They Copied It, So It Sucks: Difference between revisions

So you're [[Reviews Are the Gospel|reading a review of the latest game to come down the pike]], and you find a line that [[Seen It a Million Times|states said game is just like another title]]. And it is. Sorta. It may have been "[[Follow the Leader|inspired]]" by a more successful franchise, or it may be that the more successful franchise so changed the face of its medium that all future works in that medium demand a response.

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.

== Anime and Manga ==

*** It should. The show was created by Marvel Studios, and the suing and counter suing between Marvel, Fox and Tribune is epic.

*** ...And, of course, the ''[[Duel Masters]]'' manga is ''actually'' about Magic...which is what got Wizards interested in the property in the first place.

** Oddly, ''Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monsters'' arguably copied the American-produced second season of ''Duel Masters''.

* ''[[Strike Witches]]'' is generally seen as a copy of ''[[Sky Girls]]'', but with [[Fan Service]] turned up a few notches, leading to its [[Fan Nickname]] of "Sky Girls no pantsu". This is a moot point, given that both are the brainchild of Shimada Humikane. By the way, have you seen those funky girl-machine hybrids dubbed Mecha Musume floating around imageboards before SG and/or SW premiered? [[Older Than They Think|Yeah, those were Humikane's original creation too, and they appeared first]], ''and'' trademarked. Not to mention the Busou Shinki line of toys he premiered.

** And Mecha Musume is just Humikane's brand. Mecha ''Shoujo'' was around quite a while before that.

* Watching the first few episodes of ''[[Gun X Sword]]'' get it called ''[[Trigun]]'' [[Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha|but with mechs]] and compared to many works like it. [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/gunxsword/dvd-1 One review] even said that it was ripping off every major show it could, and how it obviously was made to pander to an American audience. Of course true fans of the show will know that it stands very strongly on its own.

** Not only is it ''not'' [[Trigun]] with mechs, but the cast come across their first large body of water as early as episode '''2''', and a few episodes later leave the desert entirely. Needless to say, any similarities to Trigun stop right there.

* ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' got flack as a supposed rip-off of ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'', mostly due to both being [[Sunrise]]-produced [[Space Western|Space Westerns]] with a relatively similar naming convention. Of course, not only do the similarities stop there, but ''[[Outlaw Star]]'' technically [[Older Than They Think|predates]] ''Bebop'' as a manga series, to say nothing of the fact that Outlaw Star the anime began production several months before Cowboy Bebop.

* While not as extreme as other examples of "Anything within the same genre as this is a rip-off" but for a while in the US a known complaint in Shounen anime is that "if you've seen [[Dragonball Z]] you have pretty much seen any given Shounen anime nowadays".

** Don't get anyone started on Namor and [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]].

*** Or Hawkeye and [[Green Arrow]].

** The Captain Marvel thing has led to several lawsuits back and forth between DC and Marvel. This is part of the reason that DC's Captain Marvel's comic is called [[I Am Not Shazam|SHAZAM!]] with the well known [[I Am Not Shazam|unfortunate consequences]].

*** ''Before'' DC owned the "Shazam!" Captain Marvel, they sucessfully sued Fawcett Publishing on the grounds that they invented the caped [[Flying Brick]]. That Cap was a very different character beyond that didn't occur to them until they owned him, and suddenly realised there was room for both Big Blue and Big Red ''in the same universe''.

**** Back in the early 40s, the idea of a superhero in general was still quite new. It was only becoming a recognized genre, and so what are now genre tropes were seen as specific characteristics of Superman.

***** Perhaps, but it was in the 40s that DC introduced [[Aquaman (Comic Book)|Aquaman]], who was basically a prettier Submariner. They were lucky that Timely (later renamed Marvel) weren't as quick with the lawyers.

* Many of Rob Liefeld's works were clearly "influenced by" similar Marvel and DC properties. This--among other things--gave Liefeld haters just that much more ammunition.

