King Mook

Thought they were all just little goblins? Think again.
"I just hope they don't resort to enlarging the characters on the levels and calling them bosses this time; that giant beaver was a pretty cheap trick!"
—Cranky Kong, Donkey Kong 64 instruction manual

This is where a boss enemy resembles an enlarged or palette swapped version of a regular enemy, possibly with a crown or some other identifying feature. They may even be a mutant version, and will probably have an unimaginative name based on the enemy type they resemble.

However! Their attacks may be vastly different from those of the enemies they are based upon, or they may be identical but stronger. This mook is usually one of the varieties that can turn red, causing the player extra pain.

King Mook tends to be such by virtue of being Large and In Charge. He may be the result of a Mook Promotion, or he may always have been tougher than your average enemy character. The King Mook has a high chance of being a Flunky Boss, having several of its weaker forms fight alongside it. It could be a Mechanical Monster if the original Mecha Mook it's based on is weird looking enough.

Compare Giant Mook. See also Elite Mooks and Superpowered Mooks. Contrast Monster Lord, when this is due to biology.

Examples of King Mook include:
  • Digimon:
    • ShogunGekomon is basically a big, fat, red, crowned version of Gekomon.
    • There is also KingSukamon, who is a gigantic Sukamon with a junk crown.
    • There are several Digimon that fit this trope; KingEtemon, the various Mamemon such as BigMamemon and PrinceMamemon... Most of them are Joke Characters, though.
    • The Digimon World 4 game had some tucked in a corner Mooks that would on a rare occasion be a King Mook. But the king status is only seen as a crown icon status effect. But they live up to the trope on toughness.
    • There are more examples if the names don't have to be the same. A lot of the time, the grunts are like the boss but less awesome. For example, Petaldramon and his Chamelemon soldiers are a ginormous plant-lizard guy and some less ginormous non-plant lizard guys.
  • There are lots of Mario examples:
    • Tryclide (bigger, triple-headed Cobrat)
    • Goomboss/King Goomba
    • Big Bob-omb
    • Big Whomp
    • Petey Piranha, Dino Piranha and Fiery Dino Piranha (based on a Piranha Plant)
    • King Boo
    • Kammy Koopa, Kamek and Kamella (based on Magikoopas)
    • General Guy (based on a Shy Guy)
    • King Kaliente
    • Baron Brrr
    • King Bowser himself is nothing more than a comparatively giant spiked Koopa.
    • Yoshi's Island has mostly regular enemies growing due to Kamek's magic (or in one case, he shrinks Yoshi instead).
    • Just to drive the point home, Super Mario RPG stars a gigantic Bob-omb known as a King Bomb, which gets summoned by one boss (and if you're lucky, by a second boss, and you get to fight it this time).
  • Final Fantasy:
    • Tonberry King
    • Likewise the Jumbo Cactuar/Gigactaur, which is a gigantic version of the Cactuar enemy, with an upgraded version of its trademark attack that deals ten times as much damage. And a MUSTACHE.
    • Also the Bomb King, the occasional Behemoth upgrade, and a fair number of other enemies throughout the series.
    • Flame Eater from VI was practically a King Balloon, and Dadaluma was practically a King Iron Fist. The bosses each summon the enemies for reinforcements.
    • The Mimic Queen from Final Fantasy XII too.
      • The vast majority of the rare monsters and Marks in the game are also giant versions of normal enemies. This is justified, though, as the Clan Primer entries for most of them explain their origins. Most of the rare monsters are explained to be naturally occuring mutant varieties of the normal monster species. Most of the Marks were mutated by prolonged exposure to corrupting magic which also caused them to go Ax Crazy and attack anything in their vicinity that isn't a member of their original monster species, which is why the player's group is petitioned to eliminate them before they can either disrupt the natural balance and/or pose a danger to nearby humanoid settlements.
    • And the Marlboro King from Final Fantasy Tactics A2 (and probably more) has an awesome crown and was insanely large at Crystal Guardians : Vanguard Storm.
    • The Monster Arena in Final Fantasy X is pratically built on this trope. Only one of the roughly thirty Bonus Bosses in there has an original model.
