This article contains original research, observations, conjecture, and synthesis. Feel free to leave a comment if you disagree with something.
Main article: Songs that sound alike
This is a list of songs that allegedly sound alike where there is no evidence of legitimate authorized reuse. Each entry involves at least one video game.
In the following table, a demo is a video, recording, or other published work, whether authorized or under fair use, that plays the relevant segments simultaneously (a "mash-up") or consecutively (a "medley") to demonstrate the similarity. Until a mash-up or medley is available, a separate video for each song may be placed in the First and Second boxes (not Demo). Notes may tell what portions of the songs are similar or may include reliable coverage of the similarity, such as if the copyright owner of one of the songs sued or threatened to sue.
Only cases of plausible cryptomnesia are listed here, not authorized reuse or use of public-domain material. For example, similarities between games in the Mega Man series shouldn't be mentioned here because they are probably authorized within Capcom. Also, avoid listing anything involving Michael Jackson or The Jetzons and Sonic the Hedgehog 3; Jackson and one of his tour keyboardists (Brad Buxer from The Jetzons) composed portions of the game's soundtrack.[1]
| First | Second | Demo | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yngwie Malmsteen - Soldier without Faith (1985) | [2] - Lightning Strikes Again (1992) | YouTube | |
| Theme from 3-2-1 Contact (1983) YouTube |
Hip Tanaka - Chill (October 1990) | ||
| MC Hammer - Pray (September 1990) | |||
| Dave Wise - Lockjaw's Saga (1995) YouTube |
DragonForce - Through the Fire and Flames (2006) YouTube |
Incipit; possibly chord progressions | |
| Eduard Artemyev - Siberiade theme (1979) PPK - ResuRection (2001)[3] YouTube (ResuRection): cut (refrain), full |
Kyle Ward (as KaW) - Kagami (2003)[4] YouTube (refrain) |
Some other PPK songs are similar enough to "ResuRection" that they could fit here, especially "Reload" | |
| Hiroshi Iuchi - Ikaruga boss 1 (2001)[5] YouTube (climax) |
Yasuaki Fujita - Solar Inferno (2010)[6] YouTube (climax) |
||
| Jennifer[7] - If You Were Here (≤1999) YouTube: cut, full |
Naoki Maeda (as Ω) - MAX 300 (2001) YouTube |
Incipit of "If You Were Here" | |
| DJ Aligator Project - The Whistle Song (Blow My Whistle Baby) (2000) | DJ YOSHITAKA-G feat. Michael a la mode - Gold Rush (2007) YouTube |
Instrumentation (synthesizer?); refrain of "The Whistle Song" vs. incipit of "Gold Rush" | |
| The Beatles - Lady Madonna (1968) | Hip Tanaka - Fever (October 1990) | YouTube | |
| Koji Kondo - Hammer Bros. theme (1988)[8] | ? - Theme from Noodle and Doodle (2010) | ||
| Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (1987) | Yasunori Mitsuda - Robo's Theme (1995) | YouTube Excerpt (ogg) |
Mitsuda says it was a coincidence[9] |
| Kyle Ward (as Inspector K) - Infection (2004) YouTube (refrain, relevant chord progression) |
るるるSYSTEM (RuRuRuSYSTEM) - オトメルンバ♪ (Otome Rumba) (from Pop'n Music 14) (2006)[10] YouTube (refrain, relevant chord progression) |
||
| Kyle Ward (as Inspector K) - Disconnected (2004) | Fetty Wap - Trap Queen (2014) | ||
| Manami Matsumae - U.N. Squadron mission intro screen (1989)[11] | Tay Zonday - Chocolate Rain (2007) |
YouTube YouTube |
|
