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[Imperfected]

I haven't really noticed this, but while we're on the topic of W40K...



Has Blizzard ever acknowledged the huge debt of inspiration they owe Games Workshop?

Warcraft was originally intended to be a Warhammer Fantasy game, but Games Workshop pulled support on the project midway through development, so they filed the serial numbers off and released the game as its own property.

So, it's basically common knowledge that Blizzard was just making Warhammer/40K games to begin with, though at this point the mountain of money GW could have been sitting on compared to the dribbles and drabbles they've made from the Space Marine games and Warhammer Online is probably humiliating enough to keep them from getting too uppity about it.

 

[MikeK]

Dead Space Brute

Mass Effect 3 Brute

Always thought that their design and especially their animation and behavior ingame was very similiar.

 

[Boogdud]

 

[blitzcloud]

God Hand from Ehrgeiz

Jin Kazama from Tekken

Ehrgeiz was Namco and square.

Han Daehand was Hwoarang.

 

[TheYanger]

Dota 2 characters from Warcraft III characters because in DotA 1 they actually were Warcraft III characters.

Yeah this is basically Dota 2: The thread. As much as I love valve and understand 'why' they did it, it's still shameless and sad just how much they copied the warcraft 3 assets for their dota 2 designs. The funny part is at the time it was to entice people to swap from dota to dota 2 by making it similar 'feeling' in that regard, but I think at this point they probably could've just let their artists have some creative freedom and made a much more satisfying product visually and retained the popularity. Instead I watch something like TI4 and it's almost impossible not to notice just how shitty a ripoff most of the heroes are and it takes me out of the game.

 

[tmtyf]

Top image is probably a spoiler for those who haven't played the game yet. Same developer anyway!

what game was it. I missed it

 

[J3ffro]

Rockstar unintentionally stole the design of the real life cartoon character Lindsey Lohan.

I did not expect this, but clearly, first post wins.

 

[GavinUK86]

The back of Destinyman's helmet is the front of Chief's.

Wow, now I cannot unsee.

 

[Deified Data]

Warcraft was originally intended to be a Warhammer Fantasy game, but Games Workshop pulled support on the project midway through development, so they filed the serial numbers off and released the game as its own property.

So, it's basically common knowledge that Blizzard was just making Warhammer/40K games to begin with, though at this point the mountain of money GW could have been sitting on compared to the dribbles and drabbles they've made from the Space Marine games and Warhammer Online is probably humiliating enough to keep them from getting too uppity about it.

Yeah, I love W40K but I hate how bad GW is at utilizing the franchise. Shit could have been huge by now, but instead it's doomed to waste away in the niche space until it inevitably dies of obscurity.

 

[Slowdive]

Heh.

Oh my god I've never seen the one you posted before haha.

 

[MickeyKnox]

The show is from 1999 and the book it's adapted from was published in 1959, you tell me who looks like that...

 

[Darknight]

Tekken 5 - Raven

vs

Blade

 

[Freeza Under The Shower]

Dead Space Brute

Mass Effect 3 Brute

Always thought that their design and especially their animation and behavior ingame was very similiar.

it would be more unexpected if there was no interaction whatsoever between studios of the same publisher.

that said, through the partner program Alice 2 and Shadows of the damned have 2d levels and rotating puzzle sections (very small in SotD). I somewhat expect the copycat to be shadows though, since they are a central piece of Alice 2, but not the other one (kinda obvious, but still).

 

[Anteo]

Well, not exactly:

 

[Woorloog]

I haven't really noticed this, but while we're on the topic of W40K...



Has Blizzard ever acknowledged the huge debt of inspiration they owe Games Workshop?

I'm pretty sure that Tyranids actually borrow the Zerg, not the Zerg borrowing Tyranids. At least i've read such. Apparently the current Tyranids are newer than the Zerg? The original ones are described differently according Wikipedia.
The marine is based on the Warhammer one, don't recall Blizzard commenting upon it.
As for that... Tau (google reverse image search indicates it is Tau)? How new are they? If they're newer than SC, they might be based off the Protoss at least partially.
In any case, i figure there's a lot of back and forth idea stealing, no one is innocent anymore really.

Didn't the game start off as a 40K licenced game before GW pulled the plug on it?

That's the claim. I don't ever recall seeing a good source for that claim though.
Interestingly it is also claimed the original Warcraft was going to be a Warhammer Fantasy game.

