Alternate Company Equivalent - TV Tropes

• In Latin America, however, there's an averted example: Digimon and Pokémon used to be broadcast in those respective channels, until 2014, when Digimon Fusion aired on Cartoon Network alongside some seasons of Pokémon. As of 2017, Pokémon still airs on Cartoon Network in that region, but no Digimon anime is currently airing in any channel. At least, there's Yo-kai Watch airing on Disney XD also like it happens in North America.

• In response to 20th Century Fox's success with child star Shirley Temple, Warner Bros. signed and cultivated Sybil Jason.
• Samuel Goldwyn brought Soviet film actress Anna Sten to Hollywood in 1932, intending her to compete with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Greta Garbo and Paramount's Marlene Dietrich. Sten failed to match these women's successes, albeit she did appear in a notable film by King Vidor, The Wedding Night and she also played Grushenka in The Murderer Dimitri Karamasoff.

• Metro Man is a clear Superman Substitute, with all of Superman's powers and moments of classic Superdickery.
• Hal Stewart, like Jimmy Olsen, is a red-haired nerdy photographer, although his being given Metro Man's powers after the hero's "death" makes him an equivalent to Superboy. Him turning evil makes him equivalent to Superboy-Prime.
• Megamind himself is a nod to Brainiac, being another bald alien invader, but he later becomes a sendup to Batman of all characters by becoming a caped, black-clad gadgeteer hero after his Heel–Face Turn.

• Grand Admiral Thrawn was devised by Timothy Zahn as the Imperial Starfleet's equivalent of Sherlock Holmes, a deductive genius whose intellectual abilities leave his allies and enemies alike in the dust, and can know all there is to know about an enemy or a situation with a simple Sherlock Scan before coming up with a devastatingly effective response. He can also be seen as a deconstruction, however - his genius is real enough, but even he isn't perfect, and one of his deductions leads him to a completely wrong conclusion, leading him to completely miss the fact that one of his most valued assets is performing a Heel–Face Turn right under his nose.
• The Hand of Judgment from Star Wars: Allegiance and Choices of One is the Star Wars universe's equivalent of The A-Team - a small team of former elite soldiers now wanted by their own government, who wander around the galaxy righting wrongs. Even more so than Thrawn, however, they're also a more realistic version of their inspiration. Their crusade for justice lasts only eight months before the wear and tear on their equipment becomes too great for them to continue, and their pattern of operations is easy enough to recognize for exactly the sort of petty tyrant they're used to dealing with to set a trap that nearly gets them all killed. And the only reason they were able to operate that long in the first place was that they'd commandeered a special missions ship from the Imperial State Sec organ that was loaded with money, false identifications, and hidden surprises.
• The Yuuzhan Vong are often seen as the Star Wars universe's equivalent to the Borg: both are scary dogmatic alien invaders with radically different technology, seemingly overwhelming in power, and originating in a distant part of the universe before erupting without warning as an Outside-Context Problem to the characters (and an Outside-Genre Foe for what the franchise had been up to that point - both of them were introduced in part to shake up a status quo that was becoming too comfortable, something alluded to in dialogue). They're also somewhat inverted, being biotech-using religious zealots who condemn all mechanical technology as "abominations," as opposed to coldly logical all-assimilating cyborgs whose entire civilization runs on machine technology.

• Leviathan lacked Hydra's staying power, only really being around in this series. However, their Red Room program, introduced here, can also be seen as this, as seen especially in Black Widow (2021). Like Hydra, the Red Room outlasted the regime that created it, largely abandoned its ideology, and eventually turned into an N.G.O. Superpower infiltrating and manipulating the world's governments for its own ends.

• Bizaardvark has a premise eerily similar to iCarly, but also one eerie similarity to Victorious, in how it inadvertently gave rise to one of the biggest celebrities of The New '10s in one of its main actors (but who wasn’t the lead). A more contemporary counterpart to a Nickelodeon show could be, Game Shakers, which also revolved around two teenage girls who work at a content creation studio.
• The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as a response to Drake & Josh, and by extension, Jessie to iCarly, both of which were vehicles for female stars from the previous show.
• iCarly itself can be seen as Nick's response to Hannah Montana.
• Big Time Rush is essentially Nickelodeon's answer to Jonas LA. Later, Nick tried to promote One Direction as their successor, but they became way too big for them to control.
• Shake It Up to Victorious, right down to Zendaya's rise to superstardom mirroring that of Ariana Grande, and Bella Thorne floundering like Victoria Justice.
• Nickelodeon's twin superhero sitcoms The Thundermans and Henry Danger may have been created in response to Disney XD's success with Lab Rats and Mighty Med.
• Nicky, Ricky, Dicky, and Dawn is essentially Nickelodeon's successor to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (right down to having Brian Stepanek in a major role), but it also debuted shortly before Disney Channel launched their own show with a lead female character named Dawn: Kirby Buckets.
• Stuck in the Middle is widely seen as the counterpart to 100 Things to Do Before High School, namely their respective stars Jenna Ortega and Isabela Merced. Stuck in the Middle has also been called the live action version of The Loud House due to their similar premises.
• I Am Frankie to Andi Mack.

