History InformedSpecies / VideoGames

** The God Tamer is a boss who was confirmed by her backer to be based on a cockroach, but she looks much more like an ant due to her more slender body shape and lack of wing-cases. She even tamed an animal to use as a BeastOfBatle, much like some ants in real life can tend aphids and caterpillars as livestock for sugar.

* William the Kid from ''VideoGame/SPYFox: Dry Cereal'' is supposed to be a goat, but his pointed snout with a big, black button nose makes him look more like a dog (with small horns).

** The Garpedes are called centipedes in the game's code. However, they have two pair of legs per body segment instead of one like real-life centipedes, which makes them look more similar to millipedes.
** Dirtcarvers are enemies that look a lot like silverfish due to their body shapes and silvery scales, but the game's codes refer to them as baby centipedes. To make matters more confusing, an enemy called carver hatcher is a flying bug that spawns dirtcarvers from its body, but neither centipedes nor silverfish are able to fly in any part of their lifes. The game's bestiary even comments it, wondering how they could be the mothers of the dirtcarvers if they look so different from them.
** The God Tamer is a boss who was confirmed by her backer to be based on a cockroach, but she looks much more like an ant due to her more slender body shape, antenae and lack of wing-cases. She even tamed an animal to use as a BeastOfBatle, much like some ants in real life can keep and protect aphids and caterpillars as livestock for sugar.
** An official post mentioned that Molten was based on a cicada, but he doesn't resemble much one due to the artstyle, having longer antenae and a smaller body, especially compared to fellow cicada, Cloth. He does is recognizable for keeping his old exoskeleton for protection though, and cicadas are famous for the molts that they, like all arthropods, leave after their ecdysis.

** The God Tamer is a boss who was confirmed by her backer to be based on a cockroach, but she looks much more like an ant due to her more slender body shape and antenae. She even tamed an animal to use as a BeastOfBatle, much like some ants in real life can keep and protect aphids and caterpillars as livestock for sugar.

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': The Last Stag does not really look like a stag beetle, given that he lacks their trademark dual pincers. If anything, the singular horn on his head and another one on his back make him look closer to some kind of rhinoceros beetle.

* ''VideoGame/JamesPond'' is claimed to be a cod, albeit that's mainly to have a "Robocod" pun in the second game. James is bright orange throughout, while real cods have a white underbelly and a dark green or grey topside. Some fans (and the Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} article on it) claim he's actually a mudskipper, which are brown in real life, but certainly look more like how Pond does.

** In the second game, the ''Dino Danger'' DLC pack adds four StockDinosaurs for you to adopt, which are ''Triceratops'', ''Styracosaurus'', ''Carnotaurus'' and good ol' ''Tyrannosaurus rex''. While the former two are recognizable, the latter two look downright bizarre, not helped by the sequel's more cartoony art style. ''Carnotaurus'' lacks bumps and has a rather bulldog-esque head, bull-like horns and an enlarged lower jaw, while ''Tyrannosaurus'' has a bizarrely bird-like head and an oversized upper jaw. Both theropods have blocky, huge feet and walk in unusually upright stances. While their ''Extinct Animals'' redesigns fare a ''little better'', the Carno still doesn't have bumps and the overall proportions of both theropods remain messed-up.

* Sheldon from ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'' is allegedly a horseshoe crab, but he looks more like a generic cartoon human wearing a horseshoe crab shell as a helmet.
** The same could be said for Annie the sea anemone and Spyke the sea urchin, who almost look human aside from their "hair".

** The ''Therizinosaurus'' came from a period [[ScienceMarchesOn before much of anything about the species's appearance was known aside from its arms.]] Consequently, while the real thing was a plant-eater with a long neck and a somewhat dumpy build, the in-game one looks more like a generic theropod. What's less excusable is the size: even going by the information at the time, it's about a third the size it should be, and its signature sickle-handed claws are quite small.

* ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}'': If it weren't for the title, you'd have no idea that the little people in blue robes with wild green hair were, in fact, lemmings. As a SeldomSeenSpecies you might even expect actual lemmings, which are mouse-like animals, to look similar, or even not realize that lemmings were a type of animal at all.

