History Main / AmbidextrousSprite

%%* Shiki from ''VideoGame/NeoGeoBattleColiseum'', who was carried directly from ''VideoGame/SNKVsCapcomSVCChaos''. Well, you know. Her eyes. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample)

** Gill, also from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', is instead an aversion of the trope. No matter which side he's facing, his right half is always a [[PlayingWithFire fiery]] [[FireIsRed red]] while his left half is always an [[AnIcePerson icy]] {{blue|meanscold}}. He can also imbue his moves with fire or ice depending on which side he's facing.
*** His appearance in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' further plays with this by having his back to the camera if he's facing right. This means his red side is always towards his opponent and his attacks no longer change their respective element based on where he's looking like they did in ''III''.

* ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct2013'' generally averts this, being 3D, but intentionally invokes it for characters who rely on their asymmetric elements by flipping their entire model when they turb around. Aganos' bashing arm is always the one closest to the camera, as is Eyedol's mage-side that's holding his club. It's especially noticeable with a few of Eyedol's alternate costumes, which have a lot of FashionableAsymmetry going on.

** The ComicBook/IncredibleHulk's World War Hulk armor, where the metal guard is correctly on his left arm even when the sprite is facing right.

* The sprites for the player character of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and some enemies derived from him only use five out of the eight possible rotations available to most characters. This has the effect of them appearing to change how they hold their rifles if you move around them while they're standing still. The missing sprites did exist at one point in development, and [[https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/62403-doom-2-minor-sprite-fixing-project-v20-beta-2-release-updated-71722/ at least one mod]] restores them, among other changes.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.
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* In ''VideoGame/TelepathTactics'', Umber Gnawbone's glass eye switches sockets when his sprite is flipped from right-facing to left-facing. The same applies to Siripent's EyepatchOfPower.
* Played straight in ''VideoGame/VandalHearts'', which has sprite characters in 3D environments. Pretty noticeable seeing as no model is symmetrical.
* In ''VideoGame/WarCraftOrcsAndHumans'' and ''VideoGame/WarcraftII'' , the units are mirrored when they look from left to right. Massively obvious is the Elven Destroyer, whose ''sails'' get switched around.

This animation error carries over to X's knock-off {{Exp|y}}ies, ''VideoGame/MegaManZero'''s [[{{Mooks}} Pantheons]]. They have arm cannons or stun batons on one hand, but it always gets switched every time they change direction.

** The expy ''cavallino rampante'' hood ornament flips left and right as you turn.

This isn't limited to 2D games, although it is most common there. Older "pseudo-3D" games, such as ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', usually had eight directions for their character sprites, but only stored five unique sprites and mirrored the remaining three, creating this effect. In addition, many modern 3D fighting games mirror the character animations intentionally to resemble their 2D precursors and additionally to maintain the visual clarity of each move. Since they are 3D models, however, they avoid errors such as asymmetrical clothing or text being flipped.

This isn't limited to 2D games, although it is most common there. Older "pseudo-3D" games, such as ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', usually had eight positions for their character sprites, but only stored five and mirrored the remaining three, creating this effect. In addition, many modern 3D fighting games mirror the character animations intentionally to resemble their 2D precursors and additionally to maintain the visual clarity of each move. Since they are 3D models, however, they avoid errors such as asymmetrical clothing or text being flipped.

Sprites are pixel art characters used in video games. Unlike a 3D model, you can't simply rotate a sprite to get a new view of it. Additional clothes, poses, and each frame of animation for actions have to be made almost entirely from scratch. For this reason, artists will usually make sprites perfectly bilaterally symmetrical so that any poses or actions made while facing left can simply be flipped to make the same poses and actions facing right. On earlier platforms there were also memory size concerns, so it was often more efficient to mirror the sprite than to store the opposite poses, especially with graphics hardware that made horizontal flipping as simple as changing one bit of sprite data.

However, sometimes a character doesn't lend themselves well to symmetry. They might have an object in one hand, an [[EyepatchOfPower eye patch]] or [[GoodScarsEvilScars scar]] on one side, or some other form of FashionableAsymmetry. 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.

Sometimes, developers will take the time to make a separate sprite for both the left and right facings. Usually, though, they won't bother.

This isn't limited to 2D games, although it is most common there. Older 3D games store the views of the character positioned in 45-degree increments, but will stop at 180 degrees and make up the three remaining views through mirroring. In addition, many modern 3D fighting games mirror the character animations intentionally to resemble their 2D precursors and additionally to maintain the visual clarity of each move. Administrivia/TropesAreNotBad, it still seems.

** Interestingly, both ''Street Fighter Alpha'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' (the latter in 3D) actually avert this for some details -- Sagat's eyepatch and scar stay correctly aligned regardless of which way he's facing, as do Vega's dragon tattoo and asymmetrical sash. However, characters' move sets in ''Street Fighter IV'' are still mirrored so that they never turn their backs on the camera -- this also includes the talon on Vega's right hand, which will swap sides without any conscious effort on his part whenever he turns around. Old habits die hard, it seems.

* ''Manga/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.

** A somewhat bizarre case is that some Pokemon flip aspects of themselves between their front and back sprites... which are ''not'' mirror images of one another. For example, Marowak holds its bone in a different hand, and the off-center gear on the Klink family is always on the viewer's left side.

** When viewing the status of the Pokemon in your party or your PC, or looking at them in the Pokedex, most asymmetrical Pokemon like Absol or Roselia aren't flipped like symmetrical ones are. However, even though the bubble pattern on Azumarill's stomach isn't symmetrical, it still gets flipped.

** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver HeartGold and SoulSilver]]'' have a mechanic where your lead Pokemon follows you around throughout the game. Asymmetrical Pokemon get different "walking west" and "walking east" sprites. Bizarrely, they did that for the Pokemon but ''still'' not for the human characters.

* This happens occasionally on ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner''. In the Cheat Commandos shorts, the Blue Laser Commander's eyepatch will switch sides every time he turns around, as a parody of the old ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe''-style animation it's based on.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDarkWitch'' series uses this. It sticks out as heroine Zizou Olympia has asymmetrical MulticoloredHair; her hair colors swap so that the black half almost always faces the camera. [[BigBad Simeone]] from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDarkWitch3'' is another notable case: one arm and leg is humanoid while the other set is demonic, and the demonic limbs swap places depending on where Simeone is facing.

** In ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Stardust Crusaders]]'', Noriaki Kakyoin's [[FanNickname "hair noodle"]] is located on the right side of his head, but there are many occasions where it will flip to the left side. This is averted in ''[[VideoGame/JojosBizarreAdventureAllStarBattle All-Star Battle]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/JojosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven Eyes of Heaven]]'', since they're 3D games.

** 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 BeautyMark and jacket buttons changing sides, along with Gumshoe's band-aid, Kay's scarf, Calisto Yew's jacket... the list goes on.

* ''VideoGame/Mother3'' has many enemies who have been cybernetically enhanced, so parts of their faces and bodies are metal. When they switch directions, their sprite shows either a metal side to them, or a biological side. This is the most obvious with the Return of Octobot enemies based on ''VideoGame/EarthBound's'' Octobots, since they're almost all shiny metal on one side and almost all dingy metal on the other.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'':

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Tamagotchi}}'' virtual pets, Coffretchi's 2D sprites have her ponytail and cap switch positions depending on where she's facing.