Line #81 Main/CharacterPortrait


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8	[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/Persona4 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_gfs_107557_2_30_6046.jpg]]]]
9	[[caption-width-right:349:Pictured: Kanji, and Kanji's face, talking to his friends.]]
10
11	Certain games have a drawing of a character's face, usually in a portrait style. In {{RPG}}s or other games with menus, these are usually displayed next to the character's name. Also, in some games with talking {{NPC}}s where one can't directly see characters' faces, a portrait may be displayed next to their text box. If they don't, then they may be of NominalImportance. (Some games may try to give everyone a portrait, but there are usually unique ones for important characters.) Prevalent in {{RPG}}s, since there tend to be a lot of [=NPCs=] in them, as well as a staple of {{Visual Novel}}s.
12
13	Certain games may also have different portraits for the same character to indicate facial expressions and the like. [[GoingThroughTheMotions A few facial expressions, anyway]].
14
15	It's a common feature of the StatusLine (a display element showing the current disposition of the player, e.g. score, health, ammo, etc).
16	----
17	!!Examples:
18
19	[[foldercontrol]]
20
21	[[folder:Action]]
22	* Characters in ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' adopt detailed animated talking head sprites, in stark contrast to the minimalist [[TopDownView top-down style]] the rest of the game is depicted in.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Action Adventure]]
26	* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': Character portraits are fully displayed for those whenever the video communicator is used to have transmissions between each other.
27	* ''VideoGame/CaveStory'' has dialogue box portraits for almost every character with a speaking role. There's some interesting variations: Balrog's head is so large that his character portrait can only show half of his face, and Misery's hair is a different color in the portrait than it is on her sprite.
28	* ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' has portraits for most every character, excepting the ''absolute most minor'' of [=NPCs=], and most characters have at least one alternate portrait for different moods or facial expressions. Some major characters not only get face portraits but also full-body portraits that show up for dramatic moments or soliloquies.
29	* ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'' has a series of different portraits for each character, these change as the cut-scene continues and there are quite a few for each of the characters and they're partially animated. In-game you can press a button to reveal the character's eyes (they're wearing masks) for no reason to boot.
30	[[/folder]]
31
32	[[folder:Adventure Games]]
33	* In ''VideoGame/Code7'', the main characters have portraits that you can see on the episode selection screen and when interacting with them. Other than that, the game is pretty light on graphics, preferring to let the voice acting, text and music tell the story.
34	* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' has portraits for every character with a speaking role in dialogue boxes, major or minor, though only a handful of them have more than one expression; describing those is usually left to the narration text. Even the 24 skills representing the Detective's psyche each has its own surreal portrait.
35	* The ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series, some of the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' games, and ''VideoGame/GabrielKnight'' all have text boxes with pictures of the characters' faces. ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'' (which has very detailed pictures featuring most of the character's upper body) and ''VideoGame/GabrielKnight'' have pictures whose mouths moved when they spoke.
36	** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestV'' features close-up images of Cedric, Icebella, and Beetrice, among others. ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVI'' features 16- and 256-color versions, and they are even voiced and animated in the talkie edition.
37	%%* Most CING games like VisualNovel/HotelDuskRoom215 and VideoGame/AnotherCode. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
38	* The PC adventure game ''VideoGame/SecretsOfDaVinciTheForbiddenManuscript'' shows an ''interactive'' portrait of Valdo, the protagonist, on the inventory screen. It indicates what he's wearing and is where the player changes his outfit. After Valdo meets the character Marie, she also appears in his portrait, and their relative position to one another indicates the current state of their relationship.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41	[[folder:First-Person Shooters]]
42	* In ''VideoGame/EightBitKiller'', transmissions between levels feature portraits for characters, complete with animated mouth flaps.
43	* Your [[StatusLine status bar]] in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' includes your player character's face that [[ShowsDamage gets bloodier as you lose health]] and also looks around when taking damage, helping in locating whoever hurt you.
44	* The ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' games have portraits given to characters whenever listening to them over a radio or audio diary/voxophone.
45	* ''VideoGame/Nitemare3D'' has Hugo's portrait that turns moldy and skeletal rather than bloody, an effect that was actually fairly creepy.
46	* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has a portrait next to the health bar that shows what character you're playing, and what skin you're using for the character.
47	* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' has the portrait of the class you're playing on the HUD, as well as who you are disguised as if you are disguised. A patch added the option for it to be a fully animated 3D model displaying the current weapon and cosmetics that class has equipped.
