10 Video Games Popular Franchises Stole From

Not QUITE so original.

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Turtle Rock

No video game can be truly original, and every great game was built off something else. Castlevania drew inspiration from Metroid. Dragon Age took a lot of its lore from Game of Thrones. Street Fighter was inspired by Karate Champ.

But at a certain point, when does a game stop being inspired by a property and start stealing from it? The sad thing is, a lot of great games have become immortalised for mechanics that those developers didn't invent. Did you know Angry Birds wasn't the first game to have the player catapult its character into buildings? How about Minecraft not being the first game where the player mines blocks for resources?

Even Pong, one of the oldest games of all time, is a ripoff of another property. Some of the most famous titles have made billions of dollars, launched franchises, and had movie adaptations, despite the fact they are complete knock-offs.

In some entries in this list, you could argue the similarities between the games are simply coincidental. But in other examples, you will see some games resemble each other so much, you won't understand how nobody noticed it sooner.

10. Angry Birds Stole From Crush The Castle

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Armor Games/Rovio Entertainment

In 2009, Angry Birds took the world by storm. In less than a year, it was the most popular game on the Apps store. It was so addictive, former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, said he completed the whole game. (He probably should have spent more time running the country.)

However, Angry Birds drew a little inspiration from the game, Crush the Castle. And when I say it drew "a little inspiration", I mean it drew ALL the inspiration.

In Crush the Castle, you launch boulders at balanced structures, forcing them to collapse. Okay, the concept is the same. There's no question about that. But couldn't it just be a coincidence?

Nope. Angry Birds didn't just copy the idea; it copied the projectiles. In Crush the Castle, you can wield a stone that splits into three (just like the blue birds in Angry Birds), a jumbo boulder (just like Terence), and an exploding rock (just like Bomb).

Crush the Castle isn't bad. It's just a little generic. But the company, Rovio, assumedly knew the concept had potential and so, copy-and-pasted the game, gave it a cartoony style, and slapped some bird faces on the projectiles.

Apart from that, it's basically the same game.

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James Egan has written 80 books including 1000 Facts about Superheroes Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Horror Movies Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about The Greatest Films Ever Made Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about Video Games Vol. 1-3 1000 Facts about TV Shows Vol. 1-3 Twitter - @jameswzegan85