Line #243 Main/ColorCodedMultiplayer


1	[[quoteright:256:[[VideoGame/{{Contra}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/contra_two_player.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:256:Player 1 is blue, and Player 2 is red. [[Film/TheCourtJester Get it? Got it. Good.]]]]
3
4	Video game sprites or polygon models of different colors to tell otherwise identical {{Player Character}}s apart. This was especially prevalent in games up to [[TheEighties the mid-1980s]], where [[UsefulNotes/ReadOnlyMemory ROM size]] meant that even different sprites for them would take up too much space. In later years, storage capacity has grown bigger, allowing game designers to give each player character a different design, but this trope lives on as a way for players to tell each other apart when they are both playing as the same character.
5
6	In early days, certain players were forcibly assigned certain character colors with no way to choose a different color (ex: P1 blue, P2 red, P3 green, P4 yellow); this was most useful in arcades, where the preassigned colors were often painted onto the controls and/or the surrounding area of the cabinet. Nowadays, games will often allow players to choose colors.
7
8	This trope can apply whether the multiplayer is cooperative or competitive. It can also apply to a mirror match with a [[VideoGameAI computer-controlled opponent]] as long as it is using the same character as the player.
9
10	In two-player games, you typically see Red and Blue; four-player games almost always add Yellow and Green; and eight-player games typically tend to add Orange, Purple, Magenta, and Cyan to the mix. Red and Blue have historically been used, such as the red and blue corners in boxing, whereas the other two are included for ChromaticArrangement.
11
12	[=SRPGs=] often do this with the generic classes.
13
14	Also, there can be some minor differences, as long as the color is the primary way to tell them apart.
15
16	A SubTrope of ColorCodedCharacters and PaletteSwap.
17
18	A SisterTrope to MirrorMatch.
19
20	Compare GoodColorsEvilColors; ColorCodedPatrician; ColorCodedArmies.
21	----
22	!!Examples
23
24	[[foldercontrol]]
25
26	[[folder:Action Games]]
27	* ''VideoGame/PlayingWithFire'': Player 1 is red, player 2 is blue, the remaining opponents controlled by the computer are purple and green.
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Action-Adventure Games]]
31	* ''VideoGame/CrashOfTheTitans'' and ''VideoGame/CrashMindOverMutant'' did this with the introduction of Carbon Crash, a white and green recolor of Crash. However, Carbon Crash is often deployed only when Coco can't be there plot-wise.
32	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords'' and ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures'' has Link shattered into four people by the Four Sword. His clothes are green, red, blue, and violet.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35	[[folder:Beat 'em Ups]]
36	* The arcade version of ''VideoGame/BadDudes'' had two main characters whose only differences were the colors of their parachute pants (white for Player 1 and green for Player 2).
37	** In the game's SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/CrudeBuster'' (aka ''Two Crude Dudes''), Player 1 wears yellow and has a faux-hawk style, while Player 2 wears green and has a bald mohawk.
38	* ''VideoGame/CastleCrashers'', though, going by the [=FAQs=], there is some debate over whether one of them is the Yellow Knight or Orange Knight. In addition, there are several unlockable enemy characters.
39	* ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' - Traditionally the series had Player 1 (Billy) as the blue guy and Player 2 (Jimmy) as the red guy, but there has been some deviations of this formula throughout the course of the series.
40	** The NES version of the [[VideoGame/DoubleDragonI first game]] lacked a 2-player co-op, but instead had a 2-player alternating mode where both players controlled Billy Lee. This was because the NES version changed the plot [[AdaptationalVillainy by making Jimmy into the bad guy]]. However, the [[MiniGame bonus one-on-one versus mode]], which consisted exclusively of {{mirror match}}es, has both players depicted in varying color schemes depending on the character, but Player 1's life bar is always blue while Player 2/CPU's is always red.
41	** The arcade version of ''VideoGame/DoubleDragonII'' has Billy wearing a black outfit and Jimmy wearing a white outfit. The NES version brought then back to their original blue and red outfits.
42	** The arcade version of ''Double Dragon 3'' allows the option for a third player, who controls a yellow-clad palette-swap of the Lee brothers named Sonny. This also applies to the new characters featured in addition to Billy and Jimmy, which consists of groups of palette-swapped siblings similar to the Lee brothers. However, Masao (the player 1 member of the Oyama Brothers) wears a white karate gi.
43	** The NES version of ''Double Dragon III'' has Player 1 start out as Billy and Player 2 as Jimmy as usual, but the players can switch characters at any point. A bug in the game's 2-players mode even allows a single player to play the whole game as both Lee brothers.
44	** In ''Super Double Dragon'', Billy and Jimmy actually have different hair styles for their sprites. Instead of the pompadour style they had in the arcade and NES games, Billy has straight brown hair, while Jimmy has a blond flap-top style. Some of the earlier manual/promo artwork for the Famicom versions (and even the story sequences and character portraits of ''Double Dragon III'' on the NES) already depicted the Lee brothers with differing hairstyles, but ''Super Double Dragon'' was the first game to actually distinguish them in-game. Some of the later games, like ''Double Dragon Advance'' and the [=iOS=]/Android remake from 2013, would use this style, while other games like ''Double Dragon Neon'' would go back to the original arcade game's palette swapped twins style.