** ''Youngblood'' is the remnant of a Teen Titans spin-off Liefeld had created. The character of Shaft is clearly a [[Captain Ersatz]] of Speedy. That said, Marvel properties found themselves duplicated in the pages of ''Youngblood'' and it doesn't take much that Cougar is essentially a repaint of [[Wolverine]] or that Sentinel is either Iron Man or War Machine without his helmet.

** Amusingly, Star Wars itself is explicitly based on the [[The Hero's Journey|The Hero Cycle]], a pattern of story telling that has been observed occurring in independent cultures for thousands of years, so even Star Wars [[Older Than You Think|isn't all that original.]]

** Not to mention the fact that Star Wars isn't really even sci-fi at all. It's fantasy with some sci-fi trappings.

** 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.

** Then there's [[The Transporter|Frank Martin]], described by one reviewer as "a sort of third-party international man of mystery for those who think James Bond is too effete and Jason Bourne just doesn't have enough chest hair."

** Before both of them, there was a film starring Leonidas himself, called ''Beowulf & Grendel''. For some reason, no-one ever knows about it.

** While we're on the subject, ''anything'' remotely resembling "[[Bullet Time]]" after ''[[The Matrix]]''.

*** In the DVD commentary for ''[[Blade]]'' it's pointed out (tongue-in-cheek) that they used a Bullet Time scene first, so these should be regarded as ''Blade'' rip-offs.

* In what is probably the crowning example of the trope, thousands of people wrote off the the 2009 horror film ''Orphan'' for ripping off ''[[The Good Son]]'', acting as if a beloved, many decades-old classic had been violated. This hilariously overlooked the fact that [[The Good Son]] was an obscure film despised by most everyone(some would even call it underrated) except for those who made joking [[Home Alone]] references to it because Macauly Culkin played that film's villain. But when Orphan came out, suddenly people began acting as if [[The Good Son]] was one of the most popular and beloved films of all time, and that Orphan was some kind of abomination. What these people overlooked was that both films are predated by [[The Bad Seed]], which came out literally [[Older Than They Think|decades]] prior, and that all subsequent [[Creepy Child|"Evil Child"]] films are derivative of that film, and that Orphan, in fact, is probably the most original of them, and that the similarities between the films are completely undone by Orphan's twist-ending. The likely explanation is that the trolls responsible had little knowledge of cinema predating the late 80s-90s, and thus, remembering [[The Good Son]], thought they were making a [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|brilliant]] discovery and were eager to become "famous" for pointing it out.

* Despite [[Older Than You Think|parody movies having been done back in the dawn of cinematic history]], a lot of the newer ones are long forgotten for trying to cash in on ''[[Scary Movie]]''. Then again, Scary Movie did repopularize parody movies...

* The ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' vs. ''[[The Curious Case of Benjamin Button]]'' debate. Both are written by the same screenwriter and detail the life of men with some sort of handicap that have similar story elements (chasing after the woman of their dreams, encountering various people, {{spoiler|the possibility of having a child with a similar handicap}} and feature innovative [[Special Effects]]. Both have their individual merits.

* ''[[Zathura]]'' had been scoffed at largely as a ''[[Jumanji]]'' ripoff. Presumably then, the people who think this didn't know both films [[Spiritual Successor|were based on books written by the same person]], and then in the ''Zathura'' novel the Zathura game was found in the same box as the Jumanji game. Of course, even if not a rip-off, it is still [[Recycled in Space]].

*** The latter movie having the same misfortune of this trope, considering it came out a year after [REC].

** 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]].

** [[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]]''.

* One of the most common criticisms regarding the American remake of ''[[Godzilla]]'' was that the plot was essentially a rip-off of ''The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms'' (IE: Giant reptile goes to New York to breed.) with hints of ''[[King Kong]]'', ''[[Jurassic Park]]'' and ''[[Alien|Aliens]]'' thrown in for good measure rather than, well, a Godzilla movie.

