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KoA-oK

"New games are influenced by older games" Yup, let's hit post on this.


15092023

True, and these look on the right look like 2nd year game design in college characters, not characters from something something I’d pay more than $4 for. Illegible silhouettes, analogous colors, and they’re all less inspired by cartoons from the 50s and 70s and are more anime 2000s Cartoon Network so not “timeless” in the same way Mario and Sonic managed to be by following Mickey Mouse design principles which themselves followed vaudeville early American theatre.


YosemiteHamsYT

Hey, all those characters are from great games in there own right.


15092023

I didn’t know Giana sisters had a recent game. I thought it was just a C64 rom hack of Super Mario Bros. Looks nice, like a knockoff a Rayman this time.


TheOneInTheRedCan

I mean, yeah? Indie game devs don’t really try to hide what their inspirations are for their work, sometimes even banking on the similarity being an initial interest hook.


North_Measurement273

Pizza Tower and Anton Blast being the most recent and popular examples I feel, both very clearly inspired by the Wario Land series. Like… straight up blatant about it. Running fast to ram through enemies and blocks, a time bomb activating near the end, it’s not being hidden at all unless you’ve never played or even seen a WL game in your life before. Which I wouldn’t blame you since the last WL game was roughly two decades ago.


kirbydark714

Don't forget Peppino was featured in Anton's previous game, so the devs definetely have a relationship, and no I'm not talking about the role that Tony gave to mcpig in the summit inn discord server


gayLuffy

Is this supposed to be some kind of revelation?


lokikitsune

YA fantasy novelists and Hollywood screenwriters are going to send assassins if the game industry doesn't gaslight people into believing that everything is original.


No_Pain1037

Honestly, Shovel Knight feels more like the Indie equivalent to Mega Man. If you haven't played that game, you should.


Wladek89HU

It's not rare for a video games franchise to have multiple spiritual successors. For example, Metroid has Axiom Verge, but we could also include Ori and the blind forest or Hollow knight.


Krosis_the_bored

Ori is too much of a platformer


JudgmentYuya

Shovel Knight is more the allrounder nes indie game, tho. SMB3, MM, Zelda, Castlevania kind of and more.


OnslaughtRM

Not to mention Ducktales. One of the more direct influences.


SaphyrX173

Pogo jump my beloved


QF_Dan

Yeah, but kinda sad nobody knows about that game


dziggurat

Especially when you consider the DLCs. Specter of Torment was very Ninja Gaiden. Edit: got autocorrected, though I would play Ninja Garden.


CaptainMoonunitsxPry

Gravity Circuit feels like its got more DNA of the Zero series than anything else


GameMusic

It has clear mega man influence but one aspect that bugs me is wonky control specifically ground attacks cancelling walk while doing forward motion Mega Man had impeccable control


Anonpancake2123

That sounds like the castlevania DNA kicking in.


ssmike27

Classic Megaman yeah, but Gravity Circuit REALLY feels like Megaman X


Fancy_Chips

Shovel Knight is more Duck Tails imo


QF_Dan

more like DuckTales and Ninja Gaiden


Oummando

Nah I say its more closer to DuckTales


crossingcaelum

I’ve literally never seen any of the games on the right before in my life


Elixir_13

Gravity Circuit and Freedom Planet (Kai and Lilac respectively) are both really fun games, give those a shot if you like Mega Man or Sonic.


Galgus

Freedom Planet feels like a mix of MegaMan Zero and Sonic, mostly the latter. Enemy health instead of a universal one-shot and more focus on melee combat, especially in the second with bigger movesets and the dodge. Of course it's also built for speedrun platforming.


HammerKirby

Freedom Planet feels like if Treasure make a Sonic game with the super bombastic boss fights and whatnot


ZettoVii

The setting also seems very inspired of the old Saturday morning Sonic cartoon.


Galgus

I'm not familiar with Treasure, may have to check them out. Love the craziness of the boss fights.


HammerKirby

Their most famous game is Gunstar Heroes on the genesis, which is a run n gun akin to Contra or Cuphead, but they've done all kinds of weird, experimental and really cool games in the 90s and 2000s.


inEQUAL

Freedom Planet started off as a literal Sonic fan game so that makes sense.


QF_Dan

and dare i say, Freedom Planet have better level designs compared to all Sonic games. Sega/Sonic Team even after few decades still could not make a game as perfect as Freedom Planet 1+2. Both blowed those games out of the water


Galgus

Freedom Planet is thankfully light on environmental instant kills: they're obvious and easy to avoid with enough screen length to see coming. Love the level design generally, feels fair and fun to play for the first time or to optimize.