45	* ''VideoGame/DynamiteDux'': Player 1 is the blue duck Bin, and Player 2 is the red duck Pin.
46	* Most games that copied the ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' template (usually 3 playable characters) followed this color scheme: [[JackOfAllStats blue]], [[FragileSpeedster red]], and [[MightyGlacier green]] (yellow for ''VideoGame/StreetsOfRage 1'').
47	* ''VideoGame/GoldenAxe'' featured [[FragileSpeedster Tyris Flare]] (red; the best magic, the best speed, but weak), [[JackOfAllStats Ax-Battler]] (blue; average magic, average attack, and average speed), and [[MightyGlacier Gilius Thunderhead]] (green; the worst magic, the worst speed, but has the best range with his axe).
48	* ''VideoGame/NinjaBaseballBatMan'':
49	** Captain Jose: Wears red and is the JackOfAllStats
50	** Twinbats Ryno: Wears green and is the FragileSpeedster
51	** Beanball Roger: Wears yellow and is the MightyGlacier
52	** Stick Straw: Wears blue and is the LightningBruiser
53	* ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'' (arcade version) has Player 1 as a blue ninja and Player 2 as a red ninja. While neither character are actually identified in the game, Ryu Hayabusa (the main character in the NES version) wears a blue ninja outfit, while his father Ken wears a similar red outfit, matching the colors of the two player characters (leading some fans to [[FanWank speculate]] that the events depicted in the arcade version is a mission that Ryu and Ken Hayabusa went through before the events of the NES series).
54	* ''VideoGame/TheNinjaKids'':
55	** Hanzo - wears blue and is a JackOfAllStats
56	** Sasuke - wears yellow and is a LightningBruiser
57	** Akane - wears red and is a FragileSpeedster
58	** Genta - wears green and is a MightyGlacier
59	* In ''VideoGame/RoboArmy'', Maxima (Player 1) wears red, while Rocky (Player 2) wears blue. However, the two characters are also {{head swap}}s, with Maxima having a human head with beret, whereas Rocky is completely robotic.
60	* ''VideoGame/ViolentStorm'' inverted it compared to most brawlers that followed the ''Final Fight'' template. Kyle wears green and is the [[FragileSpeedster weakest but fastest]]. Boris wears red and is the [[MightyGlacier strongest but also the slowest]], although not as slow compared to other mighty glaciers in brawlers. Wade wears blue and is [[JackOfAllStats average]] between the other two player characters.
61	* The ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame by Creator/{{Taito}} allowed a second player to play a Superman colored red and gray instead of blue and red.
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Driving Games]]
65	* ''VideoGame/DaytonaUSA'' gives each player their own car color, even in a round consisting of as many as 8 players. The colors are as follows -- 1P: red; 2P: blue; 3P: yellow; 4P: green; 5P: black; 6P: pink; 7P: cyan; 8P: orange.
66	* ''VideoGame/KirbyAirRide'', with additional colors as some of the unlockable rewards.
67	* ''VideoGame/MicroMachines'', the first two, would have this as their way of telling players apart, Player 1 being red, Player 2 being blue, Player 3 being green, and Player 4 being yellow.
68	* In ''Driift Mania'', each player is assigned a specific color to their vehicles, being blue for Player 1, red for Player 2, green for Player 3, yellow for Player 4, pink for Player 5, black for Player 6, orange for Player 7 and purple for Player 8.
69	* In ''VideoGame/SuperSprint'', the first player controls a blue car, the second player controls a red car, and the third player controls a yellow car. The AI-controlled drone cars are always gray.
70	* In ''VideoGame/SuperOffRoad'', player one controls a red truck (or optional dune buggy if they play the Track Pak version), player two controls a yellow truck, and player three controls a blue truck. The AI-controlled truck of "Ironman" Ivan Stewart (or "Lightning" Kevin Lydy in current re-releases) is white, though it appears gray due to graphical limitations. The NES version had a green truck in place of the white truck if four human players compete.
71	[[/folder]]
72
73	[[folder:Fighting Games]]
74	* ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', the interesting part is that the alt colors make sense if you've played the other FF games or are otherwise a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' nerd--some of the alts are based on original concept art of the character that didn't make the final cut for the original game ([[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV Cecil]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyII Firion, The Emperor]]), some are versions of the character as they appeared in their actual game, their default Dissidia design having changed that (Golbez, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyX Tidus]], [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI Terra]]), and others make references more complicated than that (''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIII'' was originally a game of four {{Featureless\|Protagonist}} {{Heroic Mime}}s, while the remake did away with that and gave the characters all personalities, back stories, unique appearances, and [[CanonName names]]; Dissidia references this by basing the FFIII representative on the Onion Knight of the original game, while having his alt look like Luneth, the "hero" of the remake). And yet others are outfits the characters actually wore ([[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Cloud's]] [[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren AC]] outfit or [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII Squall's]] Seed Uniform). And others are a reference to ''other'' characters (Ultimecia and Jecht).
