History Main / SpritePolygonMix

* Most of the graphics in the [=UbiArt=] Framework-based ''VideoGame/ChildOfLight'' are 2D, with the exception of some 3D models like Aurora, Norah, and a few others. This extends to the earlier [=UbiArt=]-based ''VideoGame/RaymanLegends'' and possibly "Origins".

* In ''VideoGame/StarFox1'', the planet/space scenery backgrounds are fully 2D, with some tilting and occasional distortion effects, overlaid with 3D models. The ground has to appear especially featureless so it would stand in as any generic ground.

** ''VideoGame/DarkForces'' was based on the ''Doom'' GameEngine and it incorporated many of these effects as well, including spiral staircases, moving platforms, rooms above rooms, and the ability to jump and crouch.

** The later released game ''VideoGame/Outlaws'', was based on a modified ''Dark Forces'' engine and went further with multi-storied buildings, catwalks above rooms, and the ability to swim.

* The first three ''VideoGame/MarioParty'' games, released on the Nintendo 64, had every board as a 2D graphic with 3D characters moving on top of it. Some minigames also have 2D backgrounds.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' through ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0'', and parts of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilOutbreak''.
** The way the backgrounds in the early Resident Evil games work is that every room is a simple rectangle or box and textures are used to simulate a believable looking room, including doors (though the few doors that opened that were not a part of a loading screen were rendered as 3D objects). The effect is very noticeable if a monster is killed very close to a wall and their body appears to clip or float through the wall.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII, [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII VIII]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIX IX]]'' use 2D backgrounds except for the world map, which is fully 3D.
** They also have a few cases of FMV backgrounds, mainly in the form of the character running into a scene and it turning from bitmap to FMV.
** The ''VideoGame/ChaosRings'' series are more recent Creator/SquareEnix [=RPGs=] with the same style.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' also uses sprite backgrounds for each stage.

* VideoGame/MrBones is a fully polygonal model superimposed on 2D backdrops (and the occasional FullMotionVideo) with sprite-based enemies, and he's able to fluidly separate into individual bouncing bones and subsequently reconnect them.

** ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'', the game that introduced the style, and its mobile prequel ''Champions of the Continent''.

* ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' and ''VideoGame/TombRaider2'' use sprites for pickup objects and level decorations. They are billboarded, leading to a little bit of NightmareFuel in the first game with a screaming skull object wrapped in vines that always stares right at you. Starting from ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII'', everything, including pickups, is in full 3D.

* ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' series, whose very title {{lampshade|Hanging}}s it. It's in full effect in the first game and ''Sticker Star'', but in ''The Thousand-Year Door'' and ''Super'' the only things that are really 2D are the items and skyboxes. The characters and some scenery are just 2D sprites on flat polygon frameworks, like the Game and Watch example further down.

* ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}: Door to Phantomile'' uses sprites on 3D environments; it then proceeds to make the most of this, having enemies and obstacles in the foreground and background, or paths that bent around in all sorts of directions, even looping around in some instances.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', trees are billboarded sprites, while most other parts of the environment are polygons.

** ''Mario 64'' also features an inversion of this trope, where a 3D effect is used to create a 2D effect. This is the mirror room; rather than use light sourcing and surface properties to create a mirrored surface, the room itself is mirrored and bisected by a transparent wall where the mirror is supposed to be. A second Mario is placed in the other side of the room and mirrors the player's control input. This is actually a commonly used trick in games even today; it allows realistic reflections without resorting to framebuffer effects (which are limited by the internal render resolution and look pixellated up close), non-dynamic reflection mapping, or hardware-intensive real-time raytracing. However, it only works with flat mirrors.
*** Taken to an extreme in the DS re-release, where the player can grab a Power Flower in the room while controlling Luigi, allowing him to go through the mirror. This is required to get to Chief Chilly Challenge and unlock Wario.

* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries''
** The original ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny'' overworld engine, used by ''Destiny'' and the ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia Phantasia]]'' remake, uses the in-town sprites laid on a 3-D globe.
** The entirety of ''VideoGame/TalesOfHearts'' is like this.

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireIII'' is notable in that the textures on the backgrounds made many mistake the background for ''also'' being bitmapped at first.

* Many early 3D RealTimeStrategy games, such as ''Populous: The Beginning''

* ''VideoGame/MischiefMakers'' uses sprite objects, but polygonal levels. To make things more confusing, the sprites are clearly based off of 3D models. The effect is... interesting. The game is awesome, anyway.