| Joe Raposo - Sesame Street Theme (1969) YouTube |
George Sanger - Faceball 2000 for Super NES (1992) SPC |
||
| John Barry Orchestra - James Bond Theme (1962) | Sega Sound Team[12] - Flying Battery Zone Act 1 (1994) | Dam Zone (ogg/nsf) | |
| Sega Sound Team - Flying Battery Zone Act 1 (1994) | Shinobu Tanaka - Waluigi Pinball (2005) | ||
| Lady Gaga - Bad Romance (2009) | YouTube: short, long |
||
| Percy Faith - Theme from A Summer Place (1960) | [13] - Shy Guy Beach (2001) YouTube |
||
| Mieko Ishikawa - A Searing Struggle (1989) | Chris Hülsbeck - Jim Power stage 1 (1992) | YouTube | Hülsbeck admits having played Ys III[14] |
| Robin Williams - Friend Like Me (1992) Composed by Howard Ashman |
[15] - Chillin' on the Corner (1995) SPC |
Listen (ogg) | |
| Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun (1983) | Bob Scumaci, Mark Davis, Brian Schmidt - Zuckerman's Summer Flight (1995) | ||
| Minigame theme from Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz (2006) | Theme from The Suite Life on Deck (2008) | ||
| Suzanne Vega - Solitude Standing (1987) YouTube (refrain?) |
Kyle Ward (as KaW) - Dawn (2003)[4] YouTube (refrain) |
||
| Akira Satoh - Gallantry (Sep. 1990) YouTube (start of refrain) |
Brian Johnston?[16] - Lemming 3 (Feb. 1991) YouTube (multiple ports of game) |
||
| Kyle Ward (as KaW) - Dawn (Perpetual Mix) (2006?)[17][18] YouTube (start of refrain) |
|||
| Aya - G2 (2001) | Kyle Ward (as Inspector K) - Tension (2004) YouTube |
Bass line | |
| Taku Isaac Sakakibara (as TaQ) - Radical Faith (2001) YouTube |
Buckethead - Jordan (2006) YouTube |
Both may be inspired by "All the Girls Love Alice" (1973) and/or "Strictly Business" (1988) | |
| Mario Gonzalez and/or Javier Perez? - The Cheetahmen theme (NES) (1991) | Masakazu Sugimori - Cornered (2001) | YouTube | Very likely coincidental[19] |
| Bette Midler - That's How Love Moves (1998) Faith Hill - That's How Love Moves (1999) YouTube (unofficial fan performance/recording) |
DM Ashura - Euphorium (from O2Jam[20]) (2005) YouTube |
||
| Lara Fabian - Broken Vow (2000) Josh Groban - Broken Vow (2003) YouTube (Lara Fabian performance) |
Especially "I let you go" from "Broken Vow" vs. start of "Euphorium"'s refrain | ||
| Faith Hill - I Want You (2005) | DM Ashura - aftershock!! (2008) YouTube |
Chord progressions, especially around refrains | |
| Frank Zappa - You Are What You Is (1981) | Dust Devil - Determinator (≤2005)[21] | Listen (ogg) | |
| ? - Lode Runner (NES) in-game BGM (1987) | Yū Miyake - Katamari Nah-Nah (tutorial mix) (2004) | Listen (ogg) | Similarities are in the bass line |
| New Order - Confusion (1983) | TaQ - DXY! (2000) YouTube |
||
| Hiroshi Kawaguchi - Space Harrier main in-game theme (1985) YouTube |
Mikio Saito - Gemini Wing stage 1 (1987) YouTube |
||
| The Cascades - Rhythm of the Rain (1962) | Hip Tanaka - Dr. Mario multiplayer ending (1990) YouTube |
||
| Michiharu Hasuya - Rygar Guru "old man/guru" music (1987) | Michiharu Hasuya - Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde opening (1988) | Not authorized because Hasuya worked under Tecmo on Rygar and Advance Communication on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde[22] | |
| Hummer Cheng - Title (1990) | Hummer Cheng - Ending (1995) | Colorful Dragon is Sachen and SMW is Hummer Team. | |
