History Main / ArtifactMook

* The babies in ''VideoGame/DeadSpace''. You first encounter them in a prosthetics lab with babies growing in tubes all over the walls. Nice and creepy. But even though this lab is only a single room with maybe 50 baby tubes total, from that point on zombie babies are ubiquitous all over the ship and you fight at least a hundred of them in the game.

* ''Videogame/Earthbound1994'':

* In ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'' games set on Enroth defeating leader of specific faction and storming their base without keeping anyone alive will not prevent from respawning their members indefinitely. Killing FinalBoss in''VI'' or Xenofex in ''VII'' won't stop Kreegans from reappearing again and again, pirates in ''VIII'' will still keep appearing on Dagger Wound Islands even after destroying their fleet on Regna, the list goes on.

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'': All enemies live in specific areas that they're thematically associated with, with explanations for their presence. However, the Trial of the Fool is a survival challenge where the player has to fight waves of enemies from various areas, and who don't fit alongside each other.

* Can happen in ''[[VideoGame/MonsterHunter Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate]]''. Each area has their own monsters, and variants made to fit other areas, and otherwise the areas they appear in fit their habitat. Later in the game however, almost every enemy can appear on the tropical Deserted Island though free hunting at night, even if it doesn't make sense. One example would be Brachydios, a volcanic monster who typically avoids water since it dilutes its blast slime walking around near the beach, which makes it easy to get rid of Blastblight by rolling around in water, something that normally can't be done in the areas you normally fight him in. To a lesser extent, this also occurs in ''4 Ultimate'' with the Everwood (also tailored for free hunting), where monsters like Berserk Tetsucabra (which inhabits underground and volcanic areas), Shrouded Nerscylla (which inhabits deserts) and Tidal Najarala (which inhabits icy lakes) appear in the lush, temperate and open-air forest.

* ''Videogame/{{Earthbound}}'':

* ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'': The Nest Of Evil has both unique enemies and enemies that appeared elsewhere in the game. They're not exactly out of place however. This trope comes into play with one of the final rooms, which contains two of The Creature, which is also known as Frankenstein's Monster. Earlier on he's a boss with an introductory cutscene of his body getting activated in a mad scientist's laboratory, now he's a DualBoss [[BossInMookClothing In Mook Clothing]] with no explanation of what he's doing there and how there could possibly be two of him.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/{{Metro 2033}}''. Librarians remain in the Lenin Library, Demons are exclusive to open spaces, Nosalises don't leave the tunnels, Watchmen are only seen on the surface, Lurkers are always seen near their burrows, and Dark Ones aren't encountered as normal gameplay enemies at all. ''Last Light'' mixes things up a bit, giving us Watchmen in the tunnels and Nosalises on the surface, but there's a good reason for each: the Watchmen only enter the tunnels in an area where the ceiling is breached, and the Nosalises inhabit a railway bridge that's connected to the Metro and is a largely enclosed space not unlike the tunnels.

* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' the Nest Of Evil has both unique enemies and enemies that appeared elsewhere in the game. They're not exactly out of place however. This trope comes into play with one of the final rooms, which contains two of The Creature, which is also known as Frankenstein's Monster. Earlier on he's a boss with an introductory cutscene of his body getting activated in a mad scientist's laboratory, now he's a DualBoss [[BossInMookClothing In Mook Clothing]] with no explanation of what he's doing there and how there could possibly be two of him.
* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' - seemingly misplaced cold-based X start showing up ''before'' you reach the icy area they're native to... because Samus is now part-Metroid and the X are migrating in an attempt to exploit her vulnerability to freezing. Their behaviour changes shortly after Samus acquires temperature shielding and is able to absorb them safely.
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has a very noteworthy atmosphere, every enemies live in specific areas with explanations for their presence. However the Trial of the Fool is a survival challenge where the player has to fight waves of enemies from various areas, and who don't fit alongside each other.

** Justified by the descriptions of many of these enemies specifying that the Fools brought them to the Colosseum of Fools and bred them specifically for combat. Many of the enemies are even wearing armor created by the Fools to help them in combat.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has a very noteworthy atmosphere, every enemies live in specific areas with explanations for their presence. However the Trial of the Fool is a survival challenge where the player has to fight waves of enemies from various areas, and who don't fit alongside each other.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''

* Subverted in the Rainbow Shell quest in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''. It seems really strange to be fighting Naga-ettes and Gnashers, enemies that appeared in the 600 A.D. Cathedral at the very beginning of the game. [[spoiler:That is until you fight the boss, Yakra XIII, who is the descendant of the boss of the Cathedral.]] There's also the enemies on the way ''to'' the Rainbow Shell. The area is filled with stronger palate-swapped versions of enemies you fought in the prehistoric era. Like above, this is justified by the area, Giant's Claw, actually being the millions years old ruins of the prehistoric Tyrano Lair.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', there's the Veldt, which contains every enemy you previously encountered (to allow obtaining their skills in a specific form of PowerCopying done by the characer Gau). This includes soldiers, elite soldiers, and enemies said by the story to be already extinct. Some bosses also appear in the Veldt, such as the Senior Behemoth and the White/Holy Dragon.