* ''VideoGame/GuardianTales'' uses this - your team of characters, the enemies, findable weapons, and drops from chests are all 2d sprites that have 4 possible angles, but the environment is full 3D. Both the small screen due to this being a mobile phone game and also both the sprites and the environment being cartoonish help.

* ''VideoGame/YsTheOathInFelghana'', and the PC and PSP versions of ''Videogame/YsVITheArkOfNapishtim''. The [=PS2=] version of the latter has 3D characters.

* Most pre-''VideoGame/{{Quake}}'' [[FirstPersonShooter FPSs]] have an appearance consistent with this trope, but technically do not qualify since their environments do not use polygon meshes (as defined today) to create walls. They use various methods to create pseudo-3D backgrounds, with enemies, powerups and decorations being scaled sprites. ''Doom'', for example, uses a texture fill method similar to 3D extrude functions to give an otherwise flat map an illusion of height, though the engine has no meaningful Z (vertical) axis and does not use polygon meshes. Some later examples use voxels (I.E.: [[VideoGame/DukeNukem3D Build]] [[VideoGame/{{Blood}} engine]] [[VideoGame/ShadowWarrior1997 games]]) or polygons (I.E.: ''VideoGame/DarkForces'') for some objects as well.

* Most Creator/NipponIchi {{Tactical RPG}}s from ''VideoGame/LaPucelle'' onwards (''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' and all sequels, ''VideoGame/MakaiKingdom'', ''VideoGame/PhantomBrave'', ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'', ''VideoGame/ZettaiHeroProject'' and so on) use sprite characters on 3-D maps.

* The 4th (''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Diamond/Pearl/Platinum]]'', ''[[VideoGame/PokemonHeartGoldAndSoulSilver HeartGold/SoulSilver]]'') and 5th (''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Black/White]]'', ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2 Black 2/White 2]]'') generation Franchise/{{Pokemon}} games use a 3D environment, but 2D sprites for the characters, Pokémon, and certain objects. This is most apparent in the 5th Generation, where you would have places like Castelia City, which featured curving roads and structures, while your PC would remain flat, looking only in one of the four cardinal directions.

* In the later ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' games, most friendly characters, enemies, and bosses are rendered as 2D sprites on 3D-rendered backgrounds.

** Note that these are tricks. The engine never really has rooms above other rooms; things like invisible teleporters and unseen horizontal space changes are used to give the rooms-above-rooms illusion.
** An interesting variation: the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 version of ''Duke Nukem 3D'' features some things, such as explosion effects, being rendered in polygons while the enemies and weapons are all still sprites. These new polygon effects are not present in the original PC version of the game.

** ''VideoGame/ProjectTriangleStrategy'', a TurnBasedStrategy game in the style of classic Squaresoft strategy games like ''VideoGame/TacticsOgre''.

** Anything spherical is a sprite: Bob-Ombs, those cannonballs that roll around in the first main level, and the water spiders.

* Creator/SquareEnix coined an art style that they refer to as "HD-2D", which adds a {{Retraux}} aesthetic to the mix by rendering all the characters and creatures as SNES-style 16-bit sprites while the backgrounds are rendered in full 3D with 16-bit textures and visual effects react as if the combatants are 3D objects. The style is used in multiple games, including:

** ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'', the game that introduced the style, and its mobile prequel ''Champions of the Continent''

* Creator/SquareEnix coined an art style that they refer to as "HD-2D", which adds a {{Retraux}} aesthetic to the mix by rendering all the characters and creatures as SNES-style 16-bit sprites while the backgrounds are rendered in full 3D and visual effects react as if the combatants are 3D objects. The style was first used in ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'', which went on to be used in its mobile prequel ''Champions of the Continent'' as well as ''VideoGame/ProjectTriangleStrategy''.

* The first three "VideoGame/MarioParty" games on the Nintendo 64 had every board as a 2D-graphic with 3D-characters moving on top of it, so you could just print one out and play on it that way. Some minigames also have 2D backgrounds.

* [[http://i49.tinypic.com/1zbe1wn.jpg This screenshot]] perfectly sums up where the {{revival}} of ''VideoGame/NBAJam'' is placed in this list.

* ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'' has all characters and creatures as 2D sprites, while the environments are 3D. Lighting and particle effects react as though the sprites were 3D, with the overall style being referred to by the devs as "HD-2D".