** Crash and Coco don't look much like bandicoots. Coco especially, since she lacks a long snout like her brother. Coco looks more like a chipmunk or Shiba Inu. Crash has sometimes been mistaken for a tailless fox (real bandicoots have a long, rat-like tail). Originally, Crash DID in fact, have a tail, but the developers thought it didn't animate too well on-screen due to technical limitations at the time, so it was removed. The creators claimed that Crash's design was [[SerendipityWritesThePlot almost entirely a result of technical limitations and conveying his actions to the player]], and they didn't actually decide on his species until fairly late in development (they picked the bandicoot because it was a SeldomSeenSpecies and they figured the name would help Crash stick out). ''Videogame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd'' lampshades this when Nate plays through a level of the first game, where he keeps calling Crash a fox despite Elena telling him that he's a Bandicoot.

* Sheldon from ''VideoGame/{{Splatoon}}'' is allegedly a horseshoe crab, but he looks more like a generic cartoon human wearing a horseshoe crab shell as a helmet.

** Crash and Coco don't look much like bandicoots. Coco especially, since she lacks a long snout like her brother. Coco looks more like a chipmunk or Shiba Inu. Crash has sometimes been mistaken for a tailless fox (real bandicoots have a long, rat-like tail). Originally, Crash DID in fact, have a tail, but the developers thought it didn't animate too well on-screen due to technical limitations at the time, so it was removed. The creators claimed that Crash's design was [[SerendipityWritesThePlot almost entirely a result of technical limitations and conveying his actions to the player]], and they didn't actually decide on his species until fairly late in development (they picked the bandicoot because it was a SeldomSeenSpecies and they figured the name would help Crash stick out). ''Videogame/Uncharted4AThiefsEnd'' lampshades this when Nate plays through first game, where he keeps calling Crash a fox despite Elena telling him that he's a Bandicoot.

** Crash and Coco don't look much like bandicoots. Coco especially, since she lacks a long snout like her brother. Coco looks more like a chipmunk or Shiba Inu. Crash has sometimes been mistaken for a tailless fox (real bandicoots have a long, rat-like tail). Originally, Crash DID in fact, have a tail, but the developers thought it didn't animate too well on-screen due to technical limitations at the time, so it was removed. The creators claimed that Crash's design was [[SerendipityWritesThePlot almost entirely a result of technical limitations and conveying his actions to the player]], and they didn't actually decide on his species until fairly late in development (they picked the bandicoot because it was a SeldomSeenSpecies and they figured the name would help Crash stick out).

* ''Videogame/CluCluLand'' player character Bubbles is supposed to be a balloonfish, a specific variety of pufferfish/blowfish, but she does not even look like a generic puffer fish/blow fish. Bubbles is just a round ball with arms and two noodle legs or maybe a [[DependingOnTheAritist stubby tail]]. Furthermore, Bubbles does not act like a puffer fish. Rather than biting anything of ''puffing up'', her method of attack is to stun the target with sound waves, like a sperm whale, and then smash them against a wall, like a sea otter. Her most immediately noticeable attribute is her strong forward momentum, so strong that she cannot freely stop or change directions, which is the exact opposite of a real balloon fish, which can turn and stop quite well but only move forward quickly in short bursts.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'': Due to the extremely varied and cartoony designs of many of the villagers, they sometimes strongly resemble ''other'' species than the ones they are. For example, Tucker is officially an elephant villager, but resembles a woolly mammoth (complete with a stereotypical caveman leopard-print clothing), and Drago, who is officially an alligator, but ([[ALizardNamedLiz as his name implies]]) looks like a dragon, complete with a "burn" catchphrase, dragon shirt, and a traditional Eastern-style house, and the ostrich villager species is basically an umbrella category for long-necked birds, with only two of them, Sandy and Sprocket, looking like an ostrich. Others, like Sprocket and Ribbot, also [[AmbiguousRobots look like robots]].
* ''VideoGame/AFKArena'': Vurk, Skreg, Drez, and Kren are supposed to all be part of the same tribe of rats in the original Chinese version. However, while they do have traits in common with ''each other'', none of them resemble rats at all. Vurk and Skreg are frequently mistaken for canines such as jackals or hyenas, Drez is frequently mistaken for a fennec fox or stoat, and Kren closer resembles a bobcat or lynx. Because of these, the English translation tries to [[AvertedTrope avert this trope]] by calling them a fictional species, Durri, instead.
* ''VideoGame/ArkSurvivalEvolved'': While most dinosaur designs take considerable creative liberties, most of them are still recognizable as their fossil counterparts. However, some look more like hybrids, such as the ''Triceratops'', which has a frill more closely resembling a styracosaur, and the pteranodons have crests like those of ''Caulkicephalus''. There's even an in-universe example with the brontosaurs, which the in-game dossier acknowledge as essentially being generic sauropods rather than a specific genus, even suggesting that they might more accurately be another genus such as ''Argentinosaurus'' or ''Dreadnoughtus''. All of this is at least partly justified, though, because it's made clear that the various dinosaurs and other creatures don't actually exist here naturally and many of them have been changed drastically from being transplanted to the Ark, such that almost all of them are officially classified with different species names: even the tyrannosaurs, despite being referred to as Rexes in-game, are actually the fictional species ''Tyrannosaurus'' '''''dominum''''', not ''Tyrannosaurus rex''; the dossier for them says that everyone just calls them Rexes, anyway, so that's their common rather than scientific name.
* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': Banjo is supposed to be a bear, but his long snout and stout physique make him look more like a dog. Also, his feet, hands, and belly don't have any fur on them, much like a gorilla's, and designwise, he gets inspiration from Donkey Kong with the exception of his face, so he ends up looking more like a dog/bear/gorilla hybrid.

