10 Controversial Clones That Challenged Gaming Originals

Introduction

A lot of video games use or adapt ideas from other games. It can lead to some great stuff, but sometimes a game can just blatantly rip something off and just feel like a lazy clone. We've seen it for as long as the video game industry has existed. There are a lot of examples out there, but today, we've narrowed it down to 10 egregious ones we wanted to chat about.

We've all seen it happen—games that look and feel remarkably similar to another, often raising eyebrows and sparking debates among players. While it's not uncommon for developers to draw inspiration from successful titles, there's a fine line between being inspired and outright copying. Today, we'll explore ten notable examples where that line may have been crossed, highlighting games accused of being too similar to their predecessors.

Number 10: Enchanted Portals

So, let's get started off with number 10. "Enchanted Portals" stands accused of ripping off "Cuphead." And I mean, look at it, it is straight-up "Cuphead." This is more recent. This is from 2003, and it actually has some defenders. Some people claim it's not really as bad as people are saying, but ultimately, people look at this and see it as a blatant rip-off of "Cuphead" and clearly took to Steam reviews to voice that opinion. This is the only game this studio has made, and clearly, they were heavily inspired by "Cuphead." And I think if you can say anything good about this game, other than it feeling and looking exactly the same, to like the little spinny, flippy jump animations to the way the characters fire the bullets, all of that just feels so strikingly too similar to "Cuphead."

But at the very least, they do have their own cool creative bosses. Yes, those bosses are absolutely almost in the same art style as "Cuphead." But "Cuphead" didn't invent that art style. There are some creative little bits here, like a boss that's kind of like a Beethoven character, an evil cow with a ray gun. Just cool, zany stuff. The problem is, is that it's clunkier and repetitive and just way less put together than something like "Cuphead." "Cuphead" oozes quality and precision and clearly took years and years to perfect. "Enchanted Portals" is way less precise. There's a little bit more latency to the jumping, the sound isn't quite as good, and all of it, just like I said, feels repetitive. And I think this is absolutely a shame because with how fantastic and unique "Cuphead" is, it should inspire cool other games like it, just maybe ones that don't feel as half-assed and quickly thrown together as much as this one.

Again, it does have some defenders, but reviews are really all over the place with this one. Still, with all that being said, I really hope that we do see more good games inspired by "Cuphead."

Number 9: Genshin Impact

Next over at number nine, we have "Genshin Impact." Now, hold your horses. Hold your pitchforks on this one, okay? This was just a very specific moment in gaming time. 

"Genshin Impact" is now huge. It is a billion-dollar franchise on both mobile and consoles. People absolutely are obsessed with it. But when this thing was first announced, it was quickly dismissed by a lot of the hardcore gaming community as a "Zelda: Breath of the Wild" ripoff. The initial looks at this game were big grassy planes, blue skies, and lots of game mechanics that just kind of felt similar to "The Breath of the Wild." 

The way the climbing worked, the way the stamina wheel looked almost exactly the same as "Breath of the Wild." It's kind of funny to look back at this discourse because the game managed to get so many fans and ultimately be pretty good that it washed away all this criticism. But at first glance, yes, "Genshin Impact" did just kind of look like "Breath of the Wild."

Thankfully, it has gone on to do so much more. It definitely moved past that. Even if there were some elements of it that did feel a little blatant, at this point, "Genshin Impact" is, like, a completely different thing. And as much as I'm not really like a mobile or gacha game person, I will admit this one did turn out to be fun.

This was an interesting one to kind of point out because it's not as black and white as the other examples on this list.

Number 8: The WarZZ

Next over number eight, we have "The WarZZ." Or the "The WarZ?" I don't know what they were going for here, but this one quickly faded from memory because this was trying to capitalize on the viral success of "DayZ."

"DayZ," Of course, the "Armor 3" mod, took the world by storm. Really pioneered a fun multiplayer gameplay style for PC gamers that ended up kind of kicking off and inspiring different subgenres beyond it. But "DayZ" also took a long time to get its shit together. It went massively viral, crazy, and popular, and then, for a long time, this thing was in the works.

So another studio jumped in to try to capitalize on that success, and this was "The WarZ." title very clearly trying to feel similar to "DayZ" where "The WarZ" doesn't even really, like, make sense as a title. It's just a bunch of things thrown together, and that was really the game. 

It looked and felt a lot like "DayZ." They were straight up doing it. But it released, and it was so rough. It was clearly rushed out to capitalize on the fervor behind "DayZ," where it clearly felt like a busted, broken, rushed beta. And to the point where it alienated and pissed so many people and customers off, Valve had to jump in because the game was completely broken and they ended up pulling it from Steam.

