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Dexter is all grown up, but he still can't keep his sister out of his laboratory.

  • Following on the Minority Report example in Film: If you really want to see Clone Degeneration in action, look at the film's Licensed Game Minority Report: Everybody Runs. Here, the female mutant has breasts which were not in the original. Why? You can probably guess.
  • In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Zhuge Liang's wife (for all of the one paragraph she appears in) is described as "singularly plain". When Yue Ying got included as a playable character in the Dynasty Warriors series, she looks like this. Given how many liberties Koei takes with the source material, you wouldn't think they'd address this, but they do - her reputation as unattractive is the result of rumors she spread about herself as a Secret Test of Character to prospective husbands.
    • Almost everyone in that series applies. Just Google Zhuge Liang's traditional depictions and his character design in the game.
  • Given BioShock 2 is told from the point of view of a Big Daddy, who receives mental conditioning to protect the Little Sisters at all costs, said girls are changed into regular-looking children with Glowing Eyes instead of their look in the original game, described by one of the sequel's developers as "creepy gremlin kids".
  • In FusionFall just about every Cartoon Network character was re-drawn into a more older or animesque version in this game, which often made them appear more mature or more attractive than in the cartoons. For example, Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory is older, taller, and more of a Pretty Boy than in the cartoon, and Marie Kanker is adorable.
  • Fire Emblem:
    • A male example: in the Famicom version of the first game, Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light, Abel (the green-clad half of the Cain and Abel duo) was drawn with a buck tooth and shifty eyes, a huge contrast from Cain (who has a more typical Bishōnen look). When Abel returned in the Super Famicom remake/sequel Fire Emblem: Mystery of the Emblem, he became just as handsome as Cain.
    • Several game portraits in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War and Fire Emblem: Thracia 776 make the characters look either only average (Andorey, Scorpio, Ishtore), Younger Than They Look (Burian) or plain creepy (Pamela, De'etvar). The TCG cards's drawing style make them look much better.
    • Lilina in Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade and its prequel Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade was already adorable enough as a female character, but her appearance in Fire Emblem Heroes makes her appear more attractive than she already was, with the upper part of her outfit showing slightly more skin than the one she wore in her original appearance and parts of her capelet cut to expose small sections of her now-bare shoulders.
    • Fire Emblem Heroes also has a tendency to exaggerate the bust size of some of the female characters. Most infamous is Summer Caeda - the original character is short and petite with a very modest chest. Her bikini-clad summer alt is extremely buxom, to the point that it looks like she's gained about five cup sizes. Igrene is another notable example - in her original game she's a mature, beautiful woman, but in Heroes she is consistently drawn by Cuboon, a self-professed boob lover who inevitably heavily emphasises Igrene's chest.
    • Similar in Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia, the remake of Gaiden, Kliff had a buckteeth and a goofy expression in the original, but became a bishonen in the remake that rivals the protagonist, Alm, in handsomeness.
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Final Fantasy:
      • White Wizard in the NES Final Fantasy is depicted with long, flat red hair, angry eyebrows and a prominent lantern jaw. In the Wonderswan/PSX/GBA remakes they are somewhat cuter, with blond hair and softer features, though still fearsomely glaring forward; and in the PSP version they look like a conventionally pretty girl giving a doe-eyed look to the camera. While both fans and many official sources tend to imagine the White Wizard as female, there is still some controversy over whether White Wizard's Girliness Upgrade makes it less easy to give them a male name (even though the game will still suggest masculine names like Noah and Sherko for the White Mage). Other fans simply think the tough-looking NES White Wizard is a cooler and less stereotypical design for a female character.
      • Fighter in the NES version is stocky and bulky, with spiky red hair and black, glaring eyebrows; their evolution Knight has short spiky hair with sideburns. In later versions their hair was brown, eventually blond, and more styled in appearance; in the FMV cutscene included with the Dawn of Souls release, they're depicted as a truly gorgeous Pretty Boy. Dissidia Final Fantasy and Mobius Final Fantasy also both use various white-haired prettyboy designs for their Cipher Scything, Composite Character versions of Fighter. (The Dissidia version has an alternate outfit that is a pretty good translation of the original NES look into the new art style, though some heavy eyebrow plucking was involved at some point.)
    • Final Fantasy II:
      • An example of this being an unambiguous improvement is Firion: In the NES version, he's a recycle of Fighter from the previous game, which (in addition to being lazy) doesn't fit his character as a thoughtful teenager with little previous combat experience. His appearance in later ports was changed to the much prettier look from Yoshitaka Amano's original concept art, with long white hair and a jewelled headscarf.
