Put some respect on the first Saints Row.
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00:00Now, as we've mentioned on a previous list, the success of a video game is destined to spawn a
00:04slew of imitators. Doom gave birth to an avalanche of first-person shooters. Every fighter in some
00:10part owes their existence to Street Fighter and Dark Souls, while that's responsible for
00:14a new genre of gaming which is just crying and rage quitting. And that's what we're here to
00:18talk about today. As I'm Jules, this is WhatCulture.com, and these are 10 more shameless video
00:23game ripoffs that were actually great. Number 10. Simpsons Hit and Run Grand Theft Auto 3
00:29Since The Simpsons is a Titan IP, it's no surprise that Matt Groening's cartoon has
00:34birthed a myriad of video games. But even when The Simpsons was in its prime, most of the games
00:38ranged from okay to utterly terrible. Simpsons wrestling, ooooh. Although it sounded odd to
00:45create a Simpsons title inspired by the hyper-violent Grand Theft Auto franchise,
00:49The Simpsons Hit and Run turned out bloody great. Like Ubisoft's South Park games,
00:54the creators worked directly with The Simpsons writers to ensure that Hit and Run invoked the
00:59spirit of the show. The town of Springfield is so vast and detailed that players feel
01:04like they're in a Simpsons episode. Of course, none of this would matter if the gameplay wasn't
01:08up to scratch. Though Radical Entertainment bungled the driving mechanics in The Simpsons
01:12Road Rage game, they worked out most of the bugs this time around. Although you still get odd
01:16glitching here and there, it's not enough to ruin the gaming experience. And if it does,
01:20we can always blame bloody Flanders. It may not give GTA a full run for its money,
01:24but Simpsons lovers were more than satisfied by what they got. Thanks to Hit and Run,
01:28fans of the iconic TV series can finally say that they have a Simpsons game that they truly love.
01:359. Guitar Hero, Guitar Freaks
01:38Rock Band got a bit of stick upon releasing for copying Guitar Hero, despite the fact that both
01:43series were actually made by the same company. Also, it's Guitar Hero that really should be
01:47labelled a riff-off, since it plagiarised Konami's Guitar Freaks, which was released
01:51six years earlier. Red Octane and Harmonix didn't just steal the concept, but actually specific
01:56aspects of the game, including the guitar-shaped controller, the coloured plastic buttons,
02:00the style point system, and the scrolling fretboard. However, it's understandable how
02:04Guitar Hero blew its predecessor out of the water. Harmonix's rhythm game put more focus on
02:09visuals, fine-tuned the mechanics to perfection, and made the core gameplay accessible to even
02:14the most tone-deaf of gamers. Most importantly, Guitar Hero had songs from the biggest rock fans
02:19in the world, giving it a huge amount of brand recognition. With gamers being able to play
02:23music from Metallica, Nirvana, Queen, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and many other rock legends in
02:27their own living room, it's easy to see why Guitar Hero went on to earn a monumental $2 billion.
02:33Props to Konami for coming up with the idea, but there's no question who did it better.
02:378. Diddy Kong Racing, Mario Kart
02:41Mario Kart's copycat started cropping up almost immediately after the Italian plumber took to
02:45the track. Over the years, companies have churned out their own imitators, including Crash Team
02:50Racing, Disney Speedstorm, and a gaggle of Sonic Racing titles. However, one of the best Mario
02:56Kart clones also happens to be amongst the earliest, Diddy Kong Racing. As can be expected
03:00from a rare title, this cutesy racer has creative levels, sharp controls, accessible gameplay, and
03:06catchy tunes. But Diddy Kong Racing is more than just a reskin. Rather than just driving karts,
03:11Diddy and his friends can take to the skies in planes, or zoom through the ocean in hovercrafts.
03:16Each vehicle works very differently, and gives the gameplay a great sense of diversity.
03:20Rather than collecting randomised items on each race, the power-ups are colour-coded,
03:24each offering a specific item, and repeatedly picking up the same power-up upgrades the item,
03:29forcing drivers to heavily rely on strategy in each race. Also, don't let the adorable
03:34aesthetic fool you, Diddy Kong Racing is tough as nails, offering a real challenge to anyone.
03:39Although the multiplayer pales in comparison to Mario Kart, the single-player is phenomenal.
03:44Due to the elaborate hub world, dozens of races, rock-hard boss battles, imaginative challenges,
03:49secret levels, and the Grand Prix mode, it's hard to think of many racing titles that put
03:54this much effort into their main campaign as this gem did.