75	* ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' used mainly shading variations (likely since Sub Zero, Scorpion, Reptile, Ermac, Human Smoke, Rain, Noob Saibot, and Chameleon were already {{palette swap}}s at various points).
76	** Also, the women, Mileena, Kitana, Jade, and the often forgotten Khameleon.
77	** As well as Cyrax, Robot Smoke, and Sektor.
78	* Every ''Franchise/StreetFighter'' installment since ''Champion Edition'' allowed both players to use the same character by distinguishing one player with an alternate color scheme. ''Super Street Fighter II'', the fourth ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' game, actually has eight palettes for each character, allowing all eight players in the Tournament Battle mode to use the same character. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' retained the tradition of palette swapped costumes, despite the switch from pixel art to polygonal models and the introduction of alternate costumes.
79	* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':
80	** The first three games in the series uses alternate colors of characters marked red, green, or blue when playing team multiplayer. When the same character is on the same team, they're differentiated by being a slightly different shade from the other players. Free-for-All battles also had alternate palettes for each character, which can be selected from the menu.
81	** The fourth generation games for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U changed the presentation for team battles so that teams are indicated by color-coded outlines instead, allowing the freedom of giving players the character palette of their choice. A yellow team is also present for the Wii U version's eight-player mode. This also meant that characters no longer had to have an obligatory "red palette," "blue palette," or "green palette."
82	** In Free-for-all battles and Single Player mode, you can tell which controller port you're using based on the color of your shield/stock/icon/KO explosion; P1 (Red), P2 (Blue), P3 (Yellow), P4 (Green). Computer players are given gray. As of ''Super Smash Bros. for Wii U'', an eight-player mode was introduced, so there are four additional colors: P5 (Orange), P6 (Cyan), P7 (Purple), P8 (Dark gray). In ''Ultimate'', purple became the color for Player Eight, while Player Seven is pink.
83	* ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesSmashUp'' uses colored 'auras' to separate players, much like ''Super Smash Bros.'' in that they are required for team matches. In free for all matches, the aura colors can be decided by the player out of a standard 256 color pallet. While alternate models exist, this is the main way to separate fighters.
84	* ''VideoGame/UrbanChampion'' involves two almost identical boys beating each other up, differing only in clothing and hair colors.
85	[[/folder]]
86
87	[[folder:First-Person Shooter]]
88	* ''VideoGame/BioShock2'''s multiplayer depicts friendly hacked machines with blue lights, and enemy ones with red. Unhacked ones are white. One wonders why they didn't just keep up the red-yellow-green scheme of the single player.
89	* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'': The first game's multiplayer has each player a different color. One of the colors is brown, and this mixed with the oldschool graphics and brown colored enemies can cause problems.
90	* ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}}'': Multiplayer mode makes the players red, yellow, green, and blue.
91	%%* ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D'', ''VideoGame/Blood1997'', and other first person games at the time followed suit.
92	* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
93	** {{Palette Swap}}s were the only way of distinguishing players in the original ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'', with ''VideoGame/Halo2'' offering a (rarely used) Elite player model. It wasn't until ''VideoGame/Halo3'' that we finally got [[AndYourRewardIsClothes unlockable armor customizations]].
94	** Averted in co-op play in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', ''[[VideoGame/Halo4 Spartan Ops]]'', and ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians''. In ''3'', Player 1 is the Chief, Player 2 is the Arbiter, and the other two are unique Elites. In ''Spartan Ops'', each player uses their customized multiplayer model. In ''5'', each player is a different member of Fireteam Osiris / Blue Team.
95	** FanRemake ''VideoGame/HaloZero'' uses this too.
96	* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''[='s=] predecessor, ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'', also had human players all look the same, but player sprites were split in two (primarily in order to avert InformedEquipment) so that the color of one's shirt and pants could be set separately, to denote both the individual player and the player's team.
97	* The multiplayer for ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' involves multicolored Samuses (Samii?) fighting each other.
98	* ''VideoGame/MondayNightCombat'' uses orange and blue for its two teams.
99	* In ''VideoGame/PiratesVikingsAndKnights'', the Pirates are colored red, the Vikings green, and the Knights blue.
100	* ''VideoGame/ProjectBlackout'' has a red team and a blue team (although the "red" team is sort of a misnomer--they actually wear camo).
101	* ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' (or at least [=QuakeWorld=]) also let players recolor the top and bottom halves of their models based on personal preference or team affiliation, and sometimes mods used this as well. The original [=QuakeWorld=] ''Team Fortress'' used pants color to assign people to the RED and BLU teams.
102	* ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2''. Lampshaded in that their companies are [[FunWithAcronyms abbreviated to RED and BLU]].
103	** It's lampshaded even further since the founders of said companies are named Redmond and Blutarch, respectively.
104	*** And after the Mann Vs. Machine update, RED and BLU have a common enemy called Gray Mann (whose "team", ironically, [[AvertedTrope isn't this]]--they're robotic doubles of the actual characters, as the "Vs. Machine" part of the update title implies).
