History Main / WhackAMonster

* Mission 23 of ''VideoGame/MagicalBattleArena'', where an infinite number of [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaStrikers Gadget Drones]] pop in and out of the [[ShiftingSandLand sand]] and you have to see how many you can smash before the time is up. [[DropTheHammer Naturally]], you control [[Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs Vita]] for this mission.

* The first minigame in ''WebVideo/AngelHare's Learning Adventure'' tasks the player with using a mallet to help Francis deal with an infestation of demon hares. [[spoiler:The real plot of the game kicks off when ''no demon hares show up'', but Francis decides to give you the reward for winning anyway.]]

** ''Donkey Kong Land'' had a hard hat-wearing mole boss aptly named Hard Hat that followed this trope. In the battle area, there are three holes from which the boss will appear. One must wait until the boss tosses its hard hat like a boomerang to strike it before it goes back underground. As its health is depleted, the boss becomes increasingly faster, making the battle trickier.

* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'': In "Squeakerboxxx", one of the games at the Game Hive arcade is "Whack-A-Bee". When Eduardo gets frightened by the bees that pop out of the hive, he whacks them out of fear, earning himself a large amount of tickets as a result. When he cashes them in at the prize counter, he tells Coco "Si, it ''does'' pay to be a scaredy-cat."

* ''VideoGame/MarioParty3'':
** In the minigame Pipe Cleaners, the players have to knock the Baby Bowsers that pop out of the underground pipes with a hammer. Two pipes are placed in the ceiling, while the other two are placed in the ground; each pipe has to be aimed at with a specific combination in the player's controller (respectively: Up + B, Down + B, Up + A, Down + A). The player that knocks the most Baby Bowsers after 30 seconds wins.
** In the minigame Baby Bowser Bonkers, two dueling characters have to stomp the Baby Bowsers that pop out of the rocky ground's holes. It's possible to stomp several Baby Bowsers in succession with good timing, but this does not yield any additional points. Whoever stomps more Baby Bowsers after 30 seconds wins.
* ''VideoGame/MarioParty4'': In the Story Mode minigame Bowser Bop, the Party Star has to defeat Toad by slamming the Koopa Kid and Bowser heads that pop out of the furniture in the room where they are. Slamming Koopa Kid is grants one point while smalling Bowser grants two. The character who scores the highest after 60 seconds wins.
* ''VideoGame/MarioParty6'': The minigame Mole It! has two teams of characters hit Monty Moles that pop out of Warp Pipes (Piranha Plants pop out as well, but they must be avoided as they'll stun the players upon contact). During day, the Monty Moles appear in upper-placed pipes, so the characters have to hit them with their heads. During night, the pipes are placed in the ground, so the players have to stomp the Monty Moles instead. Hitting a gold-colored Mole grants three points instead of one. Whichever team scores the highest after 30 seconds wins.
* ''VideoGame/MarioParty7'': In the {{Minigame}} Monty's Revenge, the players have to pop their heads out of the holes for as long as possible without getting whacked by the moles.
* ''VideoGame/MarioParty8'': The minigame Crops 'n' Robbers has two teams of players hunt Monty Moles that pop up from molehills. However, the twist is that only one of the players in each team holds the mallet that is used to hit them, since the other is focusing on scooping the carrots that obstruct the way (and are taken to delivery trucks driven by Shy Guys). The first team to complete the two halves of the job and thus have their designated field fully cleared up wins.
* ''VideoGame/MarioParty9'': Hole Hogs. One player uses the Wii Remote pointer to control a hammer that they use to whack the other players as they use the buttons on the Wii Remote to pop up from holes. The team scores one point every time they manage to stay up for one second without getting hit, and if they can score ten points before time runs out, they win.