* ''VideoGame/{{Carnivores}}'': Most of the dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts the player hunts are based on outdated restorations from vintage paleoart. Granted, considering the games take place on the alien planet of FMM UV-32, these inaccuracies can be justified by the fact that technically speaking, none of these creatures are true dinosaurs but rather extraterrestrial lifeforms that have evolved to possess a superficial resemblance to true dinos:
** The ''Allosaurus'' looks more like some type of 90s-inspired dromaeosaur, including being smaller than the real animal. Apparently, its model was originally intended for the Raptor, before the latter got an overhaul and this model was used to represent ''Allosaurus'' instead.
** The ''Chasmosaurus'' from the second game more closely resembles a ''Triceratops''.
** The ''Ankylosaurus'' is much smaller and more slender than the real animal, and it also has a dragging tail, spiked osteoderms, and a more subtle tail club.
** In ''Ice Age'', there is a wild boar that obviously resembles a warthog.
** Also from ''Ice Age'', the Yeti has bird-like feet of a theropod dinosaur and three-fingered hands. While the creature still has status as a cryptid, most reports state it would have hands and feet no different than a primate.
** The ''Troodon'' from ''Dinosaur Hunter'' lacks the killing claw on its foot, making it look more like a ''Compsognathus''.
** ''Dinosaur Hunter HD'' and ''Reborn'' had ''Gallimimus'' and ''Pelecanimimus'' that both look more like ''Compsognathus''. Especially jarring with the former, whose incarnations in previous installments looked more like the real animal.
* ''VideoGame/ClubPenguin'':
** Rockhopper is supposed to be a [[MeaningfulName rockhopper penguin]], but besides having [[AmazingTechnicolorWildlife red feathers]] (many penguins are coloured strangely in this game, anyway) and [[NonMammalianHair a beard]], his BigOlEyebrows are black instead of yellow and don't really resemble the spiky feathers the real species has, not to mention that he lacks spiky feathers on top of his head. He should also have red eyes. However, the Earth Day party features more realistically-looking rockhopper penguins.
** The ''[[https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/clubpenguin/images/b/b4/Velociraptor.png/revision/latest?cb=20151018084445 Utahraptor]]'' from the play "The penguin that time forgot" looks nothing like any species of dromaeosaur. It's tripodal, featherless (besides some kind of crest, which wasn't present on the real animal), has two fingers, three toes (including its dewclaw) and lacks its sickle-claw. However, the Raptors from the Prehistoric Parties looks more like real raptors, including [[ShownTheirWork being decently feathered]].

