Thief's Theme: 10 Games That Could Not Have Been More Obvious Rip-Offs

Image via Complex Original

GREAT GIANA SISTERS (1987)

Rips Off: Super Mario Bros.

Rip List:

-Mushrooms that make you grow

-Generic Italian-sounding names for the two main characters

-Breaking blocks with your head

-Fireball power-up

-Level design that's...similar to say the least

Complex Says: Well, if you’re going to rip something off, might as well make it one of the greats. But at least make the sisters interesting—even when they get their Mohawks, they look like they just left JC Penney after a $15 shopping spree.

CASTLEVANIA II: SIMON'S QUEST (1987)

Rips Off: Metroid

Rip List:

-2D platforming built around power-ups

-Backtracking to previously unavailable areas due to said power-ups and higher jumping ability

Complex Says: Castlevania II was actually one of the first to cop multiple elements from Metroid, thus spawning the whole "Metroidvania" genre—a formula that‘s still used today with the DS Castlevania installments.

GOLDEN AXE WARRIOR (1991)

Rips Off: The Legend of Zelda

Rip List:

-Opening gameplay and level design cribbed from LoZ

-Skeleton and pig enemies

-Oh, and the main character is a rip-off of Dragon Warrior's

Complex Says: Even the main character’s wide-ass eyes make him look surprised that he’s in such a blatant ripoff.

FIGHTER'S HISTORY (1993)

Rips Off: Street Fighter II

Rip List:

-Three characters cribbed wholesale from SFII, including Ken and Ryu

-Combo sets

-Eerily similar environment/background art

-Several identical special moves

Complex Says: Capcom actually tried to sue SH developer Data East (who was also behind old-school classics BurgerTime and Bump 'n' Jump) for copyright infringement, but the suit was struck down. Because our justice system is great...except when it’s completely retarded. This historical piece of litigation clearly deserved better, as it was without a doubt the equal to such landmark cases as Brown vs. Board of Education.

SONIC DRIFT (1994)

Rips Off: Mario Kart

Rip List:

-Franchise characters...in karts.

-Said karts...racing.

-...Around a track.

Complex Says: Damn, Sega didn’t even bother trying to put in the elements that were fun about Mario Kart. They just plopped Sonic into a kart and hoped that idiots would buy it. *slinks off guiltily*

GUITAR HERO (2005)

Rips Off: Guitar Freaks

Rip List:

-Guitar controller

-Scrolling notes

-Scoring system based on combos

-Did you not see that video? C'mon, fam!

Complex Says: Sure, it’s almost plausible that Guitar Freaks could have possibly stole from Guitar Hero, save for the fact that GF came out SIX YEARS EARLIER. Konami, for some ungodly reason, had actually licensed some of their patents to Activision and Harmonix, and thus lost out on $10 bazillion in potential revenue here in the US. Bobby Kotick = Nucky Thompson.

SAINTS ROW 1 & 2 (2006)

Rips Off: Grand Theft Auto series

Rip List:

-Gangsta lean in an “urban environment”

-Shooter elements in a sandbox game

-Mission structure

-Carjacking

Complex Says: One of the few instances where the rip-off is arguably an improvement over the original; the gameplay/mission structure felt less tedious than that of GTA IV. We’re not sure what’s up with the contrived multi-culti gang, though (Third Street Saints). The only time we’ve ever seen multiple ethnicities team up to take the streets IRL was during a cosplay event at an anime convention in LA. There were 150 pasty white dudes, 34 dorky Asian kids, and like one black kid named Trent wearing a Naruto costume. Oh, and one 10-year-old girl who didn’t look like she was there on her own accord. That was kinda creepy.

LIMBO OF THE LOST (2007)

Rips Off: Elder Scrolls IV, WoW, Spawn (the %$@# movie, for chrissake), and Thief: Deadly Shadows

Rip List:

-Blatantly stolen art assets from Oblivion and WoW

-A screen image from Beetlejuice (seriously)

-Environment assets from Thief: Deadly Shadows


Complex Says: This point-and-click PC adventure was supposed to be old school, but it ended up being a freakish orgy of thievery. Yes, an orgy. A larcenous orgy of orgiastic thievers.

DANTE'S INFERNO (2010)

Rips Off: God of War


Rip List:

-Health and Magic Orbs from chests (also opened by holding the circle button) and enemies

-QTEs and camera perspective

-Almost identical combo system (heavy/light attacks are executed in the same manner as GOW)

-Nearly identical button mapping

-Gameplay style and pacing

-Similar environmental puzzles

-Bewbs

Complex Says: Yeah, there are a lot of undeniable “similarities” here. Even down to the mythological overtones. Not that, uh, Christianity is a mythology. But why are the Greek Gods/parables considered mythology now? Why can’t they still be a religion too nowadays? At least they have hot goddesses. The God we have now is an Old White Dude who people insist looks like Jeff Bridges’ long lost older brother (no, not Beau). God of War’s Athena, on the other hand, is a dime. We’d do human sacrifices for her. OK, maybe not human. Maybe frog sacrifices. Or gnats. Gnats are just annoying.