  • Oh, dear god, about 90% of all the Bonus Bosses in Final Fantasy XI.
  • Quite a few of the bosses in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Were this, like the Giant Marlboro in the Mushroom Forest, the Gigas Lord in the Manor, the Lizard King in Daemon's Court, the Orc King in the Mines, and the Goblin Wizard in the Goblin Wall.
  • Zelda:
    • Zelda II the Adventure of Link has an Iron Knuckle riding a horse as one boss. He returns as a miniboss down the line. There's also Carock, basically a Wizzrobe but bigger, faster in terms of teleport frequency, and much harder to hit (that last being something Wizzrobes are good enough at already.). Yet another example is Thunderbird, a giant-flying variation of the Fokkeru birds that drop fireballs in the Great Palace.
    • The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past featured the Armos Knights, The Moldorm King, and the Helmasaur King, smaller versions of which inhabited their dungeons or the area around them.
    • The bosses of the first three dungeons in The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, Queen Gohma, King Dodongo, and Barinade. You fight Gohma's hatchlings, dodongo larva and normal dodongos, and smaller jellyfish parasites before fighting the big ones. There's also the minibosses Bigocto and the White Wolfos.
    • The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask has both Gyorg (enlarged Skullfish) and the Garo Master.
    • The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker features Gohma (who resembles a Magtail), Jalhalla (the king of the Poes), Helmaroc King (a giant version of a Kargaroc), Kalle Demos (who is a giant Boko Baba) and Gohdan (who is essentially a giant Armos Statue). Even Molgera is this, as he's a giant version of those little versions of himself he releases.
    • Special mention to The Legend of Zelda the Minish Cap, where many bosses are simply regular enemies ...but Link has shrunk to flea size, so to his perspective they're gigantic.
    • King Bulblin in The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, along with his steed, Lord Bulbo. Other examples include that giant version of the Twilight Kargaroks with trumpet bells for heads that you have to fly up Zora's River on, Diababa (a giant Deku Baba), Twilit Bloat the Shadow Insect Queen, Armoghoma (a Giant Spider that dwarfs all kinds of Skulltulas in size), Stallord (biggest Stalfos in any game, and we only see him from the waist up!), and Argorok (giant Aeralfos). Even the bosses who come from corrupted good characters, Fyrus and Blizzeta, take the form of an enemy (Torch Slug and Freezard, respectively).
    • And then there's Ganon, whose One-Winged Angel form resembles a giant Moblin.
    • Moldarach in The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword. They're essentially a thousand-year-old variation of the Arachas.
  • This is something of a habit in the Donkey Kong Country series:
    • Very Gnawty and Really Gnawty, the Master Neckys, Queen B. and King Zing, Krow and Kreepy Krow, Barbos, Puftoss and Army Dillo. In a variant, the first game also has Dumb Drum, a King Mook of an inanimate Mook Maker.
    • K. Rool himself counts, what with him being the Kremlings' king. And the Kremlings have repeatedly been featured as mooks throughout the series.
    • Tiki Tong in Donkey Kong Country Returns.
  • Bangai-O Spirits explicitly uses double, quadruple, and even half-sized versions of every single enemy in the game, including those that were already bosses. One stage in the game even has you run through a half-sized, normal-sized, and finally a double-sized version of the Cannonboss.
  • The Giant Met, boss of Wily Stage 1 of Mega Man 4.
  • King Coiley in the 2005 version of Q*bert for the PC.
  • King Poop Snake and Platinum Poop Snake (both optional bosses) in Blue Dragon.
  • The Giant Looper and Elcian (yet another, black Looper) from Skies of Arcadia would fall into this (although Loopers are more Metal Slimes than Mooks).
  • The campaign for Rise of Legends contains such bosses as the Master Fire Golem (which is like the regular fire golem, but a lot bigger) and the Queen Salamanders (apparently salamanders form hives. Who knew?).
