Suspiciously Similar Song / Video Games A-G

#-B

• In 100% Orange Juice!, Kyoko's theme is a straight-up remix of Children by Robert Miles.
• In keeping with its theme, 3D Dot Game Heroes has suspiciously similar versions of songs from Dragon Quest, The Legend of Zelda, and the early Final Fantasy games.
• 5★Wrestling has most of its roster (who are all Captain Ersatz of known wrestlers) use suspiciously similar versions of themes the wrestlers themselves used. Yes, this does mean that some of them are rip-off versions of rip-off songs - HarVee Dee's theme is derived from his WWF theme, which is derived from "Walk". Special consideration has to go to Andy Organ's theme, which is not only the only one with full lyrics, but a song as perfectly in the style of his theme "Voices" as it can be without being the same. As you can see in the linked video, the real Randy Orton's entrance video syncs up incredibly well.
• The "Space Elevator" theme from Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is suspiciously similar to Stranger Things theme. The game's main motif also sounds like "Hero Memories" by Epic Soul Factory.
• The "Mission Cleared" theme from the Shoot 'Em Up video game Acrobat Mission sounds similar to the Double Dragon theme.
• ActRaiser:
  • The first phrase of "Birth of the People" is similar to the Breton folk tune "Son ar chistr (Song of Cider)", while the rest of the tune is similar to the third movement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Harpsichord Concerto in D minor
  • "Sacrifices" resembles the beginning of Claude Debussy's ''Arabesque No. 1''.
  • The first part of the Pyramid theme sounds suspiciously like the Jawa Sandcrawler theme from Star Wars: A New Hope, and "The Great Tree" strikingly resembles "The Battle of Yavin"(especially the "X-Wings Draw Fire" part) from the same movie.
    • In turn, this music cue in Tomb Raider III's Nevada Desert stage is suspiciously similar to the second part of the Pyramid theme.
  • The first part of the ending music is based on the 20th Century Fox fanfare.
• Also on the subject of "The Heat Is On", the Dark Forest theme from Adventure Island sounds like a slow twisted version of the chorus.
• The independent Point And Click Adventure The Adventures of Fatman features suspiciously similar versions of both the 1960s Batman show theme, and the Danny Elfman movie theme.
• The main action theme in The Adventures of Rad Gravity sounds like that of Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Both also resemble "If I Only Had A Brain/Heart/The Nerve" and "The Merry Old Land of Oz" from The Wizard of Oz.
  • The boss theme sounds like a shorter, faster version of Tomaso Albinoni/Remo Giazotto's Adagio in G minor.
• The NES pirate of Aladdin (Virgin Games) uses suspiciously similar songs to "A Whole New World" and "Prince Ali", among others.
  • The Game Boy Color version of the Virgin Games Aladdin has an odd relationship with this trope. Certain songs from the movie and even original pieces from the source game were replaced with soundalikes, while others were left alone. This is particularly odd in the case of "Prince Ali", which was replaced with a sound-alike even though a few bars from it are still used as the "stage clear" theme.
• The main theme to the 16-bit Licensed Game (Amiga, SNES, and Genesis) of American Gladiators suspiciously sounds like Blondie's "Call Me" from American Gigolo.
• The "Beat it and Eat It" music in The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures is an 8-bit carbon copy of Culture Beat's "Mr. Vain".
  • The Assholevania theme seems to be a pastiche of "Bloody Tears" from the Castlevania series, Journey to Silius's Stage 3 BGM, and "Bad Apple!" from Touhou 4: Lotus Land Story.
  • Thy Farts Consumed's music is reminiscent of the Journey to Silius Stage 1 theme, complete with the Sunsoft bass.
  • "Happy Fun Candy Time" pastiches the chorus of Jessica Simpson's "A Public Affair" with the bassline and arpeggiated synths of "Ice Cap Zone" from Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
  • The first half of the boss theme is nearly identical to the intro of "Pokey Means Business" from EarthBound.
  • The main melody in "Dungeons and Dickholes" resembles "Frozen in Time" from Ys III: Wanderers from Ys. The rhythm and bass sections are similar to the Project Pitchfork song "Radical Business".
  • Laughin' Jokin' Numbnuts" sounds like a pastiche of Mega Man 2's Wily Stage 1 & 2 theme In the Style of DragonForce, incorporating elements of their signature song "Through The Fire and Flames".
  • "Blizzard of Balls" is a sped up version of the Christmas hymn "In Dulci Jubilo".
  • "Boo! Haunted House" interpolates a variation of the Halloween theme from 1:15 to 1:42.
  • The 8-bit guitar-style riff in Future Fuckballs 2010 is similar to Superbeast by Rob Zombie.
  • In the sequel, ASSimilation, the first half of "Security Breach" sounds like Heat Man's theme from Mega Man 2 mixed with "Ragescape" by Decoded Feedback.
  • The second part of "Naggi Sucks!" from the first game, and the first part of "Dookie Dookie Panic" from the second game, are both similar to Trans-X's "Living on Video".
  • "The Nerd Room", according to the composer, is based on a MIDI track allegedly submitted as the Overworld to Zelda's Adventure (there actually isn't an overworld theme) that happens to be Awesome Music in spite of this.
• In the Animaniacs game "The Great Edgar Hunt", the main Studio Lot theme is suspiciously similar to the Cartoon Show's theme tune. Seeing as this trope is a well known staple of the Animaniacs cartoons, it's kind of fitting that the Animaniacs theme itself got the same treatment. Many Animaniacs games feature knockoff songs to accompany their film parodies: between the SNES and Genesis games alone, there's two separate soundalikes of the Indiana Jones theme, one of Star Wars, one of ET The Extraterrestrial, one of Jaws, and so on.