 

[SeventhSon]

Cody (Final Fight) vs. Hawk (Riot Zone) vs. Axel (Streets of Rage)

Brocken (World Heroes) vs. M. Bison (Street Fighter II)

Blanka (Street Fighter II) vs. Bludge (Cadillacs and Dinosaurs)

Tom-Tom (Wonder Boy) vs. Master Higgins (Adventure Island)

Guile (Street Fighter II) vs. John Crawley (Art of Fighting)

http://venturebeat.com/2012/03/22/identity-theft-video-game-characters-that-look-alike/

 

[ethanny2]

Oda loves to do this in One Piece

 

[Deified Data]

I'm pretty sure that Tyranids actually borrow the Zerg, not the Zerg borrowing Tyranids. At least i've read such. Apparently the current Tyranids are newer than the Zerg? The original ones are described differently according Wikipedia.
The marine is based on the Warhammer one, don't recall Blizzard commenting upon it.
As for that... Tau (google reverse image search indicates it is Tau)? How new are they? If they're newer than SC, they might be based off the Protoss at least partially.
In any case, i figure there's a lot of back and forth idea stealing, no one is innocent anymore really.

Tyranids have been a thing since 1987, and have had their currently recognizable form since 1990.

Tau came about in 2001 so there's a possibility that the Protoss were an inspiration, but then the Protoss sort of fit the Eldar niche as well.

 

[jblank83]

Both "chocobos" and "horseclaws" are based on a real animal. Ever heard of the Terrorbird?[/IMG]

That may have been the inspiration for the horseclaw, however Chocobos are based on Horseclaws. Sakaguchi has stated Nausicaa was a heavy influence on his Final Fantasy work. Hence such homages as this:

 

[Imperfected]

I'm pretty sure that Tyranids actually borrow the Zerg, not the Zerg borrowing Tyranids. At least i've read such. Apparently the current Tyranids are newer than the Zerg? The original ones are described differently according Wikipedia.
The marine is based on the Warhammer one, don't recall Blizzard commenting upon it.
As for that... Tau (google reverse image search indicates it is Tau)? How new are they? If they're newer than SC, they might be based off the Protoss at least partially.
In any case, i figure there's a lot of back and forth idea stealing, no one is innocent anymore really.

The Tyranids were pretty fully realized by 1993. They've certainly gone back and borrowed things from Starcraft's Zerg after the fact, but the core design is really based on Starship Troopers and Giger's ALIEN design.

That is also the main argument used for why the Zerg aren't Tyranid rip-offs: because there's a common pool of inspiration for both that's deep enough that you can put forth the argument that they were created independently of one another drawing from those older sources of inspiration.

(They weren't, of course, but it has serviceable legal standing.)

 

[Woorloog]

Tyranids have been a thing since 1987, and have had their currently recognizable form since 1990.

Tau came about in 2001 so there's a possibility that the Protoss were an inspiration, but then the Protoss sort of fit the Eldar niche as well.

Hmm. In that case, perhaps i read that the Tyranids have been made to be even closer to the Zerg? IE the Zerg were Blizzard's take on the Tyranids and it was a bit different and later on the Tyranids gained some Zerg-like... stuff?
Or perhaps what i read was incorrect.

As for the Eldar->Protoss->Tau thing, the concept of space elves is most certainly older than those species, they all ower to older creations a lot i reckon.
Of course, this same applies to the Zerg and Tyranids, i reckon the Alien from the titular series is a big inspiration for both the Zerg and Tyranids.
And of course there's Starship Trooper's (the book) Bugs...

EDIT reminder to self, remember to refresh the page before posting.

 

[Deified Data]

Hmm. In that case, perhaps i read that the Tyranids have been made to be even closer to the Zerg? IE the Zerg were Blizzard's take on the Tyranids and it was a bit different and later on the Tyranids gained some Zerg-like... stuff?
Or perhaps what i read was incorrect.

As for the Eldar->Protoss->Tau thing, the concept of space elves is most certainly older than those species, they all ower to older creations a lot i reckon.
Of course, this same applies to the Zerg and Tyranids, i reckon the Alien from the titular series is a big inspiration for both the Zerg and Tyranids.
And of course there's Starship Trooper's (the book) Bugs...

EDIT reminder to self, remember to refresh the page before posting.

