Video game characters that were, ahem, "inspired by" characters from other media

Dnomla · Sep 23, 2019

"Ziggy" from Xenosaga ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David Bowie (Ziggy Stardust is his song/alter ego)

"Sellers" from Xenosaga ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Strangelove (played by Peter Sellers)

The Turbanator · Sep 23, 2019

Mahnmut said:
I remember reading in a magazine (back in the 90's) that Dan was designed as a mockery of SNK characters. Don't know if it's true or not.

Yes, Dan's moves are almost 1:1 the same as Ryo from Art of Fighting, minus the inputs, as well as having Robert's head straight up, which was supposed to be a reference to Ryo being a Ryu ripoff. So in return, SNK made Yuri as a comic relief character based off of Dan.

There's a lot of back and forth between the two companies tbh.

Regiruler · Sep 23, 2019

The House of the Dead series producers have gone on record that the playable characters (or at least the female character) is modeled after a semi popular movie star at the time of production.

Doggg · Sep 23, 2019

Can't find a really good pic, but Samus and Kim Basinger.

Prof Bathtub · Sep 23, 2019

Who could forget the duo of Spanish literature

(Little King's Story)
and

(Dragon Quest V)

L Thammy said:
Appearance-wise he's probably inspired by Impact Alberto or however you want to translate his name.

Yeah, a fusion of Alberto and Chief Chujo.

AcademicSaucer · Sep 23, 2019

Hentz · Sep 23, 2019

iag said:

cant believe it took the last post on the first page for this to appear, I was about to google search link & peter pan lol

Horp · Sep 23, 2019

Grapezard said:
Ridley Scott and Ridley (Metroid). It's like Nintendo didn't even TRY to make them look different.

Should clarify which one is which

BurnKnuckle21 · Sep 23, 2019

SOLDIER said:
Having recently gotten into the Anime and Manga, Yojiro Hanma (aka "Ogre") from the Grappler Baki series proves that Capcom plagarized the shit out of him with Akuma.

-Both have red hair

-Both are obsessed with fighting strong opponents

-Both "groom" the main character from their respective series to grow stronger so that one day they can have an epic battle against them

-Both have a "demon" motiff

-Both have a trademark pose where they show their back to the camera

-Both typically like to battle opponents to the death

-They even have similar moves, such as the dive kick

You could apply this to nearly every classic Street Fighter character. Capcom gave no shits and pretty much cribbed from all sorts of sources (JoJo, Battle Angel Alita, Fist of the North Star, Doomed Megopolis, etc).

As a huge SF fan that knows very little about anime, can you provide more examples? These are interesting to me. I've seen some of the JoJo ones like Guile and someone else but never the others you mentioned.

signal · Sep 23, 2019

K9999 as NoTetsuo

SOLDIER · Sep 23, 2019

BurnKnuckle21 said:
As a huge SF fan that knows very little about anime, can you provide more examples? These are interesting to me. I've seen some of the JoJo ones like Guile and someone else but never the others you mentioned.

Here's a detailed comparison between Cammy and Battle Angel Alita: http://www.cammyfan.com/miscellaneous/gally-cammy/cammy-vs-gally.htm

Deleted member 49319 · Sep 23, 2019

mopinks · Sep 23, 2019

The Turbanator said:
Yes, Dan's moves are almost 1:1 the same as Ryo from Art of Fighting, minus the inputs, as well as having Robert's head straight up, which was supposed to be a reference to Ryo being a Ryu ripoff. So in return, SNK made Yuri as a comic relief character based off of Dan.

There's a lot of back and forth between the two companies tbh.

Yuri also mastered the Satsui no Hado

BurnKnuckle21 · Sep 23, 2019

Exotoro said:
its very true. dan's character pulls from like three seperate snk characters and is like, a dead on ringer for ryo in his debut

Ayyy

1upsuper · Sep 23, 2019

Prof Bathtub said:
Well, no complaints here.

Woah.

Crushed said:
Astral Chain takes a lot of inspiration from Evangelion. Just in the very intro alone, with the activation sequence of the Sword Legion, is straight up the activation test episode 5 from Evangelion, down the cybernetic mech monster beating on the glass while the sinister commander looks on (though dispassionately like Rei does in a repeat of that in a later episode).

The whole "weird apocalypse that forces humanity into last cities" setup (redshifting/the Ark in Astral Chain, Second Impact/Tokyo-3 in Evangelion), Yoseph as a sinister bespectacled bearded scientist/commander of "NEURON" (aka Gendo Ikari, the sinister bespectacled bearded scientist commander of "NERV"). The Legions themselves are extremely EVA-like in their sharp, angular design and screaming mouths, and as cyborg versions of the main enemy monsters of the game, with their "armor" actually being restraints to keep them under control.