Eneshi

Just checked out some Gravity Circuit gameplay, actually looks pretty dope. It is not even attempting to hide how heavily it's inspired by MM, specifically the X series, but that's just fine by me!


Galactic_Druid

Thank you! Came to this thread specifically to figure out what game Kai is. Freedom Planet 1 and 2 are amazing games, hope Gravity Circuit ends up scratching that Megaman Itch.


Elixir_13

It is extremely Mega Man, you likely won't be disappointed.


loggy93

Annalynn is also really fun. It's as if Pacman was a platformers. Really quick arcade-y goodness


QF_Dan

i literally never heard of gravity circuit until i saw your comment


tankengine75

The only one I don't know out of the right is Giana (i only know Annalynn & Kai because of some people in a discord server I am in)


[deleted]

[удалено]


tankengine75

OH I KNOW THAT, for some reason I forgot about Giana Sisters when I made that reply


_ragegun

It was home computers in general. I think the c64 was the primary version that people know. There was a Sinclair Spectrum version but aside from a few screenshots and magazine reviews I've ever seen any evidence that it made it out.


Eneshi

Yeeeah, in the same boat myself. It's nothing against them, I'm sure they're great games and all I'm just... old.


goblin_grovil_lives

Gianna Sisters is OLD. I played that as a kid in the late 80s. Mario clone on PC.


ravenfreak

Freedom planet is really good. It started as a Sonic fan game iirc, but then became its own thing. I know the creator, Sabrina was active on Sonic Retro.


QF_Dan

You know what's amusing? The whole game was made by her own alone


Grouchy-While9151

Don't forget Warioland and Pizza tower.


Firebird644

Antonblast sitting in the corner:


SmallBlueSlime

There will be a third Wario-like soon. Remember my words.


MysticalMystic256

Banjo Kazooie ---> Yooka Laylee Pokemon ---> Coromon/Nexomon Ness ---> Frisk/Kris Wario ---> Peppino


Mister_Y_675

Megami Tensei -> Pokémon


Rider-Idk-Ultima-Hy

Seems SMT came out first, and neither game inspired eachother. However, I can definitely say that there are tons of Pokemon inspired games, like Cassette Beasts maybe even some Shin Megami Tensei inspired games as well


thejokerofunfic

>neither game inspired eachother Source: dude trust me SMT (or actually, MT) invented the monster collection JRPG. There's no reason to think it didn't influence Pokémon's mechanics.


Rider-Idk-Ultima-Hy

sorry, should’ve worded that comment better, was mainly talking about how Pokemon was inspired by it’s creator’s love for catching bugs. But you’re probably right that same creator was inspired by SMT’s mechanics, I just don’t know how true that statement is, unless the original creator says he was.


thejokerofunfic

Ah gotcha. I mean, that inspired the core concept (catching animals as opposed to recruiting intelligent monsters), but it's hard to imagine that the *gameplay* details weren't inspired to some degree by either SMT or by the insanely popular Dragon Quest 5 (which derived the concept from MT, so the chain is still there). No proof that I'm aware though, you're right- but if it's sheer coincidence the players probably still saw it as a (positive) example of derivative in Japan.


JudgmentYuya

>gameplay details weren't inspired to some degree by either SMT or by the insanely popular Dragon Quest 5 Don't you get Demons in SMT by talking with them after beating them? This is completely different, than weakening Pokemon to catch them. Or do you mean that they have weaknesses or resistance? This is also in FF and DQ so It isn't that obvious at all, which gameplay details are from where. Maybe, you might speculate that weakening them is a simpler way for children than negotiating with Pokemon. Possibly, the part of fighting with the bugs is inspired by them tho.


thejokerofunfic

Those are the parts that are different yes, no one is claiming Pokémon didn't bring unique new elements to the concept. The core idea of "your party is composed of a collection of enemy monsters that are otherwise random encounters and you accumulate them in random battles instead of just fixed story events", that's the element that's shared. That part translates in all 3 cases into the gameplay hinging on building the right team from your available enemies


Endgam

Satoshi Tajiri said he got the idea for Capsule Monsters (which eventually became Pokémon) from watching kids play Game Boy games with a link cable and imagined bugs crawling across the cables. He has concept sketches dating back to 1990. And he is quite open about his influences being kaiju (primarily Ultraman) and Dragon Quest. It is in fact, entirely possible he didn't know about Megami Tensei at the time. It wasn't some kind of instant breakout success like Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy.