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'':
** Cranky Kong is supposed to be a gorilla like Donkey, and in fact he was the original Donkey Kong, but he [[MiniatureSeniorCitizens looks more like a baboon]].
** Despite being labeled as a rattlesnake, Rattly barely resembles such. He doesn't even have the rattle at the end of his tail.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'': The chickens lack the characteristic comb, have bills like ducks, and have wide feet reminescent of ducks' webbed feet, so they look more like blocky ducks with the chicken's characteristic wattle than blocky chickens.
* ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'': Chickens look like oversized yellow chicks with short legs and egg-shaped bodies.

* In the ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'' franchise, with exception of the title character (who barely passes as a hedgehog at least in modern form) and a handful of others (Cream the Rabbit, Vanilla the Rabbit, Vector the Crocodile, Tails the Fox, Espio the Chameleon, and Blaze the Cat, all of whom are more recognizable animals), pretty much none of the anthro characters actually resemble the animal they're supposed to be:
** Knuckles's resemblance to an actual echidna is pretty loose; he lacks the echidna's long snout and tongue entirely, his quills are like dreadlocks, (and in general, he can't curl into a ball like Sonic can unless every character can as well), and he has a long crooked tail (most echidnas have stubby, basically vestigial ones although some echidnas have slightly longer tails). His signature spiked knuckles are the only thing that might mark him as one, if you generously say they're meant to be claws. Other than that, he looks more like a red dog with gelled-up dreadlocks.
** The franchise's many hedgehogs vary, with Classic Sonic probably being the best (prominent spikes and pudgy proportions, abilities involve curling into a ball). On the other end of the spectrum, there's Amy, who doesn't even look like she belongs to the same species as Sonic relative to the others. In her classic design (which resembled [[DistaffCounterpart a pink Sonic in a dress]]), she looked a bit more like a hedgehog than her current design, where she looks more like a cat.
** Nack the Weasel doesn't look much like a weasel or have any weasel-like features. This is a result of his species being changed from the Japanese version, in which he's actually [[MixAndMatchCritter half-jerboa, half-wolf]].
** Mighty the Armadillo can be hard to identify as an armadillo at first glance. He lacks their long snout and rough looking skin. The only visible armadillo traits he has are the ears and the ''heavily stylized'' armor on his back, and even then, the latter does not appear to be composed of individual plates. He does curl into a ball, but in this series, that's not very species-dependant.
** The Babylon Rogues are identifiable as birds of some sort, thanks to their beaks, but really don't depict their exact species well. Jet the Hawk's green feathers and red markings around his eyes make him look like a hybrid between a parrot and a hawk, not helped by Jason Griffith playing the character with such a nasally voice. Wave the Swallow has a curved beak like Jet's instead a straight beak like swallows have; she has a greater resemblance to a swallow tailed kite rather than an actual swallow. Storm the Albatross, with his bulky body, lack of wide wings, and small round eyes, looks more like an owl than an albatross.
** Big the Cat is pretty tricky to identify as a cat. He does have a few cat traits, such as whiskers and a long tail, but all his other features are very off; his ears, for instance, definitely aren't cat ears, being about as long as his entire body. His massive, rotund body and DumbMuscle GentleGiant personality also don't call to mind your stereotypical cat, nor the fact that he looks almost nothing like Blaze, the other main cat in the franchise. Without knowing his name, you could just as easily call him a raccoon or a lemur.

* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'':
** While Hunter was identifiable as a cheetah, the resemblance was somewhat vague and in general he looked more like a generic feline with spots. Averted in ''VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy'', where Hunter significantly looks more like a cheetah, having the stripes along the sides of his muzzle cheetahs are well-known for having.
** Moneybags the bear looked more like Muppetesque nearly flat-faced, wide-mouthed [[{{Pun}} "koala bear"]] reminiscent of Fozzie Bear, but derpier. Averted in ''VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy'', where Moneybags' new look gives him a properly smug expression on his face, and looks significantly more like a bear, having a more noticeable snout, with fur on the sides resembling sideburns.
* Falco Lombardi from the ''VideoGame/StarFox'' franchise is said to be a pheasant by WordOfGod, but looks more like a falcon with pheasant-like plumage. The fact that his first name is Falco doesn't help.
** Krystal from the unreleased UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 game ''VideoGame/DinosaurPlanet'' is meant to be a fox however she looks like some sort of cat instead. When the game was changed to ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' she was redesigned to look more fox-like (and be HotterAndSexier).
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** [[BigFriendlyDog Poochie]], Yoshi's pet dog from ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland'' for some reason does not look like a dog at all and looks more like a platypus instead. Polterpup of ''VideoGame/LuigisMansionDarkMoon'' shares a similar appearance, implying that it's the same breed as Poochie.
** The Buzzy Beetle enemies (which are basically fireproof Koopa Troopas) look more like hunchbacked, gray turtles than actual beetles.
** Monty Moles resemble gophers rather than moles.

