History Main / AmbidextrousSprite

* [[Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment Namco]]'s ''Dragon Buster'' from 1984 provides an early attempt, though only partially successful. The hero in this game is a strictly right-handed swordsman who, due to only one set of animations for his right arm, has a case of AbnormalLimbRotationRange. While he looks perfectly normal whenever he faces the left of the screen, his arm looks like it was horribly wrenched backwards when he faces rightward.

* In ''VideoGame/AmongUs'', when a Crewmate/Impostor is equipped with a "DUM" sticky note on their head, the note will read out "[[TheBackwardsR MUᗡ]]" when they are facing left. This is not the case with the Right Hand Man Reborn skin, though, as its cybernetic parts will always be on their right arm.

* In the ''[[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar Hokuto no Ken 2]]'' game for the UsefulNotes/MegaDrive, Kenshiro wears bandages around his left arm and an armband on his right. The bandages and armband are drawn accordingly based on the direction Kenshiro is facing. Note that this was changed in the game's overseas version of ''[[DivorcedInstallment Last Battle]]'', where [[DubNameChange Aarzak]] wears bandages on both of his arms.

* The protagonist in the UsefulNotes/ZXSpectrum game ''Zub'' has a specific animation where he changes what hand he's holding his gun in when he turns around, specifically because [[http://www.zee-3.com/pickfordbros/archive/view.php?post=101 this trope annoyed the developers]].

* The ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'' completely averts this by having characters' backs face the screen. You will see the front or back of your character depending on what player you are.

** Raphael is, however, left handed solely so he can face the screen when wielding his rapier when selected by player one.

** Even though {{ComicBook/Hawkeye}} will change with which arm he holds his bow depending on which side he's facing, his Heroic Age suit will always have the chain mail on his left arm and a sleeveless arm on his right hand, even if that means when he's facing left he's using the chain mail in the arm he doesn't need to, and he's leaving his holding arm totally exposed to be bowstring recoil.

* ''VideoGame/ANNOMutationem'': This is found for character designs. Every character has a design that coincides with whatever direction they're facing including objects on their clothing swapping to match either side.

!!Examples

** A minor villain in ''Vento Aureo'' has a Stand that lets him drag others into an isolated mirror-world. One thing that tips off Fugo to what's going on is that his watch is now backwards and on the other arm.

** Rugal's bionic eye is one example. Next, Brian Battler's... thing on the shoulder. But well, those are early examples, thanks to the fact they both are in [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters94 KoF94]]... but then they were harmlessly re-implanted in [[VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters98 KoF98]]. And 2002. And ''VideoGame/SNKVsCapcom'', except Battler is nowhere to be seen in the last two.

** Bonne Jenet, who was carried into the series (for a short time) from ''VideoGame/GarouMarkOfTheWolves''. Even if this game has really smooth animation, it couldn't fix the problem with mirroring for some reason, so now her dress with the Jolly Roger drawn on it is either on the left side, or the right, depending on which side she's facing.
** This persisted with the series's move to 3D, as Nelson's mechanical arm swaps when he turns around. Krohnen in ''XV'' behaves similarly (his blue glove is always his front hand and the scarf always covers that shoulder) but the patches on his jacket are not bound by this (they stay the same regardless of which way he is facing).

* ''VideoGame/{{Blood}} II: The Chosen'''s SawedOffShotgun has an amusing aversion: Once you get two of them, your character holds the left-hand shotgun with a ''second right hand''.

* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'' has this hold true in the overworld sprites of their DS games, which is jarring when hand-in-hand with PeekABangs characters such as Kazemaru and Edgar, or those with eyepatches like Sakuma.

** Other characters with asymmetrical designs (Jubei with his eyepatch, Tager with his white hair streak, characters wielding weapons and sheathes, Nine's PeekABangs, Valkenhayn's hair bang, etc.) have either flipped models and/or flipped story sprites.

** Parasoul has her weapon always in the hand closest to the opponent while she's facing the screen, as well as her PeekABangs changing which eye it covers. This one isn't as bad as the other examples, as she has specific animations of her changing hands and hair whenever the opponent crosses over her.

** Squigly is the most absurd example in the game. Not only is she also missing an eye that she covers with PeekABangs, she also has an arm that's completely decayed to the bone, and has her parasite Leviathan come out of one of her two GirlishPigtails, and all of the above flips sides sides depending on where she's facing. Ironically, some concept art had her averting this trope, with everything on one side, hinting that she might have been created for the sole reason of averting this trope... and yet it's played straight anyway. This example is partially explained though -- during Squigly's "turning around" animation, Leviathan withdraws into her head and pops out on the opposite side. There's no such justification for her skeleton arm and the remaining pigtail (the one that didn't fall off), though.

* Rare 3D platformer game example: Rosalina from ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'' normally has her PeekABangs cover the right side of her face, but from certain angles, her bangs will cover the left side of her face instead.

