History Main / CharacterPortrait

* 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.

* Starting with ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games use multiple portraits for different emotion when they're not using GoingThroughTheMotions. You can tell how important a character is by how many portraits they have; {{Love Interest}}s will have five or six, while minor characters sometimes have only one.

* Your 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.

* Your 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.

%%* ''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 UsefulNotes/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.

%%* ''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 UsefulNotes/PlayStation titles (one of which was later ported to GBA stateside). ''[[VideoGame/MegaManLegends Legends]]'' used them in places (not necessarily for dialogue, 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.

%%* Most CING games like VisualNovel/HotelDuskRoom215 and VideoGame/TraceMemory. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.

%%* ''VideoGame/SonicRush'', ''VideoGame/SonicRushAdventure'', and the DS version of ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' use these. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.

[[AC:Webcomics]]

* In ''VideoGame/IntoTheBreach'', your mech pilots and your MissionControl have portraits displayed on their status windows and speech bubbles, featuring occasional blinks. When a mech has only 1 hit-point remaining, it's pilot gets a red-tinted port that glitches regularly.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Persona 4}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_gfs_107557_2_30_6046.jpg]]]]

* ''VideoGame/CaveStory''. 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.

* ''VideoGame/{{The Wonderful 101}}'' 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.

* Seems to be pretty common in adventure games. The ''VideoGame/QuestForGlory'' series, some of the ''VideoGame/KingsQuest'' games, and ''VideoGame/GabrielKnight'' all had text boxes with pictures of the characters' faces. ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryIV'' (which had very detailed pictures featuring most of the character's upper body) and ''VideoGame/GabrielKnight'' had pictures whose mouths moved when they spoke.
** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestV'' was one of the earliest games to feature these, with close-up images of Cedric, Icebella, and Beetrice, among others. ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVI'' featured 16- and 256-color versions, and they were even voiced and animated in the talkie edition.
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%%* Most CING games like VisualNovel/HotelDuskRoom215 and VideoGame/TraceMemory.
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* This was a very common feature in FPS games back when they were still called "''VideoGame/{{DOOM}}'' Clones," and faded from popularity sometime after the first ''VideoGame/{{Quake}}''. The portrait was usually tied into your health display and would become [[ShowsDamage increasingly bloodied or otherwise damaged as your health went down]].
** ''VideoGame/CatacombFantasyTrilogy'' and ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' both predate ''VideoGame/{{DOOM}}''[='=]s use of the device. ''DOOM'', for its part, made it into a somewhat useful gameplay element by having the marine's face turn and look in the direction from where he was taking fire.
** ''VideoGame/Nitemare3D'' was LighterAndSofter than most early FPS titles, and had Hugo's portrait turn moldy and skeletal rather than bloody, an effect that was actually fairly creepy.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}'' games would have portraits given to characters whenever listening to them over a radio or audio diary/voxophone.
* In a surprisingly recent example, ''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.

* ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIron'': The fourth installment has this feature. 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.

* ''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.

* ''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 UsefulNotes/PlayStation titles (one of which was later ported to GBA stateside). ''[[VideoGame/MegaManLegends Legends]]'' used them in places (not necessarily for dialogue, though). ''[[VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork Battle Network]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManStarforce Starforce]]'', by virtue of being [=RPGs=], use them the most extensively.
* ''VideoGame/SonicRush'', ''VideoGame/SonicRushAdventure'', and the DS version of ''VideoGame/SonicColors'' use these.
** The 3DS version of ''VideoGame/SonicGenerations'' use these as well, but with 3D models.

* ''VideoGame/PanelDePon'' and ''[[VideoGame/PanelDePon Tetris Attack]]'' both use them for dialogue. Both games animate blinking; [=PdP=] animates mouth movements, TA does not.
* The ''VideoGame/DetectivesUnited'' series has oval portraits of the three {{player character}}s in the lower right corner of the screen.

* The ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series uses them in all their {{Metroidvania}} style entries since ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''.

* Most ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games use them 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.
* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun''. If they have a portrait, they're either important to the story or selling you stuff.
* Used in the ''VideoGame/{{Grandia}}'' series. Characters display various facial expressions in text boxes.

** ''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.

%%** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories''

** Of particular note, the PSP remake of ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'' gives portraits to several characters who didn't have them them originally.
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'' 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]].
** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' 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]].

