History Main / ActuallyFourMooks

-->--Bandit thug, ''{{Mardek}}''

-->--Bandit thug, ''{{Mardek}}''.

->'''Dragon''': Blarg! I'm a dragon! Or twelve!
->'''Red Mage''': Impossible! [[MediumAwareness Only a maximum of nine enemies can be onscreen!]]
->'''Dragon''': [[PrecisionFStrike Fuck you.]]
->'''Red Mage''': ''[[OhCrap Run.]]''
-->''[[EightBitTheater 8-bit Theater]]'' ~ [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/06/10/episode-1003-not-up-to-code/ Episode 1003]]

* Enemies in ''{{Albion}}'' appear as single sprites of a specific monster while on an Island Map. This is usually the strongest monster in the stack, although one stack may consist of hordes monsters of the same type, sometimes accompanied by stronger versions, or a mixture of different kinds of monsters. In first person dungeons, a single stack is represented by multiple sprites more or less proportionate to the actual composition of the stack (i.e. if you see a large number of Animal Demons coming at you, you can bet they will fill up the entire field - [[DemonicSpiders instant doom]], or [[GameBreaker unlimited free XP]], depending on your skills).

[[AC:MMORPGs]]

* The first ''Phantasy Star'' showed only one monster on screen for all battles. You could only tell how many there actually were by their HitPoint counts. Also, one shot of Odin's guns or Noah's [[ShockAndAwe Thunder]] spell damaged them all, maybe they were really lined up... The final boss is actually two monsters as well, but in that battle the HP is not shown. (You can tell because it normally attacks twice per turn but towards the end of the battle it sometimes attacks just once because you killed the second monster.)

On the way to vanquish the BigBad your [[PartyInMyPocket party]] comes across some opposition: a single enemy sprite approaches you to block your path.

"HA!" It is to laugh! To even ''think'' a single [[EliteMooks elite Mook]] can stop your advancing party. Even without your [[DiscOneNuke mage]] you can finish them with no trouble at all. Right on cue, the BattleThemeMusic kicks in and the fight starts! But wait! That single sprite on the screen turned out to be ActuallyFourMooks! What's the deal?

Well, you've just encountered this fake out: an enemy appears on the main map as a single sprite, but is actually the {{Mook}} version of the PartyInMyPocket (and they're not happy to see you at all).

Compare PartyInMyPocket. See also PreexistingEncounters.

* The former TropeNamer is a Flash RPG called ''{{MARDEK}}'', which [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] many RPG tropes. Early in Chapter 2, you fight a bandit who, just before attacking you, says, "Now, Guards, you stand no chance against me, 'cause I'm actually four blokes!" Cue a battle with four bandits.

* In ''AdvanceWars'', every unit is depicted as a single soldier or vehicle on the map, but (unless it's a particularly big unit like a bomber or megatank) is shown to contain between one and five units in battle animations, depending on how much HP the unit has left.
** This is a touch of realism: In actual military, a "unit" is usually a group of people.
** Also seen in spiritual hex-based successor Nectaris/Military Madness, in fact in the original version of the game this held true, even for the big units! Quite strange seeing so many "Giant" tanks when the movement, sprite, and statistics would lead you to believe it would be a single unit. In the Playstation remake and [[http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/962/Nectaris.html PC version]], however, units even more powerful than the HMB giant appear, and they DO contain only one unit.
* In the ''HeroesOfMightAndMagic'' series, groups of enemies on the map are represented in the form of a single sprite. The game lets the player view the size of the enemy, though.
** ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' actually takes this a step further as the images on the batlle screen don't represent single monsters either, but whole stacks of them. This can lead to situations where you see a picture of a single green dragon on the map decide to engage it and suddenly find yourself in battle with five pictures of green dragons that actually represent 10 dragons each at which point you probably wished you had checked the size of the enemey group before attacking it. To make matters worse armies aren't always soley composed of the enemies that are shown on the map since sometimes a small number of upgraded versions of the monster is mixed into it.

* In ''Age of Wonders'' a squad was composed of one to eight creatures. On the game map the current strongest creature in the squad, a Wizard (e.g., you, Merlin) or a hero unit if that was the case, was the only member visible and represented the whole.