Also the weird cabal of prophets who berate Yoseph early on are straight up SEELE from Evangelion, down to being data projections on geometric screens who complain about how Yoseph is wasting their time and money.

Oh, and in case it isn't made obvious enough, one of the first preset color schemes you can unlock for your Legions are EVA Unit 01 colors:

I have this game sealed on my desk. I gotta play it soon after reading this.

Psittacus · Sep 23, 2019

I see no mention of the races of Starcraft being blatant copies of the Imperium, Eldar and Tyranids from Warhammer 40k

Crushed said:
Astral Chain takes a lot of inspiration from Evangelion

I have more to add

- The Legions are controlled via neurological syncronisation
- Achieving a high enough sync rate cause you to fuse into your Legion
- You are deposed by mass production Legions, who are controlled by a series of clones
- Yoseph's plan is just Instrumentality

artemis · Sep 23, 2019

Kilic95 said:

Not even close but OK.

Hugare · Sep 23, 2019

Mirage said:
Not exactly the same looking but like...

Phisically, they are nothing alike

The whole game is a Twin Peaks copy, but them? Nah, despite them both loving coffee

Emily and Naomi Watts, tho ... that's another story. I've never seen such a blatant copy

FarZa17 · Sep 23, 2019

Honoka and Honoka

Deleted member 49319 · Sep 23, 2019

artemis said:
Not even close but OK.

I once saw a D.VA nendoroid in store and thought that was a new Evangelion character.

AllMight1 · Sep 23, 2019

Jack Slate got SUPER Jacked for Dead to Rights Retribution (Great game, try it)

https://www.gamingnexus.com/Images/Article/tibbyq2634/4.jpg

Clearly inspired by:

Kung Fucius · Sep 23, 2019

Namco doesn't stop at just borrowing character's likenesses.

Compare to

Christie has in poses copied from Britney Spears dances, Violet does Michael Jackson dances.

The new Leroy Smith character is definitely going to have some moves lifted from the Ip Man Movies.

Chin Gentsai from King of Fighters

Yuen Siu-tien AKA Sam Seed

Serein · Sep 23, 2019

Shun Di from Virtua Fighter 2 and Beggar So from Drunken Master. If you're not familiar then they may not look too similar outside of old men who like a drink but Shun's Drunken Boxing moveset is clearly inspired by the Drunken Master films.

Hasan Ali Almaci · Sep 23, 2019

NeoZeedeater said:

This one also featured the T-800, spiderman, batman and godzilla

MysticGon · Sep 23, 2019

Grapezard said:
Ridley Scott and Ridley (Metroid). It's like Nintendo didn't even TRY to make them look different.

This made me cough...

Heroin Cat · Sep 23, 2019

Psittacus said:
I see no mention of the races of Starcraft being blatant copies of the Imperium, Eldar and Tyranids from Warhammer 40k

I have more to add

- The Legions are controlled via neurological syncronisation
- Achieving a high enough sync rate cause you to fuse into your Legion
- You are deposed by mass production Legions, who are controlled by a series of clones
- Yoseph's plan is just Instrumentality

While you're right about 40k, Tyranids started looking more like Zerg after statecraft came out. IIRC it was 2nd edition Tyranids that started to look more like the modern incarnation, although they were similar before, just less insectoid.

DeathPeak · Sep 23, 2019

Edea ripped off Dark Lili

Alastor3 · Sep 23, 2019

ActWan said:

woa, never seen this theory before

Kung Fucius · Sep 23, 2019

Serein said:
Shun Di from Virtua Fighter 2 and Beggar So from Drunken Master. If you're not familiar then they may not look too similar outside of old men who like a drink but Shun's Drunken Boxing moveset is clearly inspired by the Drunken Master films.

Chin not only fights like him, he looks like him too!

RazzMahTazz1319 · Sep 23, 2019

ActWan said:

Dammit beat me to it

Hamlet Machine · Sep 23, 2019

DeathPeak said:
Edea ripped off Dark Lili

On a side note,
I was wondering recently if Edea didn't inspire Bayonetta, she's a sexy sorcress, dressed in black. She even has retracible hair in one cutscene in FF8..
Also, Ultimecia is dressed in red, with white hair. Just like Jeanne in Bayo..

Ombala · Sep 23, 2019

iag said:

Oh wow

Acinixys · Sep 23, 2019

Olgierd Von Everec from the Witcher 3 is 100000% David Beckham

Acu · Sep 23, 2019

Acinixys said:
Olgierd Von Everec from the Witcher 3 is 100000% David Beckham

Picture for reference:

Like... yea, if this wasn't intentional... I don't know anymore.

