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{{trope}}
{{Video Game Examples Need Sorting}}
[[File:cavestory-comparison.png|link=Cave Story
In video games, there is a tendency for characters' proportions to change considerably between their official artwork and their in-game appearance. It's quite frequent to see box art with relatively realistically-proportioned characters, while the same characters appear with [[Super
The reason for that is usually graphical limitations. When you only have a 16 x 16 block of pixels to work with, trying to make a sprite with realistic proportions will result in a character with almost no visible head to speak of. This is especially true in older video games (especially licensed games) appearing on older game systems; only a few games (like ''[[Rolling Thunder]]'') seemed to avert it.
In some older franchises, such as the ''[[
Mostly averted by early Western video game designers who tried to use proper proportions, and thus wound up with faceless 'walking stick' characters.
See [[Super
{{examples|Examples}}▼
* ''[[
* ''[[
** Somewhat averted in ''[[Disgaea 4:
* In ''[[
** Even the Interplay/Hudson title ''[[Atomic Bomberman]]'' used a chibi style, despite being slightly more detailed.
** Said original box also bit too close to the Famicom boxart for ''[[Metroid]]'', so the redesign was likely also done for legal reasons.
* ''[[La
* The original ''[[Mega Man (
** And mimicked in the doujin ''[[Rosenkreuzstilette]]''.
* Apparent in the original ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]'' when grabbing a <s> Magic</s> Super mushroom. Mario's proportions change by head getting smaller relative to body. Even more pronounced in ''[[Super Mario Bros
** According to the developers of ''[[Donkey Kong]]'', most of Mario's facial features and his overalls were due to technical limitations at the time of its release.
* Averted in the NES versions of the ''[[Contra]]''. The 8-bit hardware couldn't replicate the distinct character designs that were given to Bill and Lance in the original arcade version, so instead the designers concentrated on making them both into musclebound shirtless commandos, with the colors of their pants being the only difference.
* Seen in-game in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'': Overworld/dungeon/towns use [[Super
** See also ''every [[Final Fantasy]] game that uses 2D sprites''. ''VI'', like the ''Chrono Trigger'' example below, is slightly more proportionate, but it's still very noticeable.
* ''[[
* The NES version of ''[[Lode Runner]]'' uses the same sprites that Hudson Soft would later use in ''Bomberman''. Most computer versions, however, averted this, having sprites more reminiscent of stick figures.
* The first game in ''[[The Legend of Zelda (
** Also, the three [[Game Boy]] games: while the manuals and other artwork weren't deformed, in the color remake of the first game, it crept from the sprites to the photographer's pictures. All these games, including the first above, used 16x16 sprites.
** The SNES game, while still a bit deformed, was more reasonable, not unlike ''[[
* ''[[Lunar:
* The ''[[Super Robot Taisen]]'' series probably followed this trope from its early days on the [[Game Boy]] but have since taken the concept to heart, with only a few exceptions (''Shin Super Robot Wars'' and both versions of ''[[Super Robot Wars Gaiden]]''). Though it should be noted that when attack animations go into a close-up of the robot, they're in their proper proportions.
** The series usually uses proper proportions when it duplicates iconic footage from a robot's original series.
* The main characters of ''[[
** It's actually a subversion. Even in [https://web.archive.org/web/20130809045341/http://wikibound.info/images/5/57/Ness-clay.png official art] the characters still looked the same way they do in the sprites.
* Somewhat inverted with the ''[[Touhou]]'' series. The official character art is done [[Off
* [[Half Minute Hero]] plays this straight.
* The [[Utawarerumono]] [[Visual Novel]] does this during the battle segments.
* Oddly enough for a webcomic, ''[[Homestuck]]'' has this. Being an adventure game / RPG pastiche, the art for the [[Kid Hero|main characters]] consists of copy/pasted "sprites" about knee high to most adult characters. However, when depicted in hand-drawn action shots, they suddenly gain much more realistic proportions, sometimes even lapsing into [[Noodle People]]. An excellent demonstration of the style is [https://web.archive.org/web/20130921165219/http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=003541 this animation from the fourth act.] (Warning: sound.)
* ''[[
* Some ''[[Pokémon]]'' games have this; the portable games started out this way but grew less top-heavy as hardware power increased (''[[
** In fact, all of the games introduce you to your character's in-game battle sprite, and signal the start of gameplay by the sprite morphing into the smaller in-game sprite.
* ''[[
* ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'', where [[Character Portrait]]s are done in a realistically proportioned style, while sprites are much more cartoony.
* ''[[
* ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]: The Video Game'' renders the characters as somewhat chibified compared to the comic versions.
** The comics themselves are slightly chibi as a reference to this trope.
* Most character sets created for non-3D [[RPG Maker]] video games are this, especially when they're made to resemble anime or film characters.
* The first four ''[[
* In official illustrations, [[
* The ''[[Ghostbusters]]'' game for the [[Sega Genesis]] uses super-deformed sprites, but characters are normally proportioned in portraits and cutscenes.
* The character sprites in the NES version of ''[[Double Dragon]]'', while not super-deformed per se, are greatly simplified and rather cartoonish compared to [https://web.archive.org/web/20130327235428/http://www.gamengai.com/bn_inf.php?id=512 the illustrations in the game's manual], which made the characters look like they came out straight from the pages of ''[[Fist of the North Star]]''. Some of the character sprites only vaguely resemble their illustrated depictions in the manual (Abobo doesn't sport his trademarked mustache in the manual for example). However, the in-game sprites are actually more accurate to the character designs in the original arcade version than the illustrations were.
* In ''[[Golden Axe]] Warrior'', a ''Legend of Zelda'' clone for the [[Master System]], the hero is depicted as a shirtless gladiator on the game's cover illustration and title screen, but looks more like a cute knight in the actual game.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]
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