| Maajyan Higashio - Yo Noid/Masked Ninja Hanamaru | Yoshiaki Sawada? (Citation Needed) - Widget | Listen (ogg) | Coincidental match in Melody, They go together except that Noid has a few extra melodic notes before looping and needed to be cut for the tune itself. |
| The Bob Crewe Generation - Music to Watch Girls By (1967) | Masato Nakamura - Marble Zone (1991) | YouTube | |
| [23] - Big Board (1983) | Ryoji Yoshitomi and Yumiko Kanki - Mole Patrol | ||
| Paul McCartney and Wings - Jet (1974) | Yukio Kaneoka, Akito Nakatsuka, Kenji Yamamoto - Let's Rematch (1987) | ||
| Koji Kondo - Here We Go! (1985) | Lucky Dube - Different Colours (1993) | Incipit of the latter | |
| Judy Garland - We're Off to See the Wizard (1939) Written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. "Yip" Harburg |
Jun Ishikawa - Stage Clear (1992) | "If ever, oh ever a wiz there was, The Wizard of Oz is one because" | |
| The Four Seasons - December, 1963 (1975) | Masaya Matsuura et al. - I Gotta Believe (1996) | ||
| Masaya Matsuura et al. - I Gotta Believe (1996) | Kenji Ninuma & Fumina - The Moon and the Prince (2004) | ||
| Steve Lawrence - Go Away Little Girl (1962) | ? - shop tune from Harvest Moon: Magical Melody (2005) YouTube |
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| Van Halen - Jump (1984) | Akira Satoh - Lightning War (1990) YouTube |
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| Metallica - For Whom the Bell Tolls (1984) | Nobuo Uematsu - Still More Fighting (1997) | YouTube | |
| Bruce Broughton - Theme from Tiny Toon Adventures (1990) | Theme from Mayhem in Monsterland (1993) | ||
| Peter Wagner - T-Maxx (1991) | Coldplay - Paradise (2011) | ||
| Akito Nakatsuka - Battle (1987) | Naoto Tanaka, Naoya Kamisaka, Takuya Miyawaki - Decisive Battle (Zero vs. X) (2000) | ||
| Markus Kaarlonen (as Captain) - Space Debris (1990) YouTube |
Tommy Tallarico - Rave Dancetune (1993) | ||
| Tommy Tallarico - Rave Dancetune (1993) | Seal - Bring It On (1994) | ||
| Keiichi Tanaka? - Dream of Chopper (from Chopper I) (1988) YouTube |
Robert "Bobby" Prince - At Doom's Gate (1993) | Bass line of the former vs. melody of the latter | |
| Sammy Hagar - I Can't Drive 55 (1984) | Kiyoshi Yokoyama - Motif in Vice: Project Doom soundtrack (1991) YouTube |
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| Iron Maiden Aces High (1984) | Kiyoshi Yokoyama - Vice: Project Doom stages 2 and 7 (1991) | Listen (ogg) | |
| Mecano - No es serio este cementerio (1986) | Yuzo Koshiro - Bridge Zone (1991) | ||
| Yuzo Koshiro - Bridge Zone (1991) | Janet Jackson - Together Again (1997) | ||
| Kinuyo Yamashita and/or Satoe Terashima - Vampire Killer (1986) | Go Sato - Electric Resistance (2005) YouTube |
||
| Hiroshi Kawaguchi - Hot Snow (1986) | [24] - Bio Miracle Bokutte Upa first in-game theme (1988) | The later revision of "Hot Snow" added a melody line; compare especially its first four notes to those of Upa's 2C33 melody line. Also compare the earlier revision of the former to the 2A03 parts of the latter. | |
| Kedo & MaoRio - Dezaemon Plus sample Little Chaser stage 3 Sweet Paranoia (1996) | |||
| Kedo & MaoRio - Dezaemon Plus sample Little Chaser stage 3 Sweet Paranoia (1996) | Dora the Explorer Theme (2000) Written by Joshua Sitron and Billy Straus |
||
| ZUN - U.N. Owen Was Her? (2002) | Tatsh - Xepher (2005) | ||
| Benny Mardones - Into the Night (1980) | Hiroki Isogai and Ippo Yamada - Abandoned Memory (2010)[6] YouTube |