  • Metroid
    • The first Metroid Prime has a giant Sheegoth guarding the Wave Beam. The difference: that is the "normal" version. More common, "baby" versions are seen long before the fight. Although adult Sheegoths you fight as regular enemies after that are much smaller, meaning either those aren't fully grown or the guardian one was really strong. There's also Omega Pirate, a King Mook of Elite Pirates, which are themselves Giant Mook Space Pirates. So it's a King Giant Mook.
    • Practically all bosses in Metroid Prime 2 are this. There's Chykka (an oversized Shredder), Quadraxis (a giant version of the Quad robots you fought in the preceding level) and the six "sub-guardians" that were ordinary monsters before being possessed by the six Ing that managed to steal Samus's upgrades (only one is actually bigger in size, and that's because the monster in question was already a King Mook that gets possessed about 5 seconds into the boss battle). And then there's the Alpha Splinter (Which gets possessed too), Amorbis (an even bigger sandworm), the Alpha Blogg, and Emperor Ing himself.
    • Metroid Prime 3 has an interesting variant. The Berserker Lord is a boss version of Berserker Knights. What's interesting is that Berserker Knights are already Bosses In Mook Clothing, and that you fight the Berserker Lord before you encounter any of the weaker Knights. The Pirate Commander is also a boss version of Commando Pirates.
    • There's also, of course, the Metroid Queen, the ultimate form of Metroid in the entire franchise.
  • Diablo may pick several from a selection of palette-swapped versions of the normal mooks as incidental encounters in the randomly generated dungeons. The sequel has several fixed king mooks acting as bosses and fixed encounters, as well as randomly generated ones that spawn at random locations every time you load the game.
  • In Sonic Adventure 2, there was King Boom Boo, a much larger (and creepier) version of the small slasher-smiling ghosts that you would sometimes encounter in certain levels.
  • Most of the Mini Boss characters in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards were giant versions of ordinary enemies; they were frequently surrounded by many of their normally-sized friends.
  • Roshan from Defense of the Ancients. He only gets stronger and bigger every time he revives, to the point that the now rarely seen final form is adequate challenge for a full party of level 25 loaded-for-armour heroes.
  • Castlevania:
    • Harmony of Dissonance: A number of the bosses in this game are large versions of smaller enemies. Giant Merman, Peeping Big, Max Slimer...
    • The series has many of these, including the recurring Phantom Bat, the Queen Medusa, the Bone Dragon King, and the giant skeleton in CV 64.
  • Final Fantasy Tactics A2 has several large (3x3 spaces) bosses. Most of them are unique, but the "Crushatrice" and its Palette Swap are simply bigger versions of regular enemies. One of those even turns out to be the mother of the regular ones.
  • In Battle for Wesnoth, most leaders are advanced versions of basic enemies. As the campaigns progress and the AI gets more advanced units to deploy, the leaders get replaced by the level 3 versions and unique characters instead.
  • The first boss of the Space Ghost Flash game Headkicker II is red-tinted Cloneborg, with appropriate upgrades from previous two models.
  • The Item Worlds in the Disgaea series have these every ten floors. Most of them don't even get a palette swap. There were a few in the main story, as well.
  • The Goblin King and Demon Goblin Warrior from La Tale
  • Hey, Breath of Fire 3 fans: "King Goo wants his item back!"
  • Practically every game in the Tales (series) has bosses are larger and/or recolored versions of regular enemies that may have some new tricks.
  • In Maple Story, nearly every single boss is one of these. Most notably King Slime and Mushmom.
  • In The Witcher, the special monsters whose heads can be traded for a bounty are scaled-up, uniquely-named versions of regular foes.
  • Most of the humanoids in Nethack have kings, which are always the strongest members of the species, and usually purple.
  • World of Warcraft is pretty often guilty of this (it's easier to increase size instead of using a new model), especially outside of dungeons. The Devs admitted to this, and that it usually works in reverse. Once a boss is used they often find it is just too cool of a model to waste in one dungeon.
  • The World Ends With You has four Bonus Bosses and three regular bosses that work like this. Noticeably, the regular bosses act fairly different from their smaller counterparts.
