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The palette swap is a practice often used in video and computer games, whereby a graphic that is already used for one element is given a different palette so that it can be reused for other elements. The different palette gives the "new" graphic a unique set of colors which make it recognizably distinct from the original. It is commonly used to distinguish between the first and second players, for creating visual hierarchies, and for making visually disinct areas for the levels in the game. For example, in the first Super Mario Bros., Luigi (the second player) was a palette swap of Mario (the first player); the red Koopa Troopas were palette swaps of the green ones (and were also "smarter" in that they didn't march off cliffs); and the underground levels contained palette swaps of all enemies, power ups, coins, and bricks.
This used to be a common technique in fighting games like Mortal Kombat, where multiple characters could be created from a single set of sprites by applying a different palette. Some examples from the Mortal Kombat series are listed below:
- Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Reptile, Smoke, Rain, Ermac, Noob Saibot, and Chameleon
- Kitana, Mileena, Jade, and Khameleon
- The robot ninjas Cyrax, Sektor, and Smoke
A similar technique, called the "Head Swap", was used in games such as the early Street Fighter series.
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