Tropes Media Browse Indexes Forums Videos Ask The Tropers Trope Finder You Know That Show... Trope Launch Pad Wishlist Reviews Tools
Cut List New Edits Edit Reasons Launches Images List Crowner Activity Un-typed Pages Recent Page Type Changes Changelog
Tips
Creating New Redirects Cross Wicking Tips for Editing Text Formatting Rules Glossary Edit Reasons Handling Spoilers Word Cruft Administrivia FAQ
Tropes HQ
About Us Contact Us Advertise DMCA Notice Privacy Policy Report Bug
Go Ad-Free Changelog
  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

Recycled Title

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mlp_posters.png
Same title. Not the same movie.

"You know what future historians will say about us, right? 'There were two very different games called Wolfenstein released in the same twenty year period and the second was not, strictly speaking, a remake of the first. From this, we conclude that the people of the early twenty-first century were taking the piss.'"
— Yahtzee, Zero Punctuation

Coming up with a good title for a new work is hard. No wonder so many people just take the lazy way out and just stick a number on the end.

Of course, if you're really lazy, you could not bother with even the number, let alone a subtitle, and give the latest release in your series the same name as an earlier one — usually, the first installment, which will typically also be the series name. A variation includes (de-)pluralizing the previous title, or dropping the adjectives. Fans will typically give the later work a Fan Nickname.

Recycling titles became very common in the mid and late 2000s, and often include remakes, where the new work is explicitly a new version of the previous work. Re-imaginings, such as when a video game is released with significantly different versions on consoles and handhelds at the same time and with the same title, are borderline. Preventing the trademark from expiring may also be a factor.

Often used when it might be embarrassing for the producers to admit how many times they've milked this particular Cash-Cow Franchise. It may also be an attempt to bring in newcomers who don't want to catch up with all the past installments, since a title like Hero Spies IV: Avenging the Aftermath sounds like it might leave non-fans lost.

A Super-Trope to Title Drop Anthology, where the title from one of the stories is used to name the anthology. See also Similarly Named Works, which is when two or more entirely unrelated works happen to share the same title.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

     Arts 

    Asian Animation 
  • Seasons 1 and 3 of Lamput both have episodes called "Reward" and "Wig".
  • Occasionally Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf uses episode titles that are similar to, if not the exact same as previous episodes. Sometimes they will slightly change the title by using a different word with the same meaning. For example, episode 122 and Happy, Happy, Bang! Bang! episode 15 are both titled "Saving Wolffy", despite being different episodes.

