History Main / DerivativeDifferentiation

* Similarly, ''Literature/TheGoldenKeyOrTheAdventuresOfBuratino'' effectively repeats ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio'' in the first few pages, but then starts diverging until a complete breakoff after the AFoolAndHisNewMoneyAreSoonParted scene.

* In his first appearance, [[{{Franchise/Batman}} the Bat-Man]] was pretty much Radio/TheShadow with wings, with a bit of ''Franchise/{{Zorro}}'' mixed in as well. Then he got his own backstory, decided he didn't like guns, recruited a kid sidekick, and generally became his own person.

* ComicBook/TheThing and ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk were originally very similar characters; it's been suggested that the Hulk was created because Lee recognized that Ben Grimm was the most interesting member of the team. Both were created by a scientific accident, both were physically monstrous and super-strong, both wore little clothing, both were violent and antiheroic outcasts, both would frequently turn into a regular human, and both sought a means of turning back to normal permanently. However, in an odd case of this trope, it was the original one, the Thing, who did most of the differentiating: he stopped turning back into a human, went through CharacterDevelopment, and became far more of a well-adjusted and well-connected BoisterousBruiser, with his monstrousness being downplayed to the point of being almost cuddly and beloved among the populace (though he's still unhappy about his appearance at times). The Hulk, meanwhile, mostly just kept the monstrous traits and added a connection to rage (causing his transformations and increasing his strength) to tie his abilities together.

* ComicBook/TheThing and ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk were originally very similar characters; it's been suggested that the Hulk was created because Lee recognized that Ben Grimm was the most interesting member of the team. Both were created by a scientific accident, both were physically monstrous and super-strong, both wore little clothing, both were violent and antiheroic outcasts, both would frequently turn into a regular human, and both sought a means of turning back to normal permanently. However, in an odd case of this trope, it was the original one, the Thing, who did most of the differentiating: he stopped turning back into a human, went through CharacterDevelopment, and became far more of a well-adjusted and well-connected BoisterousBruiser. Meanwhile, the Hulk standardized as a character, gaining his signature connection to rage and placing his duality at the forefront.

* ''WebVideo/TribeTwelve'' started off as a video series in Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos that was a largely forgettable ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' clone, but eventually found its own voice after the funeral submission, especially in "Night Recordings."

* In ''ComicBook/{{PS238}}'', many of the background superheroes are obvious walking shout-outs. For example, Ron's father Atlas is obviously Comicbook/{{Superman}}, down to be raised by an older couple on a farm...until it's discovered that, to his own surprise, [[spoiler:he's not the LastOfHisKind, he's a HiddenBackupPrince]]. His personality also winds up being rather different as he becomes more aloof and distant from his family, [[spoiler:culminating in a divorce from Ron's mom and him taking the throne of his home planet]].

* ComicBook/MartianManhunter is an alien hero with a cool cape, a ton of powers that can vary from "ten humans could probably do the same thing" to "could take out the Death Star with his pinky" levels DependingOnTheWriter, one thing that can weaken him, and is sometimes the LastOfHisKind. ''That'' doesn't remind you of ''anyone'', does it? This results in a lot of writers not knowing what to do with him, but in many versions, the reason he and Superman aren't the same character is all down to personality - dead-serious (sometimes TheComicallySerious), sometimes more overtly "alien" with a more formal way of talking, using his shapeshifting powers to maintain ''multiple'' human identities while his true self is definitely his hero persona (it's been a ''very'' long time since Clark Kent was considered just a disguise to let Superman find out about crimes before the general public) and, if ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' and ''Series/Supergirl2015'' are any indication, more comfortable giving orders. Even in the beginning, their stories were quite different, with a greater focus on detective work. In any work where they appear together, the only thing Ma and Pa Kent's farmboy and the imposing alien soldier will probably have in common is "likes capes."

