< Red Oni, Blue Oni

Red Oni, Blue Oni/Video Games

  • Inverted in the gameplay of Team Fortress 2, where, in the Payload and Point-Capture maps, the RED team is defending a zone, thus requiring mostly slow and durable classes like the Heavy or Engineer, and the BLU team is attacking, making them more likely to use speedy and swift classes like Scout or Spy. Played straight in the Meet the Team supplemental videos, where BLU's calm passivity in the face of RED's aggressive bloodlust inevitably results in the BLU's getting drenched in the other team's color before they explode into Ludicrous Gibs. Also played straight in the comics, albeit in a less visceral way: Members of the BLU team tend to be coldly logical, subtly subverting their bosses plans, while the RED team members dive headlong into chaos, and are more openly defiant of their employers.
  • Joseph Sheridan and von Richter in the WW 2 RTS game R.U.S.E'- while the US officer Sheridan, a Yale-dropout, is described as impetuous and willing to push the enemy to their limits, whatever the cost may be, German General von Richter is described as a chess-player, who loves calculated approaches with maximal gain and minimal losses. One of the few times that a Nazi is more of a Magnificent Bastard than the Ally protagonist in a WW2game.
  • Ada and Leon from Resident Evil fit this trope well. Ada is known for wearing the color red, while, arguably, Leon's trademark color would be blue as in his RPD uniform. The two are on opposite sides of the spectrum and often clash over similar or different goals. Also an example of Opposites Attract.
    • Birkin and Wesker went to this during the time they worked together; the former is not relaxed and panicked while the latter is calm and calculating. When they injected their own virus into themselves, Birkin is out of control and rampaging, while Wesker has control of it and isn't rampaging.
  • Ryu and Ken from Street Fighter. Ryu is philosophical, traditional, and prefers using the fireball from a distance, while Ken is brash, cocky, and innovative, and his favorite move is the uppercut, best performed at close range.
    • Sakura Kasugano (blue) and Karin Kanzuki (red) from Street Fighter Alpha Three. Despite their color schemes, the roles they play tend to vary with the media. In the Udon comics, Karin is extremely competitive and violent, making Sakura (relatively, as she is still rather hotheaded) blue. In Namco X Capcom, on the other hand, Sakura is impulsive and tends to rush into things without thinking, while Karin is much more calm, level-headed, and cynical.
    • An inversion in brothers Yun (red oni dressed in blue) and Yang (blue oni dressed in red).
    • A much more direct example is Hanzo and Fuuma from World Heroes, particularly since Fuuma has two very ostentatious fire attacks and Hanzo's biggest super has him vanishing repeatedly.
    • Another inversion is Guy (who wears a crimson gi) and Cody (blue stripes/jeans). Despite his cynical and laid-back persona, Cody is the more cocky and reckless of the two and gets in fights to alleviate his boredom. Guy, on the other hand, is taciturn, stoic, and reserved and only fights when necessary.
  • In the third Tenchu game, the evil wizard Tenrai employs both blue and red demons as foot soldiers. They're not given much personality, but if you're spotted and get drawn into a fight, the red ones will simply keep fighting until killed, while the blue ones will try an explosive kamikaze attack once their health is low.
  • In the second Onimusha game, the always-drinking, eating, and lecherous Ekei can pass for a red oni (and dresses all in yellows and reds), while the serious, book loving, thoughtful Magoichi is a blue oni (complete with blue clothes).
  • In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, you have New Destroyman, who was cut in half in the first game, and his two halves got two different personalites. And android halves. The Red one is in the background, calling Shinobu a whore and the like, while the Blue one at least offers to shake hands.
    • Reversed, however, as the arrogant, misogynistic, Jerkass Red Oni has a blue eye, while the more polite and eloquent Blue Oni's eye is red.
    • Travis Touchdown has a red tiger, and a trailer indicates that his twin brother Henry was supposed to have a blue tiger. Hmm....
  • In the Viewtiful Joe anime, Joe wears a red costume in hero form while Junior wears a blue costume in hero form. Joe is the strong, energetic, reckless one, while Junior is shaping up as The Smart Guy. The color-coding is reversed in their normal forms, however.
    • And in the games (on which the anime is based), the blue oni is represented by Silvia who always tries to keep her boyfriend on task.
  • Suikoden II has lovable henchmen Seed and Culgan who wear red and blue respectively and pretty much embody the concept.
    • Not to mention the main characters of the game, Riou and Jowy.
    • Also, Camus and Miklotov, though the colors are inversed: Camus, who wears red, is the Blue Oni, while Miklotov, who wears blue, is the Red one.
  • Given a slight twist in Utawarerumono. The "blue oni" , who is the protagonist in "oni" form, is literally blue, though the "red oni" is actually mostly black. Also, the two turn out to be two halves of a god, which merge before going into hibernation at the end.
    • Perhaps a better representation in Utawarerumono is Hien and Hauenkua standing side by side as they betray their lord Kuuya, calm and collected Hien in a blue mecha, while borderline insane due to bloodlust Hauenkua sits in a red mecha.
  • Most Fire Emblem games give you two near-identical horse-mounted knights at the beginning of the game: one will wear red armor, have an outgoing/reckless personality, and have more Defense and Attack power, while the other wears green, behaves modestly, and specializes in speed and accuracy. It fits the trope better once you remember that the Japanese, like many other cultures, don't fully distinguish between green and blue.
    • And then Blazing Sword goes and inverts it - Sain, Chivalrous Pervert, is in green and Kent, his superior in both rank and self-control, is in red.
      • Another inversion in Blazing Sword occurs with two of the main lords: brash, blue-haired Hector and calm, formal red-head Eliwood.
      • An odd variation occurs in Lex and Azel of the fourth game. Red-haired Azel is the gentler of the two, but more emotional and impulsive, while blue-haired Lex is Hot-Blooded and gruff-speaking, but more laid back. So, for them, this trope is both played straight and subverted.