    Comic Books 
  • In the Comic Book industry, recycled titles are a common method for companies to maintain trademarks, especially Marvel Comics and DC Comics. When a new series is introduced with the same title as an older series, it will share the same title and be known as the next volume of that series, but the numbering may reset at a later date as if it were continuing the numbering of the earlier series, so the series is alternately presented as both a newer series and an older series. This can be played with further when the series changes its title to something else during its run, and later spinoffs and mini-series are introduced based on the different title while the original title resumes. The titles of spinoffs and miniseries may be further recycled, sometimes with little to no connection to the prior story.
  • The 2013 trade Avengers vs. Thanos reprints the original two Thanos story arcs from the 1970s (which, contrary to the title, primarily star Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock, respectively). The 2018 trade Avengers vs. Thanos reprints Comic Book Adaptations of episodes of Avengers Assemble.
  • The Authority is a 1999 series, a 2003 series, a 2006 series, and a 2008 series.
  • DC Comics has:
  • Astonishing X-Men replaced the title of Uncanny X-Men during Age of Apocalypse. Astonishing X-Men was also a 1999 limited series, a 2004 ongoing series by Joss Whedon, and a 2017 series.
  • Captain America and the Falcon was the title of Captain America starting from issue #117. Captain America and the Falcon was also a 2004-2005 series.
  • Daredevil: The Man Without Fear was the tagline on the Daredevil ongoing series. There was also a 1993 miniseries, Daredevil: The Man Without Fear.
  • Excalibur is a 1988 series, 2001 miniseries, 2004 series, and 2019 series.
  • Fantastic Force is a 90s Fantastic Four spinoff and a 2009 miniseries.
  • Fantasy Masterpieces is a 1966 comic and a 1979 comic.
  • Gen¹³ is a 1994 miniseries and a 1994 series, a 2002 series, and a 2006 series.
  • Generation X is a 1994 comic, and a 2017 comic.
  • Glory is a 1993 series, a 1999 series, and a 2012 series.
  • Guardians of the Galaxy is a 1990 comic. A new Guardians of the Galaxy began in 2008 and 2013.
  • Journey into Mystery, a 1952 comic, ended with issue #125 and became Thor with issue #126. A second Journey into Mystery started in 1972. In 1996-1998, The Mighty Thor became Journey into Mystery from issue #503-521. In 2010, Thor became Journey into Mystery from issues #622-655.
  • Lady Death is a 1997 series by Chaos! Comics, and a 2010 series by Avatar Press/Boundless Comics.
  • Marvel Comics Presents is a 1988-1995 series, and a 2007-2009 series.
  • Marvel NOW! is a 2012 and 2016 Marvel tagline.
  • Perhaps by mistake, two of the stories in a single issue of Millie the Model were both titled "Beauty at the Beach".
  • New Mutants is a 1982 series, a 2004 series that became New X-Men: Academy X, a 2009 series, and a 2019 series.
  • Old Man Logan is a 2008 Wolverine storyline, a Secret Wars (2015) miniseries, and a 2017 series.
  • Uncanny X-Men was known as New X-Men in 2001. Another series, New X-Men: Academy X, was titled New X-Men from issues #20-46.
  • Phoenix Resurrection is a 1995 storyline about the Phoenix Force traveling to the Ultraverse, and a 2007 miniseries about Jean Grey's return.
  • Prophet is a 1992 series, and a 2012 series.
  • Punisher War Journal is a 1988 series and a 2007 series.
  • Secret Warriors is a 2009 series and a 2017 series.
  • Secret Wars (2015) features a whole many recycled titles, including Planet Hulk, Future Imperfect, Age of Apocalypse, The New Warriors, Armor Wars, Spider-Island, Marvel 1602, Squadron Supreme, Spider-Verse, Marvel Zombies, Runaways, Civil War, House of M, E Is for Extinction, Inferno, Infinity Gauntlet, Korvac Saga, and X-Tinction Agenda.
  • The Sensational Spider-Man was a 1996-1998 series. Marvel Knights Spider-Man was retitled The Sensational Spider-Man from issues #23-41. Another series titled Marvel Knights: Spider-Man ran from 2013-2014.
  • As of 2023, Silk has been used for five different Marvel Comics comic series starring the titular superhero (two in 2015, one in 2021, one in 2022 and one in 2023). Most were eventually given a Retronym to help disambiguate them when collected editions were published.
  • Vampirella is a 1969 series by Warren; a 1992 miniseries, 1997 series, and 2001 series by Harris Comics; and a 2010, 2014, 2016, and 2017 series by Dynamite Comics.
  • Web of Spider-Man ran from 1985-1995. Another Web of Spider-Man ran from 2009-2010, replacing Spider-Man Family and The Amazing Spider-Man Family.
  • Wolverine was a 1982 limited series. It was followed by a regular series starting in 1988, titled Wolverine.
  • Uncanny X-Men was known as The X-Men until issue #49, and X-Men until #113. The Uncanny X-Men title was re-used in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018. A second series titled X-Men (given the Fan Nickname Adjectiveless X-Men), began in 1991, with a second volume in 2010 and a third volume in 2019.
  • X-Factor is a 1986 series, 2002 miniseries, a 2006 series, and a 2020 series.
  • X-Force is a 1991 series, 2004 miniseries, 2008 series, 2014 series, 2018 series, and 2019 series.
  • X-Men Forever is a 2001 X-Men series. X-Men Forever is also a 2009 and 2010 series set in an alternate universe.
  • X-Men Prime is a tie-in to Age of Apocalypse and a tie-in to ResurrXion.
  • X-Men Unlimited is a 1993 series and a 2004 series.
  • X-O Manowar is a 1992 series, a 1996 series, and a 2012 series.
  • Youngblood is a 1992 series, and a 2004 series.

    Fan Works 

    Film 

    Literature 

    Live-Action TV 

    Music 
  • A famous example is Peter Gabriel, whose first four albums were self-titled, only being differentiated by their cover art. His US label got tired of it, and refused to release the fourth one unless he gave it a title, and he quickly thought of Security. It remained self-titled elsewhere. The first three albums are known by fans as Peter Gabriel I, II and III respectively, and the fourth is either known as IV or by its US title. Some also refer to the first three albums as "Car", "Scratch" and "Melt" in reference to the cover art.
  • Ditto Weezer, who have non-consecutive self-titled albums known for the color in their covers (Blue, Green, Red, White, Teal, and Black).
  • The Barbie album Barbie Sings! The Princess Movie Song Collection shares the title with the 1961 album Barbie Sings!.
  • Down Low made a song called "Every Day" in 1997, and another song called "Every Day (MMMM)" in 2005. (Only the latter was a single.)
  • Thin Lizzy called two different songs "Sarah", one in 1972 and another in 1979 - only the latter was a single. Both songs were about different family members of Phil Lynott who had the same name: One about his grandmother, the other about his daughter.
  • The Beatles have one album called Yellow Submarine and another called Yellow Submarine Songtrack, both of course based off the same film. Despite being very different albums (the Songtrack lacks the George Martin instrumentals, replacing them with various tracks from other albums, and "Only a Northern Song" is mono on the original but stereo on the Songtrack), Amazon conflates them; "CD Album" refers to the original and "Audio CD" to the Songtrack, and "MP3 Download" is also the original, so if you want the stereo mix of "Only a Northern Song", you have to buy the entire album (which is probably full of tracks you otherwise already have on other albums) just for that one track.

