [[The Verse|Verse]]. Or they would have been if PKD hadn't left ''Radio Free Albemuth'' unpublished during his lifetime, so that it came out about five years after ''VALIS''.
* In the extras to the DVD of Dreamcatcher, Stephen King notes that the book (and subsequent film) can be seen as a Spiritual Successor to The Body/Stand By Me.
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* Lois Lowry's book ''Gathering Blue'' is a "companion novel" to ''[[The Giver]]''; it's another postapocalyptic novel which may be in the same universe, but shows a society that has gone the opposite direction.
** ''Messenger'' is similar. It has a number of the same characters (Mattie, Kira, Jonas, {{spoiler|Kira's father}}, etc) and Jonas at one point alludes to his previous village and how the people there made peace with him after he left, but most of the plot focuses on the corruption of the new society that Jonas has built.
* [[Isaac Asimov]]'s ''Fantastic Voyage II: Destination Brain'' is a... complicated example. The name indicates that it is an actual sequel (which would disqualify it), but as it turns out it is essentially a ''remake'': taking the basic concept of [[Fantastic Voyage (
* [[Glamorama]] is a [[Spiritual Successor]] in many ways to [[American Psycho]]. While [[Bret Easton Ellis]] has been accused of writing about the same subjects(shallow, drug addled rich people) over and over again, and frequently using over the top violence to satirize mindless consumerism, Glamorama has a very similar surreal style comparable to American Psycho that his other books don't have since they're more grounded in reality.
* ''[[
== Live Action TV ==
* ''[[Alphas]]'' is very clearly the successor to ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''.
** And so is ''[[No Ordinary Family]]''.
* ''[[The Middle]]'' is one to ''[[Malcolm in
* ''[[That 70s Show]]'' is basically the same concept as ''[[Happy Days]]''.
* ''[[Reed Between The Lines]]'' is intended to be a new millennium version of ''[[The Cosby Show]]''. Both shows even have Malcolm-Jamal Warner in starring roles.
* ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' is this to ''[[Lizzie
** ''Hannah Montana'' can also be seen as a sitcom version of ''[[Jem]]'', since both series deal with the main characters with a pop star secret identity.
** ''[[Shake It Up]]'' is the spiritual successor of ''[[Hannah Montana]]''.
* Pair of Kings could be considered as Wizard of Waverly Place's as their both fantasy comedy with action elements and some grim world elements there and there.
* ''[[
* ''[[Eli Stone]]'' to ''[[Ally McBeal]]'', both about a lawyer who hallucinates, though both in different ways.
* ''[[The Bill]]'' was a spiritual successor to ''[[The Sweeney]]''. It was made by the same production house (Thames Television), and in its very earliest years it even shared some of the same production team (in particular original executive producer Lloyd Shirley).
** ''[[The Sweeney]]'' was actually made by Thames subsidiary Euston Films, and is closer in style to Euston's earlier ''Special Branch''.
* ''[[Nowhere Man]]'' can be considered a spiritual successor to ''[[
* There are no fewer than three spiritual successors to ''[[
** Not to mention numerous online ''MST3K''-inspired projects - most notably ''[[Unskippable]]''.
*** A significant portion of the [[Caustic Critic]] wave of recent years (including [[
* ''[[The Young Ones]]'' had two spiritual successors, ''[[Filthy Rich and Catflap]]'' and ''[[Bottom]]''.
** One of the live ''Bottom'' stage shows had them going back in time and reverting to their characters from ''The Young Ones''.
* [[Tokusatsu]] series ''[[Tomica Hero Rescue Force]]'' is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Madan Senki Ryukendo]]'', made by the same people and sponsored by the same [[Merchandise-Driven|toy company]].
* ''Endurance'' was a clear successor to JD Roth's previous kids-reality show ''Moolah Beach''.
* ''[[
** Also ''[[Drake and Josh]]'' itself is the spiritual successor of ''[[Kenan and Kel]]''.
** It could be said that "[[Drake and Josh]]" was much more a spiritual successor of ''[[The Amanda Show]]'', to the point of being a very indirect spinoff. Drake and Josh were regular cast members on ''The Amanda Show''. ''The Amanda Show'' itself, and the aforementioned ''Kenan and Kel'', were both spiritual successors to ''[[All That]]''.
** ...which was a spiritual successor to [[Nickelodeon]]'s other sketch comedy series of the early [[The Nineties|Nineties]], ''[[Roundhouse]],'' which was an updated version of the network's fondly remembered ''[[You Can't Do That
* ''[[
** ''[[The Monkees]]'' itself was, more or less, a spiritual successor to [[The Beatles]]' films ''[[A Hard
* ''[[Rescue Me]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[The Job]]''.
** As was ''[[The Unusuals]]''.
* ''The Stranger'' was an independent direct-to-video (and audio) spiritual successor to ''[[Doctor Who]]'', starring Colin Baker and other actors from the show during its long hiatus.
* ''[[Real Time
* ''[[Doctor Who]]''. The UNIT stories clearly draw from ''[[Quatermass]]'', with the Third Doctor taking on the Quatermass role of a cantankerous scientific advisor aiding military authorities to repel aliens invading Britain, while hampered by the occasional [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]. In fact we're first introduced to [[The Brigadier]] in "The Web of Fear" which, like ''Quatermass and the Pit'', featured an alien menace in the London Underground.
* ''[[Psychoville]]'', to ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]''.
* ''[[The West Wing]]'' was born of material and ideas left over from creator Aaron Sorkin's movie ''The American President.''
** ''[[Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip]]'' was a spiritual successor to ''The West Wing.'' In fact, the show's biggest problem was often cited as the fact that the style and tone that worked so well for a show about running the government of the United States felt hilariously out of place on a show about running a ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' [[
* ''[[All That]]'' was a spiritual successor to the early 90's Nick sketch show ''Roundhouse'', which was a spiritual successor to the immensely popular ''[[You Can't Do That
** In a similar vein, ''[[Mad TV]]'' was a spiritual successor to ''In Living Color,'' being Fox's competitor to ''Saturday Night Live'' with there being only a year between the two. In Living Color is known for giving rise to the careers of [[Jim Carrey]], [[Jamie Foxx]], Jennifer Lopez, and Shawn and Marlon Wayans, while [[Mad TV]] arguably did the same for Orlando Jones, Phil Lamarr, Nicole Sullivan, Alex Borstein, Bobby Lee, and current SNL featured player Taran Killam.
* The entire [[
* Drew Carey's ''Green Screen Show'' and ''Drew Carey's Improv-a-Ganza'' are this to ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]''.
** So is ''[[Mock the Week]]'', even sharing several identical games and a couple of guests.
* ''[[The Pacific]]'' to ''[[Band of Brothers]]''.
