10 pixel art color palettes you can steal for your game

The whole point of a palette

Pixel art without color constraints isn't really pixel art. It's just a low-res image. The palette is what forces you to make interesting decisions — which shade of green does double duty as both grass and a character's tunic? How do you create the illusion of depth with only four shades?

That limitation isn't a handicap. It's the engine that makes pixel art work. Pick a palette, commit to it, and suddenly your game develops a visual identity that no amount of unlimited-color rendering can match.

Here are 10 palettes worth knowing, when to use each one, and how to apply them effectively.

How to actually use a palette

Pick one based on your game's mood and era. Dark horror game? Skip PICO-8. Cheerful platformer? Skip Zughy 32.

Lock it in. Import the palette into your editor:

• Aseprite: Edit → New Palette from File
• Piskel: Import in the color picker panel
• Sprite AI: Include the palette name in your prompts

Then stick to it. Only use colors from your chosen palette. The temptation to grab "just one more blue" is strong. Resist it. The constraint is what creates cohesion.

The 10 palettes

PICO-8 (16 colors)

The one that launched a movement. PICO-8 is a fantasy console, and its 16-color palette has become shorthand for "indie pixel art" at this point. You've seen it everywhere — Celeste prototypes, itch.io game jams, half the pixel art on Twitter.

#000000  Black        #FF004D  Red
#1D2B53  Dark blue    #FFA300  Orange
#7E2553  Dark purple  #FFEC27  Yellow
#008751  Dark green   #00E436  Green
#AB5236  Brown        #29ADFF  Blue
#5F574F  Dark gray    #83769C  Lavender
#C2C3C7  Light gray   #FF77A8  Pink
#FFF1E8  White        #FFCCAA  Peach

What makes it work: the colors are opinionated. That red is aggressive. The blue is electric. Nothing is wishy-washy, so even at tiny resolutions, everything reads clearly. If you're doing a game jam and need to pick a palette in 30 seconds, this is the safe bet.

Endesga 32 (32 colors)

This is what you reach for when PICO-8 feels too tight but you don't want to go overboard. 32 colors gives you enough range for fantasy RPGs, detailed characters, and varied environments while still keeping everything cohesive.

#be4a2f  Rust         #193c3e  Teal dark
#d77643  Orange       #124e89  Blue
#ead4aa  Cream        #0099db  Sky blue
#e4a672  Tan          #2ce8f5  Cyan
#b86f50  Brown        #ffffff  White
#733e39  Dark brown   #c0cbdc  Light gray
#3e2731  Darkest      #8b9bb4  Gray
#a22633  Red          #5a6988  Blue gray
#e43b44  Bright red   #3a4466  Dark blue gray
#f77622  Orange       #262b44  Near black
#feae34  Gold         #181425  Black
#fee761  Yellow       #ff0044  Hot pink
#63c74d  Green        #68386c  Purple
#3e8948  Dark green   #b55088  Magenta
#265c42  Forest       #f6757a  Salmon
                      #e8b796  Skin light
                      #c28569  Skin mid

The warm tones in this palette are particularly strong — the rust-to-cream gradient works beautifully for characters, buildings, and anything organic. Probably the best all-around palette for a fantasy game.

Resurrect 64 (64 colors)

When you need serious range. 64 colors is about as far as you can go before a "limited palette" stops feeling limited. Great for larger projects with multiple environments that still need to feel unified.

Best for detailed games with varied content. View the full palette on Lospec →

GameBoy (4 colors)

Four shades of green. That's it. And somehow, entire worlds were built with just these colors.

#0f380f  Darkest green
#306230  Dark green
#8bac0f  Light green
#9bbc0f  Lightest green

Using the GameBoy palette in 2026 is a deliberate aesthetic choice, not a technical one. It immediately signals "retro" and forces extreme creativity with shading and form. Great for demakes, nostalgia projects, or when you want to challenge yourself with maximum constraint.

CGA Palette 1 (4 colors)

Early IBM PC energy. Cyan, magenta, black, white. It looks harsh — and that's exactly the point.

#000000  Black
#55FFFF  Cyan
#FF55FF  Magenta
#FFFFFF  White

This palette screams "vintage computing" louder than anything else on this list. Good for synthwave aesthetics, ironic retro projects, or any game that wants to look like it crawled out of 1983.