48	* ''Videogame/ShawsNightmare'' has a portrait that gets progressively sick as you lose health.
49	* Your [[StatusLine status bar]] in ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' includes B. J. Blazkowicz's mug that gets [[ShowsDamage increasingly bloodied the less health he has]]. He can also grin enthusiastically when picking up weapons.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Grand Strategy]]
53	* In ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron IV'', country leaders and the cabinet ministers have portraits available for them, though in the base game at least, only the relatively important characters have unique portraits made from RealLife image sources of them, while the game makes do with other [=leaders/ministers=] by using generic portraits.
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Platformers]]
57	%%* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' actually uses this ''despite'' having the characters in question in clear view, right next to the heroes and with their faces visible. They do this for the bosses as well as certain other characters. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
58	* ''[[VideoGame/BatmanSunsoft Batman: Return of the Joker]]'' for the NES shows small character portraits of Batman and the boss in every boss stage.
59	* Dialogue boxes in ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'' use large profile pictures to indicate who's talking.
60	* The occasional dialogue sequences in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' use portraits, although one of the three characters with speaking parts doesn't have much of a portrait, being an AI, and the other two don't talk outside of one or two scenes.
61	%%* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' used them starting in the first game, and passed it on to the ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZero Zero]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManZX ZX]]'' games. Classic ''[[VideoGame/MegaManClassic Mega Man]]'' followed suit in the SNES and Platform/PlayStation titles (one of which was later ported to GBA stateside). ''[[VideoGame/MegaManLegends Legends]]'' used them in places (not necessarily for Platform, though). ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork Battle Network]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManStarforce Starforce]]'', by virtue of being [=RPGs=], use them the most extensively. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
62	* In ''VideoGame/ShovelKnight'', major characters have portraits for their text boxes. Starting with the campaign ''Plague of Shadows'', even minor characters have their own portraits.
63	%%* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
64	%%** ''VideoGame/SonicRush'', ''VideoGame/SonicRushAdventure'', and the DS version of ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' use these. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
65	%%** The 3DS version of ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' use these as well, but with 3D models. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
66	[[/folder]]
67
68	[[folder:Puzzle Games]]
69	%%* ''VideoGame/PanelDePon'' and ''[[VideoGame/PanelDePon Tetris Attack]]'' both use them for dialogue. Both games animate blinking; [=PdP=] animates mouth movements, TA does not. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
70	* The ''VideoGame/DetectivesUnited'' series has oval portraits of the three {{player character}}s in the lower right corner of the screen.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:RPG]]
74	* The ''Franchise/BaldursGate'' series uses portraits for the main character and all party-joinable [=NPCs=]. In the [[VideoGame/BaldursGateII second game]] and [[VideoGame/BaldursGateIIThroneOfBhaal its expansion]], major villains and some other plot-central [=NPCs=] also get their own portraits.
75	* ''VideoGame/BarkleyShutUpAndJamGaiden'' features mugshots used in text boxes for player party members and several [=NPCs=], amateurishly copy-pasted from a mish-mash of sources (just like the rest of the game's graphics) and crudely animated with 2-frame mouth-flaps.
76	%%* The ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series uses them in all their {{Metroidvania}} style entries since ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
77	* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' has portraits in text boxes and menus, though ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' only has them in the menu.
78	* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', [[PlayerCharacter the Warden's]] character portrait is a freeze-frame from the character model, but then the player gets to choose the exact angle at which they aredrawn.
79	* In ''VideoGame/EnchantedArms'', minor conversations and events are portrayed by the character models shifting through a set of emotions during a split-screen, instead of just a head or bust shot. Similar to ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheLastHope'', but fully animated instead of frozen poses.
80	* In ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'', every character has a set of [[CostumePorn lavish]] portraits that go down to their thighs and is able to stuff four people onto a single screen at a time.
81	* ''VideoGame/ExitFate'' uses very large portraits, featuring not just the face, but usually the character's entire upper body as well.
82	* Most ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games feature portraits for your party members on the menus; the only ones that use them in dialogue are the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' games and the Game Boy Advance re-releases. ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsA2'' brings them back in the same manner and unique NPC units have their own portrait as well instead of reusing a generic one.
83	* If a character in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'' has a portrait for their dialogue boxes, they're either important to the story or selling you stuff.