    Sports 
  • In 1970 the NFL merged with the 4th different league titled the American Football League with previous leagues lasting only a few years from the 20s to the 40s.
    • The Arena Football League (indoor american football) and the Australian Football League also uses the Initials AFL.
  • Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium are the 4th and 2nd versions of facilities with that name.
  • MLS franchise nicknames in many cities match the teams name in the NASL of 1968-1984.
  • Many indoor soccer franchises match 80-90s MISL/NASL team names.
  • Many early NFL franchises, including the New York Giants, had nicknames that either matched or were similar to the city's MLB team at the time.
  • The Ottawa Senators and the Montreal Alouettes were expansion teams named after multiple championship winning teams that folded decades earlier.
  • The 2019-2020 Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League will be an expansion franchise as the 2018-2019 team players, coaches, and front office is relocating to Halifax.
  • The 1961 Washington Senators (now Texas Rangers) were an expansion team as the 1960 Senator become the Minnesota Twins.
  • The current Winnipeg Jets, Cleveland Browns, Charlotte Hornets, and San Jose Earthquakes are expansion teams that acquired a still active teams name after they moved.
  • The XFL (2020) has the same name and legal ownership as the XFL (2001).

    Tabletop Games 

    Video Games 
  • A Boy and His Blob - The 2009 version is the only game in the series without a subtitle, as the original NES game had the subtitle "Trouble on Blobolonia". The 2009 version used to be referred to as A Boy and His Blob Wii after the platform it was originally released on, but it has since been ported to other formats.
  • Adventure Island is either, the export title of the Takahashi Meijin no Bōken Jima series (which translates "Master Takahashi's Adventure Island", making the English title more or less a direct translation) or the Japanese title for Dragon's Curse, a TurboGrafx-16 game, both games produced by Hudson Soft with ties to Sega/Westone's Wonder Boy series. The original Adventure Island on the NES was a port of the first Wonder Boy with the title and main character changed to get around Sega's ownership of the IP, but its sequels were completely original games not based on anything that came before. Hudson Soft would instead develop graphically-altered ports of the Wonder Boy sequels on the TG16 under a variety of titles, with Dragon's Curse being based on Wonder Boy III: The Dragon's Trap, which was originally a Master System game.
  • Alien Syndrome - the original 1987 arcade game that was ported to various platforms and the 2007 multi-platform sequel.
  • Alien vs. Predator - Rebellion Developments has made not one, not two, but three separate games set in the same universe: Alien vs Predator (1994, Atari Jaguar), Aliens versus Predator (1999, PC), and... Aliens versus Predator (2010, multiplatform). That's not even counting Alien vs Predator (1993, SNES), Alien vs. Predator (1994, CPS-2 arcade), Alien vs. Predator (2004, mobile phone, made by Superscape) and Alien vs. Predator (2004, mobile phone, made by Wicked Witch).
  • Alone in the Dark - The fifth game is simply titled Alone in the Dark without a number.
  • Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland: As seen in the BGM selection, there's two songs called "Working!" only diffentiatable by the information that scrolls by when they're highlighted, marking them from Atelier Marie and Atelier Elie.
  • The Bard's Tale is a 2004 game named after The Bard's Tale.
  • Battletoads - The original NES game, the Game Boy game, and the 1994 arcade game (which is sometimes referred to as Super Battletoads or Battletoads Arcade). To make matters more confusing, there was a second Game Boy game titled Battletoads in Ragnarok's World, which was actually a port of the NES version.
  • Beyond Shadowgate - the TurboGrafx-16 CD sequel to Shadowgate, and a teased sequel to the 2014 remake of the original game. Why not consider it just a remake of said sequel, then? Because it stars the hero of Shadowgate 64 instead.
  • Bionic Commando - the arcade, NES and Game Boy versions were released in Japan under the titles of Top Secret, Hitler no Fukkatsu: Top Secret (The Resurrection of Hitler) and Bionic Commando, in that order. Only the third one could be considered a port, since it's based on the NES version, which was more of a sequel/spinoff of the original arcade version than a port. Later, Capcom commissioned the development of another sequel in 2009 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 simply titled Bionic Commando as well.
  • Bishi Bashi - The 2009 entry in the series is simply called The BishiBashi.
  • Similar to the below example of the 2015 Need for Speed game, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare sounds like a retread of a previous Call of Duty installment but, in reality, there was never a game simply titled "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare" (the original "modern warfare" game was titled "Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare", while there was an Updated Re-release titled Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Remastered"). Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is a straighter example, only really being distinguished by the 2009 game by using roman numerals instead of a simple 2.
  • Castlevania:
