History Main / PersonalSpaceInvader

** Certain oozes and a few other similar creatures take it even farther and engulf their victims entirely. Possibly one of the worst offenders is the Flesh Jelly; as an ooze made of putrid flesh, being engulfed by it doesn't result in an acid bath as with most oozes, which can be magically avoided. Instead you either take damage from the convulsions of the mushy remains of previous victims and are exposed to disease, or are instantly converted into mush yourself, which so thoroughly destroys your remains that only the most potent magics in the game can bring you back.

* Pictured above is the Mega Chopper from ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]''. In Hydrocity Zone, these little red piranha-like MechaMooks swim around in certain underwater sections, and can even jump ''out'' of the water at you. If they make contact with your character, they latch on and start chewing, eating away one ring per second. and making you unable to jump, duck, or roll. If you get hit by an enemy while you're being Mega Chopped, you'll die one second later due to running out of rings. There are three ways to escape a Mega Chopper. One is to enter a tube, forcing your character into a spin. Or, if you're playing co-op with Sonic and Tails, you can use Tails to jump into the Mega Chopper, provided he's not being Mega Chopped as well. Neither of these solutions are sure to be available when you need them, but fortunately, the third solution always works: randomly mash buttons on the controller until the Mega Chopper falls off. ([[GuideDangIt There is no indication that flailing about might have any effect.]])

** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCurseOfDarkness'', Ghouls looks identical to Zombies, except that they don't feel pain (hence you can't stop their attacks) and can grab Hector and chew him up, dealing moderate damage. This becomes deadly with their level 75 counterpats. Spirits and Evil Cores have similar attacks in which they stick on Hector and damage him.

** Not to mention the [[spoiler:Hive Mind]] at the end of the game. Though in that case it's more like you're the personal space invader with the fusion cutter.

* The 1985 arcade version of Konami's ''[[GanbareGoemon Goemon]]'' had nearly all the mooks try to put a choke hold on your hero, as opposed to a [[CollisionDamage touch-and-kill]]. You had about 2-3 seconds to escape or die (though [[OneHitPointWonder projectiles and bosses kill him instantly]]).

->''Feel my head, touch my face;\\
two steps back, you're in my space''
-->-- '''Music/SugarRay''', ''[[TropeNamer Personal Space Invader]]''

* Some of the enemies in ''GunstarHeroes'' would sneak up behind your character and grab you in a headlock. Luckily, you could throw them off, and give them a nice shot to the face for their trouble.

** All three of the ''StreetsOfRage'' games had enemies that could grab you from behind, but in the first and third games, you could get rid of them with a shoulder throw.

* The zombies in ''EternalDarkness'', though the Chatturgha and the Mantorok zombies are the ones that mostly do it.
** Also the Bonethieves, which are even worse due to a particularly disturbing OneHitKill attack. They jump on your chest and attempt to rip your face off, tearing hunks of blood and flesh as they burrow into your body.

** One of the most notable enemies are the [=ReDeads=], starting from ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime''. Bonus points for the [=ReDeads=] being [[FreudWasRight great]] NightmareFuel. They also appear in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker''.

* Pictured above is the Mega Chopper from ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]''. In Hydrocity Zone, these little red piranha-like MechaMooks swim around in certain underwater sections, and can even jump ''out'' of the water at you. If they make contact with your character, they latch on and start chewing, eating away one ring per second. and making you unable to jump, duck, or roll. If you're underwater at the time, you're not going to be able to get back to the surface before drowning. If you get hit by an enemy while you're being Mega Chopped, you'll die one second later due to running out of rings. There are three ways to escape a Mega Chopper. One is to enter a tube, forcing your character into a spin. Or, if you're playing co-op with Sonic and Tails, you can use Tails to jump into the Mega Chopper, provided he's not being Mega Chopped as well. Neither of these solutions are sure to be available when you need them, but fortunately, the third solution always works: randomly mash buttons on the controller until the Mega Chopper falls off. ([[GuideDangIt There is no indication that flailing about might have any effect.]])

* Pictured above is the Mega Chopper from ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]''. In Hydrocity Zone, these little red piranha-like MechaMooks swim around in certain underwater sections, and can even jump ''out'' of the water at you. If they make contact with your character, they latch on and start chewing, eating away one ring per second.\\\
Now, almost every other harmful thing in the game either takes away all your rings or instantly kills you; by comparison, the Mega Chopper seems rather non-threatening. What truly makes this enemy dangerous is the fact that, while it's biting away, [[DemonicSpiders your character is unable to jump, duck, or roll]]. If you're underwater at the time, you're not going to be able to get back to the surface before drowning. If you get hit by an enemy while you're being Mega Chopped, you'll die one second later due to running out of rings.\\\
There are three ways to escape a Mega Chopper. One is to enter a tube, forcing your character into a spin. Or, if you're playing co-op with Sonic and Tails, you can use Tails to jump into the Mega Chopper, provided he's not being Mega Chopped as well. Neither of these solutions are sure to be available when you need them, but fortunately, the third solution always works: randomly mash buttons on the controller until the Mega Chopper falls off. ([[GuideDangIt There is no indication that flailing about might have any effect.]])

