Overlaying “masks” over a graphic can emulate the “palette swapping” technique of old video games such as Megaman. This would save space, as you wouldn’t need to store the same animations for every unique color palette. While a complicated graphic with only one color variation may find having a separate set of graphics more convenient, this approach would be ideal for graphics that are simple and have many color variations.

I do not own the assets used, as Megaman is a property of Capcom.