Shawn: You've seen The Mentalist, right? It's like that.

Gus: Except that guy's a fake.

Shawn: Right. If I was a fake psychic, it would be eerily similar.

Gus: Exactly the same.

Shawn: A virtual carbon copy.

• The Jonas Brothers or Allstar Weekend to Big Time Rush and The Naked Brothers Band.
• Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato to Miranda Cosgrove and Victoria Justice, respectively.

• Such equivalencies are the source of the English names for the days of the week. These derive originally from the Classical gods (or more precisely, the planets). Monday (moon day) for dies lunae and Sunday for dies solis are relatively straightforward, but Mars', Mercury's, Jupiter's, and Venus's days (dies Martis, dies Mercurii, dies Jovis, and dies Veneris) were converted into Tuesday (Tiw's day), Wednesday (Woden's (Odin's) day), Thursday (Thor's day), and Friday (Frigga's day), as these gods were regarded through interpretatio romana as equivalent to the Roman deities. Saturday is a mystery and may be because there was just no good Germanic equivalent for Saturn.

• Nyx, Nott, and Ratri were all personifications of night.
• Eos and Ushas were dawn goddesses. Some scholars theorize the Weaver Girl and Ame-no-Uzume are related and were adopted by non-IE cultures.
• Pan and Pushan were pastoral gods associated with goats.
• Thor, Taranis, Perun, and Perkunas were thunder gods with a weapon. Jupiter, Zeus, and Indra were the result of mixing the PIE thunder god with other deities, thus they have similarities and discrepancies with the aforementioned deities. Further, Thor, Perun, and Indra were all described as having red beards (though you'll hardly see them portrayed with them in the modern day).
• Nuada from Celtic Mythology is very similar to Tyr from Norse Mythology. Both are war gods that lost a hand, have ties to canines and get succeeded by spear-welding deities as rulers of their pantheons (Odin for Tyr, Lugh for Nuada). Unlike other examples, this is theorized to be because the Celts and Vikings had similar roots and a lot of interactions before the spread of Christianity.
• Most IE cultures had at least one spinning fate goddess, most often they were three, but seven and only one have been recorded. In fact, the only tradition where they aren't directly attested seems to be the Vedic.
• The Germanic Wayland the Smith has similarities with both Hephaestus and Daedalus of Greek myth. He was crippled like the former, but imprisoned by a king and forced to escape by flying away like the latter.
• Anahita and Saraswati are both river divinities who bring fertility to the land, and probably derived from the same goddess in proto-Indo-Iranian religion. (Note that Anahita might not be properly considered a goddess, since Zoroastrianism is arguably monotheistic, but is a yazata or being worthy of worship nonetheless.)

• Inanna/Ishtar/Astarte/Aphrodite was the Middle/Near Eastern counterpart, as far as being a love/sex goddess, to the Indo-European Hausos.

• Raster Blaster is a digital copy of Firepower.
• Davids Midnight Magic is a digital copy of Black Knight.
• Night Mission Pinball is largely derived from Flight 2000, though there are some notable differences.

• Like MLB, NPB is divided into two leagues, in its case the Central and Pacific Leagues. The CL and PL operate as separate entities, much like the American and National Leagues did for the most part until MLB abolished the separate league offices in 2000.
• NPB's two leagues differ in use of the designated hitter—the PL uses it and the CL doesn't. Before MLB adopted the universal DH in 2022, the AL had used it since 1974, while the NL didn't (except in the COVID year of 2020).
• NPB brackets its postseason in the same manner as MLB (as well as the other major US/Canada sports leagues) — i.e., each league or conference has its own playoff bracket, with the championship series always featuring the champions of the two first-level divisions. The AL and NL champions contest the World Series, and the CL and PL champs play in the Japan Series.

