History FollowTheLeader / Videogames

->''Well bugger my bumblebee's breadbin! First weeks of Twenty-Ten are going to be fun, aren't they? ''{{Darksiders}}'', ''{{Bayonetta}}'', ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', and ''GodOfWar III''... ''God of War'' clone, [[hottip:*:''God of War'' clone, - A case of DidNotDoResearch. {{Bayonetta}} is SpiritualSuccessor to he rectifies this]] ''God of War'' clone, and... Well, ''GodOfWar''.''

->''Well bugger my bumblebee's breadbin! First weeks of Twenty-Ten are going to be fun, aren't they? ''{{Darksiders}}'', ''{{Bayonetta}}'', ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', and ''GodOfWar III''... ''God of War'' clone, [[hottip:*:''God of War'' clone - A case of DidNotDoResearch. {{Bayonetta}} is SpiritualSuccessor to he rectifies this]], ''God of War'' clone, and... Well, ''GodOfWar''.''

->''Well bugger my bumblebee's breadbin! First weeks of Twenty-Ten are going to be fun, aren't they? ''{{Darksiders}}'', ''{{Bayonetta}}'', ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', and ''GodOfWar III''... ''God of War'' clone, ''God of War'' clone, ''God of War'' clone, and... Well, ''GodOfWar''.''

** And besides that, [=MoH=] is set in [[spoiler: the War on Terror, in Afghanistan]], while [=CoD=] 4 is set in Ultranationalist Russia.

* ''MiniRobotWars'' pretty much seems like a clone of ''PlantsVsZombies'', except that the game is in a horizontal view with platforms you have to place your units on.

* ''{{Pong}}'' ''Tennis'' and other clones were extremely common in the 1970s despite technology allowing to make different games. These came out with most of the first-generation video game consoles after the success of ''Pong'', which was released in 1972.

* Square's NES games ''3D World Runner'' and ''Rad Racer'' were clones/imitations of Sega's ''VideoGame/SpaceHarrier'' and ''OutRun'', respectively. The former also had the clones ''Rocket Ranger'' and ''Cosmic Epsilon'' (NoExportForYou). Square's still earlier ''[[VideoGame/KingsKnight King's Knight]]'' borrows a lot of elements from Konami's MSX game ''Knightmare''.

** In other {{Mon}} developments, the ''{{Pokemon}}'' games were the first series to achieve mainstream success with [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo splitting game content]] into two versions - which would be used by ''{{Bomberman}}'' and the ''MegaManBattleNetwork'' (and subsequently ''[[MegaManStarForce Star Force]]'') games.

** ''BioShock2''

* ''{{Contra}}'' imitations included Data East's ''Midnight Resistance'', SNK's ''Cyber Lip'', Treasure's ''GunstarHeroes'', and Irem's ''Gunforce'', which in turn was the spiritual precursor to ''MetalSlug''.

* ''KungFuMaster'' led to other single-plane {{Beat Em Up}}s starring {{Bruce Lee Clone}}s: ''Dragon Wang'' for the Sega SG-1000 and ''China Warrior'' for the TurboGrafx16.

** Bizarre aversion: ''SyphonFilter'' was widely derided prior to its release as a MGS clone and a blatant attempt to capitalize on its success...then turned out to be an ''entirely different'' type of game, being a action shooter with stealth elements not being a major part of most of the game.

** ''BattlefieldBadCompany 2'' and ''VideoGame/Battlefield3''

** ''BattlefieldBadCompany 2'' and ''VideoGame/BattlefieldThree''

* ''{{Pac-Man}}'' gave rise to such a wave of unauthorized clones that the arcade version of ''Ms. Pac-Man'' and the AppleII version of ''Pac-Man'' were originally developed as such. ''K.C. Munchkin'' for the {{Odyssey2}} was close enough to get sued, though it became something a bit different. ''Munch Man'' for the TI99 was almost too much like ''Pac-Man'' in its prototype version; the final release had a different maze and the superficial substitution of laying chains for eating dots. Some developers of dot-collecting {{Maze Game}}s were a bit more inventive, and ''Lady Bug'', ''Lock 'n' Chase'' and ''Mouse Trap'' were respectable enough games in their own right to see release on multiple platforms.

