Video games that "Arcade Paradise" rips off

Do you know the original arcade games that Arcade Paradise rips off, clones, copies, remakes, knocks off, and otherwise borrows liberally from?

If you're a hardcore gamer, you probably do.

If not, I just thought I'd create this small little guide for those of you who were way too young to have experienced the arcade days in all their glory.
Please note that it's not exhaustive. Some games don't pretend to be clones, and many of the games are an amalgamation of multiple game ideas. Some are completely original.

If you have any info to improve the list, please comment and I'll update it!

The included games

Here's a list:
1. Air Hockey - Nope this is actually not a rip-off.
2. Attack Vector - the vector tank reminds me of "Battle Zone" but the top-down nature of the game is closer to "Armor Attack" even if the gameplay isn't. The gameplay is similar to another arcade game that escapes me now.
3. Barkanoid - Obvious rip-off of "Arkanoid", which is in itself a clone of "Super Breakout". Instead of a bat, you have a dog. Barkanoid. Geddit? *sigh*
4. Blobs from Space - Obviously a "Space Invaders" clone.
5. Blockchain - This is a clone of an old flash game called "Chain Factor", and the Zynga published phone game "Drop 7" from around 2009. Blockchain introduces special hacks to use in game after a number of chained moves, which is an original improvement.
6. Bomb Dudes - Obviously a "BomberMan" clone from Hudsonsoft. This game appeared on the NES initially but spread to a wide variety of different computer and console systems. An arcade version was released in 1991.
7. Bugai - This is a clone of "Puzzle Bobble/ Bust-a-Move" but includes an opposing AI to play against, more like "Puzzle Bobble 2". Also the world travelling feature of the game is similar to "Pang"'s but not the gameplay at all.
8. Championship Darts - Not a rip off.
9. Communists from Mars - Obvious rip-off of "Missile Command", although it differs due to a laser meter, and only having one laser base. The original game had three missile bases and you could run out of missiles and get a free city back after a number of points.
10. Cyber Dance - The original "Dance Dance Revolution" set this genre of dancing video games onto the world. There are many clones and sequels now, of which this is one.
11. Fruit Crush - Closer to "Columns" but not similar at all in the way you stack clear the fruits. There was a game called "Stack Up" that appeared on the Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit, Amiga, PC, ZX Specturm in the early 1990s that is very similar to this game, only your dropping pieces don't rotate and the food just swaps positions.
12. Graffiti Balls - This one is likely an original concept, but it does borrow heavily from the computer game "E-motion", that is, the knocking of two same coloured balls together to clear them, and having too many balls on screen draining a timer.
13. Gravichase - Seems to be a simplified clone of "Super Hexagon", which is a 2013 computer game. It is dressed up to look a bit like Cinematronics "Star Castle" from 1980, with the octagonal vector graphics.
14. Hustler - Not a clone.
15. Jukebox - Not a clone, or a game either for that matter!
16. Knuckles and Knees - A homage to "Double Dragon" and side-scrolling beatem ups of that ilk, but more similar to SEGA's "Streets of Rage/Bare Knuckle" in so far as game graphics goes. One of the playable characters resembles Terry Bogard from the "Fatal Fury" fighting series.
17. Line Terror - Obvious and shameless rip off of "Qix" that's missing a second-speed option
18. Meteor Madness - This one is interesting. It's an amalgamation of "Asteroids", but contains gameplay elements from "Sinistar" (the breaking of rocks to get diamonds), and also elements of "Thrust" from 8-bit computers as you drag the diamond to the hole. An interesting original concept.
19. Racer Chaser - A "PacMan" clone of sorts as you have to pick up all the bills around the map instead of dots and run away from four cars in a maze. The car theme and mini-map is reminiscent of "Rally-X", given that you also can't see all of the screen at once. This game is different enough with some extra elements that set it apart - particularly how you can crash the car and go on foot and hit police with music! Also the speed booster isn't in the original Pacman. Also the GTA theme is fairly obvious.
20. Shuttlecocks - An obvious clone of "Pong". Right down to the look of the cabinet!
21. Slime Pipes - This is clearly based on the computer game "Pipe Mania" but with a completely different concept. Instead of laying pipe, you simple rotate all the pipes that are on-screen already until you can guide the slime out the right way.
22. SpaceRace Simulator - Probably closer to the seminal driving game "Outrun", but retains some aspects of Atari's "Stun Runner". The track pickups and extra bonuses in particular. Also looks a bit like Nintendo's "F-Zero"
23. Stack Overflow - This one is a clone of a mobile phone game, I am told. I'm not sure of it's name however.
24. Strike Gold - A blatant clone of "Mr. Driller" ! Right down to the artwork.
25. Table Football - Not a clone. Foosball has been around for a long time!
26. Thump-a-Gopher - A clone of the seminal "Whack-a-mole" game
27. Toad and Turtle - a clone of "Frogger" , although there are some map differences between levels. The screen also scrolls on this game, unlike the original Frogger arcade game.
28. UFO Assault - a clone of the early 8-bit computer game "Blitz", which in itself is a rip-off of the arcade game "Canyon Bomber", but with skyscrapers to destroy instead of rocks in a canyon.
29. Video Air Hockey - A computerized version of "Air Hockey", but I can't recall if there was ever a videogame version of this in arcades.
30. Vostok 2093 - A homage to bullet-hell vertical shoot'em ups. This game is closest to "Dodonpachi", which was the first bullet-hell shooter to spray gold around on-screen for the player to pick up after destroying enemies.
31. Woodgal Jr. - A clone of the computer lumberjack game. Never appeared in arcades as far as I can tell. There was a real video game about being a lumberjack called "Timber" but the gameplay of that game is vastly different.
32. Woodgal's Adventure - A clone of the mobile phone game "Zookeeper" which spawned "Candy Crush" and other clones. This game also has some RPG-like elements
33. Woodguy Golf - probably a homage to the "Golden-Tee" golf games although the gameplay is vastly different.
34. Woodguy Jr - See Woodgal junior. It's the same game!
35. Zombat 2 - The mouse controls are a bit of a giveaway here. There were three top down shooters in the arcades that had special rotating joysticks to give 360 degree control of your man's firing. Of those three, "Heavy Barrel" had the gun pickup sillouhettes and "Caliber 50" had the bullet shells fly everywhere ("Ikari Warriors" was the other one but is dissimilar to Zombat 2). You might also think of "Robotron 2084" and the later "Smash TV" which DID put you in an arena with loads of enemies to kill, but you could only fire in 8 directions with a second joystick. "Total Carnage" is another worthy mention, but the game scrolled across a map.

