10 More Shameless Video Game Rip-Offs (That Were Actually Great)

Rock Band got a bit of stick upon release for copying Guitar Hero, despite the fact both series were made by the same company.

Also, it's Guitar Hero which should be labelled a rip-off, since it plagiarised Konami's GuitarFreaks, which was released six years earlier. Red Octane and Harmonix didn't just steal the concept, but specific aspects of the game, including the guitar-shaped controller, the coloured plastic buttons, the style points system, and the scrolling fretboard.

However, it's understandable how Guitar Hero blew its predecessor out of the water. Harmonix's rhythm game put more focus on visuals, fine-tuned the mechanics to perfection, and made the core gameplay accessible to the most tone-deaf gamers.

Most importantly, Guitar Hero had songs from the biggest rock bands, giving it a huge amount of brand recognition. With gamers able to play music from Metallica, Nirvana, Queen, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and many other rock legends in their own living room, it's easy to see why Guitar Hero went on to earn a monumental $2 billion.

Props to Konami for coming up with the idea, but there's no question who did it better.