* ''[[Choujinki Metalder]]'' was produced by [[Toei]] to be an [[The Eighties|Eighties]]' version of ''[[Kikaider|Jinzou Ningen Kikaider]]''. Both involved robotic superheroes with a two-tone color scheme on their body (blue on the left side and red on the right), both end their names with "der" ("Kikaider" literally means "Machineder"), their human forms are modeled after the likeness of their creator's dead son (Jiro's likeness came from Taro's, while Ryusei Tsurugi's was from Tatsuo Koga), and they're both assisted by a rival cyborg in black who formerly worked for the enemy (Hakaider and Topgunder).
* ''[[The Wire]]'' is generally seen as a spiritual successor to David Simon's earlier Baltimore police series, ''[[Homicide: Life On the
* ''[[Night Gallery]]'', a supernatural anthology narrated by [[Rod Serling]], can be considered one for ''[[The Twilight Zone]]''.
** Although considering that Serling didn't have script approval on ''[[Night Gallery]]'' it might be more of a dispirited sequel.
* ''[[The Soup]]'', formerly "The What the? Awards" is a spiritual successor to ''Talk Soup''.
* ''[[Fringe]]'' is almost universally considered a spiritual successor to ''[[The X
** It's also a spiritual successor to the film ''[[Altered States]].''
* ''[[Glee]]'' could be seen as a successor to both the short-lived series ''Cop Rock'' and ''Viva Laughlin''. Albeit '''''much''''' more successful and well-known.
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** The 2003 movie ''Camp'' was, essentially, ''Glee'' with a smaller budget and way more [[Subverted Trope|subversion]]. It takes place in a musical theater summer camp, all of the numbers are [[Show Within a Show]], and the lead character is a [[Pet Homosexual|Pet Heterosexual ]] in a [[Cast Full of Gay]].
** Actually, ''Glee'' is closer in tune to another Ryan Murphy high school based show, ''[[Popular]]'' (except without the music).
* ''[[Fetch!
* ''[[Undeclared]]'' to ''[[Freaks and Geeks]]''
* The rich colors and whimsical feel of ''[[Amelie]]'' inspired the creation of ''[[Pushing Daisies]]''.
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*** Several characters (portrayed by the same actor/actress) have appeared from one show to the other, completing the belief that all three shows exist in the same 'universe'.
*** Not exactly. The universes where clearly different, with Pushing Daisies being retro-cute, Dead Like Me being fairly normal (save the supernatural elements) and Wonderfalls somewhere in between. All of them do carry themes of fantasy, uniqueness, life and death, golden retrievers and touching people.
* Some people believe ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' to be not only a remake of the earlier [[Battlestar Galactica Classic|BSG]], but also to have adopted enough elements from ''[[
* Most of Jack Webb's later series (e.g., ''[[Adam-12]]'', ''[[Emergency]]'', ''[[Project UFO]]'') can be considered spiritual successors to his own ''[[Dragnet]]''. They all share a basic approach -- following the professional lives of dedicated public servants, filmed in the style of a [[Police Procedural]].
* ''[[The Borgias]]'' to ''[[The Tudors]]''.
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* ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' is very much a spiritual successor to ''[[Friends]]'', which is itself a spiritual successor to ''[[Cheers]]''. All three are sitcoms with some form of restaurant as their default set (''Friends'' is the odd man out, using a cafe instead of a bar), and are centered around a [[Nakama]] of unmarried ~30-year-olds, with sexual tension amongst the group.
** It's also something of a spiritual successor to ''[[The Wonder Years]]'', using the framing device of an older narrator telling the audience stories about his past. ''How I Met Your Mother'' took the idea and instead of the fairly straightforward application in ''The Wonder Years'', ran with the concept and branched out like crazy, turning the show into a convoluted mystery built on [[Anachronistic Order]] and [[Continuity Porn]].
* [[Unhappily Ever After]] was the spiritual successor to [[Married...
* The short-lived sitcom "Good News" is this to ''Amen'' as they were both created by the same people, took place in a church, shared the same sets, shared a Hettabrink sister (Amelia), and most of the plots involved an [[Amoral Attorney]] and the church's reverend. The only thing that's different on GN is that there's no Thelma or Rolly, and GN is set in inner-city [[Los Angeles]] while Amen is set in Philadelphia.
* The Lifetime mini series, ''Marry Me'' is a spiritual successor to ''Maneater''.
* ''[[ANT Farm|A.N.T. Farm]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''[[That's So Raven]]''.
* ''[[Deadliest Warrior]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''[[
* ''My Summer With Des'' (one-off slice-of-life dramedy by Arthur Smith against the backdrop of Euro '96) is a spiritual successor to ''An Evening With Gary Lineker'' (one-off slice-of-life dramedy by Smith and Chris England against the backdrop of the 1990 World Cup).
* ''[[Jessie]]'' could be considered a successor to ''[[The Nanny]]'', since they are both about regular women being hired as nannies for wealthy families through pure happenstance.
** Not to mention that the creator/executive producer for the former, Pamela Eells O'Connell, was one of the original writers for the latter.
* ''[[Chuck]]'', in a lot of ways, is a combination Spiritual Successor. Take one part ''Jake20'' (everyday geek infused with [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to make him a badass), one part ''[[She Spies]]'' (a borderline [[Affectionate Parody]] of the spy genre), mix well, top with [[Adam Baldwin]], and serve.
* [[The BBC]]'s music show ''[[Later
* ''[[The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff]]'' (surreal [[Charles Dickens
* ''[[Homeland]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[
* ''[[Downton Abbey]]'' can be considered a spiritual successor to ''[[Upstairs, Downstairs]]'', given the similar themes (both deal with the lives of a large aristocratic family and their servants, both are period pieces, and both feature numerous characters) that both shows share. As a bonus, Julian Fellowes, the creator of ''Downton'', even admits to his show being a successor to ''Upstairs Downstairs''.
** It can also be seen as a [[Spiritual Successor]] to Fellowes' film, ''[[Gosford Park]]''.
* ''[[Twin Peaks]]'' was a [[Spiritual Successor]] to an unrealised Mark Frost/David Lynch plan to dramatise the life of Marilyn Monroe. Both stories featured the mysterious death of a beautiful blonde with a murky secret life, all recounted in a secret diary. Lynch's film ''[[Blue Velvet]]'' could also be considered the spiritual ancestor of ''[[Twin Peaks]]''.
** At the time, ''[[Northern Exposure]]'' was also seen as a [[Lighter and Softer]] spiritual successor to ''[[Twin Peaks]]''
* While not ''exactly'' a case of [[Spiritual Successor]], [[3rd Rock
* "Reaper" to "[[The Loop]]". Both had Bret Harrison playing a guy named Sam, who hangs out with his slacker friends. And they both got worse the second season, although YMMV on The Loop. Also Bret Harrison played a guy named Sam on ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'', who (like in Reaper) had a blonde mother named Linda.