* ''[[VideoGame/BubbleBobble Puzzle Bobble 3]]'' a.k.a. ''[[TitleConfusion Bust-A-Move '99 (or 3)]]'' has Lunaluna. [[note]]since the names are not outright revealed, "that one fortune teller lady with the crystal ball and affinity for tarot cards".[[/note]] [[PeekaBangs Her hair is made so that the left side of her head is covered with a very long bang that covers quite a bit of length of her body.]] [[FashionableAsymmetry The other side is barely shoulder length.]] All artwork depicting her throughout the game shows her with the long hair to her left, including splash screens, the ending, etc, but there's one problem. When playing her as Player 1, she is flipped so her long hair is on the wrong side and can't be fixed. It is only fixed when you face her (but you aren't the one in control) or when you play as Player 2 (in which [[ColorCodedMultiplayer her hair is now green]]).

** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', Kagero and Camilla's PeekABangs, Saizo's scarred eye, and Niles's eyepatch are very guilty of this trope. Certain hairstyles and facial details for [[CanonName Corrin]] will also fall into this, including the beauty marks, some of the scars, and one of female Corrin's ponytails.

* In ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'', Kaito Momota always wears his left jacket sleeve and leaves the right side over his shoulder, but his Debate Scrum sprites when opposing the player are flipped so he wears his right sleeve. This is odd considering other characters' sprites are customized so details such as Kirumi's PeekABangs and Gonta's bug box are always on the correct side.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'', this happens to Gumball's whiskers (he always has three on one side and two on the other, but they often flip sides) and Carrie's asymmetrical PeekABangs. Gumball's case crosses over with CheatedAngle, as it seems his face actually is symmetrical, just with one whisker always out of view because we never see his face from the front.

* ''WesternAnimation/FudencioESeusAmigos'' is Flash-animated and has LimitedAnimation, with each episode having been produced in only two weeks. This happens with most characters, such as Juca Esfirra Aberta's scar, Zé Maria's bangs, Safeno's big eye and small eye, Delcídio's PeekABangs, and Vingativa's single horn. However, it's [[AvertedTrope averted]] with the title character Fudêncio himself; his eye tattoo is always on his left eye, no matter which position, and he has sprites for both positions.

** This is especially prominent in the case of Fluttershy and Rarity, whose manes can obscure their faces. They always begin every shot with their bangs out of their faces, whether facing right or left, ''except'' when the shot calls for Fluttershy to look [[PeekABangs extra shy]] or Rarity to look worried or depressed.

** Guile has the American flag tattooed on both of his shoulders, but the Stars and Stripes mirror backwards depending on which way he's facing. This is somewhat TruthInTelevision, since Guile's tattoos mimic the flag patches on military uniforms. Since the U.S. flag has no lateral symmetry, there are certain rules as to how the patches are worn. Notably, the blue field and stars are supposed to be oriented toward the front of the wearer, meaning that a patch worn on the left shoulder looks like normal U.S. flag, but a patch worn on the right shoulder is mirrored -- it's symbolic of the flag flying backwards as the soldier charges into battle. Unfortunately, when they redrew his sprites in ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha Alpha 3]]'', they got it ''backwards'', and now his uber-patriotic tattoos are wrong no matter which way he's facing.

However, sometimes characters or objects don't lend themselves well to symmetry. A character might have an object in one hand, an [[EyepatchOfPower eye patch]] or [[GoodScarsEvilScars scar]] on one side, or some other form of FashionableAsymmetry. An object might have text written on it, or asymmetrical pieces such as a missing headlight on a car. Whatever it is, simply flipping the sprite causes the feature to "change sides". In the most blatant examples, the sprite will have letters or numbers on it which flip with the sprite.

** In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'', the front-on sprites used in the Phoenix/Apollo arcs are turned to 3/4 profile so characters can appear to be conversing with each other. This results in Franziska's beauty mark and jacket buttons changing sides, along with Gumshoe's band-aid, Kay's scarf, Calisto Yew's jacket... the list goes on.

* In ''VideoGame/PokkenTournament'', the non-symmetrical characters have two artworks depending on if they are player one or two ([[http://i.imgur.com/BpcQrrg.jpg Shadow]] [[http://i.imgur.com/MbpZ3t4.jpg Mewtwo]] with the PowerCrystal in his left shoulder and [[http://i.imgur.com/BNc0lRi.jpg Pikachu]] [[http://i.imgur.com/bi2kPWy.jpg Libre]] with the symbol on her mask).

* In ''VideoGame/LoveAndPies'', Kate draws with both her left and right hands because her drawing animation gets flipped depending on where she is.

*** The Terminator's bike also suffers from this. When he starts as Player 1, the bike's kickstand is on the left side of the bike. But when he starts as Player 2, it's on the right. The same rule applies when he wins a match.