The Goomba

Over 35 years and counting, and they still get beaten easily.
Image by blistinaorigin (based on a MAD sketch).

"My assignment is a grassy hill beside a massive cleft
They told me when the plumber comes to 'just keep moving left'
The bastard finally showed up, so I marched without delay
But he just jumped right over me, continued on his way!
At no point in my orders did they mention moving right!
So I stepped right off the edge, filled with paralytic spite."

— Yahtzee Croshaw, "Cabin Fever"

A type of Video Game Enemy. The Goomba is the weakest and/or most basic enemy in the game. They have simplistic movement patterns, are reassuringly easy to beat, and will almost always be one of the first enemies encountered in the first level. They are the meekest and mildest of Mooks designed to teach the player about the game's combat mechanics; stomping, slicing, or blasting one of these guys for the first time marks the moment where the person holding the controller really starts playing the game.

Their ubiquitous status can lead to them becoming mascots for the work in question and they are likely to come in multiple (often stronger) versions. Sometimes their lowly cannon-fodder status is even subverted by making one of these stronger versions found later in the game be one of the toughest enemies in the game. Other times, they can become dangerous depending on how many of them there are. Even if an enemy is weak, if being attacked by one takes one hitpoint, then being met by 100 poses a problem.

In any game where monsters are recruitable these guys will usually be the Com Mons, recruitable very early on and useful in early stages of the game, but quickly becoming outclassed once stronger monsters start appearing. Though they may have some gimmick that makes them more viable under special circumstances.

The Goomba is often simplistic in appearance, suggestive of a nuisance rather than a genuine threat. They can easily be Adorable Evil Minions. The Waddling Head is common Goomba-type enemy found in Platformers. In western fantasy Role Playing Games, goblins and giant rats most get this role. While in Japanese Role Playing Games and fantasy games, (thanks in part to Dragon Quest's popularity) slimes have been elevated to this role.

Compare Mooks and Vanilla Unit. Contrast Demonic Spiders, Elite Mooks and Boss in Mook Clothing. The Goomba typically serves as practice fodder for the Warmup Boss.

The Trope Namer is from Super Mario Bros. In an interview it was revealed that they were actually created at the end of the game's development, because the other main enemy in the game, the Koopa Troopa, required a two-step process to defeat, and the developers wanted to give players something simpler to beat.

Note: the term "goombah" is still a live piece of offensive slang in the Northeast of the U.S.; use with caution around Italians stronger or meaner than you are (unless they are gamers, but especially if they're plumbers), or if you just plain don't want to be a jerk. The word in itself isn't offensive (it's a southern Italian dialect form of compare, "friend"), but using it to anyone who isn't actually an extremely close friend (the sort of friend you'd ask to be in your wedding, or to be the godfather of your child) is at the very least presumptuous.

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Examples:

Action Adventure

• The Syndicate's default foot soldiers in Agent Armstrong are clad in green, wears goggles that does nothing, and can be killed in three to five shots. They're the first enemies encountered and easily the weakest, showing up in large numbers for players to practice their shooting before moving on to stronger opponents.
• Dark Adventure throws entire droves of Minotaurs at the players, the green type which populates the first half of the game. They can be killed by the dozens thanks to lacking ranged attacks and dying in just one hit, with a lucky slash capable of killing between two to five at a time if they're closely packed together. The game will later dispense blue or purple Minotaurs which are slightly better, though not by much.
• Demon's World have those slow-moving, dopey pink ghosts from the first stage which are slowest among the various ghost enemies, and relatively easy to kill. They're everywhere in the first stage (alongside other enemies like the Frankenstein's monster or zombies) but they stop showing up after the first boss.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • Octoroks in the original The Legend of Zelda and many of the handheld games have no defense, are generally slow moving, and occasionally spit rocks so that the player can learn what Link's shield is for. In most 3D Zelda games they're a somewhat stronger enemy that spits projectiles and hides when Link approaches, forcing players to learn how to use the shield and targeting to reflect their attacks back at them. This makes them closer to the role zora enemies tend to play in the 2D games.
  • Zelda II: The Adventure of Link has Bits (red jelly monsters that inch towards Link) and Bots (blue jelly monsters that inch towards Link and occasionally jump a bit). Despite being stronger, Bots are far more common and are found constantly throughout the game.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past has the Hyrule Guards - specifically, inside Hyrule Castle (which in this game functions as a Noob Cave), there are some particularly weak dagger-wielding green soldiers that only walk in straight lines, carry flimsy shields and don't even attack directly, making them easy prey for Link.
  • In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Deku Babas are the basic mook. There's even a weaker version, the withered Deku Baba, which doesn't fight back.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask uses Chuchus (jelly monsters similar to the Bits and Bots in Zelda II) to fill this role. These creatures simply jump at Link to cause Collision Damage, and can be defeated with one sword slash. They also usually drop items, which can be seen before their defeat due to their transparent bodies, and this also determines their color: Red if they hold a recovery heart, green if they hold a magic jar, and yellow if they hold an arrow. There's a lone blue variant that holds nothing, which can be frozen with an Ice Arrow and used like an ice block.
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker: Ever since this game, Bokoblins seem to have taken the role for the 3D Zelda games. They're usually fairly weak, with simplistic attack patterns and minimal to no defenses, and typically go under with one or two blows from Link's sword.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks has Spinuts, which can only attack by running into Link and don't take much effort to defeat.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds has Blobs, a weaker version of the Buzz Blob enemies that doesn't shock Link if he tries to hit them with his sword, resulting in a slow-moving enemy that's easy to defeat.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has Chuchus. The majority of Chuchus have very low HP, minimal attack power, and are as slow as rocks. They're essentially punching bags for the player to use in order to get used to the game's combat system.
• Machine Hunter: The lowest-ranked alien soldiers are clad in orange, shows up in the first few levels, attacks only with a single pistol, and are terrible shots. As the game progresses they appeared less frequently, and are replaced by purple, yellow or white-clad aliens which have stronger and better weapons.
• Basic rebel grunts from Metal Slug doesn't have any ranged attack, throws easy-to-dodge grenades and are much slower than the players when drawing their knives. They're only a threat when showing up in large numbers.
• Nightmare Busters have those ridiculously weak brown goblins in the first stage. No ranged attacks, dying in two hits, shows up en masse to be killed in large numbers... the level ends with a King Mook goblin as a boss, who isn't that tough either but a Warm-Up Boss.
• Nightmare Creatures: Both games begin by sending zombies at you, and they're ridiculously easy to defeat. In the first game, a well-timed hit in the waist instantly bisects them, and while they're slightly stronger in the sequel, they're still small fry compared to deadlier monsters the game throws at you later on.
• Ninja Senki: Red ninjas. The other ninja variations are all quite dangerous however. The toads also count once you get used to their jumps.
• La-Mulana: When you first enter the Guidance Gate, the skeleton is the first type of enemy that you encounter. Skeletons, like bats, occur throughout the ruins; they do become tougher in later levels. They take more than one hit to destroy without a certain item you can't obtain until fairly late in the game.
• The Tower of Druaga has green slimes as the only type of enemy on the first floor. Namco × Capcom does a little Lampshade Hanging when they turn up at the start of the Tower of Druaga chapter.
• Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance has the Secutor-class gladiators, weak slaves armed with swords and shields who can barely put up a decent fight. You kill them aplenty in the first stage.
• God of War:
  • The first and third games have the Undead Warriors and Harpies, which are easily defeated and grabbing them results in their instant death.
  • The second game and Chains of Olympus has the Rhodes and Persian soldiers respectively, acting as an easily mowed down opponents that only serve to slow Kratos down, with the Undead Warriors and Satyrs acting as mid-tier opponents.
  • Ghost of Sparta introduces the Triton soldiers which act in the same way as the basic grunt that Kratos faces.
  • Ascension has the Satyrs which rather than act as mid-tier opponents serve as the very first opponents that Kratos fights.
  • God of War (PS4) establishes the Draugr, roaming undead that are the first and most common kind of enemy throughout the game, especially in Midgard, appearing in marketing and being the ones used to show new purchasable attacks to the player in the skill tree. As the narrative progresses, sub-types of Draugr with varied abilities are introduced. This is mostly downplayed in God of War Ragnarök, in which they are fought relatively later and human raiders are the first enemies in Midgard, but they still are the enemies used to demonstrate new skills to the player.
• Fantasy hack and slash game Die by the Sword had kobolds, which were small, weak and pathetically vulnerable. The expansion even allowed a kobold to participate in games of Ogre Hockey. As the puck.
• Hidden Dragon: Legend have the blue-clad Trigram mooks as the first enemies encountered, and are lousy fighters. The first area where combat is possible sees you facing two of them, and after you killed one the second quickly flees. Later on you fight them in huge numbers, without too much difficulty.
• Ittle Dew has the Fishbun, an enemy that resembles a platypus. They are mostly harmless, wandering around and minding their own business, and don't actively attack you when you get close.
• Both Hero of Sparta begins with you fighting weak, skinny and pathetic Beast Men enemies who can hardly put up a fight, alongside some slightly more difficult enemies like Minotaurs.
• In Holy Umbrella, the puny blue-helmeted Waddling Heads are the first enemies you encounter, not counting an early Hopeless Boss Fight; they have many fiercer cousins that appear later on.
• The strawmen from Rising Zan: The Samurai Gunman are... well, like the name says, living, floating scarecrows made of straw. Their sole attack is a slow, weak, extendable but easily avoidable spike in their chest, and they die in a single slash. They appear in massive numbers in the first few levels for players to practice their swing before moving on to tougher opponents like ninjas. And on the ninja side, the green ones are the weakest ninja mooks without any special abilities and dies easily.
• Urbanoids: The red household robots, which generally have the weakest armor and no firepower.