** And in the ''AliensVsPredator'' PC entries, if you're not a Predator, they're [[DemonicSpiders instant death]]. Schwing!

* The Brainsuckers from ''VideoGame/XCom: Apocalypse'', which latch onto the heads of your troops and deliver an agent that brings them under the aliens' control.

* VideoGame/{{Amorphous}} has Clutters, which bombard you with their spawn that latches onto you, slowing you as more become attached. If you let enough of the baby Clutters latch onto you they stun you for a while, leaving you completely open to all attacks.

* ''VideoGame/{{La-Mulana}}'''s A Bao A Qu enemies, some sort of [[OurMonstersAreWeird invisible flying wallabies]].

* The Brainsuckers from ''{{X-Com}}: Apocalypse'', which latch onto the heads of your troops and deliver an agent that brings them under the aliens' control.

* In the episode, "''[[WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom Fanning the Flames]]''", we have Klemper, a hulking, bucktoothed, blond haired ghost who wants to be friends with everyone. In fact, in the first second, we see Klemper invading Danny's personal space in the most hilarious way possible.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Monster Hunter}}'' series has the Giggi in the third game and Squagill in the fourth, both of which will attempt to latch onto hunters and slowly leech their health away. They'll eventually get full and let go of their own accord if not dislodged by rolling, after which they'll continue to harass you by attacking you normally.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' has three major types.

** Though certain oozes and a few other similar creatures take it even farther and engulf their victims entirely. Possibly one of the worst offenders is the Flesh Jelly. Why? Well as an ooze made of putrid flesh, being engulfed by it doesn't result in an acid bath as with most oozes, which can be magically avoided. Instead you either take damage from the convulsions of the mushy remains of previous victims and are exposed to disease, or are instantly converted into mush yourself, which so thoroughly destroys your remains that only the most potent magics in the game can bring you back.

* Almost ubiquitous in the ''VideoGame/SilentHill'' series, with each game possessing at least one variant. Perhaps the worst, both in terms of gameplay and sheer mindfuckery, are either the Doorman/Abstract Daddy monsters in the second game, which are massive and proceed to swallow the player character's head, or the Slurpers in the third game that knock the (teenaged, female) player character to the ground and climb on top of her in preparation for "fun time".

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* Pictured above is the Mega Chopper from ''[[SonicTheHedgehog Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]''. In Hydrocity Zone, these little red piranha-like MechaMooks swim around in certain underwater sections, and can even jump ''out'' of the water at you. If they make contact with your character, they latch on and start chewing, eating away one ring per second. \\
\\
Now, almost every other harmful thing in the game either takes away all your rings or instantly kills you; by comparison, the Mega Chopper seems rather non-threatening. What truly makes this enemy dangerous is the fact that, while it's biting away, [[DemonicSpiders your character is unable to jump, duck, or roll]]. If you're underwater at the time, you're not going to be able to get back to the surface before drowning. If you get hit by an enemy while you're being Mega Chopped, you'll die one second later due to running out of rings. \\
\\

* The headcrabs in the ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life}}'' series. Although they never latch-on during combat, they were frequently seen doing their thing to random hapless {{NPC}}s.
** ''VideoGame/{{Half-Life 2}}'' has faster versions of the headcrab, as well as multiple poisonous headcrabs latching themselves onto one zombie.
** Fortunately, [[MemeticRapist Mr. Friendly]] was cut from VideoGame/{{Half-Life 1}}, but he would have been this.

* They frequently appear in the ''VideoGame/HouseOfTheDead'' {{light gun game}}s.
** With giant mutant leeches and frogs. No, really.

** Also, in VideoGame/Left4Dead2, the Jockey, who grabs onto your back and does his best to steer you around while you fight him and your buddies shoot at him. This is lampshaded by the characters who says "That is just wrong". This also makes them [[VideoGame/{{Half-Life2}} Head]][[ShoutOut humpers]].

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* ''Anime/{{Daimos}}'': In episode 9, a [[{{Robeast}} Battle Robot]] loaded with nukes latches in the titular HumongousMecha to blow it up.

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* In ''Film/{{Godzilla 2014}}'', the male Muto's tactic against Godzilla was to grab onto him, allowing the female to get an easier hit.

[[AC: WesternAnimation]]

* If you get too close to an unarmed enemy in ''VideoGame/{{Condemned}}: Criminal Origins'', he'll leap on you and start headbutting you to death.

* The moles in VideoGame/MarioKart would jump out of the ground onto your kart. They would slow you down and block your view until you threw them off.

* In ''SuperSmashBrosBrawl'''s Subspace Emissary mode, the Bucculus likes to hide under ground, then leap out at careless players and latch on tight. They make a loud smooching sound as the sac attached to their lips fills up and you take damage, then, once you finally pry them off, they bounce around before hiding back under ground to start the process all over again.

* ''[[{{VideoGame/Banjo-Kazooie}} Banjo-Tooie]]'' had these sort of sentient toxic fume clouds that would cling on to you and rapidly start depleting your air meter. They spawned after you killed another enemy, a sentient toxic waste barrel. Yeah, all the enemies in the game are more or less like that.

