History Main / DigitizedSprites

%%[[folder:Light Gun Games]]
%%* ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcers'' and its sequel
%%* ''VideoGame/OperationWolf 3''
%%* ''VideoGame/RevolutionX''
%%[[/folder]]

%%* ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct''
%%* ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheRobots''

%%* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterTheMovie''
%%* ''VideoGame/OneMustFall 2097''
%%* ''VideoGame/ClayFighter''
%%* The ''VideoGame/BatmanForever'' LicensedGame.
%%* ''VideoGame/WayOfTheWarrior''
%%* ''VideoGame/TattooAssassins''
* Done for the character sprites for ''VideoGame/Persona4Arena'', according to an interview.
%%* ''VideoGame/JackieChanTheKungFuMaster'', produced at the same time as the movie ''Thunderbolt''.
%%* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' does this to retain its cartoon style. Every frame of animation is drawn by hand to make digital art, without the assistance of vectors.
%%* ''Avengers in Galactic Storm''
%%* ''Dino Rex'' has digitized dinosaur models.
* Certain ''VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}'' characters are like this. A good example of a MUGEN-exclusive character with these would be Dragon Claw.
* Some of the late-90's WWF arcade games such as ''In Your House'' featured sprites of the actual wrestlers like Wrestling/BretHart and Wrestling/TheUndertaker.

* Deliberately averted in ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland''. According to ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' creator Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto, the reason why the game is drawn with a sketchy, storybook-like artstyle is that around the time the game was released, the UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem was almost near the end of its life, and it was now mandatory for its last few games to use Digitized Sprites in order to compete with true 3D games. Miyamoto, however, despised the look of these prerendered sprites, and as a result the game's graphics style is how it is, looking like illustrations straight out of a storybook.
** Somewhat amusingly, ''VideoGame/YoshisNewIsland'', the 3DS sequel to the series, does use an art style very much like this. Complete with a final boss taken from ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'', which used 3D models.

* ''VideoGame/CosmicStarHeroine'' for most part uses pixel art, but some ships are 3D models converted into sprites. A submarine and its surfacing animation in particular [[ConspicuousCG stick out like a 3-dimensional thumb]].

Compare SpritePolygonMix (and can overlap if the sprites or bitmaps are also digitized). Also compare FullMotionVideo.

* Creator/{{Sierra}} used this technique heavily in their '90s adventure games, though the artists would usually [[{{Rotoscoping}} touch up the sprites]] in their paint programs. They did this heavily in games like ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'' but left the sprites largely untouched for the Police Quest games to fit the series' more naturalistic setting. ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria}}'' also seems to drift back and forth between digitized actor sprites and heavily {{Chroma Key}}ed FullMotionVideo.

* Pictured above: the ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' series started out this way, with sprites and animations based on filming live actor performances. Most of the more "monstrous" fighters, such as the Shokan, were made with clay models.

[[folder:Adventure]]
* ''VideoGame/PoliceQuest: Open Season''

[[folder:Fighting]]

* ''VideoGame/PitFighter''
* ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct''
* ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheRobots''

* ''VideoGame/XPerts'' (BeatEmUp SpinOff of ''VideoGame/EternalChampions'')
* ''VideoGame/StreetFighterTheMovie''
* ''VideoGame/OneMustFall 2097''
* ''VideoGame/ClayFighter''
* The ''VideoGame/BatmanForever'' LicensedGame.
* ''VideoGame/WayOfTheWarrior''
* ''VideoGame/TattooAssassins''

* ''VideoGame/JackieChanTheKungFuMaster'', produced at the same time as the movie ''Thunderbolt''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'' does this to retain its cartoon style. Every frame of animation is drawn by hand to make digital art, without the assistance of vectors.
* ''Avengers in Galactic Storm''
* ''Dino Rex'' has digitized dinosaur models.

[[folder:First Person Shooter]]

[[folder:Light Gun Game]]
* ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcers'' and its sequel
* ''VideoGame/OperationWolf 3''
* ''VideoGame/RevolutionX''
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Platform]]

* ''VideoGame/MarioVsDonkeyKong'', first installment.

* Many of Disney's video games video games throughout the 90's such as ''VideoGame/{{Aladdin|VirginGames}}'' and ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' used cels drawn by Disney's film animation team drawn specifically for the game.

%%* ''VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Legions''%%ZCE

** ''VideoGame/Sonic3DBlast'', having 3d isometric gameplay, used the technique for the entirety of its graphics.

[[folder:Racing]]

* The ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' games on the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance digitized most of the sprites.

%%* ''Viewpoint''%%ZCE

* ''Videogame/RollercoasterTycoon'' 1 and 2 used screencapped 3D for its vehicles and most scenery, while everything else was standard sprites. [[http://www.chrissawyergames.com/feature3.htm Seen here.]]
%%* ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers''%%ZCE

* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''::

* ''VideoGame/{{Silpheed}}'' for the [[UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis Sega CD]] had all ships and background objects as prerendered flat-shaded polygons.

* All graphics elements (sprites and backgrounds alike) from the first three ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games were created from renders of 3D models created and animated on expensive SGI workstations.[[note]]While arcade games (including the original VideoGame/{{Mortal Kombat|1}}), PC games, and games for CD-ROM based console systems (including add-ons) had done it previously, the first game marked the first time it had ever been done on a cartridge-based video game system without the use of add-ons.[[/note]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Vectorman}}'' is made of polygon graphics turned into sprites.