** Crossed with ArtisticLicenseBiology, radscorpions were brought over from the 2D games and exist in relatively high numbers, despite that scorpions don't live in the Washington, D.C. area.

BossRush and DegradedBoss are often cases of this.

* ''VideoGame/Rayman2'' has a Mini Jano (or two in the [=PS1=] version) appear in The Sanctuary of Stone and Fire, even though it is nowhere near The Cave of Bad Dreams (where you first encountered them and it made sense, as the place was guarded by their normal-sized counterpart).

* In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', Brotherhood of Steel Vertibirds still occasionally appear after you have destroyed the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier Prydwen]] [[CoolAirship airship]].

[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'' has an adventure through several eras in the ''Zelda'' universe. The enemies are appropriate to each: Bokoblins in the present and Skyward Sword, Bulblins in the Twilight Princess era, Stalchildren in the Ocarina of Time era. Also, Gorons on Death Mountain. There are also appropriate bosses: the Twilight Princess era has Argorok, while the Skyward Sword era has The Imprisoned, who was hounding the Sacred Grounds at the time. Adventure mode throws this out the window, making you side with any of the enemies while fighting against any other, in any of the settings, and fight any of the bosses, sometimes more than one of the same one which is odd for The Imprisoned especially as The Imprisoned is one singular creature. A similar thing is the player's default army in Adventure Mode is always made out of Hylians and Gorons. This can lead to stuff like the villainous Ghirahim commanding an army of Gorons to fight against Goron King Darunia who is leading an army of Bokoblins, Ghirahim's main henchmen in Skyward Sword.

[[folder:Action Adventure]]
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'', the castle guards appear as enemies and are mentioned as having been brainwashed by the EvilChancellor. In several other games, their presence as enemies is {{handwave}}d or not explained at all. Downplayed in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures'' where easily missed lines mention they have been brainwashed. Still no one seems at all concerned about the fate of the guards, even in the ending.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'' the guards appear as enemies despite regular Hyrule Guards existing and wearing a completely different uniform. There is a {{Handwave}} that the guards are [[ArtAttacker living paintings]] created by a magician from another world, but it isn't explained why the Magician created monsters based on the Hyrule Guards of the past. In a non Soldier example, ''A Link to the Past'' established the Boss character, ''Blind the Thief'' was a human who had been turned into a monster under the Dark World's curse. In Lorule's MirrorUniverse, Blind's counterpart is not only a monster, but a [[DemBones living skeleton]], despite no such curse existing in Lorule.
** The Soldiers appear as enemies in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTriForceHeroes'' without any sort of explanation at all. Crossover into WhatMeasureIsAMook territory when [[spoiler: Couture ensures the BigBad survives, but no one seems to have any issue with the equally human guards [[DefeatEqualsExplosion being hit until they explode.]]]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:MetroidVania]]
* In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' the Nest Of Evil has both unique enemies and enemies that appeared elsewhere in the game. They're not exactly out of place however. This trope comes into play with one of the final rooms, which contains two of The Creature, which is also known as Frankenstein's Monster. Earlier on he's a boss with an introductory cutscene of his body getting activated in a mad scientist's laboratory, now he's a DualBoss [[BossInMookClothing In Mook Clothing]] with no explanation of what he's doing there and how there could possibly be two of him.
* {{Inverted|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' - seemingly misplaced cold-based X start showing up ''before'' you reach the icy area they're native to... because Samus is now part-Metroid and the X are migrating in an attempt to exploit her vulnerability to freezing. Their behaviour changes shortly after Samus acquires temperature shielding and is able to absorb them safely.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Racing]]
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioKart'' has Monty Moles leaping out of the water in the Special Cup's first track. They probably didn't have enough processing power to use a more fitting enemy like a Cheep Cheep, so they had to reuse the Monty Moles you already find on-road.

* A lesser-known example is the electricity-shooting skeletons in Niel Manke's ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' mod ''VideoGame/TheyHunger''. The first one is encountered in a laboratory where it is brought to life by being electrocuted, which does much to explain why it attacks by zapping you with bolts of lightning. But then you continue to encounter electric skeletons for the rest of the game, all over the place, even though it's impossible to think that every instance of this enemy could have been created in the same way.

