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As we know, the Master System hardware could not draw sprites flipped - ie. taking the sprite data and drawing it mirrored, so the player moving left and right could use the same data. It could do this for backgrounds, but not sprites. Its rival Ni****do system could flip sprites but not backgrounds.

In theory this is a great opportunity for games to avoid one of the sins of old games - namely, having the player sprite appear to be symmetrical, or to swap handedness - so for example the hero holds his sword in his left hand while walking left and in his right hand when walking right. If we have to store the art both ways wound, we may as well draw it both ways round.

So my question is: what games actually do this? I know Alex Kidd in Miracle World does not, for example - the punch sprite is flipped, so he punches with different hands when he turns around. Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars doesn’t even have a left facing sprite for Alex. Evidence in the form of image attachments would be helpful.

Time to check sprites in the smspower database 😅

As (nearly) everyone knows, Wonder boy III
golden Axe warrior

16EB254A-D5FF-4AEF-9983-948826F5CA6E.png (19.3 KB)

I guess Spriters Resource sheets might be handy too.

Phantasy Star - Alisa is right-handed.

8176CB8C-951C-46F1-8EA7-6123D389E480.png (9.15 KB)

Asterix has a sword that stays on one side. (He also never uses it?)

2CB1BF3A-D26B-468D-8B88-0C95026024ED.png (15.4 KB)

Aztec Adventure has right-handed Niño, Papi, Pupe and Poh. I guess we can also look for any evidence of left-handedess as we do this…

A8052828-D424-448F-97B9-569FBF82FEDB.png (7.21 KB)

Bonanza Bros’ Mobo and Robo are right-handed.

1116628D-4EAF-42EE-9FC8-FBF094CB45F6.png (8.96 KB)

Kenseiden’s Hayato is a lefty (thanks to Popfan on Discord).

E5621CE9-2130-41B3-A9BB-C792CC7186A5.png (39.25 KB)

Dragon Crystal’s main player holds his sword in his right hand and his shield in his left.

6453D2A1-9881-465A-9568-FA700CF23653.png (8.94 KB)

Fascinating topic!

I checked 7 games at random and they all use mirrored sprites, happy to see there are quite a few exceptions.

Maxim wrote

Asterix has a sword that stays on one side. (He also never uses it?)

Wow, crazy, the sword stays on one side indeed but they simply mirror the rest of the sprite for the punch!!

ichigobankai wrote

As (nearly) everyone knows, Wonder boy III
golden Axe warrior

Hey, not me!
lol

Maxim wrote

Kenseiden’s Hayato is a lefty (thanks to Popfan on Discord).

but in some sprites he seems right handed instead!

Kelesis (Golvellius) is right-handed.

Cyber Shinobi's main character is non-flipped as well (IIRC).

That's the only remarkable thing of that game >:)

Golvellius’ Kelesis is right-handed.

E23872B1-9B23-4B75-A34B-7FFE25E70232.png (4.8 KB)

James Bond have a nice feature about sprite flipping.

There is no difference between right and left sprites but the dev studio have added an animation frame for the character where the gun is passed from a hand to the other one when you change direction.

Sukeban Deka II’s Saki is left-handed.

02B4EE4F-D763-4710-929D-CDAE22DFFBE0.png (9.74 KB)

Super Tennis has a right-handed player.

0D506AF8-668D-4DEF-BE0B-43453207BFB8.png (4.93 KB)

Looks like Time Soldiers does this, too.

Hey, it looks like we started tagging these last year!

https://www.smspower.org/Tags/AsymmetricalSprites

Akomander wrote

Cyber Shinobi's main character is non-flipped as well (IIRC).

That's the only remarkable thing of that game >:)

I checked, and it is flipped. So nothing remarkable!

Maxim wrote

Akomander wrote

Cyber Shinobi's main character is non-flipped as well (IIRC).

That's the only remarkable thing of that game >:)

I checked, and it is flipped. So nothing remarkable!

I was pretty sure that it was non-flipped and I re-checked (not that I don't trust what you said ;p). It's even worse... his standing stance IS flipped but his walking animation is not. Such a sloppy thing to do... Why they didn't "go the distance" is beyond me D:<

It seems only the walking sprites are asymmetric, so Joe Mushashi is moving his katana sheath to the opposite side every time he stops, jumps or attacks. Still, it counts.

Image1.png (1.79 KB)

sverx wrote

Maxim wrote

Kenseiden’s Hayato is a lefty (thanks to Popfan on Discord).

but in some sprites he seems right handed instead!

Yep, he's a lefty throughout the game, then they made him a righty for the ending sequence. So close...

If there are fearless people (I am not on this subject), here is my sprites archive for 230 games (more than 12000 sprites). It's sorted by game, but that's all.

Sprites.7z (2.57 MB)

Gain Ground, but ya gotta squint

Author	Message
Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Games with non-flipped sprite art Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:28 am Last edited by Maxim on Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:09 am; edited 1 time in total
	As we know, the Master System hardware could not draw sprites flipped - ie. taking the sprite data and drawing it mirrored, so the player moving left and right could use the same data. It could do this for backgrounds, but not sprites. Its rival Ni****do system could flip sprites but not backgrounds. In theory this is a great opportunity for games to avoid one of the sins of old games - namely, having the player sprite appear to be symmetrical, or to swap handedness - so for example the hero holds his sword in his left hand while walking left and in his right hand when walking right. If we have to store the art both ways wound, we may as well draw it both ways round. So my question is: what games actually do this? I know Alex Kidd in Miracle World does not, for example - the punch sprite is flipped, so he punches with different hands when he turns around. Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars doesn’t even have a left facing sprite for Alex. Evidence in the form of image attachments would be helpful.