    • Even though they never technically appeared in a Fire Emblem game together, the Super Smash Bros. incarnations of Marth and Roy definitely qualify for this trope. The red-haired Roy speaks almost entirely in loud, high-pitched grunts and screams, and as a fighter, his raw power is probably his greatest asset. The blue-haired Marth, on the other hand, speaks in a breathy, almost whisper-like tone, and he relies more heavily on grace and finesse than brute strength.
  • Atsuma and Touya of Enchanted Arms fit the trope almost perfectly: seeing as how the game contains more than a few gaming/character stereotypes, this should be no surprise.
  • Final Fantasy examples:
    • In Final Fantasy X, Tidus and his father Jecht are both Hot-Blooded red types who favor the Indy Ploy and have impulse control issues, while Auron is a blue. So is Seymour, the main onscreen villain.
    • Final Fantasy X-2 has Yuna positioned between red Rikku and blue Paine.
    • In Final Fantasy VII, this is inverted with Cid as the Red Oni in blue clothes and Vincent as the Blue Oni wearing bright red.
      • In a more direct exemple, you have Tifa as the Blue Oni in dark clothes and Aerith as the Red Oni in red clothes. Played even straighter with their Wall Market dresses, respectively blue and bright red.
      • After Aeris dies, Yuffie becomes the Red Oni to Tifa's Blue Oni.
      • Zach (Red) and Cloud (Blue) also follow this trope.
    • In Final Fantasy VIII, the protagonist Squall is a blue (and wears black) while Rival Turned Evil Seifer is a red (and wears white).
      • On a smaller scale, the Biggs and Wedge pair in VIII are also a colour-coded example of this, Biggs is brash, aggressive, and ambitious; Wedge is his cool-headed, reserved, and long-suffering subordinate.
      • Raijin and Fujin also qualify.
      • On an even smaller scale, in Final Fantasy IV, twins Palom and Porom. Palom uses Black Magic; he's brash and always getting himself into trouble. His twin sister Porom uses White Magic; she's studious, dutiful, and constantly smacking her brother upside the head to get him to behave.
    • Final Fantasy IX has Zidane and Kuja, which sort of makes sense when you consider they're brothers.
      • It is later subverted: Zidane becomes a lot more responsible and thoughtful, while Kuja...
      • Even the planets Gaea and Terra are colour-coded according to this convention.
      • Zorn and Thorn may not have the personalities to match this trope, but at least their colors do.
    • In Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning is outwardly cold and professional with a former past in the military. Fang is flirty and cocky and comes from an ancient tribe of warriors. Lightning's outfit is white with a red cape, while Fang's outfit is black with blue sashes. The parallels extend to their Eidolons - a white knight and a black dragon.
      • The game also plays with this in another way: Lightning acts like a blue but her plan to save cocoon basically involved going nuts and killing anyone who stood in her way, whereas Fang acts like a red but was the only l'Cie that had anything resembling an actual plan to save humanity.
      • Also, Snow and Hope invert this trope. Snow, the Hot-Blooded character in blue clothes, is the Red Oni in comparison to Hope, the level-headed character in yellow and orange clothes, who is the Blue Oni.
  • The Technical Pacifist, blue-armored X and the aggressive, red-armored Zero in the Mega Man X games.
    • And the aloof, blue ice-element Dark Action Girl Leviathan and red fire-element berserker Fefnir in the Mega Man Zero games.
    • And the blue Emotionless Girl Pandora and berserk (even moreso than Fefnir) Prometheus in the Mega Man ZX series.
      • Inverted example: Vent/Aile, the Blue Mega Man, is a hotheaded and impulsive boy/girl who tends to charge headfirst to the situation and, thus, Red Oni. Girouette, the Red Mega Man, is his/her Big Brother Mentor who is calm, caring, and level-headed and, thus, the Blue Oni.
    • Inversion in Mega Man Battle Network. Lan and MegaMan are blue, Chaud and Protoman are red. Chaud's the Aloof Rival to Lan's Idiot Hero, and while Rock is a lot more savvy and collected than his Operator, Protoman's professionalism and businesslike manner still plays Blue Oni to his Power of Friendship philosophies.
    • Inversion in Mega Man Star Force: Geo Stelar, who wears red, is a Wangsty Hikikomori who doesn't actually enjoy fighting and, thus, is the Blue Oni. The blue Omega-Xis, on the other hand, is a hotheaded Jerkass who likes fighting and is very aggresive and, thus, is the Red Oni.
    • The Mega Man series inverted this from the get go with naive and impulsive Kid Hero Mega Man, who is the one in blue, and his more mature and experienced Aloof Big Brother Proto Man, who wears red. However, Mega Man, who is not a Technical Pacifist like X but still isn't all that into fighting, is the Blue Oni in comparison to his Blood Knight Evil Counterpart Bass (who wears black and gold, but still qualifies for obvious reasons).
  • Sonic the Hedgehog loves this trope. Here are some examples.
    • This is reversed with our titular blue hero, who is a lot more outgoing and carefree than his red-clad counterpart, Shadow. Of course, there's still the red Knuckles, where this trope is played straight.
      • This is also reversed with Sonic and Dr. Robotnik in general.
    • Shadow first appeared in 2001 in Sonic Adventure 2 while Knuckles first appeared in the Red Oni role in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in 1994 and reprised it in Sonic & Knuckles later that year. Knuckles remains uncontested in the Red Oni role up to Sonic Adventure.
      • Also, Knuckles (Red) to Rouge (Blue).
    • In Sonic Adventure, this is inverted with Chaos, who is blue, but falls under the Red Oni category, and Tikal, who is red-orange, but falls under the Blue Oni category.
      • Also, another extreme example is Tikal's father Pachamac and the rest of the ancient echidnas (Red) in comparison to Tikal (Blue).
    • The Sonic girls also follow this trope as Amy is the Red Oni, wearing a red dress and being much more energetic in comparison to Rouge, being the Blue Oni in dark clothes who is much more calm and collected.
    • In Knuckles Chaotix, the Chaotix also follow this trope with Vector, Charmy, and Bomb being red in comparison to Espio, Mighty, and Heavy being blue.
