Rotoscoping is a technique where animators trace over an actual image or video to create an authentic level of action in their animation. Disney used this technique for Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs (1938), and most of you will probably be familiar with it through the films of Ralph Bakshi.
This animation technique has also been used in game development, and the results are quite fantastic from a technical standpoint. While rotoscoped graphics are a rare commodity in games, the ones that utilize them immediately catch the attention of the audience. These games broke through ceilings and helped innovate the gaming industry.
8 Karateka
Karateka, credited as the first game to utilize rotoscoped graphics, launched in 1984 for the Apple 2, Atari, and Commodore 64. It is also one of the very first fighting games, which makes Karateka a trailblazer in the gaming industry. The game is heavily inspired by Japanese culture, specifically martial arts.
Story-wise, Karateka follows your traditional 'hero must save the princess' trope. You play as an unnamed main character who ventures into the multilayered castle of the evil shogun, Akuma, to save his love interest, Princess Mariko. It's a fairly standard and barebones game by today’s standards, but one that revolutionized the industry when it launched back in the '80s.
7 Hotel Dusk: Room 215
Launched on the Nintendo DS in 2006, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is a point-and-click adventure game where you control Kyle Hyde as he searches for his former partner. His investigation leads him to a dilapidated motel called Hotel Dusk. In it, he discovers the mysterious Room 215 and uncovers clues that seem to have a strange connection to his past.
Cutscenes are presented using rotoscoping with a comic book aesthetic that significantly enhances the noir style of the game. This is a pretty decent mystery game that fully takes advantage of the relatively rare animation and art style that it utilizes.
6 Last Window: The Secret of Cape West
Last Window is the sequel to Hotel Dusk and once again puts you in the shoes of Hotel Dusk's protagonist, Kyle Hyde. The sequel features a colorful brushstroke art style combined with rotoscoping to give it a more vibrant aesthetic. The story is a continuation of Hotel Dusk and will reveal more about Kyle Hyde’s mysterious past.
The gameplay remains relatively unchanged, with some new additions to give you a fresh experience. The story will take twists and turns depending on your choices, but the game only has one ending compared to Hotel Dusk, which has three.
5 Deadlight
Deadlight is a side-scrolling horror platformer developed by Tequila Works that launched in 2012 for the Xbox 360. The game is an homage to classic 2D platformer such as Prince of Persia, and the developers saw fit to incorporate rotoscoping to fully capture the retro vibe of those amazing games.
The story takes place in post-apocalyptic Seattle in 1986, where you play as Randall Wayne, who is on a journey to find his family amid a ravaged and zombie-infested world. The game received numerous accolades after its launch, including praise for its distinctive art style and atmosphere.
4 Lunark
Rotoscoping is clearly not dead yet, with the launch of Wayforward’s Lunark in 2023. Harkening back to classic games such as Another World and Flashback, Lunark is a science-fiction action-adventure game set in the far future. You play as Leo, a young man who discovers that he has amazing, powerful abilities and sets out to learn about mysteries surrounding humanity’s past.
Lunark is a solid adventure game featuring retro-style graphics, which will be quite a nostalgic trip down memory lane for old-school gamers while introducing younger audiences to a fun and challenging game genre from decades ago.
3 Mortal Kombat
The 1992 fighting game smash hit that kicked off the creation of the ESRB, Mortal Kombat was also one of the few games that featured rotoscoping as its main animation style. This choice helped separate Mortal Kombat from the competition at the time, which pretty much followed Street Fighter’s blueprint. The over-the-top violence was the primary element that made the game a huge success, but the use of real actors certainly enhanced the overall realism and impact of all those brutal signature MK Fatalities.
The rotoscoped graphics remained for the following sequels and spinoffs, up to Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (1997). Mortal Kombat 4 was the first in the series to fully drop the rotoscoped graphics in favor of fully 3D graphics.
2 Another World
Another World is an action-adventure platformer launched in 1991 by Delphine Software. The game was designed by Eric Chahi, who also made the unforgivingly difficult classic PS1 side-scroller adventure game Heart of Darkness (1998). Another World is the game that is often cited as one of the best games to use rotoscoped graphics. It is heavily inspired by science fiction, as your character gets transported to a hostile alien world after an experiment goes awry.
The game initially launched on the Amiga and Atari, but was later ported to other systems such as the Sega Genesis and SNES. Another World also had 15th and 20th Anniversary editions that came out in 2007 and 2011. It is such an integral part of video game history, and was rereleased once again in 2014 with a double feature package that included another Delphine Software game, Flashback.
1 Prince Of Persia
A revered classic in the gaming industry, Prince of Persia is a cinematic platform adventure game that originally launched on the Apple 2 in 1989 and was ported to pretty much every platform moving forward. Developed by Broderbund, Prince of Persia is best known for its fluid and realistic animation, which was achieved thanks to rotoscoping.
The SNES version is often considered the best, as it features upgraded graphics and more levels while maintaining its signature rotoscoped graphics. Arsys Software handled the port of Prince of Persia to the SNES and was also known for co-developing the first Gran Turismo game with Polyphony Digital.