When the sprite graphics in a VideoGame are made by conversion of an external image (such as a photograph, CGI render, hand-drawn artwork, video feed, etc.) into a sprite, as opposed to the Pixel Art methods typically associated with the creation of videogame sprites. This can actually save a lot of time and effort in the production cycle, but the results are often not as pleasing (particularly when photography is used).

%%* ''VideoGame/{{Vectorman}}''%%ZCE

* ''VideoGame/{{Vectorman}}''

* ''VideoGame/{{Shinobi}} Legions''

* ''Viewpoint''

* ''VideoGame/SpaceRangers''

* Some of the late-90's WWF arcade games such as ''In Your House'' featured sprites of the actual wrestlers like Wrestling/BretHart and Wrestler/TheUndertaker.

* All graphics elements (sprites and backgrounds alike) from the first three ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games were created from renders of 3D models created and animated on expensive SGI workstations.[[note]]While arcade games (including the original [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 Mortal Kombat]]), PC games, and games for CD-ROM based console systems (including add-ons) had done it previously, the first game marked the first time it had ever been done on a cartridge-based video game system without the use of add-ons.[[/note]]

* Many of Disney's video games video games throughout the 90's such as ''[[VideoGame/AladdinVirginGames Aladdin]]'' and ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' used cels drawn by Disney's film animation team drawn specifically for the game.

* ''VideoGame/CastleOfMagic'' actually gives this ability to the player. They can take photos of real-world objects and turn them into sprites in the game, for everything from the basic [[FollowTheMoney gem pickups]] to the [[SillinessSwitch bosses' heads.]]

* ''VideoGame/CosmicStarHeroine'' for most part uses pixel art, but some ships are 3D models converted into sprites. A submarine and its surfacing animation in particular [[ConspicuousCGI stick out like a 3-dimensional thumb]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Silpheed}}'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaCD had all ships and background objects as prerendered flat-shaded polygons.

* ''VideoGame/SaintsRowIV'' has the mission [[VideoGame/StreetsOfRage Saints of Rage]], where [[PlayerCharacter The President]] goes into a [[StylisticSuck 16-bit side-scroller]] to rescue [[spoiler:Johnny Gat]],resulting in Digitized Sprites (mostly to allow the player's customized President, converting their normal 3D model). It's all, naturally, {{Lampshaded}}, and comes complete with choppy sound bites and nonsensical food healing items.

* ''American Girls Premiere'' and its predecessor, ''Opening Night'', used chroma-keyed footage from live actors and props, with the former using the ''[[Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection American Girl]]'' catalog along with actors dressed as characters from the franchise, and the latter using generic characters, sets, and props. It wasn't as refined as ''Mortal Kombat's'' though, as the characters were poorly chroma-keyed, and was grainier due to the dithered 256-colour palette.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' used 3D models converted into sprites for all of its graphics. The sole exception were talking heads, created from clay models painstakingly digitized into 3D and then saved as sprites.

* The first six installments of the ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' series generated their monster graphics by directly scanning artwork into the game.

* Deliberately averted in ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland''. According to ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' creator Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto, the reason why the game is drawn with a sketchy, storybook-like artstyle is that around the time the game was released, the SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem was almost near the end of its life, and it was now mandatory for its last few games to use Digitized Sprites in order to compete with true 3D games. Miyamoto, however, despised the look of these prerendered sprites, and as a result the game's graphics style is how it is, looking like illustrations straight out of a storybook.

* ''OneMustFall 2097''

* Creator/{{Sierra}} used this technique heavily in their '90s adventure games, though the artists would usually touch up the sprites in their paint programs. They did this heavily in games like ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'' but left the sprites largely untouched for the Police Quest games to fit the series' more naturalistic setting. ''VideoGame/{{Phantasmagoria}}'' also seems to drift back and forth between digitized actor sprites and heavily {{Chroma Key}}ed FullMotionVideo.

* ''ClayFighter''

* The UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis game ''VideoGame/BugsBunnyInDoubleTrouble''.

* The Sega Genesis game ''WesternAnimation/BugsBunny: Double Trouble''

* The ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' games on the GameBoyAdvance digitized most of the sprites.

* ''American Girls Premiere'' and its predecessor, ''Opening Night'', used chroma-keyed footage from live actors and props, with the former using the ''[[Franchise/AmericanGirlsCollection American Girl]]'' catalog along with actors dressed as characters from the franchise, and the latter using generic characters, sets, and props. It wasn't as refined as ''Mortal Kombat's'' though, as the characters were poorly chroma-keyed, and was grainier due to the dithered 256-colour palette.

* Deliberately averted in ''YoshisIsland''. According to ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' creator Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto, the reason why the game is drawn with a sketchy, storybook-like artstyle is that around the time the game was released, the SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem was almost near the end of its life, and it was now mandatory for its last few games to use Digitized Sprites in order to compete with true 3D games. Miyamoto, however, despised the look of these prerendered sprites, and as a result the game's graphics style is how it is, looking like illustrations straight out of a storybook.
** Somewhat amusingly, ''YoshisNewIsland'', the 3DS sequel to the series, does use an art style very much like this. Complete with a final boss taken from ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'', which used 3D models.

* All graphics elements (sprites and backgrounds alike) from the first three ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'' games were created from renders of 3D models created and animated on expensive SGI workstations.

Compare SpritePolygonMix (and can overlap if the sprites or bitmaps are also digitized).

* ''VideoGame/DKJungleClimber''

* ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' used cels drawn by Disney's film animation team drawn specifically for the game.