* Many examples of this can be found in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', as the M.M.O. has many lawyer safe versions of famous comic book heroes and villains. As the background was developed for the characters and adapted to tie-comics and a novel, the characters became more than simple Expys. Most prominently we have the main hero - Statesman, the hero Manticore and the main villain Lord Recluse.
** Statesman is clearly a Superman / Captain America combo by way of Captain Marvel, red, white and blue color scheme, been doing this long enough to be a world famous paragon, a FlyingBrick, been saving the day since the early 1930s; But due to the head developer using the identity for dev notes being a relentless perfectionist, Statesman would become the same, an uncompromising hero who genuinely wants to help the public but is a controlling pain in the ass for his fellow heroes to work with.
** Manticore is Batman by way of Green Arrow - Rich kid, murderer parents, expert material training, gadgets, animal motif but he uses a bow and arrow. The divergence comes in when we apply Frank Miller era morals baked into the character instead of added latter. The result is a Batman governed by vengeance who very much wants to kill, if only to put an end to violent offenders coming back a week later to shoot another 12 cops with lasers while setting someone’s house on fire. Also some firm if subtle conservative politics baked into the character.
** Then we have Lord Recluse clearly a Doctor Doom pastiche combined with Darkseid, Formerly friend of hero, hates him for petty reasons (as in both the hero is petty and his beef with him is petty), super genius, rules his own nation - a hell-on-Earth but one who’s evil residents love him for; The thing is, well, that FoeRomanticSubtext that Doom gets with Mr. Fantastic and a lot of Heroes/Villains unintentionally fall into... yeah they embraced that, it’s not done ironically either Lord Recluse and Statesman are blatant HeterosexualLifePartners who went through a bad breakup. Furthermore, as with Statesman, the character was used as a code name for the dev organizer for the ''City Of Villains'' expansion and credited all modifications, like handing out player bans for racists, sexists etc. or balancing enemy difficulty, in-universe to Lord Recluse being that smart/influential/organized. The result, instead of a simple Dr. Doom / Darkseid rip-off, is an ultra competent NoNonsenseVillain pragmatist, smartest man on Earth who hates racists, sexists and homophobes and really ''REALLY'' has a noticeable thing for the main hero.

* ComicBook/MartianManhunter is an alien hero with a cool cape, a ton of powers that can vary from "ten humans could probably do the same thing" to "could take out the Death Star with his pinky" levels DependingOnTheWriter, one thing that can weaken him, and is sometimes the LastOfHisKind. ''That'' doesn't remind you of ''[[Franchise/Superman anyone,]]'' does it? This results in a lot of writers not knowing what to do with him, but in many versions, the reason he and Superman aren't the same character is all down to personality - dead-serious (sometimes TheComicallySerious), sometimes more overtly "alien" with a more formal way of talking, using his shapeshifting powers to maintain ''multiple'' human identities while his true self is definitely his hero persona (it's been a ''very'' long time since Clark Kent was considered just a disguise to let Superman find out about crimes before the general public) and, if ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' and ''Series/Supergirl2015'' are any indication, more comfortable giving orders. Even in the beginning, their stories were quite different, with a greater focus on detective work. In any work where they appear together, the only thing Ma and Pa Kent's farmboy and the imposing alien soldier will probably have in common is "likes capes."

* ComicBook/MartianManhunter is an alien hero with a cool cape, a ton of powers that can vary from "ten humans could probably do the same thing" to "could take out the Death Star with his pinky" levels DependingOnTheWriter, one thing that can weaken him, and is sometimes the LastOfHisKind. ''That'' doesn't remind you of [[Franchise/Superman ''anyone,'']] does it? This results in a lot of writers not knowing what to do with him, but in many versions, the reason he and Superman aren't the same character is all down to personality - dead-serious (sometimes TheComicallySerious), sometimes more overtly "alien" with a more formal way of talking, using his shapeshifting powers to maintain ''multiple'' human identities while his true self is definitely his hero persona (it's been a ''very'' long time since Clark Kent was considered just a disguise to let Superman find out about crimes before the general public) and, if ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' and ''Series/Supergirl2015'' are any indication, more comfortable giving orders. Even in the beginning, their stories were quite different, with a greater focus on detective work. In any work where they appear together, the only thing Ma and Pa Kent's farmboy and the imposing alien soldier will probably have in common is "likes capes."

* Martian Manhunter is an alien hero with a cool cape, a ton of powers that can vary from "ten humans could probably do the same thing" to "could take out the Death Star with his pinky" levels DependingOnTheWriter, one thing that can weaken him, and is sometimes the LastOfHisKind. ''That'' doesn't remind you of ''anyone,'' does it? This results in a lot of writers not knowing what to do with him, but in many versions, the reason he and Superman aren't the same character is all down to personality - dead-serious (sometimes TheComicallySerious), sometimes more overtly "alien" with a more formal way of talking, using his shapeshifting powers to maintain ''multiple'' human identities while his true self is definitely his hero persona (it's been a ''very'' long time since Clark Kent was considered just a disguise to let Superman find out about crimes before the general public) and, if ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' and ''Series/Supergirl2015'' are any indication, more comfortable giving orders. Even in the beginning, their stories were quite different, with a greater focus on detective work. In any work where they appear together, the only thing Ma and Pa Kent's farmboy and the imposing alien soldier will probably have in common is "likes capes."

* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' never tried to hide its similarities to ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', but fans didn't mind too much because the game was pretty good anyway. As gamers started to get tired of the CollectAThonPlatformer formula set up by ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', however, Rare decided to go in a different direction with ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie''. The sequel contained more interconnected areas to make it resemble a {{Metroidvania}} more than anything. 'VideoGame/BanjoKazooieNutsAndBolts'' abandoned the PlatformGame trappings altogether, introducing customizable vehicles as the central gameplay concept instead.

* Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' arcade game was born out of this kind of serendipity; Nintendo, still trying to get their foot in the American game market in 1981, tried releasing a standard ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' clone called ''Radarscope'' in the arcades; while it did well overseas, it completely flopped in the US and left them stuck with thousands of unsold cabinets. This prompted them to place Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto in charge of improvising another game to replace ''Radarscope'' (while converting the unsold cabinets into new games) and, instead of making another cookie cutter maze or shoot em up, created one of the earliest,[[note]]but not the first; ''Space Panic'' from 1980, is generally considered the first platformer game[[/note]] and certainly one of the most important platformer games in history.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''Franchise/YokaiWatch'' are rival {{mon}} JRPG series where you play as a KidHero fighting with a team of monsters. Their anime adaptations decided to go in two completely different directions. While the ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime more-or-less adapts the games and is an action-focused series, the ''Anime/YokaiWatch'' anime ditches most of the game's plot in exchange for a comedic SliceOfLife series about schoolboy Nate's life alongside yo-kai. The two anime became even less alike when ''Yo-Kai Watch'' ended and was replaced with the DarkerAndEdgier, more action-oriented spinoff ''Anime/YokaiWatchShadowside''. Unlike the [[NotAllowedToGrowUp forever ten]] Ash, Nate [[KidHeroAllGrownUp grew up]]. The Yo-kai Watch (or rather, the role as the Yo-kai Watch Holder[[note]]as Kaira had all Yo-kai Watches in the world to be destroyed, and only those ancient watches (originally conceived as "Mirrors") made by the Genyou were still around.[[/note]]) was [[PassingTheTorch passed onto]] his teenage [[SpinOffspring daughter]].

* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series was initially just a tongue-in-cheek take-off of American spy and action films, but ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' was where the series started to establish its own identity of having long-winded, cinematic cutscenes with melodramatic war stories with an everything and the kitchen sink mentality (as the SequelDisplacement can attest to). Although the impact is greatly lost due to it being on the dated [=MSX2=], even ''VideoGame/MetalGear2'' dealt with themes and questions such as what happened to soldiers once they left the battlefield, and what happened to the local survivors of a war zone.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'' was an irreverent retelling of ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' that mashed up {{Fantasy}} with ScienceFiction elements in its first arc. The second and fourth arcs were a parody of ''Film/SnakeInTheEaglesShadow''(with the third arc being [[SeriesFauxnale a possible conclusion]] in case the manga was canceld) with the fantasy elements from its origins left over and even more science fiction tropes. Come the seventh arc (''Anime/DragonBallZ'' to those who watched on television) the story became a twisted version of ''Comicbook/{{Superman}}'' with even more science fiction tropes and then a more supernatural take on ''Film/TheTerminator'' by the [[LongRunner ninth]] arc, by way of again its origins as it was otherwise pushing the science fiction side harder than ever. Since then ''Dragon Ball'' as a whole has become less derivative and more of a beast onto its own. Most attempts to continue the series beyond arc ten(''Anime/DragonBallGT'', ''Videogame/DragonBallOnline'', ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'') either draw on the distinctive elements of the world it created or try to build on said world in ways that do not blatantly draw from another series and there are several {{non serial movie}}s which either rehash well known ''Dragon Ball'' plots or spin new ones out of ''Dragon Ball'' conventions.

