History Main / HomingBoulders

* Thrown weapons in ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' track targets, the most egregious being the suitcase. The suitcase velocity is barely above [=NPCs=] running speed, thus leading to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuzZTl5nSDA funny displays]]. This was later patched out and all suitcases made to travel at reasonably fast speeds to minimize homing shenanigans... except for the unlockable ICA Executive Briefcase Mk II, which travels ever so slightly ''slower'' than before; the description refers to it as "throwing speed tweaked for maximum style".

** In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', if a character takes a shot and misses, it doesn't matter whether or not the graphical representation of the shots land on the intended target – a successful hit will have the shots always land straight at the exact spot of the target's head. A soldier shoots at a Muton and hits it twice in the torso and once in the cheek? "Shot failed to connect!". This effect is especially visible with the Plasma Pistol and Heavy Plasma, which fire several large projectiles that are easy to track. The effect was downplayed with the release of ''Enemy Within'', where missed shots will go in a straight line close to but not hitting the target; a hit will either be the previous sequence of headshots or land on the center of mass. On the other hand, any cover or environmental explosives such as [[EveryCarIsAPinto cars and trucks]] will take damage from the missed shots[[note]]but in the case of burst fire, only the very first one that connects with a destructible surface; if it's already broken a wall beforehand, a Sectopod's cannon fire won't so much as singe a trash can[[/note]].
** ''VideoGame/XCOM2'': Sometimes, the projectiles of a missed shot will noclip through the edge of the target's model. It happens often when a Cannon burst aims too low and "hits" a Chryssalid's legs.

*** A literal example in ''Warcraft III''. Ancient Protectors ({{treant}}s which double as towers for the Night Elves) throw boulders at both grounded and flying units. If the unit moves just within range, then runs/flies at high speed at a different angle, the boulders can follow some truly ridiculous trajectories. The game also has a "Miss" mechanic, but even when a range attack misses, it will still home on the target.

* ''VideoGame/MetroidPrimeHunters'': Should you manage to unlock Gorea's [[SequentialBoss final phase]] and successfully do damage to it's main body, it will respond with literal homing boulders that will pass through walls and even the floor just to hit Samus. That said, she can and should dodge them as she tracks Gorea down to continue damaging it. This isn't because of a limited physics engine or lazy programming, but because ''Videogame/{{Metroid}}'' is {{weird|JapaneseThing}} and Gorea is an EldritchAbomination turned HumanoidAbomination, even by the standards of ''Metroid''.

* Arrows in ''VideoGame/{{Mabinogi}}'' have their targets predestined based on which mob you're locked onto; in fact, an arrow can go right through one mob on the way to hit another.
** The game does shave the trope closer than normal for an MMORPG, though: a projectile can go from "hit" to "miss" while being launched or thrown, if not after the instant it actually enters flight. And the use of ConcealmentEqualsCover to disrupt the aiming process also goes beyond the normal level.

* The original ''Videogame/SpyroTheDragon'' had this with the cannons in the Peace Keepers and Dream Weavers homeworlds, and the barrels in Gnorc Cove.
* In [[VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus the original Sly Cooper game]], being spotted by a flashlight guard meant the player ''was'' going to take damage, even if the shots had to [[{{Roboteching}} juke and weave to counterattack a player's dodge]]. Later games removed the homing, but made shots ridiculously fast, and averted HeroTrackingFailure, to compensate.
* In what is perhaps the most literal case of this trope, in ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'''s cave stages, the rolling boulders will turn according to whether Sonic is to their left or right. They CAN miss (and there are too many of them to afford to get hit by all of them), and they will stop homing once Sonic passes them. Nevertheless, there is no reason why they should be following Sonic's movements, and it's subtle enough that anyone playing without advance knowledge might be confused why they're clumsily running into so many of these rocks.
* Should you manage to unlock Gorea's [[SequentialBoss final phase]] in ''Videogame/MetroidPrimeHunters'' and successfully do damage to it's main body, it will respond with literal homing boulders that will pass through walls and even the floor just to hit Samus. That said, she can and should dodge them as she tracks Gorea down to continue damaging it. This isn't because of a limited physics engine or lazy programming, but because ''Videogame/{{Metroid}}'' is {{weird|JapaneseThing}} and Gorea is an EldritchAbomination turned HumanoidAbomination, even by the standards of ''Metroid''.