  • Persona 3's Tartarus level bosses were all like this, though color swapping mooks is a cottage industry in Shin Megami Tensei games.
    • Similarly, in Persona 4, the sub-bosses encountered mid-way through each dungeon and the bonus bosses that take up residence in previously completed dungeons are all King Mooks. In fact, the first one of these you will encounter appears in Yukiko's castle, and is literally a king. He's a bit of a pain.
    • Even Shin Megami Tensei Nocturne uses this, despite most of the enemies being drawn from a very large selection of mythological figures.
    • There's also the more literal case of the recurring King Frost, a giant version of the series Mascot Mook Jack Frost with a crown and scepter.
  • Almost every boss in Guild Wars, the few exceptions mostly being very important characters like the Big Bads of each campaign.
  • Halo series:
    • Halo 2: The Heretic leader. Also, The Dragon Tartarus, and the Spec Ops Commander "Half-Jaw".
    • Applies to the Covenant in general, higher rankings net more elaborate costumes.
    • Brute Chieftains in Halo 3.
    • Sentinel Enforcers.
    • The Elite Field Marshal in Halo: Reach, as well as the Zealots.
  • Ancient Domains of Mystery has tougher versions of many types of monsters, but most of these are Elite Mooks, and even the ones called "King" this or "Emperor" that are usually more like Giant Mooks, and that only provided they're enough of a challenge and don't come in hordes. Some, however, are unique boss monsters, often optional, such as Rehetep the Mummy Lord, or the Assassin Prince. The Final Boss for the normal ending is even one of these -- "Fistanarius, the Greater Balor". Since the game has ASCII graphics, everything is technically a Palette Swap of something else, so it's hard to draw the line exactly—is the Cat Lord a King Mook because he's a super-tough feline, or not one because he doesn't specifically resemble any type of feline?
  • Dungeons and Dragons:
    • The fourth edition includes rules in the Dungeon Master's guide on how to do this for any and all monsters. It also includes the inverse, how to mook-ify the really tough monsters.
    • In previous editions, the King Mook chieftains of humanoid monsters such as goblins simply had an extra hit die or two to distinguish them statistically from the rank-and-file. Third Edition was the exception to this pattern, as it opened up the option of giving the monsters class levels.
  • The Super Tank(a giant Tank with a literal tank for a lower body) and the Hornet (a Giant Flyer) in Quake II, which first appear as boss battles, but become recurring enemies later.
  • Doom:
    • Doom 3: Vagary, the Trite Queen.
    • Inverted in Doom II with Arachnotrons, which are the minion version of the Spider Mastermind who first appeared in Doom I
    • Also inverted with Hell Knights, which are weaker versions of Barons of Hell.
  • Nearly all of the bosses in zOMG! apply. In many cases even their flunkies are stronger than the normal enemy type, since the difficulty of the battle is based on the chosen difficulty level and the level of the player(s) participating.
  • Resident Evil: The Black Tiger spider. Also the Adult Albinoid and Black Widow in Code Veronica.
  • Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire has a giant Dianoga for the boss of the Sewers, and the Gladiator Droid, which is an oversized upgrade of the Mecha-Mooks you've encountered throughout the game.
  • Fallout: New Vegas
    • In original there is the Legendary Deathclaw, Legendary Fire Gecko, Legendary Nightstalker, and Legendary Cazador.
    • Tons in Old World Blues, featuring the Boss versions of common monsters and robots you see:
      • Super Ego (Robobrain)
      • Construction Drone Foreman and The Custodian (Protectron)
      • Patient Zero (Spore Carrier)
      • 010011110110111001100101 (Securitron)
      • Sparks (Mr Handy)
      • Ironbelly (Mr Gutsy)
      • Doctor Orderly MD PHD DDS (Mr Orderly)
      • RY-589 Ultimo Bot (Sentry Bot)
      • Legendary Bloatfly (duh)
      • Specimen 73 (Cazador)
      • Shadis (Nightstalker)
      • Gabe (Cyberdog)
      • Stripe (in Wild Wasteland only).
      • X-42 Giant Robo-scorpion (self explanatory)
  • Every boss in Adventures of Lolo 3 is an enormous version of a regular enemy type.
