History EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference / VideoGames

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' has portraits for some of the characters that went from the first game into the second change to almost radically different people. The most blatant examples are Jaheira and Imoen.

** Prototype Jack looked considerably different in the first ''Tekken'', sporting a haphazard design that included an exposed torso frame, a drill for one arm, a mechanical pincer for the other, and a mohawked head that resembled that of the standard Jack model. His more familiar, streamlined look with the sunglasses, military fatigues and metallic skin, wouldn't debut until ''Tekken 2''. A number of Jack 7's customization items in ''VideoGame/Tekken7'' are a nod to the ''Tekken 1'' P. Jack.

** Prototype Jack in the original ''Tekken'' looks considerably different to the one in ''Tekken 2'', who was reused in both ''Tag'' games. A number of Jack 7's customisation items in ''VideoGame/Tekken7'' are a nod to the ''Tekken 1'' P.Jack.

** On the American cover artwork of ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', Kirby was white instead of pink. This was reportedly due to miscommunication with the American artists and ''not'', as commonly believed, because Creator/MasahiroSakurai and Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto were arguing about what color Kirby should be; he was always meant to be pink, but the UsefulNotes/GameBoy lacked the color to indicate that. Regardless, this would be referenced later on in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series where Kirby's black and white color scheme is one of his alternate colors.

** In the [[VideoGame/Metroid1 original game]], the Varia Suit (or just "Varia" as it was then known) tinted Samus's armor a slightly dull shade of pink, making no other physical appearance changes. The iconic shoulder pieces weren't introduced until ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'', where the UsefulNotes/GameBoy's black and white palette made a more physical distinction necessary. ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'' splits the difference by making the Varia Suit just an orange-tinted version of her regular Power Suit, but adds the shoulder components when she unlocks the Fully Powered Suit late in the game.

** [[VideoGame/SuperMarioLand Daisy]] wore a pink crown in her older appearances (which appeared as red sometimes), but somewhere around ''VideoGame/MarioKartDoubleDash'' it was replaced with a golden one like Peach's crown. Her hair was also long like Peach until it was cropped shorter in ''VideoGame/MarioParty 4''. Daisy was AmbiguouslyBrown during the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 era but returned to her original tone for ''Mario Party 4''. 19 years later however, Daisy become dark-skinned again starting with ''[[VideoGame/MarioGolf Mario Golf: Super Rush]]'', seemingly confirming it to be a tan.

* [[{{Miko}} Reimu]] and [[CuteWitch Marisa]] from ''Franchise/TouhouProject'', especially in the UsefulNotes/PC98 era. Reimu started out wearing a much more plain and basic miko outfit, without the ribbons and her memetic armpits. She also had purple hair. Marisa, famous for her black-white witch dress, started out wearing ''purple''. She also had red hair instead of blonde, although only in her first appearance.

** Devil looked completely different in the first game, lacking wings, horns or a tail (though the wings were at least present on his character render). He also wore an outfit consisting of gloves, trunks and boots, in contrast to all subsequent installments, where he would be completely nude.

** The localizations for ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' edited several Pokémon's sprites to make them more in-line with their finalised artwork; for example, they removed the spots on Lanturn's head and an extra stripe from Feraligatr's belly. Some Pokémon remained OffModel until ''[[UpdatedReRelease Crystal]]'', such as Sneasel being brown instead of bluish-black, and Unown's W form originally had its "arms" all curved to the left instead of sticking out at different angles.

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' and ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' (as well as the [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989 animated series]]), Moblins were anthropomorphic bulldogs. From ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link To The Past]]'' onward, Moblins are anthropomorphic pigs. Interrestingly, ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' and the [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle games]] feature both types of Moblins with the pig-like ones renamed "Pig Warriors". The Switch remake of ''Link's Awakening'' however replaced the bulldogs with the pigs. ''[[Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina Of Time]]'' has bulldogs-like Moblins (thought [[DemotedToExtra they only appear in one area]]) and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'' has bulldogs-like enemies named "Big Blins".

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX'': [[VideoGame/MegaManX1 In his first appearance]], Zero has circular shoulders and lacks his Z-Saber. In [[VideoGame/MegaManX2 the second game]], where he was rebuilt after his HeroicSacrifice in the previous installment, he gets new square shoulders with his signature Z on it, and his Z-Saber, which is retained throughout the rest of the series. Notably, the old design isn't later {{retcon}}ned like many other examples here, with both ''VideoGame/MegaManMaverickHunterX'' and a flashback in ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'' keeping the old design intact.