Beat 'em Up

• Green-clad Wukou mooks in 9 Monkeys of Shaolin are the first enemies encountered, and a breeze to take down. They have mediocre health, are slow in attacking, and can be easily bested even though you're only armed with your Starter Equipment, a dinky oak staff. Later on you'll face orange, yellow and red Wukou soldiers which puts up a far better fight, though at that point you already have powerful spears and maces.
• The first enemies encountered in Battle Axe are low-ranked goblins who literally bursts into a geyser of bloodied chunks with a single scratch from your weapon.
• From the Stylish Action Bayonetta series:
  • Bayonetta: The Affinity angels are first encountered in the Prologue chapter, and offer little threat. They are basically there to allow the player to practice building combos and evading in preparation to stronger enemies in the near future. That being said, Affinities get much stronger varieties later on in the game.
  • Bayonetta 2: The Acceptance angels are also encountered as the first enemy in the prologue chapter, being pretty large, slow, and with easily telegraphed moves, being perfect for players to get a handle of the combo system and how to evade to activate Witch Time.
  • Bayonetta 3: The Stratus are the first and weakest of the Homunculi and their equivalent to the Affinity and Acceptance from the previous titles. Following the tradition, they have slow and easily-telegraphed attacks, and go down in only a few hits. Even according to the lore, they are Singularity's most basic units.
• Cadillacs and Dinosaurs has the Ferris and Gneiss enemies, who are ridiculously easy to beat. The Ferris does have an evolution, the Driver.
• Captain Commando have the green-clad "Wooky" enemies who have just a single health bar, slow attacks, deals mediocre damage and rookie players can wipe the floor with. They're all over the place in the first stage, alongside some slightly stronger mooks.
• Chipmonk! has Rat Men as the lowest class of enemies, showing up in early stages in large numbers. They're slow, have pitiful health, and dies without too much trouble. Giant Mook porcupines and Elite Mook squirrels tends to show up much later into the game.
• The Troop-type enemies from Crisis Beat are the lowest-ranked of the terrorists, with a pathetic life bar, fights unarmed, and goes down in less than ten hits, in a game where your character dishes out a dozen hits with ease. They're followed by the Grid-type, which is slightly more dangerous thanks to being armed with batons, but still easy fodder.
• The Crystal of Kings has the green halflings, pathetic orc-like enemies who goes down without too much trouble in the earlier stages. Before the game starts increasing difficulty by sending the undead, trolls, and enemy wizards.
• Devil's Hunt starts you off with Forsaken, the lowest-level undead enemies resembling pale zombies. They die easily in a few hits before you move on to stronger ghouls and demons.
• The Bred enemy from the Final Fight series. Usually nothing more than Cannon Fodder.
• The standard cyborgs in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance qualify as this, as they are the most basic enemies, and most don't even require any damage in order to slice into ribbons via blade mode.
• Exaggerated with Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue (the PlayStation tie-in to the TV series) - the easily-defeated Batlings are the first enemies encountered, and the only mook-variety enemy in the game. There literally isn't a second enemy type for you to beat up, which means every non-boss opponent is a Goomba!
• The Infantry enemy in Denjin Makai. The first enemy to encounter, usually goes down like a punk.
• In the Devil May Cry series, the first types of Mooks encountered in each game are the most basic, cannon fodder demons that are generally weak, have little gimmicks, and only pose a threat in numbers.
  • Devil May Cry has the Marionettes, with their only special ability being to tie you to strings, which is fairly easy to escape from.
  • Devil May Cry 2 has the Finis demons that are easily prone to knockback than any other type in the game, the Msira demons that generally have lower health than their elite variants, and the Flambats that die in one shot.
  • Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening has the Hell Prides, fodder demons that are introduced by wrecking Dante's shop in the first mission, but are actually the weakest among the seven Hell types.
  • Devil May Cry 4 has two types of Scarecrows (labeled "Arm" and "Leg" depending on which limb is their blade attached to), but aren't aggressive from a distance unlike their larger Mega Scarecrow variants.
  • Devil May Cry 5 has the ant-type Empusas which can be easily picked off one-by-one. Their Green Empusa variants also appear a lot in battles, but only heal other demon types.
  • DmC: Devil May Cry has the Stygians, the basic soldiers of the enemy in Limbo City. The Lesser Stygians are actually more common in the easier difficulties, but they are that pathetic in contrast to the regular variety that can block bullets at best.
• Green Emaki ninja from Jitsu Squad are the first, and weakest of enemies introduced, getting ripped apart with ease by the heroes in large numbers. They have a variant, brown versions with Wolverine Claws, which are slightly faster but still pretty useless. The first stage actually ends with, rather than a boss, an Emaki Zerg Rush where the players need to kill 40 of them to complete said level.
• The "Bob" enemies from Lucifer Ring, mindless, purple-skinned ogres armed with Primitive Clubs. They die in a tiny handful of slashes and appears in large numbers in the early stages as fodder to practice swordplay with.
• The Bones from No More Heroes III, at their weakest, are featureless, geometrical humanoid aliens with weak, telegraphed melee attacks. This is lampshaded in their intro card, with Jeane mentioning that one is no trouble but groups may be a little bit of a problem, and Travis following up by saying "This dude is just a goombah!" Stronger and more durable Bones with more features on their model show up as you progress through the game, but are no less telegraphed.
• Oriental Legend have those horned lesser demons in the first stage, the cave of the Golden and Silver Horn brothers. These enemies are armed with clubs that does mediocre damage and can be defeated without much effort, while the Silver and Golden Horn brothers resembles King Mook versions of these opponents.
• River City Ransom: The Generic Dudes are the weakest of the gangs in the game, and typically the first one encountered. Once you've upgraded your stats a little, they're barely worth your attention.
• The basic imp enemies from Splatter Master, who's the first enemy type introduced, is too ridiculously weak and pathetic to be a threat. Their sole attack is a slow headbutt, they can barely put up a decent fight and even in huge numbers, they go down with ease thanks to your weapon being a chainsaw. They are surprisingly cute, though.
• In Streets of Rage and its sequels, the Galsia enemy is iconic for being the easiest enemy in the games. Unless they pick up a knife.
• Spyborgs starts off with Carrions, small robotic mooks who dies in a few hits, and slightly-stronger Reapers, whose Extendable Arms gives it a slightly better reach than Carrions but not by much. Although they're later replaced by Carrion EX and Reaper EX, red-and-black versions whom are far more competent and dangerous.
• Bemlars from Ultra Toukon Densetsu are pathetically weak enemies that shows up in large numbers in the earlier stages, which goes down in less than ten hits (or instantly with a Charged Attack). Ragons and Gaboras tend to appear a lot in the beginning stages as well, although they're hardly a challenge even for beginner players.
• The Talcus enemy in Violent Storm has a name that's too cool for his competence. They are practically Cannon Fodder, and only a threat if they punch you from behind while you deal with a Spike.
• Warriors of Fate have enemy spearmen as the first and easiest enemy encountered.

Fighting Game

• The basic Primids from the Subspace Emissary in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
  • And the original Goombas themselves!