  • On a related note, in The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob, the local clan of Bigfeet has a king named Mook.
  • Skagzilla, Mothrakk and Nine-Toes (also, he has three balls) in Borderlands.
  • Silent Hill series:
    • Silent Hill 4: The One Truth is a giant Wall Snatcher.
    • In Silent Hill 3, you first encounter a large Missionary as a boss, then fight smaller versions near the end of the game. In the sewers, you encounter a giant Numb Body.
  • Other than the final boss and the Big Daddies, all the bosses in BioShock (series) are simply normal Splicers with much more health and better resistance against elemental Plasmids. Which sort of makes sense, in-universe, since pretty much everyone started off as normal people, who just abused the ever loving shit out of Plasmids. You could just look at it as that Steinmann (Being a plastic surgeon who had easy access to lots of cosmetic Plasmids) and Cohen (Being that he was close to Ryan, and probably had easy access to ADAM and such) just got shitloads more than most. Of course, the real excuse is that the devs just couldn't be bother making unique models for the bosses. Except for The award for best supporting ac- I mean, Fontaine.
  • The Giant Womprat in Super Star Wars, which fights alongside its smaller brethren.
    • The Wampa King in Super Empire Strikes Back, who's so big you can only see his head and arms.
  • The Mega Hulk in the original Descent. The Fusion Hulks later in the game are somewhat of an inversion; they are a smaller Palette Swap of it. Several of the second game's bosses are also like this, eg the Water Boss is basically a giant Seeker.
  • Many of the bosses in Wonder Boy III: Monster Lair are this, eg the giant bat, the Wasp Queen, the cactus monster, and the Giant Enemy Crab.
  • The Bubble Bobble series has many bosses based upon the Mighta and Monsta enemies, not to mention the Super Drunk from the very first game (a giant version of a regular Drunk) and the Hyper Drunk from Bubble Symphony.
  • MARDEK has Happy Johnnies, those Happy Johnnies have a king, he is red, he has a crown, and he has more HP.
  • The "Mother of All Hunters" and "Mother of All Cyborgs" in Marathon 2 and beyond, as well as the oversized grey Pfhor in the penultimate level of Infinity. In EVIL, you encounter a Giant Devlin in one level, a Super Assimilated BOB in another, and two Super Mystics on the final level.
  • Justified with the Mega Censor in Psychonauts, where, while in one character's mind, the player destroys all nodes where censors (basically, mental antibodies that normally combat small bits of insanity) would usually come out. Unfortunately, this effective repression leads to a massive buildup of censor energy, which eventually overloads, releasing the Mega Censor.
  • Wonder Boy in Monster Land has the Myconid Master, the Kraken, the Giant Kong, and the King Demon.
  • The Crimson Head Elder in the Resident Evil 1 remake.
  • All monsters in Albion have up to 3 variants, with a difference in number, size and color indicating their power relative to their peers. Skrinn 2 and Warniak 2 monsters usually accompany larger groups Skrinn 1 and Warniak 1 monsters in early stages, more or less fulfilling this role. Averted with stronger monster types that appear in the later stages: variant 3 monsters become regular enemies, while variant 1 and 2 become very rare (except for the Skrinn and Krondir that only have 2 variants). There are exactly three Animal 1 demons in the entire game and they all attack individually. Animal 2 demons usually accompany a single Animal 3, while Animal 3 always attack in large groups, and due to a trigger, can spawn infinitely.
    • A mid boss called The Beast Master is basically a mage 3, with heavy armor, more HP and magic immunity.
  • In the arcade version of Double Dragon, the Mission 1 boss is a head/Palette Swap of the Giant Mook Abobo with a Mr. T-like mohawk and beard and at least one new attack. The same enemy appears as the Mission 3 boss with a green color scheme.
  • Duke Nukem: Zero Hour has Boss Hog, a giant Pig Cop with tank treads in place of a lower body. In Duke Nukem 3D, there's the Overlord, which is a giant Enforcer with rocket launchers, and the Alien Queen. Except for a helicopter, a 50-foot coachroach queen, and the final boss, all the bosses in Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project are just tougher versions of regular enemies (although most at least have a unique character model and a couple extra attacks).