** The answer to that is probably "No" as ChampionsOnline's prices are already dropping and it's starting to be dumped into bargain bins.
** ChampionsOnline is now [[AllegedlyFreeGame free to play]].

* ''{{Pac-Man}}'' gave rise to such a wave of unauthorized clones that the arcade version of ''Ms. Pac-Man'' and the AppleII version of ''Pac-Man'' were originally developed as such. ''K.C. Munchkin'' for the {{Odyssey2}} was close enough to get sued, though it became something a bit different. Some developers of dot-collecting {{Maze Game}}s were a bit more inventive, and ''Lady Bug'', ''Lock 'n' Chase'' and ''Mouse Trap'' were respectable enough games in their own right to see release on multiple platforms.

* In the late 1970s to early 1980s, a large number of video game companies rushed to release their own ''SpaceInvaders''-like games. Some of these were hardly distinguishable from the original, e.g. Leijac's ''Space King'' and IPM's ''IPM Invader'' by two companies now better known as {{Konami}} and {{Irem}}, respectively. Of all the early imitators, [[NamcoBandai Namco]]'s ''{{Galaxian}}'' is probably the best remembered, while {{Nintendo}}'s ''Space Fever'' and {{Sega}}'s ''Invinco!'' may be regarded as mere footnotes to history.

* Square's NES games ''3D World Runner'' and ''Rad Racer'' were clones/imitations of Sega's ''SpaceHarrier'' and ''OutRun'', respectively. The former also had the clones ''Rocket Ranger'' and ''Cosmic Epsilon'' (NoExportForYou). Square's still earlier ''[[VideoGame/KingsKnight King's Knight]]'' borrows a lot of elements from Konami's MSX game ''Knightmare''.

* ''{{Pac-Man}}'' gave rise to such a wave of unauthorized clones that the arcade version of ''Ms. Pac-Man'' and the AppleII version of ''Pac-Man'' were originally developed as such. Some developers of dot-collecting {{Maze Game}}s were a bit more inventive, and ''Lady Bug'', ''Lock 'n' Chase'' and ''Mouse Trap'' were respectable enough games in their own right to see release on multiple platforms.

** Capcom actually sued Data East, the makers of the copycat ''Fighter's History''. Data East won on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scenes_a_faire scenes a faire]]: the copied elements were already commonplace in the genre.

** ''The Settlers'' (''{{Civilization}}'')

* ''ProfessorLayton'' seems to be inspiring a subgenre of "cinematic game with quaint anime cutscenes and gameplay divided up into small, brainteaser-based chunks." One follower, ''Zack And Ombras Amusment Park Of Illusions,'' took a more mini-game based approach. And one recently revealed DS title features similar puzzles and anime cutscenes, but with a more traditional GentlemanAdventurer (with a BadassMustache, though the top hat is still Layton-esque) and more ThickLineAnimation.

* ''NinjaGaiden''(NES) inspired ''Wrath of the Black Manta''(which also has elements of ''{{Shinobi}}''), ''Vice: Project Doom'', ''Shatterhand'', ''Shadow of the Ninja''(which ironically was [[DolledUpInstallment dolled up]] as ''Ninja Gaiden Shadow'' on the GB) et al.

* ''RollingThunder'' was imitated by ''E-SWAT Cyber Police'', the aforementioned ''{{Shinobi}}'', ''Crime City'', ''Rough Ranger'', ''Codename Viper'', etc.

* ''{{Cabal}}'', a third-person arcade shooter spawned many "Cabal clones", such as ''Blood Bros'' and ''WildGuns''. ''SinAndPunishment'' also used a similar format to Cabal.

* There is a natural law that goes something like this: "Given continued development and infinite time, all open-source [[FirstPersonShooter FPSes]] will eventually turn into ''CounterStrike''."

* {{Rare}}, in their SNES/N64 times, had great success imitating popular Nintendo series. DiddyKongRacing for example pretty much built on the success of VideoGame/MarioKart, but adding an adventure mode and more vehicles. Prior to that, DonkeyKongCountry was basically VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld [[RecycledINSPACE in the jungle]]. They eventually got tired of doing that, though, birthing ConkersBadFurDay, originally another cutesy platformer.