    • The original on the NES in 1987, then on the N64 in 1999. The latter tends to be called "Castlevania 64" to the extent that many people assume that's the actual title. Moreover, Castlevania: Circle of the Moon was known simply as Castlevania in Europe, as was Castlevania: Lament of Innocence in both Japan and Europe.
    • Due to the fact that Konami numbered their Game Boy games separately from their NES lineup, there is in fact two different games with the title of "Castlevania II", distinguished mainly by their subtitle: Simon's Quest on the NES and Belmont's Revenge on the Game Boy.
    • In Japan, the games known in the west as Castlevania (the NES one), Vampire Killer (MSX2), Haunted Castle (arcade) and Super Castlevania IV (SNES) are all titled Akumajō Dracula, as was the X68000 game later ported to the PlayStation as Castlevania Chronicles. The MSX2 version, which was released only a month after the Famicom version, is the one version that most closely resembles it too, having the same character designs and similar levels, but has a different weapon/item system and is more focused on exploration. The arcade version came out a bit later in 1988 and only vaguely resembles the original versions, with a new plot involving the rescue of Simon Belmont's bride, despite sharing the same promotional art. The Super Famicom and X68000 versions are more conventional remakes of the Famicom original, despite the former being marketed as a sequel to the NES trilogy outside Japan.
    • Vampire Killer, which was originally the European title for the MSX2 version of Akumajō Dracula, would later be used for the Japanese version of Castlevania: Bloodlines.
  • Cobra Command was the title of two different arcade games by Data East. The first one was an animated laserdisc game released in 1984 (titled Thunder Storm in Japan) and ported many years later to the Sega CD. The other was a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up released in 1988, with a NES port that same year.
  • The Western localisations of the Choro Q franchise got hit with this hard. All of the games prior to the release of Road Trip Adventure were simply known as "Penny Racers", and three entirely different games were all given the title of "Gadget Racers" in Europe. Pair that with the fact that this name was also used for two entirely different games in the US and you get a whole heap of confusion, as this video points out.
  • Contra - In Japan, Operation C, which was a sequel to the NES versions of Contra and Super C released for the Game Boy, is simply titled Contra. However, the Japanese spelling is actually different. Whereas the original arcade game and its Famicom conversion had the title spelled with three kanji characters that phonetically spelled Kontora (魂斗羅), the Game Boy version uses katakana instead (コントラ), which is the more conventional style to render foreign names and words in Japanese.
    • In Europe, Probotector could refer to the first NES game, the Game Boy game, and the Mega Drive game.
    • The NES sequel, Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces, is not to be confused with Probotector 2, which was the Game Boy port of Super Probotector: Alien Rebels.
  • OvenBreak is the title of the first game in the Cookie Run series — not to be confused with the fourth entry, Cookie Run: OvenBreak.
  • CryEngine - The fourth major version of Crytek's proprietary engine dropped the number and be named simply CryEngine like the original, apparently to emphasize how different it is from the previous versions.
  • DanceDanceRevolution - Not counting ports, there's the 1998 arcade original, the US-exclusive PlayStation release (which used the DanceDanceRevolution 3rdMIX engine and featured songs from 1st through 3rdMIX), the 2010 version for consoles (namely PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii). The 2013 arcade release, with the year sometimes appended as a Fan Nickname to avoid confusion with the original 1998 release. Similarly, the 2013 versions of Guitar Freaks and DrumMania are simply called GITADORA, a common Fan Nickname for the long-running series.
  • Devil May Cry - The Alternate Continuity "reboot" developed by Ninja Theory is titled DmC: Devil May Cry, with its subtitle being the name of its parent franchise. Taking the acronym into consideration, it can be interpreted as "Devil may Cry: Devil May Cry". According to behind-the-scenes sources such as page 222 of the 3142 Graphic Arts artbook, the redundant and recycled subtitle was added as a workaround because the game was originally meant to be titled as just DmC, yet it's not possible to trademark a three-letter title.
  • The 2015 arcade Continuity Reboot of Dissidia Final Fantasy is simply called just that.
  • Donkey Kong - The original 1981 arcade game, and the 1994 Game Boy version. Could be said to be a remake, since the first four stages of the GB game are based on the arcade, but the mechanics are changed and there's about 96 more levels after that. The GB game is generally known as Donkey Kong '94 or Game Boy Donkey Kong.
  • Doom - The original 1993 DOS game and the 2016 soft reboot are both simply known as Doom, though the latter was initially developed as Doom 4. Doom Eternal officially refers to the 1993 game as just "Doom" and the 2016 game as "Doom (2016)" in in-game collectibles, and this wiki follows suit.