* "[[Mr. Sunshine]]" to "[[Better Off Ted]]", and "[[Better Off Ted]]" to "[[
* The ''[[
* ''[[Cougar Town]]'' to ''[[
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* Guitarist Jerry Cantrell's second solo album, "Degradation Trip", has been described as a spiritual successor to Alice in Chains' ''Dirt'' album.
* Chickenfoot is this for Van Halen, considering half of Chickenfoot is comprised of the two least crazy members of Van Halen, and the actual Van Halen has degenerated into a rather pathetic nostalgia act.
* Some fans consider [[Gamma Ray (Music)|Gamma Ray]] to be the Spiritual Successor of [[
* So many of [[Frank Zappa]]'s albums were this to each other, it would take a lot of space to list them all.
* [[Tom Waits]]' "Swordfishtrombones" was the precursor for "Franks Wild Years" [sic], which was followed by "Rain Dogs". Collectively, they are known as the Frank O'Brien Trilogy.
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*** ''Amused To Death'' was actually written at first as, literally, a sequel to Waters' ''Radio KAOS'' album. Roger's objections to the first Iraq War (and its depiction by the news media as it unfurled) changed all of that.
* Lady Gaga has been called the spiritual success to Cyndi Lauper.
* Heaven and Hell is essentially the early 80's [[
* When [[
* [[Ludwig Van Beethoven]] is seen as this to [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], and Johannes Brahms is seen as this to Beethoven.
* Both [[Post-Grunge]] and [[Metalcore]] have been called the [[Spiritual Successor]] to [[Hair Metal]] for different reasons. The former for its lyrical content, near total dominance of mainstream [[Hard Rock]], "poppy" hard rock nature, and abundance of same-sounding [[Follow the Leader]] acts. As for the latter, well, just look at [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXut97F2Qew this].
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* [[David Bowie]]'s ''Aladdin Sane'' is this to his previous album ''The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars''. He wrote some of the songs for it while on the U.S. tour supporting ''Ziggy Stardust'', and keen to wean himself from the [[Secret Identity Identity]] issues surrounding the Ziggy persona, he came up with a Ziggy expy who was suffering a mental/emotional decline as he journeyed across America.
* Arch Enemy's early albums (''Black Earth'', ''Stigmata'', and ''Burning Bridges'') have all been described as a continuation of sorts to [[Carcass|Carcass's]] sound from the time of their fourth album, ''Heartwork'' (which Arch Enemy's lead guitarist, Michael Amott, played on).
* [[
* [[
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* ECW was so great it needed two promotions to fill the void it left. [[Ring of Honor]] is the successor to the technical wrestling and [[Combat Zone Wrestling]] is the successor to hardcore wrestling. Both promotions run most of their shows in ECW's home venues such as The Arena in Philadelphia and The Manhattan Center in New York.
* The [[UFC]] is considered by most to be the successor to Pro Wrestling in general, since it follows the same exact model, although lately they have been trying to move away from that stucture.
** More accurately, UFC is [[Doing in
* WWE's World Heavyweight Championship is this to the WCW's top title of a similar name and design, which was unified into the WWE Championship months after the "entertainment company"'s purchase of WCW.
== Radio ==
* ''[[
* 96.3 Radio Aire in Leeds, West Yorkshire, could be considered as a spiritual successor to 103.2 Power FM in Hampshire. Similar playlist, emphasis on personality/music, rather than "more music less talk", and emphasis on dance music at the weekends, whilst retaining an air of locality; in fact they only network 7pm-10pm and 1am-6am weekdays, from 6pm-10pm Saturdays and weekend overnights; otherwise, they're pretty much local.
** Same could be said for UKRD's takeover of the former TLRC [The Local Radio Company] stations; they sound like live and local stations of the 90s, with emphasis on the local part, despite local radio being [[Deader Than Disco]] now. Plus, there were few if any rebrands, except in the North East, and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|no networking]] - so it feels local in content terms.
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== Theater ==
* [[William Shakespeare]] used a limited amount of themes in his works, to the point that some of his plays are almost identical in mood. For example: ''[[
* Director-writer Franco Dragone helmed the bulk of [[Cirque Du Soleil]]'s shows through 1998, and has since struck out on his own. Two of his solo shows, ''Le Reve'' (2005, Las Vegas) and ''The House of Dancing Water'' (2010, Macau, China) can be seen as spiritual successors to one of his last Cirque efforts, ''"O"'' (1998, Las Vegas), if only for the fact that they're all stylized fantasies that take place in, around, and upon enormous pools that can be converted to conventional stages as needed. (''Le Reve'', which was competing directly against ''"O"'', was initially poorly regarded by critics for being little more than a grim [[Recycled Premise|recycling of]] the Cirque effort, and substantial [[Retool|retooling]] resulted.)
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== Video Games ==
* [[Torchlight]] is a spiritual succesor of [[Fate]]
* [[
* [[Pokémon Black and White]] to [[
** The music: The Nuvema town theme, the Surfing theme, Route 10 theme, and {{spoiler|N's Farewell}} are all remixes or [[The Jimmy Hart Version|Jimmy Hart Versions]] of MOTHER 3's songs (respectively: Hinawa's Theme, The Green Train's Fun, Too!, Run, My Dog, Run!, and the Love Theme).
** The story: {{spoiler|The back-story reveals that Unova's two dragons, Reshiram and Zekrom (and probably Kyurem) were once one, and twin heroes formed Unova alongside it. However, one twin wanted things to remain natural and the other was in favor of urbanization. The dragon then split in two as a result, the older twin forming Reshiram and the younger twin forming Zekrom. N and Ghetsis are said to be the decendents of one of these twins.}}
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* Raw Thrills, the arcade game devhouse headed by [[Eugene Jarvis]], has three instances of this.
** ''Target: Terror'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''Area 51'' and ''Maximum Force'', down to the similar graphical style.
** The ''[[The Fast and
** And their latest project, ''H2Overdrive'', is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Hydro Thunder]]'', from the same developers as the classic 1998 boat racer. Seriously, [http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3172445 just look at the thing.]
* Rareware's ''Goldeneye 007'' and ''[[Perfect Dark]]'' are likely the prime video game examples. Perfect Dark is built on Goldeneye's game engine, so it feels like a natural extension of the same game, despite [[James Bond|Bond]] being nowhere in sight. They even use [[Rare Guns]] and settings from Goldeneye with the names slightly changed. Goldeneye had another [[Spiritual Successor]] in the form of the ''[[Time Splitters]]'' games, done by the core team behind Goldeneye. [[Time Splitters]] 2 is extremely similar to Goldeneye and with the use of the Map Maker, one can get extremely close to it.