• Sting can also be considered the equivalent to Shawn Michaels, as they were the two biggest names on each side of the Monday Night Wars that had never at any point worked for the other side. (The other two biggest names would be The Rock and Goldberg, neither of whom were active until the MNW had already started, which also makes them an ACE of the other.) This continued even through Michaels' "retirement", WCW closing, Michaels' return from his "retirement", and Michaels' actual retirement before Sting finally joined WWE in 2014. They finally met in the ring for a few moments at WrestleMania 31 when Michaels interfered on behalf of Triple H during Triple H's match against Sting.

• Both 4th Edition of D&D and 3rd Edition of WFRP were basically completely different rulesets, which put off many fans unwillingly to make such drastic change to the point of almost becoming their respective Franchise Killer. In each case the edition that follwoed - D&D 5e and WFRP 4e - are seen as an Author's Saving Throw that saved the brand and also raised it to a new heigh of financial success.
• Due to the above, first edition of Pathfinder, a game closely based on rules of Dungeons & dragons 3rd Edition, but made by another company, has an equivalent in Zweihänder, an RPG based on the classic WFRP rules, but made by another company. In both cases the game's success could be seen as largerly thanks to the fans of respective edition of D&D/WFRP who would rather try something similiar than a completely new ruleset.
• Finally, Lancer is mechanically a Spiritual Successor of D&D 4e, but placed in a science-ficiton setting, while Star Wars: Roleplaying Game took the rules of 3rd Edition WFRP and repurposed them for the Star Wars setting.

• Disney's Hollywood Studios (originally MGM Studios) was created as one for Universal Orlando Resort, which opened nearby in Orlando.
• Disney's Animal Kingdom was opened as one for Busch Gardens Tampa.
• DisneyQuest was pre-emptively opened as one to the Sega/DreamWorks SKG collaboration GameWorks.
• Downtown Disney was opened as one to Universal's CityWalk.

• Universal's Islands of Adventure was created as one for Disney's Magic Kingdom, though it eventually grew into a composite Alternate Company Equivalent of it and Animal Kingdom.

• To make matters more confusing, since Hasbro's acquisition of Tonka, Go-Bots occasionally show up in Transformers: Cy-Kill and Scooter were both killed by Jhiaxus, Cop-Tur and Leader-1 are Minicons (possibly homages rather than ACES), and Crasher (under the name Fracture, sometimes) has officially crossed over and leads a squad of Decepticons, and even has a toy out.

• One notable example is Hasbro's Maxie. Although Jem predated her, she was primarily music themed, with Jem mainly shown as a singer (although Hasbro had planned to have Jem "branch out" at one point before the toyline was discontinued). Maxie is a much closer equivalent as a girl featured in many different roles (although she is mainly a high school student), though not as many as Barbie.
• Bratz sort of counts, but their main feature is removable feet, so they can wear different shoes. There's also the Moxie Girlz from the same company.
• Takara's Licca-chan has often been called "the Japanese Barbie". She's just as famous in Japan as Barbie is in the U.S.. Another doll made by Takara, Jenny, actually started out as Barbie before she got renamed sometime in the 1980s.
• Pedigree Toys' Sindy is the UK equivalent, especially in The '80s. When she was first launched in The '60s, she had a design that suggested she was the same age as the child playing, rather than the 17-year-old Barbie, but was later aged into a teenager. The 2000's Sindy doll from New Moon has returned to that.
• Sindy being noticably younger than Barbie was lifted from Ideal Toy Company's fashion doll Tammy, who Pedigree actually licenced the slogan "The doll you love to dress" from. Tammy lasted for five years (1962-1966), with the final year seeing the launch of "Grown-Up Tammy".

• Lego actually started as one to Kiddicraft's Interlocking Building Cubes and Self-Locking Building Bricks. It actually led to an out-of-court settlement where Lego paid Kiddicraft £45,000 before eventually purchasing the company outright.
• Mega Brand's Mega Bloks.
• Kre-O from Hasbro, including Kre-O versions of other Hasbro properties like Transformers and Dungeons & Dragons, and the license for Star Trek.
• Character Building, from the UK company Character Options, with licensed sets for Doctor Who, Ben 10, and the British armed forces.
• Tyco Super Blocks. Not only that, but they could also work with Lego blocks.
• Back when Nintendo still made toys, they made of line of Lego-like blocks called "N&B Block"^note . They are even referenced in a Mario Zone stage in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.