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder:Hack and Slash]]
108	* ''{{VideoGame/Gauntlet}}''
109	** In the arcade version of the original ''Gauntlet'', multiple players could not be part of the same class - they were either, chosen by each player at the start of the game in the 2-player version or assigned by control panel in the 4-player version. This was changed in ''Gauntlet II'', which allowed multiple players to be the same class if they wanted to, distinguishing each player by color-coding their characters. Incidentally, the color-coding in ''Gauntlet II'' matches how the four classes were colored and arranged in the 4-player version of the first game which goes red, blue, yellow and green in that exact order.
110	** ''Gauntlet Legends'' at first appears to have standard Color Coded Multiplayer, but upon closer inspection, all of the art and in-game models for each color of each character class are radically different, with each color even having something of a theme (e.g. all of the blue characters resemble Western European knights and nobility, the yellow are inspired by Ancient Egypt with a bit of Ottoman Empire, reds are the "generic fantasy barbarian" culture, and greens have a Celtic/Gaelic flair). Each color variation also sports differing costume styles. The reds mostly had fur and were more barbarian-looking; the blues were often more regal and medieval-like; the greens were forest-themed with leather sashes and vests, and the yellows had an Egyptian/desert-themed flair to them.
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Maze Game]]
114	* VideoGame/PacMan:
115	** In ''VideoGame/PacManArrangement1996'', the second player controls a green Pac-Man, while player 1 plays as the classic yellow Pac-Man. Both otherwise play identically.
116	** ''VideoGame/PacManVs'' has each player take control of a different-colored ghost based on their player number, with a red ghost for player 1, blue for player 2, pink for player 3, and green for player 4. The same colors are used for a trail that the player controlling Pac-Man leaves behind, depending on which player is currently playing as him.
117	** ''Pac-Man Battle Royale'' features four different-colored Pac-Man characters, one for each player, the colors being blue, pink, red, and of course the classic yellow. The sequel, ''Pac-Man Battle Royale [=CHOMPionship=]'', adds dark green, orange, light green, and purple Pac-Mans for players 5-8.
118	* In ''VideoGame/{{Trog}}'', the four players (in the four-player version) control Rex the Red Dino, Bloop the Blue Dino, Spike the Yellow Dino and Gwen the Pink Dino; their respective buttons and joysticks are thus color-coded on the dedicated cabinet.
119	[[/folder]]
120
121	[[folder:[=MMORPGs=]]]
122	* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars'', the two teams in [=PvP=] are red and blue. The factions in Factions have red and blue flags to support this. It also tends to refer to objectives in [=PvP=] maps by color.
123	* ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}'' differentiates teams in Castle Wars and similar activities with different colors of capes or hats.
124	[[/folder]]
125
126	[[folder:Party Games]]
127	* ''VideoGame/MarioPartyStarRush'': The main player characters in Toad Scramble are different colored Toads, with each Toad's color corresponding to their player number: red for Player 1, blue for Player 2, green for Player 3, and yellow for Player 4.
128	* ''VideoGame/WarioWareIncMegaPartyGames'': The main four players have four different colors, which represent which numbered player they are. Red for player 1, blue for player 2, yellow for player 3, and green for player 4. The characters will all have the color of their clothes change to reflect their player number.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Platform Games]]
132	* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheNinja'' assigns the first player the purple-clad ninja Hayate and the second player the orange-clad kunoichi Kaede. Their sprites are different, but their movesets are identical.
133	* In ''VideoGame/NinjaCrusaders'', the first player controls Talon a red ninja, while the second player controls the blue-clad Blade.
134	* ''VideoGame/ClawsOfFurry'': Each of the four CatNinja [[PlayerCharacter Player Character]]s have their own coloured ninja outfit. Blue, green, black, and purple.
135	* ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit 2'' had eight customizable colors for six body parts, allowing an almost infinite variety of color-schemes.
136	* The two teams in ''VideoGame/KillerQueen'' are identical sprites with blue or gold color schemes. The non-arcade version, Killer Queen Black, adds a black team (a team that wins against a black team, becomes a black team).
137	* In the ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'' franchise, Player 2 is traditionally yellow (only in ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamCourse'' was the yellow Kirby named "Keeby.") Allegedly, this is because Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto first saw Kirby on the monochrome Game Boy and thought his "official" color was yellow instead of pink, leading to yellow being kept as Kirby's secondary color as a MythologyGag.
138	** ''VideoGame/KirbysReturnToDreamLand'' lets players be Kirbies of different colors, but they can also choose between King Dedede, Meta Knight, or Waddle Dee, who don't have Kirby's trademark PowerCopying, but they do have their own weapons.
139	** ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror'' used this trope before it, though it first showed up in ''Kirby's Dream Course''. Also done in the multiplayer portion of ''[[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure Nightmare in Dream Land]]''.
140	** Similarly, ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheRainbowCurse'' features multi-colored Bandana Waddle Dees, players three and four being green and yellow, respectively. [[note]] Originally, there would have also been a cyan Bandana Waddle Dee, but was [[DummiedOut cut from the final game]]. [[/note]]
141	** ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' does this for friends (outside of Dream Friends, who always use their natural color scheme unless there are multiple of the same Dream Friend or they’re summoned in The Ultimate Choice or Heroes in Another Dimension modes); player 2 is yellow, player 3 is blue, and player 4 is green.