** Probably the most well-known examples from this series are the redesigns for ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', which were made partially as a SoftReboot and partially because Sonic's original design was difficult to translate into 3D (older games often relied on {{Cheated Angle}}s). Aside from the longer proportions and [[SuddenEyeColor new eye colors]], the most obvious differences were made with Dr. Eggman--whose walrus-inspired jumpsuit was replaced with an outfit reminiscent of a lab coat--and Amy Rose--who also gained a new outfit and quills designed like a "bob cut" instead of her original, more Sonic-esque look. Speaking of Amy, in her first appearance in ''Sonic CD'', she lacked her Piko Piko Hammer; that was introduced in ''VideoGame/SonicTheFighters''.

** Mario had a blue shirt and red overalls in ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'', ''Donkey Kong Jr.'', and ''VideoGame/WreckingCrew''. His colors were swapped around in the arcade version of ''VideoGame/MarioBros'', resulting in a blue cap and overalls and a red shirt; the NES version would change the cap back to red but keep the blue overalls, marking the first in-game appearance of his iconic clothing color arrangement. Creator/ShigeruMiyamoto's artwork for ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros1'', ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels The Lost Levels]]'' (the Japanese [=SMB2=]), and the game the rest of the world knows as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', all kept Mario in his original ''Donkey Kong'' colors, though the in-game sprites would differ (''[=SMB1=]'' and ''The Lost Levels'' had red overalls and a brown shirt, while ''[=SMB2=]'' had blue overalls and a red shirt and cap like NES ''Mario Bros.''). ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' was the first game where Miyamoto's artwork consistently had him in blue overalls (the in-game sprites on the NES version had the blue portions rendered in black in most levels, though the larger sprites for the Toad minigames, as well as the Mario Bros.-style battle game, had him in blue overalls). The blue shirt and red overalls would eventually return in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' as an alternate outfit. Also, promotional artwork for ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong'' depicted Mario as a [[http://pm1.narvii.com/6420/4ebcabf8c8495d4c1f2c41aae5d8888fdaf44585_hq.jpg middle-aged balding man]] (which is also how he looked in the [[Film/SuperMarioBros1993 live-action film]]), but Nintendo has since {{retcon}}ned Mario into a twenty-something and shown him to possess a full head of hair underneath his plumber's cap. Mario's limbs were also [[https://64.media.tumblr.com/51c83c7dbd855a19cb8e22002a3a941d/tumblr_ob3mdz2S4V1tu022ro2_640.png much stubbier]] in early artwork, making him appear rather stocky, however modern art gives him [[https://www.mariowiki.com/images/2/21/FortuneStMario.png longer limbs]] which gives the impression that he's actually lost weight in the intervening decades.

** Liu Kang did not have his trademark headband or wristbands in [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1992 the first game]]. Johnny Cage also wore a pair of biking-short trunks and a red sash, since he was originally an {{expy}} of Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme's character from ''Film/{{Bloodsport}}'' (he became an expy when they couldn't get the real Van Damme to appear in ''MK'').

** Kraid was originally a yellow creature with two eyes, green hair across his back, two belly spikes, and spikes coming from his back. Most glaringly of all, he was the same size as Samus! ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' beefed up Kraid's size while changing his hair to reptilian scales, as well as adding a third belly spike and altering the back spikes to claws from his arms.

* In ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', the gods, with the exceptions of Ares and Athena, underwent drastic changes in the sequels. Most jarringly is Hades having a demonic face in [[VideoGame/GodOfWarI the original]] but is a big guy with a black horned helmet.

* ''VideoGame/{{Yakuza}}'':
** While Taiga Saejima's default appearance (the one first seen in ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'') nowadays has him with a shaven head and a thick parka jacket, his debut playable appearance in ''VideoGame/Yakuza4'' showed him with a full head of long black hair and an ordinary coat, making him appear far smaller. Some parts of his story including his prologue show him in his ''Yakuza 4'' design and being a prequel, ''VideoGame/Yakuza0'' shows him with his long hair from ''4'' in his character bio, but otherwise the shaven head and parka are now standard for him.
** Prior to becoming Tojo Clan chairman, Daigo's default outfit in ''VideoGame/Yakuza2'' was a padded white jacket and black pants, and slightly messier. From all other games he'd be seen in prim black business suits and a neater hairdo more suited to his newly gained position as chairman of a criminal organization.
** In a case of this being retroactively applied to a later installment via the prequel, Kiryu and Majima don't wear their [[IconicOutfit famous attires]] from other games in the series during ''Yakuza 0'', only getting their iconic designs in the epilogue of the game. Kiryu instead wears a brighter white suit with an orange, chain-patterned undershirt, and Majima, running a cabaret club at the time, wears an open-coat tuxedo with an undone bowtie (unless he's on the clock, wherein the bowtie is obviously done up properly and the coat is closed.)

** Ridley's appearance in the original game's artwork was... [[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/metroid/images/3/38/M1_Ridley.png/revision/latest?cb=20180814232611 very different to what he is now]], looking more like a blue mutant [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Birdo]]. ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' made Ridley's proportions more reptilian, but the art colored him red as opposed to his in-game sprite's purple.