84	* In the ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'' games, characters display various facial expressions in text boxes.
85	* In ''VideoGame/TheGranstreamSaga'', all character emotion is depicted via portraits as the 3D models don't even have ''faces''.
86	* In ''VideoGame/HolyUmbrella'', characters have animated portraits displayed next to their speech boxes. The portraits usually fit a small rectangular frame, though some of their emotes exceed it. One character described in another character's InfoDump also gets a portrait.
87	* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' has a unique face portrait for every single character in the game. All 1000+ [[CastOfSnowflakes of them]]. Although only characters important to the story have multiple portraits for different facial expressions.
88	%%* ''VideoGame/TheInfynPrism'' has all important characters having one. Lampshaded by one NPC in a house in Tarnset. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
89	%%-->“I hate being an extra. How can I tell? There’s no face in front of my text.”
90	* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
91	** In ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Re:Coded]]'', in order to avoid the jarring effect in ''358/2 Days'', the developers blended the way dialogues were portrayed in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' with the well known 2D pics of the 3D renders of the characters.
92	%%** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' has them in conversations. It has to, since outside of full motion video cutscenes, the models always have the same blank stare going. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
93	%%** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories'' %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
94	* ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' has different portraits for facial expressions and emotions for certain characters, as well.
95	* The ''VideoGame/{{Lunar}}'' series started making use of character portraits in its first game back in 1992, and kept with it for every game in the series. The remakes started adding extra portraits to express emotions.
96	%%* ''VideoGame/{{Lunarosse}}'' uses these for anyone who is either a recruitable character or an plot-important NPC. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
97	* Important characters in ''VideoGame/MachineKnight'' get portraits with a CheekyMouth that flaps as the dialogue scrolls; they do occasionally change expression, but naturally make use of InformedEquipment. Unimportant characters get no portrait.
98	* The ''VideoGame/{{MARDEK}}'' series uses character portraits for every single talking character in the game. Facial expressions and all.
99	* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' used blinking portraits for all characters. Those have a certain infamy among fans, as taking screenshots at the right time will make everyone seem like a DeadpanSnarker. Strangely, only the DS port of the fifth game actually gave them portraits for multiple emotions. ''VideoGame/MegaManStarforce'' likewise uses portraits, and still doesn't have multiple emotes for the characters.
100	* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights''
101	** In the first one, the player chooses a portrait for their character, which doesn't need to be remotely connected to the PlayerCharacter's actual appearance. The same goes for all the {{NPC}}s, who all have portraits from among the few dozen stock ones available in the game, only a small handful of the most important ones getting unique portraits. Given the [[OnlySixFaces repetitiveness]] and unavoidable occasional inappropriateness of the portraits, it doesn't exactly make each character a unique snowflake.
102	** Normally averted in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'': the portrait is rendered directly from the PlayerCharacter's 3D face, including whatever equipment they currently have on. Played straight with the companions in the ''Mask of the Betrayer'' expansion, however.
103	* The ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series.
104	** ''VideoGame/Persona2'' is particularly impressive given that it is on the [=PS1=] and yet nearly every character, major or minor, have a distinct character portraits and sometimes with more than one expression. And then there is the fact that there's quite a few of them.
105	** Of particular note, the PSP remake of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' gives portraits to several characters who didn't have them them originally.
106	** ''VideoGame/Persona4'' plays with the rules of NominalImportance by leaving a seemingly-incidental character (to be specific, [[spoiler:the gas station attendant from the opening]]) without a character portrait until [[spoiler:she's confronted in the true ending and revealed to be the one truly behind everything]].
107	** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has drawn portraits of the characters appear during dialogue scenes, and even occasionally has the character portraits rip through the screen to punctuate a particularly emotional or tense moment. In a case of PaintingTheMedium, the traitor is revealed as such when they suddenly gain a much more [[TraitorShot sinister-looking]] portrait than their usual set. Weirdly, Morgana always has a portrait for his humanoid FunnyAnimal appearance, even when masquerading as a house cat in the real world. [[spoiler:When he permanently loses said humanoid appearance at the very end of the game, it's conveyed as such by his portrait switching to an entirely-new house cat one]].
108	*** ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 5 Royal]]'' touches up the main cast's portraits (most noticeably Morgana, who looks far less OffModel and ball-headed than he did in the vanilla game) and adds a few new expressions to them. Most notably, the traitor has a new set of irritated-looking portraits that completely replace their previous, pleasant expressions when [[spoiler:they rejoin the party in the new final act]].