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%%* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''.
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** ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'': In ''Rescue Team'', only story-important [=NPCs=] and the starting forms of the Hero and Partner had 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.
** Also done rarely in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'', only used when characters are talking via the [=XTransceiver=] or when talking with N.
* Most UsefulNotes/RPGMaker games.
** ''VideoGame/LastScenario'' has different portraits for facial expressions and emotions for certain characters, as well. So does ''VideoGame/TheWayRPGMaker'' and ''VideoGame/TheReconstruction''.
** Completely averted in ''[[VideoGame/VisionsAndVoices Visions & Voices]]''. There aren't even menu portraits.
** ''VideoGame/ExitFate'' uses very large portraits, featuring not just the face, but usually the character's entire upper body as well.
** ''VideoGame/TheInfynPrism'' has all important characters having one. Lampshaded by one NPC in a house in Tarnset.
-->“I hate being an extra. How can I tell? There’s no face in front of my text.”
** ''VideoGame/{{Lunarosse}}'' uses these for anyone who is either a recruitable character or an plot-important NPC.
** ''VideoGame/RakenzarnTales'' implemented these in Version 2 for important characters. Version 3 started including different portraits for different moods.
** ''VideoGame/RakenzarnFrontierStory'' built off of ''Tales'' and used multiple portraits from the start.

* ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}''. 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.

* Skits in the ''VideoGame/TalesSeries''. Most of the games also have these 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.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' series from ''[[VideoGame/UltimaVI VI]]'' on, until it goes 3D in ''[[VideoGame/UltimaIX IX]]'' and just zooms in on people.

* ''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.

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%%* The PSP remakes of ''VideoGame/StarOcean1'' and ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'' featured this.
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* Used oddly 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 s/he is drawn.
* 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.
* 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.
* An interesting case in ''VideoGame/EnchantedArms'', mixing this with GoingThroughTheMotions; 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.
* ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'' takes this to 11, with every character having 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.
* ''VideoGame/TouhouLabyrinth'' featured these, being as simple menu avatars to 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.
* 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.

* 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) will 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).

* ''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]].

* Starting with ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon64'', ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'' games have used the "multiple portraits for different emotions" version when they're not using GoingThroughTheMotions. You can tell how important a character is by how many portraits they have; {{Love Interest}}s will have five or six, while minor characters sometimes have only one.
* ''[[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.
* The ''Videogame/TraumaCenter'' series, with multiple portraits for different emotions.

* ''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.
* ''VideoGame/{{Ib}}'': Each character (except for one-liner [[{{NPC}} NPCs]]) 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).

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'' and ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' uses them in the dialogue boxes.

** Taken to a bizarre level in ''VideoGame/ShiningWisdom'' where Mars gets a portrait despite being a HeroicMime and the game itself having only a bare ExcusePlot.
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%%* ''TacticsOgreTheKnightOfLodis''
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* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'', being based on anime and manga, uses these to an extent.

* All characters appear like this in ''Franchise/AceAttorney''; either looking directly at the camera or, in case of attorneys and assistants during courtroom sessions, looking 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.
* ''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.
** 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.

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* [[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.]]
-->'''Nishiji:''' The portrait cut-in technique makes you the star, no matter the context.

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* ''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.
* ''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]]

* ''Webcomic/CrystalHeroes'' has them in the playable RPG scene, where the characters are depicted in their portraits from shoulders-up and all have a variety of different facial expressions.
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%%* Used by ''Webcomic/ThePocalypse''.
%%* Used by the [[WebComic fake]] AdventureGame ''Webcomic/SilentHillPromise''.
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* ''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.

* In ''VideoGame/Code7'', the main characters have portraits that you can see on the episode sellection screen and when interacting with them. Other than that, the game is pretty light on graphics, prefering to let the voice acting, text and music tell the story.

* Characters in ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'' adopt detailed talking head sprites (with mouth movements), in stark contrast to the minimalist [[TopDownView top-down style]] the rest of the game is depicted in.

* [[Videogame/ShawsNightmare Shaw's Nightmare]] has a portrait that gets progressively sick as you lose health.

** ''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. [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters And then there is the fact that there's quite a few of them]].

* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' has a unique face portrait for every single character in the game. [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters All 1000+]] [[CastOfSnowflakes of them]]. Although only characters important to the story have multiple portraits for different facial expressions.

* ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}''. 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 UpToEleven by giving most characters in the game multiple portraits to represent different moods.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'': In ''Rescue Team'', only story-important [=NPCs=] and the starting forms of the Hero and Partner had 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.

* The ''Franchise/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.

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenogears}}'' uses basic portraits in the dialogue boxes.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series, [=NPCs=] in important conversations have portraits that take up at least a third of the screen.

* 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.

** ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' does something similar, with the portrait of the class you're playing on the HUD being a fully animated 3D model displaying the current weapon and cosmetics that class has equipped.

* All characters appear like this in ''Franchise/AceAttorney''; either looking directly at the camera or, in case of attorneys and assistants during courtroom sessions, looking 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.

*** ''[[UpdatedRerelease Persona 5 Royal]]'' touches up the main cast's portraits (most notably 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]].

** ''VideoGame/{{Persona 5}}'' 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 a house cat one]].

* ''LetsPlay/PinkKittyRose'' utilizes these during non-voiced playthroughs, accompanied by captions illustrating her feelings about whatever is on-screen. {{Sweat drop}}s and {{facepalms}} are the most common.
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