• In 1989, Hasbro created their own version of Mattel's See N' Say called Sounds Around for their Playskool subsidiary. Like the See N' Say, it is a roulette that plays different sounds and phrases depending on which image the arrow is pointing at when the lever is pulled. Most versions of the Sounds Around have two tracks per section, compared to See N' Say, which has one track per section. Several versions of this toy were based on Sesame Street, and one was based on Tiny Toon Adventures.
• In 2007, HiT Toys released the Turn and Learn. Like the See N' Say and the Sounds Around, it is a roulette that plays different phrases depending on which image the arrow is pointing at when the lever is pulled. Turn and Learn has three tracks per section, compared to Sounds Around's two and See N' Say's one. A version of this toy was based on Thomas & Friends, and taught children about colors using images of Thomas (Blue), Molly (Yellow), Rusty (Orange), Toby (Brown), Neville (Black), James (Red), Percy (Green), and Harold (White).
• In 2013, ERTL released the John Deere Spin Around the Farm, a roulette shaped like a John Deere Tractor, with the lever being the small wheel and the arrow being shaped like a barn. Spin Around the Farm had three different modes of play; animal and tractor sounds, quiz games, and music.

• For example, we have Mai, Yuri, Chun-Li and Sakura, the first two from SNK's The King of Fighters series ^note  and the latter two from Capcom's Street Fighter series. A great deal of lampshading is done in the pre-fight conversations of SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, as the characters who resemble each other comment on the similarities.
• Dan Hibiki of the Street Fighter series was created as a parody of Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, with some of Yuri's mannerisms thrown in. Similar to the above example, Dan is frequently mistaken for Robert in the crossover games due to a pronounced (and intentional) resemblance, and is also considered a counterpart of fellow goofball Joe Higashi.
• Of course, Dan was a response to Ryo and Robert, who were originally made as A.C.E.s of SF's Ryu and Ken. This isn't particularly surprising, considering that the men behind Art of Fighting (Hiroshi Matsumoto, Takashi Nishiyama) were also responsible for Street Fighter in the first place. (Furthermore, Ken's wealth and kick-happy style was established long after Art of Fighting came out, whereas Robert was always like this.)
• SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium goes one step further; picking one character (ex. Ryu) will result in you fighting your Alternate Company Equivalent (ex. Kyo) just before the final match. At least one of them is even a case of Distaff Counterpart (Guile and Leona).
• Many of the equivalent characters (Ryu and Ryo, Chun-Li and Mai, Ken and Terry, Sakura and Yuri, Zangief and Raiden, Sagat and King, etc.) have special pre-fight intros when facing each other in Capcom vs. SNK and Capcom vs. SNK 2.
• The similarities between Sakura Kasugano and Shingo Yabuki, both being headband-wearing high schoolers who idolize the main hero and emulate their fighting style, are so pronounced, that with the year and a half gap between their respective debuts, it wouldn't be surprising if Shingo was deliberately designed to be Sakura's Spear Counterpart.
• Moe Habana from the King of Fighters EX series could also be considered Sakura's counterpart. Like Sakura, Moe is a teenage girl of Japanese descent who was deliberately designed to be the Distaff Counterpart of her series' protagonist. She even uses the same stance as Kyo and has a similar fighting style, much like Sakura does for Ryu.
• The King of Fighters XIV then introduced Alice Nakata, a Terry Bogard fangirl who learned how to fight by studying his moves, basically making her the Sakura of the Fatal Fury corner of the SNK universe.
• All these years later, and Capcom and SNK are still doing this. Back in 2000, SNK introduced Vanessa, a Fiery Redhead Action Mom with noticeable assets who works as a secret agent. Fast forward nine years later, and Capcom introduces Crimson Viper... A Fiery Redhead Action Mom with noticeable assets who works as a secret agent.
• The recursive example of Iori-Remy-Ash Crimson. Remy, from Street Fighter III, was plainly designed to resemble SNK characters, Iori Yagami in particular, but given charge-based moves to differentiate him/establish him as III's Guile counterpart. Then KOF 2003 saw the debut of Ash Crimson, an effeminate Bishōnen with charge-based moves who is clearly designed to resemble Remy. Both characters are from France as well, adding another parallel.
• SNK's Garou: Mark of the Wolves (1999) to Capcom's Street Fighter III (1997-1999). Both are critically praised, well-balanced, highly technical fighters known for pushing the technological capabilities of 2D fighters at the time and their soundtracks. In addition, many of the mainstays from previous games were Put on a Bus (but still made cameos) to emphasize the new roster (III only had Ryu and Ken at first, followed by Akuma in 2nd Impact and Chun-Li in 3rd Strike, while Terry Bogard was the only returning Fatal Fury character in Garou; both games, however, featured analogues to previous fighters). The two games even featured similar defensive concepts: Parrying (Blocking in Japanese) and Just Defending.
  • Both games also happened to feature an Afro-Brazilian martial artist introduced in a "Next Generation" meant to also serve as the representative for the prominent mainstay fighting style: Sean Matsuda (Ansatsuken/"Shotokan") and Marco Rodriguez (Kyokugenryu Karate), respectively.
  • Few know that Art of Fighting 3 had done it before either of them (although it lacks the Time Skip factor present in both Garou and SFIII, as well as the aforementioned defensive maneuvers).
