A palette swap is a pratice used in video games, wherein the designer takes pre-rendered graphics/designs and changing, or "swapping" its colors, so that it can be used repeatedly.
Role playing games[]
This practice is prevailent in old role-playing games, where some stronger monsters are a different colour from the original, to either indicate stronger abilities or attacks.
Modern RPGs may instead re-skin monsters to give the same shape but make them look different.
Notable Palette swaps[]
- Pacman ghosts.
- Super Mario Bros.:
- Mortal Kombat: Scorpion/Sub-Zero/Reptile
- Shiny Pokémon