First-Person Shooter

• Animated Dead from Blood West are weak, garden-variety zombies, in a game loaded with a colourful swarm of monsters. They're painfully slow and can be taken down easily from the back, although they do have a sudden jumping attack that could catch a player unaware. The bio for these enemies briefly lampshades their uselessness.
• Ghouls in Daemon Summoner are the first mook-grade enemies encountered, as slow as you'd expect a decomposing corpse to be, and dies with ridiculous ease using any weapon. You later fight a swarm of them in a haunted graveyard, but even in large numbers you can still complete the stage without a scratch.
• Stormtroopers in most Star Wars games; in prequel-era games, Battle Droids typically fulfill the same role.
• The alien species nicknamed "Grunts" in Halo. Slow, stupid, rarely care more than pistols and grenades (often used for suicide attacks), die in three shots from the weakest gun, fall asleep in war zones, and almost as likely to run away at the sight of the player character as to actually attempt to fight - unless there's an Elite nearby, in which case you kill the Elite and then they run away. Whenever they pilot a vehicle, it's also a crappy and destructive one like a Ghost or Banshee. They've progressively gotten stronger throughout the series, with later games improving their AI and introducing variants that can take more bullets and/or carry heavy weapons like Fuel Rod Guns, but they're still by far the weakest humanoid enemy type. The Drones are about as badly armed and armored, but at least they're fast and can fly.
• The Half-Life series:
  • The Combine "Civil Protection" in Half-Life 2. Sure, they come in groups and some of them have SMGs, but they're cannon fodder compared to Overwatch Soldiers and the Overwatch Soldiers know it. All of them go down in three headshots from the weakest gun in the game, they rarely take cover, and only then to reload (meaning it's very easy to score those three headshots), will always shoot from the hip, and have a bad habit of Fast-Roping into the immediate path of a speeding vehicle.
  • Headcrab Zombie claws and bites hurt quite a bit, but they're very, very slow. They're also completely braindead (purposefully so, in a series widely praised for its Artificial Brilliance) allowing for plenty of funny moments. The developers love putting large, heavy props and environmental traps for the player to kill them with.
  • Headcrabs themselves are small, die from two bullets or one good crowbar whack, do pathetic damage, and are some of the first dangerous things you encounter in the game. They're also seriously terrifying.
• Doom
  • The lowly Zombieman is incredibly weak. They can be taken down with just about anything, even the non-berserked fist. They're also solely armed with a rifle that behaves like the player's pistol, but is horrifically inaccurate (their firing angle is 22 degrees), meaning that Zombiemen can only really hit the player by blind luck. They're still nothing to sneeze at in larger numbers because, much like their more advanced former human brethren, they are hitscanners, so their shots cannot be dodged at any distance, and if ignored, they will eventually hit.
  • Imps are the weakest pure demons in the enemy roster. They can take multiple bullets or, sometimes, one entire shotgun blast, but are relegated to Goomba status because of their slow speed and equally slow-moving, easily-dodged fireballs. They are only really a threat at point blank, in very narrow corridors, or in massed formations that makes the slow fireballs in large numbers an effective area denial attack.
• Doom (2016) introduces The Possessed, while Doom Eternal features Zombies which fulfil a similar purpose. These enemies are slow to react to you, move at a snails pace and can only damage you through an easily predictable but deceptively powerful melee attack. Despite their obvious weaknesses, they are plentiful in most of the game's combat encounters as well as in the downtime between them, and provide a useful source of health and ammo if you decide to Glory Kill or Chainsaw them to death. And since they populate those combat arenas where you are likely focused on far more immediate threats, they can turn out to be a Lethal Joke Character on higher difficulties if you're not paying attention and end up running into one.
• Hexen has the two-headed Ettins, goblin-like enemies who move slowly, can only strike in melee, do pitiful damage and die easily to any character's first weapon.
• The low-level zombies in Hands of Necromancy populates the earlier stages, and are pathethic foes who gets stunned with a single hit, painfully slow in their attacks, and doesn't have ranged attacks. Later stages contains upgraded zombies who plucks off parts of their bodies and throw those at you as a projectile move, but they're not too difficult to deal with either.
• illWill (2023) has Painheads, waddling imp-like creatures that bursts into a geyser of blood even when hit with the weakest gun, and Slaughterers, slow, overweight brutes who spits easily-dodgeable acid and sometimes tries attacking you with a meat cleaver. The former fulfills the Mascot Mook position - the Steam trailer notably shows a Painhead dragging the Unreal logo around moments before someone blasts it apart off-camera.
• Operation: Matriarchy has the basic Technician drones, weak enemies whose only attacks are their claws which you can side-step. You kill them easily with your trusty combat knife, until you obtain better weapons and the game starts sending stronger Velian forces.
• Serious Sam I: Beheaded rocketeers shoot comically slow energy bullets with the accuracy you would expect from a man without a head, and Gnaars can only harm you by body-blocking you in a corner and flailing away.
• Left 4 Dead: The common infected are scattered everywhere but can easily be gunned down, even if they're in droves.
• PAYDAY 3: Basic street cop will turn up first on the scene after things go loud, and will roll in alongside regular SWAT units during the first assault wave. Whilst armed with the same guns as their SWAT counterparts, they have less health than them and have no armor bar, making them easy to take down.
• Phlegethon throws a colourful variety of demons and monsters at you, the first being weak, slow-moving zombies that can be killed in one or two slashes. They appear in massive numbers later in the game, usually to back up stronger enemies.
• PO'ed have Armless Biped alien enemies resembling a walking butthole on two legs (!!!). They're as weak as they're ridiculous-looking, getting killed in two hits with your first weapon, a Frying Pan of Doom.
• Scathe has the Razorbacks, hell's lowest-level minions who hardly puts up a fight, as your first enemy encountered. Although they're upgraded with better weapons as the game goes on, making them considerably more dangerous.
• Shadow Master have the titular Shadow Master's basic foot soldiers, mooks in orange armor that falls apart with just a tiny handful of shots, appearing all over the first stage in Planet Silvan. You'll encounter a stronger variant in white armor from the next level, Planet Halyos onwards, and the low-ranking orange variety stop appearing after that.
• System Shock: Humanoid Mutants go down easily from any weapon and are one of the only enemy types without ranged weapons. Serv-bots are even easier.
• Borderlands has Psychos, who are screaming lunatics with low health who run at you while brandishing axes. They are typically no threat to the player and are very easy to take down, though they also come in different varieties, such as the Suicide Psycho or the Badass Psychos.
• Team Fortress 2 has Mann vs Machine, in which Bat Scouts act as this. Fragile bots with weak weapons limited to melee only, with their only real saving grace being the fact that they're really frickin' fast and come pun lkarge packs. They're basically just fuel for the Sniper's focus meter or the Demo's Eyelander.
• The Citadel has the Cultists, who are cyborg girls converted by the Sleeping God to follow its orders. They have very low health, and their means of attack is tossing an axe at the player, which can be easily avoided or shot out of the air with weapons.
• ULTRAKILL has the Filth, scrawny Armless Biped husks that do little more than lunge at you and try to gnaw your legs off. They can be felled by a single well-placed headshot from the starting revolver, though they can prove troublesome in groups or when distracting you from more powerful enemies.
• Wolfenstein 3-D has the standard brown-shirt Nazi grunts that use pistols on you. They're typically little threat by themselves, especially when you have better weapons than a pistol yourself, but it's still not wise to get into an entire room with them due to nearly every Nazi in the game being a hitscanner.

Light Gun Game

• Each and every Time Crisis has a default low-ranking soldier who graduated from the Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy, firing plenty of shots at your direction but can be easily dodged, and usually accompanied by a sergeant who's slightly better but not by much. Including Wild Dog's blue-clad basic mooks from the first game, Neodyne mercenaries in white in the second, Zagorias grunts in green in the third, etc.
• The basic zombies in The House of the Dead are nothing more than cannon fodder. In the last two games, you can face off waves of about thirty of them at once and win unharmed.

Maze Game

• Monster Hunter (PC) have Man Eating Plants as the first and easiest enemy encountered. They're slow, sluggish, doesn't have any ranged attacks or special moves, and can be blasted by weedspray, which the level throws in abundance. Later on the game generate levels containing four or five of these plants, all at once, but they're hardly a challenge even then. The game even lampshades their uselessness in their description:
  "Man-eating Plant: Slow and Stupid. A little weed spray ruins its day."
• Wizard of Wor has every stage begin with Burwors, which don't move too fast and can't turn invisible.

Metroidvania

• Castlevania: Zombies and/or skeletons. In the very first game skeletons are more of a medium-threat enemy, first showing up in the third stage and requiring significantly more skill to kill or get around than most of what you've faced so far.
• Cave Story: Critters. They do get the Underground Monkey treatment and become progressively more dangerous the farther you get in the game.
• Demon Hunter: The Return of the Wings: The first enemies in the game are level 1 slimes.
• The Divide: Enemies Within have the Skrits, gigantic, slow-moving Waddling Heads on spider-legs with a weak organic turret who fires slow-moving projectiles. They're all over the early levels (first stage contains three of them) and not too difficult to blow apart.
• Hollow Knight:
  • A handful of these are found in the Forgotten Crossroads, the first major area in game, and sporadically afterwards. They all have simple designs, movement patterns and attacks, and serve as ways for the player to learn the basics of the combat system before facing the much more complex and challenging enemies that live deeper in Hallownest.
  • The first entry in the Hunter's Journal is for the Crawlid, a weak enemy encountered at the very beginning of the game that just slowly walks back and forth along the ground. The note for this enemy says: "Dull and pathetic. Hardly worth killing." Tiktiks are functionally identical, differing only in that they can walk all around free-floating platforms instead of turning back at their edges.
  • Wandering Husks and Husk Bullies are the most basic members of the Husk family, itself one of the earliest enemy types encountered, and have a very simple attack pattern — they meander aimlessly back and forth and run at the player if they see them, but aren't especially fast and are easily countered. They mostly serve as a way to teach the player how to counterattack enemies that actively attack them, and even in the early game pose little practical threat.
  • Gruzzers are this to the game's flying enemies. They fly around randomly, buzzing around in diagonal paths and simply bouncing off at an angle when they hit a solid surface, and have no way to harm the player beyond Collision Damage. They're trickier to deal with simply because they spend most of their time in midair, but are otherwise easy to kill and easier to avoid.
• Metroid:
  • Zoomers and Geemers in most games. Once you get the ice beam, they register more as potential steppingstones than as credible threats to your life.
  • Metroid: Zoomers are the most common enemy and the first you encounter. They move around nimbly, but that's it — they don't even directly attack you. They only take a couple hits to kill, but you can't hit them while they're on your ground level due to the game's inability to crouch or aim at an angle, so you have to jump over them, use bombs to dispatch them, or have the wave gun.
• Wonder Boy in Monster Land has the red snakes. They are stationary, deal little to no Collision Damage and die in one hit. Even their blue variant takes two hits from the weakest sword of the game... out of five. The second weakest still oneshots them.