NES (54 colors)

The full NES color palette has 54 colors, but real NES games used far fewer per sprite — typically 3 colors plus transparency. The trick was clever palette swapping across different sprite groups.

Pick 12-16 colors from the full set for an authentic 8-bit feel without drowning in options. View the full NES palette →

Sweetie 16 (16 colors)

Think of this as PICO-8's friendlier cousin. Same number of colors, but softer, warmer, more approachable.

#1a1c2c  Dark         #29366f  Dark blue
#5d275d  Purple       #3b5dc9  Blue
#b13e53  Red          #41a6f6  Light blue
#ef7d57  Orange       #73eff7  Cyan
#ffcd75  Yellow       #f4f4f4  White
#a7f070  Light green  #94b0c2  Gray blue
#38b764  Green        #566c86  Dark gray blue
#257179  Teal         #333c57  Darker gray

Where PICO-8's colors punch you in the face, Sweetie 16 gives you a warm hug. Better for platformers, casual games, anything where you want the art to feel inviting rather than aggressive.

Zughy 32 (32 colors)

Dark. Moody. Atmospheric. This is the palette for horror games, dark fantasy, and anything that needs to feel heavy and serious.

Not going to list all 32 here — view it on Lospec →. But trust me, if your game involves dungeons, monsters, or anything that shouldn't feel cheerful, this is worth a look.

Oil 6 (6 colors)

Six colors. That's extreme even by pixel art standards.

#fbf5ef  Cream
#f2d3ab  Tan
#c69fa5  Dusty pink
#8b6d9c  Purple
#494d7e  Dark purple
#272744  Near black

The result is something that looks less like a game and more like art. Elegant, restrained, almost melancholy. If you're making something experimental or want a distinctive visual identity that nobody else has, Oil 6 is how you get it.

Apollo (16 colors)

Built for sci-fi and space games. Cool blues, techy greens, minimal warm colors.

#172038  Space dark   #19332d  Dark green
#253a5e  Dark blue    #25562e  Green
#3c5e8b  Blue         #468232  Light green
#4f8fba  Light blue   #75a743  Lime
#73bed3  Cyan         #a8ca58  Yellow green
#a4dddb  Light cyan   #d0da91  Pale yellow
#4d2b32  Dark red     #7a4841  Brown
#ad7757  Tan          #c09473  Light tan

The blue-to-cyan range in this palette is beautiful for space backgrounds, energy shields, UI elements. The limited warm colors mean anything warm (explosions, warnings, characters) pops hard against the cool environments.

Quick reference: Which palette for which game?

Making your own palette

Sometimes none of the curated options fit. Here's how to build one.

Start with just 4-8 colors. You can always add more. Nail the core first:

1. Your darkest dark
2. Your lightest light
3. The color you'll use most (primary)
4. An accent color that draws the eye
5. Fill gaps from there

Shift hues when shading. This is the biggest difference between amateur and professional palettes. Don't just darken a color by adding black — shift it toward blue or purple for shadows. Don't just lighten by adding white — shift toward yellow or orange for highlights. The result looks richer and more natural.

Test on actual sprites, not swatches. A palette that looks gorgeous as a color grid can fall apart when applied to characters and environments. Make a test character, a test tile, and a test item. If all three look like they belong in the same game, your palette works.

Borrowing is fine. Start from a palette on this list, swap out the colors you don't like. That's faster and usually produces better results than starting from scratch.

Palettes with AI sprite generators

When using Sprite AI or similar tools, you can guide the AI toward your palette:

By name: pixel art knight, PICO-8 color palette, limited colors, retro style

By mood: pixel art forest scene, muted earth tones, limited palette, cohesive colors

By count: pixel art character, 8 colors maximum, consistent shading, game sprite

By color: pixel art slime enemy, green and purple only, simple shading, 4 colors total

Generate with a limited palette →

Historical reference

Where to find more palettes

Lospec Palette List — The definitive collection. Filter by color count, sort by popularity. If it exists, it's probably here.

Color Hunt — General palettes, good for inspiration even if they're not pixel-art-specific.

Coolors — Palette generator. Useful for creating starting points to customize.

Pick a palette. Any palette on this list will work. The worst choice is no choice — endlessly browsing palettes instead of making sprites. Grab one, lock it in, and start creating. You can always switch later, and the constraint itself will teach you more about color than any amount of theory.

Start generating sprites →

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