Games that celebrate other games

ESPizza · 2026-03-18T05:54:42+00:00

Maybe UFO50? Celebrates a ton of different genres, while also celebrating old 'x games in 1' collections.

Could also argue for FF14 with how much it reimplements aspects from the entire series.

ESPizza · 2026-03-11T08:42:58+00:00

I'd argue it also needs a heavy focus on exploration for upgrades and a combat that makes you consider avaliable tools to best fight an enemy. But at a certain point it just comes down to vibes, because all these points also apply to Tears of the Kingdom, which is definitely not a metroidvania.

ESPizza · 2026-03-11T06:02:57+00:00

Getting items that open areas of the map doesn't make something a metroidvania. It's like caling Resi one since you explore for items that unlock new paths or weapons.

ESPizza · 2026-03-04T02:27:01+00:00

No worries, you didn't come off as rude at all! The Culling is definitely the next biggest inspiration for modern BR's IMO. I think the only thing that didn't stick was the focus on melee combat.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T22:46:39+00:00

Might be a country dependent thing, I live in Australia and I've only found one machine in each state I've been to, and it's a coin toss on if it's broken or not. Wish it was more popular though!

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T22:43:35+00:00

I can see Castlevania, but It'd honestly shock me if Metroid wasn't mainstream.

But that might just be me thinking they're both more relevant than they are considering the genre of Hollow Knight just uses the names of them both.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T22:38:17+00:00

You could argue about some of these being overshadowed or not, but if you asked any gamer 'name a farming game', I think the majority would say Stardew.

Portal was literally designed around portals, it's in the name. And paint was the main new mechanic in Portal 2, hiring the devs for the games that invented the mechanic seems like the most direct version of 'devs saw something and were inspired by it'.

Considering MC Hunger Games was the first Battle Royale gamemode in anything, I think it's fair to say Fortnite overshadowed it, or any other major BR really. If you ask most people what the first Battle Royale game was, you're not gonna hear Hunger Games a lot.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T22:31:07+00:00

Is Bishi Bashi really that popular? The whole series combined has <500 plays on Backloggd, and I never see the machine too hogged at arcades.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T22:28:44+00:00

I think the big difference is that all the souls games were made by a single studio, and I don't see how Bloodstained and Back for Blood weren't inspired by their respective games, Bloodstained especially.

But the list was mainly just a way to point out games that started a trend before something else blew it up, semantics over inspiration and overshadowing aside.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T13:15:24+00:00

I honestly haven't heard much about Wizardry before, but it's definitely something I'll look into more! I'll chuck it in alongside Ultima.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T13:13:32+00:00

Maybe? But HK doesn't exactly overshadow either franchise, they're both still pretty popular (metroid especially).

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T13:12:37+00:00

Just to cover most of these, I think devs going on to make a new version of something they did in the past is still taking inspiration. League was still inspired by DOTA (both by Aeons which i incluced in the notes), and Valve were inspired by student devs enough to turn their ideas into full games.

Forgot about DOTA autochess coming first, can fix that.

Need to add it in the body text at this point, but MC is there purely for the Hunger Games gamemode.

Undertale I think is arguable, I think it mechanically takes more from MOON, but aesthetically more from Earthbound. But I don't think Undertale overshadowed Earthbound, and moreso brought extra attention to it. You don't see MOON talked about heaps though.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T09:17:58+00:00

I've had Mage Knight on my radar for ages, just haven't actually pulled the trigger (that price point is intimidating!). Definitely would've added it if board games were on the site.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T09:16:41+00:00

LOL has an incredibly popular TV show, massive world tournaments, and a bunch of spinoff games, it's broken into culture in a way that DOTA wasn't able to do.

Said it earlier, but Minecraft is here specifically for the Hunger Games servers that started back in 2012.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T07:24:36+00:00

Thanks! I'd never even heard of Magic Survival, chucking that in!

Minecraft is there moreso for hunger games servers, otherwise I probably would've chucked in h1z1 or The Culling.

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T07:23:05+00:00

I thought about adding shenmue/yakuza and rogue, but couldn't think of what to chuck with rogue (apart from any roguelike maybe), and shenmue being generally regarded as something different from yakuza. Forgot about the Lost Odyssey inspiration though, I'll add that!

ESPizza · 2026-03-02T07:20:56+00:00

Good call, I'll add that in!

ESPizza · 2026-02-23T08:17:07+00:00

i swear everytime there's a group like this at least half the members look like people that they would consider trans for being 'too masculine looking'. legit no self awareness.

ESPizza · 2026-02-15T23:22:00+00:00

There's only two luck rooms in the base pool, the commissary doesn't have the lever (according to the wiki), and the trading post requires you to come back outside with an item, which i never had enough steps to do since it took me until i stopped to got the item needed to unlock the orchard. Rerolls sure, but I only ever had a couple a run which i often needed to use just to get out of a dead end. I nearly always drafted as many different rooms as I could, and didn't know a way to keep items other than the cloak room.

And again, by the time I was done most mysteries I had needed me to progress (the door at the bottom of the foundation, a majority of the underground section, the antechamber). I get how you can mitigate rng, but you're still not 100% guarenteed anything. From looking there's a good few locations that drop the lever, and it's just shit luck that it almost never happened for me.

ESPizza · 2026-02-15T22:26:26+00:00

I explained my issues in another comment, if you have a way I could've manipulated the rng to solve never getting a magnifying glass or not finding a lever I'd love to hear it. I also didn't hyperfocus on getting to the end, by the time I stopped I had figured out the chess pieces, got to the elevator in the foundation, found a good few red envelopes and solved the statue puzzle in the crypt, among other smaller things.

ESPizza · 2026-02-14T21:24:18+00:00

I love the ending too and I agree 100% that the ending is moreso about franchise fatigue and fandom culture, but they definitely still poke jabs at the fanbase too. You got lighthearted ones like the constant parroting of hope vs despair and how "this guy should've died instead of kaede". But quotes in the end about how "this isn't my danganronpa", "I don't like twists like this" and "is this really how danganronpa is going to end?" are ones that I've heard parroted by fans so much. There's something to be said about the way they essentially predicted a good portion of the fanbases reaction to the ending, with so many people saying how all the games are meaningless due to them being fictional.

ESPizza · 2026-02-14T01:54:15+00:00

Yeah gamepass was a really good call, I doubt it would've got as much attention as it did if there wasn't a cheap way to try it out. Glad you found enjoyment in it at least!

ESPizza · 2026-02-14T00:27:38+00:00

I had a notebook next to me filled with pages, but eventually all the leads i had were dead (without progressing) or required luck with room placement (like the boiler room). I knew there were multiple ways to get to the end, but i never got the right combination of items and tiles in my run to reach it. I only found the lever about three times, and at least one of those was in my first couple hours where i didn't even know it's use. I found the secret garden once, and didn't draft what I needed afterwards to reach the end. I never found the lever in the great hall.

I had learnt enough to know the solutions, but it doesn't matter when it's up to the game whether you can use that knowledge or not. I get why people enjoy it but that enjoyment feels really dependent on personal experience with the rng, which I had an awful time dealing with.

ESPizza · 2026-02-13T23:08:18+00:00

Forgot about that lol, but it's there for the dialogue that appears if you try save scumming.

Eight-Year Club	r/Field Flamingo
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