The theme song for Awesomenauts' Leon Chameleon goes like this: "Donnez-moi ton argent. Donnez-moi ton fromage. Je donne tu mon amour." My high school French teacher, Madame Rose, would probably take issue with the grammar, but it translates to "Give me your money. Give me your cheese. I give you my love."

I mention this to make a point. While Awesomenauts was certainly inspired by the multiplayer online battle arena genre, it is by no means merely derivative. It cobbles together a strong identity of its own, accomplished in part by translating a familiar experience into a new format, and in part by cribbing from the memories of the 1980s to create a Saturday morning cartoon that never existed.