  • Double Dragon - There has been various conversions of the original 1987 Double Dragon arcade game, with some of them differing significantly from the arcade original, most notably the NES version (which was a reworked port that slightly changed the plot), but the 1995 Neo-Geo version of the same name was not one of them, being instead a one-on-one fighting game loosely based on the live-action Double Dragon (1994) movie.
  • The 2014 Mobile Phone Game Dungeon Keeper is named after the original Dungeon Keeper, and is commonly called Dungeon Keeper Mobile.
  • EarthBound - Nintendo of American planned to localize the original Mother for the NES under the title of Earth Bound (spelled as two words) in 1991, but then canceled it so they could focus all their marketing budget on the launch of the Super NES. They would reuse that title for the English version of Mother 2, spelling it as one word (EarthBound) instead of two. When the NES prototype was leaked in the late 1990's, certain ROM hacks had the title screen altered to EarthBound Zero to distinguish it from its SNES sequel. When the original Mother was finally released on the Wii U Virtual Console, it was given the title of EarthBound Beginnings overseas.
  • Fire Emblem alone could refer to either, the original 1990 Famicom game, or the seventh entry released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. Technically speaking both games had their own subtitles: Shadow Dragon and The Blade of Light for the former and Blazing Blade for the latter; but the first game in the series is often referred to without a subtitle, mainly due to the fact that it's the first game, but also because the subtitle was added to the game at the last minute and Nintendo never established an official Japanese reading, resulting in debates whether it should be Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Ken or Ankoku Ryu to Hikari no Tsurugi (Ken and Tsurugi are both possible readings for the kanji character for sword). As for the Blazing Blade, it was the first entry to get an English-localized release and thus, Nintendo omitted the subtitle for its overseas versions. The subtitle Blazing Blade was later added in reference guides, which is a direct translation of the Japanese Rekka no Ken subtitle.
  • Frogger gives its title to at least three games: the original game that hit arcades in 1981 (and has been ported to almost literally everything in the past four decades); the Video Game 3D Leap released for PlayStation and PC in 1997 (often mistakenly subtitled He's Back!); and the Japanese version of Frogger Beyond.
  • Gauntlet 1985 and 2014.
  • The fourth core installment of the God of War series is simply called "God of War", reflecting the change of setting (from Greek Mythology to Norse).
  • The common title of Grand Theft Auto Advance comes from its title screen, but the box art simply titles it "Grand Theft Auto".
  • Hitman - The sixth and seventh entries of the series are titled Hitman and Hitman 2 respectively, despite the fact that they're not reboots nor remakes but are in-continuity with the earlier Hitman games. Technically speaking, the original 2000 game and the 2002 version of Hitman 2 had subtitles (Codename 47 and Silent Assassin respectively).
  • Kao the Kangaroo - The first game published on the Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance and PC, and its later 2022 sequel.
  • Killer Instinct - Seventeen years after the release of Killer Instinct Gold (the last release) and nineteen years after the namesake it recycles was released, Microsoft understandably did not dub the Xbox One installment Killer Instinct 3 and instead opted for just the plain title.
  • King's Quest - The 2015-2016 episodic reboot is simply called King's Quest. This was the first official release since the eighth entry, King's Quest: Mask of Eternity in 1998.
  • LittleBigPlanet has two games with that title: the 2008 game for the PlayStation 3 and the 2009 game for the PlayStation Portable. To differentiate the two, the former usually inherits "LittleBigPlanet" due to being the first game, while the latter is typically referred to with a "PSP" following it.
  • Medal of Honor - The first on the PlayStation in 1999 and then in 2010 on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
  • Mansion of Hidden Souls is the title of both the Sega CD original and its Saturn sequel, though the latter also includes "The" at the beginning.
  • Mega Man:
    • Mega Man (the original series) - Differentiating the numbered NES and Game Boy titles can get a bit tricky. With the exception of the first Game Boy game, which was subtitled Dr. Wily's Revenge, all the sequels used Roman numerals on their title screens,◊ until Capcom began unifying the title logos with Mega Man 8, and onward. Fan communities generally use Arabic numerals for the NES versions (due to the logos used on their packaging art, which are designed differently from the title screen versions) and Roman numerals for their Game Boy counterparts. This was never an issue in Japan, where the Rockman sequels on the Famicom used Arabic numerals and subtitles (e.g. Rockman 2: Dr. Wily no Nazo), whereas the Game Boy versions were actually part of a separate spinoff brand titled Rockman World.
    • The DOS versions of Mega Man and Mega Man 3 were not ports of the NES games, but original games, making the absence of a DOS version of Mega Man 2 even more puzzling. There was also a Game Gear game simply titled Mega Man that drew mostly from Mega Man 4 and 5