142	* In ''VideoGame/MichaelJacksonsMoonwalker'', the first player controls Michael Jackson in a white suit, the second controls Michael in a red suit, and the third player (available in the UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame only) controls Michael in a black suit.
143	* The NES version of ''VideoGame/RushNAttack'' has a 2-Players mode in which Player 1 is in blue and Player 2 is in red, even though both characters are supposed to be Green Berets. The power-up carrying enemy soldiers also happen to be a yellow palette swap of the player as well.
144	** In ''M.I.A.'', the arcade-only SpiritualSuccessor to ''Rush'n Attack'', Player 1 is green and Player 2 is blue.
145	* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''
146	** The original ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' did this with Mario and Luigi. They are identical sprites, but Mario is red and Luigi is green. The exception was ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', the single-player game that put Luigi on DivergentCharacterEvolution.
147	** Then ''VideoGame/SuperMarioAllStars'' gave Mario and Luigi different sprites in all of the remakes. In the version of ''All-Stars'' that included ''Super Mario World'', Luigi got a new sprite in that game as well. Some of his actions had to be animated differently in order to keep his hit box intact (for example, he slides on his knees).
148	** In ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', two Toads are color coded yellow and blue, but players can select between them or Luigi (Player 1 is always stuck with Mario, however).
149	** The "Classic" ''Mario Bros.'' minigame included in the GBA version of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' (and with the GBA versions of ''Super Mario World'', ''Yoshi's Island'', and ''Super Mario Bros. 3'', and ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'') plays this straight by making all the other player characters (including Luigi) into palette swaps of Mario. The Player 3 and Player 4 characters wore yellow and blue respectively, with white overalls.
150	[[/folder]]
151
152	[[folder:Puzzle Games]]
153	* In ''VideoGame/ChuChuRocket''[='s=] multiplayer modes, Player 1 must herd their [=ChuChus=] into a blue rocket. Player 2's rocket is yellow, Player 3's is red, and Player 4's is green.
154	* Two-player mode in the Amiga version of ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}'': one player controls the blue lemmings, the other player the green lemmings, and each player's goal is to ensure that as many as possible (regardless of colour) enter that player's exit, also colour-coded.
155	* ''VideoGame/HelterSkelter'': The first player controls a red ball, and the second player controls a blue one.
156	* ''VideoGame/PartTimeUFO'' ‘s Switch version introduced 2 Player Co-op. Player 1’s UFO is the original in yellow, while Player 2’s UFO is red. Even their costumes have differing aesthetics depending on the player.
157	[[/folder]]
158	[[folder:Rail Shooter]]
159	* This is a common trope for rail shooters.
160	** ''VideoGame/CarnEvil'': Player 1 and their life bar is green, Player 2 and their life bar is purple.
161	** In Creator/{{Namco}} rail shooters like ''Videogame/{{Point Blank\|1994}}'' and ''Videogame/TimeCrisis'', player one shoots red while player two shoots blue.
162	** Sega rail shooters that is not the ''Videogame/HouseOfTheDead'' has player one shoot blue and player two shoot pink. This is lampshaded in the rules for ''Videogame/SEGAGoldenGun'', point 1:
163	--->''"Sight mark is shown in the aiming direction. Player 1 is blue and Player 2 is pink."''
164	** In ''Videogame/TheWalkingDeadArcade'', player 1's crossbow shoots arrows with a green fletching while player 2's arrows have a blue fletching.
165	[[/folder]]
166	[[folder:Real-Time Strategy]]
167	* ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpires'' gives you two options for this: Either each team can have a different color or all your enemies can use a single color different from yours.
168	* ''Videogame/BattleZone1998'': The Strategy and [[CoOpMultiplayer MPI]] game modes default to Team 1 having red units and Team 2 having blue units. Free-for-all strategy has Yellow and Green. In deathmatch, each player is given a random color at the start of the round -- every player fears the neon pink [[HumongousMecha Attila]].
169	* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'':
170	** ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'': The battle mode sets one player as Olimar (who has a slight red scheme) and gives him an army entirely made of Red Pikmin, with the other player as Louie (who has a slight blue scheme) with Blue Pikmin.
171	** ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'': In multiplayer, although each player can access all colors of Pikmin available in a given scenario, the Pikmin's leaves are recolored cyan or magenta and used to denote each player.
172	* ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'' has this too. There are eight colors available, and you can be any of those colors (race does not matter). Color coding also happens for single player.
173	%%* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'': Usually eight colours are selectable.
174	* ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'':
175	** ''VideoGame/WarcraftIITidesOfDarkness'' attributes a separate faction (though the game isn't advanced to support every faction's individuality like naval units or mages) to each color: red orcs are Blackrock, blue humans are Stormwind, purple humans are Dalaran, purple orcs are Twilight's Hammer, etc.
176	** ''VideoGame/WarcraftIIIReignOfChaos'' has twelve colors (and black, usually reserved for neutral units but units can be made to appear one color), but the colors can be swapped out in-game to blue for your units, teal for allies, and red for enemies regardless of ownership.