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2 introduced Ruby Heart, a universe-hopping female Sky Pirate. The King of Fighters XIV would later include Love Heart, a universe-hopping female sky pirate, though in that case, she actually originated in one of SNK's pachinko games.
• SNK's Silber from Buriki One has been noted to be very similar to Capcom's Akuma, with both characters being gruff, spiky-haired Blood Knights who travel the world in search of strong opponents. They even have similar Badass Back poses.
• Less than a year after SNK introduced Isla, a spray paint wielding young female fighter with blue streaked hair in The King of Fighters XV, Capcom introduced Kimberly, a spray paint wielding young female fighter with blue tipped hair in Street Fighter 6. Needless to say, fans were quick to point out the similarities, with some suggesting the two girls would be perfect counterparts in a future SNK vs. Capcom game if one ever gets made.
• Street Fighter 6 also saw the debut of Manon, a beautiful French grappler who combines elegant movements with grabs and throws. Add to that her prominent bangs and high fashion sense of style, and she comes across like Capcom's answer to Shermie from King of Fighters.
• Arcana Heart has a few blatant ones, as far as movesets go. The most blatant is lead Heart Aino, who has half of Ryu's moveset herself, and the other half on her default Arcana. As of Arcana Heart 3, her moveset (sans arcana) mirrors Ragna the Bloodedge closely enough that the pair has been spotted on a date in an official April Fools crossover (not to mention the former becoming a Guest Fighter in BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle).
• Lucia Morgan from the Final Fight and Street Fighter series has been compared to Blaze Fielding from Streets of Rage. Both are young female cops (ex-cop in Blaze's case) who wear revealing outfits and utilize a fighting style that emphasizes kicking. Interestingly, when a fourth Streets of Rage was announced in August 2018 (24 years after the third game was released), Blaze was revealed to have undergone some Costume Evolution, wearing a black version of her SOR1 jacket over the bra-and-skirt look she's favored since SOR2—essentially making the resemblance between her and Lucia even more noticeable. (That is, until Lucia appeared in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition almost a full year later, sporting a more modest redesign emphasizing her status as a Metro City police officer, though her original Final Fight 3 attire is featured as a Nostalgia Costume.)
• The King of Fighters XIII roster welcomed squeaky, half-insane Muay Thai asshole Hwa Jai, right after the Super Street Fighter IV roster welcomed squeaky, half-insane Muay Thai asshole Adon. Although Adon was introduced before Hwa, Hwa was already pretty unhinged in his debut in 1991 whereas Adon became so by way of his Street Fighter Alpha redesign in 1995.
• Street Fighter's Ibuki and Tekken's Ling Xiaoyu. Both debuted in 1997 and are short of stature, school age female characters who use finesse for victory. Both debuted in the third installment of their respective series in a time both franchises were trying out new characters and both were romanced with the lead male of the new series (Alex for Ibuki and Jin for Xiaoyu). However, Xiaoyu ended up being more important to the story of her own franchise and was officially paired with Jin while the initial pairing of Alex and Ibuki has all but been forgotten about and Ibuki is firmly a side character.
• Body Blows: This game (and its sequels) owes its existence due to complaints of Amiga owners in regard to the first port of the original Street Fighter II. Commodore, the company that owned the Amiga brand of computers, decided that rather than going through the hassle of reattempting a better version of that game, they would contract British based developer Team 17 to create their own equivalent fighting game for their Amiga brand of personal computers. In terms of particular characters, Danny and Nik are shotoclones with similar moves to Ryu and Ken, but having designs and backstories more like those of the Bogard brothers and Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, while Junior and Kossak are equivalents to Balrog and Zangief respectively. Inferno and Warra, introduced in the sequel Body Blows Galactic, are equivalents of Scorpion and Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat.
• Rival Schools' Roy Bromwell is pretty much Terry Bogard as a Foreign Exchange Student with a grudge against the Japanese thanks to his grandfather's bitter stories about WWII. He borrows several of Terry's attacks, complete with liberal use of Gratuitous English such as "Touchdown Wave" being short-ranged version of Terry's "Power Wave" and "Touchdown Spike" BV being essentially the same as Terry's 'Triple Geyser'/"Overshoot Geyser".
• The King of Fighters XIV: Luong's personality, Tae Kwan Do, color motif and stances make her a dead ringer of Juri Han from Street Fighter IV, a character who ironically enough was joked about as being an SNK-style design.
• In December 2008, Bandai Namco Entertainment brought us Lars: a main character of an Updated Re-release (Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion) with a spiky hairstyle and a close connection to a female who is now technology (Alisa), and who is the Token Good Teammate of a corrupt organization (Tekken Force). Three months later, in February 2009, SNK brought us Nameless: a main character of an Updated Re-release (The King of Fighters 2002: Unlimited Match) with a spiky hairstyle and a close connection to a female who is now technology (Isolde), and who is the Token Good Teammate of a corrupt organization (NESTS). Sound familiar?