  • The music played in the first section of the first level in the Genesis Animaniacs is, as mentioned above, obviously shooting for Indiana Jones, but also sounds almost exactly like the main theme of the ancient Namco arcade game Sky Kid.
• In Apidya, the theme for level 4-1 is more-or-less an instrumental version of "James Brown is Dead" by L.A. Style, to the point that it even uses the same samples.
• Arc the Lad:
  • The music during the introductory scene with Arc and his family in the first Arc the Lad sounds suspiciously similar to the first notes of "I Found Someone" by Cher.
  • Cheryl's theme in the third game, especially the "soft" version, sounds like "Never My Love" by The Association.
• The OST for Arknights Contingency Contract, Operation Barrenland by W&W, is similar to Astronomia, of Coffin Dance/Dancing Pallbearers fame. Here is an exact comparison.
• One of the shmup Armed Police Batrider's boss themes, "Let Ass Kick Together", has an opening riff like the main riff from Iron Maiden's "Powerslave", just in a different key and with a couple of notes different, although the rest of the theme is different.
• To complement the despair Armored Core V has in its atmosphere, it throws in a couple notes from The Ring of the Nibelung.
• The first part of the Remlia Castle theme from Astyanax sounds very similar to the intro riff of ABBA's "Gimme Gimme Gimme (A Man After Midnight)", while the third part sounds like Megagon's theme from Amagon, which shared both a designer and a composer with Astyanax.
  • The Redroad Forest theme is quite similar to the Attica theme from The Battle of Olympus.
• The Game Over theme from Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny resembles that from Final Fantasy V.
• In Axiom Verge, "Apocalypse" is similar to Berlin's "The Metro", as is the main theme's synth riff.
• In Awesome, an Amiga game developed by Reflections of Driver fame and published by Psygnosis of Lemmings fame, the A-section of the main theme sounds like the verses of "Man Made" by A Flock of Seagulls. The intro is also similar to Ozzy Osbourne's "Bark At The Moon".
• Backyard Skateboarding has a suspiciously similar version of the James Bond Theme.
  • Tony Delvecchio's theme from the same series might as well be "Greased Lightning".
  • The credits theme in Baseball is suspiciously similar to "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited.
  • In other installments in the series, Sidney and Ashley Webber's themes sound almost exactly like the "Notre Dame Victory March".
• Baldur's Gate: Michael Hoenig's composition "Attacked by Assassins" is almost identical to the main theme of Lifeforce (1985) by Henry Mancini that it's a surprise why no lawyers were involved.
• Banjo-Kazooie:
  • Gruntilda's Lair is a suspiciously similar version of "Teddy Bear's Picnic". It also became well associated with the character.
  • According to Grant Kirkhope, the original theme for Mumbo's Mountain (heard inside the termite mound) was influenced by "Baby Elephant Walk" from Hatari!.
  • The theme song for Click Clock Wood is largely based on Oh, You Beautiful Doll, a ragtime love song published in 1911 by Seymour Brown and Nat D. Ayer.
  • Mr. Vile's Game is based on a section of "Pirelli's Miracle Elixir" from Stephen Sondheim's "Sweeny Todd" ("trust Pirelli's Miracle Elixir - that's what did the trick sir - true, sir, true").
  • In Banjo-Tooie, the theme of the level Witchyworld bears some resemblance with House of the Rising Sun by the Animals (the beginning, anyway)
  • And in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts, the music when you first enter each of the new worlds is suspiciously similar to a television theme tune. (Nutty Acres is Dallas, for instance.)
  • Mumbo's Hut theme is reminiscent of Maxwell's Silver Hammer by the Beatles. Likewise, Brentilda's theme in the first game resembles When I'm 64.
  • The intro to the main theme from the original game sounds an awful lot like the theme to The Addams Family.
• One of the songs from the Commodore version of Bard's Tale 3: Thief of Fate sounds awfully familiar; it's almost as if your party should not fear being mashed into a pulp, or having their eyes gouged out, or their elbows broken...
• Sunsoft's Batman: Return of the Joker does this twice with music from Mega Man 2. In the NES version, the boss battle theme sounds like a faster version of Crash Man's stage. In the Game Boy version, the title screen sounds very similar to the Stage Select theme.
• The Battlefield theme song (especially the Battlefield 3 and Battlefield 4 versions) sounds similar to the Terminator theme.
• beatmania IIDX 11 has a track called D.A.N.C.E that bears a, uh, slight resemblance to m-flo's The Love Bug.
  • The DJMAX series has Cypher Gate, Fan Nicknamed "Korean Solid State Squad" due to the striking resemblances in their intros.
• Blade & Soul features a track called "The Black Rose Witch" which sounds similar to a track in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance such as Rules of Nature or I'm My Own Master Now. The fact that Jamie Christopherson composed both tracks may have something to do with it.
• In Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, the "Mission Music #6" tune feels kind of like a similar mix between Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" and the Get Smart theme tune. It should come as no shock who did the music for this one.
• Blast Corps: Almost every song in this game is based off a real song, and one completely rips off Front Line Assembly's Circuitry. I'm surprised they never sued Rare.
  • Also compare the theme for Jade Plateau with Donkey Kong Land's boss theme.
• The Stage 5 theme from Blaster Master is suspiciously similar to Bomb Man's theme from Mega Man, and one of the guys at Overclocked Remix did a mash-up remix of the two.
  • The Stage 3 music sounds similar to the main theme from Terra Cresta.