177	[[/folder]]
178
179	[[folder:Role-Playing Games]]
180	%%* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'': ''Dragon Quest Wars''.
181	* ''VideoGame/DokaponKingdom'': Players who share the same class look identical, other than color and gender. You can go to the barbershop and get a new hairstyle, but it is sometimes lost upon death.
182	[[/folder]]
183
184	[[folder:Rhythm Games]]
185	* The ''VideoGame/JustDance'' series of games, Usually in Duet and Dance Crew songs, but the majority have visually distinctive dancers.
186	* In ''VideoGame/PumpItUp''[='=]s Co-Op charts, arrow colors indicate which player steps on what rather than the conventional "each row of panels has its own color". 1P is red, 2P is blue, 3P is yellow, and 4P is...''soccer balls''. The one track in the game with a 5-player chart simply has 4P be blue (like 2P) and 5P (like 1P) be red, due to the fact that nobody really deviates from their portion of the stage.
187	* ''VideoGame/ReflecBeat''[='=]s two sides are distinctly labeled "red side" and "blue side", although "red" in this case looks more like pink.
188	* Multiplayer in ''VideoGame/UmJammerLammy'' has Player 1 as Lammy and Player 2 as Rammy, a gray-scale PaletteSwap of Lammy (though she is her own character).
189	[[/folder]]
190
191	[[folder:Shoot 'em Ups]]
192	* In ''VideoGame/AegisWing'', the four ships are distinguished only by color.
193	* Atari's ''VideoGame/{{Combat\|Atari2600}}'' for the Platform/Atari2600 has different-colored tanks, biplanes, and jet fighters for each player. Likewise also Mattel's ''VideoGame/ArmorBattle'' for the Platform/{{Intellivision}}.
194	* ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'', as shown in the lead image. Particularly in the NES version, since the hardware wasn't capable of displaying detailed sprites like the arcade version, so Bill and Lance are distinguished by the colors of their pants. It's much more subtly handled in the original arcade game, as Bill's and Lance's are completely unique, but they still wear color-coded bandannas (blue for Bill and red for Lance).
195	* ''VideoGame/EcoFighters'': Ice's machine is colored blue while Neneh's machine is colored pink.
196	* ''[[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Salamander]]'', a spinoff of the original ''Gradius'', has one player piloting a blue ship and the other player a red ship. These ships were later identified as the Vic Viper from the original ''Gradius'' and the newly-introduced [[ShoutOut Lord British]], and they actually have different sprite designs in the arcade version. The Lord British would later appear as a selectable ship in ''Gradius Gaiden'' for the [=PlayStation=].
197	** The MSX version of ''Salamander'' replaces the Vic Viper and Lord British with the Sabel Tiger and the Thrasher.
198	** ''Gradius V'' would be the first game in the mainline series to have 2P co-op. However, the second player's ship is a red-colored Vic Viper (the Model T-301 to be precise) rather than a Lord British.
199	* In ''VideoGame/IkariWarriors'', both players are shirtless men with black hair and pants. Player 1 (Ralf Jones, or Paul as he was called in the [[DubNameChange NES localization]]) wears a red headband reminiscent of [[Franchise/{{Rambo}} John Rambo]] while Player 2 (Clark Still, a.k.a. [[DubNameChange Vince]]) wears a blue headband.
200	* In ''VideoGame/JamestownLegendOfTheLostColony'', each player has an aura that is red, blue, yellow or green depending on the player.
201	* In ''Gokujou VideoGame/{{Parodius}}'', all the Player 2 characters are all differently-named {{palette swap}}s of the Player 1 characters using the same weapon sets. However, ''Sexy Parodius'' gave the Player 2 characters slightly different weapon sets.
202	* ''VideoGame/{{Pixelvader}}'': Player 1 and their bullets are green, Player 2 and their bullets are blue.
203	* The ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}'' series features a red Raiden and a blue Raiden. ''VideoGame/RaidenFighters'', on the other hand, [[DivergentCharacterEvolution make the red Raiden (Raiden mk-II) and blue Raiden (Raiden mk-II Beta) play differently]].
204	* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fighting games ''[[VideoGame/TouhouSuimusouImmaterialAndMissingPower Immaterial and Missing Power]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TouhouHisoutenScarletWeatherRhapsody Scarlet Weather Rhapsody]]'' have an alternate palette for each character. ''VideoGame/{{Touhou Hisoutensoku\|ChoudokyuuGinyoruNoNazoOOe}}'' amps it up by having eight palettes per character.
205	* In the ''VideoGame/{{Twinbee}}'' series, the players' ships are Twinbee (blue), Winbee (pink), and Gwinbee (green).
206	* The cooperative 2-player mode of ''VideoGame/TwinCobra'' gives the first player a red helicopter and the second player a blue helicopter. These were {{Palette Swap}}s of each other, but they received DivergentCharacterEvolution in ''Twin Cobra II''.
207	[[/folder]]
208
209	[[folder:Sports Games]]
210	* In Creator/{{Konami}}'s ''Escape Kids'', the players are coded not only by color, but also by nationality. Player 1 (blue) is Syd Jones from the United States, Player 2 (yellow) is Dio Vitale from Italy, Player 3 (green) is Jya Aziz from India, and Player 4 (red) is Ken Kosugi from Japan.
