History GoddamnedBats / ActionAdventure

* ''NoMoreHeroes'' and its sequel feature melee combat... for the most part. Then we have the gunmen. They like comboing you with their bullets, interrupting your attacks, stunning you, knocking you down, attacking among groups, runnning away, and letting the enemy you were attacking beat you down if you're not careful enough. It should be mentioned that gunmen are the ONLY ENEMIES IN THE GAMES that focus on indirect combat and keeping distance. They're worse in the second game thanks to the ecstacy gague. You have it 100% and you're gonna unleash it soon? A gunman shoots you with four bullets, the gague is now completely empty. They're so bad that they're the only regular enemies in the game with a different icon than every other enemy.

* Many NintendoHard games like ''{{Contra}}'' or ''MetalSlug'' were '''filled''' with GoddamnedBats and DemonicSpiders, especially during a boss fight.

* ''{{La-Mulana}}'' has a disgusting variety of enemies which fly or jump around erratically, and often through walls as well. The bats (two varieties, in fact; one of which moves faster and is more annoying) are especially noteworthy because they fly around in a completely random pattern, with no warning as to where they're going to turn next, and fly through walls as if they aren't there (and are invisible in water). And ''then'' there are the magical staff-wielding monkeys, the singing witches and the FrickinLaserBeams-spamming blue imps. All can flood the screen with wall-penetrating projectiles in a matter of moments, and the monkeys are invincible except when firing, while the witches and imps fly around randomly in a similar fashion to the bats.

* ''Impossamole'' has origami birds, ninja rats, and acid-raining clouds in the Orient level, as well as UFOS that can pass through walls and [[InvincibleMinorMinion invincible]] the pirate ghosts in the Bermuda Triangle (the Amiga/C64 version also featured literal bats in the Klondike Mine, many of which were invincible, some unavoidable), and ActionBomb enemies in the form of walking dynamite sticks. In the [=TG16=] version, they can also knock you backwards (although you have MercyInvincibility), interfering with already difficult platform jumping and sometimes causing you to miss one of the scrolls. In both versions, they often endlessly spawn from MookMaker doorways. In fact they usually respawn when you return to an area, and you often can't tell whether you're going to land on one when falling.

* A game referencing many {{tropes}} and classics itself by design, [[VideoGame/ScottPilgrim Scott Pilgrim vs. The World - The Game]] features hordes of flying bats that intentionally spawn when least convenient. This is most evident during tricky platforming sequences. Hilariously [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]], as the bats are called G. D. Bats

* The mantis badniks in ''SonicTheHedgehog2'' are horrid examples of this {{trope}}; they have blades on their arms that they can throw, but while doing so renders them [[HitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy mostly harmless]], the blades themselves have an uncanny homing ability that makes it nearly impossible to kill or get past them without getting hit. Worse yet, they always seem to appear at crucial jumps, making them an even worse threat than usual.

** "VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehogCD" had the Hotaru lightning bug Badniks. They aren't much of a problem until the final act of Metallic Madness where you were forced to fight them in a small enclosed area. Most of the time the damn things would soar high into the air, completely unreachable. The window of time in which you can hit them is pretty brief, and on top of that, they fire '''lasers''' while you aimlessly jump about hoping for that one perfectly timed hit. If that doesn't qualify for a Goddamned Bat then I don't know what does.

* ''PrinceOfPersia: Sands of Time'' has swarms of bats that tend to show up when you're perched on a ledge hundreds of feet above ground. A couple of unlucky hits will have you falling.

* {{Pitfall}} II was a 2D game which had bats that simply provided a moving obstacle. The bats would fly across the screen and you had to time Pitfall Harry so he passed under the bat while its wings were flapping up rather than down. (Pitfall Harry couldn't just crawl or stoop, nossir!) Unfortunately this was used for about 15 floors in a row and got old REAL fast.

* ''VideoGame/WonderBoy'' and ''AdventureIsland'': In addition to the literal bats, there's frogs, coyotes, fireskulls, and wasps/crows and rocks.

* The bats in StarTropics. In the first game, they were common enemies that flew in a pattern, took one hit to kill, and would stop every few seconds. In the second game, they don't appear until Chapter 7, but they take two hits to kill, fly much faster, have no set pattern that they fly in, and don't stand still. The problem is amplified because the game lacks MercyInvincibility, so if they corner you they could wipe away your hearts in a few seconds. Plus they're always in groups of at least three.

