History Mooks / VideoGames

* ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney Investigations'' has "good" mooks, in the 99 policemen who follow Shi-Long Lang around. They tend to block your path or drag Gumshoe away when he's trying to be helpful to Edgeworth, but they're on the side of the angels and at the end of the game [[spoiler: one of them even pulls off a BigDamnHeroes moment.]]

* It should be noted that nearly any game with a combat basis will have you face against some form generic minions.

* [[DragonQuest Slimes]] are some of the most famous! Let's see... first enemy you face, starting monster in the {{Mons}} spinoffs, give 1 EXP and 1 Gold, come in many different variants including MetalSlime and KingMook, only have about 10HP ever...
* [[SuperMarioBros GOOMBAS!]] As well as Koopa Troopas, Spinies, Lakitus, Hammer Bros., Magikoopas, and the rest of the Koopa Troop.
* The ''SonicTheHedgehog'' series has Badniks and various other MechaMooks.
* The ''{{Pokemon}}'' games absolutely love the latter category of mook. Almost without exception throughout the series, the actual leaders of any criminal organization are a genuine threat... but the legions upon legions of grunt-level members are a bunch of nameless goofballs who are played almost entirely for laughs and are minor obstacles at best.

* ''EarthBound'' features a minor enemy species actually ''named'' Mook found in large quantities in certain dungeons.

*** But if they were left alone for several turns, they could concentrate again and start casting powerful PSI powers, which might make them EliteMooks, or even a lethal UndergroundMonkey

** Sadly, ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' has no alien Mooks. Instead it has Pigmasks, most of which are laughably dumb or cowardly.
* Like EarthBound, ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' features "Hench" and "Goon" monsters.
* The Waddle Dees from the ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'' games are not only completely ineffectual, they barely even have faces. Although they are adorable little guys but get disposed.
* Mooks are the primary resource in most games in the ''DynastyWarriors'' series. They're technically capable of hurting or even killing your character, and they can get between you and the more important foes you're trying to take out, but their primary purpose is to die by the hundreds and provide a bountiful harvest of experience points, arcade-style power ups, morale and, above all, entertainment.
** The beat 'em up genre, consisting of titles such as Final Fight, Streets of Rage and Golden Axe, could be seen as the forerunner to more recent series like Dynasty Warriors. The threat posed by even the most lowly mook in 16-bit era beat 'em ups is more significant, but not by much.
* ''AceAttorney Investigations'' has "good" mooks, in the 99 policemen who follow Shi-Long Lang around. They tend to block your path or drag Gumshoe away when he's trying to be helpful to Edgeworth, but they're on the side of the angels and at the end of the game [[spoiler: one of them even pulls off a BigDamnHeroes moment.]]
* Used in ''CityOfVillains'', where one of the early enemy types you encounter are a branch of the local mafia called "The Mooks". Like almost all enemy types in the game, they're an endless supply of easy beatings and experience points, with only the named bosses being particularly dangerous.
** Any 'Minion' class enemy in ''CityOfHeroes'' or ''CityOfVillains'' is this.
* The identical nature of mooks was lampshaded in ''SeriousSam: The Second Encounter'', where Sam asks of one, "Didn't I kick your ass two rooms back?"

* The Replicas and ATC Security guards in ''FirstEncounterAssaultRecon'' are actually surprisingly competent and ''very'' dangerous if underestimated.

* The Fighting Polygons, Wireframes, and Alloys in the ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' series (they were all originally called Fighting ''Zakos'', to top it off).
* Due to the nature of the series, each ''Franchise/MetalGear'' title has their own set of mooks, whether it be the Genome Soldiers in the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', the Gurlukovich Mercenaries in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' and the [=PMCs=] in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4''.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2: [[MissionPackSequel Substance]]'', there's a game mode called "Zako Survival".
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', the enemy soldiers (GRU or KGB or Spetsnaz, or some combination thereof) are so disposable (at least on the lower difficulty settings), at one point a bunch of them die to killer bees, while their leader (a plot-important character) simply kills all the bees that come near him. With his guns. By twirling them in the air. Snake, meanwhile, has to jump to probable death, to avoid certain death. Needless to say, he survives as well.