* Fumito Ueda's ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'' was thought to be a [[Spiritual Successor]] to his previous game, ''[[Ico]]''. However, he revealed a direct connection between the two games in an interview several months after the game's release: {{spoiler|the protagonist of Shadow of the Colossus is actually a direct ancestor of the protagonist in Ico}}. However, the two play very differently and have no further storyline connections.
** Team Ico's upcoming game "[[The Last Guardian]]" appears very likely to be one to both Ico AND SOTC.
* ''[[Starcraft]]'' can be argued to be a spiritual successor to the first two ''[[
* Chris Taylor's ''[[Total Annihilation]]'' and ''[[
* The ''[[Paper Mario (
** Likewise for the hand-held game ''[[Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga
* ''[[System Shock]]'' has two. ''[[
* ''[[Illusion of Gaia]]'' and ''[[Terranigma]]'' are considered to form a thematic, though unofficial, trilogy as successors to ''[[Soul Blazer]]''. Although there ''are'' direct links included; The first boss of ''[[Soul Blazer]]'' is a [[Bonus Boss]] in Illusion of Gaia, with a storyline explanation of why, albeit a somewhat bizarre one. Meanwhile, ''[[Terranigma]]'' is explicitly referred to as "[[Illusion of Gaia]] 2" in a [[Developer's Room]] [[Easter Egg]].
** There's also a dog named Turbo who shows up in all three games.
** To some, ''The Granstream Saga'' on the [[Play Station]] may be considered a fourth game due to a few shared themes.
* The turbulent history of ''[[Wasteland (
** After Interplay made ''Wasteland'' for Electronic Arts, EA made a "sequel" named ''[[Fountain Of Dreams]]'', which they ultimately decided not to market as a sequel to ''Wasteland''.
** Since IP couldn't get the rights to ''[[Wasteland (
*** After ''[[Fallout 2]]'', IP committed [[Ink Stain Adaptation|many dark and evil deeds]] that [[Executive Meddling|sapped away BIS' strength]] and ultimately led to all of BIS' development efforts (Including ''Fallout 3'', codenamed "[[Fallout Van Buren|Project Van Buren]]") [[Too Good to Last|being canceled]]. After firing droves of BIS employees, shutting BIS down, and ultimately going down in flames itself, IP put Fallout on the auction block.
*** Much of BIS had regrouped as Troika and created another [[Spiritual Successor]] to the series: ''[[Arcanum]]''.
** As the crowning glory to this nonsense, InXile head Brian Fargo (the producer of the original ''[[Wasteland (
*** Which, as of March 2012, is actually happening thanks to [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/inxile/wasteland-2 Kickstarter's success].
** Interplay also released ''Dragon Wars'', the spiritual successor to ''[[The Bards Tale Trilogy|The Bards Tale]]'' trilogy they developed for EA. Brian Fargo then obtained the rights to ''The Bard's Tale'' and published another game under that title in 2004.
** The scepter then has to go to ''Afterfall'' which is being developed as a spiritual successor to Fallout, set in Nuclear Winter Eastern Europe.
* Bioware's ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'' was a [[Spiritual Successor]] to the early [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game]] of the same name.
** ''[[
** And then there's ''[[
* ''[[Ikaruga]]'' was a [[Spiritual Successor]] to the Saturn game ''[[Radiant Silvergun]]''; both are by Treasure, and ''Ikaruga'' was known in development as Project RS2.
** The octahedron-shaped object also makes an appearance in both games. The track that plays when you fight it is even called "The Stone-Like", which was its name in ''[[Radiant Silvergun]]''.
* The ''[[Track Mania]]'' series is considered to be the [[Spiritual Successor]] of an early 90's game called ''[http://zakstunts.cjb.net Stunts]'', which not only has the merit of sporting super-sleek 3D graphics (for the time of course), but is about clearing obstacle-laden tracks on powerful sports cars. Coincidentally, ''Trackmania Nations'', to put an example, is about clearing obstacle-laden tracks in an Formula-1-lookalike racing car.
* ''[[Maximo]]'' was created as an heir to the ''[[Ghosts
** And the fact that the protagonist is stripped to his boxer shorts after taking enough damage.
* ''[[Fallout 3]]'' bears the distinction of being the spiritual sequel of ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' series while itself being an ''actual'' sequel to another game.
* Some consider Bungie's ''[[Halo (
** ''[[Marathon
*** There are a lot of fans, especially older fans, who still hold to the theory that ''Marathon'' is actually a direct sequel to ''Pathways'' in all but name.
*** The other theory is that the ''Halo'' Trilogy is a PREQUEL to ''PiD'' and ''[[Marathon
* ''[[
** And history has now repeated itself: ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]'' is a spiritual successor to both ''[[
* The 2000 RPG ''[[Wizards And Warriors RPG|Wizards and Warriors]]'' by D. W. Bradley (not to be confused with the NES [[Wizards and Warriors]] game) is one for the ''[[
* The arcade top-down [[Shoot Em Ups|shoot-em-up]] ''Smash TV'' was a [[Spiritual Successor]] to both the movie ''[[The Running Man (
** ''Smash TV'' later got its own [[Spiritual Successor]], ''Total Carnage'', with the same gameplay and over-the-top violence, except you're fighting a Saddam Hussein lookalike instead of going through a futuristic game show.
*** {{spoiler|It's actually Hitler}}.
* Chris Sawyer's ''[[Transport Tycoon]]'' and ''[[Locomotion]]''.
* Valve's ''[[Portal (
* One of the victory conditions in ''[[Civilization]] II'' is to make a journey to Alpha Centauri, thus beginning the colonization of the galaxy by your side. ''[[Sid
* ''[[Rise of Nations]]'', a strategy game designed by Brian Reynolds, is to some degree a [[Spiritual Successor]] of ''Civilization III''.
** ''[[Rise of Nations]]'' ''is'' the third ''[[
** In turn, ''[[Rise of Legends]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Rise of Nations]]''.
* While ''[[Guitar Hero]] III'' is obviously the notional sequel to ''Guitar Hero II'', many feel that the "soul" of the franchise has moved along to ''[[Rock Band]]''; after Harmonix, the series' creator, sold the Guitar Hero IP to Activision, they moved on to Rock Band, making it the game which still employs the ''Guitar Hero II'' development team, game engine, and philosophy regarding note chart design.
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** Also on the subject, there's a disgruntled group of fans of ''GH I'' & ''II'' that feel that the 'soul' of the series isn't the subtle control differences, scrolling note layout pattern or the level of difficulty, but the fun and wacky spirit of the first two games is part of neither Rock Band or Guitar Hero. The closest to this spirit is probably Lego Rock Band.
* ''[[Killer 7]]'' and ''[[No More Heroes]]'', both brainchildren of [[Suda 51|Goichi Suda]]. Travis, the protagonist of ''No More Heroes'', can learn special abilities themed after the various personalities from ''Killer7'' by bringing balls to a drunk in a bar.