MMORPG

• Final Fantasy XI has a few different mobs you first encounter, all dependent on your starting nation; these would include bees, worms, bunnies... and walking onions.
• City of Heroes
  • The original game has the Hellions and Skulls- two street gangs, one a group of demon worshippers, the other a death cult. Both are explicitly at the bottom of the heap in both games.
• City of Villains has Longbow, a hero organization based in Paragon City that is out to shut Arachnos down. There's also the Snakes, which are naga-like humanoids. By level 10, you'll be thoroughly sick of fighting them, and won't see them again... until the late 40s, where one set of missions sends you back to the starting zone to fight Elder Snakes and their goddess, who are proportionately much tougher.
  • Both games have the weakest enemies of all in the tutorials; heroes fight hooligans hopped up on what barely counts as Psycho Serum ( but which turns out to be plot related) while villains practice their punches on prisoners and guards in the Zig.
• In Guild Wars, river skales fill this role in Prophecies, and mantids do the same in Factions.
• Ace Online/Air Rivals starts you out by hunting mostly harmless giant bugs. It isn't until you bump into the I-Gear Early Types near the end of the starting mission set that a fairly competent opponent appears.
• Circle MUD had the 'beastly fido', which almost all of it's inheritors kept.
• Gnolls are the very first enemy you fight in the prologue of Vindictus. Your first mission, however, pits you against Wood Men, who attack much like the gnolls.
• Maplestory has the Mushroom and its variations, and (to a lesser extent) Snails and Slimes.
• In EverQuest, your choice of home city decides whether your Goomba is going to be gnoll pups, orc pawns, kobold runts, goblin whelps, or lizardman hatchlings - but they're all the same as far as combat goes - more aggressive than the local wildlife, but weak enough to be soloed even by an unskilled player.
• Wizard101 has Lost Souls, the weakest enemies (sporting a mere 55 health) and the first ones you have to defeat in the entire storyline.

