History Main / InvincibleMinorMinion

* An archetypal enemy in ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' is the "blood" or "red" monster, usually a skeleton. These enemies never die permanently -- they simply collapse into a pile of bones, much like Dry Bones above, and get back up a few seconds later. ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'' actually gave two ways for the player to kill Red enemies... one a special spell with a casting time so long that the only time you'll ever cast it is when it's required by the plot, and another a special weapon obtained by a late-game quest, when you probably will never see such an enemy again and wouldn't really care about the damage from any you do chance to encounter. Oh, and they give mediocre experience if you do take them out. You could also kill them with Spyha's ice spell in ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania III|DraculasCurse}}''. Meanwhile, ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness'' has an Innocent Devil that will randomly cast a spell that will destroy one undead monster onscreen, even the red skeletons.

* ''VideoGame/{{Iji}}'' has "Blits", feral chunks of {{nanomachines}} that eat other nanomachines. Only one weapon in the entire game ([[spoiler:the Null Driver]]) can kill them, although one log comments that it is possible to launch them into outer space and they'll eventually starve into... "whatever it is, it's not recyclable."

* ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'': The Knaaren are invincible, but their champion Reflux can be defeated in a boss fight, and then again later after he becomes even more powerful.

* ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'''s broodlings launched by Brood Lords (no longer via Spawn Broodling). They do initial impact damage, then stay around a while chomping and clawing everything in reach, but can't be shot at or controlled.

* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'': The big pig in Outset Island is immortal and also deals out more damage per hit than nearly every enemy and boss in the game (three hearts, only matched by the Mighty Darknut's and Ganondorf's strongest attacks). The other two pigs you can optionally catch are only half-immortal; you can't kill them, but [[EatTheDog they die anyway]].

* ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'': The jumping and flying [[http://kidicarus.wikia.com/wiki/Pluton Pluton]] thieves. In ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', Plutons can be defeated, but they move so fast that it's rather hard to do so; plus they run away after a while, taking your stolen items with them. Instead, the newest Invincible Minor Minion is the Orne, which is not only invincible, but touching it is an [[OneHitKill instant death]]. Only the Three Sacred Treasures can kill them, and you use them only in very specific instances.

* ''VideoGame/{{Gift|2001}}'': Little Clears and Darks, Guardians and Patrollers. Little Clears and Darks can be killed by light or darkness respectively, though.
* In ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game'', you may occasionally encounter mooks who you can't touch at all even though their stated rank is below what you may be routinely slaughtering by then. Fortunately they almost never show up in real combat situations.
* In ''Gojira-kun'', Hedora is the only monster that can't be killed by Godzilla's MegatonPunch, only pushed back a little.

* The sentry turrets in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' can only be defeated by knocking them over somehow. You can't actually ''kill'' them. They will resume their function when placed upright. The upshot is that they can't be permanently disabled when they're rewired to work for you, either.
* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has several undefeatable enemies that act more like stage hazards. These include the armored worm-like Goams, which emerge from and retract into floors and ceilings; Charged Lumaflies, which are sort of intangible but periodically generate a damaging electric field; Garpedes, giant burrowing creatures that crawl continually through, up and down certain passageways and have armor plating that makes them invulnerable to your attacks; and Void Tendrils, masses of tentacles and eyes that surge out of pools of Void to lash at anything that comes close. Their entries in the MonsterCompendium, which are normally filled in by killing a certain number of each enemy, are filled by inspecting remains of these creatures found in the world map -- a fossilized Goam is found in a hidden room in the Forgotten Crossroads, a jar of preserved Lumaflies is in the Tacher's Archives, one side room in Deepnest contains the corpse of a Garpede that was cut in half by something unspecified, and an area of the Abyss contains an imprint of Tendrils left on stone.

* The jumping and flying [[http://kidicarus.wikia.com/wiki/Pluton Pluton]] thieves in ''VideoGame/KidIcarus.''
** As of ''VideoGame/KidIcarusUprising'', Plutons CAN be defeated, but they move so fast that it's rather hard to do so; plus they run away after a while, taking your stolen items with them. Instead, the newest Invincible Minor Minion is the Orne, which is not only invincible, but touching it is an [[OneHitKill instant death]]. Only the Three Sacred Treasures can kill them, and you use them only in very specific instances.
* In ''VideoGame/JusticeLeagueHeroesTheFlash'', Circe creates four stone warriors to attack Franchise/TheFlash during her boss fight. They can only be destroyed when Circe disposes of them, presumably because they haven't killed the player by that point.

* ''Legend of Makai'', a fantasy platformer arcade game from Creator/{{Jaleco}} has an indestructible eye monster fly after your hero if you run out of time.

** The Rippers of ''VideoGame/Metroid1'' can be frozen, but not destroyed with any of your regular beams. They're only properly killable with the Screw Attack, later games adding on Shinesparking and Super Missiles.

** Reaper Vines and Aqua Reapers in ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' are supposed to be indestructible and can only be forced to retreat by shooting them -- unless you fully charge a shot from the Plasma Beam, which will kill them outright (until you leave the room for long enough anyway).