** Furthermore, from comments made by [[Suda 51|Goichi Suda]], it sounds like "[[
* ''[[Far Cry]]'', as well as spawning a couple of re-imaginings, also has a spiritual sequel, ''[[Crysis (
** In fact, ''[[Crysis (
* The game ''Heavenly Guardian'' was originally supposed to be a game in the ''Kiki Kai Kai'' series (Pocky and Rocky), and had its sprites reworked into a new game when the publisher lost the license.
* The little-known GameCube game ''[[Gotcha Force]]'' is considered by its fans a thematic successor to ''[[Virtual On]]''.
** It's also a Spiritual Successor-slash-[[Serial Numbers Filed Off]] version of the [[Gundam vs. Series]].
* In a rare example of spiritual sequels crossing from one franchise to another, a group of developers wanted to make a new ''[[Ultima Underworld]]'' game, but failed to secure the license. They changed the project to a [[Spiritual Successor]] in an original IP, ''[[Arx Fatalis]]''. They were later hired by Ubisoft, and created a [[Spiritual Successor]] to Arx Fatalis as part of Ubi's revived ''[[Might and Magic]]'' brand, becoming ''[[Dark Messiah
** [[Ultima VI]] received its own spiritual sequel in the form of ''[[Cythera]]'', which featured an improved resolution and expanded skills.
* ''[[Lego Indiana Jones]]'' to ''[[Lego Star Wars]]'', and ''Lego [[Batman]]'' to both of ''them'' - we tropers have even filed all three as [[Lego Adaptation Game|a single series]]. It helps that they ran out of [[Star Wars]] movies to adapt.
** Similarly, ''[[
* ''[[
** ''[[Again]]'' is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Hotel Dusk: Room 215]]''.
* ''[[Odin Sphere]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to the little-known and [[No Export for You|Japan-exclusive]] [[Sega Saturn]] title ''[[Princess Crown]]'', being created by the same director and company, and featuring several thematic similarities, including the 'little girl reading the game story in a book' narrative device.
** The ''[[Wii]]'' game [[
* ''[[
* ''[[God Hand]]'' is said to be a better 3D version of ''[[Final Fight]]'' than either of the actual 3D ''Final Fight'' games (one which was a competitive fighting game, and other a ''GTA''-clone).
** ''[[
* ''[[Super Robot Wars W]]'' for the [[Nintendo DS]] is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Super Robot Wars Judgment|Super Robot Wars J]]'' for the [[Game Boy Advance]]. Despite being in separate continuities, they both share many of the same series' (''[[Full Metal Panic]]'', ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'', ''[[Gundam Seed]]'', and ''[[
** Similarly, the original mecha of ''[[Super Robot Wars Advance]]'' are descended from the mecha of [[Super Robot Wars 64]], and [[Super Robot Wars MX|SRW MX]] is considered to be a successor of the Compact/Impact series.
** ''K'' is actually a successor to ''Z'' - created out of all the content the devs wished they could have put in the latter, and sharing a few series and several themes.
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* ''Cute Knight'' is quite similar to the ''[[Princess Maker]]'' series of games.
** As are ''[[Cute Knight Kingdom]]'' and ''Spirited Heart'', and the Flash game ''Project Princess''.
* The ''[[
* The ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' series seems like a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Super Mario World (
* Nintendo recently announced a Chinese company is developing an MMORPG featuring all of the Disney franchises separated into different worlds that the players can visit called "Disney Fantasy Online". That's right, it's an MMORPG version of [[Kingdom Hearts]] with the Square elements subtracted. [http://dsn.91.com/ The website] really screams it out, since the Disney characters are wearing the same outfits they do in [[Kingdom Hearts]].
* The Wii's menu system (including the default channels and at least part of ''[[Wii Sports]]'') is a Spiritual Successor to ''[[Mario Paint]]''. The music is too similar to be a coincidence, and the Wiimote works a lot like the old SNES Mouse did.
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** Fans of ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' are very confused by that notion, seeing as the two titles have almost nothing in common, gameplay and story wise.
* Some people consider the ''[[Ryu ga Gotoku|Yakuza]]'' series as a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Shenmue]]'', due to a shared publisher (Sega), a similar emphasis on hand-to-hand combat and time-killing minigames, and an elaborate, intricately-told story.
* Despite being a [[Beat'Em Up|beat-'em-up]] instead of a competitive [[Fighting Game]], ''[[Final Fight]]'' is a spiritual successor to the original ''[[Street Fighter]]''. It was even marketed at trade shows under the [[Working Title]] ''Street Fighter '89''. Guy and Sodom would later show up as playable characters in the original ''[[
* ''[[Blaz Blue]]'' is a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Guilty Gear]]'', with more emphasis on offense and greater penalty for turtling. Early in development, [[Arc System Works]] received a lot of flak for basically just giving ''Guilty Gear'' a huge makeover.
* ''[[Guilty Gear]] 2: Overture'' is a spiritual successor to the ''[[Herzog Zwei|Herzog]]'' Real-Time-Strategy/Action hybrid games. Really.
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** Likewise, ''NFL Blitz'' to ''High Impact Football''.
* ''[[Noby Noby Boy]]'' and ''[[Katamari Damacy]]'', due to sharing the same creator.
* ''[[Heretic]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''[[Doom (
* ''[[
** ''[[
* ''[[Snatcher]]'' and ''[[Policenauts]]'', both of which are sci-fi graphic adventure games directed by [[Hideo Kojima]].
* ''[[
* ''[[Nexus War]]'' to ''[[Urban Dead]]'', with the added twist that the former made off with a substantial chunk of the latter's ''player base'' when it came out. So not only does it have similar mechanics and interface, it's played by all the same people.
* ''[[Sigma Star Saga]]'' is considered this in regards to ''[[The Guardian Legend]]''. While both games are hybridizations of the [[Action Adventure]] and [[Shoot'Em Up]] genres, ''Sigma'' is more story-driven.
* ''[[Super Robot Wars]] [[Super Robot Wars Original Generation|OG Saga:]] [[Endless Frontier]]'' is considered a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[
* ''[[Persona (
** ''[[Digital Devil Saga]]'', was, meanwhile, a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''Persona'', featuring some noticeable similarities in story and gameplay... although the ''Persona'' series later ended up getting true continuations in ''Persona 3'' and ''4''.
** ''[[
* ''[[Prototype (
** According to [[Word of God]], the inspiration for ''Prototype'' came about due to Hulk's "weaponize" ability; that is, the ability to turn vehicles and such into [[Improvised Weapon|improvised weapons]], rather than limiting the player to "pick up and throw." Reportedly, during testing, somebody posed the question "[[What If
* ''Demon Sword'': Spiritual successor to ''[[Legend of Kage]]''. Irem's ''Ninja Spirit'', although made by completely different developers, was also a spiritual successor (pardon the pun).
