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Use his head to ride up high.''|''[[Yoshis Story]]''}}
The act of jumping on an enemy's head and riding one, allowing safe passage across [[Malevolent Architecture|environmental hazards]], usually [[Spikes of Doom|floor spikes]]. It works because the enemy's wearing a pair of [[Super Mario Bros 3
The enemy won't even care that you're hitching a ride on its head. It will continue to wander back and forth mindlessly.
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* In the second level of ''[[The Lion King (Video Game)|The Lion King]]'' video game, you have to cross a body of water by jumping on the heads of some giraffes. Whether or not the giraffes can be considered enemies probably depends on the player, although their habit of dumping their future king into his [[Super Drowning Skills|watery demise]] should he stand on their heads too long does seem rather questionable...
* ''[[
* Required in a few places with the giant mole enemies of ''[[Super Mario World (
** And in [[Platform Hell]] hacks, it's required in many more places to cross lethal pits by repeatedly spin-jumping on a [[The Spiny|Spiny]]-kind enemy.
* The NES game ''Solstice'' used this as a mechanism to achieve a fair bit of secrets, including the hi-jump boots. Although, you had to first push a box onto the enemy's head, or else you'd [[Collision Damage|die]].
** ''Solstice'' had a [[Spiritual Successor]], ''Altered Space: A 3-D Alien Adventure'', which generously provided box-headed robots you could stand on for this purpose.
** ''Solstice'' also had a genuine successor, the SNES sequel, Equinox. Again, you had to push boxes onto the heads of enemies in order to ride them safely. This was more of a genuine tactic rather than a method to find secrets, as you had to do it several times in order to complete the game.
* In ''[[
** In the original ''Wario Land'', you could ride on Thwomps.
* ''Super Mario World 2: [[
** And the ever-helpful Support Ghost from Sluggy the Unshaven's fort, who makes an appearance in the Yoshi's Island stage of ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl.''
* ''[[
** They return in ''[[
*** This may have something to do with the fact that they're just barely airworthy as is. [[Fridge Brilliance|Even the slightest relative weight is more than their lift can handle, just with a real airframe.]]
* ''[[
** You can ride the head of the sea monster in Hazy Maze Cave. In fact, to reach the [[Secret Level]] in the back, you need the extra height to jump high enough. And in the DS version, you need to climb up there to get the Wario hat.
* In ''[[
* ''[[
* The NES game ''[[Legacy of the Wizard]]'' allowed you to do this, although you continuously took damage while doing so. One of the playable characters, being a monster itself, would not be hurt from riding enemies.
* ''[[Alien Hominid]]'' does kind of allow this, in that jumping on an MIB's head causes him to run around screaming, right past barriers that stop you but not the enemy. To make things even better, when you're done with the guy, you get to bite off his head.
* ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'' has a part where you have to ride on a giant 8 bit [[The Legend of Zelda (
** More annoyingly, one of these is at the ''exact point'' where you're coming down again after jumping over a spike. Gibs ensue.
* In ''[[Landstalker]]'', from the Genesis, this is an easier way to solve one particular puzzle. You'll still take some damage, but hey.
* ''[[Rayman]]'' and ''Rayman 2: The Great Escape'' let you ride on some enemies' heads—but only if you've knocked a giant plum onto them first. [[Collision Damage|Otherwise...]]
* ''[[
* In ''[[Dead Rising]]'', the main character Frank West can gain the ability to jump up on a zombie's shoulders and proceed to walk across a crowd of zombies, often allowing him to avoid having to walk through said crowd.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
** You also have to ride boars at several points to advance. It's just like riding Epona. [[Oh Crap|Until you dash...]]
* ''[[Metroid]]'' games sometimes feature this trope. ''Super Metroid'' has creatures called trippers which function as moving platforms. Some (usually the ones that fly over lava pits) will slowly sink when stood on. There's also a large turtle-like creature that will start to bounce around when you stand on it, and can be used to reach an item expansion. ''Metroid Prime'' and ''Prime 2'' have enemies that have to be stunned by shooting so that you can use them as platforms. And then there's the Ice Beam, which allows enemies to be frozen temporarily and used as makeshift platforms.
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* Occasionally the solution to levels in ''[[Hyper Lode Runner]]''—this technique's even given the name Robot Rodeo. Made harder by the fact that your character might not move with the robot heads...
* A Cranium Ride was possible in the ''Pharoah's Tomb'' series; you could theoretically ride on top of any monster... but YOU had to keep up, otherwise the monster would move out from under you and you would die.
* The ''[[
* ''[[Omega Boost]]'' had this in a bonus stage you could unlock. You had to ride on the head of the first incarnation of the Sand Worm and shoot enemies.
* An interesting (but largely useless) trick in the ''[[Halo]]'' games was the ability to "surf" on top of Sentinels. This ability had a practical use when it was applied to vehicles or allies. It's easiest to preform the Sentinel version on levels where they are friendly, such as the Arc on Halo 3 (immediately before you open the door for the Marines, but just before the Scarab battle).
* In ''Hammerin' Hero'', you have to do this with a mecha to get a Thank-You Letter from it for your storage. This is actually ''harder'' than the alternative, though, as you can't move, just ride the mecha as it proceeds forward, and the attacks against it are now aimed directly at you, rather than incidentally in your path -- you have to knock them away as they approach.
* ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' allows you to do this whenever you stun a Titan. While riding on his back Batman can lead him towards other enemies, who will get injured from the dazed Titan stumbling around and flailing his arms. Eventually he'll snap out of it and throw you off.
** Hitting enough enemies while doing this will also award you the "Freakshow Rodeo" achievement.
* This is the [[Meaningful Name|Jockey's]] main ability in ''[[Left 4 Dead]]''. He jumps on a survivor's head and "rides" it into hazards or [[Never Split the Party|away from the group]], [[Nightmare Fuel|laughing maniacally all the way]]. Slightly subverted as the survivor definitely doesn't wander back and forth mindlessly- the Jockey controls them instead.
* In ''[[A Boy and His Blob]],'' [[Anvil
* Featured in ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]''. Although you can technically ride on the head of every colossus, there's one particular one that stands out. He has special stones growing out of his head, and if you hit them, he changes direction. You have to direct him to different platforms in the arena.
** This game is also the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Colossus Climb]], which is basically when this trope gets expanded into a massive platforming stage.
* ''[[Nitrome|Parasite]]'' both justifies this and turns it horrific. When the titular alien abomination jumps on another creature, it pokes its tentacles through that creature's skull and steers it like a vehicle. Jumping off the now mindless, drooling creature makes it explode into [[Ludicrous Gibs]].
* In ''[[
* One of the ''[[Army of Darkness]]'' games for the [[X Box]]. Apparently your magical zombie midget sidekick has the power to overide the minds of giants.
* Subverted in ''[[Super Smash Bros Brawl]]'' with Trowlons, who use this trope as an attack. They try to carry player(s) [[Ring Out|offscreen]].
* With ''[[
* In the ''[[Taz-Mania]]'' game for the [[Sega Genesis]], there are ambulatory rocks with angry faces that serve as enemies. Taz can (and must for one level) ride these monsters across hazards such as [[Quicksand Sucks|quicksand]]. Unlike other examples of this Trope, however, they ''do'' mind, and will try to swat Taz off them if he stays up there for too long.
* Cars can be used like this in ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]''. The drivers won't mind, and will drive around as if it were completely normal to have someone on the roof of your car or even on the hood, blocking their view.
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