211	* ''VideoGame/PunchOut'': The multiplayer for the Wii game has Mac fighting a clone of himself in different clothes. Doc Louis even lampshades this.
212	* In ''VideoGame/{{Speedball}}'', the Player 1 team wears green, and the computer or Player 2 team wears red. ''Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe'' changed the Player 1 color to blue, and added colored indicators and health bars to make the difference more obvious.
213	* In ''VideoGame/WiiSports'', Player 1 is colored blue, Player 2 is red, Player 3 green, and Player 4 yellow.
214	[[/folder]]
215
216	[[folder:Turn-Based Strategy]]
217	* The Link Arena mode in the Platform/GameBoyAdvance ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games assigns blue units to the first player slot, green units to the second slot, red units to the third slot, and purple units to the fourth slot.
218	* The ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars]]'' series has its ColorCodedArmies. Multiplayer modes decide the colors from which slot each person is using.
219	[[/folder]]
220
221	[[folder:Third-Person Shooter]]
222	%%* ''VideoGame/DestroyAllHumans 2''.
223	* In ''VideoGame/MindJack'', players on your team are blue 'wanderers', players on the enemy team are red. When in control of an {{NPC}}, the respective colour outlines the {{NPC}}.
224	* ''VideoGame/S4League'' is a little weird with this. Players on your team will have their equipment rendered with their natural colors which can be blue, yellow, green, or purple. Players on the opposing team will have their equipment {{Palette Swap}}ped to be red. In Battle Royale, a free-for-all mode with no teams, ''all'' other players will be wearing red. As a result of this POV-based color-coding system, equipment that is naturally red does not exist.
225	* The ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' games color-code the two teams in contrasting colors like blue and orange, though the colors tend to change between matches unless you're in ColorblindMode. This is a key gameplay element, as players spray ink across the arena as both a means of offense and a means of control; players can swim through ink of their own color for faster traversal, and rapidly wash off hostile ink and replenish their own tanks, on top of making the players FriendlyFireproof; meanwhile opposing colors impair movement greatly and can damage the player, but outside of shots cannot splat outright.
226	* While ''VideoGame/TransformersWarForCybertron'' didn't use this, having players choose separate models and colors for the Autobot and Decepticon versions of their classes, the sequel ''[[VideoGame/TransformersFallOfCybertron Fall of Cybertron]]'' does use this; one creates just one model for a class and differentiates the Autobot and Decepticon versions of it by picking from different pools of palette options. Also, the game automatically swaps voices and TronLines colors based on faction, with there being an option to use player-relative colors (blue = allies, red = enemies, regardless of faction) or absolute colors (red = Autobots, purple = Decepticons, regardless of which team the player is on).
227	[[/folder]]
228
229	[[folder:Wide Open Sandbox]]
230	* ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'''s Team Dye allows players to optionally invoke this, changing the color of dyed items to that of the player's chosen team.
231	[[/folder]]
232
233	[[folder:Miscellaneous Games]]
234	* ''VideoGame/{{BearZerkers}}'': Each player has their own colour to indicate who is who.
235	* ''VideoGame/FightTheHorror'': The players all wear coloured headbands to indicate which team they're on.
236	* In ''VideoGame/GliderPro'', the second paper airplane is folded from a yellow sheet instead of a white one. However, these use completely different sprites, because all the game's graphical resources have to share the same 256-color palette.
237	* ''VideoGame/GrandPianoKeys'': Player 1 has blue notes and player 2 has green notes.
238	* In the Versus Mode of ''VideoGame/MetalGearGhostBabel'', the second player controls another Solid Snake clad in a red sneaking suit instead of the blue one wore in the story mode.
239	* In ''VideoGame/{{Overcooked}},'' your chef's uniform color changes depending on your player number. They are, in order, blue, red, green, and yellow.
240	* ''VideoGame/UnfortunateSpacemen'': Every player is assigned a random colour at the start of each match. That is how each player is identified.
241	* ''Vindicators'' made the first player blue and the second player red, right down to the control panel on the original arcade cabinet.
242	[[/folder]]
243
244	!!Non-video game examples
245
246	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
247	* Duplicate monsters in ''Anime/FutureCardBuddyfight'' are recolored. Justified InUniverse via AmazingTechnicolorPopulation.
248	[[/folder]]
249
250	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
251	* In the Franchise/DisneyPrincess edition of the board game ''Pretty Pretty Princess'', all the player pieces are [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty Aurora]] in her [[GemEncrusted bejeweled]] [[PimpedOutDress dress]], with one being pink, another blue, another purple, and the fourth gold.
252	* The pieces in just about any board game by Milton Bradley or Parker Brothers will have players coded Red, Blue, Green, Yellow:
253	** ''Trouble''
254	** ''Sorry!''
255	** ''Mouse Trap''
256	** ''TabletopGame/CandyLand''
257	* In TabletopGame/{{Chess}}, the leading player is the white side, while the other player is the black side.
258	* The color coding in TabletopGame/{{Go}} is inverted from that of chess: The leading player is the ''black'' side instead.