    • In Sonic Riders, the Babylon Rogues also follow this to a degree with Jet being red in contrast to Wave being blue and Storm being in the middle.
      • Also, Tails (Red) to Wave (Blue).
    • In Sonic Chronicles, Knuckles would be the Red Oni to Shade's Blue Oni.
    • Sonic Rush Series plays it differently - Sonic meets Blaze, from another dimension. Sonic is blue, but more outgoing. Blaze is much more reserved and angsty, while being red and having fire powers. Towards the end of the game, when they get riled up about who will fight Eggman (mostly due to Blaze's distance and distrust of others for most of Rush), it is Sonic who remains calm, like his blue colour, while Blaze gets really angry and agitated, being the red. The two Eggmen in these two games also do this - the normal one, wearing red, is exciteable, whereas the Nega version in his cool black/dark green colours is a very calculative Complete Monster.
    • The sequel Sonic Rush Adventure has Marine (Red) and Tails (Blue).
    • In Sonic Heroes, every team follows this trope.
      • Team Sonic has Knuckles (Red) and Sonic (Blue) with Tails in the middle.
      • Team Rose has Amy (Red) and Big (Blue) with Cream in the middle.
      • Team Dark has Omega and Shadow (Red) in contrast to Rouge (Blue).
      • Team Chaotix has Vector and Charmy (Red) in contrast to Espio (Blue).
  • Devil May Cry: 3 has identical twins Dante (Red, wears red, arrogant, sarcastic, impetuous, good-guy) and Vergil (Blue, wears blue, somber, stoic, ruthless, bad-guy); 4 has Dante (ditto) and Nero (Blue, dedicated, also good-guy).
    • Agni and Rudra have shades of this, despite having the same personality.
  • The Super Robot Wars series gives us the awesomeness that is the hotblooded Sanger Zonbolt and his Heterosexual Life Partner and intellectual Foil Elzam Braunstein. Each of them is a total badass in a different way, one spouting absurdly cheesy lines but making them pure gold while the other serves as an Aloof Big Brother whose theme song trumps all others? Although, like some incarnations, the Red Oni Sanger's mechs will more than likely have a dominant color of blue, while Blue Oni Elzam always paints his mechs red.
    • Axel and Lamia as well, though the Original Generation series no longer portrays them as rivals. Axel is a hotblooded redhead who always fights on the front lines and pilots a martial arts Motion Capture Mecha. Lamia is a cold and logical Ridiculously Human Robot whose mecha uses illusions and attacks from afar with a bow. Their personalities differ somewhat depending on which one's playing hero and which is playing villain, but they retain their red and blue traits no matter what.
  • Hot-Blooded Ralf Jones (red oni) and The Stoic Clark Still (blue oni) from Ikari Warriors and The King of Fighters. Ralf beats enemies down with explosive punches and lots of yelling, while his partner Clark is much more inclined to break his opponents' bones with grappling moves without breaking a sweat (or saying much of a word).
    • KoF's own Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami are their series' Red and Blue. Kyo is cocky and high-spirited while Iori is cold and ruthless in battle. However, if Iori's Orochi blood flares up...
    • Fatal Fury carryovers Terry and Andy Bogard fit as well, with Terry matching the red attributes (being outgoing and having a vibrant personality) and Andy picking up the blue (focused and disciplined).
  • Kazuki and Sogetsu from Samurai Shodown. Both are ninja, but the former dresses in red, is hot-tempered, and has fire-based powers; the latter dresses in blue, is far more composed, and has water powers.
  • Some possible pairs of characters in the Dragon Age series:
    • Oghren is definitely the Red Oni of the Warden's band with his ferocious berserker nature and his massive red beard; the Blue Oni is usually Sten.
    • At the very beginning, the emotional and somewhat childlike Alistair is played as the Red Oni to the icy and calculating Morrigan's Blue Oni.
    • In the second game, Isabela and Aveline take on these roles.
  • Shows up, oddly, in Mass Effect with Urdnot Wrex and Garrus Vakarian, who default to red and blue armor respectively and are a semi-criminal mercenary and a cop. Oddly subverted in that Wrex, while violent and impulsive, is actually fairly stoic and difficult to anger, while Garrus is significantly more hot-tempered and easier to rile.
    • Ashley and Kaidan also play more standard Red Oni/Blue Oni roles, albeit with less color-coding; in a dialogue option partway through the game, Commander Shepard says that when s/he wants an answer "from the head", s/he goes to Kaidan, and when s/he wants one "from the heart", s/he goes to Ashley. Eventually, Shepard (and, by extension, the player) is forced to choose between them.
      • Shepard can also join in on this trope thanks to the game's Karma Meter, though with some slight inversions. Blue-coded Paragon Shepard tends to be more empathic and personable (typically a red trait), while Red-negade Shepard is more self-centered and/or mission-oriented (typically a blue trait).
    • In Mass Effect 2, paragon and renegade decisions affect Shepard's appearance by way of a Hand Wave. A renegade character will end up horribly scarred and with glowing red eyes. A paragon character, meanwhile, eventually heals the scars and goes back to what they used to look like. Default Shepard has blue eyes. Renegade Default Shepard ends up with red eyes. See where I'm going with this?
    • Don't forget about Miranda and Jack. The two don't get along and their temperaments are could not be more different. Cool, collected Miranda, with her impressive intellect and all-business demeanor, is the Blue Oni, and hot-blooded, impulsive Jack, with her vengeance motif and passionate poetry, is the Red Oni.
    • Tali and Kasumi also qualify. Both are some of the best tech experts in the galaxy, but Tali is calm and sarcastic, while Kasumi's nature is much more energetic and cheerful. This also shows in their career roles. While Tali is content with performing research and maintanence, Kasumi uses her skills to become one of the best thieves in the galaxy
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • The Chosen One Sora and Missed the Call Rival Turned Evil Riku from Kingdom Hearts definitely have this mechanic at work. This is especially blatant in Chain of Memories, where Sora and Riku have red- and blue-tinted title artwork.