The grandaddies of all space marines...

 

[Hades Hotgun]

Geddoe from Suikoden 3...

Eventually decided to make some money on the side through an appearance in Fire Emblem.

There outfits are quite different, but they have similar hair, faces, eye patches, and even overall color schemes.

 

[Yekshemesh]

Fucking love SNK sprite art.

 

[Woorloog]

The grandaddies of all space marines...

Indeed. And still the one with best power-to-realism-ratio iteration IMO. If we had a suitably small power source, and powerful enough jetpacks with enough fuel, building such suit should be possible. Those mini-nukes are another matter though.

Interestingly StarCraft Marines were to be called Marauders originally. The main variation of the MI suit was called "marauder" (the other two were command and scout suits).
And StarCraft 2 got Marauders... with big suit and grenade launchers. I wonder...

 

[jerry1594]

WHY IS DAVE HESTER IN METAL GEAR RISING

They're actually both tracings of Arnold. Sorry Sly!

He looks like Hollande + Arnold

 

[abadguy]

Yasunori Kato( Doomed Megalopolis) and M Bison

 

[sibarraz]

 

[Evilisk]

Kagekiyo from Genpai Touma Den vs Tekken 6 Yoshimitsu alt:

Considering both games are owned by Namco, I think it might be a referential costume to Kagekiyo as opposed to being coincidental design (even though it's not entirely the same)

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

You can't not see it.

I wonder if this happens subtly or purposefully and what do other people on their design teams think of it?

There was alooooooooot of hubris and chutzpah running in some studios in them days. Gotta look virile cuz them books ain't.

I always take it as rather more like:

Senator Armstrong had better promos.

I haven't really noticed this, but while we're on the topic of W40K...



Has Blizzard ever acknowledged the huge debt of inspiration they owe Games Workshop?

The number of media outfits that owe money to them or Arika would be staggering.

 

[Slowdive]

I-No from Guilty Gear and Shiina Ringo. Same birthday, guitar and height too.

 

[Manbig]

Raiden from Fatal Fury/KOF

Big Van Vader

Also, Wolf Hawkfield from Virtua Fighter's movelist is basically a combination of trademark moves from several different Japanese Wrestling legends.

Wolf's Rolling Elbow
Misawa's Rolling Elbow

Wolf's Ogre Slash into Half Nelson Suplex
Kenta Kobashi's Spinning Back Chop into Helf Nelson Suplex

Wolf's Grand Sword (named after Kobashi's badass theme song)
Kobashi's Burning Lariat

Wolf's Exploider
Jun Akiyama's Exploder Suplex

Wolf's Burning Hammer (he actually uses the wrist clutch variant)
All seven times that Kobashi has used the Burning Hammer in his career. He basically only busts this out as a last ditch effort finisher in super high profile matches.

Wolf's Shining Wizard
Great Muta's Shining Wizard (Wish special guest appearance from Tajiri

Wolf's Shotgun Chop
Kobashi's Machine Gun Chops

Wolf's Emerald Flowsion
Wolf's Emerald Flowsion Variant
Misawa's Emerald Flowsion and Emerald Flowsion Kai

Wolf's Tiger Flowsion
Marufuji's Tiger Flowsion

There's several more, but you get the idea.

 

[Nairume]

Kinda funny that we had the Blanka/Bludge connection and not this one first

 

[Triggerhappytel]

This had to be deliberate.

A youthful character with big eyes and a hat. I'm not really seeing any close resemblance aside from that.

 

[technocritter]

A youthful character with big eyes and a hat. I'm not really seeing any close resemblance aside from that.

wasn't there a playstation magazine that straight up called dark cloud a "Zelda killer"

 

[the_champ]

WHY IS DAVE HESTER IN METAL GEAR RISING

They're actually both tracings of Arnold. Sorry Sly!

pffff, Dave Hester!

 

[ChipotIe]

http://i.imgur.com/sxhqoku.jpg
http://images.wikia.com/assassinscreed/images/archive/8/8e/20091126021753!Ezio.jpg

Dark Elf/ Succubus CA from 2003 for Lineage 2

Mewtwo is speculated to be based off of Giygas due to their similar appearance, psychic powers, and because these two games share the same developers (Ape inc was later rebranded to Creature's Inc, one of the composers of Mother/ Earthbound now serving as president of the company)

The bug boss in Crystalis/ Godslayer is definitely inspired by the Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind (Miyazaki)

Repede from Tales of Vesperia wearing a traditional Japanese school uniform. Just like Jotaro Kujo.

