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Demonic Spiders
aka: Demonic Spider

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"If you can beat it, that is great."
— The description for the Titanian, EarthBound Beginnings

Demonic Spiders: the bane of players everywhere. These are the enemies that will make you scream in fury (or quake in fear) each time you see them. These are the guys which will defeat you over and over again using tactics that just seem unfair at times.

The defining trait of Demonic Spiders is that they are common enemies that seem unfairly powerful, not bosses. These are not dangerous because they distract from something else, they are likely what kills you when you're distracted. They are not dangerous because they push you into hazards, they are already enough of a hazard by themselves.

Demonic Spiders are the enemies that, for lack of a better phrase, have the deck stacked in their favor. They have more Hit Points, they go swifter, they come in swarms, attacking them deals damage to you, etc. Basically, these are the enemies with annoying abilities granted to them by the programmers that make them exponentially more dangerous than any other random enemy, but unlike the Boss in Mook Clothing these are quite common. They're essentially Elite Mooks in the context of gameplay.

Demonic Spiders are usually made up of at least one of the following characteristics:

Unintentional examples may be a product of poor playtesting; however, intentional examples do exist. Sometimes the intention isn't so much to fight them as avoid them or hope they go away. They may appear during a Stealth-Based Mission to justify the need to sneak around them rather than fighting them. Most enemies in Horror Video Games tend to be Demonic Spiders to some degree.

As usual, Tropes Are Not Bad. If a game doesn't have at least one or two enemies you have any reason to fear, then it may not be challenging enough to be fun.

Can overlap with Goddamned Bats. Particularly if RPG Elements are present, Demonic Spiders can become Goddamned Bats as characters level up. Compare: That One Boss, which are bosses that have these characteristics, Contrast: Boss in Mook Clothing who tend not to be so common, and Ledge Bats who are dangerous for more indirect reasons. Ironically enough, can overlap with Breather Boss as despite being a tough and annoying field enemy, when used as a boss is a cakewalk by boss standards. Not to be confused with Giant Spider, which is more about literal spiders, although both can overlap.


Examples:

    Other Game Genres 
  • F-Zero 99: Red Bumpers. You generally won't see them unless you're at the front of the pack, at which point watch out. They deal substantial damage and a careless race leader can find themselves faced with an abrupt CRASH OUT (even more humiliating if they're among the first casualties of the race) if they don't carefully weave past these vehicles, resist the urge to boost constantly and instead set some energy meter aside just in case of a Red Bumper collision or two, or drop back a few places on purpose and let some other opponents take a few hits for them. It gets even worse near the end of the race, as if you're anywhere close to the front of the pack, you'll see them in HORDES.

     Non-Game Examples 
  • I Woke Up As a Dungeon, Now What?: Taylor's minions are no stronger or tougher than any other dungeon's minions, but her ability to simultaneously control any number of minions without loss of focus means that instead of fighting based off of bestial instinct, her minions fight as coordinated groups, use advanced tactics, and benefit from her combat experience and ability to read enemy motions. The popular figure is that her level one is the equivalent of a normal dungeon's level ten.

Alternative Title(s): Demonic Spider, That One Mook

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