Now, apparently, this was made by some of the people behind "Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing," notoriously in video game history, one of the worst games of all time. So this all kind of makes sense when you think about it.

Number 7: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

Next, over at number seven, we have "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale." 

This is a silly one, but obviously, people compare this to "Super Smash Bros." and saying, "PlayStation took Nintendo's idea." Now, the platform fighter thing was really pioneered by "Super Smash Bros." You know, gathering all their IP, their characters. But so many other places have done it since that I don't really think it's that big of a deal anymore. 

But still, "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" was definitely really just "Super Smash Bros." with PlayStation characters. Nathan Drake, PaRappa the Rapper, Kratos, whoever you wanted, you could fight in PlayStation-themed arenas. 

And you know, it was kind of cool. It wasn't anywhere near as good as "Super Smash Bros." They tried to make it different and basically kind of ended up making a worse game. But it made some people happy. It made a lot of PlayStation fans happy. Believe it or not, Sony actually put "Super Smash Bros." as a search tag in their YouTube trailers for this game. So they knew what they were doing. They wanted "Super Smash Bros." for a PlayStation and damn it, they did it. That being said, as kind of interesting as it was and how it did have a fan base, it clearly didn't have the legs of something like "Super Smash Bros." and is now kind of just in the annals of video game history.

Number 6: Gleamlight

Next over at number six, we have "Gleamlight." Now, this 2019 game is famous (chuckles) notoriously for being blasted by players for being a ripoff of "Hollow Knight." Look at it on screen here, you could judge for yourself. 

But unfortunately, this game did not get good reviews. Nintendo Life, in particular, hated it and billed it as, and I quote, "an appallingly bad 'Hollow Knight' clone." Now, I liked "Hollow Knight's" spin on Metroidvania-style gameplay. I think other games could really run with that.

But, like, stylistically here, vibes, everything really just does feel a lot like "Hollow Knight." I think, if anything, I'm surprised we haven't seen more games like this just to fill the void and the wait for "Hollow Knight: Silksong." People are still waiting for that follow-up to "Hollow Knight." 

It's been years and years and years. I feel like I'm a different person from when that was announced to now. So, for "Gleamlight" being considered like a "Hollow Knight" ripoff, I'm actually just surprised we haven't gotten more.

Number 5: Saints Row

Next over at number five, we have "Saints Row." This one's really funny to look back at. The humble beginnings. This thing wasn't really a big deal, but of course, it was by many people, criticized for ripping off "Grand Theft Auto." "Grand Theft Auto" was absolutely huge at the time and some games tried to capitalize on that success and do open-world things.

But "Saints Row" was really just going for another open-world crime game thing, kind of reminiscent of like a "San Andreas." And some gaming fans were pissed at the time, and I remember gaming media trying to pit it as like "Grand Theft Auto" versus "Saints Row." I really think there's not a ton of comparison 'cause some people were just happy to get some other "GTA"-like game on their first next-gen consoles, like the Xbox 360, 'cause people were still waiting for "Grand Theft Auto IV."

So "Saints" Row was kind of a weird, different little thing. Now, you can say that the original "Saints Row" is a copy job in some ways, but it still had a lot of different elements in it that made it feel different. The world, the type of gangsters in it just kind of stood out from "Grand Theft Auto."

Then the second game really stood on its by focusing on, like, the character customization, a lot of the chaos, and the goofier, zanier antics. Very quickly, I think the series managed to stand apart from "Grand Theft Auto," and honestly, the whole "Saints Row I" versus "Grand Theft Auto," it's a rip-off thing, I don't really think it mattered too much.

It didn't matter to me then 'cause I just wanted something to play. But now, with the way the newer "Saints Row" games are, we don't even think about this. And unfortunately, "Saints Row" is no longer. That last game was like an attempted return to glory, but it wasn't very good, and the studio shut down. So I guess if you're doing versus thing, "Grand Theft Auto" won, but still, there are a lot of "Saints Row" fans out there.

Number 4: Palworld

Next, over at number four, we have "Palworld." This is an easy, more recent one. I don't think we need to re-litigate all of it, but Palworld has been claimed by many to be ripping off "Pokemon." I mean, the game is kind of like "Rust" survival game with the ability to catch Pokemon and use them. I mean, they're not called Pokemon, they're called Pals. But yeah, basically the same gist. You're throwing Poke Balls at things, you're catching them, you're leveling them up.

But there's a lot of interesting, and pretty compelling survival game elements attached to it. That being said, there was a lot of information thrown around in the early days of designs being strikingly similar to Pokemon designs. Accusations that artists were literally just tracing Pokemon characters and adding little different things to that. Some of that has been debunked. Obviously, some characters do feel heavily inspired by "Pokemon," but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it really mattered much. 

