I've totally found sburb's real-world equivalent

[disasterAverted]

It's The Binding of Isaac.

Don't believe me? Just check out this spoiler created via sourcode diving, and tell me that does not sound like a page right out of the glitch FAQ. The game's a mess of obvious glitches, subtle glitches, special cases that affect probabilities and unlisted statistics behind the scenes and overcomplicated algroithms. I mean seriously, percent chances of items being added to the pool from which items are randomly chosen? He didn't notice that the God Room substitution was overreaching? Getting certain items adds half a dozen copies of other items to the pool to boost their chances?

Beyond that, at its core the game is handing out items and abilities that could either carry you through the game or be so bad you'll just want to leave them sitting on the table, completely at random. Bosses and enemies are randomly selected and once you've beaten the game a few times have a random chance of being replaced by explicitly more difficult versions of themselves for no reason. And of course that's not even getting into all the disturbing imagery and the implied abuse the protagonist is put through constantly. And the fact that aside from the first one NONE of the endings can be classified as a happy ending, and most just consist of him obtaining an item that'll be unlocked during the next playthrough (oh yes, you're expected to beat this game lots of times before you're done with it), and with the last couple endings being the saddest. For god's sake, you fight by crying at your enemies and things that'd make you want to cry more (such as dead pets and physical pain) are powerups!

So yeah. That's my nominee for the real-world equivalent of sburb. Anyone got another candidate?

(Note: Obviously my criticisms are in jest. For all its bugs and random factors this game is hella fun and everybody over a certain age should play it).

[meticulousDemiurge]

I think any roguelike makes a great comparison to SBURB (although Isaac is a slightly better eaxmple than most due to the violence against children) thanks to

• Random Generation of Content
  
• Permadeath
  
• An Emphasis on Gameplay Depth and (you guessed it) Replayability.
  

The only one I can think of that might be a better analogy than Isaac is this old one I used to play called IVAN. The distinction for me is that while Isaac is almost always beatable provided your skill level is high enough, IVAN is committed to killing you for sometimes no reason at all. For example zombies, an early game enemy you can encounter on the first floor, can give you leprosy and cost you several of your limbs.

[disasterAverted]

Oh god IVAN. I remember that. I didn't actually play it for very long, but I do remember managing to beat the first dungeon by finding a wand of acid rain and using it to kill the boss. But yeah, I read about it and have to agree.

Also I forgot one more lovely feature of Isaac that feels perfectly at home in sburb: Bosses who you'll curse when you encounter them, not (just) because they're tougher than the others but because they're guaranteed to drop piece of garbage items instead of really good ones (*cough cube of meat cough*). Especially Greed, who typically makes his appearance by REPLACING THE LAST OR SECOND TO LAST SHOP IN THE GAME (or a secret room) and drops either a few coins or an item that just lowers shop prices. Or Super Greed, who's the same thing but will just as often kick your ass into gameoverland himself.

[meticulousDemiurge]

Or getting little chad as blue baby (or everything about blue baby really)

My favorite wand in IVAN was always the wand of lightning, because if you ever used it without a ring of electrical resistance it arced back and killed you.

[disasterAverted]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. In my metaphor here, the blue baby is without a doubt Void. He's harder to play, introduces even more bugs and many items flat-out do nothing for him, but a handful of those bugs can be exploited to your advantage if you get a lucky draw (ie desperation items like the curse and the polaroid are always active for him, the liberty cap will accidentally grant him permanent soul hearts, etc).

[meticulousDemiurge]

I suppose you could also compare Dwarf Fortress to sburb, or at least the world generation processes. Dwarf Fortress will generate worlds and then simulate their history, the rise of different civilizations, battles, etc. However the results can vary wildly depending on the worldgen parameters: a lot of the time civilizations or even entire races will be wiped out before the game starts, ground down by starvation (the Dwarven civs seem to have trouble with farming) constant warfare, or megabeast attacks (the game creates titans with random physiology, appearances and disease based attacks). The Kobolds have it roughest, I've never managed to create a world were they survive more than a few decades. Sometimes the dwarves you start your fort with will be the last ones on the planet.

[tenaciousTheseus]

You can compare Shin Megami Tensei to Sburb, or at least the Other/Angel/Player dichotomy. The Others are the demons, the forces of Chaos. They seek to destroy and tend to make the most problems for the player. The Angels are the, well, angels, the forces of Law. Besides the obvious, the Angels seek a utopia at the expense of free will and free thought. The Players are the main characters. They're stuck in the middle of this war, and have to deal with both of them to win.

[genesisArtificer]

I am going to agree with tT here. Especially the two games, Nocturne and Strange Journey. You can almost explain the plot as "sburb session went horribly wrong" :]