SkellyDawn wrote:
Maybe the devs got lazy, and perhaps they get flipped in game?
This.
Also, Creatures Village's breeds have really, really large sprites. (Note how large the norns are compared to C3/DS breeds and how many expressions their head-sprites have while they don't use half of them in-game T_T) So you could say that by using those empty sprites and flipping them around in-game, the developers have saved time, as they don't have to shade them all over again, and they've saved space.