    • Axel and Saix play this as straight as can be in Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2, complete with the hair colors to match. And now cement this trope through and through in Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep
    • Saix and Xigbar also seem to have this, especially in relation to Roxas. Saix is cool, calm, and detached but was completely ruthless in Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2 where he fought Roxas over whether he could leave or not. Xigbar is more likely to bend the rules in order to get what he wants. He also seemed concerned about Roxas/Sora in both Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2 and Kingdom Hearts II
    • An evil variant occurs with the Big Bad Master Xehanort and The Dragon, Vanitas. Master Xehanort is the blue; Vanitas is the red.
    • Terra and Aqua as well. Terra is more impulsive, and is also emotional and extremely concerned for his friends (not to say Aqua isn't). Aqua is more calm when it comes to decisions. Their battle poses reflect this as well.
  • In Silhouette Mirage, nearly all lifeforms are divided into two categories: the Silhouettes, who represent force, emotion, and determination, and the Mirages, who represent intelligence, technology, and cold logic. Oddly, the typical color scheme is reversed: Silhouettes are blue while Mirages are red.
  • Played straight in Gunstar Heroes and Gunstar Super Heores, to the point where, in addition to having personalities entirely constructed on this trope, the dual protagonists are named Red and Blue.
  • Castlevania: Curse of Darkness has Isaac the Red Oni, who is emotionally-driven, vengeful, passionate, and embodies the Foe Yay trope; Hector, your hero, is the Blue Oni. He's told - and tells himself - often to keep his cool and not get all 'riled up' by Isaac's antics so as not to be overtaken by Dracula's curse. Their official wallpapers make their Convenient Oni Colour-Coding clear, if we didn't catch it the first time.
    • Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow features, among its trio of cultist villains, the hot-headed (and red-headed and red-attired) maniac Dario Bossi, who has fire powers to boot, and the cold-blooded psychopath Dmitrii Blinov, who wears blue and whose power is copying magic attacks used on him.
    • Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin also included Jonathan, the hot-blooded Red Oni, and Charlotte, the collected Blue Oni. The Twins Stella and Loretta also fit this trope, Stella being a bit more hands on with her swordplay and Loretta using her spells to attack from afar. Both pairs also have this evidenced in their attire: Jonathan and Stella having a much warmer color scheme and Charlotte and Loretta having a cooler tone.
  • Xenogears: Dominia and Kelvena, members of the Elements, are red and blue, respectively. Dominia is impulsive and vengeful, while Kelvena is calm and reserved. They even wear red and blue.
    • Come on: Xenogears could be almost renamed "Oni meets Christianity (IN SPACE!)": we have Fei, the brash martial Artist, and Elly, technically his substitute mother AND wife since the crash of the Eldridge 10.000 years ago (Freud would have loved this game), the more composed officer: Fei's angers are a sight to behold and Elly is the only one who can calm him ( she's probably the only one who's tought enough to wistand the full extant of his anger anyway), and a flashback shows us that 500 years ago, during the diabolo's war, and even 40 CENTURIES ago during the Zeboim era, she was already the blue, calmer part of their couple. Apart from Fei and Elly, we have Citan (so blue that, sometimes, it take time to understand that the man is really angry) and the red hot-blooded Bart, while, on the villain side, we have Ramsus (who gets redder and redder during the course of the game) and Miang, who is so blue that it even affects her hair, or the trio formed by ID, who, like Miang, is hair-coded, Grahf (middle ground) and Magnificent Bluestard Krelian...
      • Id and Fei also qualify.
  • Sengoku Basara has two examples of this. There's poster boys Sanada Yukimura as the Hot-Blooded fire-user and Gratuitous English spouting Lightning-wielder Date Masamune - Masamune is pretty Hot-Blooded himself, but still serves as the Blue Oni in comparison to Yukimura. There's also Takeda Shingen, Yukimura's equally Hot Blooded commander and Ice-using swordsman Uesugi Kenshin.
  • Not directly used, but possibly referenced in Perfect Cherry Blossom of the Touhou series: In the Extra Stage Mid Boss battle against Chen, one of Chen's spell cards is named Oni Sign "Blue Oni Red Oni". Half the bullets rush directly at you, while the other half drift around slowly in a somewhat random direction, though there are both red and blue bullets of both types.
    • For a more direct representation of the trope, Mountain of Faith's goddesses Kanako and Suwako fit the bill.
    • For an even more direct representation of the trope, we have Yuki and Mai, the stage 4 bosses of Mystic Square, one of the old generation games. Yuki is the Red Oni: she's upfront with the protagonist and she uses fire magic (usually blanketing the whole field). If Mai is defeated first, Yuki will be in a state of righteous indignation when she gets serious. Mai is the Blue Oni: She barely says a word before the battle and she uses cold magic (usually aimed straight at the player). If Yuki is defeated first, Mai will declare that Yuki was dragging her down and now she doesn't have to hold back.
    • This trope's also used in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil with the Scarlet sisters: Remilia, the more calm and collected one with blue hair, and Flandre, the more playful and Ax Crazy one dressed in red. Though Remilia is still the Scarlet Devil from her feeding habits.
    • Ironically, both of the actual oni characters seen in games so far have been pretty strongly red.
    • And finally, there's the main protagonists Reimu (very much a blue despite her red and white outfit) and Marisa (very red and assertive and loves blasting her opponents).
  • While The World Ends With You's protagonists are very much a mixture of traits (Neku and Joshua being blue with red spots, Shiki and Beat being red with blue spots), a much neater organization can be found among the Reaper Organization. The best example of Red Oni, Blue Oni is probably Koki Kariya (Blue) and Uzuki Yashiro (Red).
    • Another Day also has this with Shuto (Red) and Neku (Blue). When picking colours for their Five-Man Band, Shuto got Red while Neku was stuck with Black 'n Blue, until he was demoted to just blue. It's even lampshaded by Joshua right before Neku's and Shuto's Slamming duel, calling it red and blue eternal rivals.
  • Heat, the short-tempered, impetuous, and eventually antagonistic Lancer who transforms into the fire demon Agni, and Serph, the rational, calm, and almost emotionless leader who transforms into ice demon Varna in Digital Devil Saga.