* Fire Leo from ''VideoGame/ViewtifulJoe'', despite being a lion actually doesn't even look like a lion at all. Joe actually calls him a dog, but he hates being referred to as such. His brother, Frost Tiger, looks more like a tiger than Leo does a lion, but also has a mane and a very similar build and appearance otherwise. This suggests they're actually ligers (or tigons), but neither are accurate to any type of big cat.
* Komasan from ''VideoGame/YokaiWatch'' is meant to be a Komainu (lion-dog) and has some Shiba Inu influences but he just comes off as a CuteKitten and if anything looks like a ''panda''. This could be because he is a cub-puppy though, as his older-looking evolution more resembles a lion. Averted in ''Anime/YokaiWatchShadowside'', where he actually looks like a realistic Komainu instead of a CartoonCreature.
* Yooka in ''VideoGame/YookaLaylee'' is supposed to be a chameleon, but aside from his tongue attack and his (obtained later in the game) invisibility move, it's hard to tell. It doesn't help that most characters just call him "lizard."

* Many, ''many'' species of Franchise/{{Pokemon}} (At least, the ones that aren't given abstract species' names like the "Emotion Pokemon") are listed as animals that they either barely resemble or don't resemble at all. Comparing [[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Species the Japanese and English ones]], you can see a few are due to BlindIdiotTranslation:
** Diglett and Dugtrio, despite being both called moles, don't actually look like moles at all compared to the later-introduced Drilbur and Excadrill. Tellingly, a lot of people end up very confused that Diglett can learn moves like Scratch that require claws, which make perfect sense for a mole to be able to learn, because they don't make the association. They could actually be a StealthPun, as they bear more than a passing resemblance to the "moles" you hit in "whack-a-mole" games.
** Charmeleon looks nothing at all like a chameleon apart from being reptilian. This one's down to translation; its Japanese name is simply "Lizardo."
** Sandshrew and Sandslash are said to be mice, but they look more like armadillos or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin pangolins]]. Sandslash's Japanese name is Sandpan.
** Blastoise evolves from two turtles, but his description puts him as "shellfish" (possibly because [[WeaponizedAnimal the cannon in his shell]] look like the tubes found in mussels; the Japanese one is just "Shell"). The same English and Japanese names apply to Kabuto (horseshoe crab) and Kabutops (a mix between the sea scorpion and the trilobite).
** Dewgong's name implies it to be, well, a dugong, but it's much more clearly based on some kind of seal, between the Water/Ice typing, the sleek body, the lack of a dugong's very distinctive snout in favor of a normal mouth and short tusks, and the fact that it evolves from... well, [[CallASmeerpARabbit Seel]]. Possibly with a bit of beluga or narwhal in the horned head and snow-white body. Really, the only thing marking it as a dugong instead of any other large oceangoing mammal is its name.
** Snubbull and Granbull look nothing like fairies; they're clearly based on English Bulldogs. In ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' they were changed from being Normal types to the new Fairy type.
** Kangaskhan is ''intended'' to be based on a kangaroo, and its Japanese name, Garura, also indicates this. However, aside from having a pouch, it looks ''nothing'' like a kangaroo, being an armor-plated, vaguely dinosaur-like creature.
** While its pre-evolution Rhyhorn is loosely identifiable as a rhino, Rhydon is a bipedal creature with large ears, clawed hands and feet, a thick lizardlike tail, and segmented armor; aside from being grey and having a horn (which is a drill rather than a rhino horn), its resemblance to a rhino is vague at best. It and Kangaskhan were designed very early in development, when the inspiration for the series was largely steeped in {{Kaiju}} rather than real animals. Rhyperior ditches the grey skin, and consequently looks even less like a rhino.
** Raichu is said to be a mouse, but more strongly resembles a gerbil or possibly a jerboa.
** SeriesMascot Pikachu is a confusing example. It is said in-series to be a mouse, it looks more like a rabbit with a zigzag tail. Some fans speculate that Pikachu are based off Pika as well, though they look little like them (especially after ArtEvolution slimmed them down). WordOfGod is that Pikachu is based on a ''squirrel'', despite not looking much like one, and it started as an animate ''rice snack'' inspired design.
** Slowbro is said to be a hermit crab, but it looks more like a strange cross between a hippopotamus and a salamander with a shell on its tail (the shell is the only part that fits the name - and is possibly why in the original it's "Tenant"). It's much more closely based on the sazae-oni, or turban-shell demon, a type of mythical water creature... but even then, most depictions of sazae-oni show it as more like a giant mollusk than a hippo.
** Scyther is said to be a mantis, but resembles a scythe-armed lizard with bug wings and a small thorax in place of a tail.
** Cyndaquil is said to be a mouse, but more strongly resembles an echidna.
