- "You're the enemy of all zombies! You monster!"
- — Zombie enemy.
Enemies in almost all video games, act as the central antagonists throughout the plot that are meant to impede the player's progress. They range from being menial obstacles to very powerful boss fights. In the Mother/Earthbound series, enemies have stats that dictate how powerful they are, much like the player, and determines what benefits they might have in combat. An example of a stat are the obvious hit points, which leave an enemy unconscious, killed or turned tame when this reaches zero.
Defeating enemies rewards the player experience and money. Experience points can level up the player, thus adding to their stats. Enemies can come in different types, such as being human, a chimera, a strange creature, etc.
Mechanics[]
Ness using PSI Rockin on a boss.
The series is well-known for having very unrealistic and unusual enemies, such as Dali's Clocks, Foppies and Rhinocerockets. Enemies can also appear in different variants, with stronger ones appearing as the game goes on. Enemies like this usually appear with a palette swap, being different colors than their predecessors. Once a player is defeated by an enemy, any money they were carrying will be halved.
When approaching enemies that are facing you, the screen will momentarily turn blue, and the character with the most speed will attack first. If an enemy approaches you from behind, the screen will turn red and the enemy provides a disadvantage by getting the first attack. If the player touches an enemy from behind, the screen turns green, with the player getting the advantage of attacking first.
Most enemies have unique attacks, depending on what they are. For example, the Firefly obviously having the element of fire on its side can use PK Fire; and the ice-based Chilly Dog can use PK Freeze. Certain enemy types also have specific strengths and weaknesses, such as fire enemies being weak to ice, and vice versa, but this means that, for example, a fire attack would obviously be weak to a fire-type enemy. Enemies can also be susceptible to certain status effects. Certain members in a player's party can examine enemies and find out what their weaknesses are, such as Jeff's Spy ability or Boney sniffing enemies. Note that some enemies can not be sniffed out.
More example of stats are offense and defense, which - respectively - determine how much damage an attack does and how much of the player's damage is resisted. Much like the player characters, some enemies can use PSI attacks, making some foes even more formidable. This means that enemies have psychic points just like the player, and can even be stolen from them, with moves such as PSI Magnet. Status effects are also something that enemies can give to the player, and that players can give to enemies, depending on the attack used.
Another mechanic of enemies is dropped items, which each have a pre-determined chance of being rewarded to the player upon the enemy's defeat. These items can be healing foods or weapons that can be equipped. The more powerful an item may be, the lower the chance it will be dropped. If the player's inventory is full, an item can't be given to the player unless they choose to remove something first. They can also opt out of taking the item at all.
Also like the player, enemies can perform moves that increase their own stats, or even lower ones of the player. Some enemies can also waste turns, providing a benefit to players. Some enemies, such as the Atomic Power Robot or Woodoh, will violently explode when defeated (or will just explode randomly anyway), causing excruciatingly high damage that will most likely exhaust all the player characters' hit points. This can be negated by killing those enemies last, then skipping through the post-battle messages as fast as possible while the health counters are rolling down.
Enemy battles can be skipped entirely, by simply running away. Though there's a chance that running away may fail, then granting the enemy a free turn. Running away from battles is ill-advised, as doing this too many times puts a damper on the player receiving much needed experience. The player can never run from a boss battle.
Bosses[]
Bosses have much higher health than standard enemies (at least compared to ones encountered prior to facing a boss), and will take much longer to defeat. On top of this, bosses will often have much higher stats than enemies, meaning that they will do more damage to players, while also taking less damage from them. Because of this, it is wise for players to strategize more by leveling up as much as they can and carefully manage their inventory.
This can include saving one's most useful items - especially healing items - until a boss fight occurs, rather than squandering them on meager enemies. Attempting to level up more by grinding enemies can also turn the tide of a boss battle, as even a few stat increases can make a substantial difference. The careful management of psychic points is also crucial, as it's wise to find the balance of being able to perform effective attacks, but still have enough to heal one's own party and/or protect them with shields.
Most bosses are generally less susceptible to status ailments, but most of them can easily have their stats altered, greatly turning the tide of a battle. This can also cause bosses to try and increase their heavily-lowered stats instead of attacking, giving the player a larger window of time to get extra attack turns in. It is also wise to try and raise the player characters' stats as much as possible, but take note that bosses can lower these stats as well.
Some bosses can start with shields, or create them in the middle of a battle, making the fight more tedious.
When facing a final boss in one of the games, it will be the greatest challenge the player will face. In all three games, there is a unique twist in defeating the final bosses.
Mother 3[]
Mother 3 greatly expands the mechanics of battling enemies: the player can press the attack button to the beat of the music being played, allowing multi-hit combos to be done. A maximum of 16 hits can be done in a combo. Note that any attack after the first deals much less damage, but can add up to a significant number once enough combo hits are made, adding up all the damage.