Platform Game

• Mago: The game's most common enemies are perpetually smiling slimes whose color changes depending on the world you're in. They have no attacks, do nothing but move around^note Which can be nullified by stunning them with your wand., and can be easily defeated by Goomba Stomping them.
• Marsupilami: Hoobadventure: Coatis are hypnotized squirrels that walk in a Zombie Gait fashion. Their only attack is Collision Damage, and their small size makes them easy to avoid.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • Super Mario Bros.: The Trope Namer is the Goombas (known as Kuribo in Japan), introduced in this game. It was revealed in an interview that they were actually created at the end of the game's development, because the other main enemy (the Koopa Troopa) required a two-step process to defeat, and the developers wanted to give players something simpler to defeat. Even Satoru Iwata, the then-current Nintendo president, was shocked at the fact that one of the most iconic Mario enemies was created last. Ironically, in some of the other games, Koopa Troopas are even weaker than Goombas!
  • Super Mario Bros. 2: The game marks the debut of the Shy Guys, masked mooks that walk around like Goombas do in other games, and who must be defeated by throwing them at other enemies. They have since become the most basic enemies in Yoshi's Island (the actual Goombas show up later, and are a bit tougher than normal), and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series (where they can also be used as platforms), two 2D spin-offs where you have to get rid of enemies by other ways than stomping^note Even if you can stomp enemies and ground pound them in the Yoshi's Island series, the games revolve more around swallowing and egg-throwing.
  • Super Mario Bros. 3: Paragoomba, the winged variant introduced in this game, is potentially deadlier than the Koopa Troopas. Some of them are capable of airdropping the Microgoombas toward you.
  • Super Mario World:
    • Rex takes the Goomba spot (though each Rex takes two hits to defeat), sharing it with unshelled Koopa Troopas.
    • The Goombas, by themselves, are absent altogether, but a variant of them appears which cannot be defeated with a single stomp (they're merely stunned, allowing Mario and Luigi to grab and throw them); the Japanese version of World gave them a slightly different name (Kuribon) than the standard ones (Kuribo), but this went unnoticed by the localization team and thus assumed that they were still Goombas. Super Mario 3D World gave this subspecies a different international name: Galoombas.
  • Super Mario 64: Goombas are back in 3D, and while they become more agressive, they can be defeated in every possible way the game offers (stomping, ground pounding, sliding, item throwing, and even punching, kicking, and tackling). In the first level, Bob-Ombs also fit in a certain way, as they introduce the player that they can carry some enemies and throw at them, a skill that becomes useful for King Bob-Omb in the same level, and Chuckya in later levels.
  • Super Mario Sunshine: Goombas don't appear. Instead we have Strollin' Stus, an enemy very similar to a Goomba in terms of appearance and how easy they are to defeat.
  • Super Mario Galaxy: The Goombas return, but with a twist: while the most basic ones (called Micro Goombas) can be defeated either by stomping or spinning, a more resistant variant needs one more hit in the latter case. Good Egg Galaxy has the Electrogoombas (called Octoombas in the sequel who are as vulnerable as basic Goombas).
  • Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World: Biddybuds are even less of a threat than the Goombas, walking in a set pattern like the Goombas from the 2D games instead of chasing Mario like the Goombas from the 3D games.
  • New Super Mario Bros. U: In addition to the classic Goombas, a new subspecies called Goombrat appears. They can be defeated with a stomp like Goombas, but they turn back after reaching an edge (similar to red-shelled Koopas). They return in Super Mario Maker 2, and are accompained by an equivalent version for the Super Mario World levels, the Goombuds (which can be grabbed after being stomped like Galoombas, and also turn back when reaching an edge like Goombrats).
  • The first monsters in Wario Land, the Wanderin' Gooms, serve mostly to establish how Wario is different from Mario: his Goomba equivalents can't even damage him in any way, and so they instead find themselves being picked up and tossed at their fellows. Bandineros from Wario Land: Shake It! are the same way.
  • Magons from Wario World are the most common foe, the small ones can't even hurt you, while the bigger ones can, but aren't very likely to due to attacking very slowly.
  • Shellcreepers from Mario Bros. were The Goombas before there were Goombas.
  • Naturally every Mario-based fangame is obligated to include at least a token force of these guys.
  • The Goombas in Super Princess Peach play around with this. The Goombas are still the simplest enemies to beat, but the Goomba Stomp isn't the way to defeat them as it only disables them. They also make a little more of an effort to attack Peach, as they lunge at her. There are also vibe-infused Angry and Sad Goombas who can cause tremors and run really fast, respectively.
• The Mario Party series' way of continuing this tradition is to put Goombas in the role of being animalistic creatures who are herded like sheep into whatever part of the arena the characters are trying to move them to. And in some cases getting stomped. They tend not to have any aggression against the player characters.
• Kirby:
  • Waddle Dees fill this role in the mainline games. Only capable of basic Collision Damage, they're more likely to serve as ammo for Kirby to suck up and spit at enemies than anything else. In Kirby's Epic Yarn, they don't even deal collision damage, making them completely harmless unless they're holding a spear.
  • In Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, they were mostly absent from the enemy roster. The only Waddle Dee that appears is a mini-boss in the first level, then becomes an ally after Kirby frees him from Dark Matter's possession. Their role was instead taken by N-Z, small, blackish enemies created by Dark Matter.
  • In Kirby Mass Attack, Waddle Dees aren't encountered until midway through the game, where they are more difficult to take down than usual, due to Kirby being split into 10 weaker copies of himself. The Beanbons take the Goomba role, being easy enough to kill that a single mini-Kirby can defeat one in on his own.
  • In Kirby and the Forgotten Land, since Waddle Dees are now allies for Kirby to rescue, the Awoofies serve the role of the most basic enemy.
• Levelhead:
  • Vacrats are the first enemy in the campaign, and defeating them just entails jumping on them.
  • The Void update added the Peanut, an enemy which in its basic form just clings to surfaces.
• Mega Man:
  • Mets or Metools/Metalls/Metaurs have managed to appear in every series except Mega Man Legends. Unique in that usually they are invincible when under their helmets and when they aren't they are peppering Megaman with bullet fire, though the Playstation Mega Man X games removed their defense and turned them into straight examples.
  • The small, green Reaverbots in Mega Man Legends. They are called Horokko according to the game's bio, and as the game progresses they are gradually replaced by Red Horokkos which are somewhat deadlier and stronger.
  • Mega Man Zero gives us the Pantheons (with the most basic model, the Hunter, equipped with an Arm Cannon) in the first three games while the fourth game has them replaced with the Variants (similar to the Pantheons, but the most basic one having shots that burn on contact). The ZX series has both of them replaced with the Galleons, which — while an appearance that mixes both the Pantheon and the Variant — is functionally more identical to the Pantheons.
• Spyro the Dragon:
  • In the first game, the first homeworld is filled with Gnorc enemies that do nothing but run away from you, find a corner to hide in, and then tremble in terror when you approach them.
  • The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning and The Eternal Night: The Frogweed take three hits to kill and you literally have to sit there and stare at them for them to have a chance to hurt you.
  • Skylanders: Chompys play this role. They're often the first thing you'll fight, take a single hit to kill, and are little more than mouths full of teeth with tiny legs and eye stalks. They also pop up late in various upgrades, such as donning armor or exploding as kamikazes.
• Commander Keen: Yorps in Episode 1, which can't damage you themselves. The only way they can kill you is to push you into something dangerous. A similarly harmless enemy in Episode 2, the Scrubs, can actually be helpful as they can be ridden upon to access areas you otherwise couldn't. (they can climb up walls)
• Motora/Motobug from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. The jump to 3D also gave us Blue Ma Djinns, Egg Pawns, Black Arms Soldiers, Egg Gunners, Egg Fighters and Nightmares among others.
• The Ghulibas in Eversion resemble Goombas at first; the file that contains their graphics is even called 'goomba'. In later stages the resemblance diminishes as they move faster and in X-8 after the 1.7.3 update, they regenerate after a short time.
• Snakes in Spelunky do nothing but slither slowly back and forth. Yes, stomping on them works just fine.
• Regular Moos in the Klonoa series.
• Yellow beetles in Bug They're the first enemy Bug faces, are slow, have no special ability, and take one hit to die.
• Bug Too!: The easiest enemy in the game was a small blue bug found in the second world that made marching noises, had no defences, and took one hit to die. Bowling Ball Larvae, the first enemy in the game (provided that you took Scene 1) were also a pushover, hitting them once removed their armor making them harmless, and would die eventually if not hit a second time. However, they were also The Spiny — they would hurt a Goomba Stomping player character when they were curled into a ball (their "turning around" animation had them do this), and it so happened that several of them in the first world are constantly rolling around invulnerable to damage, becoming stage hazards.
• In most video games in the SpongeBob SquarePants franchise, the jellyfish usually serve as the most common and basic enemy the player will encounter and are rather easy to defeat. Sometimes, they're passive unless provoked, while at other times, they're aggressive and will swarm the player in droves. SpongeBob's Truth or Square and SpongeBob SquarePants: Plankton's Robotic Revenge are exceptions to this, where they are Helpful Mooks instead.
• Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure has small red enemies which just walk around and are defeated by a single stomp.
• Giana Sisters: Red Owls are the first enemy Giana meets. They are small critters who do nothing but walk back and forward and take a single hit to beat. Their only way to attack is run into Giana. In the original The Great Giana Sisters they look almost identical to Goombas, but they became more visually distinct in Giana Sisters DS, and completely different in Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams.
• Athena has the green slime enemies that do nothing but wander back and forth.
• Keith Courage in Alpha Zones has Zakkos, frequently Palette Swapped blobby little creatures that do nothing but walk.
• Claw has, quite amusingly, Officers for those. (Soldiers are not very powerful either, but they have a ranged attack and can even qualify as Goddamned Bats) They can't block, take only one normal hit to die(one and a crouch in second level) and have a reaction time before they attack you (they really need to yell that "En Garde!" at you) which gives a player enough time to clock their face with a satisfying uppercut with impunity.
• Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey has basic Bogs, who are nothing special.
• In Makai Prince Dorabbochan and The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang, Waddling Heads of garlic are the first enemies encountered (excluding the Forced Tutorial of the latter game).
• Blue's Journey for the Neo Geo has the bouncing orange darumas, Underground Monkey versions of which appear in later levels.
• Dragon Egg! has skeleton warriors who walk back and forth and die in one hit.
• In Astal, the purple crystal ants are the first enemies to appear, and they and their Palette Swapped cousins are the most common enemies in the game.
• In most of the Tiny Toon Adventures video games, Roderick Rat is the most common enemy, arguably having more appearances in the games than in the show itself.
• Blankies, Flatties, and Clownies from the Viewtiful Joe series have no special attributes and can be defeated easily even when not powered up.
• Shovel Knight has beetos, little beetle enemies that simply walk in a straight line and are defeated in one hit from any possible attack.
• The Kid Icarus series has Monoeyes, floating eyeballs which can only attack by colliding with you in the 2D games and die in one hit. Though they can shoot projectiles in Kid Icarus: Uprising, they're still the most simple enemies in the game.
• In Ristar, the Orblets are the most common enemies.
• Depending on the game, Rocket Knight Adventures brings us Pig Soldiers (the original game and Rocket Knight (2010)), Lizard Soldiers (Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 (GEN), and Wolf Soldiers (Sparkster (SNES) and Rocket Knight (2010)) as the most common enemies.
• The Bakis in Drawn to Life are by far the most common enemies, seen in every world, and they only take one hit to defeat in most circumstances.
• The original Donkey Kong Country trilogy has Gnawties, Neeks, and Sneeks, respectively. Of the three, however, it's debatable whether or not Sneeks truly qualify, due to their effect on Ellie the Elephant, who cannot stomp on them and must take them out with barrels.
• Standard Dastardly Skull grunts seem to fill this role in Suzy Cube.
• Pizza Tower has cheeseslimes. They're amorphous blobs of cheese that slowly move back and forth, have no means of attack and are mainly used as combo fodder.

Puzzle Game

• Snakeys from the Adventures of Lolo trilogy are the only completely harmless foes that Lolo will face. They don't move, they don't shoot anything, and you won't die if you touch them.
• Noggles in Kickle Cubicle move around quite slowly, and, unlike other enemies in the game, can be turned into ice cubes to push around.
• Roaches in Deadly Rooms of Death. No special abilities, they just move straight towards you and allow you to slice them up, though they can be tough to deal with in large hordes. They are the first enemy to appear in every game of the series.
• In Chew-Man-Fu for the TurboGrafx-16, the blue hedgehogs are the only enemies for the first three rounds. The red "porcupines" introduced in a later area are a Palette Swap of them.
• Wario's Woods has fuzzes, spuds, and squeaks, the 3 most basic monsters that don't have any sort of special requirement to defeat like the other monster types, and can be defeated simply by lining them up with bombs of the same colour.

Roguelikes

• The Binding of Isaac: Gapers are the most common enemy on the first two floors and are pretty easy to fight. All they do is slowly walk towards you. They eventually phase out in favour of Bonies, Mulligans, Fatties, Gurgles, and eventually even tougher enemies.
• The Green Slimes in Crypt of the NecroDancer are the first enemies you'll encounter, and are the easiest to kill. They only stay in one place jumping to the beat and will never really hurt you, even if you were to bump into one without a weapon. In fact, the Green Slimes are so passive and harmless that there's actually an achievement for getting killed by one. Despite being, as the Achievement says, "Mostly Harmless", the passive Green Slime will quickly turn out to be a Killer Rabbit if you do find a way to make it attack you^note Which would require it to be simultaneously frightened (which causes it to run away from the player) and confused (which reverses its movements), dealing a whopping 25 hearts of damage in one hit.
• Dungeon of the Endless generally has two different "weak" enemies on the first floor of the dungeon. The Silic Crystals, which are slow, have low health and don't even bother to attack your heroes (but will attack the crystal you need to defend if you leave them be), and the Necrophage Larvae, who have even lower health than Silic Crystals but are faster and do attack your heroes in a Zerg Rush.
• HyperRogue has an interesting variation: there are a very large number of monsters which are effectively identical (differing only in graphics/name, in spawn location, and in mostly irrelevant statistics like body heat), which collectively serve as the game's Goombas. For example, a Yeti, Running Dog, and Desert Man look different and are found in different lands, but all have the same basic attack pattern (move mindlessly towards the player at the rate of one tile per turn, attack if in range) and defences (they die from a single melee hit). These "basic enemies" are found throughout the game (many lands don't have them, but late-game lands are as likely as early-game lands to have a Goomba equivalent), often mixed with more interesting/powerful enemies. (Oddly, the late-game dungeon that's used to unlock the victory condition introduces a weaker version; it's very possible to have gone through the whole game up to that point encountering nothing weaker than a basic enemy, but it turns out that they aren't the weakest enemies in the game after all.)
• Bandits from Nuclear Throne, being the first enemies to appear. They're weak, slow, and only dangerous in big groups.

