History Main / SameStoryDifferentNames

* Creator/PGWodehouse admitted to this trope several times, at one point complaining that a reviewer had "called attention to the thing I try to hush up – viz., that I have only got one plot and produce it once a year with variations."

* In every main series ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' game there's this [[KidHero kid]] who just got his/her first Pokémon. He/She goes traveling around the world and [[ToBeAMaster eventually becomes Pokémon Champion]]. He/She somehow manages to get in issues with Team Rocket/Magma/Aqua/Galactic/Plasma/whatever and foil Giovanni/Archer/Maxie/Archie/[[spoiler:Cyrus]]/[[spoiler:N]]/[[spoiler:Ghetsis]]/whoever's evil plans.

* Series/{{Gotham}}: The plot between Gordon and Barbara is very similar to Thomas and Martha Wayne in ComicBook/{{Flashpoint}}.

** Snake wins the game against all odds, and manages to escape with his posse, who are all killed before he makes it out of the prison.
** Snake successfully rescues the VIP, only to double-cross the BigBad at the last moment via a StolenMacGuffinReveal.

** The plot of the Literature/MissMarple short story "The Blue Geranium" (1929) was reused in the Hercule Poirot short story "The Lernaean Hydra" (1939).

* Writer/director Kurt Wimmer admitted to rehashing many of the same concepts in ''Film/{{Ultraviolet}}'' from his previous film ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}''. Both are about a [[BoringInvincibleHero superhuman killing machine]] in a future {{dystopia}} who goes against a [[KnightTemplar quasi-religious]], fascist government that is built around fighting something (emotion/virus) that the hero possesses. The hero fights other superhuman enforcers in a number of [[CurbStompBattle Curb-Stomp Battles]] to reach the #2 man, who turns out to [[spoiler: A: have the same prohibited thing as the hero, B: be the real leader of the government, and C: be the toughest opponent of all.]]

* Creator/TylerPerry receives a lot of criticism for this -- just look at his page quote. His movies usually have a black woman in an abusive relationiship (or who was in one) who is a single mom. She will meet a nice working class man, and hate him at first because of that, but they will grow to like each other. Meanwhile, somebody will have a problem with their baby mama, somebody will be on drugs, Madea will discipline some children and there will be some incest involved. But at the end, there will be a church scene where everyone finds Jesus and all is well. His first movie, ''Film/DiaryOfAMadBlackWoman'', actually received decent reviews, but his later movies [[CriticalDissonance have been poorly received by critics but made quite a bit of money.]]

* Jack [=McDevitt=]: Some {{Adventurer Archaeologist}}s find a clue leading them to a lost location full of ancient knowledge. There's probably a government or corporation messing things up, whether [[ObstructiveBureaucrat unintentionally]] or [[CorruptCorporateExecutive malignantly]]. Someone WILL [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifice]] him or herself, either for their comrades or to protect the knowledge (sometimes this is by way of RedemptionEqualsDeath -- see the next item). There will be a FaceHeelTurn or a HeelFaceTurn. One or two couples will develop -- generally someone in one such will die, leaving their partner devastated. When they find the cache, some huge catastrophe will destroy all of what they find except when they can carry while running away, or they'll be an epoch too late. Either way, their discovery [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore changes everything]].

* Creator/CassandraClare. So far, both of her series have been about an ordinary teenage girl who learns she has [[SecretLegacy magical powers]] her conveniently absent parents hid from her. Unable to go home, she finds herself living at the local ExtranormalInstitute and gets into a [[BettyAndVeronica love triangle]] between a DeadpanSnarker and a NiceGuy. The villain, who has mysterious ties to her parentage, aims to TakeOverTheWorld with the help of her evil older brother. And most of the characters in ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'' are {{exp|y}}ies from ''Fanfic/TheDracoTrilogy'', her ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' fanfiction.

* ''Film/EscapeFromLA'' is an act-for-act rehash of its prequel, ''Film/EscapeFromNewYork''.
** Snake Plissken is arrested for past crimes and offered a choice between entering the isolated prison to rescue a VIP, or facing execution.
** Snake accepts the job and is given an ExactTimeToFailure in the form of an injection that will kill him if he doesn't complete his mission in time.
** Snake is provided a high-tech, stealth way to enter the prison, complete with fancy 3D rendered entry.