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** The sequel has the ice men. Particularly the fast shotgun-wielding ones who will run toward you (often out of sight) and shoot you point blank taking off at least half your health with one shot. The shot also has massive knockback, which always seems to blast Cole into another attack or into [[SuperDrowningSkills water]]. Needless to say, wailing on them afterward with the Amp is VERY satisfying.

** The sequel has the ice men. Particularly the fast shotgun-wielding ones who will run toward you (often out of sight) and shoot you point blank taking off at least half your health with one shot. Needless to say, wailing on them afterward with your amp is VERY satisfying.

* Flying enemies in ''Amagon'' tend to spawn when you're in the middle of a jump. And our hero is a OneHitPointWonder (outside of SuperMode), so they may as well be outright DemonicSpiders.

* In the first ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank'' game, Planet Orxon gives us an example of combining goddamn bats with DemonicSpiders. Orxon is overrun by Land Lobsters, very tough, very mean enemies that come in packs and love to surround you and [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment kill you dead]]. Fortunatly, the Land Lobsters tend to sleep alot, and will likely be sleeping when you encounter them. Enter the (goddamn) Screamers, who will fly in the air and screech obnoxiously, waking up and attracting nearby Lobsters. Screamers can be taken out with one hit, but if you miss or accidentally hit a Lobster, well...

* The ''{{Rayman}}'' games have several different instances of this. ''Rayman 1'''s Antitoons come in a variety of different types—each with their own unique abilities or a combination of several— and are aggravating whether they're alone or in swarms, mostly because they're hard to aim at and impossible to tell apart just by looking at them. ''Rayman 2'' has actual bats, puffs of smoke/ash that fly into you, miniature critter-sized spiders and crabs that can somehow damage you on contact despite being smaller than your shoe, as well as countless other examples. But the most notorious and recognized ones among the series are probably the Goddamned Zombie Chickens, which make appearances in both ''Rayman 2'' and ''Rayman 3.''

* ''WonderBoy'' and ''AdventureIsland'': In addition to the literal bats, there's frogs, coyotes, fireskulls, and wasps/crows and rocks.

* The goddamned snipers from the ''ComicStrip/DickTracy'' NES game. They appear on top of buildings and shoot at you whenever you hit the streets and drive to where you want to go on the map, and very often, they'll hit, draining your precious energy away, making it all but impossible to even complete the first major case without dying. The only way to kill these guys is to get out of the car and pick each of them off, which slows things down and makes you just as vulnerable to getting shot as when you're in the car. To make things worse, the only way to restore your health is by collecting hearts, which do not restore your life meter, but are actually First Aid, which you use by hitting Select while the item BEFORE the First Aid is selected, holding it down and hitting B to restore your health (which few players would know how to do back then). And to make matters worse, one life is all you get, and there are [[WebOriginal/TheAngryVideoGameNerd NO FUCKING CONTINUES]].

* ''GodsEaterBurst'' has a few enemies that might qualify, but among the most widespread are the Zygotes, floating enemies that aren't particularly difficult to kill by mid-game, but often appear alongside stronger enemies and like to inflict status effects or generally distract you from the main threats.

* The goddamned snipers from the ''DickTracy'' NES game. They appear on top of buildings and shoot at you whenever you hit the streets and drive to where you want to go on the map, and very often, they'll hit, draining your precious energy away, making it all but impossible to even complete the first major case without dying. The only way to kill these guys is to get out of the car and pick each of them off, which slows things down and makes you just as vulnerable to getting shot as when you're in the car. To make things worse, the only way to restore your health is by collecting hearts, which do not restore your life meter, but are actually First Aid, which you use by hitting Select while the item BEFORE the First Aid is selected, holding it down and hitting B to restore your health (which few players would know how to do back then). And to make matters worse, one life is all you get, and there are [[WebOriginal/TheAngryVideoGameNerd NO FUCKING CONTINUES]].

* The satyrs in ''GodOfWar'' are a source of eternal frustration for many a player, thanks to their seemingly immaculate ability to dance away and smack you whenever you dare to contemplate hitting them.

* ''[[OddWorld Abe's Oddysee]]'' has GoddamnedBats. They are the only enemy that flies, can't be killed, instakill Abe if he touches them and while they do follow predetermined patterns, it's impossible to predict what the pattern will be without watching for a few seconds first -- a luxury the player doesn't always have. Unlike the other enemies in the game, they have no AI whatsoever and so can't be tricked, possessed, distracted or otherwise moved out of the way. They're just there, fluttering around the screen, waiting patiently to kill you ''yet again''. The game knows full well players will hate them: in the first screen that features a bat, the player is likely to ignore it as background detail, and read the more obvious firefly hint instead. This requires holding down 'Chant' and waiting while the fireflies form into words. "WATCH... OUT... FOR... THAT... BAT" - upon which the bat flies into you and you promptly die.

