History Main / HeadSwap

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFight'', most of the enemies have head swap variants: Bred and Dug, Jake and Simons (who are themselves head swaps of Bred and Dug, but with jackets), El Gado and Holly Wood, Axl and Slash, and the three fat men (G. Oriber, Bill Bull, and Wong Who). Abigail, the boss of the Bay Side stage, is himself a head swap of Andore. Roxy and Poison, as well as all five Andore variants, are plain palette swaps, on the other hand.

[[quoteright:279:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Ryu_Ken_type_head_swaps_3847.PNG]]

* RyuAndKen and their various [[{{Shotoclone}} clones]] (Akuma, Dan and Sean) from the ''StreetFighter'' franchise are the quintessential examples of this trope in action. Although Ryu wore red slippers and gloves, while Ken fought barefooted and wore armbands in the very first ''Videogame/StreetFighter'', their respective outfits became more or less identical from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' aside for the differences in color. Akuma on the other hand, usually wears a prayer beads around his neck and a pair of sandals and his hands are drawn differently in the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' series, while Dan wears an undershirt and bends his knees differently.

* The Player 2 character in ''BloodyWolf'' is just Player 1 in desert fatigue and a bald head.

* In Creator/{{Capcom}}'s 1994 ''{{Punisher}}'' arcade game, not only were most of the enemy grunts head-swaps of each other, but the two sole female [=NPCs=] (a bystander in Stage 1 and a hostage in Stage 2) are head ''and'' torso swaps of each other. They both wear the same type of skirt and high-heel pumps, but one of them is wearing a white blouse and the other a halter dress.

* In ''CrudeBuster'', Ruth (Player 1 in yellow) sports a fauxhawk, while Sid (Player 2 in green) has a bald-style mohawk.

* In ''FinalFight'', most of the enemies have head swap variants: Bred and Dug, Jake and Simons (who are themselves head swaps of Bred and Dug, but with jackets), El Gado and Holly Wood, Axl and Slash, and the three fat men (G. Oriber, Bill Bull, and Wong Who). Abigail, the boss of the Bay Side stage, is himself a head swap of Andore. Roxy and Poison, as well as all five Andore variants, are plain palette swaps, on the other hand.
* In the arcade version of ''DoubleDragon'', the boss in Mission 1 is a head/palette-swap of Abobo with black skin and a Creator/MrT-like mohawk and beard, while Jeff, the boss in Mission 2, is a head/palette-swap of the Lee brothers [[MirrorBoss with the same moves as the player]].

* Joe Higashi and Hwa Jai in the original ''FatalFury''. Save for their difference fighting stances, many of their moves share the same animation frames.
* In ''ArtOfFighting'', the final boss (Mr. Karate) is a head swap of Ryo Sakazaki. [[LukeIAmYourFather There's a good reason for this.]]
* In ''SmashTV'', the Evil M.C. is a head and torso-swap of the first boss Mutoid Man.
* All the player and enemy characters in ''RiverCityRansom'', which gives the added benefit of allowing the player to carry a weapon from one scene to the next, since everyone uses the same animation frames (something which the NES ''Double Dragon'' games never allowed since the enemies in those games had their unique sprites). The schoolgirls in the shopping malls were also head-swaps, as were the children added in the NES localization.

* All of the boxers (except King Hippo) in the NES version of ''PunchOut'' (Glass Joe and Don Flamenco; Von Kaiser and Great Tiger; Bald Bull and Mr. Sandman; Soda Popinski and Super Macho Man; Piston Honda and Mike Tyson/Mr. Dream).

* All the players in the ''NBAJam'' series during the Midway/Acclaim-era (back when the games featured digitized sprites) were head/palette-swaps of the same stuntman with a different NBA player's face for each.
* In Capcom's 1994 ''{{Punisher}}'' arcade game, not only were most of the enemy grunts head-swaps of each other, but the two sole female [=NPCs=] (a bystander in Stage 1 and a hostage in Stage 2) are head ''and'' torso swaps of each other. They both wear the same type of skirt and high-heel pumps, but one of them is wearing a white blouse and the other a halter dress.
* Foreman Spike in ''Wrecking Crew'' is a head swap of Mario (and Luigi).

* Done literally in both, the original ''VideoGame/WonderBoy'' and ''AdventureIsland''. The boss in each world is actually the same bad guy with a different head. Every time he is defeated, he literally loses his head and gains a new one for the next round.

* ''GuardianHeroes'' featured quite a few head-swapped enemies. Katie and Gash, two imperial knights, are head-swaps of Serena and Han respectively (with Gash wearing a body armor), and there's also a one-armed skeleton knight who is a head-swap of the undead hero who accompanies the player. Manon F. Brown, Randy's mentor and a non-playable character, is a head-swap of Kanon G. Grey.

* {{Ryu and Ken}} and their various [[{{Shotoclone}} clones]] (Akuma, Dan and Sean) from the ''StreetFighter'' franchise are the quintessential examples of this trope in action. Although Ryu wore red slippers and gloves, while Ken fought barefooted and wore armbands in the very first ''Videogame/StreetFighter'', their respective outfits became more or less identical from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' aside for the differences in color. Akuma on the other hand, usually wears a prayer beads around his neck and a pair of sandals and his hands are drawn differently in the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' series, while Dan wears an undershirt and bends his knees differently.

* In the arcade version of ''DoubleDragon'', the boss in Mission 1 is a head/palette-swap of Abobo with black skin and a MrT-like mohawk and beard, while Jeff, the boss in Mission 2, is a head/palette-swap of the Lee brothers [[MirrorBoss with the same moves as the player]].

* In ''{{Art of Fighting}}'', the final boss (Mr. Karate) is a head swap of Ryo Sakazaki. [[LukeIAmYourFather There's a good reason for this.]]

