Shooters | Fighting | Pinball | Platform | Racing | Eastern RPG | Sandbox | Cross-Genre
- Initiators / Followers
- Capsule Pitch Description: Description
- Implementation: Implementation
- SimCity (1989) / City Life (2006) & Cities XL (2009)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Wide-Open Sandbox and strategy-based city building games that often have some quirkiness to them.
- Implementation: The first known SimCity game was made in 1983, but failed due to nobody wanting to buy into the idea. It would then be released again in 1988/1989 by Maxis in which the series would begin to grow. Monte Cristo's City Life was a bit similar, except instead of simply just trying to balance a budget and simple economy, City Life also made you have to balance social order within the city. Cities XL was much the same.
- Theme Park (1994) / RollerCoaster Tycoon (1999)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Space Management Games designed around building theme parks.
- Implementation: Theme Park is the Trope Maker of theme park-oriented strategy games, whereas RollerCoaster Tycoon is the Trope Codifier.
- Harvest Moon (1996) / Shepherd's Crossing (2008)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Games where the player tends to a farm.
- Implementation: Harvest Moon focuses on growing crops and fostering good relationships with neighbors, while Shepherd's Crossing focuses more on raising and trading animals.
- Grand Theft Auto series (1997) / Saints Row series (2006)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Sandbox crime games.
- Implementation: Saints Row was developed to take advantage of the long Indian Summer between the releases of San Andreas and GTA IV.
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002) / Scarface: The World Is Yours (2006)
- Capsule Pitch Description: A gangster Byronic Hero in 1980s Miami gets betrayed by his boss and plans to rule the city with his own gang. Both games owe much of their story and stylistic influence to the classic '80s gangster picture Scarface, with the latter being a fully-licensed sequel to the film.
- Implementation: Vice City came out first, and its success paved the way for the latter game. The World is Yours, meanwhile, introduced several gameplay innovations that Rockstar Games would later copy for Grand Theft Auto IV.
- Mafia (2002) / The Godfather (2006)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Wide-Open Sandbox game where you play as a gangster in the 1930s-1940s.
- Implementation: The first Mafia title predated the first Godfather game by four years, but The Godfather got its sequel out a year before Mafia did. The Godfather also has a classic film license behind it.
- Singles: Flirt Up Your Life (2003) / The Sims 2 (2004)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Wide-Open Sandbox Life Simulations that center around relationships.
- Implementation: The Sims series is rated T while Singles is Hotter and Sexier and carries an AO rating. The two titles were released in the same year, with Singles being released a few months before Sims 2. The game is also considerably more realistic looking than The Sims.
- Mercenaries (2005) / Just Cause (2006)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Both the original and the sequel in both of the series are sandbox games in which you destabilize a corrupt regime led by an evil dictator. How? Blowing everything up.
- Implementation: Mercenaries focuses more on huge air strikes to be called in at will, Just Cause is like one giant action movie, with car surfing, Dual Wielding, grappling hooks, you name it.
- Animal Crossing Wild World (2005) / Magician's Quest: Mysterious Times (2008)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Handheld life simulators centered around cute Super-Deformed graphics and anthropomorphic animals.
- Implementation: Animal Crossing is considerably older, being a Nintendo 64-originated series. While Animal Crossing is a straight-to-the-point life simulator, Magicians Quest incorporated magical elements and your goal is set in a Wizarding School
- Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon (2006) / Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon (2006)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Harvest Moon spinoffs set in futuristic and fantasy settings, respectively.
- Implementation: ArtePiazza's Innocent Life focuses on the android protagonist's journey to restore peace to an island and become more than Just a Machine. NeverLand's Rune Factory follows many of the familiar tropes of the Harvest Moon series, while also adding swords and sorcery to the mix. IL started out on the PlayStation Portable, while RF was released on the Nintendo DS.
- InFamous (2009) / [PROTOTYPE] (2009)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Wide-Open Sandbox games with superpowers and Big Brother Is Watching Paranoia Fuel where you try to Escape From The Crazy Big Applesauce while figuring out what the hell is going on.
- Implementation: inFamous encourages the player to contemplate the use and abuse of power every five seconds, and its star is electric. Prototype encourages the player to slice and dice anyone and anything in your path, or just eat them.
- Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare (2010) / Yakuza: Dead Souls (2011)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Both are Alternate Continuity games based off of Wide-Open Sandbox games in which the outlaw protagonist suddenly finds himself in the middle of a Zombie Apocalypse.
- Implementation: Cool Versus Awesome made manifest in both cases: A yakuza bruiser fighting zombies, or an Old West gunslinger. Both were released approximately the same time, too.
- Minecraft (2011) / Terraria (2011)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Wide Open Sandboxes featuring blocky graphics, random level generation, and underground gameplay.
- Implementation: Minecraft is 3D, Terraria is 2D. Both feature RPG elements, though Terraria has more emphasis on them from the beginning of its life and Minecraft steadily gained more and more as it updated.
- L.A. Noire (2011) / Driver: San Francisco (2011)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Wide-Open Sandbox games released in 2011 where you play as a police officer in a period/retro California city.
- Implementation: Noire is set in an accurately-detailed and researched 1947 Los Angeles, while Driver is set in a San Francisco with modern technology and vehicles but an otherwise heavy '70s aesthetic. Noire is heavily focused around the process of police investigation, while the Driver series' strength has always been its car chases, something that looks to remain true here. This is also a continuation of the Rockstar/Reflections rivalry that began in 2001.
- Terraria (2011) / Starbound (2016)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 2D Wide Open Sandboxes featuring blocky graphics, random level generation, and underground gameplay.
- Implementation: Where Terraria is mainly Fantasy, Starbound is Sci-Fi.