  • The main phrase of the Stage 2 theme sounds like the chorus of "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)" by Glass Tiger.
  • Same company example: Stage 7 of Blaster Master and Stage 4 of Journey to Silius. Also similar to the former is "Crazy Call at Cry"(Port Town) from F-Zero X.
• BlazBlue's Bang Shishigami's theme "Reppu" sounds like the Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann intro "Sorairo Days".
  • Meanwhile, Nu-13's theme, Awakening the Chaos, sounds like an extended remix of the Star Trek theme. And it is awesome.
  • Compare Tager's theme, Motor Head, to Straight to Hell by Rage. Considering that the Rage song "Black In Mind" was referenced in Guilty Gear, this may well be intentional.
  • The ending theme of BB Continuum Shift Extend Spiral: Blue-bloom sounds a lot like Puella Magi Madoka Magica's ED theme Magia
• The soundtrack for the boss Living Failures from Bloodborne sounds a lot like Gustav Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War".
• The intro and Game Over music in the obscure DOS game Blinky 3 sounds very similar to the Depeche Mode song "Behind the Wheel", right down to using the similar riff.
• Boktai uses the whistle from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, more frequently than you could imagine them getting away with.
• The Handsome Sorceror track from Borderlands 2 sounds very similar to the Great Pyramid theme from Serious Sam: The First Encounter, if the latter had a budget.
• Bomberman GB is a Raiders of the Lost Parody focusing on Bomberman's Adventure Archaeologist "ancestor" Indy Bomber. Unsurprisingly, the title and ending themes are rather similar to the Raiders March.
• A Boy and His Blob for NES opens with Suspiciously Similar Songs to both the theme music and the logo of Raiders of the Lost Ark. However, this was clearly meant as either a parody or a Shout-Out.
• The introductory backstory sequence of Video Game/Brandish for SNES and Turbo CD used a piece similar to the second movement (Adagio) of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez, to the point where the North American version of the former used completely different music, its composer unknown.
• The title theme of Bungo to Alchemist has a melody that sounds similar to "The Merry-Go-Round of Life".
• "Stage 1/5" from Burai Fighter and "Faraway (Stage 1 & 2)" from Lightning Fighters.
• SNK's Burning Fight contains a track which is virtually identical to Booker T & The MGs's "Green Onions".
• In Bust a Groove (Bust-A-Move in Japan), Strike's theme "Power" contains a recurring sample of Michael Jackson's "Bad" and a similar back beat, to the point where its title is often mixed up with the title of Heat's theme— which is actually called "2 Bad", though it's (ironically) an entirely different song with no similarity to be found.

C

• California Speed
  • The Silicon Valley theme in the arcade version sounds like a thematic pastiche of KMFDM's "Juke Joint Jezebel" and Gearwhore's "Accelerator".
  • The chorus section of the Santa Cruz BGM sounds very much like that of George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set On You".
  • The orchestra hit riff in the Laguna Seca theme is a near-direct rip from 2 Unlimited's "Twilight Zone".
  • Highway 1 is suspiciously similar to Livin' Joy's "Dreamer".
• In Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the track Pakistan Run resembles Navras by Juno Reactor.
• In Captain Silver, the Pied Piper's theme sounds like a circus version of Edvard Grieg's "In The Hall of the Mountain King".
• Compare the title/menu music of Castle Crashers with the Homestuck song "Doctor" as well as its variants.
• The lab theme from Cave Story sounds a lot like "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers, which is all but likely to be coincidental given the game was released mere months after the album "Hot Fuss".
  • "Quiet", the Nightmare Fuel music that plays when the player returns to Mimiga Village to find it a Ghost Town, is reminiscent of "Itsuwari No Ending" from Bubble Bobble i.e. the Downer Ending music when you beat the game with only one player.
• In Celeste:
  • The piano section of "Quiet and Falling" sounds like the save room theme from Resident Evil.
  • The first part of "In the Mirror" was admittedly inspired by the Blade Runner soundtrack, particularly the intro and end titles.
  • The cue for the 2500m section of Chapter 7 is blatantly similar to Hollow Knight's Forgotten Crossroads theme.
  • "Joy of Remembrance" from the Farewell DLC is suspiciously similar to "Singing Mountain" from Chrono Trigger.
• Child of Light:
  • Aurora's theme sounds like a Playing the Heart Strings rendition of Los Kjarkas's "Llorando se fue"(AKA the Lambada song) with a touch of the Fallout 3 theme.
  • "Serpent Boss" sounds like an Ominous Latin Chanting take on "The Mob Song" from Beauty and the Beast.
  • The first half of "Sword of Mars (Battle Theme 3)" sounds like the riff from Europe's aforementioned "The Final Countdown".
• The theme of the Ed, Edd n Eddy web game Clash of the Idiots is essentially an exact copy of Survivor's Eye of the Tiger, but with changed chords.
• Clock Tower:
  • "Looking For Mary" from Clock Tower: The First Fear sounds like a cross between the Halloween theme and "Tubular Bells" from The Exorcist.
    • It also sounds a bit like Depeche Mode's "Black Celebration."
• In Codename Viper:
  • The password theme sounds like the China theme from Strider (NES), also by Capcom, though the composers were different.
  • Part of the Area 1 & 2 BGM is suspiciously similar to the "Level Start" jingle from Rolling Thunder, which Codename Viper is a clone of.
• In Combat Cars, the Character Select and Downtown themes are suspiciously similar songs to Haddaway's "What is Love?" and 2 Unlimited's "Tribal Dance", respectively.