* Creator/{{SNK}}'s ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting'' was perceived by gamers to be a cheap cash-in of rival company Creator/{{Capcom}}'s ''Franchise/StreetFighter''. Despite this, ''Art of Fighting'' set itself apart by introducing several new gameplay mechanics such as taunting, the addition of a spirit gauge to regulate use of specials, along with [[LimitBreak supers]] and {{Desperation Attack}}s. The game's scaling feature also became a series trademark.
** Capcom later incorporated these same features, beginning with ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterII Super Street Fighter II: Turbo]]'', the first game in the series to feature supers and a secondary meter for regulating them.
** ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Super Street Fighter IV]]'' adds revenge moves, which can only be used after the character has sustained enough damage, making them the SF equivalent of desperation attacks.
* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' never tried to hide its similarities to ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', but fans didn't mind too much because the game was pretty good anyway. As gamers started to get tired of the CollectAThonPlatformer formula set up by ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', however, Rare decided to go in a different direction with ''Banjo-Tooie''. The sequel contained more interconnected areas to make it resemble a {{Metroidvania}} more than anything. ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'' abandoned the PlatformGame trappings altogether, introducing customizable vehicles as the central gameplay concept instead.
* Similar to the Ratchet and Clank example below, Rare created Conker, in hopes of making another exploration-heavy series with platforming and collection sidequests starring a cute protagonist. After their rivals mocked the company for seeming to create another formulaic series, they kept the gameplay but reinvented the product as ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', [[DarkerAndEdgier completely changing the tone]] from a cutesy mascot with clean, shiny graphics to a [[GrossoutShow deliberately unappealing]], [[SirSwearsALot profanity-ridden]] BlackComedy with a protagonist that talked, and wasn't at all shy about voicing his displeasure about the rivers of feces, frequent hangovers, alien invasions, a suicidal fork with a bad sex life, the giant poop monster that sang opera tunes, and any number of surreal and definitely not child-friendly madness the game had to offer.
* Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' arcade game was born out of this kind of serendipity; Nintendo, still trying to get their foot in the American game market in 1981, tried releasing a standard ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders'' clone called ''Radarscope'' in the arcades; while it did well overseas, it completely flopped in the US and left them stuck with thousands of unsold cabinets. This prompted them to place Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto in charge of improvising another game to replace ''Radarscope'' (while converting the unsold cabinets into new games) and, instead of making another cookie cutter maze or shoot em up, created one of the earliest,[[note]]but not the first; ''Space Panic'' from 1980, is generally considered the first platformer game [[/note]] and certainly one of the most important platformer games in history.