03:587. Streets of Rage Final Fight
04:00At a glance, it's obvious that Sega used Capcom's Final Fight as a canvas for their own beat-em-up,
04:05Streets of Rage. Not only does S.O.R. have the same look, structure, and enemies,
04:10the protagonist's wardrobe is pretty much identical to Final Fight's Cody,
04:13down to the same bloody blue wristbands. But since Streets of Rage had more varied attacks,
04:17a balanced combat system, and Yuzo Kishiro's head-bopping soundtrack, Sega's brawler was
04:22clearly the superior of the two. Also, Streets of Rage's heroes can summon a rocket-launching
04:27cock to kill all enemies on screen. How is Final Fight meant to compete with that?
04:31And when Streets of Rage 2 was hailed as one of the best games on the Mega Drive,
04:34it wasn't long before Final Fight was perceived as the poor imitation.
04:38And Capcom kept pushing, churning out multiple sequels, but sadly,
04:41none of these follow-ups made much of an impact.
04:44And let's be honest, did you even know that Final Fight had sequels until now?
04:47And with the success of 2020's Streets of Rage 4, the series has continued to maintain relevancy,
04:52even after four decades. Final Fight, on the other hand,
04:55has become kind of a forgotten relic of the past.
04:586. Dino Crisis – Resident Evil
05:01I mean, can Dino Crisis be classified as a clone of Resident Evil,
05:05considering both properties were made by the same company and director?
05:08Well, since the Jurassic title is often dubbed Resident Evil with dinosaurs,
05:12calling it a rip-off is kind of understandable.
05:15Be that as it may, Dino Crisis is anything but a cheap doppelganger.
05:19Rather than dealing with plodding zombies, our red-headed heroine is up against lightning-fast
05:23velociraptors and screen-filling T-Rexes, forcing players to constantly think on their feet.
05:28And since ammo is incredibly limited, strategy is critical, forcing our heroine to stun or
05:33trap the primeval creatures, rather than blasting everything in sight.
05:37And rather than churning out more of the same, Dino Crisis 2 is far more action-oriented,
05:42and offers more diverse gameplay, including first-person boss battles
05:45and an elaborate underwater section.
05:47The gameplay of the sequel is more dynamic,
05:50since points are rewarded for killing enemies in rapid succession,
05:53and these points can then be used to buy and upgrade gear,
05:56and this concept was actually later implemented into Resident Evil itself.
05:59Dino Crisis 3, on the other hand, may be utter trash,
06:01but the first two instalments deserve far more credit than they've ever received.
06:065. Prodeus Doom
06:08After Doom redefined first-person shooters during the 1990s,
06:12many games in the genre were referred to as Doom clones.
06:15This is kind of unfair, since plenty of FPSs of that era stood on their own merits,
06:19including Quake and Duke Nukem. With that said, Prodeus is totally a Doom clone.
06:24Bouncing boxes shooter boasts the same structure, style,
06:27pixelated art, enemies, and weapons as Doom,
06:30to the point where this crowdfunded title feels kind of like a spin-off.
06:33Rather than trying to dress itself up as something different,
06:36Prodeus never shies away from where it drew its inspiration.
06:38However, Prodeus is an absolute triumph, boasting well-designed levels,
06:42addictive gameplay, challenging enemies, and creative trial modes.
06:46It also offers an easy-to-use level editor,
06:48allowing players to devise their own hellish landscapes from scratch.
06:52And as hard as it is to believe, Prodeus is actually superior to the original Doom in some ways.
06:57While getting lost as a regular problem in id Software's iconic IP,
07:01Prodeus solves that issue by programming demons to spawn near the next destination.
07:05If the player doesn't know where to go,
07:07they can follow the enemies like breadcrumbs in order to reach their goal.
07:10How come Doom has never thought of that?
07:12Also, the creators can be commended for making the 3D characters resemble
07:162D to maintain the feel of a retro shooter.
07:18Even though it would have been just dramatically easier to make 3D enemies look,
07:22well, 3D, the developers stuck to their guns.
07:24And that is proof that Prodeus isn't just an imitation, but a pure passion project.
07:294. Metal Slug Contra
07:31So Metal Slug is a run-and-gun side-scroller where players must blast through a wave of
07:35enemies and colossal bosses, using myriad creative weapons, explosives, and tank-like vehicles.
07:41Although the developers incorporated elements from their previous work Gunforce and In The Hunt,
07:45it's clear Metal Slug stole most of its ideas from Contra,
07:48and the sequels threw in alias just to make that comparison more apparent.
07:52However, there are enough differences in this bullet hell shooter to justify its existence.
07:56The beautiful hand-drawn animations are stellar, especially the creative death sequences.