  • Red Oni Sol Badguy and Blue Oni Ky Kiske from Guilty Gear.
  • BlazBlue has Ragna and Jin. Iron Tager is actually nicknamed "The Red Oni" (Translated as "The Red Devil"), but this has to do with his fighting prowess and physical resemblance to one, and he doesn't really fit the archetype.
    • Continuum Shift adds Hazama/Terumi Yukki and Relius Clover. Bonus points for them being the main villains of the series.
    • Ragna and Jin subvert this since, free of any outside influences such as an out of control Azure Grimoire and Yukianesa, both of them are actually pretty hotblooded, though their values are different.
  • Advance Wars: Days of Ruin has Tasha/Zadia, a Fiery Redhead who is driven by vengeance for her dead brother, and her co-commander Gage/Trak, a The Stoic blue-haired Cold Sniper. They're commanders in the same army and very much foils of each other.
    • Additionally, Will, the emotional new recruit, and Lin, the older, colder, and more cynical veteran.
  • In The Legend of Zelda, Ganondorf, the resident Big Bad, is represented by the color red -- the color of Din, Goddess of Power, whose portion of the Triforce he wields. The color of Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom, is blue and synonymous with her acolyte, the wise, kind, serene Princess Zelda.
    • Don't forget in The Legend of Zelda Links Awakening DX, the Red Clothes boost offense whereas the Blue Clothes boost defence. This is reused in the The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games with the Red/Blue and Power/Armor rings. Link also commonly gets offensive Fire Arrows and defensive Ice Arrows.
    • Speaking of the Oracle series, the games themselves were packaged in red and blue boxes - Seasons, in the red box, is the more action-oriented game, and Ages, in the blue box, is the more cerebral of the two. Their signature girls who are named after the goddesses Din and Nayru respectively and are representative of this trope as well.
    • Not fitting the trope per se, but makes for some interesting food for thought: Link could be seen as something of an intermediate "green oni" (as per the color of Farore and the Triforce of Courage that Link holds) in a way - more active and aggressive than Zelda, but cleverer and more patient than Ganon.
      • The games specifically require players to be both Onis, since gameplay alternates between fast-paced battles against powerful enemies (red) and complex puzzles that require careful thought and planning to solve (blue).
    • In The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword, Ghirahim and Fi.
  • The Dept. Heaven games just love to reverse this trope.
    • Riviera: The Promised Land has red-themed Ledah with a blue personality and blue-themed Malice with a red personality.
    • Yggdra Union has twin sisters Luciana and Aegina; while Luciana is red and Aegina is blue, Luciana's trademark colors are black and blue and Aegina's is red.
    • Knights in The Nightmare has Maria, Marietta, Meria, and Melissa. Maria and Marietta have red-and-gold coloring with blue personalities, while Meria and Melissa have blue-and-purple coloring with red personalities.
      • However, the Law and Chaos phases bathe the battlefield in blue and red, respectively. U L
  • The Shaolin (red) and Counter (blue) classes in Wind Slayer. Their out-of-game portraits are even Color Coded for Your Convenience.
  • Okami has a pair of enemies known as "Red Oni/Ogre" and "Blue Oni/Ogre". They attack with fire and ice, respectively.
    • Don't be forgetting Amaterasu and Okikurumi, now.
      • These two characters actually subvert the trope since Amaterasu (who has red markings) is the more calm, poised one, while Okikurumi, whose main color is blue, is hot-tempered at best and caused turmoil by stealing the legendary sword.
  • Jyuji Kabane and Rocketbilly Redcadillac from Gungrave: Overdose. One is a hot-tempered, undead blind warrior who constantly makes death threats against those who annoy him and who's fast in attacking his opponents without really thinking of a plan first (and he's Dual-Wielding red gunblades); the other is a kind and somewhat naive rocker ghost with a heart of gold who loves the ladies (and his weapon is a blue electric guitar). They Fight Crime.
  • Reversed in Chrono Trigger. Ice-wielding Marle is outgoing, friendly, and impulsive; fire-wielding Lucca is a levelheaded Gadgeteer Genius.
    • In an inversion, the reckless one was given the title "blue" and the serious one given the title "red."
  • Tales of Symphonia. Lloyd and Genis even match the colors: Lloyd is athletic, aggressive, puts all his focus into physical combat, and dresses in all-red. Genis is much more studious, much more willing to play by the rules, much calmer, puts all his focus into magical combat, and dresses in all-blue.
    • A better example would be Lloyd {Red} and Kratos {Blue}. Kind of strange, since they're father and son.
    • Partially inverted by Celsius and Efreet, the summon spirits of ice and fire. Celsius is blue, but is arrogant and gives off a hot-blooded air. Efreet is red, but is calm and somewhat humble.
    • Tales of the Abyss also follows this trope. The main character, Luke, sports firey red waist-length hair and is extremely emotional and aggressive. The party's scholar, Jade, is calm, cool, collected, and sports an incredibly sharp wit. He is clad almost totally in blue.
    • Tales of Vesperia is another example, with Flynn assuming the role of Blue Oni and Yuri as Red (though they use different colors for the contrast: black and white). Flynn is much more calm, rule-abiding, and all around more mellow than Yuri. Though Yuri also understands the implications of his actions more than an average Red Oni, he's much more driven by his passion and obsession of taking justice than Flynn. Even to the point of resorting to vigilantism for a lot of the game to try and set things right. Whereas Flynn is more concerned with setting the laws themselves right and then respecting the rule of law. Ultimately, they share the same exact sort of goal (but different means of accomplishing it), as well as sharing somewhat similar sword skills (though the "identical" artes like Dragon Swarm are still performed quite differently). Classic rival example.
  • Featured prominently with the two races added in the first World of Warcraft expansion. The arrogant and reckless Blood Elves have a red color scheme, while the more stoic and noble Draenei have a blue scheme. They even have red and blue underwear.