    • Mega Man X - The two Mega Man Xtreme spinoffs were titled Rockman X: Cyber Mission and Rockman X2: Soul Eraser in Japan. Which makes sense, since they are more or less straight ported-down versions of Mega Man X 1-3 with a new story.
  • Metal Gear Solid - Only outside Japan, where Metal Gear: Ghost Babel (released for the Game Boy Color in 2000) was simply titled Metal Gear Solid in the west. This came out at a time when most popular console and PC games were accompanied by a reworked portable version. Most fans simply stick with the Japanese title though.
  • Metal Slug - the original 1994 side-scrolling action shooter for the Neo Geo (which was ported to various platforms) or the 2006 3D third-person shooter released exclusively for the PlayStation 2.
  • Monster Slider: There's both the March 1997 Sega Saturn game and the August 1997 arcade game. This may make it seem like one is a port of the other, but in fact the games are very different.
  • Mortal Kombat - The 1992 original and the 2011 reboot. Official sources (such as Netherrealm Studios's Twitter account) tend to call the latter "Mortal Kombat 9" in social media, as there were three subtitled sequels after Mortal Kombat 4 on consoles (Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon), as well as a crossover (Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe), which they count as "Mortal Kombat 8". The upcoming twelth installment will be titled Mortal Kombat 1 (much to the dismay of fans and wiki editors that used "Mortal Kombat 1" for disambiguation purposes when referring to the original 1992 title).
  • Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (2010) is a sequel to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit II (2002), itself a sequel to Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit (1998). Confused?
    • Criterion Games seems to have a penchant for doing this with regard to their NFS entries. The NFS game for 2012 is called Most Wanted, which is the same as the 2005 installment.
    • The 2015 Need for Speed reboot is actually the 21st game in the series since the 1994 3DO game (although this is more like a Subverted Trope since there has never been a game simply called "Need for Speed" in the series history, the original game being titled Road & Track Presents: The Need for Speed or simply The Need for Speed; the only other thing in the franchise simply named "Need for Speed" to date has been the 2014 movie).
  • Neverwinter Nights - This 2002 PC game recycled the title of a 1991 MMORPG on the Gold Box engine.
  • Ninja Gaiden:
    • The arcade and NES versions, both released in 1988, were completely different games, the former being a side-scrolling beat-'em-up and the latter an action-platformer similar to the Castlevania series. There were also licensed conversions for the Sega consoles: the 1991 Game Gear version and the 1992 Master System were completely different games, but both patterned after the NES version, while the canceled 1992 Mega Drive version was a beat-'em-up similar to the arcade game.
    • Eventually Team Ninja rebooted the series on the original Xbox in 2004 with yet another game simply titled Ninja Gaiden, this time as a 3D action game. Note that this time, the trope only applies to the North American market; in all other markets the term "Ninja Gaiden" only ever applied to the later reboot series by Team Ninja. The original arcade and 2D games were titled Ninja Ryūkenden in Japan and Shadow Warriors in Europe.
    • Likewise, there are also installments named Ninja Gaiden II and Ninja Gaiden III for both the NES and 3D action series.note  However the NES games were also given subtitles (The Dark Sword of Chaos and The Ancient Ship of Doom, respectively).
  • Power Strike II refers to either a Game Gear game and which is the title used for the European version of GG Aleste II, or a Sega Master System game within the same series. Confusingly, the SMS game was also released in Europe and in Europe only, and both games were released in the same year, 1993.
  • Prey: The 2006 game or the 2017 reboot.
  • Prince of Persia - The original was released on numerous computer and gaming platforms, starting with the Apple II in 1989. A reboot was released in 2008, debuting on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
  • Punch-Out!! - There were three games called Punch-Out!!: the 1984 arcade game, the 1987 NES game (which at least has the courtesy of being Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! in the original port), and the 2009 Wii game. There were also two sequels titled Super Punch Out: the one for the arcades in 1985 and one for the Super NES in 1994.
  • Puyo Puyo and its overseas title Puyo Pop: the former could refer to a 1991 MSX2 / Famicom game and a radically different 1992 arcade game, while the latter could refer to a 1999 Neo Geo Pocket Color game, 2002 Game Boy Advance game, or 2003 N-Gage game.
  • Ratchet & Clank, a title used for the very first game from 2002 and it's 2016 reimagining, as well as the movie the latter was made to tie-into and the 2010 comic miniseries set after the Future trilogy of games.
  • Rise of the Triad - Could refer to the 1994 one or the 2013 one.
  • Road Rash is the first game as well as its 1994 reboot for 32-bit hardware.
  • Rocket Knight is the fourth game in the Rocket Knight Adventures series, which consists of Rocket Knight Adventures and Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 for the Genesis, as well as an SNES game simply titled Sparkster.