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' took the simplification path after breaking away from ''VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients''. The old ''Warcraft 3'' main stat system was removed and replaced with direct manipulation of the underlying stats: attack damage, ability power, attack speed, movement speed, HP, mana, armor and magic resist. The standard ability kit of three powers and an ultimate was replaced by one passive, three abilities with or without passives, and an ultimate. The "Blue Pill", the equivalent of DOTA's Town Portal Scroll, was removed and made into a long Recall that can be performed any time without limits. The Blink Dagger and the Ancient Pocket Watch were made into the summoner spells Flash and Teleport. Then the champions started to be designed around the standard roles of tank, fighter, mage, marksman, assassin and support--six roles, as opposed to DOTA's hard carry, soft carry, disabler, support, lane support, initiator, jungler, durable, nuker, pusher and escaper. The barracks were replaced by inhibitors that regenerate over time. Roshan was replaced by Baron [[SdrawkcabName Nashor]], which is much stronger and usually requires at least three champions at late game to be killed. Other mechanics such as creep denying, neutral creep luring, hit dodging, turn rate or terrain height were removed. The result? After these and much more differentiation changes, Blizzard decided that ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' was different enough to not count as a derivative work--unlike ''VideoGame/Dota2'', which put Valve into a trademark scuffle with Blizzard on account of being basically ''VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients'' on the Source engine, with SerialNumbersFiledOff, and a few cursory mechanic changes.
* Having also been made by [[Creator/SquareEnix Squaresoft]], ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' naturally has a lot in common with ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games and other Square {{Role Playing Game}}s of that era, albeit with ActionCommands and the obvious ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' trappings among other things. After Square partnered with Sony and left the Mario [=RPG=]s in Creator/{{Nintendo}}'s hands, however, they gave its ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' and ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' games a different focus from typical Square [=RPG=]s, such as a much heavier use of intricate ActionCommands, simplified battle stat calculations, fewer party members on screen at a time, and PreExistingEncounters with enemies that can be attacked for some damage at the beginning of a battle. ''VideoGame/SuperPaperMario'' in particular is a mix between a [[PlatformGame platformer]] and a traditional Role-Playing Game.
* The ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' series was initially just a tongue-in-cheek take-off of American spy and action films, but ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' was where the series started to establish its own identity of having longwinded, cinematic cutscenes with melodramatic war stories with an everything and the kitchen sink mentality, (as the SequelDisplacement can attest to). Although the impact is greatly lost due to it being on the dated [=MSX2=], even the second game dealt with themes and questions such as what happened to soldiers once they left the battlefield, and what happened to the local survivors of a warzone.
* ''VideoGame/SaintsRow'' started out as a pretty straightforward ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' clone, with the only caveat being ''Saint's Row's'' focus on gang violence. Each game has dialed up the DenserAndWackier aspects (''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' even features an AlienInvasion), with ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' dialing down the same. Putting ''Grand Theft Auto IV'' side by side with ''VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird'' shows that the two now bear very little resemblance to one another, aside from the gameplay involved stealing cars.
* The first two installments of ''VideoGame/{{Sidewinder}}'' were heavily derivative of ''VideoGame/AceCombat'', their main point of differentation being features that weren't in the first ''Ace Combat'' (such as analog controls, cockpit view, landing sequences, and the ability to equip different type of missiles) and minor concessions toward realism. ''Sidewinder MAX'' shifted the flight model toward realism, and the last two installments (titled ''Lethal Skies'' in the west) changed the setting from the present to a futuristic, post-global warming Earth.
* After Creator/{{Sega}} tried to directly compete with Nintendo by copying the NES with their UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem, only to fall flat on their face, they decided to go in the opposite direction and become Nintendo's antithesis with the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, aiming for older audiences and darker games with slicker graphics, action and very lax censorship policies. Even their headlining mascot, VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, was a unique contrast from the ''Mario'' series in art and gameplay, and also a contrast to Sega's own Mario-derivative Alex Kidd, who was quickly abandoned by the company. Unsurprisingly, it worked. The series was unmistakably inspired by ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', but in contrast to Mario's strategic, defensive platforming, Sonic's gameplay usually leans more towards fast-paced action, heavily streamlined platforming romps with rollercoaster/pinball like physics and level design that emphasized maintaining speed and precision timing more than anything else, with the occasional slower platforming, combat, puzzles and minigames sandwiched in.

** According to an interview with Creator/InsomniacGames head Ted Price, after making [[Franchise/SpyroTheDragon a trilogy of collect-a-thon games]] in the vein of ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and [[FollowTheLeader its many other imitators]], they realized yet another game like that would be a dead end in the long run, so for the first [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002 Ratchet and Clank game]], they tried to start playing up the combat aspects of the game over just jumping around and collecting things, and they even tried to avoid calling it a platformer in development (which didn't stop critics from calling it one anyway).

* The first trio of ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'' games were blatantly riding the coattails of ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'', with monster/robot collecting, similar battle styles, beating a series of "legends" who bore no small resemblance to gym leaders, and multiple versions. The sequel kept the version system, but made substantial changes, like making battles party based, making it so that players could not catch Robopon, but had to create them, and taking the plot completely OffTheRails.
* The original ''VideoGame/{{Burnout}}'' was extremely similar to the arcade game ''Thrill Drive'' in all respects, to the point it was pratically a SpiritualAdaptation of it. ''Burnout 2'' differentiated itself with a more definite art direction and a greatly increased focus on the NitroBoost mechanic; ''Burnout 3: Takedown'' further shook things up by introducing the combat mechanic that would define the series for mainstreaum audiences.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' is a shameless clone of the 1st edition of ''TableTopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', right down to copying practically every monster design from D&D's bestiary. Beginning with ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyII'', though, the series began to craft its own identity.
* ''Notedrop'' started out as a straight clone of ''VideoGame/{{DJMAX}} Trilogy'', but then started deviating to become its own game by removing [[SuperMode Fever mode]], adding "shift" modes that put extra keys into each column, and changing the scoring formula to be based entirely on the timing of note hits, with no combo-based elements.
* ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'' is infamous for being ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' but with an inverted panel setup (diagonals and center panel, as opposed to ''DDR''[='=]s cardinal directions), to the point where it's been accused of ribbing ''DDR''. However as time has passed, the dev team have made strides to differentiate it from its four-panel rival, with heavy use of gimmicky NintendoHard charts with looser timing windows to make up for it, variable number of songs per credit (longer songs means less songs per credit, while shorter songs do the opposite), extensive use of K-pop songs, a more open approach to songs having multiple charts (wherein basically, each song can have as many charts as the developers want and charts are named by type and difficulty level rather than something more rigid like ''DDR''[='=]s Basic-Difficult-Expert-Challenge), CoOpMultiplayer charts where players may cross over to each other's side or even three to ''five'' players play at the same time, and the publishing company's effort to release the games worldwide as opposed to [[NoExportForYou keeping them restricted to a select few countries]].

* ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' was an admitted attempt to FollowTheLeader with ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', but as time went on, [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness ditched many of those elements]]. Things like blatant pop-culture references and {{Author Guest Spot}} became less frequent before disappearing entirely. By the time the comic ended it elicited more comparisons with ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' (being a rpg-spoofing webcomic starring {{dysfunction|Junction}}al heroes each associated with a class) than anything else.

* After Creator/{{Sega}} tried to directly compete with Nintendo by copying the NES with their UsefulNotes/SegaMasterSystem, only to fall flat on their face, they decided to go in the opposite direction and become Nintendo's antithesis with the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis, aiming for older audiences and darker games with slicker graphics, action and very lax censorship policies. Even their headlining mascot, VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, was a unique contrast from the ''Mario'' series in art and gameplay, and also a contrast to Sega's own Mario-derivative Alex Kidd, who was quickly abandoned by the company. Unsurprisingly, it worked. The series was unmistakably inspired by ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'', but in contrast to Mario's strategic, defensive platforming, Sonic's gameplay usually leans more towards casual, heavily streamlined platforming romps with rollercoaster/pinball like physics and level design that emphasized maintaining speed and precision timing more than anything else, with the occasional slower platforming, combat, puzzles and minigames sandwiched in.

* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' never tried to hide its similarities to ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', but fans didn't mind too much because the game was pretty good anyway. As gamers started to get tired of the formula set up by ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', however, Rare decided to go in a different direction with ''Banjo-Tooie''. The sequel contained more interconnected areas to make it resemble a {{Metroidvania}} more than anything. ''Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts'' abandoned the PlatformGame trappings altogether, introducing customizable vehicles as the central gameplay concept instead.

* SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} used to be ComicBook/{{Deathstroke}} in red until they made him insane to the point of fourth wall–breaking and gave him his own fighting style.

* ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'' is infamous for being ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' but with an inverted panel setup (diagonals and center panel, as opposed to ''DDR''[='=]s cardinal directions), to the point where it's been accused of ribbing ''DDR''. However as time has passed, the dev team have made strides to differentiate it from its four-panel rival, with heavy use of gimmicky NintendoHard charts with looser timing windows to make up for it, variable number of songs per credit (longer songs means less songs per credit, while shorter songs do the opposite), extensive use of K-pop songs, a more open approach to songs having multiple charts (wherein basically, each song can have as many charts as the developers want, rather than having to have a fixed number, and charts are named by type and difficulty level rather than something more rigid like ''DDR''[='=]s Basic-Difficult-Expert-Challenge), CoOpMultiplayer charts where players may cross over to each other's side or even three to ''five'' players play at the same time, and the publishing company's effort to release the games worldwide as opposed to [[NoExportForYou keeping them restricted to a select few countries]].

* ''VideoGame/PumpItUp'' is infamous for being ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' but with an inverted panel setup (diagonals and center panel, as opposed to ''DDR'''s cardinal directions), to the point where it's been accused of ribbing ''DDR''. However as time has passed, the dev team have made strides to differentiate it from its four-panel rival, with heavy use of gimmicky NintendoHard charts with looser timing windows to make up for it, variable number of songs per credit (longer songs means less songs per credit, while shorter songs do the opposite), extensive use of K-pop songs, a more open approach to songs having multiple charts (wherein basically, each song can have as many charts as the developers want, rather than having to have a fixed number, and charts are named by type and difficulty level rather than something more rigid like ''DDR'''s Basic-Difficult-Expert-Challenge), CoOpMultiplayer charts where players may cross over to each other's side or even three to ''five'' players play at the same time, and the publishing company's effort to release the games worldwide as opposed to [[NoExportForYou keeping them restricted to a select few countries]].