** Wooper and Quagsire are said to be fish, but are closer in appearance to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl axolotls]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudpuppy mudpuppies]], with Quagsire in particular most closely resembling a giant salamander.
** Mudkip, Marshtomp and Swampert are also said to be fish, and Mudkip's name hints at it being a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudskipper mudskipper]], but they more closely resemble axolotls.
** Vigoroth is said to be a monkey, but it strongly resembles a sloth on steroids rather than any known species of monkey. Vigoroth's line, which are based on sloths, is a strange case, as its original form, Slakoth, does look like a sloth, but Vigoroth looks more like a mix of a sloth and some kind of monkey. Slaking looks like a giant sloth mixed with a gorilla.
** Cradily is said to be a barnacle, but it's much more clearly based on a sea lily.
** Bidoof is said to be a mouse, but it looks more like a gopher or a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_beaver mountain beaver]].
** Kricketot and Kricketune are said to be crickets but look nothing like crickets. Kricketot looks more like a generic beetle while Kricketune is closely modeled after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin_beetle violin beetle]].
** Tranquill is said to be a pigeon, but the Pokémon looks more like a cross between a pheasant and a hawk. Its earlier stage, Pidove, is clearly a pigeon, while its final evolution, Unfezant, is a pheasant, meaning Tranquill jumps into a different biological clade over the course of its growth. (Which isn't unheard of, mind you; just ask Clamperl.)
** Shelmet is based on a snail, but due to its lack of foot or stalk eyes and the positioning of its shell spiral, it looks more like a nautilus with the tentacles replaced by kissing lips. Accelgor, its evolution, loses the shell entirely (handing it off to Escavalier), leaving basically no signs as to what it's supposed to be aside from a spiral shape on its head. You'd only guess from its dex entries describing it drying out when not covered in membrane that it's supposed to be a ''[[SquareRaceRoundClass ninja slug]]'' (hence the irony of a slug being among the fastest Pokemon).
** Chespin is supposed to be a hedgehog, but it more closely resembles a rabbit or an otter.
** Tyranitar's name would suggest a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'', however it more closely resembles Franchise/{{Godzilla}} than anything else [[note]] Who was himself supposed to be based (partially) on a ''T. rex'' while hardly resembling one [[/note]]. Tyrantrum finally brought a proper ''T. rex'' into the fold.
** Zangoose is listed as a "cat ferret", and it actually kind of ''does'' look like a cat. But its name and hatred of the snake-like Seviper clearly peg it as a mongoose, which it doesn't resemble so closely.
** Despite its name, Pidgey more closely resembles a sparrow or a finch than a pigeon while its evolutions, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot, look more like birds of prey. This one isn't down to translation, either; Pidgeotto's Japanese name is literally "[[CallASmeerpARabbit Pigeon.]]" Pidove, introduced in Generation V, is much more obviously a pigeon.
** Neither Spearow nor Fearow resemble sparrows aside from being brown birds. Spearow is a generic bird with a few bird-of-prey traits, and Fearow, with its long neck and beak, huge wings, headcrest, and vicious nature far more resembles a cormorant or anhinga.
** Beedrill is known as the "Poison Bee Pokémon", but it's actually based on the Asian Giant Hornet.
** Though real-life dodos obviously didn't have multiple heads (barring birth defects, anyway), the Doduo line still bears basically no resemblance to them aside from being flightless. They look more like kiwis with ostrich necks (and tail feathers, in the case of Dodrio), possibly with a bit of the moa in their apparent lack of wings. Basically, every flightless bird ''except'' the dodo. Only, despite the above, it ''can'' fly.
** Magmar and its evolutions are particularly weird cases of this--design-wise, they look like, at best, like hadrosaurs and at worst, like something completely made up. What are they according to WordOfGod? Birds. More specifically, blue-footed boobies. Magmar's only birdlike trait is its duck bill, and even that sometimes looks like it could be a weird snout and is ''nothing'' like the beak of a booby; its relatives are even less birdlike, with Magby only kind of looking like that thing on its face is a beak, and Magmortar having big lips instead. Now to Nintendo's credit, this does explain why their Japanese names have the word "Boob" in them and it even explains their "magma" theme (blue-footed boobies are endemic to the Galapagos Islands, which are hot spots for volcanic activity), but would you really look at [[http://cdn.bulbagarden.net/upload/8/8c/126Magmar.png this]] and believe that it was inspired by [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Blue-footed_Booby_Comparison.jpg this]]?
** Inteleon's name suggests that it's a chameleon, and its pre-evolutions Sobble and Drizzile ''are'' based on chameleons. But Inteleon's membranous head crest, bipedal stance, and ability to learn Surf mark it as a basilisk lizard.

* ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'': Due to the extremely varied and cartoony designs of many of the villagers, they sometimes strongly resemble ''other'' species than the ones they are. For example, Tucker is officially an elephant villager, but resembles a woolly mammoth (complete with a stereotypical caveman leopard-print clothing), and Drago, who is officially an alligator, but ([[ALizardNamedLiz as his name implies]]) looks like a dragon, complete with a "burn" catchphrase, dragon shirt, and a traditional Eastern-style house, and the ostrich villager species is basically an umbrella category for long-necked birds, with only two of them, Sandy and Sprocket, looking like a ostrich. Others, like Sprocket and Ribbot, also [[AmbiguousRobots look like robots]].

** Dingodile has a crocodile tail, and his body is generally shaped like a crocodile as well, which means that the only resemblance he bares to an actual dingo is having fur and ears.
** Pinstripe Potoroo looks more like some kind of humanoid rat or weasel than the actual potoroo, a small, rabbit-sized kangaroo.
** Tiny the Tasmanian Tiger barely resembles a thylacine, looking more like some sort of monstrous dog-cat hybrid (in ''Crash of the Titans'', he is an actual tiger!)
** Ripper Roo looks more like a blue dog with jagged, pointy teeth, with his hopping the only kangaroo-like thing about him.
** The Komodo Bros. look more like iguanas. They even have spines along their backs, which Komodo dragons don't have in real life.

** Neither Spearow nor Fearow resemble sparrows aside from being brown birds. Spearow is a generic bird with a few bird-of-prey traits, and Fearow has a long neck and long beak, resembling a cormorant or darter far more than a sparrow.

* ''Videogame/FreedomPlanet'': Sash Lilac is supposed to be a dragon, but in actuality looks more like a purple cat-thing. Her horns and very short tail also makes her vaguely resemble a goat. There are a number of pandas in the game too, most of whom are mostly white and would be more identifiable as polar bears than pandas if not for the black around their eyes (which some characters do not have). It helps that the game had it's origins as a ''Sonic'' fangame, and still has a similar art style. It's zig-zagged as far as dragons go, however--other dragons depicted are much more recognizable as dragons than Lilac.

