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alt title(s): Goddamn Bats; Damned Bats; Goddam Bats
We can't stop here. This is zubat country.

"Why do so many games have so many FUCKING BATS?!!"
James "The Angry Video Game Nerd" Rolfe

Almost every video game has them. These are the enemies that are just a pain in the ass to deal with, even if they are not outright dangerous. They swarm you, they add nothing to the game, they do nothing but cause delay and generate player aggravation.

They're the goddamn bats, man.

One thing that defines these is that they generally don't pose too large of a threat on their own. When an enemy starts posing an actual threat through Fake Difficulty, then it's a case of Demonic Spiders and, when actual difficulty, the Boss In Mook Clothing.

Note that this designation applies to any type of non-threatening enemy that causes great annoyance. Goddamned Bats are most common annoyances in Platformers, where they tend to disturb precision jumping.

While a goddamned bat may be annoying for any number of reasons (depending on the type of game they're in), common causes include:

  • Moves around really fast and/or in apparently random paths.
  • Appears more frequently than normal enemies.
  • Always appears in large groups, and needs more than one blow to defeat.
  • Is inescapable, blocking you from progressing down a path (or, in an RPG, running away).
  • Can produce more enemies or respawn indefinitely. If you're lucky, its spawn will die with the original's death. If you're really lucky, there's a way to tell them apart.
  • Can fly, making it difficult to hit or target (or, they may just be a lot shorter than your character).
  • Can move through walls, unlike the player or the player's weapons.
  • Appears in a really tricky situation involving a platforming sequence or puzzle that needs full attention focused on it, causing much distraction and failure.
  • Can regenerate health.
  • Give great rewards for killing them, but always run away before you can do so.
  • On the flipside, give ridiculously small rewards for defeating them, and are difficult to avoid.
  • Is an Invincible Minor Minion, and can't be defeated at all.
  • Self-destructs, damaging you as it does and/or not giving you experience or items if it does.
  • Requires a noticeable amount of time to swap equipment just to defeat them.
  • Has a really high evasion rate (in games where hitting them isn't a matter of player skill.)
  • Can confuse your characters or otherwise force them to waste a lot of attacks or ammo.
  • Teleports you to another area if you get hit by its attacks.
  • For RP Gs, either has a high encounter rate or are the main enemy in a dungeon with a high encounter rate.
  • Lie on the "no fucking way" portion of the Elemental Rock Paper Scissors wheel, especially in games where Elemental Rock Paper Scissors is a fundamental part of game play.
  • Wastes a player's time or forces a player to spend more time on something than necessary—particularly annoying in areas of the game where every second is of utmost importance.
  • Two or more of the above.

The following factors can contribute to a game having Goddamned Bats:

  • Player having relatively large health bar, reducing threat from enemies, but making them more annoying.
  • In platform games, character flying backwards after getting hit.
  • The game relies heavily on Respawning Enemies.
  • Player has a weapon with limited firing range or can't shoot vertically or diagonally.

Occasionally, the problem is the setting; a water level can make any enemy annoying if the controls are bad enough. It should be noted that this only applies to enemies which are really more annoying than they are deadly. If they make you fear for your life as they annoy you, they are Demonic Spiders.

This is a gameplay trope. If you're looking for a narrative version of this, you want Goddamn Orks, rather than the bats.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

Action-Adventure Games

    Castlevania 

    Metroid 

    Mega Man 

    The Legend Of Zelda 

    Other adventure games 

    Collectible Card Games 

    Driving Games 

    First Person Shooters 

    Interactive Fiction 

     MMORPGs 

    Real Time Strategy 

    Roguelikes 

Role Playing Games

    Pokémon 

    Final Fantasy 

    Other RPGs 

    Shoot Em Ups 

    Survival Horror 

    Turn Based Strategy 

Other

    Racing Games 

    Unsorted/Other 

    Fighting Game 

Giant Hands Of DoomVideo Game CharactersDemonic Spiders
The BarneyScrappy IndexGoddamned Boss
Finger Poke Of DoomThis Index Is Not An ExampleGoodbye Cruel World