* In ''VideoGame/PathwaysIntoDarkness'', Banshees are impervious to physical attacks, while the Green Oozes and "Giant Purple Hellbeasts" encountered on "Earthquake Zone" are completely invincible. The Oozes avoid you if you're poisoned.
* Some of the panels in ''VideoGame/{{Parodius}}'' have so many hit points, it's impossible to kill them before they leave the screen. ''Gokujyou Parodius'' takes this up to 65536 by giving us the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45sbFbx_I3Y 16-Bit Block]].
* ''VideoGame/PerfectDark Zero'''s Spiderbots are invincible in the later levels, and will constantly pursue you if alerted, until their sensor is destroyed.

* The skeleton in level 3 of ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1''. The only sure way to get rid of it is pushing it down a deep pit. The Super Nintendo port adds reviving skeletons as in ''Prince of Persia 2'', and a [[SmashingHallwayTrapsOfDoom crushing trap]] to finish off the level 3 skeleton.
* The skeletons in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2: The Shadow And The Flame'' can be defeated, but, like Dry Bones, they will get up a few seconds later. Two special enemies are completely invulnerable: the skeleton on the RopeBridge (which falls victim to a scripted event), and the floating FlamingSword.
* [[AnthropomorphicFood Metal Corn]], Metal Imps, [[DemonicDummy Black Marionettes]] and [[LivingStatue Gargoyles]] (and their sub-variants the [[FlamingSkulls Flaming Gargoyle Heads]]) on the ''VideoGame/PrinnyCanIReallyBeTheHero'' series can not be killed by any attack. They're even immune to the blast of energy released by opening a dimensional portal. (Which even kills sub-bosses immediately.) It's not a problem with the Corn, which can only jump up and down and regular Gargoyles which don't move from their positions and it's only a minor problem with the Marionettes and Flaming Heads because they only move in a set pattern (and the Marionettes can be killed by tricking them into walking off a high drop as they don't like you getting too close to them) but the imps (which can fly very quickly) will chase you until you manage to get far enough away. The only real way to deal with Imps is to stun them and then knock or throw them into a bottomless pit. Averted with Mudmen (aka Forsaken Ones) which appear to be this at first but are in fact just extremely durable.
* From ''VideoGame/{{Purple}}'', there is a family of rolling barrels, trashcan mooks and spikeballs in the sewers. Of them three, only barrels can be destroyed using the [[InvincibilityPowerUp moon item]].
* The Tetramites in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureACrackInTime'' are invincible insect swarms that can digest ''anything'' by touch. Ratchet's weapons can't harm them, with the game explicitly calling them invincible. They are said to hate water and won't cross it, but spraying water at them with the Hydronator has no effect. Their are only two ways they can be killed; for some unexplained reason, the wrench, which is the weakest weapon in the series, can kill them even though none of the far more powerful weapons have any effect on them at all, and they will explode if you get them to touch ivy. In both cases, more will just spawn from their indestructible nests, making it pointless.
* The Knaaren in ''VideoGame/Rayman3HoodlumHavoc'' are invincible, but their champion Reflux can be defeated in a boss fight, and then again later after he becomes even more powerful.
* In ''VideoGame/RiseOfTheTriad'' the ballistikraft (big robots) are completely invincible. Even the GodMode projectile attack (which can kill the FinalBoss in one hit) is useless against them.
* Whether it's your [[DeadlyDisc Diskarmor]] or the SmartBomb rune you can pick up in ''VideoGame/{{Rygar}}'', nothing you have can harm Death once your timer has run out. All you can do is RunOrDie and unfortunately Death moves increasingly faster as you progress in the game.

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' has several undefeatable enemies that act more like stage hazards. These include the armored worm-like Goams, which emerge from and retract into floors and ceilings, Charged Lumaflies, which are sort of intangible but periodically generate a damaging electric field, and the Garpede, a giant burrowing creature that crawls continually through, up and down certain passageways and has armor plating that makes it invulnerable to your attacks. One side room in Deepnest contains the corpse of a Garpede that was cut in half by something unspecified, so it's definitely not immortal.

* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens'': The unnamed spike monsters that live in the water and come in move-in-a-pattern and StationaryEnemy forms, cannot be damaged by anything, and are mainly used to necessitate precision controls.

* ''VideoGame/{{Bug}}'' Only one that's actually an enemy as the other "invincible" enemies are traps of sorts. The spiny lizards of [[ShiftingSandLand Reptilia]] could not be killed via ''any'' means. Not even the [[ShockAndAwe Zap Cap]], or [[InvincibilityPowerUp Stunt Bug]] would even touch them. Your only option was to avoid them like the plague.

* The concept arises again in ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' with the Servbots, mostly incompetent flunkies to the game's GoldfishPoopGang. Completely invulnerable to all forms of damage. In the spinoff game ''The Misadventures of Tron Bonne'' you can exploit this by sending them into otherwise fatal dangers to retrieve treasure.
** They're not completely invulnerable though. You can knock them out. They will be back to normal once you return to the same room however.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/DonkeyKong https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donkey_kong_3_enemies_4.png]]]]

[[folder:Super Mario]]