* ''KidIcarus'': There's the Reapers and their Reapettes, the Mono-eyes and other flying enemies, and the jumping crabs, which are a major pain in stage 1-3.

* The beggars, drunks, lepers, and crazy people in ''AssassinsCreed'' are annoying as heck; the former follow you around, nattering your ears for money and getting in your way right when you're trying to stealthily assassinate that oblivious guard up ahead. The latter simply smack you violently and shove you into walls, guards, and off ledges. It quickly becomes an exercise in patience to not simply draw your sword and start satisfying that VideogameCrueltyPotential.

* Not as bad as the [[DemonicSpiders exploding confusion rats]] but the, meat bunnies of ''{{Psychonauts}}'s'' ScrappyLevel are annoying. They spawn at a regular rate that ensures there'll be plenty to ambush you by the time you finally get up to their next platform... assuming they haven't killed [[EscortMission your charge]] first.

* The decidedly unpleasant Fallen enemies in ''DevilMayCry 3''. Not only do they have a (respawning) shield in the form of their wings, which you must break before actually dealing damage, a fair amount of health, and strong attacks with a variable-length short sword, they also can phase through walls and tend to stay in the air. Because the game rewards based on combo level, and your combo ability is limited in the air, this means that after going through all the trouble to kill them you receive almost no reward.

** ''DevilMayCry 4'' brings us the Gladius demons, which [[VoluntaryShapeshifting transform]] between a sword and a reptile form, and both fly. They love striking you out of combos, and they never come alone.

* ''{{La-Mulana}}'' has a disgusting variety of enemies which fly or jump around erratically, and often through walls as well. The bats (two varieties, in fact; one of which moves faster and is more annoying) are especially noteworthy because they fly around in a completely random pattern, with no warning as to where they're going to turn next, and fly through walls as if they aren't there (and are invisible in water). And ''[[ItGotWorse then]]'' there are the magical staff-wielding monkeys, the singing witches and the FrickinLaserBeams-spamming blue imps. All can flood the screen with wall-penetrating projectiles in a matter of moments, and the monkeys are invincible except when firing, while the witches and imps fly around randomly in a similar fashion to the bats.

** Large part of the abundance of annoying enemies are because of game mechanics too. Character is sent flying backwards every time after getting hit, often to another screen, which, combined with RespawningEnemies, can be quite an annoyance. However, once you boost your maximum health a bit and get some defensive items, regular enemies remain annoying as hell but will rarely actually kill you. [[BossDissonance That is the province of bosses.]]

* The goddamned snipers from the ''DickTracy'' NES game. They appear on top of buildings and shoot at you whenever you hit the streets and drive to where you want to go on the map, and very often, they'll hit, draining your precious energy away, making it all but impossible to even complete the first major case without dying. The only way to kill these guys is to get out of the car and pick each of them off, which slows things down and makes you just as vulnerable to getting shot as when you're in the car. To make things worse, the only way to restore your health is by collecting hearts, which do not restore your life meter, but are actually First Aid, which you use by hitting Select while the item BEFORE the First Aid is selected, holding it down and hitting B to restore your health (which few players would know how to do back then). And to make matters worse, one life is all you get, and there are [[AngryVideoGameNerd NO FUCKING CONTINUES]].

** "VideoGame/SonictheHedgehogCD" had the Hotaru lightning bug Badniks. They aren't much of a problem until the final act of Metallic Madness where you were forced to fight them in a small enclosed area. Most of the time the damn things would soar high into the air, completely unreachable. The window of time in which you can hit them is pretty brief, and on top of that, they fire '''lasers''' while you aimlessly jump about hoping for that one perfectly timed hit. If that doesn't qualify for a Goddamned Bat then I don't know what does.

** "Video Game/Sonic the Hedgehog CD" had the Hotaru lightning bug Badniks. They aren't much of a problem until the final act of Metallic Madness where you were forced to fight them in a small enclosed area. Most of the time the damn things would soar high into the air, completely unreachable. The window of time in which you can hit them is pretty brief, and on top of that, they fire '''lasers''' while you aimlessly jump about hoping for that one perfectly timed hit. If that doesn't qualify for a Goddamned Bat then I don't know what does.