"Palworld" went on to be a big success. It is still a game in Early Access, so it's still being updated and changed to this day. I found the game to be quite a bit of fun. Yeah, if even if it was a little bit of a cheap kind of rough-around-the-edges "Pokemon" on thing, I didn't really care. I was having a good time. Nintendo responded to this, believe it or not, saying that they intended to investigate. But since then, nothing has really ever happened.

We may never know or hear about what happened internally, or it's gonna take years because lawyers, courts, investigations, all that stuff gets dragged out. Either way, "Palworld" has now become a success. So hopefully, they have the money to lawyer up against Nintendo's notoriously litigious history of how they handle things.

Number 3: Foamstars

Next, over at number three, we have "Foamstars." This is Square Enix's attempt at doing something like "Splatoon," except it's foam. And you're not squid people, you're just regular people. But gameplay-wise, it was going for that type of thing. You cover the area in your colored thing that helps you move faster. If enemies get stuck in that stuff, they move slower. You can quickly zip around in these different colors that you place down, slam dunk on your enemies, you know, that type of game mode type of thing. 

But I'd say "Foamstars" tried a little bit. It definitely had some unique elements and weird character types. The style was different. And the ability to use foam actually allowed you to stack up and build up foam so you can almost kind of build up like little "Fortnite" towers where you could change elevation and get up high and, you know, get a sort of vantage point. So I will say it is different, but seriously, they still just set out to do a "Splatoon"-type thing. They tried to do that, and they failed. It didn't seem like anybody was really interested in this one. Like I said, I actually gave it a shot. I found it to be kind of fun, but unfortunately pretty forgettable. 

And in this state of gaming, where there's just so many games begging for your time, you can't really go for a forgettable multiplayer game like this. Where they really lost me and where I did think it was a little bit like a "Splatoon" ripoff was when they said the characters in this game, where they have guns that shoot foam, apparently, canonically in the game's lore, these characters generate foam from their bodies, which is gross and weird and doesn't make sense and you didn't need to specify that.

Is it just because it had to be like the squid kids? Like, you had to have, like, ink? I don't know, this was just a puzzling choice from weird business people from the start.

Number 2: Final Combat

Now, coming down at number two, we have "Final Combat." This has been billed by some players kind of as a Chinese ripoff of "Team Fortress 2."

This is a brazen knockoff, though. I mean, look at it. It even has the "meet the classes"-style videos. Those videos, of course, are nowhere near as good as what we saw with, you know, the incredible animations and fun stuff from "Team Fortress 2." But I mean, look at the game here. From the maps sort of, but really the weapons, the way they look, the color of the characters' uniforms, they knew what they were doing here.

This was "Team Fortress 2," but with way less of the personality and just way more busted gameplay. This was from 2011, and ultimately, it seems like it didn't really go anywhere.

Number 1: The Great Giana Sisters

Now, down at number one, we have "The Great Giana Sisters." This is a classic. This is a legend, at this point, so spare me if you've heard this one.

But for video game history, we gotta talk about it. This is a blatant ripoff of the "Super Mario Bros." Like, straight up. Like, it's the girl version, with doing very, very little, the bare minimum to feel legally distinct and different from "Super Mario Bros." This was basically the "Super Mario" game for everything other than the NES.

It was for the Amiga, the Atari ST, the Commodore 64, the MSX. And it was very quickly taken off of store shelves because Nintendo did their thing. They were down with the lawyering up way back when in 1987. Having said that, people did play this. This is a known game. This isn't like an old little disappeared thing.

People played this weird busted game. This, like, clear "Mario" ripoff. From the way the levels are designed, it is literally almost exactly the same, but, like, with a color palette swap. The gameplay was just way less smooth. But, you know, the first level is the same, then you go underground. It's straight-up "Mario."

Some people dug it, and it still managed to get a sequel that kind of tried to stand out a little bit more. The original game is also still kind of famous for having some pretty decent music. But from the cover to the look of the levels, this thing is just hilariously bad. A blatant rip-off of "Mario."

I mean, the fact that they're doing sisters instead of brothers, the fact that they kind of have, like, an Italian name, Mario to Gianna, it's all just tacky, silly, and dumb. And that's the point of this video. Just some video game ripoffs that cause an uproar with either players or lawyers or companies.

Conclusion

Like I said, there are so many other games out there that we didn't have time to talk about today. So let us know in the comments what you think. Any examples you personally played? Maybe some ripoffs that you actually enjoyed more? Let's talk about any of this stuff down in the comments. If you like talking games with us every single day, clicking like button's all you gotta do.

It really helps us out. But as always, thanks for reading. We'll see you guys next time.