The DLC games

DLC Pack 1

1. Cyber Dance: Euro Mix - This one is yet another "Dance Dance Revolution" clone. Of which there are many in the real world, but Arcade Paradise serves up yet another one in DLC just to remind you just how cloned the original was.
2. Empathy - This game is truly original, and utterly weird! Having said that, it's unique looking cabinet has more than a passing resemblance to the first video arcade game ever "Computer Space"! Gameplay is nothing like it that game though.
3. Kung Fury - The left/right attacks remind me heavily of "Kung Fu Master", but the gameplay is more similar to the smartphone game "One Finger Death Punch"
4. Smoke'Em - While the logo and the cabinet are incredibly similar to "Point Blank", the in-game visuals and sound has more than a passing resemblance to "Police Trainer", right down to the timer, background, and exploding tiles.

DLC Pack 2

1. Penguin Push - This is clearly a clone of Nintendo's original "Mario Bros." (not "Super Mario Bros." - that classic is a different game and came later). In the original Mario Bros. game, both Mario and Luigi did skate about on the floor, so it makes sense that you're a penguin on ice in this clone.
2. Summer of Sports - This is clearly a knock-off of Konami's famous button-masher "Track and Field", although it seems to be missing a few events, like high jump and hammer throw.
3. R.O.G.E.R - I don't know what this is a clone of. It could be a clone of a ludum-dare creation: "Paper planes". I'm not sure. Maybe someone else can shed some light on this!

[Underestimated37]

The Darts Board is a clone of DartsLive, which is a big thing in Japan, and the gameplay closely matches that of the version depicted in the Yakuza series, same thing with the pool, the gameplay is so close to yakuza it could have easily been borrowed from the games.

[BrainpanSonata]

Also, Stack Overflow's gameplay is based on Towers of Hanoi, though the design/setting seems more unique/elaborate than other Hanoi clones I've seen.

[BrainpanSonata]

Graffiti Ballz is incredibly similar to a Steam game called POOOOL. I don't know if POOOOL is based on any other games, but Arcade Paradise predates it by roughly two years. So maybe POOOOL is based on Graffiti Ballz?

[Mister Ether]

While it's not a ripoff, Empathy is a reference to Philip K Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (the book Bladerunner is based on). One of the things that never made it to the movies was the Empathy Box, a device that allowed people to experience each others' feelings. The thing is, its intended purpose was to encourage empathy by endlessly playing Mercer (a religious figure) as he climbed a mountain while rocks were thrown at him. He just... climbed forever...

[Riot]

Why is there always someone who nitpicks about this crap? Every game takes its inspiration or in some way copies another game. Its called being part of a Genre.

[Chrissy Bee]

I would say fruit crush is most like Puyo Puyo (or Dr robotnik's mean bean machine!).

[Cerebrovore]

Kung Fury : https://store.steampowered.com/app/373180/Kung_Fury_Street_Rage__Ultimate_Edition/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS5P_LAqiVg

[No Exit]

I just did this for fun, and because I'm old enough to remember playing all the original games in the 80s and 90s.

[No Exit]

Thanks! Updated

[Joshayy]

Kung Fury looks to be inspired by One finger Death Punch.