History Main / ChromaticRockPaperScissors

* ''VideoGame/DinosaurKing'': Being the MorePopularSpinOff of ''VideoGame/KouchuuOujaMushiking'', not only does the Rock-Paper-Scissors style gameplay carry over, but it also introduces six elemental types (Lightning, Wind, Grass, Fire, Water and Earth) for each dinosaur type [[note]](Ceratopsians are Lightning types, Small and Medium Theropods are Wind types, Ornithopods are Grass types, Large Theropods are Fire types, Sauropods and Spinosaurid Theropods are Water types and Thyreophorans are Earth types)[[/note]], with their own strengths and weaknesses (Lightning beats Water, Water beats Fire, Fire beats Wind, Wind beats Grass, Grass beats Earth, Earth beats Lightning).
* ''VideoGame/{{Dislyte}}'': There are four elements in the game that an Esper can have that forms a Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic and they each have their own color. Flow (purple) beats Inferno (orange), which beats Wind (teal), which in turn beats Flow. Shimmer (a gradient of neon purple, blue, and green) takes and recieves neutral damage from the other elements.
* ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 8'' featured an unusual selection of elements for its weapons. While you could still have fire, ice, etc. for special elemental weapon skills, each weapon had an affinity: Man, Earth, and Heaven. Man, in red, overcomes Heaven, blue, which in turn beats Earth, green. Earth defeats Man, and the cycle continues. Having affinity advantage against enemy officers meant causing more flinching and extra critical damage to them, while having an affinity disadvantage meant taking more damage and having your blocks broken more often.
* In ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'', Chattur'gha (red) beats Xel'lotath (green) beats Ulyaoth (blue) beats Chattur'gha.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' has the Fort Condor minigame in the Integrade DLC with Yuffie's side mission. Defense (blue) gets advantage against Vanguard (Red) which in turn has advantange against Range (green) which then in turn has advantage against Defense (Blue).
* Some of the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games (i.e. ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Heroes]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage Engage]]'') have the same [[TacticalRockPaperScissors weapon triangle]] as most other ''Fire Emblem'' games. Unlike most of them, they also color-code Swords red, Axes green, and Lances blue. ''Fates'' also adds the other weapon types to the weapon triangle: Spells (red), Bows (green), and Daggers (blue).
* ''VideoGame/FossilFighters'': Using four elements compared to the traditional three, [[FireIsRed red fire]] beats [[YellowEarthGreenEarth yellow earth]] beats [[WindIsGreen green air]] beats [[WaterIsBlue blue water]] and the cycle repeats.
* ''VideoGame/GachaWorld'': Its ElementalRockPaperScissors include Fire (red) beating Wind (green), which beats Water (blue) that in turn beats Fire. Light (yellow) and Dark (purple) deal super effective damage against each other.
* ''{{VideoGame/Hearthstone}}'s'' Mercenaries mode has Protectors (red) beating Fighters (green) beating Casters (blue) beating Protectors.

* ''VideoGame/InazumaEleven'': Each character, hissatsu technique, avatar etc. has one of the four attributes: earth, fire, wind, and wood. Fire (red) beats wood (green), which beats wind (blue), which beats earth (orange), which beats fire.
* ''VideoGame/JumpSuperstars'' has each character and assist koma assigned one of 3 types. Power (red), which beats Intelligence (blue), which beats Gag (yellow). If you're weak to a type, you take more damage from them and deal less yourself. Certain komas, when upgraded, will change their type.

* ''VideoGame/KouchuuOujaMushiking'': The bugs' typings are literally sorted by RockPaperScissors, where Rock (red) beats Scissors (yellow) beats Paper (blue), which beats Rock.
* ''VideoGame/MinionQuestTheSearchForBowser'' and ''VideoGame/BowserJrsJourney'' use a "power triangle" to determine weaknesses. They are Melee (red) beats Ranged (yellow) beats Flying (blue) beats Melee.

* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'': Emotion-based combat buffs follow a coloured rock-paper-scissors theme: Happy (yellow) beats angry (red) beats sad (blue) beats happy.
* Every ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' game starts with the player choosing one of three starter Pokemon, which have this relationship to each other and overlap neatly with ColorCodedElements and ElementalRockPaperScissors: Fire (red) beats Grass (green) beats Water (blue) beats Fire.
* ''VideoGame/PokkenTournament'' uses a fighting game triangle with color effects on the Pokémon performing the moves. Attacks (red) beat throws (green), which beat counters (blue), which beat attacks.
* ''VisualNovel/PrincessWaltz'' uses a card combat style where during the fight scenes Green overpowers Red, Red overpowers Blue, and Blue overpowers Green.
* ''VideoGame/TheSevenDeadlySinsGrandCross'': Most units have the attributes of Speed (blue), Health (green), and Strength (red). Speed beats Strength, Strength beats Health, and Health beats Speed. The game would later add the Light (yellow) and Dark (purple) attributes, which, when paired with the three base attributes, allow for more damage dealt against advantageous attributes with Light or disadvantageous attributes with Dark.
* ''VideoGame/SINoALICE'' has an ElementalRockPaperScissors system where Fire (red) beats Wind (green), which beats Water (blue), which beats Fire.
* ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' has three different types of color-coded character: Speed (blue) beats Flight (yellow) beats Power (red) beats Speed.