* ''JaggedAlliance 2'' has two grades of these in the BigBad's military: constabulary 'admins' and Army 'regulars'. Both wear fatigue pants; the admins wear [[CannonFodder yellow shirts]] (and are [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil unseen after only a few engagements]]), while the regulars 'enjoy' [[{{Redshirt}} red-orange]] tops. Towards the end of the game, these two forces give way to the [[EliteMooks "Elite Guard"]].
* One of the biggest and most egregious abusers is the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series from III onward, especially ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV IV]]''. Most of these time these mooks just magically appear after a cutscene with no real explanation why they're there other than an out-of-hand implication that they're working for an antagonist that was in said cutscene. There are even entire missions where the whole point of the mission is to kill a specific collection of mooks.
* Most levels in ''[[{{Banjo-Kazooie}} Banjo-Tooie]]'' have their own variant of the basic enemy that runs after you swinging its fists or some sort of blunt instrument: Ugger in Isle o' Hags (and a few other areas); Moggie in Mayahem Temple; Billy Bob in Glitter Gulch Mine; Jippo Jim in Witchyworld; Keelhaul in Jolly Roger's Lagoon; Guvnor in Grunty Industries; Biggyfoot in the icy side of Hailfire Peaks; Flatso in Cloud Cuckooland.

* A ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'' spinnoff game features the Mook Squad: Hundreds of generic guys with OnlySixFaces, occasionally using PaletteSwap to look more varied. Three of them can be unlocked but besides walking jumping, throwing some punched and kicks and sometimes a special attack or two (and sometimes not even that), they are next to useless. And you can't even assign them to the AI.
* In ''FurFighters'' the mooks come in a couple of different shapes and sizes but it's generally three different types of Bear, a Peacock, an alligator, an armadillio, a GunsAkimbo Dingo, and a cow with different clothes depending on the level you're in, with polar bears standing in for the EliteMooks.
* In MadWorld, every enemy EVER ENCOUNTERED (aside from bosses and the big mooks you get once or twice per level, like Big Bull and Yee Fung) is a mook.
* Any non-Boss Heartless in ''KingdomHearts''. After you find the Keyhole in Traverse Town, the Heartless in Traverse Town serve two purposes; acquiring munny and LevelGrinding.

* Averted in Dishonored. There are many city guards called "The Watch", and they are after protagonists. But its because he was framed and they have no idea he is innocent. They are definitely not faceless, and they have many quotes indicating they are normal people just like everyone else. Game also rewards player for not killing them.

* Every single soldier on the battlefield (around 600) except you and the one or two bosses in ''SengokuBasara'' exist only for you to cut down in style with your flashy skills. 99% of them don't even try to either attack you or defend themselves. However they do provide some quite amusing background dialogue.
* In the ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheArcadeGame Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' arcade game (as well as in ''VideoGame/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTurtlesInTime''), almost every enemy grunt is a Foot Soldier who are easily dispatched (but can be dangerous in groups). However, they carry various weapons, and are [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience colored accordingly]] so that the player can quickly identify what weapon they're going to use.
* Oddly, the VideoGame/{{Wizardry}} series of role-playing games had "Mooks" as a playable race. [[InvertedTrope They were pretty tough.]]

* The ''ShadowHearts'' games are not strangers to this trope.

* Among the thousands of mooks in [[TwoWorldsII ''Two Worlds II'']], there is a mook who's ''actually named'' "Mook" - a deliberate wink, especially considering the amount of other in-jokes in the game, and the fact that Mook-with-a-capital-M has two partners named "Lenny" and "Charlie", and the faces of the three look somewhat similar to those of [[Film/TheThreeStooges a certain other trio who happened to have the same "MLC" initials]].

* ''VideoGame/VectorThrust'' places an interesting spin on the Mook concept with recent updates- every pilot is classified into a Grunt or Ace difficulty level, with each category having sliders to fine-tune their competence in battle. So now players can tweak their enemy's skill level from {{Mooks}} to EliteMooks to [[BossInMookClothing Bosses In Mook Clothing]].