109	%%* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
110	* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
111	** ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'': In ''Rescue Team'', only story-important [=NPCs=] and the starting forms of the Hero and Partner have portraits. In ''Explorers'' and ''Gates To Infinity'', every Pokémon has a portrait, but only certain [=NPCs=] and the starters' first evolutions have alternate portraits for different moods. ''Super Mystery Dungeon'' gives every Pokémon a normal, happy, and sad portrait, though more portraits are still only given to the starters and major characters.
112	%%** Also done rarely in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', only used when characters are talking via the [=XTransceiver=] or when talking with N. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
113	%%* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnTales'' implemented these in Version 2 for important characters. Version 3 started including different portraits for different moods. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
114	%%* ''VideoGame/RakenzarnFrontierStory'' built off of ''Tales'' and used multiple portraits from the start. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
115	* ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'' gives portraits to named characters; random villagers don't have them. Playable characters also get a menu portrait, and dialogue portraits change with emotions. Beastlords also lose their portrait when they [[OneWingedAngel transform]].
116	* In ''VideoGame/ShiningWisdom'', Mars gets a portrait despite being a HeroicMime and the game itself having only a bare ExcusePlot.
117	%%* The PSP remakes of ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'' and ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' featured this. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
118	* In ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'' series, anyone who has a portrait is either important to the story in some way, or they're one of the 108 Stars of Destiny [[GottaCatchEmAll you can recruit]]. ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' in particular takes things up by giving most characters in the game multiple portraits to represent different moods.
119	** ''VideoGame/SuikodenTactics'' gives generic characters [[EyelessFace eyeless portraits]].
120	* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
121	** The series' recurring feature are skits, PlayerParty conversations represented with portraits that can not only animate and change expressions but also move around the screen and shrink or grow to reflect characters' mood.
122	** Most of the games also have portraits by each character's status in and out of battle. In the former case, they often have their expressions change based on what's happening to them.
123	** ''VideoGame/TalesOfXillia'' and [[VideoGame/TalesOfXillia2 its sequel]] also have character portraits pop in for the heroes at the top-left corner of the screen for the heroes, and the top-right for enemies. Besides BossBanter, the character will call out enemy weaknesses, status effects, and other events that happen in battle.
124	* ''VideoGame/TouhouLabyrinth'' features simple menu avatars and full portraits during character conversations, with varying degrees of quality. It's updated re-release, Special Disc, later added the ability to use custom character portraits.
125	* The ''VideoGame/TrailsSeries'' has a variety of expressions for several characters, not just party members. [[TheHero Estelle]] in particular, has a wide range of emotions. Each playable character also has a set of four portraits in battle, which change based on how the battle is going. High health characters generally look assured, then irritated or uncertain at medium health, looking pained, despairing or angry at low health, and then finally unconscious when their health has dropped to zero.
126	%%* The ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series from ''[[VideoGame/UltimaVI VI]]'' on, until it goes 3D in ''[[VideoGame/UltimaIX IX]]'' and just zooms in on people. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
127	* ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfile'' has portraits which take up approximately half of the screen when dialogue boxes are present. There are several portraits for each playable character which help reflect the emotional aspects of the dialogue.
128	* ''VideoGame/WildArms'':
129	** In ''VideoGame/WildArms2'', you can name every storyline-important NPC one meets, but only a very few of them have portraits when naming them or talking to them; this can lead to some {{Interface Spoiler}}s. For example, Tim is a seemingly unimportant NPC met early on, but it's obvious he'll end up being important since he has a character portrait. It's even more amusing considering one meets the "leader" of Tim's little circle of friends first - who ''doesn't'' have a portrait.
130	** A similar tactic can be used in ''VideoGame/WildArms3'' and ''VideoGame/WildArms5''. ''VideoGame/WildArms4'' and ''VideoGame/WildArmsXF'' had portraits for pretty much everyone, but there were still "generic" and "unique" portraits, allowing the player to tell them apart.
131	* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' uses basic portraits in the dialogue boxes.
132	* In ''VideoGame/YoKaiWatch'', the main protagonists (Nate, Katie, [[VideoGame/YoKaiWatch3 Hailey]]), as well as any character with some sort of notability (the protagonists' parents, Bear and Eddie, any classmate or shopkeeper, certain Yo-Kai) have a portrait above their dialogue box. Depending on their importance, they may or may not have different portraits for different emotions (ex. shopkeeps and Yo-Kai who aren't Whisper or Jibanyan have only one portrait, while Bear and Eddie, who each have one major appearance, have about four each).