ichigobankai Joined: 04 Jul 2010 Posts: 540 Location: Angers, France	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:43 am
	Time to check sprites in the smspower database 😅 As (nearly) everyone knows, Wonder boy III golden Axe warrior 16EB254A-D5FF-4AEF-9983-948826F5CA6E.png (19.3 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:09 am
	I guess Spriters Resource sheets might be handy too.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:11 am
	Phantasy Star - Alisa is right-handed. 8176CB8C-951C-46F1-8EA7-6123D389E480.png (9.15 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:15 am
	Asterix has a sword that stays on one side. (He also never uses it?) 2CB1BF3A-D26B-468D-8B88-0C95026024ED.png (15.4 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:19 am
	Aztec Adventure has right-handed Niño, Papi, Pupe and Poh. I guess we can also look for any evidence of left-handedess as we do this… A8052828-D424-448F-97B9-569FBF82FEDB.png (7.21 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:23 am
	Bonanza Bros’ Mobo and Robo are right-handed. 1116628D-4EAF-42EE-9FC8-FBF094CB45F6.png (8.96 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:25 am
	Kenseiden’s Hayato is a lefty (thanks to Popfan on Discord). E5621CE9-2130-41B3-A9BB-C792CC7186A5.png (39.25 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:37 am
	Dragon Crystal’s main player holds his sword in his right hand and his shield in his left. 6453D2A1-9881-465A-9568-FA700CF23653.png (8.94 KB)

Jair Joined: 15 Jan 2018 Posts: 70 Location: Tokyo	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 7:42 am
Jair Joined: 15 Jan 2018 Posts: 70 Location: Tokyo	Fascinating topic! I checked 7 games at random and they all use mirrored sprites, happy to see there are quite a few exceptions. Maxim wrote Asterix has a sword that stays on one side. (He also never uses it?) Wow, crazy, the sword stays on one side indeed but they simply mirror the rest of the sprite for the punch!! ichigobankai wrote As (nearly) everyone knows, Wonder boy III golden Axe warrior Hey, not me! lol

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3823 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:03 pm
	Maxim wrote Kenseiden’s Hayato is a lefty (thanks to Popfan on Discord). but in some sprites he seems right handed instead!

S.F Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 474 Location: Netherlands	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:29 pm
S.F Joined: 08 Apr 2005 Posts: 474 Location: Netherlands	Kelesis (Golvellius) is right-handed.

Akomander Joined: 09 Mar 2022 Posts: 20	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 2:43 pm
Akomander Joined: 09 Mar 2022 Posts: 20	Cyber Shinobi's main character is non-flipped as well (IIRC). That's the only remarkable thing of that game >:)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 3:09 pm
	Golvellius’ Kelesis is right-handed. E23872B1-9B23-4B75-A34B-7FFE25E70232.png (4.8 KB)

ichigobankai Joined: 04 Jul 2010 Posts: 540 Location: Angers, France	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 3:13 pm
	James Bond have a nice feature about sprite flipping. There is no difference between right and left sprites but the dev studio have added an animation frame for the character where the gun is passed from a hand to the other one when you change direction.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 3:32 pm
	Sukeban Deka II’s Saki is left-handed. 02B4EE4F-D763-4710-929D-CDAE22DFFBE0.png (9.74 KB)

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 3:34 pm
	Super Tennis has a right-handed player. 0D506AF8-668D-4DEF-BE0B-43453207BFB8.png (4.93 KB)

SavagePencil Joined: 23 Aug 2009 Posts: 213 Location: Seattle, WA	Posted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 6:32 pm
	Looks like Time Soldiers does this, too.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:51 pm
	Hey, it looks like we started tagging these last year! https://www.smspower.org/Tags/AsymmetricalSprites

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:08 pm
	Akomander wrote Cyber Shinobi's main character is non-flipped as well (IIRC). That's the only remarkable thing of that game >:) I checked, and it is flipped. So nothing remarkable!

Akomander Joined: 09 Mar 2022 Posts: 20	Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 5:36 pm
Akomander Joined: 09 Mar 2022 Posts: 20	Maxim wrote Akomander wrote Cyber Shinobi's main character is non-flipped as well (IIRC). That's the only remarkable thing of that game >:) I checked, and it is flipped. So nothing remarkable! I was pretty sure that it was non-flipped and I re-checked (not that I don't trust what you said ;p). It's even worse... his standing stance IS flipped but his walking animation is not. Such a sloppy thing to do... Why they didn't "go the distance" is beyond me D:<

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14735 Location: London	Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 8:06 am
	It seems only the walking sprites are asymmetric, so Joe Mushashi is moving his katana sheath to the opposite side every time he stops, jumps or attacks. Still, it counts. Image1.png (1.79 KB)

Oxwah Joined: 04 Apr 2020 Posts: 24 Location: Buffalo, NY, USA	Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2022 5:26 pm
	sverx wrote Maxim wrote Kenseiden’s Hayato is a lefty (thanks to Popfan on Discord). but in some sprites he seems right handed instead! Yep, he's a lefty throughout the game, then they made him a righty for the ending sequence. So close...

balkry Joined: 22 Feb 2005 Posts: 173 Location: Caen, France	Sprites Archive Posted: Thu Apr 07, 2022 10:32 am
	If there are fearless people (I am not on this subject), here is my sprites archive for 230 games (more than 12000 sprites). It's sorted by game, but that's all. Sprites.7z (2.57 MB)

SavagePencil Joined: 23 Aug 2009 Posts: 213 Location: Seattle, WA	Posted: Thu May 12, 2022 3:29 am
	Gain Ground, but ya gotta squint

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