History Main / UnderGroundMonkey

* Several of the bosses in ''VideoGame/WonderBoyInMonsterLand'' do this, such as the Red Knight/Blue Knight/Silver Knight, the GrimReaper / God of Poverty(steals your Gold), and the Giant Kong/Snow Kong(spawns mini-Snow Kongs instead of throwing boulders).

*** She's first available as "Leia Boushh" in her disguise from the beginning of the film, armed with a staff which plays sort of like Luke's lightsaber, (including attacking while using the DoubleJump) while also possessing a ranged ChargeAttack.

** In the original trilogy, Elites and Grunts got different-colored armor based on their military rank (determined largely by AsskickingEqualsAuthority), while Jackals got different colored shields and some minor armor changes. There were also special classes, like Honor Guards and Elite Councilors, with more distinct (and often far more ornate) armor.

* ''Adan'' spoofs this trope in the video ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r-jmIOrgD8 The uninspired Boss]]'', where players being disappointed by the boss just being a slightly tougher PalletSwap of what they were fighting before.

** Another monster well known for the large number of varieties it come in are giants. Hill giants are the generic giants, big humanoids who throw rocks. Stone giants live underground and have stony skin. Frost giants have blue skin and are found in cold regions. Fire Giants are {{DarkSkinnedRedhead}}s who live around volcanos. Cloud Giants also have bluish skin and live in castles in the clouds. Storm giants have pale greenish skin and live underwater. Mountain giants are like hill giants but bigger. Ettins are like hill giants with two heads. Eldritch giants have purple skin and are covered in magical tattoos. Death giants are bald and have black skin and yellow eyes. Fomorians are similar to hill giants but are found underground and are smarter, eviler, and a whole lot uglier. Sun Giants are found in dessert. Smaller giants come in several varieties including the Firbolg, Verbeeg, and Voadkin. And there still are quite a few more types of giant.

** Another monster well known for the large number of varieties it come in are giants. Hill giants are the generic giants, big humanoids who throw rocks. Stone giants live underground and have stony skin. Frost giants have blue skin and are found in cold regions. Fire Giants are {{DarkSkinnedRedhead}}s who live around volcanos.
Cloud Giants also have bluish skin and live in castles in the clouds. Storm giants have pale greenish skin and live underwater. Mountain giants are like hill giants but bigger. Ettins are like hill giants with two heads. Eldritch giants have purple skin and are covered in magical tattoos. Death giants are bald and have black skin and yellow eyes. Fomorians are similar to hill giants but are found underground and are smarter, eviler, and a whole lot uglier. Sun Giants are found in dessert. Smaller giants come in several varieties including the Firbolg, Verbeeg, and Voadkin. And there still are quite a few more types of giant.

** Foxes have several distinct species adapted for different biomes, such as the forest-dwelling red fox, the tundra-dwelling arctic fox and the desert-dwelling fennec fox.
** Lions, tigers and jaguars are the feline apex predators of Africa, Asia and South America and can in a way be seen as palette swaps of one another.

** In the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue first generation games]], all Gym Leaders (With the exception of Giovanni) all use overworld sprites that other [=NPCs=] use. This is later averted in later generations, where all Gym Leaders have their own unique overworld sprite.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' has this with a LOT of enemy types. Sometimes in quick succession.

* In ''VideoGame/TheBattleCats'', many enemies have at least one variant of themselves later in the game. The most common are Red, Alien, and Zombie type enemies, with the remaining being Angels, Metal, Black, etc.

** KnightErrant: The Slime Knight series consists of slimes who run around carrying blade-swinging riders. There's the basic Slime Knight, the Metal Slime Knight (which is, strangely, ''not'' a MetalSlime kind of enemy), the Dark Slime Knight (who rides around on a Dark Slime and has AnAxeToGrind), the Dark Lancer from ''Dragon Quest Monsters Battle Road'' (who rides on a Black Slime recolor and wields a JoustingLance), and Dragon Quest IX introduced the Slionheart, Prime Slime, and [[FourStarBadass Shogum]].

* In ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia'', the {{mook}}s all use the same sprite, with different colors denoting their HP and AI level. The SNES version also applies this trope to the Skeleton and Knight bosses; the initial version of the former is white while the DegradedBoss versions are brown, and the latter first appears in a red outfit, then upgraded in blue garb. The ''Classic'' remake has much more varied enemy designs.

* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' has gradually introduced location-specific variants on their basic monsters. Cave spiders, introduced at the tail end of beta, are smaller (able to crawl through a 1×1 hole), bluer spiders that spawn in abandoned mineshafts and can inflict a poison effect on the player. Wither skeletons spawn in Nether fortresses, wield swords instead of bows, and can cause the "wither" effect (which is similar to poison but more severe, as it kills you, and also obscures the player's health meter). Version 1.10 added Husks, zombies that spawn in deserts (where there are no trees to hide under), don't burn up in the sun, and give the player the hunger debuff when attacked; and Strays, skeletons that spawn in icy climates and fire potion-tipped arrows that slow their targets.

* In the first ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' game, Krusha came in two varieties. The first kind was blue with green camo and was only beatable by either of Donkey Kong's main attacks or a barrel (Diddy Kong's attacks were laughed off). The second kind only appeared once in the SNES version, in the very last level before King K. Rool. This version was grey with purple camo. The only thing that could beat him was a barrel, making him the strongest of the Kremlings.

** Different weaponry and/or levels of toughness of the opponents (e.g. the weapon guards of ''VideoGame/QuakeII'' and its expansions, the Cabal followers of ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'', Barons of Hell and Hellknights in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} II'', the Melee-based Skaarj Warriors and Weapon-based Skaarj Troopers of ''VideoGame/UnrealI'').

** Most bosses in ''[[VideoGame/Halo5Guardians Halo 5]]''[='s=] Warzone game mode have the same appearance as normal enemies but with a different color. [[UpToEleven The Legendary and Mythic variants are the same way with regards to the weaker bosses]].

* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' started doing this with ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Up Your Arsenal]]'', where enemies, particularly the Tyhrranoids, would be replaced with tougher versions later in the game with more health and damage. This was taken UpToEleven with ''VideoGame/RatchetDeadlocked'', where 90% of the enemy lineup consisted of these.

** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestMonstersJoker2'' takes this particularly UpToEleven, where the strongest slimes include the [[OlympusMons zodiacal]] [[GiantEnemyCrab Canzar]], the HenshinHero Slider series -- that's the [[TheHero Ultra Slime/Slider Hero]], his partner [[MoreDeadlyThanTheMale Slider Girl]], his enemy [=Nemeslime/Death Slidark=], and his HumongousMecha Slidark Robo... and then there's the KillSat Sli-Blaster.

** Most of them are simply {{Palette Swap}}s with boosted stats that attack faster, but some such as the Dark Mechawful from ''Bowser's Inside Story'' diversify themselves from their vanilla cousins. ''Dream Team'' is particularly egregious, as many Dream World enemies are altered versions of Pi'illo Island enemies, and several other enemies get stronger R forms. Of particular note is the Capnap, which also comes in [[UpToEleven Dreamcap, Dreamcap Captain, Dreamcap R, and Dreamcap Captain R varieties]].

*** During the Sail Barge level she becomes "Leia Slave," wearing her {{iconic|Outfit}} [[GoGoEnslavement bikini]]. Like Boushh, Slave Leia is primarily melee (using her chain as a whip) with a ranged charge attack. However she's ''also'' given her own version of Chewie's [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning Spin Attack]] on top of this (Slave Leia also may have the highest attack power of ''any character in the entire game trilogy'').

Not to be confused with actual monkeys living underground, such as [[VideoGame/EarthBound beneath Dusty Dunes Desert]] or [[Manga/CromartieHighSchool under the sewers]].

* In ''VideoGame/MOTHER1'', the Lone Wolf, Silver Wolf, and Wolf are all the same sprite with different colors, and the Stray Dog is a wolf sprite colored brown with a chain around its neck. ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' and ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'' give the palette swaps goofy names. For instance, you have the 'Manly Fish' and his stronger swap, the 'Manly Fish's Brother'.

* ''VideoGame/SongsForAHero'': The Hero himself [[LampshadeHanging points out]] how there are many versions of the common snakes fought in the first level across the game: there are the green snakes encountered right in the first act, red snakes that throw fire balls in the second act, armor-wearing yellows snakes that are more resilient in the third act, flying snakes in the fith level and blue ice snakes in the sixth level. They all seem to come from the same basic green snakes, modified into more perilous foes by lightnings of the Terrible Villain [[spoiler: As it is discovered in the final level, they were actually modified and created by aliens in an experiment involving the Hero.]]