- Grand Theft Auto V (2013) / Saints Row IV (2013)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Sandbox crime games that continue the rivalry between the franchises.
- Implementation: Saints Row IV continues to send the series off the rails, with the addition of an Alien Invasion and super powers. Grand Theft Auto V is somewhat less serious than the Darker and Edgier GTA IV was, but still is much more grounded than Saints Row IV. Notably, the games are being released within a month of each other, the closest release date between the two franchises.
- Grand Theft Auto V (2013) / Watch_Dogs (2014)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Sandbox crime games set in today's world.
- Implementation: Set in Chicago, Watch_Dogs is an open-world game that is built around the concept of information warfare. The protagonist, Aiden Pearce, has the ability to hack into devices linked to the city's central operating system, allowing him access to cell phones, bank accounts, and traffic lights, among many others. While Grand Theft Auto V doesn't focus on information, it also focuses on social issues that affect 21st century Americans. Notably, Watch_Dogs was originally going to be a launch game for the much-ballyhooed PlayStation 4 (with ports to other platforms being released later), while GTA V stayed put with the seventh-gen consoles.
- SimCity (2013) / Cities XXL (2015) & Cities: Skylines (2015)
- Capsule Pitch Description: City-building simulators released in The New '10s
- Implementation: SimCity was developed by long-running big name developer Maxis and published by Electronic Arts, and was an online-connected reboot for the beloved series. Cities XXL, released in February 2015, was developed and published by French company Focus Home Interactive, and is the fourth game in its series. Cities: Skylines, released in March 2015, is the third game by Finnish developer Colossal Order (who previously developed the Cities In Motion games) and is published by Paradox Interactive.
- Story of Seasons (2014) (2014) / Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley (2014)
- Capsule Pitch Description: 3DS games in the Harvest Moon franchise... wait, what?
- Implementation: The 2014 Story of Seasons (subtitled Connect to a New World in Japan) continued the Bokujō Monogatari series that started in 1996, but under a new title. Marvelous, instead of continuing to work with Natsume, switched localization to their in-house translator X Seed Games and retitled the series Story of Seasons since they did not have the rights to the Harvest Moon name after the split. Natsume then announced that they were putting out their own Harvest Moon style game not connected to the prior games in the franchise that would be exclusively for the western market... this time taking inspiration from Minecraft as well. The series still duel, with games by Natsume often coming out very close to those by Marvelous.
- Dragon Quest Builders (2016) / Portal Knights (2016)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Minecraft-style games with built-in RPG Elements.
- Implementation: DQ Builders takes place after the Downer Ending of Dragon Quest where you restore the continents destroyed by the Big Bad. Portal Knights is an original property that deals with the player(s) restoring the connections between a series of Floating Continents.
- Star Bound (2016) / No Man's Sky (2016)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Travel from planet to planet, sucking up resources to keep going.
- Implementation: Starbound has more base-building, while No Man's Sky requires constant refueling/recharging in a survival mechanic. Many weird randomized aliens involved.
- RollerCoaster Tycoon World (2016) / Planet Coaster (2016) & Parkitect (2016) & Theme Park Studio (2016)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Space Management Games designed around building theme parks released in the mid-2010s. All four are based on games in the RCT series and contain Steam Workshop support.
- Implementation: RollerCoaster Tycoon World is the fourth main installment in the popular RCT series; the first in over a decade. Developed by Nvizzio Creations, it is released after two poorly-received portable spin-offs. Planet Coaster is developed by Frontier Developments, who developed RollerCoaster Tycoon 3, and is definitely a Spiritual Successor to that game. Parkitech is developed by an indie developer called Texel Raptor. Funded via Kickstarter, their game is a Genre Throwback to the first two RCT games, although it is rendered in 3D like its two competitors and comes with a few new features of its own. Theme Park Studio is developed by Pantera Entertainment and was also funded via Kickstarter like Parkitect. Similar to RCT 3 in design, the game has some features including VR support and the ability to walk around the parks as a guest.
- Stardew Valley (2016) / Harvest Moon: Light of Hope (2017)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Spiritual Successor Farm Life Sim games connected to what used to be known as the Harvest Moon series of games.
- Implementation: Light of Hope appears to be another title in the Harvest Moon series—however it's an In Name Only series by Natsume that's part of a split off series made after the original series started to be localized under Story of Seasons, since Natsume kept the name Harvest Moon. The title is largely a Mission-Pack Sequel of the previous Natsume titles. Stardew Valley is a retraux Spiritual Successor to the franchise that started out as a Fan Game. It was created by one fan and first released on Steam before later going multi-platform.
- Sea of Thieves (2018) / Skull & Bones (2020)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Multiplayer pirate games.
- Implementation: Sea of Thieves was announced in 2015 as the first non-Kinect title by Rare in nearly a decade, features a stylistically cartoon-esque art style, and takes place in a fantasy world that deliberately plays every pirate cliche straight. Skull and Bones was announced by Ubisoft as the Spiritual Successor to the acclaimed Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, is set in a real world 1700s in the West Indies, deliberately avoids cliches, and is much more grounded in reality. Thieves features on-foot exploration, while Bones focuses solely on naval combat.
- Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) / Watch Dogs: Legion (2020) / Gangstar: New York (TBA)
- Capsule Pitch Description: Wide-Open Sandbox games taking place in an Urban Hellscape taken over by an antagonistic MegaCorp.
- Implementation: Cyberpunk 2077 takes place in the fictitious Night City, being developed by CD Projekt as early as 2012, while Watch Dogs: Legion, taking place in a futuristic London is the third installment in the Watch_Dogs series, and announced in 2019 by Ubisoft. Meanwhile, Gameloft's Gangstar: New York, set in a futuristic New York City, began development after the release of Gangstar: New Orleans.
