Randoman Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 So I recently found out that the first Rayman is getting its own indie equivalent in Connie and the Essence of Chaos: That got me curious: how many game franchises do you know of have indie game equivalents? If you know of a game franchise that has multiple equivalents (franchises like Mario are bound to have multiple), feel free to list all the ones you know of. I don't want to make a "1 to 1" equivalent rule where only the most popular indie equivalent gets listed (eg: even though most agree that Shovel Knight is more popular than Mighty No. 9, I want to know of all indie equivalents for established game franchises, not just the most popular one). Anyways, here's the ones I know of: Mario: Super Meat Boy, Cloudberry Kingdom Zelda: Mina the Hollower (currently in development), Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore Metroid: Axiom Verge Castlevania: Bloodstained Mega Man: Shovel Knight (and its side campaigns), Mighty No. 9 Sonic: Freedom Planet Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons: Stardew Valley Banjo-Kazooie: Yooka-Laylee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Branniglenn Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 If you ask me what's a defining trait of a 2D Mario game, it'd have to be costume-based powerups, so I don't agree with Super Meat Boy there. Plus Meat Boy can perpetually wall jump up the same wall. Mario can't do that. I often feel people like to distill an entire indie game's identity to one 'rip off' when it's often several inspirations. I love talking indies though, so I'll add to the list just for the sake of getting people to expand their frying pan. I'm gonna keep from repeating ones in the OP, and stay away from Metroidvanias because that's a searchable tag on the steam store, people don't need help finding those. 2D Sonic - Spark the Electric Jester, Kaze and the Wild Masks 3D Sonic - Spark the Electric Jester 2 & 3, Lunistice, Skater Gator 3D Donkey Kong Country - Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair Wario Land - Antonblast, and Pizza Tower Streets of Rage - Fight N' Rage, The Takeover Metal Gear - UnMetal Valkyrie Profile - Indivisible Ninja Gaiden (2D) - Oniken, Cyber Shadow, Dogurai, (the first half of) The Messenger Mega Man - Gravity Circuit, Azure Striker Gunvolt, Metagal Classic Castlevania - Bloodstained Curse of the Moon, Zelda - Blossom Tales, Oceanhorn Paper Mario - Bug Fables Ghosts n Goblins - Cursed Castilla Fallout - Wasteland 2 & 3 Star Fox (SNES) - Ex Zodiac F-Zero - Fast RMX DOOM (1993) - Forgive Me Father, Warhammer 40K Boltgun Jet Set Radio - Bomb Rush Cyberfunk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulously Olivier Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 A couple not mentioned: Rampage - Terror of Hemasaurus Megaman Battle Network - One Step From Eden, Card-En-Ciel Final Fantasy - Edge of Eternity Pokemon - Nexomon, Coromon, Cassette Beasts, Disc Creatures, Monster Crown, TemTem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Brand Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 (edited) Another for Star Fox: Astro Dogs. Edited May 12 by Lord_Brand Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vanguard333 Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 5 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said: Zelda - Blossom Tales, Oceanhorn Did you mean Ocean's Heart? Or is there another 2D Zelda-like with "Ocean" in its name? 10 hours ago, Randoman said: Mega Man: Shovel Knight (and its side campaigns), Mighty No. 9 I'm not sure if Shovel Knight really counts as a Mega Man equivalent; it does borrow heavily from Mega Man, but it also borrows from The Adventure of Link, Super Mario Bros., classic Castlevania, and other 2D NES side-scrollers. It's really a combination of multiple NES-era side-scrollers. Incidentally, there are a ton of indie equivalents of Metroid and Castlevania to the point where "Metroidvania" is a very large subgenre. I know this because one YouTube channel I watch, Nerrel, has at least five videos that each review several Metroidvanias. At least one of them was a fan-made remake of Metroid 2 called AM2R, or "Another Metroid 2 Remake". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Integrity Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 6 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said: Fallout - Wasteland 2 & 3 this is a weird one because wasteland 1 was an explicit inspiration for the original fallouts. how the turn tables anyway, one cannot forget the indie srpg chaos emeralds: fire emblem -> dark deity advance wars -> wargroove ff tactics -> fell seal whichever ogre i always get them backwards and parrhesia corrects me every time but i think it's tactics ogre -> symphony of war Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zapp Branniglenn Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 (edited) Oh whoops I forgot a pretty recent and obvious one Suikoden - Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes 4 hours ago, vanguard333 said: Did you mean Ocean's Heart? Or is there another 2D Zelda-like with "Ocean" in its name? It is indeed. Oceanhorn is an early 2010s mobile game. Pretty impressive for its platform but throw it on consoles and I suppose it's not as remarkable. It's mostly trying to be Windwaker if Windwaker were a top-down zelda. Oh that's cute, Oceans Heart has a protagonist wearing blue too. 3 hours ago, Integrity said: this is a weird one because wasteland 1 was an explicit inspiration for the original fallouts. how the turn tables Yep. Fallout was born partly because of Brian Fargo failing to secure the license from EA to build a Wasteland 2. Some vestigial dialogue of the original game mentions Desert Rangers, that's a nod to the Arizona Desert Rangers you play as in Wasteland. And now that same Fallout faction is the boxart cool guys for New Vegas. Of all the things New Vegas feels an unceasing need to give us a reference or update on, this one turned out pretty cool. I hope the two franchises can continue to be a two way street of referencing each other in the future. 8 hours ago, Fabulously Olivier said: Final Fantasy - Edge of Eternity Pokemon - Nexomon, Coromon, Cassette Beasts, Disc Creatures, Monster Crown, TemTem Oh, any particular Final Fantasy? Because with Pokemon all of them are the same gameplay for 30 years. But Final Fantasy's been a lot of flavors of jrpg. Like if I were describing Bravely Default, I wouldn't say it's a Final Fantasy, I'd say it's specifically a Final Fantasy 5. All the way down to having a plot that's near identical until the big twist with the Crystals. I'm still waiting for an indie game that's got 9's Learn Abilities from your Equipment progression system. Or perhaps 10's Sphere Grid. Edited May 12 by Zapp Branniglenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fabulously Olivier Posted May 12 Share Posted May 12 1 minute ago, Zapp Branniglenn said: Oh whoops I forgot a pretty recent and obvious one Suikoden - Eiyuden Chronicle Hundred Heroes It is indeed. Oceanhorn is an early 2010s mobile game. Pretty impressive for its platform but throw it on consoles and I suppose it's not as remarkable. It's mostly trying to be Windwaker if Windwaker were a top-down zelda. Oh that's cute, Oceans Heart has a protagonist wearing blue too. Yep. Fallout was born partly because of Brian Fargo failing to secure the license from EA to build a Wasteland 2. Some vestigial dialogue of the original game mentions Desert Rangers, that's a nod to the Arizona Desert Rangers you play as in Wasteland. And now that same Fallout faction is the boxart cool guys for New Vegas. Of all the things New Vegas feels an unceasing need to give us a reference or update on, this one turned out pretty cool. Oh, any particular Final Fantasy? Because with Pokemon all of them are the same gameplay for 30 years. But Final Fantasy's been a lot of flavors of jrpg. Like if I were describing Bravely Default, I wouldn't say it's a Final Fantasy, I'd say it's specifically a Final Fantasy 5. All the way down to having a plot that's near identical until the big twist with the Crystals. I'm still waiting for an indie game that's got 9's Learn Abilities from your Equipment progression system. Or perhaps 10's Sphere Grid. ATB-based Final Fantasy. I mean just judging by the fact that they named their team Midgar Studio, they're clearly FF7 fans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Alear Posted May 21 Share Posted May 21 (edited) Fire Emblem: surprised no one mentioned Vestaria Saga. Also, Gales of Nayeli (no idea if that's good, it's not out yet). Snatcher: Read Only Memories (there are 2) Mother: Octo Vinctum: Revenge of the Czar, Omori Castlevania: Simon's Quest: Infernax Zelda (original): Anodyne and maybe Binding of Isaac Star Control II: Free Stars: Children of Infinity Crono Trigger: Sea of Stars no one said this already? it's not my favorite on the list I'm just surprised. Also Black Sigil: Blade of the Exiled, which I didn't love. Phoenix Wright: Tyrion Cuthbert (thanks Parrhesia! I saw you playing this.) Ys I and II: arguably Fairune? Not counting blast. And Angeline Era maybe (bump attack also) Dungeon Master: Legend of Grimrock Darkest Dungeon: maybe Star Renegades Mega Man: 30XX Etrian Odyssey: Potato Flowers in Full Bloom Nier: I hear 1000xResist is similar. I've never played either. Actually Castlevania/Metroid could have a billion because there are tons of Metroidvanias, but I think we can agree to ignore most of those. I also think we can ignore most hexagonal spaced 4X games as Civilization likes. Infernax IMO is very similar to Simon's Quest, so even though I said ignore Metroidvanias, I'm counting that one. It's possible that Another Star is inspired by Dragon Quest games if anything. EDIT-It's not an exact equivalent but I think LunarLux might be one for Mega Man Battle Network Edited July 2 by Original Alear Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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