• Main character Akira is often seen as VF's answer to Ryu, the protagonist of Street Fighter, as both characters are stoic Japanese warriors who wear headbands and white outfits (though Akira's is black in certain entries). VF director Yu Suzuki even acknowledged the strong resemblance in the official Street Fighter 25th anniversary documentary, though he claims he didn't consciously copy Ryu's design. A key difference, however, is that despite looking like Ryu and being his series' mascot, Akira is not a Shotoclone, instead practicing the Chinese martial art Bajiquan.
• Likewise, Pai Chan is highly similar to Street Fighter's Chun-Li, being a beautiful Chinese Kung-Fu practitioner who primarily wears blue and yellow. The two even get some unique interactions in the crossover game Project × Zone, where they're partnered with fellow Anime Chinese Girl Ling Xiaoyu from Tekken.
• Jean Kujo has some similarities to Capcom's Ken Masters, being a cocky mixed-race karate practitioner in a sleeveless red gi. Sega even did an April Fools' Day video for Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown that spoofed their competitor's Super Street Fighter IV by showing Jean performing Ken's trademark Hadouken, Shoryuken and Hurricane Kick. The same clip also had the aforementioned Pai using some of Chun-Li's special moves, making the parody even more obvious.

• Yuka Takeuchi is their tomboy equivalent of Ryu, sharing the same basic moveset and mentality in that she lives to test herself against worthy opponents and strives to learn more about herself as a martial artist. Likewise, she's the series' protagonist.
• Her best friend, Satomi Yajima, is similar to Ken, being her old sparring partner/rival. In terms of fighting style, however, she's V.G's tomboy equivalent of Kyo Kusanagi instead. She borrows several of his attacks, along with his "Ore no..!" catchphrase, and her moves are even themed named similarly to his. ^note 
• Tamao Mitsurugi is their version of Sakura, complete with the same backstory: both first saw their heroes on television, are primarily self-taught by emulating their role models' fighting style, and seek to be trained by them. Her moves are also the same as Sakura's, right down to having a short-ranged projectile.
• While Saki Shinjo is a mashup of Rugal Bernstein, Iori Yagami, and Vice, in terms of character design and personality. Her moveset consists of moves borrowed from each of them including Rugal's Genocide Cutter, Iori's claw swipes and Dark Plume finisher, and Vice's Negative Gain command throw.

Sakura: You remind me of one of my friends. She also rides around in limousines and stuff. Same laugh, too.

• PlayStation era: mascot platformers (ND: Crash Bandicoot; Insomniac: Spyro the Dragon)
• PlayStation 2 era: platformers focused on a duo (ND: Jak and Daxter; Insomniac: Ratchet & Clank)
• PlayStation 3 era: Darker and Edgier action games (ND: Uncharted, The Last of Us; Insomniac: Resistance)

• Disney Infinity was ^note  a more direct answer to Skylanders with similar gameplay and a similar NFC device for scanning the figures into the game.
• LEGO Dimensions is another "toys-to-life" game, although unlike the Skylanders and Disney Infinity, you actually have to build the portal yourself, though it still uses NFC ^note  technology.

• Although Time Master is probably closer in look and deed to Kang the Conqueror.
• Word of God says that Tombstone is their Batman, but his biggest influence seems to be The Spectre.