259	* ''TabletopGame/{{Century}}'': While the first game has no components requiring player colors, ''Eastern Wonders'' and ''A New World'' have player pieces in black, white, cyan, and magenta.
260	[[/folder]]
261
262	[[folder:Web Animation]]
263	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' started out as merely a parody of this trope. [[spoiler:Later, the Reds and Blues discovered that the two armies who were pitted against each other were just simulations for Freelancer Agents to train. Which finally, after most of eight seasons, actually made the Reds and Blues really mad.]]
264	[[/folder]]
265
266	[[folder:Webcomics]]
267	* ''Webcomic/CtrlAltDel''[='s=] "Players": [[OnlySaneMan One]] is blue, [[FieryRedhead Two]] is red, [[NonActionGuy Three]] is yellow, and [[PsychopathicManchild Four]] (the [[TheSmurfettePrinciple lone girl]]) is green.
268	* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'', when Nanase creates one shadow copy of herself, the copy is colored with one of the primary additive colors (red, green, or blue), while Nanase is colored with the corresponding primary subtractive color (cyan, magenta, or yellow, respectively). This actually [[ShownTheirWork makes sense from a scientific standpoint]]: the real Nanase is absorbing the color the fake one is producing.
269	* Parodied in [[https://m.imgur.com/gallery/JOsn4 this]] ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' fan comic, which also deconstructs the game's rampant GameplayAndStorySegregation; the heroes of Overwatch are willing to [[EnemyMine work with]] their hated {{Archenemy}}, Reaper, for no other reason than "FUCK THE RED TEAM".
270	[[/folder]]
271
272	[[folder:Real Life]]
273	* OlderThanFeudalism: Ancient Roman chariot races had four teams, using almost exactly the same colors as today: Red, Blue, Green, and White. From the normal seats, color was the only way to tell who was who. Unlike modern sports teams, which have actual names instead of just team colors, the color was all that identified the factions.
274	** This distinction carried over to Byzantine chariot races. The supporters of Blue and Green--the biggest teams--eventually got mixed up in political, religious, and social disputes, and their ''demes'' (fan clubs, basically) became, in effect, street gangs-cum-political parties. Tying fully into this trope, each ''deme'' wore the colors of its team (Blue supporters wore blue and Green supporters wore green). This led to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots Nika riots]] of 532, when the Blues and Greens teamed up in protest of the emperor's actions to keep their roiling culture in check.
275	* In RealLife sports, if two teams have primary jerseys with the same colors one will be forced to use their secondary kit, usually the visiting team. In most North American sports, including all instances at the professional level, one team will wear white-based uniforms while the other will use its colored uniform; whether it's the home team or road team that wears whites varies by sport (it's ultimately up to the home team to decide ahead of time, as they may choose to go against what is traditionally worn for their sport for various reasons):
276	** In basketball, the home team wears white while the road team wears a dark color. The most famous exception to this rule is the Los Angeles Lakers, who traditionally wear gold at home, except for Sunday games when they wear white.
277	** In baseball, the home team wears white while the road team wears gray, which can get even more complicated because baseball teams also wear colored jerseys. The tradition dates back to the early days of the profession when players were responsible for keeping their own uniforms clean and presentable -- it was easier to hide some scuff marks and stains with a darker-colored jersey, and being on the road in unfamiliar cities meant less opportunity to have them laundered. However, even when wearing colored jerseys, one constant remains: The home team wears white pants while the road team wears gray pants.
278	** In college and minor league hockey, the home team wears white while the road team wears their colored jersey, which is the inverse of what the NHL does.
279	** Variants in casual sports include single colormulticolor (if the other team doesn't have a uniform - though it's asked for everyone who is wearing the same color as the adversary to get another shirt), and shirtlessshirt on.
280	** In Usefulnotes/TheWorldCup, not even the home team has priority: in the 1966 final, in spite of England being the hosts, they chose to let Germany keep their primary whites and play in red (and won the game!). There have also been cases of last-minute replacements: in 1978, both France and Hungary came to the stadium with their white jerseys, forcing a delay until the officials got a different set for the French (eventually, the striped jerseys of local team Club Atlético Kimberley).
281	* Boxing, professional wrestling and other ring sports typically have competitors in the Red Corner and the Blue Corner.
282	** For martial arts, the competitors wear different colors: Olympic (Greco-Roman) wrestling has red or blue singlets, Judo has white or blue ''dōgi'', and Taekwondo has red or blue helmets/pads over white ''dobok''.
283	* While not related to ''uniforms'', several game shows have seated their contestants behind red, yellow, and blue podiums. A notable example is ''Series/WheelOfFortune''. Some have red and blue podiums, like ''Series/CardSharks'', for example. ''Series/{{Tattletales}}'' had the studio audience divided into blue, yellow (later nicknamed "banana") and red rooting sections with the respective celebrity couple monitor box matching it.
284	** The Japanese quiz show ''Series/PanelQuizAttack25'' takes this one step further and refers to the four players by their colors--Aka (red), Midori (green), Shiro (white), or Ao (blue)--rather than their names, when buzzing in.
285	[[/folder]]
286

Context Main / ColorCodedMultiplayer