* Spoofed in [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2008/06/10/episode-1003-not-up-to-code/ this]] ''[=~8-Bit Theater~=]'' strip.

* Played straight in Xenosaga 2 and 3. What appears to be one mech on the map can turn out to be up to 7 different enemies.

* Played straight (typically) by Avernum. The largest overworld sprite graphic (IIRC) can only hold four people. Good enough for your party, not for the empire or wandering tribalists. Exceptions: Stationary guardsmen and triggered encounters.
* Utilized to save on hardware calcing time in Big Time Software's Combat Mission, which due to being 3D instead of top-down like other ww2 strategy games, meaning limitations require this trope to exist. However, averted with single or dual-man units like observers and tank hunter teams. They represent from 3 to 5 soldiers each depending on setting. (as many as 8 for large conscript/fusilier groups, small groups may have a 2:1 ratio) Sometimes gets confusing with large mixed weapons columns. Also works with open-topped transport vehicles, especially double-packed transports.
* On set-piece style strategy games, typically it's 1:1 on direct combat units and mortars, but a lot of the time artillery actually represents a grouping, represented by replacing the ammunition slots with the pieces themselves. For battalion-level artillery, each listing ''also'' represents a separate group. May also occur with stationary anti-air units.
* [[VisionsAndVoices Visions & Voices]] uses tiny white clouds to represent enemies. Touch one and you're suddenly in battle with 3-5. Since almost all boss battles are [[BonusBoss optional]], bosses are also represented on the map as a single sprite that you need to walk up to to fight...most of which turn out to be {{Dual Boss}}es.

* Oddly inverted in the delightfully genre-savvy and humorous free [[TabletopGames tabletop RPG]] {{Risus}}, in that a single enemy can actually represent, well, a single enemy or an entire group of enemies. The mechanics don't change at all, it's just an easy way for {{Game Master}}s to enact huge epic fights without having to juggle the stats for a number of mooks.
* Spoofed in ''Game/{{Munchkin}}'' with the monster card "3872 Orcs".

* In RuneScape, back before [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks they changed it]], this was actually an effective (if dishonest) strategy for Player Killing. Due to the game's rendering engine, when multiple people crowded onto the same square, the only visible one was the top one. People rounded up 8 of their friends in a multi-way combat area and put the lowest level on top, to act as "Hey, I can kill this!" bait.
* This happens ''a lot'' with PowerRangers/ SuperSentai. Before the fight, there is usually only five or six Mooks. But when the fighting starts, The number suddenly increases so there are Mooks fighting each ranger.

* Enemies in {{Albion}} appear as single sprites of a specific monster while on an Island Map. This is usually the strongest monster in the stack, although one stack may consist of hordes monsters of the same type, sometimes accompanied by stronger versions, or a mixture of different kinds of monsters. In first person dungeons, a single stack is represented by multiple sprites more or less proportionate to the actual composition of the stack (i.e. if you see a large number of Animal Demons coming at you, you can bet they will fill up the entire field - [[DemonicSpiders instant doom]], or [[GameBreaker unlimited free XP]], depending on your skills).
* {{Ogre Battle}} (and its successors) displays groups of units as a single sprite on the overworld, represented by the lead member of that group. This means quite a few nasty surprises, such as battling a seemingly-normal unit only to find yourself getting stomped by a cockatrice or elder dragon.

<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

** Taken to its logical extreme in ''FinalFantasyVI'', in which one overworld encounter consists of six or so identical enemies, all occupying the same space on the screen. It can be jarring to fell the enemy with one attack, only to see another enemy standing directly behind it. And another. And another.

* This occurs constantly in [=~Star Ocean: Till the End of Time~=] (and probably others in the series, although this troper is not familiar enough with them to be certain). What's worse is that the enemy that represents the encounter on the map could be any of the ones you actually fight - or occasionally even none at all.

-->''[[EightBitTheater 8-bit Theater]]''

* Pretty much every single fight in ''SuperMarioRPG'', as you'll only see one sprite on the main map, then go into battle and see a lot more.
** SuperMarioRPG was especially [[TVTropesDrinkingGame egregious]], though, as there were numerous enemies that had no map sprites and only appeared in battle. You could run into a goomba and find yourself fighting one goomba and two much larger, nastier monsters.

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIyPMf3dQ24/ "He had another one hiding in his pants".]]