** Viruses in the entire ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series. In their first appearance they appear as enemies in ''VideoGame/DrMario'', which makes sense. In ''Videogame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', they appear in an abandoned university laboratory, which makes sense. In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''? They appear EVERYWHERE. Deserts, the beach, caves, in town, on an icy mountain... And in groups of 16 at a time to boot (now granted, viruses are technically omnipresent in nature, but still...).

** Pyramid Head is explicitly made from part of James' damaged psyche. Doesn't stop enemies with a similar design and purpose appear in other games across the series to menace different characters:
*** Homecoming has the very similarly appearing Bogeyman, with just a few minor design differences between the two. In this case, Bogeyman is instead a manifestation of [[spoiler: Adam's guilt]].
*** Also, in Origins we have the Butcher, who is visually somewhat similar to ol' Pyramid but has different symbolism. Whereas Pyramid Head is about the guilt of James, the Butcher is either the cruelty and sacrifice of the Order, or is some manifestation of Travis' psyche, possibly fear and anger.

** Crossed with ArtisticLicenseBiology, radscorpions exist in relatively high numbers despite that scorpions don't live in the Washington, D.C. area.

* This applies to a lot of the gangs in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series. The story missions could have you killing hundreds of their members, murdering all of their bosses and destroying all of their businesses, but they'll still be walking around the map ready to come after you if you cross their paths. The exceptions to this are the Ballas and Vegos in ''San Andreas'', who will stop spawning if you take over all of their territories, and the Purple Nines in ''III'', who through a glitch are hit so hard that they stop spawning even in a new save file if you don't take the right precautions. A big mention goes to the altruist cult, who are only found in the Chiliad Mountain State Wilderness.

* Viruses in the entire ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series. In their first appearance they appear as enemies in ''VideoGame/DrMario'', which makes sense. In ''Videogame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', they appear in an abandoned university laboratory, which makes sense. In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''? They appear EVERYWHERE. Deserts, the beach, caves, in town, on an icy mountain... And in groups of 16 at a time to boot (now granted, viruses are technically omnipresent in nature, but still...).
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels'' randomly places enemies from the original game in unlikely locations like Bloopers (squid-like monsters) on the ground and earth mooks underwater. Later games avert this.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' revolves around Mario dreaming of Subcon. The enemies he and his friends face there are part of the "8 bits", a club of evil dreams; subsequently, they're described in relation to the dream's nature (Ninjis are devils that haunt the dreams of NES players, Snifits shoot projectiles that have concentrated nightmarish energy, Pidgits are bringers of evil dreams); yet many of them appeared in later ''Mario'' games (in fact, Shy Guys and Snifits can be found in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld2YoshisIsland'', which chronologically takes place before ''all'' other games in the ''Mario'' series, including ''[=SMB2=]'').

* ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' has Super Mutants, which appear far more numerous than their origins would suggest. [[MoreCriminalsThanTargets Likewise, Raiders often seem to outnumber townspeople and wastelanders]], with there being gangs of them in every single vaguely abandoned area that's not already infested by another enemy type. Enclave Soldiers can also be encountered before they officially enter the plot, and after their bases are wiped out in ''Broken Steel''. Aliens sometimes respawn on Mothership Zeta if you return, even though you cleared out the ship.

** In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', Fiends and Powder Gangers continue to randomly spawn after you have killed their leaders and exterminated their strongholds. This could be justified as splinter groups; it's not like you got all of them. And even if you've killed Caesar, Vulpes, and the rest of his fort, and driven the Legion from their strongholds on the west side of the Colorado, leaving only the Legate's camp on the opposite end of Hoover Dam, Legionary Assassins keep spawning throughout the Wasteland every few days.
*** It's generally averted though. While small scattered groups of Fiends and Powder Gangers are still around, they stop spawning in significant numbers once you've cleared out their strongholds. Meanwhile other raider factions, like the Great Khans, the Vipers, the Jackals, and the Scorpions don't respawn at all after being wiped out. Nor do the Legion soldiers west of the Colorado River, bar the aforementioned Legionary Assassins, who can be rationalized as small special forces teams dispatched directly from the Legate's Camp. This extends to the DLC: if you opt to side with Joshua Graham, the Sorrows, and the Dead Horses to wipe out the White Legs in ''Honest Hearts'', they stay gone. From then on Zion is entirely devoid of enemies bar the occasional hostile animal.
** In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', Brotherhood of Steel Vertibirds still occasionally appear after you have destroyed the [[AirborneAircraftCarrier Prydwen]] [[CoolAirship airship]].

--> '''Pit:''' So the [[spoiler: Chaos Kin]] is copying [[spoiler:Aurum]] enemies that are copies of the Forces of Nature.
-->'''Viridi:''' It makes you think, doesn't it?
-->'''Pit:''' No, not really. It's just weird.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}, the Tentacles are found quite frequently throughout the world. They appear on the ceilings of huts, temples, Skaarj facilities and more.