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| [25] - Bad Dudes Vs. DragonNinja stage 2 (1988) YouTube |
[26] - Castlevania: Rondo of Blood stage 1 (1993) | ||
| [27] - Departure for Space (arcade version) (1989) YouTube |
Apple Inc. (Gerhard Lengeling?)[28] - Uplift (2013) YouTube |
Incipit of the former | |
| ? - Twin Eagle stage 1 theme ("Eagle Spirit"?) (1988) YouTube: arcade, NES |
t.A.T.u. - 30 минут (2001) t.A.T.u. - 30 Minutes (2003) |
Especially the piano part in the latter's incipit | |
| The Beatles - Here, There and Everywhere (1966) | Theme from Animal Crossing: Wild World/City Folk (2005) | SiIvaGunner | |
| Alan Silvestri - I'm Forrest...Forrest Gump (1994) | Yishen Liao - Intro and Junkyard from Shi Kong Xing Shou (2001) | ||
| Friendship - Let's Not Talk About It (1979) | Koji Kondo - Super Mario Bros. underground (1985) | ||
| David Whittaker - Star Dust (1984) | Zombie Nation - Kernkraft 400 (1999) | Mentioned on Wikipedia | |
| T-Square - Sister Marian (1984) | Koji Kondo - Here We Go! (1985) | About 1 minute into "Sister Marian" | |
| Piper - Summer Breeze (1983) | Koji Kondo - Invincible (1985) | ||
| ? - Hoshi Wo Miru Hito title (1987) | Magda Fronczewska - Laleczka z saskiej porcelany (1990) | ||
| Hiroshi Kawaguchi - Magical Sound Shower (1986) | Mariah Carey - I Wish You Knew (2005) | ||
| Silent Circle - Touch in the Night (1985) | [29] - Whirlwind (1993) | ||
| Four Tops - Loco in Acapulco (1988) | Koji Kondo - Make Eggs, Throw Eggs (1995) | ||
| Hank Williams - Jambalaya (On the Bayou) (1952) | ? - Wikid Joystick Balloon War (Balloon Fight hack) - Bonus Round (200x) YouTube |
Chorus of "Jambalaya" (or at least Carpenters' cover thereof) | |
| Billy Idol - White Wedding (1982) | "Isamashii" (from RPG Maker GB) (2000) "Get Equipped" (from Rockman 4 Minus Infinity) |
"Hey little sister" lines | |
| Gloria Gaynor - I Will Survive (1978) | Kinuyo Yamashita - Power Blade 2 Stage 4 (1992) | YouTube[30] | |
| Alan Parsons Project - Sirius (1982) | Yasunori Mitsuda et al. - Corridors of Time (1995) | ||
| Lionel Richie - Running with the Night (1983) | Jeroen Tel - Theme from Cybernoid II: The Revenge (1988) | Acknowledged by Tel in YouTube comments; he claims not to have heard Richie's song at the time | |
| Ural Russian Folk Choir - Uralskaya ryabina (1954) Composed by Evgeny Rodygin[ru] (d. 2020) in 1953 |
Subor educational famiclones - Uralskaya ryabina (ca. 1994) | Zabrałaś Serce Moje, Upływa szybko życie, so many Slavic folk songs use this chord progression | |
| Hirokazu Tanaka, Ryoji Yoshitomi, and Kazumi Totaka - Mario Paint BGM 2 (1992) | Sonic 3 sound team - Sonic the Hedgehog 3 data select (1994) | B section melody | |
| Kojiro Mikusa - Mecha Green Hill Zone (October 1993) | Alph Lyla - Enter Zero (December 1993) | TLHFTW1 asks: "Where the Hell am I?" | |
| Kenichi Matsubara - Don't Wait Until Night (1988) | Naoki Kodaka - Journey to Silius Stage 4 (1990) | ||
| Laura Shigihara - Crazy Dave (Intro Theme) (2009) | Billie Eilish - Bad Guy (2019) | YouTube | Eilish confessed[31] |
| Arka Noego - Święty uśmiechnięty (2000) | Paul Salameh - Cliff Jump (2012) | Despite the time signature difference | |
| Kinuyo Yamashita - Wily Tower Stage Select (1994) | SmashBroPlusB - Nido Force - Bubble Rock (2015)[32] | ||