• The respective protagonists (Ryu and Dante) are superhuman warriors who fight evil demons and wield an Ancestral Weapon (The Dragon Sword for Ryu, the Sparda sword for Dante).
• Both Ryu and Dante's allies include a superstrong buxom, blonde, demonic woman in black leather (Rachel and Trish, respectively) and a raven-haired human woman dressed in white (Momiji and Lady, respectively).
• Ryu and Dante are also allied with members of warrior clans who have their own battles against evil forces independent of the main protagonist. For Ryu, it's Ayane of the Mugen Tenshin clan. For Dante, it's Lucia of the Vie De Marli Protectors clan. Lucia is also the closest thing to a ninja among the Devil May Cry playable characters.
• Both Ryu and Dante have an evil relative who sought to transcend humanity and served as the Big Bad in a prequel game (Murai for Ryu, Vergil for Dante).
• As pointed out in this video, Ninja Gaiden Black and Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening follow very similar story beats.
  • Both are prequel games starring the main hero in his younger years.
  • The hero is descended from a legendary bloodline known for defending humanity from powerful demons.
  • The hero becomes embroiled in the villains' scheme when they send their minions to destroy his home.
  • The villain plots to obtain a legendary sword containing incredible demonic power that will allow them to transcend humanity.
  • Along the way, the hero allies with a female demon hunter who is seeking to kill a relative who became a demon^note . She acts coldly towards the hero, but warms up to him as they work together to defeat the villains. Towards the end, her signature weapon becomes available for the hero to use. The huntress becomes a trusted companion from here on, serving as the odd man out among the hero's playable superhuman allies^note .
  • The story ends with a relative of the hero discarding his human companion and obtaining the sword. The hero defeats him with the sword he inherited from his father, ensuring that the sword will never fall into evil hands as his relative falls into darkness.
• Nero and Nico could be argued to be this to Yaiba and Ms. Monday from Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z:
  • Both Nero and Yaiba are Contrasting Sequel Protagonists in their respective franchises. Both are more foul-mouthed and temperamental than their predecessors and both fight against them. Devil May Cry 5 also sees Nero gain a cybernetic arm just like Yaiba has. It should be noted that Nero debuted before Yaiba and that while Nero is a hero, Yaiba is a Villain Protagonist.
  • Nico and Ms. Monday are NPC supporting characters in their respective games who serve as sidekicks to the aforementioned Nero and Yaiba respectively. Both are snarky genius scientists who have tattoos, wear glasses and are Ambiguously Bi. Just as Nico designed Nero's cybernetic arm, Ms. Monday rebuilt Yaiba as a cyborg.

Kiki Wolfkill: We are targeting Gran Turismo with this game on Xbox, and I think we've been very focussed on that. We have a lot of respect for Gran Turismo, which helps drive that desire to beat them.

• Sombra from Overwatch has an ACE in Loba from Apex Legends and Reyna from Valorant.
  • Like Sombra, Loba is a dark-skinned Latine women with dyed hair. Both are also thieves who teleport by throwing a device.
  • Reyna is Mexican woman with purple-dyed hair and a purple outfit, just like Sombra.
• Junkrat from Overwatch also has explosive ACE in Fuse from Apex Legends and Raze from Valorant.
  • Like Junkrat, Fuse is an Aussie merc who loves explosives to the point where he blew off his arm only to replace it with a robotic one.
  • Raze not only shares the same scrappy personality, but also has uses remote-detonated explosive packs and a more powerful warhead as ultimate ability.

• The success of the M16's smaller 5.56mm round was copied by the Soviets for the 5.45mm AK-74 (not to be confused with the earlier AK-47, which it is derived from), and eventually the Chinese 5.8mm round.
• The American F-86 Sabre is the counterpart of the Soviet MiG-15.
• The Imperial German A7V was made to counter the British Mark I tank in World War I.
• The equally iconic (and long-lived) Messerschmitt Bf.109 and Supermarine Spitfire fighters of World War II.
• Perhaps the most flagrant example in military aviation history is the Soviet Union's first nuclear-capable bomber, the Tupolev Tu-4, NATO Code Name "Bull", which was directly reverse-engineered from American Boeing B-29 Superfortresses that made forced landings in (ostensibly "friendly" at the time) Soviet territory during the closing phases of World War II. Although slightly heavier on account of everything being respecified in metric with a duly conservative margin for error, and armed with Soviet cannons instead of the U.S. originals as defensive armament (mounted in exact copies of the original American remote-controlled turrets), the Tu-4 is externally -and for the most part internally- virtually indistinguishable from the B-29.