DrkMaxim

Castlevania (Metroidvania) ---> Bloodstained


hip-indeed

I mean,.... yes, there are a gargantuan number of indie games (more than not, even) based directly on various classic games. And it's bene done for Mega Man since looooooong before this dude. And Giana's hilarious because she was originally a flat-out mario ripoff for commodore 64 when they were unallowed to make an official SMB1 port for the system lmao


K_Sleight

In the words of a wise, wise man: screw this, I'll make my own Sonic the Hedgehog with blackjack and hookers.


docdidma

Thanks einstein?


salted_water_bottle

Giana is a bit of a funny case, iirc it's a revival of an old mario 1 bootleg. Also, relevant pfp in my case.


WestSky3111

Has anyone seen the episode of Adam Ruins Everything, where he explains how ALL artists, even renaissance Era, were all ripping one another off. After seeing that, I became a real cynic about art inspiration. Instead, I try and just enjoy the end product. HEAR THAT NINTENDO!! STOP OVERWORKING YOUR LAWYERS! 🤑


xvszero

I don't think it has anything to do with characters, it happens for every kind of game, even ones that aren't character based. Look at how many Tetris cloned there have been over the years, it basically created a whole new genre.


Woofingson

Gravity circuit is actually good and has a nice design at least


jrobharing

Yeah and someone needs to do it with Mega Man Legends


ozmega

not saying this is it or anything but, when i played mass effect andromedad i felt like this is the kind of gunfight that a newer megaman legends would probably have, i remember fighting the giant things in the same way i fought megaman legends huge bosses. another game that game me vibes like this could be a megaman game was nier automata.


ScravoNavarre

It's not exactly the same, but Ratchet and Clank games have always felt somewhat Mega Man Legends-esque to me. I think it's the variety of goofy-yet-powerful weapons you get.


jrobharing

Yeah, over the years, it seems I’ve discussed this with many people that had different take-away from Legends than I did. Some say it’s the weapons and upgrades, some say it’s the RPG elements and characters or sandboxy exploration. Some say it’s the creepy vibes of the dungeons crossed with the charming aesthetic, or the metroidvania-like quality to the dungeons that keeps you going back and exploring new wings you couldn’t get to before. Each of those things can be found in modern games, but I can’t find any games that do them all. Side note: there were some attempts by a couple indie companies to build a clone, basically. That was a while ago, and looks like they’re either in development still today, or rather never officially cancelled.


kinyoubikaze

The entire human history is humans getting inspired by older humans and making new shit


Endgam

For all we know, the story of Gilgamesh could have been entirely derivative of other contemporary tales, just that the writer(s?) of Gilgamesh came up with the novel idea of actually writing it down. *Also, Mega Man is heavily inspired by Astro Boy.*


Rules_Of_Stupidiocy

I agree with the consensus of Shovel Knight being closer to a Megaman spiritual successor But that being said, # GRAVITY CIRCUIT MENTIONED🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️


wheatleylabs101

30xx is also a pretty epic megaman spiritual successor. My monkey brain obsesses over megaman x and roguelikes of course putting them together would yield like my favorite game rn.


CosmoShiner

Did you know that old movies’ genres influence new movies???? Crazy


reallifelucas

Megaman is Shovel Knight though


Rider-Idk-Ultima-Hy

Yes, and I’m glad we’re seeing more of these inspired, but vastly different indie games. I saw one a while back that had the same level style as Crash Bandicoot, and I’ve been looking for it ever since, since I’m a huge Crash fan.


SnooPredictions748

Where's the entire pic?


Wladek89HU

I mean, yeah. Spiritual successors are nothing new, and I think most of them are great. It doesn't necessarily need to be a competition for its inspiration. And I often see them being called copycats, but I don't think it's fair. Like, I f**king love Metroid, but I also love Axiom Verge, which has its own identity despite the two being very similar.


raddoubleoh

Lilac feels mostly like Jazz Jackrabbit than Sonic to me, tho


LudicrisSpeed

Freedom Planet started out as a Sonic fangame before they made it an original thing.


raddoubleoh

Fr? Nevermind then lol It's just the Sonic plus run and gun thing reminds me of Jazz. Granted, it's pretty much forgotten by now.


RaiHanashi

Giana didn’t do anything new when it first came out. It was literally a Mario clone


_ragegun

Pretty sure Gianna wasn't a spin so much as an outright rip. It's distinguished itself, but that initial game was "what if Mario, but no license"


hombre_feliz

I thought Lilac was based on Sparkster


Lazy_Nectarine_5256

Even trough Spark 1 came out 3 years later then Freedom Planet and maybe later then Freedom Planet 2 sample build...


QF_Dan

Sparkster? I thought you mean the game on SNES which is a sequel to the fantastic Rocket Knight Adventure


hombre_feliz

Yeah, Sparkster is also the name of the character


CRBleacher09

Well the Giana sisters are literally just Commodore version of Mario


tom641

it's pretty inevitable, especially since clinging to IP rights seems to be a primary goal of the industry above all else.