• For Command & Conquer, Act On Instinct is generally considered to be the de facto theme music. Once the chiming synth kicks in, it begins to sound a great deal like the Tenchi Muyo! OVA theme.
• The main menu theme of Conan Exiles is very similar to "Anvil of Crom" from Conan the Barbarian (1982).
• Conker's Bad Fur Day:
  • The first boss' (a robotic hay sheaf) theme sounds very close to the Terminator's theme. This is probably an intentional homage; the Haybot even has a German accent.
  • The Surf Punks song uses samples that sound an awful lot like Eddy Gordo and Jin Kazama's arcade themes.
• Cool Spot: The pool level resembled, but was not quite, Fats Domino's "Walkin' to New Orleans," while the train level used a song that was just a few notes away from The Magnificent Seven theme.
• Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure had a song that was "Tush" by ZZ Top to a tee. The folks at Apogee were pretty blatant about this one. How blatant? The filename in the game data is "MZZTOP.IMF". The same game also features a bluegrass tune that's supiciously similar to Foggy Mountain Breakdown.
• Crash Bandicoot: The Wrath of Cortex's fourth boss theme is reminiscient of In the Hall of the Mountain King.
  • Droid Void's music heavily references the theme from The X-Files.
• One of the tracks in Crash Tag Team Racing also features a section which closely resembles "Raider's March" from the Indiana Jones film series.
• "Crashday" by Pencilcase from the racing game Crashday is strangely similar to the theme from "Stunts", to which Crashday is something of a Spiritual Successor. According to the band, the similarity is accidental.
• Crimzon Clover World Ignition:
  • "Embraced Sunset" (UL Stage 2) is rather similar to "Be Careful" from Ys III: Wanderers from Ys/The Oath in Felghana
  • Likewise, the main riff in "Hecatoncheir" highly resembles the Ys II boss theme "Protectors".
  • "Transparent Stream" is this to "Slaughter Hour" from RayStorm.
• The first two thirds of the town theme in Crystalis sound like The Sherman Brothers' "It's a Small World", while the last third resembles the Dragon Quest theme. The title screen theme also resembles "Hooray for Hollywood".
• The theme, an alternate version of Judy's theme, Bells of Laguna Bend, that plays during Judy's romance encounter in Cyberpunk 2077 has a similar feel (drum beat, tempo, repetitive ostinato, vocals) to Teardrop by Massive Attack, probably one of the reasons why that version isn't in the soundtrack album, as Massive Attack are known to be quite stubborn when it comes to their music being used in other media.
• "Les Parfums De L'Amour" from Cytus sounds a lot like "Miracle Paint" by Vocaloid composer OSTER Project. Especially the chorus.

D

• In Police Quest 4: Open Season:
  • A Suspiciously Similar Song to "Can't Turn You Lose" by The Blues Brothers can sometimes be heard in Ragin' Records at Hollywood & Vine.
  • The main Hollywood & Vine BGM (5:09) resembles "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder.
  • The protagonist's headquarters being Parker Center, it also featured a near note-for-note ripoff of the Dragnet theme, another variation of which was used as the theme for Police Quest 1: In Pursuit of the Death Angel.
• In Deadly Premonition, and in keeping with its main inspiration source, Twin Peaks, the Greenvale theme sounds distinctly like Laura Palmer's theme, with a bit of the Twin Peaks main theme mixed in.
• Most if not all of the music in Dangun Feveron are suspiciously similar to Saturday Night Fever music; for instance, 2 stage themes are more than a little similar to "Stayin' Alive" and "Night Fever".
• The beginning part of the Dark Souls III final boss theme, "Soul of Cinder", is nearly identical to the beginning part of the final boss theme of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, ""Great Power". Considering how vastly different the two games are, and how both songs differ after the beginning section, it's likely completely coincidental.
• In Deltarune, "A Cyber's World?" is very similar to "Unity" by TheFatRat; given how Shout-Out heavy Toby Fox's work is, it is likely intentional. Here is a mashup of the two tracks for comparison.
  • Some have pointed out that "My Castle Town" is awfully close to "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" from Neon Genesis Evangelion. A SiIvaGunner rip was inevitable.
  • Furthermore, "Field of Hopes and Dreams" sounds vaguely similar to "The Chamber" by Lenny Kravitz, or "DARE" by Gorillaz.
• A musical cue from Demon Attack for the Intellivision sounds suspiciously like Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance". Lampshaded in Classic Game Room when host Mark Bussler declares "I graduated...to the next level!"
• Compare: Requiem from Castlevania: Rondo of Blood and Prayer from Castlevania: Symphony of the Night with Divinity Statue from Devil May Cry 4.
• Descent series:
  • The Venus Nickel-Iron Mine theme is suspiciously similar to "Cosmic Cars" by the '80s techno group Cybotron.
  • The Mars Military Dig BGM resembles Kraftwerk's early song "Ruckzuck".
  • The first part of the Io Sulfur Mine BGM from the first game sounds like a sped up version of Nine Inch Nails' "Head Like A Hole".
  • The part right after the intro of the music in level 8 in the first game bears a striking resemblance to the intro of "Ethno Papa" (ETHNO_PA.MID), a MIDI file included with some Roland sound cards and perhaps more well known through its use in DX-Ball.
  • The Level 2 MIDI music from Descent 2 sounds like a techno-industrial version of the main theme from "Mars, The Bringer of War" by Gustav Holst, with a slightly different rhythm.
  • "Are You Descent?" from D2's CD soundtrack sounds like a faster version of "Pokey Means Business" from EarthBound.