    • There is also Kil'jaeden and Archimonde. For this one, the colour is reversed, though: Archimonde is the red and Kil'jaeden is the blue.
    • Then in Wrath of the Lich King, Tirion and the Argent Crusade is the blue and Darion and the Ebon Blade is the red.
    • High Inquisitor Whitemane vs. Argent Confessor Paletress
    • The Alliance vs. The Horde.
  • The portable remake of Persona 3 has managed to pull off a fairly rare Distaff Counterpart version of this by introducing the option to have a female protagonist; the male protagonist is typically a bit reserved and intellectual and is accordingly given blue hair and eyes (and a blue in-game interface); the new female option is quite a bit more outgoing and cheerful and is naturally themed red with her hair and eyes.
  • The Super Mario Brothers! While, originally, the Bros. were little more than a Palette Swap of each other until Divergent Character Evolution split them apart. Mario, being the titular hero, wears red and is the all-around happy-go-lucky, kick-assy, everyone (except Bowser)-lovesy guy. Whereas the green-clad Luigi became portrayed as a Cowardly Lion, who is rather introverted and at times even outright ignored by the game's cast. Poor guy.
    • Appropriately enough, in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, after visiting two temples, Mario gets the power of (red) fire and Luigi gets the power of (blue) thunder.
    • Anybody else remember the Red and Blue Goombas that King Goomba sends to stop you from reaching Toad Town in "Paper Mario"? Yeah.
    • The red and green Koopas invert the dynamic.
    • Played straight with the princesses as well: we have Peach and Daisy (wearing pink and orange, respectively) contrasted with Rosalina (who wears blue).
  • Inverted in the original Myst: Achenar is passionate, strong, uncontrollable to the point of insanity and an excellent hunter, while his little brother Sirrus is calm, sophisticated, manipulative, and a brilliant technician. Nonetheless, Achenar is trapped in the Blue Book when you meet him and Sirrus is trapped in the Red Book.
  • Ikaruga's main gameplay mechanic makes use of positive (white/blue) and negative (red/black) energy shots.
  • Gauntlet (1985 video game): Savage Warrior T and noble Valkyrie T fit their colors, although Gauntlet II has all heroes change different colors.
  • Sophitia and Cassandra from Soul Calibur (blue and red, respectively}.
  • Otomedius features the Gofer Sisters, R.B. (Red) and L.B. (Blue). To further drive home this trope, they favor those colors on their dresses and matched fighters, Hugin and Munin.
  • Breath of Fire III has a mild case of this with Garr (red) and Gaist (blue) ( at least, before Gaist dies). Their horns are even conveniently color-coded.
  • Breath of Fire IV plays this trope extremely straight with Ryu (Red) and Fou-lu (Blue); literally the only deviation would be that these two are not literally oni but rather Split At Birth halves of a draconic god. (Fou-lu is, in fact, a literal God-Emperor who gets driven down a Trauma Conga Line and ends up ultimately a Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.)
    • And even then, if you count their "trance"/"meditation" dragon-kemonomimi forms, this trope gets played even straighter--Ryu's meditation form has red markings on the "dragony" bits, whilst Fou-lu's has blue "dragony" bits.
    • The Comic Book Adaptation of Breath of Fire IV and concept art play this so straight, in fact, that literal Dragons Up the Yin-Yang comparison is made of Ryu (yang) and Fou-lu (yin).
  • This seems to be the situation with twin maids Hisui and Kohaku in Tsukihime, who are Different As Night and Day, with Hisui being the cold one, and Kohaku being the passionate one. But this is actually a subversion, with Hisui and Kohaku having switched personalities when they were younger.
  • In a "kinda sorta" example, in Halo 3, The Arbiter is a Red Oni to the Master Chief's Blue Oni. At the same time, in 2 and 3, Arbiter is also the Blue to Rtas "Half-Jaw" Vadum's Red.
    • Don't forget Emile's red to Jorge's blue from Reach. Most clearly seen when rescuing the researcher's daughter, Sara, in the first level's ending cutscene.
  • In .hack//G.U., Haseo and Ovan. Haseo is a fiery, obstinate Jerk with a Heart of Gold, while Ovan is calm, smooth, calculating, and manipulative.
  • Treasure Hunter G actually has two brothers named Red and Blue as the protagonists. In a subversion, Red is both the Hot-Blooded hero and the stern big brother. Blue is portrayed as weaker but noble at heart.
  • Heart Aino {red} and Saki Tsuruya {blue} from Arcana Heart. They even have red and blue hair, respectively.
  • Maxie and Archie from the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire series of the handheld Pokémon games. Ironically, while exactly which is which tends to vary a bit depending on the medium, generally quiet and scheming Maxie (the leader of red-themed Team Magma) pulls Blue Oni duty while his wilder Team Aqua counterpart Archie plays the role of Red Oni.
    • Also, in Black and White, we have the Subway Masters Emmet and Ingo. One cannot express sadness and the other is always frowning.
    • Pokémon has plenty of examples: Mewtwo and Mew, Ho-oh and Lugia, Groudon and Kyogre, Latias and Latios, Dialga and Palkia, Darkrai and Cresselia, Basculin's alternate colors, Throh and Sawk, Zekrom and Reshiram...Many times. the Red Oni will also have high attack stats while the Blue Oni has higher defenses. Darmanitan is a special case in that it follows the trope in both coloration and stats while being the same Pokémon.
      • Red eyes and Blue eyes from Pokemon Rangers Guardian Signs
  • The titular pair in the Banjo-Kazooie series, with Kazooie serving as the aggressive Red Breegull to the more easygoing Blue-Backpacked Banjo. This is especially visible when the two of them get the Split Up ability in Tooie". Kazooie keeps her flight capabilities, still has her entire arsenal of eggs, has less hitpoints, quick movement, and learns a quick melee attack. Banjo starts out with no attack before learning a slow one, more hitpoints, and learns moves that are more passive and defensive in nature.
  • Salsa {red} and March {blue} from Eternal Sonata. Even their hair are the respective colors!
  • A Meta example (which is occasionally lampshaded in other works) is in video games where Players 1 and 2 are usually assigned these colors.
