History NonstandardCharacterDesign / VideoGames

** [[Website/SCPFoundation SCP-999]] stands out compared to many MUGEN characters in terms of its animation method. While most MUGEN characters are made of a "main" sprite that changes via frame animations, SCP-999 doesn't have one, and is instead created from several orange circle sprites (plus two eyes and a CatSmile) that are positioned, scaled, and animated in a way that makes it move fluidly like a BlobMonster.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', Culex is designed more like a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' enemy than a ''Mario'' one, including having a static 2D battle sprite instead of animated faux-3D like the rest of the game. He sticks out even more in the VideoGameRemake, where all the characters and environments are rendered in real-time 3D but Culex is still a 2D sprite... [[spoiler:at least, until you face him as a post-game {{Superboss}}]].

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' has tons of examples, including:

** Starting with ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee Melee]]'', we have Mr. Platform/GameAndWatch. While everyone else has a detailed 3D character model, he's a flat, 2D vector sprite, complete with single frame animations. To make this work, he actually has a 3D model in the game's data which is then "flattened" in real time.

** Dorrie in ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', who stands out as a realistically-designed dinosaur in an otherwise cartoony game. This is less true with his redesign introduced in the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS remake, where his head looks like a blue Yoshi's with goggles that fits better with the typical ''Mario'' aesthetic.

** Starting with ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosMelee Melee]]'', we have Mr. UsefulNotes/GameAndWatch. While everyone else has a detailed 3D character model, he's a flat, 2D vector sprite, complete with single frame animations. To make this work, he actually has a 3D model in the game's data which is then "flattened" in real time.

*** Callie, Marie, Pearl, and Frye are the only Inklings with [[ExoticEyeDesigns cross-shaped pupils]], while Marina and Shiver are the only Octolings with pupils that look like rounded horizontal rectangles (akin to those of real octopuses).

*** While the Inklings' and Octolings' tentacle-hair come in a variety of different colors, the Squid Sisters, their grandfather Cap'n Cuttlefish, and Off the Hook are the only ones with unique colors; Callie is black, Marie is white, Cap'n Cuttlefish is gray, Pearl is cream, and Marina is dark brown. However, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioMaker'' shows that Callie and Marie's squid forms are colored in their signature clothing colors (pink and green), rather than their actual hair colors, unlike other Inklings, and it's implied that the same is true for Pearl and Marina.

* PlayedForLaughs in '' Bear in VideoGame/SuperActionAdventure''. After Bear mentions how weird rabbits army and says its only missing a toaster, rabbit brings in a flying toaster the very next level that has different graphics compared to all the other enemies which gets lampshaded by Bear.

** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', Culex is designed more like a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' enemy than a ''Mario'' one, including having a static 2D battle sprite instead of animated faux-3D like the rest of the game.

** In a world full of pixellated sprites, [[spoiler: Photoshop Flowey's "realistic" appearance emphasizes its otherworldly and godlike nature and serves to make the various disgusting details of its design even worse]].

* In ''Franchise/AceAttorney'', Mike Meekins has a very different character design than any other character, looking significantly more stylized and cartoony compared to the anime-style art used for every other character.
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' all the human characters are based on a two standard templates (male and female), except [[Literature/TheElminsterSeries Elminster]] and [[BigBad Sarevok]].

** [[spoiler:Beautiful Grunty]] from the first game's GameOver cutscene.
* As fantastical as the designs are, the [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angels]] of the ''{{VideoGame/Bayonetta}}'' franchise usually follow a similar design formula ... until you get to the Irenic from the first game. They were added last minute to a UnexpectedGameplayChange driving section when the developers realized the level had no enemies, and they are designed to look like a classic car, with an angelic marble face on its grill and [[HolyHalo Holy Halos]] for wheels. They apparently were created from taking a ''very'' liberal artistic license with the concept of the Thrones/Ophanim angels, which were described as chariots of {{Heaven}}, although they are given a HandWave in-story as being given credit for inspiring humanity to enter the Industrial Revolution when they took a joyride on Earth a couple centuries ago.

* While most of the characters in ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureHeritageForTheFuture'' are done in the style of ''Manga/StardustCrusaders'', Midler (who was TheGhost in that Part) is done in the significantly different style of ''Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable'', due to her design being a [[ReusedCharacterDesign reused version]] of Part 4's Yukako Yamagishi.

* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'' ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect2 2]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/MassEffect3 3]]'', Tali'Zorah is the only quarian with her form of unique suit design (with the head cloth attached to her shoulders and wrapping around her waist). The rest of the female quarians have a simple cloth hanging like long hair, and all male quarians look the same except for suit colors.
* By ''VideoGame/MegaMan6'', the bosses have become more detailed (tricks are used to keep the same colors), while the hero still has the simplistic design he had in the first game. Once the series got off the NES, though, everyone got new sprites, and this was no longer the case.
* The fourth game of the ''VideoGame/{{Mega Man X}}'' series has Colonel's younger sister Iris, who is drawn more {{Moe}} than the {{Shonen}}-y style than everyone else shown.
* ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'' has a {{Downplayed|Trope}} example with Bass.EXE: as a self-imposed rule, the artists of the series avoided depicting [=NetNavis=] or any Cyberworld character wearing anything that could be seen as a tangible cloth or fabric, resulting in most being designed wearing FutureSpandex or being robotic in nature, contributing to the digital {{cyberspace}} aesthetic. Bass is an exception who wears [[BadassCape a large, tattered cape around him]] -- by his designer's own admission, they only made an exception for Bass because [[RuleOfCool he simply looked too good in it]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': During Indev 0.31, four new mobs were introduced for testing purposes: Steve (not to be confused with the player character), Black Steve, Beast Boy and Rana. They were depicted in a radically different style than other mobs in the game due to their creator Dock experimenting with MD3 models; they had walking animations, but the game could not render them.

* VideoGame/{{MUGEN}}:

** In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', BonusBoss Culex is designed more like a ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' enemy than a ''Mario'' one, including having a static 2D battle sprite instead of animated faux-3D like the rest of the game.

** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade The Binding Blade]]'' has the divine dragon Fae. While her human form fits the general mold of the franchise's character design, her dragon form does not, as it looks less like some kind of reptile (Which is typical for most dragons in the franchise) and more like a cartoony cross between [[Series/SesameStreet Big Bird]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Lugia]].
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones The Sacred Stones]]'' has [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/fireemblem/images/c/ce/Dozla.gif/revision/latest?cb=20130901173021 Dozla]], who, in a series full of {{Animesque}} designs, looks like a stereotypical fantasy dwarf, with a portrait resembling those.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Heroes]]'' introduces three characters that don't follow the typical character design standards of the franchise; Two of them, Nifl and Múspell, wear attire that look more like they belong to modern times than in a Medieval Fantasy setting. Another, Ginnungagap, is an EldritchAbomination with a very alienlike design, something that not all ''Fire Emblem'' characters, human/humanoid or otherwise, have.
** ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage Engage]]'':