  • Sakura Wars is the name of the franchise as well as the 1996 game that started it all. The 2019 video game is the only work besides the original game to be also known as Sakura Wars for the international release.
  • Samurai Shodown:
    • The first game and the 2019 game are both titled Samurai Shodown.
    • The series had a trilogy of 3D games during the late 90s. These were, Samurai Shodown 64 and Samurai Shodown 64: Warrior's Rage for the arcade, which both ran on the Hyper Neo-Geo 64 hardware, and Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage for the PlayStation. To avoid confusion, the last two are called Samurai Shodown 64 Part II and Samurai Shodown: Warrior's Rage.
    • In addition, there were two Samurai Shodown games for Neo Geo Pocket: Samurai Shodown! and Samurai Shodown! 2 (the exclamation marks are part of their titles).
  • Shadow Warrior is a 1997 video game and a 2013 video game.
  • Shinobi - The 1987 side-scrolling action platformer for the arcade, the 2002 3D action game for the PlayStation 2, and a 2011 side-scrolling sequel for 3DS (also known as Shinobi 3D). May also apply to The G.G. Shinobi for the Game Gear, which was simply titled Shinobi on the American cover art (but still kept the original title in the actual game). Also applies to The Revenge of Shinobi, which was the title of the 1989 Sega Genesis sequel to the original Shinobi, and an unrelated Game Boy Advance game released in 2002 to cash-in on the above-mentioned PS2 version.
  • SimCity's first sequel was Simcity 2000 after the fashion of its time. The next followed logically with 3000, the next dropped the extraneous zeros to be Simcity 4, and the fifth entry is just Sim City.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog - There's the original 16-bit game on the Genesis in 1991 (along with a really different 8-bit conversion for the Game Gear and Master System), and the Milestone Celebration game for Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2006. The 2006 game was commonly referred to as Sonic NextGen, although that has since fallen out of use for Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), mainly due to the fact it's no longer on a 'next' generation system.
  • Star Wars: Battlefront - The first video game, developed by Pandemic Studios and published by LucasArts; and the 2015 Continuity Reboot Star Wars Battlefront (no colon punctuation mark), developed by DICE and published by EA. The 2004 game was followed by Star Wars: Battlefront II in 2005, as the 2015 game was followed by Star Wars Battlefront II (again, no colon punctuation mark) in 2017.
  • Strider could refer to: the 1989 arcade game by Capcom, the NES version released during the same year based on the Moto Kikaku manga, or the 2014 reboot by Double Helix.
    • Strider II, the 1990 Tiertex-developed home computer sequel to Strider, is not to be confused with the similarly titled Strider 2 (aka Strider Hiryu 2), the 1999 Capcom-developed arcade sequel. The former was remade for Sega Genesis and Game Gear under the U.S. title of Journey From Darkness: Strider Returns.
  • Super Dodge Ball - The 1987 arcade original, the 1988 NES version (which is technically a port, but very different from the original), and the rare 1996 Neo-Geo sequel.
  • Superman for Atari 2600, Superman: The Game for Commodore 64, Superman for NES, Superman for arcade, Superman for Sega Genesis, Superman for Game Boy, and Superman for Nintendo 64 are all different games, which is likely why the latter is almost universally called Superman 64. For good measure, there are also three different games called Superman: The Man of Steel.
  • While most of the Super Smash Bros. games since the first one have had subtitles, the fourth one is simply titled Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U after the systems it's on.
  • Test Drive - The seventh installment.
  • Thief - The fourth game (originally known as Thi4f) is technically the first one to be called just Thief. The original 1998 PC game was titled Thief: The Dark Project.
  • Tooth Invaders is a 1981 game for the Commodore 64 and VIC-20, and a 2013 Mobile Phone Game game by Luminov.
  • Turok - A borderline example, since the 2008 multiplatform reboot is the first game in the series to be simply titled Turok. The 1997 original had a subtitle (Turok: Dinosaur Hunter), but it was often just called Turok, which is of course the accepted series name.
  • Twisted Metal - The 1995 PlayStation original and the 2012 PS3 sequel to Twisted Metal Black.
  • Unreal Tournament (1999), and Unreal Tournament 4, titled Unreal Tournament.
  • Wolfenstein - The 2009 game doesn't have the "3D" in its title (not to mention the "Castle" from Silas Warner's 1981 Apple II game), but still....
  • Xbox - The "Xbox 1" used to be a common nickname for the original Xbox after the release of the Xbox 360 until the unveiling of the actual Xbox One.
  • Yakuza: Like a Dragon is an unusual example of this. The Japanese name of the series is Ryu ga Gotoku, which translates to "Like a Dragon", so the English title is recycling the title of the first game for its subtitle in a roundabout way (the Japanese title is Ryu ga Gotoku 7: Hikari to Yami no Yukue, meaning Like a Dragon 7: The Whereabouts of Light and Darkness).
  • You Don't Know Jack - The original was released in 1995. It had its share of sequels and expansion packs, then it laid low for about eight years until a new one was released in 2011 with the same name as the original. Most fans just append "2011" to the name.