* The popular, but now dated, ''[[X-COM]]'' series has a number of unrelated spiritual successors, including the ''[[UFO
* ''Krazy Rain'' is a spiritual sequel to the massively-multipler online [[Rhythm Game]] ''O2Jam''.
* ''[[Ray Series|Raystorm]]'': spiritual successor to ''Rayforce''. ''Raycrisis'' is the official prequel to ''Rayforce''.
* ''[[
* ''[[Strikers 1945]] series'': Successor to the ''[[Aero Fighters]]'' series, but more [[Bullet Hell]]-ish.
* ''[[Border Down]]'': Successor to ''[[Metal Black]]'', a [[Shoot'Em Up]] by Taito. Hiroyuki Maruyama, the president of G.rev, started the company and did subcontracting work for [[Treasure]] and Taito to generate revenue just to make this game. Why? He just really liked ''Metal Black''.
* ''[[Hellgate London]]'' to ''[[Diablo]]''.
* ''[[Razing Storm]]'' is the spiritual sequel to ''Crisis Zone'', the [[Gaiden Game]] to ''[[Time Crisis]]''. Like ''Crisis Zone'', you use a machine gun instead of ''Time Crisis'''s handguns (though for bigger targets, you (automatically) switch to stronger weapons), and instead of hiding behind objects, you take cover behind a heavy-duty shield. ''Razing Storm'' has since been renamed ''Time Crisis: Razing Storm'' for its [[
* The ''[[
* ''[[Metal Slug]]'' is the spiritual successor to ''Gunforce 2'' and ''[[In the Hunt]]'', which were made by the same staff back when they were working for Irem.
** Bu the same developers, the golf game ''Neo Turf Masters'' is a spiritual sequel to the ''Major Title'' series.
* The Konami arcade game ''M.I.A.: Missing In Action'' is pretty much an unofficial official sequel to ''[[Rush
* Irem's ''[[Vigilante (
* ''Tear Ring Saga'', a Japanese-only strategy RPG for the [[Play Station]] designed by ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' creator Shozo Kaga, is practically an unofficial ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' sequel, to the point that Nintendo sued Kaga's company, Tirnanog, for copyrights infringement (but lost the case).
** One of the games in the series ''[[Fire Emblem the Sacred Stones
* ''[[Gunstar Heroes]]'' was considered a spiritual successor to ''[[Contra|Contra III: The Alien Wars]]'' due to the fact that two of its main programmers worked on both games. In fact, it was the closest thing to a ''Contra'' game for the [[Sega Genesis]] before Konami decided to release ''Contra: Hard Corps''.
* ''[[Tetris the Grand Master]]'' is the spiritual successor to Sega's ''Tetris'' games, and borrows many elements such as the piece colors, the bottom-biased rotation system, fast sideways movement and soft drop, and piece lock delay (a feature present in all of Sega's ''Tetris'' games but not in Nintendo's, at least for a while).
* ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' (the original game) was a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Karateka]]'', an earlier game by the same author. The [[Rotoscoping|rotoscoped]] kicks and punches in ''Karateka'' prefigured the rotoscoped swordplay in ''Prince of Persia''.
* ''[[Fatal Fury]]'' to ''Street Smarts''. The first stage music from the latter is even featured as the Versus Mode theme in the former.
* The Mitchell arcade game ''[[Cannon Dancer|Osman]]'' and feelplus/SquareEnix's recent ''[[Moon Diver]]'' are this to Capcom's ''[[Strider
* Data East's [[Neo Geo]] platformer ''Spinmaster'' stars the same characters from the Genesis game ''Dashin' Desperadoes'', but plays more like a modernized version (literally and figuratively) of the original ''Joe & Mac'' (aka ''Caveman Ninja'') than the game it's supposed to be a sequel to (which was more of a racing platform game). ''Spinmaster'' might as well had been called ''Joe & Mac'' [[Recycled in Space|AS INDIANA JONES-STYLE TREASURE HUNTERS]].
* ''[[
* The first [[Video Games]] (and arcade games in general) can be seen as a [[Spiritual Successor]] to various carnival games such as the claw game, shooting ranges and [[Pinball]] as you spend little money for one game that is quickly over and in the case of [[Pinball]] you aim for a high score. It also helps that the only business experience Nolan Bushnell had before founding Atari was from maintaining these at a carnival.
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games set in the Ivalice universe (including ''[[Vagrant Story]]'', which technically isn't a ''Final Fantasy'' game) are successors to Quest's ''[[Ogre Battle]]'' franchise. ''[[
** Technically "[[Final Fantasy]]" can be seen as a 'Spiritual Series" as virtually none of the games have direct relation to each other, unless they have odd numberings or alternate subheadings, like [[Final Fantasy X 2
* The ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' arcade game by [[Konami]] is a spiritual sequel to an obscure pseudo-3D shoot-'em-up titled ''Devastators'' by the same company, which itself was loosely based on the 3D stages from the original ''[[Contra]]''.
* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
** But that hasn't stopped the fans from theorising that there is a connection between the series, especially around {{spoiler|Bernkastel and Rika since it is hinted that Bernkastel is the collection of memories that was used to revive Rika each time she died in Higurashi}} plus that Higurashi was labeled When They Cry 1 & 2 (Higurashi and Higurashi Kai) while Umineko is When They Cry 3 & 4 (Umineko and Umineko Chiru). This might indicate a closer connection between the series.
* The team that worked on ''Pro Wrestling'' for the NES later formed Human and developed the ''[[
* ''[[Stella Deus the Gate of Eternity|Stella Deus: The Gate of Eternity]]'' is a successor to ''[[Hoshigami]]: Ruining Blue Earth'', as the two games share a lot of the same battle mechanics.
* [[Word of God]] says that ''[[Golden Sun]]'' is this to the ''[[Shining Force]]'' tactical RPG series, which makes sense considering Camelot was the ones who developed said series before they split with SEGA. In fact, the [[Executive Meddling|botched release]] of ''Shining Force III'' on the [[Sega Saturn|Saturn]] is the whole reason why they split and started ''[[Golden Sun]]''.
* According to Turn10, they consider ''[[Forza Motorsport]] 3'' to be the true spiritual successor to Polyphony Digital's ''[[Gran Turismo]]'' series. To paraphrase Polyphony Digital president Kazunori Yamauchi, "No it bloody well isn't".