** Which is ironic, considering that the original Japanese film ''[[Godzilla|Gojira]]'' itself took elements from ''The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms'' as well. Though, at least Ishiro Honda and Tomoyuki Tanaka had the common sense to keep their film from becoming a blatant rip-off.

*** Another example would be the Hong Kong film ''Mighty Peking Man''. A movie about a giant ape that becomes smitten with a human female and...[[King Kong|boy, this sounds familiar, doesn't it?]]

* 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.

* ''[[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.

* ''The Talk'' on CBS was immediately panned, because it's ''The View'' for moms. With six women instead of five. In the middle of the afternoon. In Los Angeles.

* American [[Tokusatsu]]: Basically every [[Henshin Hero]] show in this genre to come out since ''[[Power Rangers]]'' (be they original American shows, American adaptations of Japanese tokusatsu or American dubbed Japanese tokusatsu).

** ''Ultraman Tiga'' would be a dub example.

** It should be noted that ''Masked Rider'', ''VR Troopers'', ''Beetleborgs'', and ''Mystic Knights'' were all produced by Saban, the creators of ''Power Rangers'' itself, trying to replicate their own success. And that's not even counting the whining that fans of the American adaptations get from the fans of the Japanese originals, some of whom don't seem to understand that American companies actually licensed the footage from Japan to make their shows and didn't just plagiarize it behind their backs.

* ''[[Friends]]'' was constantly being accused of being a ''[[Seinfeld]]'' ripoff. However, anyone who actually follows both shows realizes that they have very different styles of humor.

** And in turn every new sitcom soon after ''Friends'' became popular was automatically accused on being a ''Friends'' ripoff, apparently just on general principles. Drew Carey has a whole section in his book ''Dirty Jokes and Beer'' about how this happened and even his own sitcom, which he said was much more like ''Roseanne'', was not exempt from the accusation.

** And so is ''[[Coupling]]'', because it has six leads (and one girl is weird, and one guy is a [[Handsome Lech]] who is also dumb), divided perfectly by gender. And a [[Local Hangout]] where they sit on the only sofa. And the general humour comes from sexual situations and observations. So obviously there are ''some'' similarities, but the tone, style and types of jokes told are often completely different.

** And ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', mainly as the show focused on, well, a bunch of friends.

** Inverted in [[Channel 4|E4]] trailers for ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', which uses this as a selling point: "It's basically new episodes of ''[[Friends]]'' without boring ruddy Ross."

* There are people who watch ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' who seem completely incapable of enjoying any sketch that has a premise that's even remotely similar to another sketch from a previous season. Since the show has been on for more than 30 years, this means there aren't very many sketches they can enjoy.

* ''[[Little Britain]]'' is frequently accused of ripping off ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]'' and ''[[The Fast Show]]''. In turn, ''[[The Catherine Tate Show]]'' gets flak for copying ''Little Britain.''

* ''[[Dinosaurs]]'' was thought by many to be a ripoff of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' (only with animatronic puppets on a live-action set rather than an animated series). Seeing as how the former takes place in prehistoric times, this could even be in the same vein as ''[[The Honeymooners]]'' and ''[[The Flintstones]]''. One episode of [[The Simpsons]] was a not-so-subtle [[Take That]] featuring the characters watching the show with Bart saying, "It's like they saw our lives and put it up on screen". A ''Dinosaurs'' episode also had Earl complain that the reason there's no originality on TV is because once an original show becomes popular, every network decides to play [[Follow the Leader]] and create rip-offs of said original show, with Baby saying, "Don't have a cow, man".

* ''[[Fifth Gear]]'' is often accused of being a rip-off of ''[[Top Gear]]''.