* Spirits in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' are color-coded Attack (red), Throw (green), Defense (blue), or Neutral (purple). The first three are strong or weak against each other in the usual red > green > blue > red order. [[PurpleIsPowerful The last one]] is, appropiately, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin neutral]] to everything.

!!Other Examples:

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Redakai}}'' has the Red, Strength-based attacks that beat Green, Speed-based attacks that beat Blue, Intelligence-based attacks that beat Red.
* Side-blotched lizards ''(Uta Stansburiana)'' are a species of lizard where males have three different throat colors, each corresponding to a different mating strategy. Orange males are the most physically dominant and control large territories. Blue males have less individual control and only have one mate, as opposed to many, but compensate by cooperating with each other. Yellow males are non-territorial, instead mimicking females to sneak into other territories and mate. The orange lizards can overpower the blues, the blue lizards can catch the yellows, and the yellow lizards can hide beneath the suspicion of the oranges.

In many works where elements or tactics have an unequal relationship with one another, the comparisons among them are ColorCodedForYourConvenience. The most frequent setup (of which the page image is an exception) is Red > Green > Blue > Red.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'' has the Fort Condor minigame in the Integrade DLC with Yuffie's side mission. Defense (blue) gets advantage against Vanguard (Red) which in turn has advantange against Range (green) which then in turn has advantage against Defense (Blue).

* Spirits in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' are color-coded Attack (red), Throw (green), Defense (blue), or Neutral (purple). The first three are strong or weak against each other in the usual red > green > blue > red order. [[PurpleIsPowerful The last one]] is, appropiately, [[JustWhatItSaysOnTheTin neutral]] to everything.

* Spirits in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' are color-coded red, green, blue, or purple. The first three are strong or weak against each other in the usual red > green > blue > red order. [[PurpleIsPowerful The last one]] is neutral to everything.

* Some of the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games (i.e. ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Heroes]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage Engage]]'') have the same [[TacticalRockPaperScissors weapon triangle]] as most other Fire Emblem games. Unlike most of them, they also color-code Swords red, Axes green, and Lances blue. ''Fates'' also adds the other weapon types to the weapon triangle: Spells (red), Bows (green), and Daggers (blue).

* Every ''{{VideoGame/Pokemon}}'' game starts with the player choosing one of three starter Pokemon, which have this relationship to each other and overlap neatly with ColorCodedElements and ElementalRockPaperScissors: Fire (red) beats Grass (green) beats Water (blue) beats Fire.

* Most of the ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games (i.e. ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Heroes]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage Engage]]'') have the same [[TacticalRockPaperScissors weapon triangle]] as most other Fire Emblem games. Unlike most of them, they also color-code Swords red, Axes green, and Lances blue. ''Fates'' also adds the other weapon types to the weapon triangle: Spells (red), Bows (green), and Daggers (blue).

* Some of the more recent ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' games (i.e. ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemFates Fates]]'', ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes Heroes]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage Engage]]'') have the same [[TacticalRockPaperScissors weapon triangle]] as most other Fire Emblem games. Unlike most of them, they also color-code Swords red, Axes green, and Lances blue. ''Fates'' also adds the other weapon types to the weapon triangle: Spells (red), Bows (green), and Daggers (blue).

* Spirits in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' are color-coded red, green, blue, or colorless. The first three are strong or weak against each other in the usual red > green > blue > red order.

* 1990's toy line ''Battle Beasts'' consisted of small figurines with a mystery rub-off decal on their chests, indicated which of the three factions they belonged to: Wood, Water, or Fire. Fire burns Wood, Water doses Fire, and Wood blocks Water.

In many works where elements or tactics have an unequal relationship to one another, those elements or tactics are ColorCodedForYourConvenience. Frequently (though not exclusively - the trope image provides a slight variation) these colors and relationships are:
Red > Green > Blue > Red.

Because ElementalPowers frequently have [[ColorCodedElements specific colors associated with them]], see also ElementalRockPaperScissors.

Though the majority of works that use this trope are video games, it is not unheard of in other media or even in real-life biology. Non-video-game examples are listed separately from video game examples.

* Real Life: Side-blotched lizards ''(Uta Stansburiana)'' are a species of lizard where males have three different throat colors, each corresponding to a different mating strategy. Orange males are the most physically dominant and control large territories. Blue males have less individual control and only have one mate, as opposed to many, but compensate by cooperating with each other. Yellow males are non-territorial, instead mimicking females to sneak into other territories and mate. The orange lizards can overpower the blues, the blue lizards can catch the yellows, and the yellow lizards can hide beneath the suspicion of the oranges.

* VideoGame/MinionQuestTheSearchForBowser and VideoGame/BowserJrsJourney: The games use a "power triangle" to determine weaknesses. They are Melee (red) beats Ranged (yellow) beats Flying (blue) beats Melee.

* Real Life: Side-blotched lizards ''(Uta Stansburiana)'' are a species of lizard where males have three different throat colors, each corresponding to a different mating strategy. Orange males are the most physically dominant and control large territories. Blue males have less individual control and only have one mate, as opposed to many, but compensate by cooperating with each other. Yellow males are non-territorial, instead mimicking females to sneak into other territories and mate. The orange lizards can overpower the blues, the blue lizards can catch the yellows, and the yellow lizards can hide beneath the suspicion of the oranges.