* The ''[[Tokimeki Memorial]]'' series got, [[Long Runners|during its 15 years-long run and ongoing]], three Spiritual Successors:
** ''[[
** ''[[Meine Liebe]]'' in 2001, using too the same game engine than Tokimemo but in a [[Gender Flip|Gender Flipped]] version, making it the predecessor of the ''Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side'' branch of the series ;
** ''[[Love Plus]]'' in 2009, reducing the datable characters to a measly three of them, but with lots more development around them and an ''After Story'' of sorts where the player can interact with the girl long after having they have confessed their feelings (a system which got a lot of controversy, especially with some [[Otaku]] [http://kotaku.com/5409877/the-one-about-the-guy-who-married-a-video-game pushing the thing] a bit too far).
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* The ''[[Mighty Morphin Power Rangers]]'' video game by Bandai for the [[Super NES]] is a spiritual successor to the ''[[Choujin Sentai Jetman]]'' game by Angel for the [[Famicom]]. Not that surprising, considering [[Natsume]] developed both.
* ''[[The Sky Crawlers]]: Innocent Aces'', a Wii flight sim game made by Project Aces with [[WW 2]] like planes, is this to the ''[[Ace Combat]]'' series.
* ''[[
* ''Buck Bumble'' for the N64 is a 3d spiritual successor to Codemasters' C64/NES game ''Bee 52''.
* Wanako Studios' ''Assault Heroes'' can be seen as a spiritual successor to Konami's ''Jackal'', as both games put you in control of a heavily-armed jeep (though ''Assault Heroes'' adds such features as multiple weapons, on-foot stages and dual analog-stick control).
* ''[[Wii Party]]'' appears to be one of ''[[
* ''[[Galactic Civilizations]]'' is this to ''[[
* ''[[Ghost Trick]]'' is a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Spiritual Successor]] to the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' series. Both of the games even share the same director and creator, Shu Takumi.
* ''[[Star Trek Online]]'s'' space navigation/combat portion is a spiritual successor to ''[[Star Trek Starfleet Command]]''.
* ''[[Heavy Rain]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''[[
* ''Naughty Bear'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Manhunt]]'' with teddy bears.
* ''[[Elemental War of Magic]]'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Master of Magic]]''.
* While ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' is the official sequel to [[Red Dead Revolver]], ''Redemption'' has a lot more in common with the Activision-made ''Gun'' than it's true predecessor.
** Also, [[Red Dead Redemption]] is considered a [[Spiritual Successor]] to [[Grand Theft Auto]] (namely, Grand Theft Horse).
*** [[LA Noire
* ''Blur'' is this to the ''Project Gotham Racing'' series, which itself was a spiritual successor to the Dreamcast game ''Metropolis Street Racer''.
* ''[[Ikari Warriors]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''Front Line''. Both had a rotary aiming control.
* Although the two games are very different, much of ''[[
* Codemasters' ''GRID'' is a spiritual sequel to the ''TOCA Race Driver'' series, while ''DIRT'' was the spiritual successor to ''Colin Mc Rae Rally''.
* ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'' is a spiritual successor to the "Sakaguchi era" ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' games, which include ''[[
* [[Electronic Arts]]'s ''[[Skate]]'' is a successor to their NES-era game ''Skate or Die''.
** And interestingly enough, the series it used to [[Dueling Games|duel]] with, ''[[Tony Hawks Pro Skater]]'', is itself a spiritual successor to ''720 Degrees''.
* ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'' is a spiritual sequel to ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines]]'' and ''[[
* ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'' has a spiritual successor by the name ''[[Battle Kid Fortress of Peril]]'', endorsed by the maker of ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]''.
* ''[[Medal of Honor]]'': Allied Assault led to Infinity Ward's ''[[Call of Duty]]'' 1, 2, and the [[Modern Warfare]] trilogy''.
* ''[[Jade Empire]]'' is either the successor to ''[[Bridge of Birds]]'', or the only game adaptation it's ever going to get.
* While ''[[Knights of the Old Republic II]]'' is the sequel to ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', it is the '''spiritual''' sequel to ''[[Planescape: Torment]]''.
* The NES game ''Laser Invasion'' can be considered the successor of the two first ''[[Top Gun]]'' games released by Konami for the NES. ''Laser Invasion'' shares the same engine used in ''Top Gun: The Second Mission'' and similar HUD, except that you control a gunship instead of a F-14, and there's a few [[Genre Shift|light gun and maze sequences]] set on foot.
* ''[[Kane and Lynch]]'' can be seen as a successor to ''[[Freedom Fighters (
* ''[[Brutal Legend]]'''s "Stage Battles" were intended as a spiritual successor to ''[[Herzog Zwei]]''... and they do have some strong similarities, but also to ''[[Sacrifice]]'' -- not surprising, as they had a developer for that game on the dev team.
* The 1995 pinball machine ''Attack From Mars'' turned out to be a huge seller, but didn't get a proper sequel until the Pinball 2000 machine ''Revenge From Mars''. In the meantime, the 1997 pinball ''Medieval Madness'' was created by the same developers and, despite the different premise, was far more similar to the original game's structure than the sequel was.
* Konami's ''Dance Masters'' is sort of a spiritual successor to ''Para Para Paradise'', and even has several parapara/eurobeat songs, including the famed "Night of Fire".
* [[
* [[
* In Japan, [[Hudson Soft]] produced the NES and MSX ports of ''[[Video Game/Star Force|Star Force]]'' and ran a nationwide tournament around it. But ''Star Force'' was a [[Tecmo]] game, and so Hudson developed a rather similar game called ''[[
* ''[[Bayonetta]]'' to ''[[Devil May Cry]]'', moreso the first DMC game, but the traits are shared with later DMC games. Both were created by Hideki Kamiya, both share over the top action, and both have [[Rule of Cool|styles of attacking]] where mixing it up grants a [[Rank Inflation|higher score]] at the end of each section/chapter.
* ''[[Bangai-O]]'' was originally supposed to be a remake of an old Japanese PC game called ''Hover Attack''.
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* After a falling out between the developer and publisher of ''[[Operation Flashpoint]]'', the publisher won the rights to the name and would reuse it for [[Operation Flashpoint Codemasters|a rather different duology]], while the developer kept the rights to the engine behind ''Operation Flashpoint'' and went on to create the ''[[Arm A]]'' series, which is widely considered to be the true successor to ''Operation Flashpoint'' to the point that the developers collectively call both series the [[The Verse|Armaversum]].
** As a twist, for the tenth anniversary of the original ''Operation Flashpoint'', the developers released a final patch (just over six years after the penultimate patch) that actually renamed the game to ''ARMA: Cold War Assault'', as well as removing a Codemaster-included campaign called "Red Hammer."
* ''[[
* ''[[Alan Wake]]'' developed by Remedy Entertainment, is the [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Max Payne (
* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]-2'' is slated to be something of a [[Spiritual Successor]] to [[
* [http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=6105 Parodied by Valve], who tried to pass off ''[[Deus Ex: Human Revolution
* ''[[
* The old Taito game ''Mizubaku Adventure'' AKA ''Liquid Kids'' could be considered a successor to ''[[
* The rare coin-op ''Nightmare in the Dark'' is a spiritual successor of sorts to the more well-known ''[[
* [[Sega]]'s ''Confidential Mission'' is considered by many a spiritual successor to their ''[[Virtua Cop]]'' games.