* Due to the extremely varied and cartoony designs of many of the villagers in ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'', they sometimes strongly resemble ''other'' species than the ones they are. For example, Tucker is officially an elephant villager, but resembles a woolly mammoth (complete with a stereotypical caveman leopard-print clothing), and Drago, who is officially an alligator, but ([[ALizardNamedLiz as his name implies]]) looks like a dragon, complete with a "burn" catchphrase, dragon shirt, and a traditional Eastern-style house, and the ostrich villager species is basically an umbrella category for long-necked birds, with only two of them, Sandy and Sprocket, looking like a ostrich. Others, like Sprocket and Ribbot, also [[AmbiguousRobots look like robots]].
* In ''VideoGame/AFKArena'', Vurk, Skreg, Drez, and Kren are supposed to all be part of the same tribe of rats in the original Chinese version. However, while they do have traits in common with ''each other'', none of them resemble rats at all. Vurk and Skreg are frequently mistaken for canines such as jackals or hyenas, Drez is frequently mistaken for a fennec fox or stoat, and Kren closer resembles a bobcat or lynx. Because of these, the English translation tries to [[AvertedTrope avert this trope]] by calling them a fictional species, Durri, instead.
* Credit where it's due, the developers of ''VideoGame/ArkSurvivalEvolved'' apparently DID do their research into the various fossil animals that appear in the game and THEN took liberties with the designs for gameplay purposes--there's standard ''Jurassic Park''-inspired fare such as huge scaly tyrannosaurs, undersized dilophosaurs with frills that spit poison, and typical raptors with few feathers, but just about all of them are still recognizable as their fossil counterparts. But then there's some that look more like hybrids, such as the triceratops, which has a frill more closely resembling a styracosaur, and the pteranodons have crests like those of ''Caulkicephalus'', leading to the informed species. There's even an in-universe example with the brontosaurs, which the in-game dossier acknowledge as essentially being generic sauropods rather than a specific genus, even suggesting that they might more accurately be another genus such as ''Argentinosaurus'' or ''Dreadnoughtus''. All of this is at least partly justified, though, because it's made clear that the various dinosaurs and other creatures don't actually exist here naturally and many of them have been changed drastically from being transplanted to the Ark, such that almost all of them are officially classified with different species names: even the tyrannosaurs, despite being referred to as Rexes in-game, are actually the fictional species ''Tyrannosaurus'' '''''dominum''''', not ''Tyrannosaurus rex''; the dossier for them says that everyone just calls them Rexes, anyway, so that's their common rather than scientific name.
* Banjo from ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' is supposed to be a bear, but his long snout and stout physique make him look more like a dog. Also, his feet, hands, and belly don't have any fur on them, much like a gorilla's, and designwise, he gets inspiration from Donkey Kong with the exception of his face, so he ends up looking more like a dog/bear/gorilla hybrid.
* In ''VideoGame/BubbleBobble'', Bub and Bob are described as two ''Brontosaurus'' buddies, despite both resembling miniature chibified Godzillas.
* In the ''VideoGame/{{Carnivores}}'' series, most of the dinosaurs and prehistoric beasts the player hunts are based on outdated restorations from vintage paleoart. Granted, considering the games take place on the alien planet of FMM UV-32, these inaccuracies can be justified by the fact that technically speaking, none of these creatures are true dinosaurs but rather extraterrestrial lifeforms that have evolved to possess a superficial resemblance to true dinos:

* Sash Lilac of ''Videogame/FreedomPlanet'' is supposed to be a dragon, but in actuality looks more like a purple cat-thing. Her horns and very short tail also makes her vaguely resemble a goat. There are a number of pandas in the game too, most of whom are mostly white and would be more identifiable as polar bears than pandas if not for the black around their eyes (which some characters do not have). It helps that the game had it's origins as a ''Sonic'' fangame, and still has a similar art style. It's zig-zagged as far as dragons go, however--other dragons depicted are much more recognizable as dragons than Lilac.

* The Last Stag from ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' does not really look like a stag beetle contrary to what his name implies, given that he lacks their trademark dual pincers. If anything, the singular horn on his head and another one on his back make him look closer to some kind of rhinoceros beetle.

* The cat enemies from the last level of ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit Secret Files'' look more like foxes with short muzzles (or better said, like a non-anthropomorphic [[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog Tails]]).

* If it weren't for the title, you'd have no idea that the little people in blue robes with wild green hair in ''{{VideoGame/Lemmings}}'' were, in fact, lemmings. As a SeldomSeenSpecies you might even expect actual lemmings, which are mouse-like animals, to look similar, or even not realize that lemmings were a type of animal at all.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'', the chickens lack the comb characteristic of chickens, have bills like ducks, and have wide feet reminescent of ducks' webbed feet, so they look more like blocky ducks with the chicken's characteristic wattle than blocky chickens.
* Chickens in ''VideoGame/{{Paladins}}'' look like oversized yellow chicks with short legs and egg-shaped bodies.