JustinH · Sep 23, 2019

Strings said:
It's a shame we'll never, ever surpass Shaolin Soccer's take on Bruce:

God, this movie was so cool. If I don't still have my DVD copy, I might just have to buy it again.

Prof Bathtub said:
Well, no complaints here.

Even though I don't know who the second picture is, this is still interesting to me.

Kung Fucius said:

Obligatory "Ack-sually they're both Arnold."

ThousandEyes · Sep 23, 2019

Teejay said:

Yo did miyamoto base the first donkey Kong game after this Popeyes scan?

nib95 · Sep 23, 2019

ToddBonzalez said:

Not that I think it looked much like Ellen Page even before, but they changed her look slightly.

A lot of the examples in this thread feel like reaching, whilst others (eg MGS cover) are more apt.

Manbig · Sep 23, 2019

Geese Howard from Fatal Fury

Souther from Fist of the North Star

It's pretty much a homage. Geese even uses one of Souther's attacks. They just gave it back to him in season 3 of Tekken 7 too.

Kain · Sep 23, 2019

Acinixys said:
Olgierd Von Everec from the Witcher 3 is 100000% David Beckham

The question is WHY

Prof Bathtub · Sep 23, 2019

JustinH said:
Even though I don't know who the second picture is, this is still interesting to me.

Inspector Zenigata from the Lupin III manga/anime series. Another dogged law enforcer usually used for comedy relief who often finds common cause with the thief protagonist.

ThousandEyes said:
Yo did miyamoto base the first donkey Kong game after this Popeyes scan?

The left image is fanart.

Phediuk · Sep 23, 2019

ThousandEyes said:
Yo did miyamoto base the first donkey Kong game after this Popeyes scan?

the left image is a mockup, but one based on truth: Donkey Kong was originally conceived as a Popeye game with Bluto filling the DK role and Olive Oyl filling Pauline's. And of course Popeye in place of Mario.

Once DK became a hit, Nintendo was able to secure the rights to actually make a Popeye game.

shadowman16 · Sep 23, 2019

Manbig said:
Geese Howard from Fatal Fury

Souther from Fist of the North Star

It's pretty much a homage. Geese even uses one of Souther's attacks. They just gave it back to him in season 3 of Tekken 7 too.

Somehow I never twigged on the similarities of the two. And somehow this only makes Geese even more awesome than he previously was.

FlintSpace · Sep 23, 2019

Metal Wolf Chaos and the President of United States

Deleted member 11370 · Sep 23, 2019

Teejay said:

ThousandEyes said:
Yo did miyamoto base the first donkey Kong game after this Popeyes scan?

While Donkey Kong was originally a Popeye game that Miyamoto filled with his own characters once Nintendo lost the license, I'm pretty sure that the image on the left (Popeye) is actually a modern reinterpretation of the picture on the right (Donkey Kong) and not the other way around. So, there's really no "plagiarism" here, but rather a "what if" scenario.

Rygar 8Bit · Sep 23, 2019

Konami did a lot of this with their box art.

Castlevania 2 boxart:

D&D Ravenloft adventure cover:

Deleted member 1102 · Sep 23, 2019

Deleted member 1659 · Sep 23, 2019

PaulloDEC said:
I probably shouldn't dignify this with a response, but who are you suggesting is a rip-off of who?

Duke is probably one of the rare examples of characters who've had their personality ripped-off (in Duke's case from about a dozen 80's action movie characters) but not their design.

Duke Nukem is also unique in that the original iteration of his character (1991) was actually supposed to be serious. He was modeled after 80's action movie characters at a time when they were still culturally relevant. The 1996 and best known version of him (Duke Nukem 3D) however came out at a time when that type of archtype was no longer culturally relevant so he evolved into a parody of them ala Rayner Wolfcastle from the Simpsons. By the time Duke Nukem Forever came out in 2011, so much time had past that even the parody of those characters were a tired joke. It'd be like making a "Whats uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup?" reference in 2019.

Deleted member 41520 · Sep 23, 2019

Brian McDoogle said:
Naughty Dog will/should be listed a few times here, but the Metal Gear cover is kind of pathetic:

God damn I always knew that was familiar. Wild.

xendless · Sep 23, 2019

So if we combine David Bowie and Bruce Lee, we have the ultimate video game character

Hawkster · Sep 23, 2019

Deus Ex's Adam Jensen:

Deus Ex's Art Director Jonathan Jacques-Belletete:

Video game characters that were, ahem, "inspired by" characters from other media

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