* ''[[Dark Souls]]'', with its near-identical gameplay, probably would be ''[[Demons Souls]] 2'' if Sony didn't own the IP.
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* ''[[Command and Conquer]]'' is the spiritual successor to ''[[Dune II]]'', both done by Westwood Studios.
** And ''[[Universe At War]]'' is in turn the spiritual successor to ''[[Command and Conquer]]'', both done by the same development team under a different name: after EA bought up Westwood, their [[Executive Meddling|high quality expectations coupled with restrictive development timeframes]] resulted in successive C&C titles losing critical acclaim which became an excuse to assimilate Westwood into EA Los Angeles and put the ex-Westwood personnel to work at EA's own titles instead (fans still rage about it to this very day). Many disgrunted ex-Westwood personnel left and formed Petroglyph Games which gave us ''Universe At War'' as the first installment of a planned series... [[What Could Have Been|that never got the green light from SEGA]].
* ''[[
* ''[[Skies of Arcadia]]'' is considered to be a spiritual successor to ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' since both were developed by Sega's Overworks studios, and they're both turn-based roleplaying games. In fact, some fans consider Skies to be more a successor to Phantasy Star than [[Phantasy Star Online]].
* ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' too is considered such to ''Skies of Arcadia''. While Valkyria is a strategy RPG instead of turn-based, it has some members of Sega's now extinct Overworks studios on its development, and even Skies protagonists Vyse and Aika [[Previous Player Character Cameo|make a cameo in it]].
* ''Pochi & Nyaa'', apparently the last game [[Compile]] released before bankruptcy, was an obvious attempt to recapture some of the gameplay and aesthetics of the ''[[Puyo Puyo]]'' [[Cash Cow Franchise]] which they no longer owned.
* ''[[
** The sequel, ''[[
* ''Obliterator'', a [[Platform Game]] by [[Psygnosis]], features a slightly more refined form of the mouse-based control system and gameplay of their earlier game ''Barbarian'' (not to be confused with ''Barbarian: The Ultimate Warrior''), but takes place in a science fiction setting instead.
* The Vic Tokai [[Platform Game|Platform Games]] ''Kid Kool'', ''Psycho Fox'' and ''[[
* [[Word of God]] claims that [[Transformers Fall of Cybertron]] is a spiritual successor to their previous game, [[Transformers: War for Cybertron|War for Cybertron]] rather than a true sequel.
* Doublesix's ''All Zombies Must Die'' is a spiritual successor to their earlier zombie-slaying game, ''Burn Zombie Burn''.
* ''[[Fire Pro Wrestling]]'' is this to Nintendo's classic ''Pro Wrestling'' game, following the same style of gameplay mechanics as well as the use of [[Captain Ersatz]] versions of existing wrestlers.
* ''[[
* People have joked that ''[[
* The ''[[X Universe]]'' series is widely considered a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[
* ''[[Skullgirls]]'' is being considered a spiritual successor to ''[[
* ''[[Kenka Bancho]]'' is sometimes considered to be the 3D version of ''[[Kunio Kun|Nekketsu Koha Kunio-kun]]'' that Technos never got to made.
* The [[Those Two Guys|Two Guys]] [[Author Avatar|from Andromeda]], the guys behind the [[Space Quest]] games, have just recently come back together to try and create a "[http://tgakick.com SpaceVenture]" that looks every inch like it'll be a successor to their previous series. They've even gotten Gary Owens back to narrate again!
* The original ''[[Resident Evil (
* The upcoming ''[[Halo 4]]'' seems to be more inspired by ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' than the previous [[Halo (
* ''Project P-100'', an upcoming Wii-U project by [[Platinum Games]], seems to be based somewhat on ''[[Viewtiful Joe]]''.
* The Sega arcade game ''[[Congo Bongo]]'' may had seemed like a blatant ''[[Donkey Kong]]''-ripoff, but in reality the game's developer, Ikegami Tsushinki, was the same company Nintendo contracted to handle the programming for ''Donkey Kong''.
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== Web Original ==
* ''TWiT'' and ''Diggnation'' are both spiritual successors to ''The Screen Savers''
** Likewise, ''[[The Totally Rad Show]]'' is a spiritual successor to ''Geekdrome'' and Burt Monroy's ''Pixel Perfect'' can be seen a spiritual successor to Bob Ross' ''[[
** Alex Albrecht's show ''4Points'' on the Nerdist network can be seen as a successor to ''Diggnation'' as it more or less picks up on the same format but with an additional two hosts.
* ''[[New York Magician]]'': Compare the writer's earlier ''[http://everything2.com/title/Park+ Ethereal Park Ethereal]'' series, which also features magical elements in an otherwise normal New York, along with some Urban Exploration influence. However, the protagonists are very different; Michel is an rich man experienced at all this magic stuff, while the narrator of PE is a broke homeless guy who can't remember his name or past and has no real idea what's going on.
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* ''[[Home Movies]]'' to ''[[Dr. Katz]]'', with both shows employing the so-called "Squigglevision" animation (though ''[[Home Movies]]'' dropped it in its later seasons).
* ''[[Futurama]]'' to ''[[The Simpsons]]''.
* ''[[
* ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'' and ''[[
* ''[[The Jetsons]]'' to ''[[The Flintstones]]''. There's also the much more obscure series ''The Roman Holidays''.
* ''[[
** ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' to both [[Looney Tunes]] and ''[[A Pup Named Scooby Doo]]'' (which was the last project most of the WBA staff worked on together at Hanna-Barbera).
* It might be a stretch, since one is animated and the other wasn't, but ''[[Batman:
* ''[[
** And Flapjack is one to "[[The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy]]".
* ''[[
* ''[[The Boondocks]]'' is sometimes said to be this to ''[[Coonskin]]''.
* While ''[[
* ''[[The Amazing World of Gumball]]'' to ''[[Chowder]]''.
* ''[[Moral Orel]]'' is an ironic- and ''very'' [[Black Comedy|dark]]- successor to ''[[Davey and Goliath]]''.
* ''[[Lloyd in Space]]'' and the 2010 reboot of ''[[Pound Puppies]]'' to ''[[Recess]]''
* ''[[
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' to ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]''
* ''[[The Flintstones]]'' to ''[[The Honeymooners]]'' deliberately.
* ''[[Inspector Gadget]]'' to ''[[
* ''[[Exo Squad]]'' to ''[[Robotech]]''. The viewers weren't the only ones to notice. Matchbox toys released a short lived toyline which blended the two.
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