* In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', this is one of the main methods of attacking that infantry and [[PoweredArmor Battle Armor]] have. Unlike other units in the game, they're capable of making attacks with their weapons while they're in the same space as their target, which means that at range 0 they can freely attack a mech or tank without it being able to shoot back. Most types of infantry and Battle Armor also have the ability to make special attacks against a mech's legs [[ArmorPiercingAttack for reduced damage but an extra chance of crippling it]], or to make a [[DeathOrGloryAttack risky but potentially powerful]] Swarm attack where they climb onto a mech or vehicle and focus their weapons onto a specific location ForMassiveDamage.

* The Hell Hands from ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'' are [[DemonicPossession demon-possessed]] crawling hands which choke you if you get too close. You have to mash the "open door" button to get them off. What makes them particularly terrifying is that [[InterfaceScrew your vision dims to nothing]] as they choke you out, and they became harder to shake off the longer they hold you.
** From the sequel, the Bone Leeches and Thief spiders, NightmareFuel and InterfaceScrew, respectively.

* ''TyTheTasmanianTiger'' has leeches and ticks, who can take off a sizable portion of your life if not shaken off quickly. If it wasn't for the the fact that you can only take four hits at first, and they're so low to the ground only your [[ImprobableWeaponUser exploding boomerangs]] can take them out without precision aiming, they wouldn't be a threat.
* The [=PS2=] game ''WarOfTheMonsters'' gives a giant preying mantis the power to fire a flying leech.

* Almost ubiquitous in the ''SilentHill'' series, with each game possessing at least one variant. Perhaps the worst, both in terms of gameplay and sheer mindfuckery, are either the Doorman/Abstract Daddy monsters in the second game, which are massive and proceed to swallow the player character's head, or the Slurpers in the third game that knock the (teenaged, female) player character to the ground and climb on top of her in preparation for "fun time".

** The very next major boss, Lord Jaraxxus, periodically summons demon minions to aid him. One of these, the Mistress of Pain, likes to leap at players, grab them, and do a spinning pile driver move reminiscent of Zangief from ''StreetFighter''.

* Light bugs in ''{{Limbo}}'' attach themselves on the protagonist, forcing him to perpetually walk in one direction, only stopping when he hits an obstacle and only turning around when he steps into a beam of light. Fortunately, the boy isn't the only one which the limbo wants to see eaten.
* ''LocoRoco'' has Kojas, a small variation of your average enemies which attach themselves upon the locoroco, making it harder to jump. Their weakness - [[SuperDrowningSkills Water]]

* {{Amorphous}} has Clutters, which bombard you with their spawn that latches onto you, slowing you as more become attached. If you let enough of the baby Clutters latch onto you they stun you for a while, leaving you completely open to all attacks.

* In the ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts'' series, Ansem/Xehanort's Heartless guardian is prone to doing this. In the first game, it can possess Sora, and will occasionally replace the Attack command with one that causes it to emerge and hold him in place. In ''BirthBySleep'', it'll erupt out of the ground to try to grab you and perform a piledriver, and will also dash forward and try to hold you in place so his master can get some free hits in on you. In the same game, Xehanort himself isn't exempt from it, as he'll occasionally teleport up to Terra and try to grab him by the face to unleash a Blizzaga spell at point blank range, though you can escape before you get frozen.

* The "[[FanNickname Hump-Bot]]"(as named by LetsPlay/DeceasedCrab) from ''JourneyToSilius''. Kill it quickly before it locks onto you, or [[CycleOfHurting you're finished]].

* Slurples and Poinks from ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' and ''SuperMarioSunshine'', respectively. (Though the later of the two creatures only drains your water levels.)

* In ''[[StrangersWrath Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath]]'', various ammo types such as Fuzzles will invade the personal space... of enemies! Played straight with [[spoiler:Sekto though, who is an Oktigi, a octopus-like creature that latches onto the head of something and then proceeds to control them. In Sekto's case, he latched onto the [[FateWorseThanDeath previous Guardian Steef]]]].
* The second stage of ''Drol'' had magnets that would latch onto you. They weren't directly harmful, but prevented you from firing in one direction until you shook them loose by moving down or up a hatch.

* The CombatTentacles with the spike on the tip in ''EccoTheDolphin'', which latch on and stay there for a while. Made frustrating by the fact that you're underwater and only have so much time to shake them before you drown. (hint: Usually getting loose requires a lot of charging, aka mashing the B button.)

* VideoGame/SaintsRowTheThird has this during the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Zombie Attack]] mission. If you get grabbed by a zombie you have to frantically pound a button to get it (and the others that accumulate since you can't move) off.

* They frequently appear in the ''HouseOfTheDead'' {{light gun game}}s.

* In ''DeadRising'' this is pretty much the only way that the zombies attack.

* Terror spider droids in TheForceUnleashed 2 leap on to Starkiller's chest or back and drain his health unless he throws them off. Unfortunately, they attack in huge waves.