    Webcomics 

    Western Animation 
  • Bump in the Night has used "Comfort Schmumfort" as a title for both a regular episode and a Karaoke Cafe song.
  • Subverted by the 1984 Heathcliff series (often nicknamed Heathcliff & The Catillac Cats and aired in some territories as Cats & Company) by DiC. It is the third Heathcliff animated series, but the only one that was simply called Heathcliff. The two earlier Ruby-Spears series, Heathcliff & Dingbat and Heathcliff & Marmaduke, had Heathcliff sharing the title with a different canine co-protagonist.
  • Looney Tunes:
    • There are two shorts titled Dumb Patrol; a 1931 black-and-white short starring Bosko, and a 1964 short starring Bugs Bunny and Yosemite Sam.
    • There are two shorts titled Injun Trouble; a 1938 black-and-white short starring Porky Pig, and a 1969 short starring Cool Cat (the latter notable for bring the last short from the "classic era").
    • The title I Gopher You was used for both a classic short and an episode of The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries. Both prominently feature the Goofy Gophers.
  • The Simpsons: Numerous examples of very similar episode titles:
    • "Flaming Moe's" (with an apostrophe s) in season 3 and "Flaming Moe" in season 22.
    • "The Boy Who Knew Too Much" (season 5), "The Dad Who Knew Too Little" (14), "The Girl Who Slept Too Little" (17) and "The Man Who Grew Too Much" (25).
    • "Moaning Lisa" (season 1), "Moe'N'a Lisa" (18), "Mona Leaves-A" (19), "Loan-a Lisa" (22)
    • "The Old Man and the Lisa" (season 8), "The Old Man and the “C” Student" (10), "The Old Man and the Key" (13)
    • "Take My Life, Sleaze" (season 11), "Brake My Wife, Please" (14), "Take My Life, Please" (20)
    • "To Surveil With Love" (season 21), "To Cur With Love" (24), "To Courier With Love" (27)
    • "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" (season 2), "Oh Brother, Where Bart Thou?" (21)
    • "Million Dollar Abie" (season 17), "Million Dollar Maybe" (21)
    • The title "Married to the Blob" was first used for a Treehouse of Horror short about Homer becoming a giant blob, then several years later became the title for an episode where Comic Book Guy falls in love.
  • The Transformers franchise has used the title Transformers: Robots in Disguise both for the American title of a 2000 anime and a 2015 cartoon set in the same continuity as Transformers: Prime. Between those two, there was a comic set in G1 continuity released call The Transformers: Robots in Disguise. None are related to any of the others, though interestingly, both television series have 'cons with beast modes as the primary enemies, and a green version of Grimlock who speaks in full sentences (mind you, 2000 Grimlock was a Grimlock In Name Only.)
  • The What's New, Scooby-Doo? episode "Wrestle Maniacs" shares its title with an episode of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo. Interestingly, both series' episodes revolved around wrestling and featured characters voiced by Jim Cummings.
  • Family Guy's sixth season had an episode titled "The Former Life of Brian", which was about Brian discovering that he has an illegitimate son. Much later, the twelfth season had an episode simply titled "Life of Brian", where he was briefly killed off only to be revived two episodes later.
  • Thomas & Friends: Several episode titles have been reused over the years, including "Fish" (Series 4 and 8), "Dirty Work" (Series 2 and 11) and "Thomas in Trouble" (Series 1 and 11).
  • The Pink Panther had a cartoon in 1965 titled "Sink Pink", where a hunter tries to hunt the main character for his fur coat. It should not be confused with "Slink Pink" (note the spelling) from 1969, where the Panther tries to stay warm inside a man's home without him knowing.
  • Mighty Mouse had two revivals that shared similar names: The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse, which was produced by Filmation in 1979, followed by Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures in 1987, produced by Ralph Bakshi.
  • Both My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and its spinoff My Little Pony: Pony Life have an episode called "All Bottled Up".
  • The Mina and The Count short "My Best Friend" shares its title with the original student film creator Rob Renzetti made for CalArts that is the series' precursor.

    Cross Media 

    Other 
  • iPhone SE - The iPhone 8-based one from 2020 shares its name with the 5S-based one from 2016. Rumored names were the iPhone 9 and the iPhone SE 2.

Alternative Title(s): Identically Named Sequel, Same Name Sequel

Previous

Index

Next

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder You Know That Show... Trope Launch Pad Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top