      • The Emperor in is always a gorgeous Bishounen (a Comic-Book Fantasy Casting of David Bowie!!), but in the original game and art, and in Dissidia Final Fantasy, he has more piercing, adult-looking features, and unsettling biomechanical armour that gives him an insect-like quality. In the PSX FMVs, he has a much softer, prettier and more boyish appearance, with neater and smoother hair, a darker and less flashy outfit, and seriously on-point nail art.
      • Maria is usually given a sexy but genuinely intimidating appearance - in the FMV scenes of the PSX version, she appears more childlike and girly. (The fact that the FMV ignores her harsh personality to focus on her falling over and moaning a lot doesn't particularly help.)
    • Tina/Terra's esper form from Final Fantasy VI is intimidating and feral-looking, but players couldn't tell from the in-game sprite - it makes it look cute. In Dissidia Final Fantasy, her esper form is far more ethereal and beautiful.
    • Final Fantasy VII:
      • Many fans were surprised at how attractive certain characters were made in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. Particular mention goes to: The grizzly middle-aged Cid was turned into a handsome, well-muscled man, while the hunched, lanky and gangly Reno was turned into a fanservicey Bishōnen. Barret goes from a huge, comical and intimidating Scary Black Man to a softer, hunkier look with a handsome face and a less severe haircut.
      • More passively, the Compilation Of Final Fantasy VII focuses on the more attractive members of the cast, even when relatively minor or, in several cases, dead. Less conventionally sexy cast members are pushed Out of Focus. Red XIII is given only a cameo rolenote , Barret is pushed out of the picture and his role as a parent to Marlene is taken by Cloud and Tifa, and Cait Sith is rejigged to focus on his secret identity as the human Reeve (who also gets a handsome makeover). Meanwhile, optional character Vincent gets his own game.
      • Vincent's Limit Breaks underwent this treatment. Originally, they were supposed to be parodies of classic horror movie monsters: Vincent himself resembles a vampire, Galian Beast resembles a hideous, purple beast, Death Gigas resembles Frankenstein's monster, Hellmasker resembles various slasher-movie killers, and Chaos resembles a winged demon. However, in Dirge of Cerberus, Galian Beast was changed to look much more like an oversized, humanoid dog. And Chaos was changed to look like a winged Vincent in bondage gear. Presumably, the other two limits were too absurd or ugly to be included in the game.
      • Cloud has gone back and forth a lot in his various cameos, from extremely beautiful (Advent Children, Crisis Core, Dissidia Final Fantasy) to more beefy and boyish (Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, Ehrgeiz, Super Smash Bros.) to downright unsettling (Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy VII Remake). A lot of this flexibility connects to the fact that his physical appearance wasn't even consistent in the original game, where his hi-res battle sprite looked noticeably squarer-jawed and more muscular than his prettier-looking in game portrait, his FMV appearance was somewhere in the middle, and his field model was just abstract blocks.
      • Yuffie's appearances after the original game are a downplayed example. Originally her appearance was childish and cute, with slightly oversized clothes and artwork that made her look closer to 14 then her actual age of 16. In later works she looks her age and wears regular sized clothes when depicting her during the games timeframe.
      • The Final Fantasy VII Remake does to this to several side characters. The most glaring example is Jessie, in the original game art she’s pretty average-looking (by Final Fantasy female character standards), in the remake Jessie is as gorgeously beautiful as Tifa and Aerith. This along with her Adaptation Expansion validates her role as Third-Option Love Interest to Cloud. Wedge is also better looking than his Gonk-esque original design.
  • Not exactly this trope, but strongly related: In the western version of Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven, the female enemies with the horned samurai masks, manly chins, and messy hair are replaced by white-haired, gray-kimono'd versions of the cuter kunoichi enemies.
  • Peter Pepper from BurgerTime was originally a fat chef, but he seemed to lose a lot of weight for the home versions.
  • Hades: A lot the figures from Greek Mythology get attractive almost anime-esque redesigns, but a few are distinctly more attractive than their mythical counterparts.
    • The Furies: Megaera, Alecto and Tisiphone are described in ancient text as being crones with snakes for hair, coal black bodies and have eyes that drips blood. In Hades Megaera and Alecto are hot winged monster women, the former of whom can be a Love Interest to Zagreus and while Tisiphone is more scary looking, she doesn’t quite match the myths’ description either.
    • Downplayed with Chaos. They are still a Humanoid Abomination but in the Greek art Chaos is just an eye with some arms and feet, whilst in Hades Chaos has an androgynous head and upper torso of a human man. The eye is still represented in their forehead though.
    • Asterion the Minotaur, in ancient art and most media, is a hideous muscly half-bull half-human hybrid. In Hades he’s got adorable black Puppy-Dog Eyes and isn’t particularly scary at all. Since he’s portrayed as a noble warrior rather than a savage beast like he usually is, it’s fitting.