• The NES version of Déjà Vu (1985) plays a rendition of Alfie's theme by Sonny Rollins, tweaked slightly to include a Musical Nod to the flute's melody from Shadowgate.
• The obscure Shoot 'Em Up SNES game D-Force has a theme music that sounds similar to the "Flying Theme" from E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
• Stephen Root's soundtrack in Die Hard Trilogy, whilst mostly original, has a few similarities to other songs:
  • The "Central Park" theme has a similar rhythm to "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.
  • The "Wall Street" music is similar to Duran Duran's "A View to A Kill".
  • A bit of a very obscure similarity, but the "Construction" theme (also the game selection theme) can be similar to one of the action themes from LA Heat.
• In Die Hard Trilogy 2: Viva Las Vegas, soundtracked by BT:
  • "Prison Break" (no relation to the TV series) resembles Transa's "Interphase"
  • The "Desert Gunfight" music is similar to "Atomic Age" by Dynamix II.
  • "Desert Bunker" is a soundalike of Junkie XL's "Def Beat", which BT's "Mad Skillz" (and by extension, the Hoover Dam light gun stage theme) also resembles.
  • "Kill Reese" sounds like a faster version of "Rabbitweed" by BT's then-partner-in-crime Sasha.
• The first part of Agumon's theme in Digimon Battle Spirit is nearly identical to the opening melody of "Rasputin" by Boney M..
• Unlicensed Sega Master System game The Dinosaur Dooley, released in the early 90's, had some blatant ripoffs of popular songs of the time - for instance the title screen music is based on the intro to Nirvana''s "Smells Like Teen Spirit", while the third level's music is clearly "Two Princes" by The Spin Doctors.
• Discworld: The short piece which plays when the Assassin is jumping across the rooftops, which doesn't even try to hide what it's Suspiciously Similar to — it's called "Assassination: Impossible".
• The BGM to Disney's Magical Quest's first stage, Tree Tops, sounds like the Throne Room (victory ceremony) music from Star Wars: A New Hope.
• In the Gameboy Color game Diva Starz, one of the selectable pieces of runway music bears an unlikely resemblance to "Lux Aeterna" from Requiem for a Dream. The song is a frequent target of suspiciously similar versions in general, but hearing it play as a Bratz expy walks a blue bunny down the catwalk is just bizarre.
• Doki Doki Literature Club!: The first few bars of the ending theme, "Your Reality", sound an awful lot like the first few bars of "The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News.
• Doom:
  • Parts of the first two games' soundtracks were suspiciously similar to metal songs, but executed in such a fashion that few people really noticed. See these pages for some comparisons.
  • Coincidentally, the open-source project Freedoom contains Suspiciously Simlar Songs to Doom music, making it somewhat Meta.
  • The music track for the Doom II level "Barrels o' Fun", entitled "Bye Bye American Pie" (no relation to that song, incidentally), is by far the most egregious example of this trope in the game. It is literally just a few minor variations away from being a note-for-note MIDI transcription of Alice in Chains' "Them Bones", minus the vocal melody, and about half as long. It's essentially a karaoke version. Here, listen for yourself.
  • Doom's music for the second episode's second level, "The Demons from Adrian's Pen", is suspiciously similar to Wolfenstein 3-D's "Into the Dungeons", from the secret levels of that game's second and fifth episodes. A case of Self-Plagiarism.
  • Oddly enough, a number of the songs from Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power that didn't get lifted for Doom were reinterpreted on the Quake II soundtrack, though it wasn't Bobby Prince in that case.
  • "At Doom's Gate" from the first game seems to take influence, of all songs; Maria Magdalena by Sandra. It also has a similar guitar riff to, fittingly, "This is Doom" by Russian metal group Aria. It also shares some similarities with "Blood and Fame" from the Demons 2 soundtrack.
  • The music for the "Hell Arena of Death" level in the Joey's Challenge Pack WAD sounds like a three-way crossover between the Skate or Die title theme, "The Strongest Foe" from Wanderers from Ys, and the battle themes from Golden Sun: Dark Dawn.
• Compare the Doom³ title theme and "Lone Wolf" from Halo: Reach. Reach's is basically an orchestral version.
  • Ghosts and Glass is strikingly similar to Fairytale from Shrek, which itself was a suspiciously similar version of Nocturne by Secret Garden. Also resembles "Sorrowful Goodbye" from Ōkami.
  • Ashes sounds similar to the title song from The World Is Not Enough.
  • The "Noble Mission" movement of Winter Contingency and the "Unreconciled" movement of Tip of the Spear are similar to the Hyrule Castle theme from the Zelda series.
  • There are parts of "Winter Contingency" that sound exactly like Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir".
• The vocal melody in "Sweet Outbreak" from Dote Up a Cat is reminiscent of The Chi-Lites' "Have You Seen Her". The B-section is also ripped from the b-section of "Komm, Susser Tod" from The End of Evangelion.
• The Heliport theme in Double Dragon II: The Revenge sounds very similar to the Phil Collins song "Easy Lover" (Which fits perfectly, since the video features Collins taking a tour around central London in, yep, a helicopter), as well as Dire Straits' "Money For Nothing". "Escape to the Forest" sounds similar to "Sussudio", another Phil Collins song, which itself was a suspiciously similar song of Prince's "1999".
  • Machine Gun Willy's DD II battle theme(used for the giant tractor/tank battle in the NES version) sounds like a faster version of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean".
  • The Final Boss theme of the arcade version sounds like a darker rendition of Jean-Michel Jarre's Oxygène Part 1.
  • The credits music suspiciously resembles Feena's theme from the Ys series.