Enemies approached from behind will have a 'facing away' sprite. This grants players a free turn, after which, the enemy will turn around. If Duster is in the player's group, there is a random chance he will do a fast kick attack as soon as the battle begins, or "deftly flip behind the enemy", giving the player the aforementioned chance of attacking enemies from behind.
Duster can also make enemies turn around using a Siren Beetle. Note that not all enemies can be attacked from behind. In the case of bosses, none of them can be attacked from behind, or made to turn around.
The fan translated version of Mother 3, putting in the player name of "HARD MODE" will double the health of all enemies.
EarthBound 64[]
Lucas jumping towards a Rhinobird.
A Capybara attacks Flint. Sparks are seen.
The way the player and the enemy would've interacted in EarthBound 64 was very different to anything seen in the series prior or after. In order to initiate the battle, the player would have to knock down the enemy by attacking them and then jumping on the enemy and vice versa. The player had two types of attacks, punch and kick. The punch attack was for knocking down larger enemies and would've been done by pressing the Z button. The kick was for knocking down smaller enemies and would've been done by pressing the B button. Jumping on the enemy would've been done with the A button.
Salsa battles a tank. The tank has the advantage in battle as indicated by the tilt of the screen.
The battle advantage process was still the same as in EarthBound and GBA MOTHER 3, attacking from the front leads into a regular battle and an attack from the back gives the respective party the first move. If the player manages to get the advantage, the enemy will be seen laying on the floor. If the enemy manages to get the advantage, the screen will be tilted to represent them being knocked out on the ground.
A Pigmask and Capybara swap during battle.
During battle, the only parties that are able to make any move are the lead party member and enemy. However, both party members and enemies were able to switch their positioning. In order to swap party members during battle, the player would have to flick the control stick either left or right.
Wess and Duster battle a Pork Trooper. The graphic that indicates the enemy's turn is seen.
During the enemy's turn, a red graphic saying "ENEMY" would be displayed on the side of the screen. The player could dodge an enemy's attack within a small window of time by pressing the A button. The run option was not present in EarthBound 64, instead, the player would've had a "Speak" ability which could be used in battle in the hopes of the enemy letting them leave.
Stats[]
As mentioned before, all enemies have stats that determine the characteristics and power of an enemy in battle. These stats are exactly the same kind the player characters have. The set of stats in each game are different.
- Hit points - The amount of health the enemy has.
- Psychic points - Used up as PSI moves are executed.
- Experience - The amount of experience points received when defeating an enemy.
- Money - How much the player receives when the enemy is defeated.
- Level - The current experience level of a character. The higher the level, the stronger the character.
- Offense - Determines the amount of damage attacks do.
- Defense - Determines the damage resistance of a player's attacks.
- Fight - Determines how often one gets SMAAAASH!! hits.
- Speed - Determines who goes in what order in battle. The higher it is, the better chance a character has of going first. If this is the same as the player, the order is chosen randomly.
- Force - A placeholder stat that gives one an estimate of how much PP you'll have at the next level up. PP = Force x 1.5 approx. Also so decreases the chance of getting hit by Puzzled, Confused and Hypnosis.
- Strength - Decreases the chance of getting hit by Darkness, Poison and Paralysis.
- Wisdom - It increases the chance of hitting with status ailments, both in the form of PSI and items like the Flashdark. It also decreases the chance of being affected by status ailments.
- Hit points - The amount of health the enemy has.
- Psychic points - Used up as PSI moves are executed.
- Level - The current experience level of a character. The higher the level, the stronger the character.
- Experience - The amount of experience points received when defeating an enemy.
- Money - How much the player receives when the enemy is defeated.
- Offense - Determines how much damage is dealt by standard attacks.
- Defense - Determines the damage resistance of a player's attacks.
- Speed - Determines who goes first in battle, though there is a little randomization involved as well.
- Guts - Increases the chances of dealing powerful SMAAAAASH!! attack. Also protects characters from mortal damage on occasions. Guts is increased by certain weapons.
- Luck - The chance of dodging the player's attacks.
- IQ - Increases psychic points, allowing more PSI attacks to be used.
Mother 3:
- Hit points - The amount of health the enemy has.
- Psychic points - Used up as PSI moves are executed.
- Level - The current experience level of a character. The higher the level, the stronger the character.
- Money - How much the player receives when the enemy is defeated.
- Offense - Determines how much damage is dealt by standard attacks.
- Defense - Determines the damage resistance of a player's attacks.
- IQ - Increases the amount of damage PK powers do.
- Speed - Determines who goes in what order in battle. The higher it is, the better chance a character has of going first. If this is the same as the player, the order is chosen randomly. This also determines the chance of enemies dodging attacks.
EarthBound Beginnings[]
List of enemies in EarthBound Beginnings