    • Hypnos is usually depicted in art and sculpture with an unsightly wing over his brow or shoulders, in Hades he lacks both. His twin brother Thantos who is usually a grim figure in most art, is a complete Pretty Boy in Hades and the Gay Option for Zagreus. Given both Hypnos and Thantos are sons of the beautiful night Goddess Nyx it’s appropriate.
  • Pauline originally was a blonde girl with '80s Hair, and while she was pretty she looked quite (and understandably) distressed. By the Game Boy remake of Donkey Kong, she had been completely revamped (With emphasis on the "vamp!").
  • Remake Adaptational Attractiveness happens in many Pokémon titles. The male protagonists and their rivals for example became more Bishōnen, with all of them in general seeming to undergo an Age Lift; this is particularly noticeable in the remakes of the first two generations because of the dramatic shift in art style from generation III onwards, with Ethan and Silver losing weight for one, actually visible irises (as opposed to the somewhat Dragon Ball-esque art style of the first two generations), Red looking less scrawny despite actually becoming narrower, and everyone generally looking less scruffy. Several Gym Leaders became more attractive in all three remakes so far as well, as well as Archie and Maxie. Weirdly inverted with Team Magma Admin Tabitha, who went from tall, lean, and handsome to stocky and chubby with Eyes Always Closed. Even the Pokemon themselves undergo this sometimes, with some official art from generation one depicting them much differently from the ones that would be standardized by the anime and go on to be used in future generations, some of which were rather strange-looking.
  • Compare Chell in-game to Chell in the Lab Rat comic. The change carries over to Portal 2.
  • Alucard from Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse was originally modeled after Lon Chaney Jr.'s character of the same name from the 1943 movie The Son of Dracula, which gave the NES game's Alucard a bit of a middle aged man look. When Alucard was brought back for Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, illustrator Ayami Kojima redesigned the character and made him into a handsome long-haired nobleman.
  • In The Warriors (1979), Mercy (Deborah Van Valkenburgh), while not ugly in the truest sense of the word, does look like a more-attractive-than-average gutterslut, with a slight gap in her teeth to boot. In the 2005 adaptation by Rockstar Games, Mercy still has her trashy South Bronx accent, but the animation of her now looks a whole lot like Mila Kunis and has perfect teeth.
  • Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate sees Amanda Waller take on a similar appearance to her New 52 incarnation. However, the tie-in film, Batman: Assault on Arkham sees her as Formerly Fit, having gained weight and become more of the classic obese Waller — only, due to reuse of the Origins model, to go back to the the slim Waller in Batman: Arkham Underworld.
  • Super Robot Wars V: Hamada underwent the unrecognizable-leveled beauty treatment did not go unnoticed by fans. But before fans can even figure how to react, developers have both Might's secretary, Izumi and butler, Aoki lampshading to their boss in Chapter 28, 28-B, indicating Hamada was so worried about him, "he lost 5 kilos."
  • Middle-earth: Shadow of War features Shelob, who is usually depicted as a horrible giant spider, as a sexy woman in a black dress with a posh English accent. This did not escape mockery and Fetish Retardant reactions from the games press.
  • Marvel's Avengers has M.O.D.O.K. who in the comics known for being an absolutely hideous massive, wrinkled, bloated head with tiny little arms and legs. In the game he’s just a sickly looking man with a slighty enlarged head no Adonis obviously, but compared to his comic counterpart he’s handsome. By the end of game MODOK has transformed into his bloated head look though.
  • Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don't Dry: Larry looks more like a regular human rather than the diminutive gremlin he became in the VGA games in order to make him look more like he did in the EGA games and thus less actively repulsive. Granted, he's still fairly homely by most standards.
  • Resident Evil:
  • Spider-Man: Miles Morales, as part of the character's Age Lift, sees the Tinkerer go from a winkled old man to an attractive young woman.
  • Original character designer Tomiharu Kinoshita was asked to redo Elijah Madnar's younger design for the Sega CD version of Snatcher when the people working on the port found Elijah's design in the PC Engine version to be too unremarkable looking, resulting in the character getting longer hair.
  • In Japanese Mythology, Amanozako is described as hideous, with a long Tengu-like nose and protruding tusks. Shin Megami Tensei V has her instead be a small, fairy-like Cute Monster Girl with only the crow wings and pointy ears hinting at her original monstrous appearance.
  • The Real Tooth Fairies: In the original online game, Stepella was chubbier than the fairies and had buckteeth and glasses. In the 3D reboot, she's skinny and lacks the glasses and buckteeth.
  • Like a Dragon: Ishin!: Some of the characters that were originally part of the Universal-Adaptor Cast seen in Ishin! were switched out for its Updated Re-release in 2023. Yamazaki had the most drastic transformation, going from being portrayed by the Gonk Hiroshi Kugihara to the much more handsome Joon-gi Han.

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