Given how desperately video game publishers seem to cling to any franchise could still hold at least some money-making potential, it's surprising to see just how many have been abandoned for long periods of time, leaving the original creators or fans to independently try to replicate and elaborate their charm, style and gameplay.
Accordingly, we at EarlyGame have compiled this list of 16 such spiritual successors to well-known video games. For those interested in any particular case, we've written detailed articles on their history, linked within the following slides. For variety's sake, we're including only one game per franchise. | © Sega, GalaxyTrail
As rhythm video games grew less popular and Sony started to pursue grander projects after the days of the PSP, the creator and composer of the Patapon franchise, Hiroyuki Kotani and Kemmei Adachi, took the original's unique command rhythm combat and style, adopted them into their own world and elaborated on them with multiplayer and roguelike elements in their well-received independent effort by the name of Ratatan. | © Ratata Arts
After Ubisoft's The Settlers drifted toward faster, combat-oriented gameplay, series creator Volker Wertich and his new studio Envision Entertainment sought to recapture the charm of the early titles through Pioneers of Pagonia. Returning to the charming serenity of the originals, Wertich translated the essence of his 1990s classic into a modern love letter to traditional, slow-paced construction games. | © Envision Entertainment
With Banjo-Kazooie’s legacy fading under Microsoft's new ownership and the industry shifting away from 3D platformers, several former Rare developers founded Playtonic Games to carry the torch through Yooka Laylee. Funded via a record-breaking Kickstarter campaign, the project sought to revive the whimsical exploration, humor and classic collectathon design by introducing its own new characters and worlds. | © Playtonic Games
As Nintendo used their lovable rail-shooting Star Fox franchise, with its memorable anthropomorphic cast and branching paths increasingly for niche control gimmick experiments before seemingly abandoning it altogether with Star Fox Zero in 2016, fan Ben Hickling saw potential for his own attempt at the concept with Ex-Zodiac, going for the polygonal style of 1993 original on much more powerful hardware. | © MNKY
Take the fast-paced platforming of Nintendo's beloved, but low-selling and thus abandoned Wario Land series, add an unique art style, combos and other gameplay innovations and you got indie hit Pizza Tower, which has deservingly become one of the most-acclaimed titles of 2023. Considering that this was the creator's first project, the off-beat vibe and charm of the template series has been preserved surprisingly well. | © Tour de Pizza
The Nintendo Wars series and especially its beloved Advance Wars sub-series of tactical military RPGs has had perhaps some of the worst luck ever in gaming, with titles consistently releasing concurrently with real-world events which could make them a PR nightmare, forcing Nintendo to shelve the series for years. Indie developers however are undaunted by shareholder worries and were thus able to fill the gap with Wargroove. | © Chucklefish
With the gun-slinging saturday morning cartoon duo of Ratchet & Clank being forced to take increasingly long breaks from their space-travelling adventures due to developer Insomniac Games being assigned much larger licensed projects, the mantle of witty anti-corporate platforming shooters starring two main characters was free to be taken up by projects like Akimbot, even if they were not perfect. | © Evil Raptor
Until the surprise announcement of Rhythm Heaven Groove, set to release in 2026, fans of Nintendo's quirky scenario-based rhythm game series really didn't have much to look forward to. Instead of simply ripping off Rhythm Heaven's style though, first-time developer David Huynh wanted to fill that gap by taking the original's gameplay premise and setting it within new dream-like worlds; a more calm, yet similarly abstract approach. | © Half Asleep
Originally intended to actually be a Sonic fangame (given that Sega's attempts at 2D platformers at the time were either nonexistent or... well, Sonic 4), creator Sabrina DiDuro quickly grew tired of derivative work and elaborated on her unique gameplay and level ideas with an original story and characters in Freedom Planet, vastly differing from those of the Sonic franchise by being based on science fiction and Chinese history. | © GalaxyTrail
After Fire Emblem's creator Shouzou Kaga left Intelligent Systems and Nintendo – presumably due to creative differences – he sought to basically continue the series independently as if nothing had ever happened. His planned PlayStation-exclusive spiritual successor named TearRing Saga, however, ended up being so close to the original series that Nintendo quickly sued both him and the publisher mid-development. | © Tirnanog
One of the best-known horror stories of spiritual successor development, Mega Man character designer and long-time director Keiji Inafune's attempt to revitalize its classic ability-copying run-and-gun formular was marred by false expectations and mismanagement, unable to live up to the immense hype. The plans for a Mighty No. 9 franchise were consequently practically dead on arrival. | © Comcept
As Nintendo's vision for what the Paper Mario series should play like shifted further away from the action-RPG mechanics of the original two titles, the fans took it into their own hands to craft their own world with its own mythology, paper-like aesthetic and charming characters, with Bug Fables ending up playing more like The Thousand-Year Door than Sticker Star and being received accordingly by the community. | © Moonsprout Games
Firmly anchored in street culture of the early 2000s, Sega apparently had little trust that a new Jet Set Radio would sell, despite its distinct visual and sound design and skate-based action gameplay. But nostalgia proved yet again to be a powerful force, when the developers at Team Reptile wanted to recapture the charm of their childhood gaming experiences and channelled the original's rebellious spirit into Bomb Rush Cyberfunk. | © Team Reptile
By combining the gameplay and style of their Fighting Layer titles with the original characters they had created to supplement the roster of Capcom's Street Fighter EX series, Arika managed to effectively give two franchises a new lease on life with Fighting EX Layer. Despite the first trailer simply being intended as an April Fool's joke, the final project would end up benefitting from the resurgence of 2.5D fighting games of the late 2010s. | © Arika
If there are any games which Nintendo would never make any sequels to, they would have to be the Zelda CD-i games, which originally came about due to a failed hardware licensing deal. Known for their strange design and even stranger cutscenes, they became infamous in certain parts of the internet, inspiring fan Seth Fulkerson to first create two remakes improving the original's playability before creating a full-on successor with Arzette. | © Seedy Eye Software
There was a time not too long ago where Konami simply gave up on making actual video games to focus on exploiting their franchises via mobile games and gacha machines. Consequently, modern Castlevania series producer Koji Igarashi grew frustrated, leaving Konami to spearhead Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, which would become the basis of its own successful franchise. | © 505 Games
We at EarlyGame compiled this list of list of 16 spiritual successors to well-known video games. For those interested in any particular case, we've written detailed articles on their history, linked within the following blurbs. For variety's sake, we're including only one game per franchise.