133	* In the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series, [=NPCs=] in important conversations have portraits that take up at least a third of the screen.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Shoot 'em Up]]
137	%%* ''VideoGame/{{Caladrius}}'' features these in cutscenes...as well as in gameplay, whenever a character suffers a Shame Break[[note]]For player characters: Getting hit with a certain number of medals collected. For boss characters: Losing phase health within a certain amount of time.[[/note]], causing their [[ClothingDamage clothes to take damage]]. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
138	* ''VideoGame/RingRunnerFlightOfTheSages'' has dialogue boxes including not so much portraits as symbols representing the speakers or their factions. The FeaturelessProtagonist for example is represented with a stick figure (the same one that appears on the LoadingScreen and the game's icon), while their AI implant NERO has a triangle with an eye[[note]]No! Not an EyeOfProvidence! ''This'' one has a pointy side down![[/note]].
139	[[/folder]]
140
141	[[folder:Simulation Games]]
142	* Starting with ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' (later ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasons'') games use multiple portraits for different emotions when they're not using GoingThroughTheMotions. You can often tell how important a character is by how many portraits they have; {{Love Interest}}s and important townsfolk will have up to five or six, while minor characters sometimes have only one if any. These were dropped later on, with conversations having close ups on the character's face instead.
143	%%* ''VideoGame/LivePowerfulProBaseball'' games got those since the beginning of the Success life sim mode in the third game. They started as small icons and were standardized by the fifth game as detailed shots of the characters on either corner of the screen. In the console installments past the 2010s, the portraits are also animated. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
144	%%** The [[VideoGame/LivePowerfulProBaseballMobile smartphone spinoff]] had a April Fools gag in 2019 that changed every portrait for Power Pro-kun into [[DullSurprise a single inexpressive one]] in [[ArtShift pixel art]] based on what the character [[https://yoritoshi.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/pawapuromobileaprilfools.jpg looked like]] in the first few games.
145	%%* ''[[VideoGame/MitsumeteKnight Mitsumete Knight R: Daibouken Hen]]'' uses the text box version of this trope for all voiced characters of the game. Their facial expressions however change in real time as the dialogue is unfolding, instead of waiting for the dialogue to finish to change the expression, and instead of using the swapping a new portrait method. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
146	* The ''Videogame/TraumaCenter'' series has multiple portraits for different emotions.
147	* ''[[VideoGame/NavalOps Warship Gunner 2]]'' uses portraits whenever someone's speaking.
148	[[/folder]]
149
150	[[folder:Survival Horror]]
151	%%* ''VideoGame/ClockTower'': Used alongside character speech, as the game had no voice acting. It also functions as an indication of Jennifer's emotional/physical state during normal gameplay. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
152	* ''VideoGame/{{Ib}}'': Each character (except for one-liner {{NPC}}s) has several portraits for each emotion. Sometimes, the character's portrait appears with no text accompaniment, just to show the player how they're reacting without words. [[SilentProtagonist Despite the fact that Ib herself never speaks]], her portrait ''does'' appear in the save menu (due to the game being made in RPG Maker).
153	* ''VideoGame/TheWitchsHouse'': Viola's appears in the menu. Under certain circumstances, there's a chance that [[spoiler:it'll be replaced with a nightmarish SlasherSmile version]]. Normally, there aren't any portraits displayed beside text, making the appearance of [[spoiler:Ellen's]] near the end quite shocking.
154	* ''VideoGame/MadFather'': There is an extensive and detailed range for each character, particularly Aya, who has 22 different portraits for every occasion.
155	[[/folder]]
156
157	[[folder:Third-Person Shooter]]
158	* Dialogue boxes in ''VideoGame/MDK2'' include animated 3D model of the talking character's head, even in cutscenes where the camera is pointing straight at their faces.