08:01The three-button control system makes the gameplay accessible to anyone,
08:04and although Contra has baddies coming from all angles,
08:07it kind of feels tame compared to Metal Slug, with enemies pouring onto the screen every second.
08:11Rather than receiving heavy weapons at random intervals,
08:14the heroes are rewarded for rescuing prisoners, putting more focus on strategy.
08:18Since powerhouse weapons have limited ammo,
08:20this further incentivises players to rescue prisoners so they can maximise their arsenal.
08:25On top of that, Metal Slug is just downright hilarious.
08:27While shooting at mummies, robots, and giant enemy crabs,
08:30players are sure to be giggling to themselves due to the tongue-in-cheek humour.
08:343. Minecraft – Infiniminer
08:37So Minecraft has sold over 300 million copies,
08:40making it the most successful video game by a pretty significant margin,
08:44so it's safe to say that Mojang's blocky title has done pretty well for itself.
08:48And this is all the more impressive considering that Minecraft's premise
08:51was mined from another source. In Zach Bath's Infiniminer,
08:54players had to travel around a procedurally generated map to mine for materials.
08:58Despite coming up with the concept, Bath didn't see the project's potential.
09:02Though Infiniminer focuses on teams racing against each other to find precious material,
09:06players were far more interested in building elaborate structures with their findings.
09:10After Swedish programmer Markus Pearson played Infiniminer,
09:13he believed that the game would benefit if the building mechanics had more variation.
09:16Two years later, he created his own version of Infiniminer, which became Minecraft.
09:21Now there's no question the pixelated sandbox game is derivative,
09:24I mean it was literally built from the same art and code as Bath's work.
09:28However, this cube-oriented title was leagues ahead of the game,
09:31that it actually spawned from even in its original state.
09:34With Minecraft boasting more features than ever nowadays,
09:36it's clear why this is still going strong after a decade.
09:392. Saints Row Grand Theft Auto 3
09:42Now don't worry, Saints Row made it onto the list this time.
09:45Comparisons between Grand Theft Auto 3 and Volition's sandbox title were
09:49guaranteed since Saints Row copied pretty much everything from Rockstar's biggest IP.
09:54Even though the first two installments received decent reviews,
09:56it looked like Saints Row might struggle as a franchise,
09:59since it didn't do much to distinguish itself from GTA.
10:02Thankfully, that all changed with Saints Row 3. Hoping to carve out a distinctive
10:06identity for itself, the sequel's developers threw in over-the-top violence, cartoonish gameplay,
10:11slapstick humor, and wink-to-the-camera gags. Rather than taking place in a realistic setting,
10:16the later installments had the protagonist becoming President of the United States,
10:19journeying to Hell, and fighting off an alien empire.
10:22It may have started as a shameless rip-off,
10:24but Saints Row truly began to thrive when it moved out of GTA's shadow.
10:28Sure, Grand Theft Auto is still the top dog in the sandbox genre, but does it have a demonic
10:32dance number, shark guns, or wrestling legend Rowdy Roddy Piper re-enacting his iconic fight
10:37scene from They Live? No, and therefore I rest my case.
10:401. Castlevania Symphony of the Night – Metroid
10:44Now, Metroidvania is a sub-genre of platforming games that centre around non-linear exploration
10:49in an interconnected world. Although certain sections are initially inaccessible, they can
10:53be unlocked when key items are obtained. The term Metroidvania is an obvious portmanteau of
10:59Metroid and Castlevania, despite the fact these two franchises started off drastically different.
11:04Save for Castlevania 2, the vampire hunting saga was a pretty formulaic platformer for the first
11:08decade. For Castlevania Symphony of the Night, though, Konami decided to focus more on
11:12exploration, inspiring them to utilise the same non-linear structure that Metroid was renowned
11:17for. However, the developers went above and beyond to ensure that this PS1 title didn't
11:21come across as a mere imitation. Symphony implemented role-playing elements, including
11:26experience points, upgradable weapons, and stat boosting. It also put a huge emphasis on elaborate
11:31secrets, with the second half of the game sealed away until players actually figured out how to
11:35get to it. Although Symphony was well-received, nobody could grasp how significant this genre
11:39shift would be. Not only did future Castlevania instalments continue with this new style,
11:44it unintentionally popularised the Metroidvania genre. With the benefit of hindsight, Symphony
11:48has been lavished with further praise, since it indirectly led to the creation of many great
11:53Metroidvanias, including Ori, Bloodstained, Dead Cells, and Hollow Knight. Even though
11:58rip-offs are considered lazy, it's apparent that Symphony of the Night did something right,
12:02since it fittingly spawned its own legion of rip-offs.