* Creator/JodiPicoult's books all have the same (general) formula after she wrote ''Literature/MySistersKeeper'', which was (and still is) her most successful book: People (usually centering on the woman) living a normal life (in some New England town), something big happens/happened to them (i.e. husband is cheating, child is arrested) and there ends up being a court case either involving family members (i.e a family member committed a crime) or involving family members suing each other. Usually the court case involves children or teens. Expect one child to be severely ill and wiser than their years. The parents will/already did forget about the other child, if there is one. It is often a TearJerker, but is successful because of that (the judge/jury feels sorry for the defendant). Usually there is a Shocking Swerve near the end, and somebody dies. Examples include: ''Literature/VanishingActs, House Rules, Literature/HandleWithCare'', and more.

* Creator/MercedesLackey has several series that are just the same story happening two or three times in a row. For instance, the Mage Storms trilogy.

-->--'''''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation''''' on ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite''

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', and (to a slightly lesser extent) ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel'' have extremely, extremely similar plots, events and setpieces, with only the names/justification changed (although the similarity between ''[=MGS1=]'' and ''[=MGS2=]'' is lampshaded/deconstructed by the story). ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' have suspiciously similar plots to each other as well, although it's not as clear as with the first four. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' had its own plot, and, coincidentally or otherwise, it's [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks more often than the others considered by fans to be really incoherent and bad]]; On the other hand, ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' had a mixture of plot points from all over the series wrapped in a revenge plot, and the story is considered by some fans to be lacking in narrative focus.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', and (to a slightly lesser extent) ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVGroundZeroes'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel'' have extremely, extremely similar plots, events and setpieces, with only the names/justification changed (although the similarity between ''[=MGS1=]'' and ''[=MGS2=]'' is lampshaded/deconstructed by the story). ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' have suspiciously similar plots to each other as well, although it's not as clear as with the first four. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' had its own plot, and, coincidentally or otherwise, it's [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks more often than the others considered by fans to be really incoherent and bad]]; On the other hand, VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain had a mixture of plot points from all over the series wrapped in a revenge plot, and the story is considered by some fans to be lacking in narrative focus.

* ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', and (to a slightly lesser extent) ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPortableOps'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel'' have extremely, extremely similar plots, events and setpieces, with only the names/justification changed (although the similarity between ''[=MGS1=]'' and ''[=MGS2=]'' is lampshaded/deconstructed by the story). ''VideoGame/MetalGear'', ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' and ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' have suspiciously similar plots to each other as well, although it's not as clear as with the first four. ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' had its own plot, and, coincidentally or otherwise, it's [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks more often than the others considered by fans to be really incoherent and bad]].

Compare SpiritualSuccessor, which is more angled toward sequels than rehashing. See also {{Expy}}, StrictlyFormula, RecycledPremise, and RecycledScript. Also see BetterByADifferentName and its more vitriolic sibling TheyCopiedItSoItSucks, both of which are about people thinking a creator has done this to someone else's work.

* The 1940 ''Literature/HoratioHornblower'' short story "Hornblower and the Hand of Destiny" reads like a prototype for Forester's later novel ''Lieutenant Hornblower''. Junior lieutenant Hornblower is faced with a tyrannical captain, a mutiny, a victorious action on a Spanish target which distracts from the mutinous atmosphere, and the captain being permanently incapacitated by one of his victims. In the short story, Captain Courtney is shot by abused seaman Fletcher; Hornblower is the only one to see and doesn't intervene, nor does he ever tell. He ends as the first lieutenant of the ship. The book expands on the abuses a captain could inflict unchecked and makes Captain Sawyer's incapacitating fall a mystery: pushed by abused Midshipman Wellard, Hornblower himself, or a real accident. Hornblower claims it's the last which he did not personally witness. The action is against a Spanish fort and the captain dies in a prisoner uprising. Hornblower ends the book with a promotion to commander[[note]]though it has to happen twice thanks to the Peace of Amiens[[/note]].