* In the arcade version of ''DoubleDragon'', the boss in Mission 1 is a head/palette-swap of Abobo with black skin and a MrT-like mohawk and beard, while the boss in Mission 2 is a head/palette-swap of the Lee brothers.

* Done literally in both, the original ''WonderBoy'' and ''AdventureIsland''. The boss in each world is actually the same bad guy with a different head. Every time he is defeated, he literally loses his head and gains a new one for the next round.

* In the arcade version of ''DoubleDragon'', the Mission 1 boss is a head/palette swap of Abobo with black skin and a MrT-like mohawk and beard, while the Mission 2 boss is a head/palette swapped Lee brother. The Mission 3 boss is just the Mission 1 boss in green skin.

* In the arcade version of ''DoubleDragon'', all the bosses except the final boss (Machine Gun Willy) were head-swaps of other characters. The first boss is a black head-swap of Abobo with a MrT-like beard and mohawk (and the third boss is a palette swap of him with green skin), while the second boss is a head-swapped Lee brother in a green outfit (named Jeff in the Master System version). In most console versions, the head-swapped enemies were removed or replaced by plain palette swaps.

** In ''Super Double Dragon'' for the SNES, Billy and Jimmy are now head swaps, as are Williams and Rowper (who originally had different sprites in previous games). Strangely, Jeff (the aforementioned Lee brother head swap from the first arcade game) was now a pure palette swap of Billy this time.

** Averted with Fei-Long, who was supposed to be introduced alongside a head-swapped rival in ''Super Street Fighter II''. The rival ended up being replaced by Dee-Jay, who has a unique character design/
** Karin Kanzuki was originally planned as a head swap of Sakura as well in her [[WhatCouldHaveBeen aborted]] [[EarlyBirdCameo early appearance]] in ''MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter'', but her final design in ''Alpha 3'' gives an entirely different fighting stance and style.

** Yun and Yang from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', along with Gill and Urien from the same series, are as also worth mentioning.

** Averted with Fei-Long, who was supposed to have a head-swapped rival that ended up being replaced by Dee Jay, an entirely unique character.
** Karin Kanzuki was originally planned as a head swap of Sakura as well in her [[WhatCouldHaveBeen aborted]] [[EarlyBirdCameo early appearance]] in ''MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter'', but her final design in ''Alpha 3'' gives an entirely different fighting stance and moves.

* Morrigan and Lilith in the ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' series, although in this case Lilith also has smaller breasts than Morrigan in addition to her different face and hair-style, but the rest of their body parts are identical.

** ''Double Dragon Advance'' added even more head swap characters. In addition to Billy and Jimmy, we have head swap variants of Abobo (bald, mohawked and afro-haired), Steve, Chin and the Five Emperors of Gen-Setsu-Ken.
* In ''Crude Buster'', Ruth (Player 1 in yellow) sports a fauxhawk, while Sid (Player 2 in green) has a bald-style mohawk.

* In ''TwoCrudeDudes'', one of the player sports a mohawk and the other a fauxhawk.

* In the arcade version of ''DoubleDragon'', all the bosses except the final boss (Machine Gun Willy) were head-swaps of other characters. The first boss is a black head-swap of Abobo with a MisterT-like beard and mohawk (and the third boss is a palette swap of him with green skin), while the second boss is a head-swapped Lee brother in a green outfit (named Jeff in the Master System version). In most console versions, the head-swapped enemies were removed or replaced by plain palette swaps.

* ''NBAJam'' series used this during the Midway/Acclaim era: professional ballers' heads were superimposed on one stuntman's body.

* {{Ryu and Ken}} and their various [[{{Shotoclone}} clones]] (Akuma, Dan and Sean) from the ''StreetFighter'' franchise are the quintessential examples of this trope in action. Although Ryu wore red slippers and gloves, while Ken fought barefooted and wore armbands in the very first ''Videogame/StreetFighter'', their respective outfits became more or less identical from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' aside for the differences in color. Akuma on the other hand, usually wears a prayer beads around his neck and a pair of sandals and his hands are drawn differently in the ''StreetFighterAlpha'' series, while Dan wears an undershirt and bends his knees differently.

** Karin Kanzuki was originally planned as a head swap of Sakura as well in her [[WhatCouldHavenBeen aborted]] [[EarlyBirdCameo early appearance]] in ''MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter'', but her final design in ''Alpha 3'' gives an entirely different fighting stance and moves.

** Yun and Yang from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', along with Gill and Urien from the same series, are as also worth mentioning, along with Cammy, Juni and Juli from the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' series.
** Averted with Fei-Long, who was supposed to have a head-swapped rival that ended up being replaced by Dee Jay, an entirely unique character. Karin Kanzuki was originally planned as a head swap of Sakura as well, but her final design gives an entirely different fighting stance and moves.

* {{Ryu and Ken}} and their various [[{{Shotoclone}} clones]] (Akuma, Dan and Sean) from the ''StreetFighter'' franchise are the quintessential examples of this trope in action. Although Ryu wore red slippers and gloves, while Ken fought barefooted and wore armbands in the very first ''Videogame/StreetFighter'', their respective outfits became more or less identical from ''StreetFighterII'' aside for the differences in color. Akuma on the other hand, usually wears a prayer beads around his neck and a pair of sandals and his hands are drawn differently in the ''StreetFighterAlpha'' series, while Dan wears an undershirt and bends his knees differently.
** Yun and Yang from ''StreetFighterIII'', along with Gill and Urien from the same series, are as also worth mentioning, along with Cammy, Juni and Juli from the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' series.

* Morrigan and Lilith in the ''{{Darkstalkers}}'' series, although in this case Lilith also has smaller breasts than Morrigan in addition to her different face and hair-style, but the rest of their body parts are identical.