** ''Fifth Gear'' is the continuation of the original ''Top Gear'', done by some of the same people from Old ''Top Gear'''s cancellation in 2001, just under a new name. In fact, while ''Top Gear'' dates back to [[The Seventies]], its highly successful [[Retool]] began several months after ''Fifth Gear''.

* ''Top Gear'' on the American History Channel is a direct spin-off from the successful British ''[[Top Gear]]'', copying the latter series' use of three presenters, The Stig, silly themed segments, style of cinematography and auto reviews, and cramming celebrities into a small car.

* In ''[[Psych]]'', Shawn walks up to a police department desk and identifies himself as a psychic. "Like ''[[The Mentalist]]'' only [[Hypocritical Humor|not fake]]."

** The original ''[[Battlestar Galactica Classic]]'' still gets much criticism today for ripping off ''[[Star Wars]]''. No wonder the [[Darker and Edgier]] remake received rave reviews as it strayed from being a typical show [[Recycled in Space|about a space colony]] as far as possible.

* Any pair of young, male presenters on British television will be compared to [[Ant and Dec]] and accused of trying to copy them. Ironically, many of the comparisons aren't by Ant and Dec fans, but by people who dislike them and therefore conclude that anyone remotely similar to them is exactly like them.

* 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.

*** Hilariously lampshaded in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHBVnMf2t7w&e this video]

*** The new British bubblegum group One Dimension has fans that claim the group is "bigger than the Beatles," in spite of the fact they only have one hit single under their belts.

** Parodied in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYd-Fs8Q15Y this] [[Mad TV]] sketch.

* It is impossible to be a fan of both [[Sarah Brightman]] and Katherine Jenkins, at least if you read either singer's forums.

** Ironic: [[Nick Cave]] himself, in concert, made fun of how much The Birthday Party ripped off The Stooges by saying things like "This is not Loose, this is not No Fun, it's (insert title of the next TBP song on the set-list)."

* Early in their career Silverchair were referred to as a shitty knockoff of Nirvana.

** Along with a little bit of a [[Take That]] when they said "Rammstein is Laibach for kids, and Laibach is Rammstein for grown-ups."

* The [[Deathcore]] genre often has this criticism leveled at it, possibly due to the almost copycat-like nature of most of the bands within the genre.

** Usually whichever band is the oldest mocks whoever is newest, never mind that they all are more or less emulating The Birthday Party and ''there's nothing wrong with that.''

* 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]]''.

** Sometimes ''[[Digimon]]'' has the issue of being compared to ''[[Pokémon]]'', though there aren't ''that'' many similarities.

<!-- %%This argument really needs to stop: Pokémon was released in 1996, Digimon in 1997; the first Digimon game as opposed to virtual pet in 99. -->

** 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]].

** That comparison is pretty funny if you've played ''[[Soul Blazer]]'', a game that resembles Dark Cloud far more than any Zelda game or [[Small Reference Pools|any other Action-Adventure game]] really.

** In a reversal, ''[[Okami]]'' was released a couple of months before ''Twilight Princess'', as Link turned into a wolf and the similarities between the games many said Nintendo had stolen the idea despite the fact that a ''[[Twilight Princess]]'' trailer that showed Link turning into a wolf was released in 2005, while Okami was released in 2006.

*** ''Released'' in 2006. The game first ever appeared in ''2004'' in-house as a concept video, with its first ever public appearance at Tokyo Game Show in the same year.

* 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.

** 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.

**** 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.

** 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.

* 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''.

** [[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.]]

* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'s'' spinoffs are frequently accused of copying from Mario's lineup of spinoffs. Then again, [[The Simpsons Did It|Mario has starred in nearly every genre imaginable]].

* "Like ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' but..." syndrome has begun to really invade [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPGs]], due to said game's amazing economic success. In particular, user interfaces and tutorial zones tend to be described as ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' [[Recycled in Space|in SPACE]] or transplanted to other fantasy series (occasionally even other games that [[Older Than They Think|came out first]]). This isn't always a bad thing - ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' wouldn't have been successful if it had a bad UI or especially boring early quests - but a lot of reviewers spend two or three days in a new game and advocate sticking with the precursor.