• Regarding the Double Dragon franchise, Cheng-Fu's theme, "Suihassenken" in the Beat 'em Up game for Neo Geo sounds almost the same, especially at the beginning of the theme, to Jackie Chan's song Jui Kuen, which was used in Drunken Master. Considering Cheng-Fu himself is heavily inspired in Chan and he also use Drunken-style Kung-fu, this is very likely intentional.
• Double Dragon Neon:
  • The synth hook during the verse of "Neon Jungle" resembles that of Prince's aforementioned "When Doves Cry", while the chorus echoes Olivia Newton-John's "Physical".
  • The first part of "Pick Yourself Up and Dance" is obviously ripped from Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'". Composer Jake Kaufman says it was inspired by both Michael and Janet Jackson, but he couldn't find a similar enough sounding vocalist, so he left it an instrumental.
  • The refrain of the ending credits theme, "Dared to Dream", is similar to "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Dare to Be Stupid", which itself was a style parody of Devo. The bridge section references Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".
  • The Final Boss arrangement of Skullmageddon's theme resembles the final boss theme from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time.
    • Skullmageddon's first battle theme (and by extension the Mission 3-3 BGM from Double Dragon 1) resembles "Holders of Power" from Ys.
  • The piano in "Ghost Forest" is similar to the Halloween theme.
  • The boss theme for Marian II, a Man-Eating Plant based on Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, sounds like the Stage 1 theme of Double Dragon's spiritual antecedent Renegade, rendered In the Style of the musical's soundtrack.
  • "Glad I Am" sounds like Glenn Frey's "The Heat is On", but faster, also borrowing elements of Deep Purple's "Highway Star".
  • The Shop theme resembles "Theme of Eastern Story" from the Touhou Project series.
  • "Final Palace" sounds like the Charlie's Angels theme mixed with the Enter the Dragon theme.
  • Most of the Mixtapes are soundalikes of popular songs:
    • Absorb = Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer"
    • Bomb Toss = Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up"
    • Desperation = Depeche Mode's "World In My Eyes"
    • Healing Touch = Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing"
    • Lightning = Metallica's "Ride The Lightning"
    • One Inch Punch = Beastie Boys' "Sabotage"
    • Sine Knife Swarm = Cybotron's "Clear"
    • Spin Kick = Johnny Kemp's "Just Got Paid"
    • Weapon Up = N.W.A's "Fuck The Police"
• In Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, the music in Stages 9-12 is an obvious ripoff of Kraftwerk's "Home Computer".
• Dragon Age: Inquisition "The Dawn Will Come" sounds suspiciously like "The Edge of Night/Pippin's Song" from Return Of The King, especially as sung in the film version. And its "battle" arrangement sounds very similar to the Game of Thrones opening theme.
• Dragon Ball Z: Budokai:
  • Many of Kenji Yamamoto's works sound eerily similar to songs by Finnish power metal band Stratovarius. The most obvious examples are "Challengers" and "Warrior from an Unknown Land" compared to Stratovarius' "Hunting High and Low" and "Infinity" respectively, whereas "Move Forward Fearlessly" liberally uses the opening guitar riff of "Glory of the World." ^note Doesn't make Budokai's soundtrack any less awesome, though. In fact, years after the Budokai games were released, Yamamoto was fired because Toei found out about his plagiarism. The HD collection of the Budokai games used a completely different soundtrack ^note or, to be more accurate, a mish-mash of the soundtracks from Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and 3, Raging Blast, Tenkaichi Tag Team and Ultimate Tenkaichi as a result.
  • While there is still a clear rock influence in the Budokai 3 soundtrack ^{(For example...)}The opening to "Over the Galaxy" was lifted from Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting" whereas "Embrace the Blue Sky" is "Be Good to Yourself" by Journey, Yamamoto also branched out a bit more into disco and R&B: the Duel Mode character select theme is "Upside Down" by Diana Ross, the Level Up/Status Screen theme is "Everybody Dance" by Chic, and "An Old Friend" is "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire. (One fan even made some mash-ups of the latter two examples in light of the above controversy.) The common consensus is that, even if Yamamoto stole a lot of songs when composing the OSTs, he had undeniably good taste in music.
• The chorus of "Fight it Out" from Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit sounds oddly similar to the chorus of "God Knows" from Haruhi Suzumiya.
  • It's no surprise that these tracks were composed by Kenji Yamamoto, who was fired after it was discovered that many of his compositions for both the video games and Dragon Ball Z Kai were plagiarized from a variety of external sources.
• In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, one of the combat tracks liberally uses the chorus music from Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People". The best place to hear it is in the GT DLC, in the Parallel Quest where you fight a bunch of Oozaru (Nappa, Vegeta, Baby and Bardock).
• Driver:
  • The B-section of "Chicago at Day" from Driver 2 sounds like "London's Burning" by The Clash.
  • In the first game, "Los Angeles at Night" is similar to The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", and "New York at Night" sounds strikingly like Fatboy Slim's "Praise You".
  • Roller Coaster Tycoon 1 and 2 has it's Rock Style 1 theme nearly identical to Driver 1 San Francisco Night. Justified because Allister Brimble composed for these games. (1998 Driver, 1999-2000 Roller Coaster Tycoon and 2001 Roller Coaster Tycoon 2)
  • Driver: San Francisco is a big pile of movie references already, but the "Movie Challenges" take the cake: They directly parody certain movies or even certain movie scenes down to matching music. Now, while the Driver series has always had real city names, and Driver: San Francisco introduced real, licensed vehicles, the songs are only "close enough" to the corresponding movie songs. Interestingly, the rivaling Grand Theft Auto series has it exactly the other way around: The cities are "close enough", the cars are only reminiscent of real-life vehicles, but starting with the Scarface (1983) soundtrack in Grand Theft Auto III and including the entire in-game soundtrack from Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the music is licensed.