Role-Playing Game

• Bug Fables has the Seedlings, plant-based Waddling Head creatures that are the first monsters you'll face in the Bugaria Outskirts. Later areas introduce Seedling variants (e.g. Acornlings on the Golden Path, Plumplings in the Forsaken Lands) that may introduce a new combat mechanic or two but are still among the weakest enemies in those area.
• Deltarune has the Ruddins, Chapter 1 enemies with easy to avoid bullet patterns and basic sparing requirements. Stronger versions of them appear later in the chapter and require Susie to ACT to spare them properly, as using the normal method to spare them will only make them tired, requiring a sleeping spell to spare. Jigsawrys, which appear mid-chapter, are probably better examples than normal Ruddins, as attempting to befriend one will make them all sparable.
• The basic blue slimes in Dragon Quest, and sometimes the red she-slimes. Dragon Quest VI subverts this for Foreshadowing.
• Every Pokémon game has two or three monsters that qualify as this in the early routes. Almost always one based on a small mammal, and one based on a small bird; occasionally a bug type is thrown in as well. With generally unimpressive stats, their main purpose is to familiarize you with battling and catching Pokémon, provide some easy experience to get your starter through the first few levels, and serve as team filler until you find better mons. That said, exceptions do occur, and some of these Goombas become impressive battlers once evolved and properly trained.
  • Rattata and Pidgey from the Generation I (Kanto) games and their Game Boy Advance remakes.
  • Sentret and Hoothoot (Pidgey and Rattata also appear; Hoothoot is basically the nighttime counterpart to the diurnal Pidgey) from the Generation II (Johto) games and their Nintendo DS remakes.
  • Poochyena, Wurmple and Zigzagoon from the Generation III (Hoenn) games and their Nintendo 3DS remakes.
  • Starly, Bidoof, Shinx, and Kricketot (Hoothoot also appears, still nocturnal, though with a smaller range than Starly) from Generation IV (Sinnoh). Starly is a bit of an outlier in that it remains powerful to the end instead of becoming a Crutch Character.
  • Pidove, Lillipup, Purrloin, and Patrat from Generation V (Unova).
  • Fletchling, Bunnelby and Scatterbug from Generation VI (Kalos), although Fletchling at least provides a useful Fire-type early in the game. (Caterpie/Weedle, Zigzagoon and Pidgey also appear.)
  • Yungoos, Pikipek and Grubbin (Caterpie, Ledyba, Spinarak, and a nocturnal regional variant of Rattata also appear) from Generation VII (Alola).
  • Skwovet, Rookidee and Wooloo (Caterpie, Hoothoot, a regional variant of Zigzagoon and Grubbin also appear) from Generation VIII (Galar).
  • Lechonk and Tarountula (Starly, Fletchling, Scatterbug, Yungoos, Skwovet, and Rookidee also appear; Sentret, Hoothoot, Spinarak, Poochyena, Kricketot, and Pikipek are reintroduced in the DLC) from Generation IX (Paldea).
  • When it comes to actual Trainers, there are the Bug Catchers, Youngsters, and Lasses:
    • The Bug Catchers usually appear in the first couple routes, and are usually the first trainers new players get to fight. They often have weak, unevolved Bug-types like Caterpie, Kakuna, Paras or Spinarak. You will stop seeing them after getting the second or, in rarer instances, third badge.
    • The Youngsters and Lasses also employ several of the Com Mons mentioned above, plus others a bit less common like Pikachu, Nidoran, Ekans or Growlithe, also on low levels and almost never evolved. They usually hang longer than the Bug Catches, but not much.
• The imp/goblin (depending on the translation you're using) is usually one of the first enemies you meet in a Final Fantasy game.
• Runaway Dogs, Coil Snakes and Spiteful Crows in EarthBound (1994).
• Multiple examples throughout the Kingdom Hearts series:
  • In the original and following games, Shadows are the weakest Heartless. They can be Goddamned Bats due to their ability to become completely invincible temporarily, though. Their powered up counterparts are the Neoshadows, which are bigger and tougher.
  • The Nobody equivalent in Kingdom Hearts II is the Dusk.
  • The Unversed version of this in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is called a Flood. It feeds off irritation.
  • The Meow Wow in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] fills this role, being slow, and having a very noticeable delay after most of its attacks.
• Rabites in the World of Mana series.
• The Goombas of Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant consist mainly of slimes, birds, bugs, and plant-like creatures called phoots. Later variants of these enemies range from annoying (spectral ravens) to incredibly dangerous even to advanced parties (shadow crusts, fire crows, bear weevils, mantraphoots).
• Both Icewind Dale games tend to pit you against goblins as the first enemies that you have to fight. Of course, if your party is only level one at that moment, they are actually a fair match.
• Baldur's Gate faces you off against diseased gibberlings (easy) and Wolves (much tougher).
• The Elder Scrolls
  • Throughout the series, giant rats and mudcrabs tend to fill this role. In Daggerfall and Oblivion, a rat is the very first enemy you face. In Morrowind, it depends on were you go first, but the odds are good of it being one of the two.
  • Skyrim shakes it up a little and has the first enemy you face be either an Imperial Soldier or Stormcloak Soldier, depending on whether you follow Ralof or Hadvar (respectively) into Helgen Keep. After the game opens up (i.e. immediately after the Helgen Keep tutorial), there’s a strong chance that the first enemies you face on your own are a pack of wolves, which will jump at you on the path to Riverwood.
  • Among the ranks of the lesser Daedra, Scamps are this. They are the weakest Daedric creature, and are most commonly found in the service of the Daedric Prince Mehrunes Dagon, where they serve as little better than Cannon Fodder in his Legions of Hell. Herne are a satyr-like race of lesser Daedra that are little better than Scamps, having low health, dealing low damage, and lacking the ability to cast spells.
• Very Very Empties are the weakest enemies in Eternal Sonata... as long as they don't duck into any shadows. As such, your encounters with them en route to Tenuto are in combat fields without shadows. Indeed, the first encounter is a very basic combat tutorial.
• Both Fable and Fable II use beetles. Both times they are also used in the "tutorial" (Guild Woods and the warehouse/Tomb)
• Fallout:
  • Mole rats, common low-level enemies since Fallout.
  • Fallout 2 subverts this trope because Geckos are the first enemies encountered and tend to be really dangerous.
  • Radroaches are the first enemies you stomp down in Fallout 3 and 4, both times before you even leave your Vault. They're bizarrely rare in New Vegas.
  • Mantises and geckos in Fallout: New Vegas. For human enemies, the Freeside Thugs in the most egregious manner possible and the Powder Gangers faction-wise. The latter universally have garbage stats, almost never any sort of armor, and carry low-level weapons such as 9mm pistols, break-action shotguns, and dynamite sticks.
• White Woolies are generally the first enemies you face in Fantasy Life. They are right at the entrance to the East Grassy Plains and go down in a few hits at most. While they are hostile early in the game, they eventually begin to run away from the player and only attack if you hit them first.
• Any and all "soldier" type enemies in Final Fantasy games, with the notable exception of the Imperial Troops in Final Fantasy II.
• The Maya type enemies in Persona 3. Most have several elemental weaknesses, low hit points and stats, useless skills and generally die in one or two hits.
• The Persona 4 equivalent is the Hablerie. In Persona Q: Shadow of the Labyrinth, both show up in early floors of the first dungeon.
• Persona 5: Pyro Jack, a jack-o-lantern in a wizard costume, and Pixie, a tiny fairy girl, are the two weakest enemies in the entire game, to the point they serve as Video Game Tutorial fights at the very start of the game. You'll only encounter them in the first few areas of the very start of the game, and they are the lowest level Guardian Entities behind your Starter Mon Arsene.
• Navy Jr. in Dubloon. First time you meet them while raiding Navi's ship, they are a little tougher than usual but pose no bigger challenge. By the time you meet them later in Navy HQ, they are so weak critical hits done to them with physical attacks will probably approach 1000.
• The green slimes of Shining in the Darkness.
• Eye Goo in Breath of Fire III. Just beware of the Goo King...
• Every act of Diablo II had one set of these buggers: The Fallen in act 1, the Mummies in act 2, the Pygmies in act 3, Oblivion Knights in act 4 (not particularly weak, but they still fit the pattern, in the context of act 4), and the Minions (the short, hunchback pig-men with spikes on their backs) in act 5.
• Slimes in Hydlide.
• Insectors in SD Snatcher.
• Dark Souls has the Hollow Warriors in the Undead Burg. Easy to fight with their predictable movesets and large openings, they are nonetheless dangerous in groups.
• Demon's Souls has Dreglings, zombie-like enemies armed with only a broken sword and a plank of wood as a shield, which they barely use anyway. Their most threatening attack is swinging their broken sword madly, which is easily avoidable and doesn't do much damage.
• Several weak demons take this role in most Shin Megami Tensei games. Traditionally, the weakest enemies are the Slime and the Pixie.
• Super Mario Bros.:
  • The first game, Superstar Saga, takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom's neighboring country, the Beanbean Kingdom, where everything is bean-themed instead of mushroom-themed. Their Goomba equivalent is the Beanie, a creature who looks like a bean with a face and two feet. Actual Goombas also appear in the game as training bosses. The actual weakest enemies in the game are Fighter Flies, who live on the border between the two kingdoms.
  • The second game, Partners in Time, takes place during an Alien Invasion. The weakest enemies in the game are alien Goombas called Shrooblets. Actual Goombas also appear later on, once again being tougher than normal.
  • The third game, Bowser's Inside Story, is a "Fantastic Voyage" Plot through Bowser's body. The weakest enemies inside Bowser are single-celled Goombas called Goombules. The weakest enemies outside Bowser are Chuboombas, chubby Goombas who love candy. Actual Goombas also appear as the first instance of Bowser's Summon Magic. Flaming Goombas that stomp enemies, no less.
  • The fourth game, Dream Team, features Grombas as the weakest enemy in the overworld, while Drombas are the weakest enemy in the Dream World. Actual Goombas appear as (somewhat late) midgame enemies where they usually work together with Fly Guys or each other to try to overwhelm Mario and Luigi, either through Zerg Rush (with other Goombas) or through Death from Above (with the help of the Fly Guys). They are even used as cavalry, being carried into battle by the Fly Guys to increase their numbers. Both Goombas and Fly Guys also have stronger versions of themselves that appear as mid-to-lategame enemies. Finally, Goombas remain one of the only enemies that are faced in both the real world, and the dream world (the latter as assisting enemies in a boss battle with the Elite Trio, one of which is a Goomba), and Dreamy Goombas can be summoned by the Final Boss, Dreamy Bowser.
  • Goombas actually got some respect in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door where a few smart and competant ones (including two that were Mario's allies) appeared. In fact, while some Goombas in the game are still Mooks, some of them show some brains, wearing spiked helmets (apparently having learned from Mario stomping on them all the time).
  • In Paper Mario: Sticker Star, they trash-talk Mario as early as the second level and have skills to back it up.
• Child of Light has the giant grasshoppers. These have very low health, deal very weak damage, and have no special abilities. Once Aurora levels up once or so, she'll be taking them out in one hit.
• In A Witch's Tale, Slip Cranes are very easy to kill even if you have no magic.
• Epic Battle Fantasy has this role shared by three enemies up through the third game: Slimes, Cats and Bushes, the former two of which have a Giant Mook. In the fourth, slimes didn't appear until after level 2 (and the kind that were originally the Goomba among them not until level 4, along with cats, whose Giant Mook didn't return), but one more kind was added to make up for them: Idols.
• Terranigma has Huballs, the bright round enemies whose Palette Swapped varieties populate the first five towers.
• Undertale has Froggit, which is the easiest enemy that requires some kind of effort to kill or spare. Whimsun and Moldsmal are even easier; they're the only monsters in the game that can be spared immediately without having to do anything.
• Minecraft Dungeons: The basic zombies, which are the least threatening melee-only mob.
• Haven (2020) has Salamashes and Flowabags, the former of which serve as a combat tutorial.
• OMORI has Wandering Sprout Moles, average Waddling Head types that are the most typical enemy type in the first chapter. In later chapters, Sprout Moles become far more common as NPCs than enemies.