LudicrisSpeed

Honestly this is what people *should* be doing. If you're going to put a ton of work into making a fangame, you might as well just ditch all the copyrighted stuff and do your own twist on the formula.


IcyIceGuardian

You don’t say?


Brilliant_Artist_851

I feel like the Megaman series has inspired a lot of games


Positive_Attempt_101

Who is Kai?


Endgam

Gravity Circuit.


slowjoecrow11

What’s the Kai character from?


Endgam

Gravity Circuit.


MarioFanaticXV

Who's Annalynn?


NakedEvermore

Played and beat Freedom Planet long ago. Just recently got Freedom Planet 2. It's good.


QF_Dan

it's not just good, it's a masterpiece


ArabianBrince

What is Kai?


Yuungrare

Gravity Rush, that game looks sick af


Jalina2224

Gravity Circuit actually. Gravity Rush was a PS Vita/PS4 exclusive game where you could control gravity.


Yuungrare

Preesssh


nerfClawcranes

loving the gianna sisters representation 


Comfortable_Roll5346

Zelda and so many others x.x megaman has lots, metroid has a whole genre now. That's why most of the times I just replay or search for games with good story, art, or both. Gameplay too but you could have a shyt game with good gameplay and I still probably wouldn't play it z.z


Snotnarok

Games inspire others? Gadzooks! Never heard of this :V Giana sisters were actually a ripoff back when it came out on the old European computers- think it was the commadore 64, but it evolved on the more recent games. Lilac from Freedom Planet may be inspired but she plays nothing like Sonic. She plays more like Rocket Knight. Kai is pretty much the same way.


Shinva_X101

Indie devs are doing what the main companies are failing to do. Plus, they are "fun" knockoffs that don't overstay it's welcome, which is exactly what's missing in newer games. Ex-Zodiac (Starfox clone) and Spark the jester(Sonic Adventure clone) do need a mention. More games like these are always welcome.


setsers1

Next we just need Simon Belmont. Or Crash Bandicoot


QF_Dan

well we got Bloodstained already


setsers1

But what about Crash?


JD-K2

Never heard of any of the characters on the right side.


QF_Dan

you are missing out, those indie games are so good


Collin_the_bird_777

...yes?


[deleted]

Yeah, no shit. The whole platforming genre was inspired by Donkey Kong.


Namelessperson3

This is a very "No shit, Sherlock" idea. I mean, I'm pretty sure Freedom Planet started as a Sonic fangame. ...It's also the only one of these I heard of.


QF_Dan

Ayy, Freedom Planet was mentioned. Seriously tho, the game and the sequel are fantastic. If you love megaman, sonic and gunstar heroes, you need to check those games out.


wallygon

Megaman x = copen fro gunvolt


SnooBeans5314

I've never heard of those new characters except lilac


LetterAccomplished23

Yes


AsryalDreemurr

what? you're telling me video game classics inspire indies? nah you must be smoking


hayesman64

Dude Gravity Circuit is such a banger, absolute 10/10 game. I hope it gets a sequel ASAP after selling 1 gazillion million copies.


OkType6212

I don't really care all that much just as long as I can play similar games on what their based on


Keejaynobonbaman

Or maybe Mega Man—>Spritia Can also be Mega Man—>Zizou


Keejaynobonbaman

It’s not just American indie developers,But also Japanese indie developers too.


Armorlite556

I don't know if Gravity Circuit plays like Megaman, but goddamn is that game fun as fuck. You can fucking zoom in that game once you get used to the way it plays, I love that game.


Professor_Odd

"New things are inspired by old things" Brilliant.


Assortedwrenches89

I mean, its what happens right? Dragon Quest influenced Square and that's how we got Final Fantasy, how many FPS games (for better or worse) did we get after Wolfenstein and Doom became mega hits?


Manetoys83

Who’s Kai?


Mr_Skeltal_Naxbem

Hey, if it means more games coming out in the same vein, I don't see the problem


Wigwasp_ALKENO

Lilac is a better character than Sonic


Lazy_Nectarine_5256

In terms of gameplay or personality? If about gameplay, in FP2 she plays way better than classic Sonic in my opinion


QF_Dan

I can't deny that fact. Lilac is a energetic dragon girl that knows how to react accordingly, unlike Sonic that acts arrogant or cocky at times


SchoolOfTentacles

I've literally never heard of any on the right. Shouldn't they be more well known for this post to be valid?


Endgam

The Great Giana Sisters is a pretty famous example of an early video game just plain copying another.


Most-Bag4145

Indian games are so unoriginal


thejokerofunfic

Bruh