  • Subverted by the Last Blade series, where the reckless, arrogant Kaede wears blue and the Troubled but Cute Quiet One Moriya wears red and has red hair.
  • There are several examples in Knights of the Old Republic. In the first game, Carth and Bastila: Carth is a soldier, more impulsive and quick to act, and impatient of bureaucracy; Bastila is a Jedi, more likely to counsel discretion and restraint, and much more confident in the wisdom of the Jedi Council. Among the villains, Revan and Malak (as expounded in the first game and further developed in the second): Malak is aggressive and violent, willing to destroy an entire planet to kill one person; when you fight him, he has the Force Jump feat, indicating that he is a Jedi Guardian, the more combat-oriented of the Jedi classes. Revan was a Chessmaster verging on (in the sequel, achieving) Magnificent Bastardy, turning the tide of the Mandalorian Wars through strategic brilliance. In the second game, Atton and Kreia fill these roles, with Atton reacting much more emotionally to any given situation and Kreia remaining cool and detached.
  • The villains of the first Golden Sun have a Red Oni, Blue Oni vibe. Menardi, while more reserved, is Hot-Blooded and driven, plays the role of The Dragon, occassionally gets fooled by her partner's scheming, and dresses in red. Saturos, while more outgoing, is a crafty trickster and has a definite blue theme going in his design.
    • Dark Dawn gives us the Kaocho generals, temperamental Ku-Embra in red armor and honorable Ku-Tsung in blue armor.
      • And the warm, outgoing Sand Prince Gem, who openly invites you to befriend him/it in the Defeat Means Friendship sense, and the cold, arrogant, self-centered Ice Queen Gem, who balks at the idea of serving Adepts again.
  • Flora and Fauna from Tak and the Power of Juju are a very, very straight example.
  • Samurai Warriors sports several couples, including Yukimura and Hanzo, Kotaro and Hanzo, Ginchiyo and Yoshihiro, Shingen and Kenshin, Musashi and Kojiro, and Hanbei and Kanbei.
  • Wheately and GLaDOS have this dynamic in Portal 2, with GLaDOS being cold, rational, and calculating, while Wheately is dimwitted, outgoing, and gregarious. Their color schemes are inverted, though; Wheately is blue and GLaDOS is orange. Interestingly, Wheately was actually created to be a counterweight personality core for GLaDOS -- specifically, he was designed as an intelligence inhibitor to make her stupider.
    • Atlas and P-Body do this, too: Atlas has a blue eye and portals is more cautious while P-Body is orange/red and is impulsive.
  • Inazuma Eleven has a couple:
    • The Fubuki brothers. Shirou Fubuki is the blue oni: a cool, calm, and rather timid defender. His brother, Atsuya Fubuki, is the red on: Hot-Blooded and forward, with red hair to boot.
    • The two co-captains of The Chaos, Burn (Nagumo Haruya) and Gazel (Suzuno Fuusuke). Burn is, as his name would suggest, a fiery red oni (also with red hair) to Gazel's blue oni, who's calm, confident, and An Ice Person.
  • Disgaea has the red-haired Demon Etna and the (white-)blue clad Angel Flonne, both with quite different methods and personalities but the common goal to make Demon Prince Laharl a good King.
    • In the fourth installment, we have Fuka and her little sister Desco play this trope straight and invert it. Fuka has a brash, aggressive personality and takes baseball as Serious Business and Desco has a cutesy, cheery, and kinder type personality. However, their interests conflict with their personalities. Fuka wants world domination and have stereotypical interests in several girly things like sweets and dress-up while Desco desires to be a Final Boss someday and cause total massive destruction.
  • Kirby and King Dedede play Red Oni to Meta Knight's Blue Oni. Their colors play this trope straight too - with the carefree, sometimes Idiot Hero Kirby being pink, the agressive King Dedede wearing red, and then the calm and mysterious Meta Knight being blue.
  • Best friends Chie (Red) and Yukiko (Blue) in Persona 4. However, their powers are inverted, as Chie (Red) uses ice magic and Yukiko (Blue) uses fire magic.
    • Not to metion Youske and the Protagonist. Indeed, as keeping a cool head is what unlocks the good ending for the game.
  • Kyle and Alex, the protagonists from The Colour Tuesday. Kyle is the level-headed blue oni, Alex the Hot-Blooded red oni. They complement each other well.
  • In Ninja Gaiden Sigma II, the Tengu Brothers fit this trop to a T. The red twin is hot-blooded and cheeky, while the blue twin is wiser and more cautious, telling his brother not to underestimate the enemy. When you fight them at the end of chapter 5, the red one will usualy come at you first, although their fighting style is identical.
  • Oni has fun with this. Konoko, real name Mai, is the blue Oni, while Muro, Mai's brother, is the red Oni. However, their personalities seem to be the opposite of their colours...at least early on. By the end, however, they pretty much exhibit the personalities you would expect from their colours. By the way, is it a coincidence that they both have purple hair, which is the colour you get from mixing red and blue together?
  • In Metal Gear Solid, Solid Snake and his Evil Twin Liquid Snake could represent this trope to a point. Whereas Solid Snake is usually calm, generally soft-spoken, and tries to compartmentalize his emotions, Liquid Snake is brash, arrogant, obnoxious, and overconfident.
  • Tekken's major red/blue example is between Jin Kazama (a stoic and soft-spoken blue) and Hwoarang (fiery with a touch of arrogance, making him red).
    • In Street Fighter X Tekken, Hwoarang's recklessness and impulsiveness are played up, making him greatly contrast with the belligerent yet composed and rational Steve, who serves as his partner and often the voice of reason between the two.
  • Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky: Hotblooded, combative, outgoing, soft-hearted, athletic, sometime tactless (though rarely downright mean or without a good point), mildly ditsy (it comes and goes) Genki Girl protagonist Estelle is the Red Oni; her cool-headed, book smart, tactful, introverted, mildly sneaky and pragmatic yet not unfriendly or uncaring adopted brother Joshua is the Blue Oni. Their hair colors match this, as well, with Estelle having auburn hair and Joshua's hair being dark.