** "It's like WOW" has become a common complaint about ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]] Fourth Edition'', despite the fact that many of the alleged WOW elements started in [[Older Than You Think|D&D itself]].

** 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.

* 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.

*** 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 ''[[Ever Quest]]'' was derived from DikuMUD codebase that they proved it wasn't to Diku's original developers so that they could publicly certify such.

**** 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.

** 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.

** 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 Chinese FPS: ''Final Combat'' is receiving the same reception from ''Team Fortress 2'' fans for having a very similar style, gameplay, maps, and trailers.

* [[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...]]

** 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.

*** 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.

**** Speaking of pre-SFII fighting games, many elements of SFII were already done in most fighters mentioned [http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/fighters/fighters.htm in this entry at Hardcore Gaming 101], as well as Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu arcade. The first Street Fighter's 1P mode is to Yie Ar Kung-Fu, while its 2P mode is to Karate Champ.

** 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.

** In their defense, Mario's first appearance was in a game called... ''Donkey Kong''. So both series started literally in the same game. It makes sense for both to share the same genre.

* Some people would think that ''Roblox'' is a ripoff of ''[[Minecraft]]'', but ''Roblox'' came before MC.

* The [[Wii U]]'s controller currently gets some hate for looking too similar to the iPad.

* 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]].

== Western Animation ==

* In the 1930s every animation studio tried to copy Disney, often ending in [[Tastes Like Diabetes]] results with bland characters and storylines.

** 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.

* ''[[Cars]]'' received some mild bashing for being ''[[Doc Hollywood]]'' [[Recycled in Space|with automobiles!]] - not enough to dent [[Pixar]]'s track record, though.

** Probably because it wasn't original when ''[[Doc Hollywood]]'' did it. It's a standard Hollywood formula.

*** A fact lampshaded on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' when in court deciding who owned the rights to Itchy and Scratchy. Roger Meyers pointed out shows that owed their existence to earlier shows, naming ''[[The Flintstones]]'' and ''[[The Honeymooners]]'', then asking the judge, "If you take away our right to steal ideas, where are they going to come from?" He then points to Marge, whose best "original" idea for a cartoon is "Ghost Mutt."

* There's a rather large controversy on the internet regarding whether or not ''[[The Lion King]]'' is a rip-off of the classic anime series ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]''. Comparisons between the two can be seen here- [http://www.kimbawlion.com/rant2.htm Yeah, a LOT of similarities, aren't there?]

** The resemblance between ''[[The Life and Times of Juniper Lee]]'' and ''[[American Dragon Jake Long]]'' are a lot more uncanny mind, between hidden fantasy creatures living unknown to the wider world, an ethnic main character who must learn to live up to an important title thrusted upon them, a Chinese grandparent mentor and a [[Talking Animal|talking bulldog protagonist]].

** [[Irony]]: the two shows are basically products of the same bunch (there's even jokes thrown in about [[Actor Allusion|the VAs they have in common]]). Yes, they're ripping off ''themselves'', somehow.

* [[Hanna-Barbera]] pretty much copied everything, [[Ho Yay|including themselves]]. Most of their characters were base on actors from the 50's and 60's, they created so many ''[[Scooby Doo]]'' clones that the Boomerang Network now has a block called "Those Meddling Kids".

* ''[[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.

== Web Original ==

** And there are videos on [[YouTube]] calling the AVGN a Seanbaby ripoff. This is because seanbaby predates AVGN, and made fun of NES games for pretty much the same reasons. Some of his lines are even almost exactly the same.

* Many Abridged series are dismissed just for copying [[Little Kuriboh]], regardless of whether they have different jokes or even parody the series differently. This can come off as a bit hypocrital, given Kuriboh's own heavy reliance on pop culture references.