• The beginning of the title theme to Duet AKA Commando '86 is a near-verbatim ripoff of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.
• The music for the first level of Duke Nukem II ("He's Back") was pretty much a slightly reworked version of Megadeth's "Angry Again". A later level track, "Squeaking By", was a similarly-made cover of "Skin'O My Teeth".
• Duke Nukem 3D:
  • Atomic Edition's E4M1 theme, Missing? Impossible! is suspiciously similar to the Mission: Impossible theme.
  • There's also "In Hiding", the E3M1 theme, which sounds similar to the closing credits music from Blade Runner. Bobby Prince was involved in the soundtrack production of Duke 3D (see the Doom entry below) so it's not surprising at all that there's suspiciously similar songs here too.
• One of the songs in the second The Dukes of Hazzard PlayStation game is an instrumental version of "I Fought The Law".
• The Pocket Dimension music from Dungeons of Dredmor bears an extreme resemblance to the End of Time music from Chrono Trigger.

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• Earthworm Jim 2's subterranean level music, "Lorenzo's Soil" sounds very similar to Enigma's "Sadeness - Part i"
• The Stage 1 BGM of EDF: Earth Defense Force is similar to the Brinstar theme from Metroid.
• The orchestra hit riff of "Shudder" from Einhänder sounds like the Mortal Kombat 3 title theme, and two other parts of the song resemble "Campanile of Lane" from Ys II, which also got ripped off in Bass's theme from Mega Man 7, and itself resembles the second Wily Tower theme from Mega Man.
• Malenia's Phase 2 theme in Elden Ring obviously gleans from the "Lacrimosa" movement of Mozart's Requiem.
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim:
• * The main theme, "Dragonborn", is quite similar to the Pirates of the Caribbean theme, "He's a Pirate".
  • "Watch the Skies" is close to being a cover version of "The Warrior Princess" from Xena.
• ESWAT for the Genesis: the opening music sounds almost identical to the beginning of Gary Numan's I Die: You Die.
• Etrian Odyssey:
  • The guild hall theme in the first game resembles the opening music of Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
  • The Petal Bridge theme in Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard and its remake contains a segment that resembles the French song "Alouette".
  • Etrian Odyssey III: The Drowned City
    • The boss theme Their Own Brand of Justice has a lot in common with Far Beyond The Sun and other Yngwie Malmsteen songs. A less distinct, but similar part occurs here as well.
    • The ending music sounds like a cross between "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" from Cheers and the love theme from St. Elmo's Fire.
    • The first town theme borrows from Elton John's "Don't Go Breaking My Heart".
  • The guild hall theme in Etrian Odyssey Nexus resembles "Paint It Black" by the Rolling Stones.
• Earlier versions of Eversion used music from the obscure Famicom game Cocoron for their title screen and first world. Version 1.7, however, uses tunes that are clearly suspiciously similar to the original Cocoron music.
• EXA_PICO:
  • The music track Sleipnir from Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia resembles the Pyramid Cave music from Sonic Adventure 2.
  • There's a bit 24 seconds into "EXEC_REBIRTHIA=PROTOCOL/." from Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel that sounds dangerously close to Persona 4's "Aria of the Soul" (1:37 in)... which in turn sounds like an operatic version of Toni Braxton's "I Love Me Some Him".
• Fallout:
  • "City of Lost Angels" is very similar to the Aphex Twin ambient piece "Grass".
  • "City of the Dead" borrows from "Self Strangulation" by Techno Animal. In turn, "Mutant Massacre" from Fallout: New Vegas is similar to both of those.
  • "Industrial Junk" is suspiciously similar to "Castle of the Damned" from Quake.
• Fallout: New Vegas:
  • Some parts of the soundtrack sound suspiciously like the main theme to Higurashi: When They Cry, with One-Woman Wail replaced by violins.
  • An odd example is the ambient track from the Dead Money DLC. This disturbing track sounds suspiciously like the track from Silent Hill, Summer Snow.
• Fantasian - The theme of Vence resembles "Think!" from Jeopardy!.
• Fantasy Life's "Breath of Monsters" has a part (beginning at 1:39) that bears more than a passing resemblance to Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King".
• Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon:
  • "Rex Colt", the opening theme, is very similar to the original version of the Terminator theme.
  • "Combat 2" is very similar to "Tunnel Chase", also from The Terminator.
  • "Blood Dragon Theme", its reprise, and "Combat 1" are suspiciously similar to the Blade Runner credits theme.
    • "Love Theme", appropriately, sounds similar to the love theme from said film.
    • Dr. Elizabeth Darling's theme is likewise obviously based on "Blade Runner Blues".
  • The synth hook in "Omega Force" and "Rex's Escape" sounds like the slow sections of Purple Motion's part of the Second Reality soundtrack).
  • "Blood Scope" is a carbon copy of Ennio Morricone's main theme to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982).
  • The synthesizer hook in "Hunters" (previously used in Hobo with a Shotgun) is very similar to the intro of Journey's "Separate Ways".
  • "Death of a Cyborg" sounds like Tony's theme from Scarface (1983).
    • In turn, Power Glove, the producers of the soundtrack, committed Self-Plagiarism with "Loaded", which is a suspiciously similar song to "Cyborg".
• In Fe, the Silent Ones' leitmotif, "De Tysta", mainly sounds like "Echo in the Night" from Resident Evil 4. The climax of "Tysta", on the other hand, sounds suspiciously like the second half of "Infected" from Halo 2.