  • Radiant Historia: This actually has two sets of examples. Blue Oni and main character Stocke is very calm and collected in almost any situation, tends towards sneaky, and has a lean body that's usually portrayed as more dexterous than strong. Red Oni Rosche has that big booming officer's voice, is more personable and passionate (qualities that Stocke argues makes him a more suiting leader), is more emotional, and is a little less calm by comparison, though not stupid, and has a very brawny build. For the other pair, Red Oni Raynie is hotblooded, outgoing, and somewhat slow on the uptake. Blue Oni Marco is a little more rational and somewhat sharper and more tactful than his counterpart (though not so smart that he's ever allowed to overshadow Stocke, Rosche, or any of Stocke's other more intelligent and experienced allies). The sidequests (Raynie the Active and Marco the Calm) for unlocking some of their abilities are a play on this dynamic.
  • Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles from Fahrenheit.
    • Spiritual Successor Heavy Rain has Lt. Carter Blake as the cocky, hotblooded, and crazy cop and Norman Jayden as the calm, selfless, and good FBI agent.
  • The Ace Attorney series has some Red and Blue Onis. An inverted example is Phoenix, the blue-clad defense attorney (who isn't as hot-headed as a typical Red Oni, but he doesn't tend to think things through) and his red-wearing frenemy Miles Edgeworth, who is calm, cool, and calculating most of the time. In fact, in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the highly emotional hero who gets by largely on luck always wears blue, whereas his Rival wears red. In fact, the lawyers with the more fiery reddish qualities (Phoenix, Francizka, etc.) have a blue motif in their dress, while the more aloof ones (Edgeworth, Godot's visor and clothing as Diego Armando) have a red motif.
    • Another example from the later game, Apollo Justice, has the title character wearing a red vest - his preference for the color red is even mentioned a couple times in-game - and being rather impulsive (also, his hair is horns!). There are a couple of blue onis in the game. Kristoph Gavin, for one, is, though friendly, very serious and icy as well and wears a blue suit. However, in the end, Kristoph pretty much out-hams every murderer in the series. Klavier Gavin is the epitome of "cool collectedness" and wears a purplish maroon getup.
    • Also from Apollo Justice, to a lesser degree, we have another inverted version with Klavier in his pinkish/reddish/purplish outfit as a cool straight-man, and his band-mate Daryan Crescend in a blue, shark-like outfit being quite temperamental.
    • Also played with in Justice For All: Matt Engarde, a popular - if somewhat dim - celebrity wears a scarlet jacket, whereas his manager, Adrian Andrews, is calm and collected and wears blue. In reality, Engarde is a vicious, self-obsessed manipulator and Adrian is a co-dependent, frail woman who's deathly scared of Engarde.
  • Street Fighter X Tekken has many examples
    • Ryu and Ken: Ryu (blue oni) is stoic, studious and takes training TOO seriously, while Ken (red oni)is friendly, egotistical, and easy-going
    • Chun Li and Cammy: Chun Li (red oni) is outgoing, humorous, and cheerful, while Cammy (blue oni) is calm, cold, and focused
    • Guile and Abel: Guile (blue oni) is persistent, disciplined, and stoic, while Abel (red oni) is childish, naive, and amnesiac
    • Sagat and Dhalsim: Sagat (red oni) is prideful, arrogant, and considers himself an emperor, while Dhalsim (blue oni) is peaceful, ascetic, and humble
    • Rufus and Zangief: Rufus (red oni) is loud, boastful, and jumps to conclusions, while Zangief (blue oni) is patriotic, a children's role model, and is smarter than Rufus
    • Poison and Hugo: Poison (red oni) is flirtatious, temperamental, and complains a lot, while Hugo (blue oni) is quiet, calm, and lets his fists do the talking
    • Vega and Balrog: Vega (blue oni) is the calmly sadistic and vain self-lover, while Balrog (red oni) is flippant, greedy, and very brutish
    • Rolento and Ibuki: Rolento (blue oni) is disciplined, serious, and military-minded, while Ibuki (red oni) is flirtatious, playful, and air-headed
    • M. Bison and Juri: Bison (blue oni) is calm, calculating, and strategic, while Juri (red oni) is violent, sadistic, and sultry
    • Kazuya and Nina: Kazuya (red oni) is maniacal, vengeful, and power-hungry, while Nina (blue oni) is cold, stoic, and focused
    • Asuka and Lili: Asuka (red oni) is hot-tempered, vigilant, and cocky, while Lili is relaxed, easy-going, and elegant
    • Hwoarang and Steve: Hwoarang (red oni) is arrogant, cocky, and hot-blooded, while Steve is cool-headed, relaxed, and chill
    • King and Marduk: King (blue oni) is silent, stoic, and religious, while Marduk is hyper-aggressive, violent, and woman-crazy
    • Yoshimitsu and Raven: Yoshimitsu is giddy, youthful, and deceptively clumsy, while Raven is stoic, professional, and iron-hearted
    • Jin and Xiaoyu: Jin (blue oni) is calm, stoic, and focused while Xiaoyu (red oni) is youthful, playful, and energetic
  • Dead Rising 2: Case West has Chuck Greene (red) and Frank West (blue).
    • The first game would have Carlito being hotheaded and losing his cool while his sister, Isabela is calculating and common sense.
  • Sam and Max Freelance Police would have the titular characters as blue and red. Sam is easy going and sane, while Max is "hyper-kinetic" and Trigger Happy.
  • Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume gives us a Brother-Sister Team with Valmur and Phiona. Valmur, who wears blue, advises caution and temperance, and keeps his noble house from the civil war, while Hot-Blooded Phiona is emotional and wants to pledge herself to combat, regardless of who it is.
  • The Royal Twins in King's Quest. Rosella is a Spoiled Sweet Genki Girl Rebellious Princess who is outgoing and impulsive. Alexander is a calm, soft-spoken, Comically Serious bookworm who is more reserved and more calculating about his bravery.
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