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* A lot of movies in the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon have direct-to-video sequels with storylines that boil down to rehashes of their predecessors.
[[/folder]]

* ''Anime/SummerWars'' is almost a ShotForShotRemake of ''Anime/DigimonAdventure: Our War Game'' at times, albeit with a lot of AdaptationExpansion. The two films were both directed by Mamoru Hosoda.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' is essentially ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' [[RecycledInSpace in Africa!]] Both games have glaringly similar plots, with the only difference being the setting and characters. In RE 4, Leon is ambushed at the start of the game and has to hold out until the church bell rings. In RE 5, Chris is ambushed at the start of the game, and has to hold out until the chopper arrives. The helicopter pilot, who is friendly with the protagonists, ends up dying when his copter explodes. The same enemies appear under different names. Leon is reunited with Ada, who is working for the enemy. Chris is reunited with Jill, who is working for the enemy, and the basic premise involves one man trying to spread the virus to the whole world by targeting impoverished, rural villages as guinea pigs for his experiment.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' is essentially ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' [[RecycledInSpace in Africa!]] Both games have glaringly similar plots, with the only difference being the setting and characters. In RE 4, Leon is ambushed at the start of the game and has to hold out until the church bell rings. In RE 5, Chris is ambushed at the start of the game, and has to hold out until the chopper arrives. The helicopter pilot, who is friendly with the protagonists, ends up dying when his copter explodes. The same enemies appear under different names. Leon is reunited with Ada, who is working for the enemy. Chris is reunited with Jill, who is working for the enemy, and the basic premise also involves one man trying to spread the virus to the whole world by targeting impoverished, foreign villages as guinea pigs for their experiment.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' is essentially ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' [[RecycledInSpace in Africa!]] Both games have glaringly similar plots, with the only difference being the setting and characters. In RE 4, Leon is ambushed at the start of the game and has to hold out until the church bell rings. In RE 5, Chris is ambushed at the start of the game, and has to hold out until the chopper arrives. The helicopter pilot, who is friendly with the protagonists, ends up dying when his copter explodes. The same enemies appear under different names. Leon is reunited with Ada, who is working for the enemy. Chris is reunited with Jill, who is working for the enemy, and the basic premise also involves one man trying to spread the virus to the whole world.

* Creator/RogerCorman's ''Film/TheLittleShopOfHorrors'' is essentially Corman's ''A Bucket of Blood'' for botanists instead of artists. It's also a case of Same ''Score'' Different Names; Corman commissioned the score for both movies, and a later movie, ''The Wasp Woman'', from the same guy. The composer, in the finest traditions of simply not caring, just handed over the score he wrote for ''A Bucket of Blood'' every time.

* Most of Brian Jacques' ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'' plots are ''very'' similar. Redwall's in trouble. A hero carries Martin's legendary sword and [[{{Badass}} kicks ass]]. FamilyUnfriendlyViolence occurs. [[SacrificialLion Someone important]] (or not important, but [[SacrificialLamb very kind or innocent]]) dies. More FamilyUnfriendlyViolence. The BigBad gets a daily dosage of LaserGuidedKarma and dies. Redwall is saved. The end. All interspersed with lots of FoodPorn.

* Creator/SarahDessen's books almost always follow this formula: The girl has an annoying, messed up family situation (usually moves a lot), girl doesn't know how to deal with it, girl meets boy, boy fixes everything in girl's hypothetical world, and then there's always that moment when Girl and Boy are going to have a falling out, but they'll be back together by the end. Only some of her earliest novels (''That Summer'', ''Someone Like You'', ''Dreamland'') don't follow this formula. Another novel, ''The Moon and More'', does change up this formula some ([[spoiler:in that the main character doesn't end up with either of her love interests]]), and promptly got flack from fans for mixing things up too much.

* Most of Creator/DavidEddings' work is like this, following a very clear HighFantasy outline with lots of Expys, LampshadeHanging, and snark (though he did tend to play around a bit with what personalities occupied what roles- in ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', for example, TheHero is a farmboy ChosenOne and the BigBad is a GodOfEvil in the traditional Satanic vein; in TheElenium, the roles are held by a KnightInSourArmor and an EldritchAbomination, respectively). There's a LampshadeHanging in The Mallorean (the sequel to ''Literature/TheBelgariad''), where the characters realise they're following ''the same prophecy again''.