| Philip Bailey and Phil Collins - Easy Lover (1984) | Kazunaka Yamane - A Quiet Pursuit (Rooftops) (1989) | YouTube | |
| Hip Tanaka - Fever (October 1990) | ? - midi_10 (December 2003) | YouTube | |
| Henry Mancini - Baby Elephant Walk (1962) | Hiroaki Suga and Tadashi Ikegami - Menu (1994) | ||
| ACE+ - Riki the Legendary Heropon (2010) | |||
| Jun Ishikawa - Sand Canyon 1 | Listen (YouTube) | ||
| Toby Fox - Megalovania (2009) | Juhani Junkala - Stealth B (2019) YouTube @ 23:45 |
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| Naofumi Hataya & Masafumi Ogata - Tidal Tempest (1993) | Kenji Yamazaki - Super Gussun Oyoyo - Special (1995) | ||
| Fasolki - Moja fantazja (1988) | Mahito Yokota - Gusty Garden Galaxy (2007) | ||
| a-ha - Take On Me (1984) | Charles Deenen - Level theme 4 (1992) | YouTube mash-up | |
| Stevie Wonder - I Just Called to Say I Love You (1984) | Hikaru UTADA - Simple & Clean (PlanitB Remix) (2002) | ||
| George Michael - Faith | Masato Nakamura - Emerald Hill Zone (2 players) | ||
| Masato Nakamura - Options | Nobuo Uematsu - I'll Be the Marth | Sonic and some music from Sonic games appear in Brawl under license, but I doubt this particular tune was in the licensed music package. | |
| Adrian Boult and the Queen's Hall Orchestra - Mars (1918) Written by Gustav Holst (d. 1934) |
Koji Kondo - Airship (SPC version) (1993) | European copyright expired in 1985, restored in 1993 by Copyright Duration Directive 93/98/EEC, expired again in 2005 | |
| Gennady Gladkov - Gentlemen of Fortune Main Theme (1971) | Han Li - Germ Killer (Waixing, 2006) - Main Theme | ||
| Glenn Frey - The Heat Is On (1984) | Yoshinori Kawamoto - Burning Force "Boss enemy's weak point target is here" scene (1989) | ||
| Vladimir Troshin - Moscow Nights (1955) | Nobuo Uematsu - Matoya's Cave (1987) | ||
| Sheila E. - The Glamorous Life (1984) Hidemi Ishikawa - Motto Sekkin Shimasho (January 1985) |
Fujii Kenichi - Penguin-kun Wars Game Theme (June 1985) | Wikipedia mentions similarity; song replaced in Game Boy port but returned in Switch port | |
| Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water (1972) | Off the Hook - Fly Octo Fly (2017) | ||
| Joe Cocker - Feelin' Alright? (1968) | Masaya Matsuura feat. Lenky Don - Prince Fleaswallow's Rap (1996) | ||
| The New Christy Minstrels - Green, Green (1963) | Koji Kondo - Step by Step (1990) | YouTube via Thomas Game Docs | |
| Takuya Kobayashi - Life Is Beautiful (2010) | YouTube via SiIvaGunner | ||
| Koji Kondo - Athlete's Rag (1990) | Kris Maddigan - Funfair Fever (2017) | The figure is over the same chord progression both times, which differs from the chords used for the corresponding part of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag". But Nintendo still let a Cuphead costume into Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. | |
| Young-Holt Unlimited - Soulful Strut (1968) | Kazumi Totaka - Star Maze (1992) | ||
| Tangerine Dream - Midnight in Tula (1982) | Matt Gray - Office (Commodore 64 version) (1988) | YouTube | |
| Charles Williams (d. 1978) - Devil's Galop (1946) | Rob Hubbard - Theme from Monty on the Run (1985) | I would've given this a pass had the bass line not been a modulation-for-modulation match. | |
| Vince DiCola - Escape (1986) | Chris Hülsbeck - Theme (Subsong 2) (1990) |
Note: Any footnote marked with (*) is a TODO.
Categories: Original research