[[folder:Animated Films]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory1'', one of the games at Pizza Planet is "Whack A Alien", where players have to whack aliens that pop out of a spaceman's chest to win points. [[BigBad Sid Phillips]] is seen playing this game before playing the Claw Machine, where he wins a Squeeze Toy Alien, Buzz, and Woody.
[[/folder]]

* One of the mini-games in ''VideoGame/TweetyAndTheMagicGems'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance is "Hit The Ghosts", wherein WesternAnimation/BugsBunny, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck, WesternAnimation/PorkyPig, [[WesternAnimation/SylvesterTheCatAndTweetyBird Sylvester]], WesternAnimation/YosemiteSam, and Marc Antony have to whack as many moles and ghosts as they can. Each mole is worth one point, and each ghost is worth two points.
* In ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark: Chef's Luv Shack'', the "Whack A Zombie" mini-game takes place in a pet cemetery, where Stan, Eric, Kyle, or Kenny whacks zombie pets with a shovel, while avoiding hitting real, living pets within the time limit. Each zombie pet they hit wins them 50 points, but each real pet they hit takes away 50 points.

** ''{{VideoGame/The Legend of Zelda Oracle|Games}} of Seasons'': The Omuai are a trio of squidlike creatures that periodically pop in and out of the circle of flooded holes in their room, staying emerged long enough to spit a fireball at Link before diving back down. To defeat them, Link has to hurry over to them, lift them out of their pit before they can vanish back in it, and strike at them when they're helpless on land.

*

%%* ''VideoGame/GoofTroop'': Jester Hole, the first boss.

* The first boss in ''VideoGame/GoofTroop'', Jester Hole, has pirates popping out of holes to throw barrels, bombs, and spiky balls at Goofy and Max.

* ''VideoGame/MarioParty7'': In the {{Minigame}} ''Monty's Revenge'', the players have to pop their heads out of the holes for as long as possible without getting whacked by the moles.

Whenever that hole in the floor isn't the home of a BottomlessPits, it's the home of a monster. And when there's a lot of holes in the floor, you're probably in the company of this type of monster. Emphasis on fighting these guys is on speed and timing, as you only have so long before they throw something at you and scurry back into hiding. Thankfully, if it isn't a boss these monsters die quickly. May overlap with PuzzleBoss. Non-boss forms can quickly cross into the realm of the GoddamnedBats.

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

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bowser_attacked_by_monty_moles.png]]

Whenever that hole in the floor isn't the home of a BottomlessPits, it's the home of a monster. And when there's a lot of holes in the floor, you're probably in the company of this type of monster. Emphasis on fighting these guys is on speed, as you only have so long before they throw something at you and scurry back into hiding. Thankfully, if it isn't a boss these monsters die quickly. May overlap with PuzzleBoss. Non-boss forms can quickly cross into the realm of the GoddamnedBats.

Compare AmbushingEnemy. Related to the MoleMonster, who otherwise functions differently by actually homing in on the player.

* There are no holes. The monster just pops up in a random spot. Usually done by monsters that teleport.

Compare AmbushingEnemy.

Whenever that hole in the floor isn't the home of a BottomlessPit, it's the home of a monster. And when there's a lot of holes in the floor, you're probably in the company of this type of monster. Emphasis on fighting these guys is on speed, as you only have so long before they throw something at you and scurry back into hiding. Thankfully, if it isn't a boss these monsters die quickly. May overlap with PuzzleBoss. Non-boss forms can quickly cross into the realm of the GoddamnedBats.

* The first fortress boss in ''VideoGame/MegaMan8'' acts like this. Four parts of the ceiling, and the boss appears in one of them, along with three dummies. What makes it worse is its weakness: the Mega Ball, which is always fired at an angle. When its health goes low, it can also summon a special dummy that looks like himself, that if attacked, will instead fall to the ground and release a massive explosion that'll hurt you. Its name, Atetemino, is a pun on "atetemina!" ("try hitting me!")
* Several ''Videogame/MegaManClassic'' games have mooks that fly up from the BottomlessPits and then fall back down, in a similar fashion to a whac-a-mole. In this case, however, it's better to ignore them and jump over them; their real purpose is similar to LedgeBats, i.e trying to make you fall into the pits.
* Volteel Biblio, one of the bosses of ''VideoGame/MegaManZero 3'', goes like this. His boss room has 4 holes, and he starts the battle hiding in them. He'll poke out his head at one hole and his tail at another, which will fire a homing electric projectile. Once his health gets low enough, however, he'll get out of the hole to deal with you personally.