Shoot 'em Up

• The enemy choppers in Twin Cobra and Twin Cobra II. They also have a red variant that has more health and is more dangerous.
• Hominov Prop Planes in Heavy Weapon are the first and earliest enemies faced. These guys are slow, take one hit from even the weakest shots to explode, and have no weaponry at all. The Bravski Jet Fighter is another early-game enemy that explodes in one hit, but unlike the Hominov, it's capable of occasionally attacking with easily-destroyed dumb bombs.
• Touhou Project:
  • Kedama are among the most basic types of enemy you encounter, having a generally consistant pattern across all the games which makes them very predictable.
  • Bakebake, sock-like ghosts who constantly trail their tongues fill this role for the PC-98 games, and half the time they don't even have an attack.
  • Fairies appear in later PC-98 and windows games, originally as a Koopa Troopa or Sniper Joe-type versatile enemy with many variants, but steadily began to eclipse other foes until they became the most common enemy in the series. In Yousei Daisensou ~ Touhou Sangetsusei, every enemy is a fairy including roles that would normally be taken by the above two.
• In Atomic Robo-Kid, the first type of enemy to appear is Bowles, blobby things that slowly drift across the screen, don't cause Collision Damage and are easy to kill with the weakest weapon. In the Mini-Boss battles, they drift continuously across the middle of the screen to block shots.
• Guardrons in Arc Angle, whose multiple Spread Shot and Macross Missile Massacre are slow and easily reflected by aiming your light at them. However, let them live and they will use an un-counterable (at that level) attack.
• Swarmers in SAS: Zombie Assault 1-3, Shamblers in 4. Both are considerably fragile, with the former coming in groups.
• The very first enemy the player is likely to face in the Stormwinds Web Game series is a small helicopter drone that has very little health and no attacks at all. Its small size makes it hard to hit, however.
• Each game in the Notebook Wars series has an enemy plane type which goes down with one hit even with the unupgraded default weapon and doesn't fire back. Predictably, it shows up at the beginning but not much more afterwards.

Simulation Game

• Whirlms from Viva Piñata are not enemies, but stupidly easy to tame.
• The Xenon "N" and Pirate Harrier scouts in the X-Universe games are some of the first enemies you meet in the game, and typically go down in a couple blasts even from your piddly Impulse Ray Emitters. They are great for padding out your reputation with the various factions, sometimes drop gear like missiles or shields, and occasionally bail out — allowing you to use or sell their ship. They actually become more dangerous (or at least, obnoxious) when you upgrade your ship to something a bit bigger, as M3 fighters lack the speed to properly chase it down, and their usual weapons are often too slow to hit them.

Tower Defense

• In Bloons Tower Defense the first enemies encountered in game, red bloons, move very slowly and take only 1 hit to destroy from any tower. Since all other bloon types in the game will pop into red bloons eventually, they are indisputably the weakest bloon type.
• Runners in Desert Moon. A similar enemy, Bursters, are faster, have more health, and explode on death. In fact, the final waves of the last three levels contain every enemy type except Runners.
• Kingdom Rush series has the very first enemy type with low HP, low attack power, and no armor nor magic resistance. The first game has Goblins, Frontiers has Desert Thugs, Origins has Gnoll Reavers. Vengeance has two — Human Woodcutters and Dwarf Bruisers. The first are encountered in the tutorial level only and are the weakest enemy type, the second are very slightly stronger (dealing 1 more damage and having only 5 more HP) but are encountered throughout the first area of the game.
• The basic, unarmored zombie types in Plants vs. Zombies and Plants vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time serve as these, with average speed, low health, and no special abilities. Of course, they too shortly start appearing in Heavily Armored Mook variants.
• In Cursed Treasure and Cursed Treasure 2, the first few levels start with Peasants, raiders with no special powers whatsoever. They disappear after a few levels in each game, but in the later Wasteland levels of Cursed Treasure 2 there appear a Suspiciously Similar Substitute in the form of Barbarians.
• In Arknights, Originium Slugs are the first enemy the player encounters. They are slow and have little health or attack power, making them a total non-threat. This only applies to the basic ones; Later types of the Originium Slug, like the Infused or Acid variants, are much more dangerous.
• The Battle Cats: Doge is the first enemy introduced, and does nothing except slowly walk forward and bite anything in its way. Even a level 1 basic Cat can easily defeat a Doge one-on-one, due to its superior HP, range, and attack speed. There are lots of variants of Doge throughout the game, and they generally serve as the easiest, most basic representative of whatever type they have.

