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The 38 Most Memorable First Enemies

• By Aaron Koehn and Dave Rudden
• October 22, 2008 23:37 PM PST
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29- Bubble Bobble: Bubble Buster

First encounter:

Immediately after the beginning of a fantastic story, you will make a journey to the cave of monsters. There, your bubble-blowing dragon avatar will happen upon a trio of enemies who look like a cross between a washing machine and Pac-man. These are Bubble Busters, the enemy with the unfortunate calamity of having its weakness as its name.

We remember it because...

Sure there were wizards and weird fish later on in the game, but Bubble Buster wasn't all that easier than its brothers in arms. Probably because the old "put in bubble and pop" tactic worked for 90% of the enemies, Bubble Buster served not only as an introduction to the game, but also its main combat mechanic. Plust they were sooo cute when they got angry and red.

28- Shinobi: Punk

First encounter:

Once players deposited their quarters and a booming voice announced "mission one," it was time to move the ninja to the right and do battle with a Mohawk-wearing punk. If the players failed to chuck their throwing stars at this pig-faced enemy, they should be prepared to receive the only attack the punk was capable of delivering: a kick.

We remember it because...

Shinobi was an incredibly successful arcade game, but if you didn't get the opportunity to play it in one of those dark, nerd havens, then you would have had many chances to play it at home, since it was ported to over 10 different home consoles. That meant that hundreds of those hooligans perished at the hands of players, and as a result, thousands of punk rock records stopped getting played.

27- Kid Icarus: Shemum

First encounter:

As Pit bursts through the first door on stage one, four Shemums come cascading down from the platforms above. Fortunately, Pit is equipped with a bow and arrow, and by shooting the Shemum in the face it disappears leaving an item in its place.

We remember it because...

Described by Nintendo as a combination of Zelda, Mario Brothers, and Metroid, Kid Icarus is generally regarded as one of Nintendo's original classics. One of the reasons it is so fondly remembered is due to the wide array of unusual enemies it featured, including, but not limited to, that winged snake called the Shemum. Emerging more often than any other enemy in the entire game, the Shemum appeared in every level of Kid Icarus, until the climatic fight with Medusa.

26- Prince of Persia: Guardian

First encounter:

It's a little ways into the game before one does battle with Prince of Persia's first enemy, but after navigating through a few traps and landing a few large leaps, the players would eventually find themselves face-to-face with a pink-adorned Guardian. At that point a sword fight would ensue and often the pink guard would find himself at the wrong of said sword.

We remember it because...

Because Prince of Persia established so many platforming elements before introducing the first enemy, when combat finally ensued, it really stuck out. Also, the use of swords as weapons--when so many games at that time favored projectiles--added more uniqueness and originality to a game that was already pretty innovative.

25- Double Dragon: Red Vested Woman Puncher

First encounter:

Double Dragon begins with Billy's girlfriend getting socked in the gut by a thug sporting a Marty McFly-style vest jacket, and carried off in the company of a gang of hoodlums. The quest for revenge begins shortly thereafter... when you run into two enemies who looked just like that guy.

We remember it because...

The first time we played, we thought we had already caught the perp, and his also-evil twin. Unfortunately, what ultimately stuck in our mind was the rampant character model recycling at work in the game, especially when you notice the blue-haired enemy on the top in that opening was just a palette swap of the main character.

24-Gauntlet: Ghost

First encounter:

The first of the undead menagerie the hero encounters in Gauntlet is the Ghost, and the encounter takes place about 6 paces down from the initial spawn point. And how do you kill these already dead, vaporous entities? With an axe, of course.

We remember it because...

The sheer amount of enemies that needed to be killed in order to proceed from one level to the next in Gauntlet was massive. This meant the player would literally see hundreds of any of the various monsters during each level of this game. And since the game was ultimately unbeatable, the amount of Ghosts one could come across playing Gauntlet was infinite. When enemies' headcounts are that large, they become difficult to forget.

23-Medal of Honor: Nazi Soldier

First encounter:

Jimmy Patterson first comes across one of these extremely well-animated soldiers during a covert mission in France, and it is between a row of hedges where the first Nazi appears and is then consequently shot. Shortly following that first kill will be hundreds more.

We remember it because...

What set Medal of Honor apart from the other first-person shooters of its day was its incredible attention to detail. After doing battle with the first Nazi, you realized that where you shot a soldier would determine how he reacted to being shot. Shoot him in the leg and he'd bounce around on one foot, shoot him in the gut and he'd grab his torso. While that might not seem impressive today, in the past it blew our minds.

22-Halo: Covenant Elite

First encounter:

Shortly after Master Chief was awoken from his frozen slumber, the Covenant Elites unexpectedly began attacking, inducing panic, which was depicted in the game through the human's antiquated voice acting.

We remember it because...

This wasn't your standard "move towards the right of the screen until an enemy appears" encounter. No, this game set you up by introducing a very slow and deliberately paced tutorial, and then instantly and unexpectedly throwing you into the fire once the Covenant attacked.

21-Contra: Red Falcon Soldier

First encounter:

Immediately after somersaulting onto the screen, player-controlled Bill Rizer was forced to unload his machine gun or suffer the horrible fate of getting mowed down by the Red Falcon Soldier. After getting shot, this kamikaze soldier would then leap backwards into the air before melodramatically exploding.

We remember it because...

This suicidal, crimson soldier is so well remembered for a number of reasons: (1) Contra was one of the first co-op video games, and a good one at that, meaning Contra got played often for a number of years, (2) the enemy is present throughout nearly the entire game and is frequently seen, and (3) no one could forget that sensationally exaggerated death with the soldier flying into the air and exploding like a firework.

20-Metroid: Geemer

First encounter:

As Samus Aran slowly materialized on the planet Zebes, a pair of Geemers abruptly appeared, slowly circling platforms above the female heroine. The enemies were generally left alone to continue circling their platforms; however, if the player had a mean streak or hated everything Geem-like, they were easy to dispatch with.

We remember it because...

Since Metroid was one of the first non-linear games, until its release, players hadn't frequently experienced the concept of backtracking to further themselves. This meant that, not only would these Geemers be seen at the start of the game, but also after each subsequent pass through that particular area when the players retraced their steps.

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