* ''Videogame/LeagueOfLegends'' has slow moving energy bolts fired by caster minions. Those move only slightly faster than a champion's running speed, follow you anywhere once fired and can do enough damage to kill players on low health even if they've gotten away from them and the enemy team. This is humiliating. Otherwise, some abilities are [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZ0tMN3B038 guaranteed to hit their target]] while some (known colloquially as "skillshots") require them reaching a target to work. The Flash summoner ability could once be used to dodge homing spells and missiles if used while they were en route, but due to it adding a major benefit to an already useful ability, this was removed.

* A variant of this shows as some older versions [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement at the very least]] of ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL'' and ''VideoGame/NCAAFootball'' show off the simulation roots. In some cases, players or passes can move in ways that look unnatural in order to be completions or tackles.

** In ''VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown'', if a character takes a shot and misses, it doesn't matter whether or not the graphical representation of the shots land on the intended target – a successful hit will have the shots always land straight at the exact spot of the target's head. A soldier shoots at a Muton and hits it twice in the torso and once in the cheek? "Shot failed to connect!". This effect is especially visible with the Plasma Pistol and Heavy Plasma, which fire several large projectiles that are easy to track. The effect was downplayed with the release of ''Enemy Within'', where missed shots will go in a straight line close to but not hitting the target; a hit will either be the previous sequence of headshots or land on the center of mass. On the other hand, any cover or environmental explosives such as [[EveryCarIsAPinto cars and trucks]] will take damage from the missed shots.

** Can be particularly impressive when watching five or six archer units - totaling out to sometimes more than a ''thousand'' men - firing arrows at a fleeing unit. You'll see hundreds of individual arrows screaming down at the retreating enemy, and it becomes even ''more'' awesome if you have them all [[ArrowsOnFire on fire.]] This often results in the rather ridiculous site of hundreds of arrows all landing in a tight cluster ''juuuust'' behind a fleeing soldier.

* ''ComicStrip/BrewsterRockitSpaceGuy'' once did a parody of Indiana Jones, where Brewster--in an ancient temple--attempts to "outsmart" the rolling boulder instead. This not only fails to stop it, but also causes the boulder to somehow con Brewster out of his money. Since the arc ends two strips later, it is revealed that Brewster never reached the center of the temple, and was only back on the space station because he was [[UpToEleven still running from the boulder]].

* Cheerfully played UpToEleven in ''Film/TheGamers'' where an extremely difficult shot is made against an enemy fleeing through a forest. With the modifiers for cover, distance, movement and so on piling up, it can only hit on a [[CriticalHit Natural 20]] - which it does, of course. Ingame, we get a scene of the arrow almost stalking its target, changing course multiple times before hitting it from an entirely different direction.

* ''WesternAnimation/WileECoyoteAndTheRoadRunner'': A frequent issue for Wile E Coyote. In "WesternAnimation/ToBeepOrNotToBeep," it goes UpToEleven with the OverlyLongGag involving a catapult, a wagon, and a lanyard.

* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' has the Tank, which can rip out chunks of the ground and throw them at the Survivors. The rocks have a degree of homing, but [[TheAIIsACheatingBastard the AI Tanks are even worse]] to the point where [[FanNickname players have nicknamed them]] "rofl rocks". It doesn't help that AI Tanks can throw rocks that sometimes ''clip into the level's geometry'' to reach the player.

Compare {{hitscan}}, which often overlaps.