Black Mages are Orko from He-Man.

 

[Haunted]

You know how Bioware took "inspiration" from various sci-fi's when creating Mass Effect? I kind of feel they went a little too far from taking "inspiration" from Farscape. Keep in mind Farscape ran from 1999-2003, and Mass Effect started in 2007.

Wrex (Mass Effect)

An alien from a war torn race that specializes in combat and warfare with extreme warfare traditions. His starting battlesuit is blood red. Starts off with a "butt heads against" attitude with the protagonist only for it to bloom into a respectful "we're fellow soldiers and best friends" kind of friendship.

Ka D'Argo (Farscape)

Yeah...uh, heh. Just copy what I said exactly for Wrex. Seriously, I couldn't believe it when I met Wrex for the first time in Mass Effect and how he developed and I just kept saying to myself, "My god, they just ripped off Ka D'Argo beat for beat, holy shit!"

Well, you know, Klingons.

Which are (in their current incarnation) of course also just a take on the classic proud warrior race trope.

But while a lot of things in Mass Effect are based on a mixture of existing sci-fi tropes, I can definitely see your point about taking specific inspiration from Farscape.

 

[Haunted]

Yasunori Kato( Doomed Megalopolis) and M Bison

I think Washizaki, the villain from Riki-Oh, is the missing link in this chain of inspirations.

 

[Sneaky Gato]

From an old post of mine in the Videogame Facts that blow your mind thread. Games Workshop has long been a source of "inspiration" for game devs. Up to today people still use them as a source.

This just blew my mind.

Take a look at those three guys in the back. I knew that they looked familer until just recently. Turns out the're pretty much copies of Warhammer 40k Rogue Trader era Space Marines. It's most obvious if you look at the one with the beaked helmet on the left.

The one on the left of the Strider pic has the beaked helmet, the wierdly porportioned shoulder pads of the first few minis and the gun is a direct copy of a Bolter. With the one in the middle you can clearly see that the sharp kneecaps are almost a direct copy of the Rouge Trader era minis where they were part of the leg armor and came to a point instead of being seperate and rounded. . The one on the right is carrying what I think is the old version of the Melta or Flamer. All of them have those weird cables on thier body which I think is the most telling sign of where they come from though. I'm not sure but I think the faces are copies though I would have to do a bit of research to prove that.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Tekken 5 - Raven
vs

Blade

Haha blatant. Though he has Simon Phoenix's hairdo:

 

[TheVampire]

Rockstar unintentionally stole the design of the real life cartoon character Lindsey Lohan.

Damn she looks in her late 40's there.

 

[dalekjay]

Street fighter copied rose and guile from jojo
Snk copied beninaru from jojo and if you keep looking a lot of jojo characters where "inspiration" for anime and games

 

[L Thammy]

Check this article for a bunch: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/tracing/tracing.htm

There are plenty more on their message boards.

Additionally:

From One Must Fall Battlegrounds. I don't have an image of Flipper 3000, the mech piloting bottlenose dolphin, but you can probably guess what the inspiration for that was.

Regarding some of the examples posted earlier. Washizuka from The Last Blade is wearing a real life Shinsengumi uniform, so it makes sense for him to resemble a character based on a real life Shinsengumi member. All of the M.Bison lookalikes may be derived from Kinnikuman's Brockenman or Brocken Jr.

 

[LiK]

this thread depresses me at how unoriginal the concept artists are.

 

[ChipotIe]

this thread depresses me at how unoriginal the concept artists are.

Artists reference or make homages to things they like. It doesn't de-legitimize their work at all. Influence and inspiration is not necessarily a bad thing okay?

 

[LiK]

Artists reference or make homages to things they like. It doesn't de-legitimize their work at all. Influence and inspiration is not necessarily a bad thing okay?

i don't mind homages or parodies but some are just rips. not saying they're not talented but some are not original when it comes to character designs.

 

[Codeblue]

The Bomberman/Big Daddy comparison has ruined Bioshock for me.

 

[Irishmantis]

+

=

Cyber Sub from MK9
Predator

 

[Magwik]

I see Casshern inspiration all over in Vanquish and Rising.