• Cola: Coca-Cola and Pepsi, and also Royal Crown (Keurig^note ).
• Diet colas: Diet Coke and Coke Zero Sugar; Diet Pepsi, Pepsi Zero Sugar, and Pepsi Max; Diet Rite (Keurig^note )
• Dr Pepper-flavored: Dr Pepper (Keurig),^note  Pibb Xtra (Coca-Cola)^note , Mr. Green (PepsiCo). All have diet versions.
• Lemon-lime: Sprite (Coca-Cola), 7-Up (Keurig in US, PepsiCo and affiliates elsewhere),^note  and Starry (PepsiCo; replaced Sierra Mist in 2023). Again, all have Zero Sugar versions.
• Citrus (actually grapefruit): Squirt (Keurig), Fresca (Coca-Cola).
• The other citrus, which tends to be caffeinated: Mountain Dew (Pepsi), Sun Drop (Keurig), and Mello Yello (Coca-Cola). The diet versions are Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Sun Drop, and Mello Yello Zero. Mountain Dew and Sun Drop both offer caffeine-free diet versions in some US regions.
• Orange and usually other fruit flavors: Fanta (Coca-Cola) and Crush/Sunkist (both Keurig); PepsiCo affiliates and vending machines in the US usually carry Sunkist, but outside the US, PepsiCo makes Mirinda in this category. Also Tango (Britvic), but as the company name implies, only really in the UK.
• Root beer: A&W (Keurig, though they also own Hires and IBC^note ), Barq's (Coca-Cola^note ), and Mug (PepsiCo).
• In non-carbonated drinks, PepsiCo has Gatorade, and Coca-Cola counters with Powerade. Coca-Cola's NOS squares off against PepsiCo's Rockstar in the energy drink category, and in Southeast Asia, PepsiCo's Sting goes head-to-head with Coca-Cola's Thums Up Charged.
• Bottled water: Coca-Cola has Dasani (among others) and PepsiCo Aquafina (among others).
• Third party knock-offs will usually have names that make their origin blatant; for example, Walmart's answer to Dr Pepper is Dr Thunder. (In fact, just about any company or supermarket will have a drink of some sort called "Dr ___________" or "________ Pepper").

• Italian-American: Olive Garden (Darden), Carabba's Italian Grill (Bloomin'), and Maggiano's Little Italy (Brinker). Brinker also used to own Romano's Macaroni Grill, also in this style, but has since sold control to an outside group of investors (albeit retaining a minority share).
• Themed steakhouse: LongHorn Steakhouse (Darden, Texas-themed), Outback Steakhouse (Bloomin', "Australian"-themed), Chili's (Brinker, "Southwestern"-themed), and Saltgrass Steak House (Landry's, Texas-themed again).
• Seafood: This one's a bit odd, since it's divided into two tiers:
  • Mid-price tier: The major player here is Red Lobster, which Darden used to own but has since been sold to outside investors.^note  Also operating in this space are the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company and Joe's Crab Shack, both owned by Landry's.
  • High-end tier: Eddie V's Prime Seafood vs. McCormick & Schmick's again sees Darden vs. Landry's (with Darden giving no suggestion they'll ever give up Eddie V's).
  • Meanwhile, Bloomin' has a foot in each camp: Bonefish Grill situates itself between the Red Lobster market and the higher-end one.
• High-end steakhouse: The Capital Grille (Darden), Ruth's Chris Steak House (also Darden), Fleming's Prime Steakhouse Wine Bar (Bloomin'), and Morton's The Steakhouse (Landry's). Unlike the other offerings from these companies, these and the high-end seafood places are generally seen as being good-quality, if not as good or interesting as more traditional restaurants in their markets. A common joke about them is that they survive primarily on payments from corporate expense accounts. Put another way: Take your business meeting to The Capital Grille, nobody will bat an eyebrow (though they also won't praise your hosting skills). Take your business meeting to the Olive Garden, you'll be laughed at.

• The companies have their own private-label equivalents: Kirkland Signature (Costco) and Member's Mark (Sam's Club).

• The Editor, who are often blamed for issues: Dan Didio and Joe Quesada.
• The head writer in charge of most of the ongoing works: Geoff Johns and Brian Michael Bendis.
• The weird guy from the UK that indulges in postmodernism: Grant Morrison and Warren Ellis.
• The legendary artist who became a big wig: Carmine Infantino and John Romita Sr.
• The once loved writer that became a bit reviled after suffering Creator Breakdown, that nonetheless is put on popular titles: James Robinson and Jeph Loeb.
• The Cool Old Guy: Adam West and Stan Lee, though both have now passed on.