* In the ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheArcadeGame Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' arcade game (as well as in ''TurtlesInTime''), almost every enemy grunt is a Foot Soldier who are easily dispatched (but can be dangerous in groups). However, they carry various weapons, and are [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience colored accordingly]] so that the player can quickly identify what weapon they're going to use.

* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' featured about 99999999 mooks in the form of the common infected - useless enemies who died in one shot.

* Sock puppet-like ghosts called Bakebake serve as the main unambiguous mook in ''VideoGame/Touhou'', both within the PC-98 games and many fan spin-offs. Notable for the fact that they don't physically fire bullets at lower difficulties, they're by far the least threatening opponent.

* "Left 4 Dead" featured about 99999999 mooks in the form of the common infected - useless enemies who died in one shot.

** In fact, the games ''expect'' you to defeat every single grunt because they give good EXP. The bosses at the end are at the level where you'd need to train so you can beat them. (And they tend to be DirtyCowards who often spill their guts and give you information if you beat them, even though the protagonist is just a kid, necessary because looking through computer files or journals for that sort of thing isn't the point of this game.) This is especially true in the first few games and their remakes.

** In fact, the games ''expect'' you to defeat every single grunt because they give good EXP. The bosses at the end are at the level where you'd need to train so you can beat them. This is especially true in the first few games and their remakes.

** It helps that they seem to just blindly recruit people off the streets. The Mooks of Team Galactic ''don't even know what they're being terrorists over.''

** In fact, the games ''expect'' you to defeat every single grunt because they give good EXP. The bosses at the end are at the level where you'd need to train so you can beat them. This is especially true in the first few games and their remakes.

** One scene in ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' lampshades the whole concept of Mooks being faceless goons, in a scene where the Team Flare Admin [[TooDumbToLive does something really dumb]], but the Grunt [[StraightMan actually has brains]]:

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' series can be a little unclear about which enemies are Mooks. It's typically accepted that Moblins, Bokoblins, and any permutations thereof work for [[BigBad Ganon/Ganondorf]], and Stalfos are a safe bet, but it's anyone's guess as to whether Octoroks or Keese do or they're just mindless animals attacking Link.

* HECU marines in the first HalfLife, Combine Overwatch units in the second.

* Like Earthbound, ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' features "Hench" and "Goon" monsters.

* Among the thousands of mooks in [[TwoWorldsII ''Two Worlds II'']], there is a mook who's ''actually named'' "Mook" - a deliberate wink, especially considering the amount of other in-jokes in the game, and the fact that Mook-with-a-capital-M has two partners named "Lenny" and "Charlie", and the faces of the three look somewhat similar to those of [[TheThreeStooges a certain other trio who happened to have the same "MLC" initials]].

** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', the enemy soldiers (GRU or KGB or Spetsnaz, or some combination thereof) are so disposable, at one point a bunch of them die to killer bees, while their leader (a plot-important character) simply kills all the bees that come near him. With his guns. By twirling them in the air. Snake, meanwhile, has to jump to probable death, to avoid certain death. Needless to say, he survives as well.
** Depending on the difficulty level, though.

* Most of the challenge in the first ''PrinceOfPersia'' game that wasn't about avoiding the [[MalevolentArchitecture ubiquitous]] instant-{{death trap}}s was engaging in sword fights with guards. The sequel, ''The Shadow and the Flame'', had {{Mooks}} wearing bird masks in the temple levels.

* A large part of ''BatmanArkhamAsylum'' is spent either beating Joker's mooks into pulp, or slowly and silently taking them out from behind.

** ''From the New World'' had the belligerent bums that attacked Johnny at the very beggining of the game and the countless mafia goons during the gang wars in Chicago.

* The ''{{Timesplitters}}'' series has evil henchmen in employment of the evil Khallos...EVIL, however, he does provide them with communal dressing rooms and rubber miniskirts for female members.

* The running enemy grunts in the original ''{{Contra}}'' for the NES. As a reward, the quantity of these grunts increases each time you complete the game.
* ''{{Overlord}}'' has a unique look on this for a video game, in that you have and command mooks to do your evil whim. And since it's a game where you play the EvilOverlord, [[WeHaveReserves you use a lot of them]].