Palette swap
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A palette swap, also known as a color swap, alternate palette, and alternate color,[citation needed] appears in the Super Mario franchise as a form of changing the colors of the player characters. This is often employed to differentiate multiple players playing as the same character, or simply for cosmetic effect.
History[edit]
Mario Bros. series[edit]
Palette swaps were technically introduced in Mario Bros., since Luigi looks identically to Mario, but is controlled by the second player.
The Game Boy Advance version of Mario Bros. available in the Super Mario Advance series features multiple colored versions of Mario as players 2, 3 and 4. Player 2 wears a green hat and purple overalls (identical to Luigi's Super Mario Advance palette), player 3 wears a yellow hat and tan overalls, and player 4 wears a blue hat and tan overalls. In pre-release screenshots, player 3 wore a purple hat with yellow overalls, while player 4 wore an orange hat with red overalls (resembling Fire Mario's appearance in Super Mario Bros. 3).[1]
Luigi Bros. features Luigi as both player 1 and 2, with player 1 sporting his modern green and blue palette with a lighter skin tone, and player 2 retaining the white and green palette and darker skin from the original Mario Bros.
Mario Golf series[edit]
Mario Golf[edit]
The Nintendo 64 version of Mario Golf allows the player to customize the color of their player character. All 18 playable characters have four color palettes, including their default appearance.
Super Smash Bros. series[edit]
Super Smash Bros.[edit]
In Super Smash Bros., all 12 playable characters have at least four different palettes, including their default appearance. Some characters have more than four colors, which are normally only playable on the blue, green, and red teams. Yoshi's dark-blue and pink colors are not playable but can only be seen when the player faces the Yoshi Team in Classic Mode. The player can press 
on the controller to change the color of the character when selecting them.
Super Smash Bros. Melee[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, all 25 playable characters have between four to six palettes, including their default appearance and those in the previous game that were not originally playable. The player can press 
or 
on the character selection screen to change colors.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, all 35 playable characters have between four to six color variants, while Wario has 12: six of his WarioWare form and six of his original form. In addition, Peach has a red color variant that was not featured in Melee.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U, each playable character has at least eight color variants, while Little Mac has 16: eight of his original form and eight of his wireframe form. Wario still has two forms, but now has eight color variants instead of 12. Starting in this game, color restrictions in team battles no longer apply.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, all playable characters have exactly eight color variants, including their default appearance. Like with Wario in the previous game, Little Mac only has eight color variants between his two forms. Since Daisy is playable in this game, Peach's color variant that made her resemble Daisy was replaced with a gold color variant.
Mario Tennis series[edit]
Mario Tennis[edit]
In Mario Tennis for the Nintendo 64, all playable characters have a second palette utilized for player 2 when both players select the same character in Short Game mode. A few of these palettes reference the characters' previous appearances, such as Mario's resembling Fire Mario and Bowser's resembling Bowser's Brother.
Mario Tennis Open[edit]
In Mario Tennis Open, Yoshi is the only one out of the 17 playable characters to have alternate colors, totaling eight variants, including his default. The alternate colors can be unlocked by scanning a certain QR code, and the class type varies by their color.
Mario Tennis Aces[edit]
In Mario Tennis Aces, some characters out of the 30 playable have alternate forms. Yoshi has eight color variants, Boo wears a visor in six different colors, Chain Chomp wears a hat in three different colors, Spike wears a headband in three different colors, Koopa and Paratroopa have three color variants, and Shy Guy has seven color variations.
Mario Kart series[edit]
Mario Kart: Super Circuit[edit]
Mario Kart: Super Circuit features a Single-Pak multiplayer mode, in which only one Game Pak is required with limited options, including that players can only drive as different-colored Yoshis, with each color designated to a specific player number. Player 1 controls a Green Yoshi, Player 2 controls a Red Yoshi, Player 3 controls a Light Blue Yoshi, and Player 4 controls a Yellow Yoshi.
Mario Kart DS[edit]
Mario Kart DS similarly allows multiplayer with a single Game Card and limited options via DS Download Play. While players that had a copy of Mario Kart DS can play as any character and kart they have available, players that use DS Download Play can only play as a Shy Guy, a character otherwise unavailable for Mario Kart DS players. There are eight available colors of Shy Guy (red, green, blue, yellow, pink, light blue, black, and white), but the colors assigned to each of the players using DS Download Play are chosen at random at each multiplayer session.
Mario Kart 7[edit]
Like Mario Kart DS, Mario Kart 7 allows multiplayer with a single Game Card via Nintendo 3DS Download Play, with players who use Download Play once again being assigned to play as a Shy Guy. This time, however, Shy Guy is part of the original roster, and players using DS Download Play are each assigned a color other than the default red.
Mario Kart 8 / Mario Kart 8 Deluxe[edit]
Mario Kart 8 features downloadable alternate colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy, available when both the The Legend of Zelda × Mario Kart 8 and Animal Crossing × Mario Kart 8 downloadable packs have been purchased, marking the first time that alternate colors for certain characters not only are available on a home console Mario Kart title, but also can be chosen by the player themselves. Including the default colors, there are nine available colors for Yoshi and Shy Guy: red, green, blue, yellow, orange, pink, light blue, black, and white.
In Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, in addition to all downloadable content from Mario Kart 8 being included, Inkling Girl and Boy are added to the roster and available in three colors each: orange, green, and pink for Inkling Girl; and blue, purple, and teal for Inkling Boy. Additionally, Wave 4 of the Booster Course Pass included Birdo as a playable character, who, as with Yoshi and Shy Guy, has nine available colors, these being the same ones as Yoshi and Shy Guy.
Mario Kart Tour[edit]
Mario Kart Tour includes several color variants for Yoshi, Shy Guy and Birdo, as well as color variants for Toad (Pit Stop) and Koopa (Freerunning). These color variants are considered separate characters each.
Mario Baseball series[edit]
Mario Superstar Baseball[edit]
In Mario Superstar Baseball, nine of the 32 playable characters have alternate colors, which include Toad, Koopa, Paratroopa, Shy Guy, Magikoopa, Dry Bones, Noki, Pianta, and Hammer Bro. Players can press 
to switch the colors of the designated characters who have the other colors. Birdo has alternate colors shown as spectators during gameplay and in the opening cinematic, but her only playable color is her default pink.
Mario Super Sluggers[edit]
In Mario Super Sluggers, 11 of the 41 playable characters have alternate colors, including Yoshi, Toad, Paratroopa, Shy Guy, Magikoopa, Dry Bones, Noki, Pianta, and Kritter. Yoshi is the only team captain to have alternate colors. As with the previous installment, Birdo can only be played in her original pink form while her other colors appear as spectators during gameplay and cinematics.
Luigi's Mansion series[edit]
In Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon and Luigi's Mansion 3, Luigi has four color variants in the ScareScraper mode. Each player wears green, blue, orange, and pink caps, overalls and Poltergusts, respectively (with orange and pink switching places in Luigi's Mansion 3). All Luigis wear lime-green shirts. In Luigi's Mansion 3, each player's Gooigi is colored to match their primary color.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker[edit]
In version 1.1.0 or later of the Nintendo Switch port of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Captain Toad has a purple color variant, where his mushroom cap is purple with white spots. The scarf and shoes are also purple. He is playable in the multiplayer mode except for the Special Episode.