* An interesting (and literal) example in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'': In the Death Mountain Trail segment where the volcano erupts, you can move as much as you want and the debris will still fall on your head.
* This is played straight in ''Videogame/{{Pikmin}} 2'' where the Decorated Cannon Beetle fires boulders which actively home in on your character. It is {{justified|Trope}} in the Piklopedia where it notes that the boulders are magnetic and attracted to the high metal content in Olimar's space suit. That said, it doesn't explain how the homing still works when the entire level is constructed of metal.

* Thrown weapons in ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' track targets, the most egregious being the suitcase. The suitcase velocity is barely above [=NPCs=] running speed, thus leading to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuzZTl5nSDA funny displays]].

* Thrown weapons in ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' track targets, the most egregious being the suitcase. The suitcase velocity is barely above [=NPCs=] running speed, thus leading to funny displays.

* Spells home in in the video game ''VideoGame/HarryPotter and the Chamber of Secrets''. There's nothing particularly weird about that (after all, [[AWizardDidIt a wizard really did do it]]), but it's made quite clear in the original books that spells travel in a straight line.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}} V'', most units don't move a lot during combat animations. Airplanes, on the other hand, are seen moving. Everything makes sense when targeting soldiers equipped with rifles or cities defended by missiles - otherwise, expect arrows, boulders and fire bombs chasing your planes.

Compare StalactiteSpite. Use of this trope may grow less frequent over time as proper physics rendering becomes more advanced, easier to do and ''expected'' by players of genres where it was once endemic but at the same time it may be continued as a {{Retraux}} touch. If this happens with FrickinLaserBeams, you've got HomingLasers.

* ''{{VideoGame/Uncharted}}'', starting with the second game, uses [[EveryBulletIsATracer tracer rounds]] for all the bullet weapons, but only for the visuals. The actual damage is still enacted using HitScan, resulting in this trope on moving targets where the tracer moves slow enough to completely miss them, but they received damage as soon as the trigger was pulled.

* In [[VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus the original Sly Cooper game]], being spotted by a flashlight guard meant the player ''was'' going to take damage, even if the shots had to [[{{Roboteching}} juke and weave to counterattack a player's dodge]]. Later games removed the homing, but made shots so fast they were practically HitScan, and averted HeroTrackingFailure, to compensate.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boulder.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:It followed me home, can I keep it?]]

* A variant of this shows as some older versions [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement at the very least]] of ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL'' show off the simulation roots. In some cases, players or passes can move in ways that look unnatural in order to be completions or tackles.

* Thrown weapons in ''VideoGame/Hitman2'' track targets, the most egregious being the suitcase. The suitcase velocity is barely above NPCs running speed, thus leading to funny displays.

* A variant of this shows as some older versions [[RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement at the very least]] of ''VideoGame/MaddenNFL'' show off the simulation roots. In some cases, players or passes can move in ways that look unnatural in order to be completions or tackles.

* ''Videogame/Left4Dead'' has the Tank, which can rip out chunks of the ground and throw them at the Survivors. The rocks have a degree of homing, but [[TheAIIsACheatingBastard the AI Tanks are even worse]] to the point where [[FanNickname players have nicknamed them]] "rofl rocks". It doesn't help that AI Tanks can throw rocks that sometimes ''clip into the level's geometry'' to reach the player.
* ''{{Franchise/Uncharted}}'', starting with the second game, uses [[EveryBulletIsATracer tracer rounds]] for all the bullet weapons, but only for the visuals. The actual damage is still enacted using HitScan, resulting in this trope on moving targets where the tracer moves slow enough to completely miss them, but they received damage as soon as the trigger was pulled.

* In the [=FPS=]-style ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' games (Generally Fallout 3 onwards), inverts this trope and even even a perfectly-aimed shot can miss because the [=FPS=] interface is hiding [=RPG=]-style random number generator which takes your stats and weapon skill into account. The limited availablity of [=VATS=] means that you can't really rely on character skills (like an [=RPG=]) '''or''' player skills (like an [=FPS=]). It's played straight in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' with {{Critical Hit}}s -- the player can force a critical hit to happen in VATS if their critical bar is full, and critical hits are also an AlwaysAccurateAttack that will even hit right through walls and other blocking objects.