159	* In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'', [[DialogueDuringGameplay transmissions]] are accompanied by a 3D close-up of the speaker's face (or their avatar, in case of cephalons) in a tiny box off to the HUD's side. Most of the speakers' models also have extensive animations that are generally incidental to what the character is saying and are similar through all their transmissions.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]]
163	* ''VideoGame/BattleTech2018'': Because of the density of information, and the fact that the game ''wants'' you to [[VideoGameCaringPotential care about the well-being of your pilots and the events in their live]], the unit panel at the bottom of the HUD features portraits of your pilots instead of their 'Mechs, giving you a quick read of their condition at a glance. Transmissions are received with portraits of the sender, ranging from your MissionControl updating you on information to EnemyChatter complete with small pictures of the poor bastards whose day you're about to ruin.
164	* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' uses portraits in the dialogue boxes.
165	* Most of the ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'' games use these. Interestingly, these ones have a few different expressions, move their mouths when speaking, and blink, even if their portrait isn't currently the "active" one. They also have a tendency to move around to simulate the person they represent moving.
166	* In ''VideoGame/IntoTheBreach'', your mech pilots and your MissionControl have portraits displayed on their status windows and speech bubbles, featuring occasional blink animations. When a mech has only 1 hit-point remaining, its pilot gets a red-tinted portrait that glitches regularly.
167	* You get small pictures of your pilots in ''VideoGame/MechCommander'', allowing you to keep track of possibly up to a dozen otherwise very similarly-shaped and similarly-painted HumongousMecha by keeping tabs the CallSign and picture of each pilot. Particularly notable for spicing things up by cutting from the portraits occasionally, using very tiny, low-res live-action FMV of the pilots to make it seem like they're transmitting visuals from inside a cockpit.
168	* The ''VideoGame/ShiningSeries'' use these for all the characters in the party. The ''VideoGame/ShiningForce Gaiden'' games also used them for cutscenes. Only characters who are in the eponymous force or have speaking roles got portraits, though.
169	%%* ''TacticsOgreTheKnightOfLodis'' %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
170	%%* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', being based on anime and manga, uses these to an extent. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
171	[[/folder]]
172
173	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
174	* All characters in ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' either look directly at the camera or, in case of attorneys and assistants during courtroom sessions, look at the side. Notably, all the characters have many unique animations, ranging from sweating, waving, bouncing up and down, and a "[[WildTake freak out]]" to name some. In certain cases where a character is not present and is talking through a phone or the like, their profile picture appears on screen when they speak.
175	[[/folder]]
176
177	[[folder:Non-Video-Game Examples]]
178
179	%%[[AC:Anime]]
180	%%* [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horriblesubs_mahoujin_guru_guru_2017_21_720pmp4_snapshot_0954_20180416_132243.jpg Parodied]] in episode 21 of the 2017 series of ''Manga/MagicalCircleGuruGuru'', when the G-Fantasy guys gets one [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment out of nowhere.]] %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
181	%%-->'''Nishiji:''' The portrait cut-in technique makes you the star, no matter the context.
182
183	%%[[AC:Fan Works]]
184	%%* ''WebAnimation/TurnaboutStorm'', being done in the VisualNovel style of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' series, uses them in exactly the same manner; though [[AnimationBump they are only animated during courtroom sessions]], the rest of the time being stills of the characters. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
185	%%* ''Devil's Attorney'' uses these in an ever better way, seeing as the two series featured (''Franchise/AceAttorney'' and ''{{Franchise/Disgaea}}'') also used these extensively, leading to a situation where Phoenix's courtroom portraits were used in cutscenes resembling the ones from ''Disgaea'', and they do not look out of place at all.[[note]]Oh, and by the way, ''Devil's Attorney'' pre-dates ''Turnabout Storm''.[[/note]] %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
186
187	[[AC:Web Comics]]
188	* In ''Webcomic/CrystalHeroes'' playable RPG scene, characters are depicted in their portraits from shoulders-up and all have a variety of different facial expressions.
189	%%* Used by ''Webcomic/ThePocalypse''. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
190	%%* Used by the [[WebComic fake]] AdventureGame ''Webcomic/SilentHillPromise''. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
191
192	[[AC:Web Original]]
193	* ''LetsPlay/MarioPartyTV'': Mr. Doom, Steeler, Holms and Clel use pictures of themselves to mimic the portraits used in the in-game Ranking charts, which change appropriately in accordance with their status.
194	%%* ''LetsPlay/PinkKittyRose'' utilizes these during non-voiced playthroughs, accompanied by captions illustrating her feelings about whatever is on-screen. {{Sweat drop}}s and {{facepalm}}s are the most common. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.
195	[[/folder]]

Context Main / CharacterPortrait