Turn-Based Strategy

• Crystal Warriors: Morbi is the weakest enemy in the game. He has a weak melee attack and average movement range, and that's pretty much it; even if you're not used to the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, he doesn't stand a real chance of killing your Wind units, and any Water attackers will clobber him.
• In all Disgaea games except the first and sixth ones, your very first battle is against a group of Prinnies. And even in the first game, Prinnies are the only generic units included in your initial party. How Goomba-esque are they? Throw them (something you can do at will) and they blow up. And it only costs one Global Currency to bring them back from the dead. And in the case of the aforementioned first game, the first few maps are filled mostly with Ghosts. While they do become a fairly respectable threat later on, they're incredibly weak for the first few levels because they're a Squishy Wizard breed of monster enemies, and they won't have any actual spells until their later appearances.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Bandits are an unusual case in that they have plenty of HP and are able to inflict quite a bit of damage with each blow; they may even become Goddamned Bats if they're fought on "peak" terrain. However, the axes they use are heavy and inaccurate, and most of your starting army can wield light and accurate swords. Most games give swords the advantage in the weapon triangle, favoring the player even more.
  • Soldiers also serve this role in some games—they originally served simply to replace cavaliers in indoor chapters, but as this involved creating an enemy type with stats on par with a dismounted cavalier, this turned the soldier into a pathetically ineffectual unit to be tossed at the player in squads early on. Half their standard bases are 0, and their class stat growths are terrible, meaning they'll never be any real threat and even a sword-user should have no problem chewing through them. Games where soldiers are playable tend to make them somewhat less of a joke, though.
• Peng Power has baby seals, which can be defeated in two turns by even the basic Peng. Past the first level, they basically exist to give the player free fish, letting them buy more expensive and powerful Pengs to fend off stronger enemies.

Others

• Winston "The Rookie Killer" Payne (along with any of his relatives) fills this role in the Ace Attorney series, getting soundly trounced in each game's first case. He gets more pathetic with every game. His hair also gets sillier with each passing game.
• The White Mouse from Mousehunt, being one of the weakest mice and also one of the first mice that you can catch. It also serves as the Mascot Mook, and has an Underground Monkey variant of it (the stronger Mutated White mouse).
• Present in the Quest for Glory adventure game series by Sierra.
  • Quest for Glory I:
    • Sauruses (or is that Sauri?) fit the bill, as even a Thief or Magic User at the start of the game has a reasonable chance of taking one down. Lampshaded in the game itself by the Adventurer's Guildmaster, when he tells you anyone can kill a Saurus if asked about them. Goblins are also quite easy to defeat.
    • Quest For Glory I also has an "Experience" system, and after a certain cutoff point the game begins to spawn much stronger monsters, and it's entirely possible to advance so quickly you may never see the weaker enemies.
  • Desert Brigands in Quest for Glory II are by far that game's easiest and most commonly-encountered enemy.
  • Quest for Glory III has the Giant Ant. They're everywhere, and quite easy to take down.
  • Quest for Glory IV brings two: The badder (bats of a not goddammed variety) and vorpal bunny. Badders are a scripted first encounter, and there's a good chance of running into a vorpal bunny on your way to town after the opening. Badders only appear at night or indoors, but the bunny is probably the most common enemy during daylight hours.
• In StarCraft the Zergling serve this role, they're weak on their own, but in swarms they are a menace. For reference, they have zero ranged attacks or abilities and (in StarCraft 2) have 35 health, 0 armor, and 10 DPS. A Protoss Zealot is also limited to melee but has 150 health and shields, 1 armor, and 19 DPS, as well as the ability to teleport short distances and regenerate his shields. Appropriately, the Zergling costs 25 minerals to build while the Zealot costs 100.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour, Tea, Serenity, and Mokuba are the easiest duelists in the game and among the first you find. It's almost impossible to lose to them even with your very first deck.
• The Not Safe for Work game Corruption of Champions have the One Gender Races Goblins and Imps serve as the standard opening enemies in the game and teach the player combat, the "tease" skill, and after-combat sex being both sex-crazed and weak. Imps have Imp Lords or "greater imps" when the player reaches level 10 to present a stronger challenge. In the Revamped version of the game, Goblin Assassins, Warriors, and Shamans start to appear. While imps and a majority of goblins are Always Chaotic Evil, a few goblins subvert the trope by being merchants and alchemists that can sell things to the player.
• Pikmin: Dwarf Bulborbs are the most basic common enemies, being easily killed by only one or two Pikmin. They're also among the few enemies that can be killed instantly just by throwing a Pikmin directly on top of them.
• Splatoon has the standard Octotroopers in its main single-player campaigns, who shoot ink rounds that move so slowly and do so little damage that it's nearly impossible to get killed by one unless they're with other enemies.
• Luigi's Mansion:
  • Luigi's Mansion has Golden Ghosts, which have low hp and attack very slowly.
  • Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon has greenies, which are virtually identical in terms of abilities, although they are slightly more of a threat as they can use tools to make them more of a challenge to beat.
  • Luigi's Mansion 3 has goobs, which are again, the same as the greenies, except they have more health, to demonstrate the slam ability which makes defeating large groups of enemies much faster.
• Sectoids are consistently depicted as the weakest alien in the X-COM series. While they get a buff in XCOM 2, this technically still applies, as the only enemies weaker than a Sectoid are the (mostly) human ADVENT troops within the lower ranks.
• Progressbar 95: Annoying pop-ups. They are effectively enemies, but they only push the bar back and are closed with a single tap.
• In the Command & Conquer: Red Alert Series, the Conscript is the Soviets' basic infantry unit, often being weaker than their counterparts. In Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, the Conscript cannot deploy and use heavier weaponry like the Allied GI and is notably weaker than Yuri's Initiate. Meanwhile, in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, the Conscript's firepower is noticeably weaker than the Allied Peacekeeper and the Imperial Warrior. In both cases hordes of Conscripts are often used in missions to get slaughtered by Commandos and elite units; the main strength of the Conscript is to be trained in high numbers to overwhelm their counterparts, as they are cheaper to produce (and in 3, clear garrisons with Molotov cocktails without sacrificing themselves in the process).
• Terraria: Basic Slimes are the main enemies of the daytime Forest, usually the first environment a player would spawn in. They move in a predictable way, only target the player if it's nighttime or if attacked first, and are easy to avoid outright. There are several variants, with some of them having the ability to shoot spikes, but they are almost always the easiest enemy of their respective biome. The Green Slime in particular is the weakest of the Slimes and one of the weakest enemies in the entire game.
• Minecraft: Zombies are the most basic enemies in the game and are easy to avoid. They walk slowly, deal only small amounts of damage, have a simple melee attack, and die in the sun. The equally common spiders can also qualify; while they are faster than zombies and can climb, they deal even less damage, have slightly lower health, and leave the player alone in the daytime.
• Crows in the early Resident Evil games attack in groups of three to five, but they do pitiful damage and their health is so low that even the knife, the weakest weapon in the franchise, can kill them with a single stab.

Non-video game examples:

Anime and Manga

• Zaku and its clones in the Gundam multi-verse. In fact, they are named after the Japanese equivalent term "zako" (usually translated as "small-fry"). Ramba Rai's infamous "This is No Zaku" line is showing that the story's has moved pass the basic level for Amuro.
• Lampshaded by Kazuma in KonoSuba when one of the Demon King's Generals turns out to be a slime, which he assumes is just one of those rank-and-file Dragon Quest-style slimes. It turns out slimes are far, far more dangerous in the fantasy world Kazuma inhabits.

Films — Animated

• The Super Mario Bros. Movie: While the Goombas appear in the film, the role of the many soldiers who are easily defeated by Mario and his gang doesn't go to them, but rather to the Koopas.

Literature

• The Rising of the Shield Hero takes place in a world resembling an RPG. The weakest monsters that the heroes start out fighting before moving on to tougher enemies are living balloons that like to bite people. Their cartoony design which contrasts with the other monsters in the world evokes this trope and will likely remind viewers of the slimes from Dragon Quest.

Tabletop Games

• BattleTech: This is the general use of the Scorpion light tank. Slow, poorly armored, and armed only with a single weak autocannon, the Scorpion's primary selling point is that it's cheap and expendible. It's not capable of posing a serious threat to most Battlemechs... individually.
• Many Dungeons & Dragons DMs use goblins or kobolds as the PCs' very first enemies. That said, if the DM uses their abilities — sneaking and trapmaking, respectively — to their fullest (which few do), they can be very challenging indeed.
• Pathfinder has its goblins, who have become so iconic that they're the unofficial mascot for the Paizo company, the Pathfinder and Starfinder games, and have been made playable PC's because the players just love them so. They're available as plushies, giant standing replicas 3 feet tall, and endless miniatures. One glance will sell most people: Starfinder Goblin◊.

Web Animation

• The Eggpos from Two More Eggs are ersatzes of the trope namer.

Webcomics

• Kid Radd's eponymous video game in the webcomic features a plant-like minor enemy that becomes Kid Radd's best friend when they escape from the game. That particular enemy's name is Bogey, and he retains his ability to hurt Radd on contact.
• Homestuck: Imps play this role in the in-universe reality-altering game of Sburb. They're the earliest enemy kind encountered and the most simple, and although at first they are shown to be a legitimate threat to low-level players they tend to get torn through pretty fast. That doesn't mean they can't get stronger...

Western Animation

• Code Lyoko: Kankrelats are XANA's most basic monsters. Short and stubby, a weak laser is their only means of attack.
• Jethro from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes is a basic robot whose only functions are to roll forward and say "I am Jethro!" The Trope Namer gets referenced when K.O. Goomba Stomps several Jethros.

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