  • Almost all of the bosses in the Painkiller-inspired indie-game Dreamkiller are just giant versions of the main normal enemy type encountered in that level. The final boss and at least one of the end-stage bosses are unique creatures, though.
  • The Giant Birds in Rule of Rose are bigger, more durable version of the standard Bird-Imps, but what makes them a nightmare to deal with is how fast and far they strike, and knock the player down with every hit, taking a fair chunk of your hitpoints at the same time. You don't actually have to defeat any to finish the game, but if you make the mistake of entering the classroom during the night in the final chapter, as you have to do if you want to gather all secret items in the game, you'll be locked in until you kill the one inside. The only way you can even hope to win is either with luck and Brown's help, or with a revolver, if you by chance happen to have that secret weapon at this point.
  • Wolfenstein 3D's sequel, Spear of Destiny, has the Ubermutant, a giant four-armed Mutant with a Gatling gun in its chest.
  • In Heroes of Might and Magic, there are simply too many upgrades for creatures to whom "Queen", "King", "Lord"... is added to count. So, you can end with an entire army of, for exemple, "Monarch Wyverns".
  • Portal 2 mentions the Animal King turret, a massive turret with cheetah spots and a crown that is mentioned as a hypothetical God-Emperor of the remnants of society After the End. While Chell never actually faces one in the game proper, It shows up as a Brick Joke in which it provides the Bass in the turret opera in the ending.
  • Warcraft III has many high level creeps that are just as powerful as heroes and are accompanied by their smaller regular versions.
  • Terraria has the Eye of Cthulhu (A giant Floating Eye)m the King Slime (a reeeally big slime) and the Eater of Worlds (An extra-large version of the Eater of Souls). The latter two also are Asteroids Monsters.
  • The Big Bad of Red Faction II is equipped with a suped-up version of the Battle Armor you previously fought and piloted.
  • All of the minibosses in Ys: The Ark of Napishtim are oversized versions of normal enemies. Gaposdhala/Gaposasura is a giant Man-Eating Plant, Piana-Pius/Pullus is a giant bee, and Noodollon/Deadollon is a giant version of the cave slimes.
  • The anticlimactic final boss of Journey to Silius is an upgrade of the recurring slow-moving robot mooks. Earlier, Stage 4 has a Giga-Humpbot, a Mini Boss version of the jetpacking Demonic Spiders from Stage 3.
  • The Crownéd Slime boss from Recettear is, appropriately enough, a blue slime with a crown on its head.
  • Turok 2 has the Mantid Queen and Flesh Mother.
  • Ragnarok Online has many so called mini bosses which are nothing more than pallet swapped mooks. Angeling and Arcangeling are great examples with both being porings with wings and a halo which can be extremely troublesome if you don't know what you're doing. A dead branched Arcangeling especially with it's ability to teleport and heal can sometimes terrorize a zone for days.
  • Magical Whip Wizards of Phantasmal Forest has two kinds of bosses, one of which is simply a scaled up sprite of a normal enemy surrounded by its normal-sized brethren, which behaves just like its smaller pals.
  • Haybot, Big Boner and The Experiment in Conkers Bad Fur Day. Respectively, the biggest haystack mook, the biggest Uga Buga, and the biggest Tediz.
  • King RedEye in Star Fox Adventures.
  • The Pork Trooper in Mother 3 is a high ranking Pigmask with a fancier uniform.
  • Made Men in The Godfather 2 don't look that much different from the dime-a-dozen mooks they lead but are much better fighters and can come back for more if you don't kill them the right way.
  • The second boss, the Shadow Dancer from Revenge of Shinobi is merely a Head Swap of the basic mook enemy. His main advantage over the regular mooks? He uses the power of disco as you fight him.
  • Battletoads has Big Blag, chief of the Rat Pack.
  • The Barbarian King and the Queen of Archers from Clash of Clans are both giant, super-powered versions of the regular Barbarian and Archer units.
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