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* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' notably averts {{Palette Swap}}s of its [[{{Mon}} monsters]], aside from rare "shiny" Pokémon which are the exact same species (think albino). The closest thing to recycled enemies might be evolved forms of previously encountered Pokémon, or the ''same'' Pokémon at higher levels. This lack of palette-swapping monsters makes sense when you consider the whole premise of the game is built on having a wide selection of Pokémon to customize your team with. There are many Pokemon based on similar animals who are mostly differentiated by the location they live in though. Take Pachirisu, an Electric squirrel of the Sinnoh region and Emolga, an Electric flying squirrel of the Unova region. Pikachu, a rare Electric mouse that lives in forests and Marill, a rare river-dwelling mouse. Also, the same species of animal may be represented more than once in the same area such as Pansage, Pansear and Panpour who are all forest monkeys but each of a different elemental type.

*** While ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'' has mostly kept the overworld sprites of Trainer classes consistent to their battle sprites, the boss version of the Clerk Trainer class shares the same overworld sprite as the more common variant. This is particularly odd, seeing how there are unique overworld sprites for both of the variants of the Worker Trainer class.
*** ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' also keeps the overworld models of the Trainer classes consistent to their artwork, but some models are reused for different classes, with the only difference being that each class has a different palette. For example, ever wonder why the Veteran classes in the overworld look a lot younger than they do in their artwork? That's because their overworld models are actually palette swaps of the Ace Trainer overworld models. Ever confused as to how the Fairy Tale Girl's hair looks completely different in the overworld? That's because her overworld model is actually a palette swap of the Twins overworld model.
*** In the [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue first generation games]], all Gym Leaders (With the exception of Giovanni) all use overworld sprites that other [=NPCs=] use. This is later averted in later generations, where all Gym Leaders have their own unique overworld sprite.
** An InUniverse example would be Shellos and Gastrodon, which are only cosmetically different on the West and East sides of the continent. The justification was divergent evolution (that is, allopatric speciation rather than metamorphosis) after being separated by Mt. Coronet.
** Also played straight with the cry sounds. There were only 37 cry sounds in the original game, and while some were sped up or slowed down, some cries, even by unrelated Pokémon, were identical. Charizard and Rhyhorn, Ditto and Poliwag... Caterpie and Goldeen technically have different cries, but you'd have to listen to them in succession to hear it. Less noticeable in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', where the revamping of the Pokémon cries meant that the cries of the original Gen I Pokémon went through DivergentCharacterEvolution. (but they still sound similar).

** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' introduces the concept of regional variants: existing Pokémon species that have changed their typings, abilities and appearances after adapting to a completely different environment. The ones that are found only in Alola are known as Alolan forms. Most are given reasonable explanations, such as the Sandshrew line becoming Ice/Steel-types after adapting to snow-capped mountains, or Exeggutor being a Grass/Dragon type that grows to an astounding 35 feet tall due to the year-long tropical sun. Others, such as Raichu (the Alolan variant being an Electric/Psychic type that can levitate by "surfing" on its tail)? [[ItRunsOnNonsensoleum Not even those in-universe have a clue as to why or how that happened]], jokingly pinning the cause on a diet of fluffy pancakes.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'' continues the trend of regional variants, and takes them a step further by lengthening several evolution lines (including the Galarian Zigzagoon-Linoone line, which gets a third stage in the form of Obstagoon; Galarian Corsola, which gets an evolution called Cursola; and Galarian Mr. Mime, who gets a third stage known as Mr. Rime among others). Meowth (who also has an Alolan form) and Yamask were given regional variants that evolve into new Pokémon (Galarian Meowth evolve into Perrserker while Galarian Yamask evolve into Runerigus). The expansion pass adds even more regional variants for the Slowpoke line and even the Legendary Birds now have regional variants, meaning that legendary Pokémon can now get this treatment.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus'' adds more regional forms with Hisuian forms, Hisui being the old name for the region that would eventually become [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl the Sinnoh region]]. In addition to these new forms, even the starters you get at the beginning of your adventure ([[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Rowlet]], [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Cyndaquil]] and [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Oshawott]]) also get regional forms once they hit their final evolutions. It is implied that the regional forms and the Pokemon that evolve into these forms (including some Gen 5 and Gen 6 Pokémon like Rufflet, Petilil, Bergmite and Goomy) have all become extinct in Sinnoh by the time it goes by that name in the modern era.