• Fighting Hero's ending theme is basically an 8-bit version of Johnny Rivers' "Secret Agent Man".
• The Stage Clear theme from Fire Barrel sounds similar to Stage Clear theme from Contra.
• Fire Pro Wrestling, in a similar manner to using the likenesses of real pro wrestlers and MMA fighters, uses musical facsimilies to real wrestlers' themes. For example, compare "Musashi-Hymn" from Fire Pro Wrestling Returns to Antonio Inoki's theme, "Inoki Bom-ba-ye".
• In another bizarre example involving a licensed game, the developers of The Flintstones: Burgertime in Bedrock for Game Boy apparently couldn't mange to get the license to the series' iconic theme song. Several tunes in the game, including the title tune, have the same rhythm but a completely different melody.
• In Formula Retro Racing, one of the BGM trackssounds like the Las Vegas theme from Top Gear.
• In Forza Motorsport 4, "Track 2" by Ian Livingstone sounds reminiscent of "Razor's Edge" from Race Driver: GRID, coming from the same composer.
• When Frogger was included on a Konami compilation for Game Boy Advance, all of the musical themes (including the anime themes, and even "Inu no Omawari-san" the traditional Japanese nursery rhyme that serves as the "game start" music) were given suspiciously similar versions.
• In Furi, The Strap's battle theme, "Enraged" by Carpenter Brut, is suspiciously similar to "Corruptor" (AKA the Ragna Rock theme in Max Payne) by ex-Future Crew member Skaven (Peter Hajba).
• Weirdly, the Nintendo DS game based on Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart used Suspiciously Similar Songs to several themes from the anime (most noticeable is the Marble Screw music). What's weird about this is that they used the real version of the show's opening theme song.
• The few notes from the theme song of the old arcade game Galaga sounds similar to some notes from the Star Wars theme song .
• Galaxy Angel: The first notes of the original "Eternal Love" opening in the first game are identical to the victory jingle of Heroes of Might and Magic III.
• In Garou: Mark of the Wolves, there's a bridge in Rock's theme (Spread the Wings) which is taken directly from Children by Robert Miles. As for B. Jenet, the opening to her theme (Bad Girl) is based off Kurikinton, the iconic theme of series hero Terry Bogard.
  • Wild Party sounds similar to Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train".
• The first part of Gekirindan's Stage 1 BGM is similar to "Mind of Hero" from Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap.
• Yet another game played with the "Raider's March" theme from Indiana Jones: The Aztec bonus level in Gex: Enter the Gecko.
• SNES beat-em-up Ghost Chaser Densei, the final boss theme inexplicably includes a verbatim recreation of the Eye of the Tiger verse and chorus melodies as part of the track of the SNES version, and the ENTIRE song in the Arcade version, Denjin Makai.
• For some reason, the first-level theme from God Hand sounds a great deal like the theme song from Hawaii Five-O (odd, considering this is a Western-themed level).
  • Furthermore, Godhand's ending song sounds a lot like the Mazinger Z theme song.
• The password theme from Godzilla: Monster of Monsters! has a similar tone to "Within These Castle Walls", the castle theme from Castlevania II: Simon's Quest.
• The main theme of Grandia sounds like a fusion of Kool & the Gang's "Celebration" and the theme from Dallas.
• The main theme of Grandia Xtreme resembles the opening music of Spaceballs.
• This is one of many BGMs in Grand Chase. Oh, cool. Epic rocking. And then flutes. Wait, that tune sounds suspiciously familiar. Isn't that The Raising Fighting Spirit?
• The tune played in the gyrocopter levels of Greendog: The Beached Surfer Dude! on the Sega Genesis is an almost note-for-note copy of "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid (1989).
• The office theme from Sunsoft's Licensed Game of Gremlins 2: The New Batch on the NES sounds similar to the Ghosts 'n Goblins main theme, which in turn has similarities with the first movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 40.
• The first town theme in Growlanser, "Who Are You," resembles "Our Time Has Come" from Cats Don't Dance.
• The Guardian Legend
  • The introductory corridor theme is a suspiciously similar version of Zelda II's overhead/overworld theme.
  • The first phrase of the Aquatic Labyrinth theme sounds like the verses of Modern Talking's "Brother Louie", while the second is similar to the chorus of "Gold" by Spandau Ballet.
  • The Aquatic Corridor music sounds suspicously like "Ocean Beach" by The Mermen.
• Guilty Gear has several examples of this: Potemkin's theme, Burly Heart is basically Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" shifted down an octave or two, and Venom's theme A Solitude That Asks Nothing in Return is Napalm Death's "Breed To Breathe" slowed down slightly with added leopard.
  • Ky's Xrd theme, "Magnolia Eclair" has its opening riffs lifted almost directly from Judas Priest's "Electric Eye."
• Even Guitar Hero isn't immune to this. Bonus track "Yes We Can" from the second game sounds like a mariachi version of the Chicken Dance with a little CrazyBus thrown in there for lead.
• Guitar Superstar is a plug-'n'-play Guitar Hero clone filled with songs similar to songs heard on the radio. For example:
  • One of the songs is called "Granite Man", which is somewhat reminiscent of "Black Sabbath's "Iron Man".
  • KISS's "Strutter" is cloned as "Walkin' Bad".
• The intro theme fore Gunstar Heroes, Legend of the Gunstar, sounds like the intro theme for Gradius III for the SNES. It's worth mentioning that Treasure, the developers of Gunstar, were formerly members of Konami.

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