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Goomba Stomp: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{Video Game Examples Need Sorting}}
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No matter how much [[Collision Damage]] they can dish out, the enemies in almost any [[Platform Game]] seem to be vulnerable to people jumping on top of them and cannot inflict damage when touched there. It's effective against any creature in the game, except for [[The Spiny|that one foe with spikes on its head that has to be defeated in another manner]]. And if you can land that hit, you can probably use them as a [[Goomba Springboard]]. [[Mario]] was the pioneer, and then [[Follow the Leader|all other]] platformers [[A Worldwide Punomenon|leaped on]] the bandwagon.
The Mario series is pretty much the [[Grandfather Clause|only one that still uses this trope]]. Most games that have this trope at all have other ways to dispatch enemies as well, though the stomp [[Boring but Practical|might be less dangerous]]. Games with this trope also tend to have one or two [[The Spiny|spike-headed enemies]] who avert it, possibly to keep players from becoming too reliant on the technique.
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* The [[Ur Example]] may have been the legendary ZX Spectrum game ''Horace and the Spiders''. However, it wasn't present on some of the levels where spiders have to be avoided instead.
* ''[[Super Mario Bros.]]''. The eponymous Goomba is one of the enemies, and pretty much the only enemy it works on (save for jumping Cheep-Cheeps and Lakitu). Unless, that is, you were in World 5-3 of ''[[Super Mario Bros 3]]'', where Kuribo's Shoe would let you stomp Piranha Plants and Spinies.
** Enemies from the NES era the
** This lasted even into ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]. Melee'', in which most enemies must be defeated more conventionally, but Goombas still die when you jump on them.
*** ''Brawl'' too, and it also has a [[Giant Mook|Giant Goomba]] which can dish out decent [[Collision Damage]] unless you can get above it, at which point bouncing up and down on its head about six times sends it down for the count. Like in the below Zelda example, stomping on the small Goombas almost always results in an Item Drop.
** Goombas even made a cameo in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening]]''... and could be stomped using a magical feather. And would drop a health refill to reward players that had bought enough Nintendo franchises to recognize their attribute.
** ''Not'' used in the very first ''[[Mario Bros.]]'', where you have to jump into enemies from underneath to defeat them. Remakes of it replace the enemies with [[The Spiny|Spinies]].
** ''[[Super Mario World (video game)|Super Mario World]]'s'' Goombas are not killed with a regular jump. Instead, they become temporarily disabled and can be used as a missile weapon against other creatures. A spin-jump will kill them outright, however. Note that they never tried ''that'' again with Goombas in Mario. These Goombas were also shaped different and given a different name (Kuribon rather then Kuribō) in the Japanese version suggesting they are a variant not seen elsewhere.
*** Super Mario World also brought a subversion. Traditionally, Koopas were vulnerable to the
** [[
** All of the Koopalings and Bowser Jr. are subjected to this trope in ''[[New Super Mario Bros.]]'' and ''[[New Super Mario Bros. Wii]]''. In the former, it could partially be subverted by hitting them mercilessly with Fire Flowers. In the latter, fireball-spam still works on them, but it's not nearly as effective as a Goomba Stomp.
** The ''[[Wario Land]]'' series doesn't let you outright kill most enemies simply with the
** In the fangame ''[[Super Mario War]]'', this is the primary way of defeating your opponents.
** In all of the RPGs, (''[[Super Mario RPG]]'', ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'', ''[[
* ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]''; Crash also has a spin attack, but there the timing needs to be dead-on.
* ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' was considered a subversion at its release; Sonic could attack an enemy from ''any'' angle, so long as Sonic was rolled into a ball and was not aiming at spikes - but simply ''landing'' on an enemy if he wasn't curled up would cause contact damage as if he'd just walked straight into the baddie. In later games Sonic picked up the dash attack, giving him even more options (and throwing him into the spikes if you didn't watch it).
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* ''Obake'' has a bit of a variation. While jumping on enemies doesn't kill them, it lets you stand on top of them and possess them. Once you're in a possessed body, you can still stand on top of enemies like this.
** ''Alien Hominid'' has a similar variation - jumping on top of an enemy lets you ride them around, and you can either jump off or choose to kill them by biting their head off.
* ''[[Commander Keen]]'' has one enemy that can be defeated by jumping on it, but only when using the pogo stick. In the [[Game Boy Color]] version, most aliens become vulnerable to this after shooting them.
* The ''[[Aladdin (Capcom)||Aladdin]]'' game developed by [[Capcom]], but not other ''Aladdin'' games where you have a scimitar instead or are limited to throwing rocks.
* The early levels of ''[[The Lion King (Video Game)|The Lion King]]''. Justifiable, since it could be pouncing and five of lions' six extremities are pointy and can conceivably kill things they jump on, but it still doesn't explain how a cub can take down a hyena that's like twice his size, or why Simba can no longer
* ''[[Kid Chameleon]]''.
* Similar to the ''[[Commander Keen]]'' example, ''[[Mega Man (video game)|Mega Man]] II'' (that's Roman numeral II for the Game Boy game, as opposed to Arabic numeral 2 for the NES game) featured the Sakugarne, a sort of a pogo-jackhammer-thing which allowed you to damage enemies by jumping on them. Its only purpose was to force you to fight the final boss in a weird way.
* An unusual FPS example: ''[[Rise of the Triad]]'' allowed you to kill [[Mook
** In ''Unreal Tournament'', you landing on something else reduced the damage based on your jumping ability, but not something else landing on you, with the result that fan mods that increased jumping ability would naturally result in
* ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' has this, though it also has other means of attack, such as rolling into enemies or throwing barrels at them. However, looking closely, he doesn't actually stomp on them, he drops down and slams into them with his fists. The distinction is more obvious in ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]''.
* A number of FPS and Third-Person Shooters allow you to knock down enemies if you land on them, or even deal damage, but it's a miniscule amount and you're usually better off just shooting them.
* Justified somewhat in the Mechwarrior games, you could use jumpjets to try to crush the enemy mechs. Considering that the lightest mech weighs about 30-odd tons, and the heaviest ones can be in the range of 80-100 tons. The original [[BattleTech]] tabletop wargame uses this as a valid attack, called "[[Death From Above]]", and can actually be dangerous for the attacker if they screw it up.
* [[Kirby]] CAN cause falling damage...but only if he falls from a great enough height, or uses the Stone power.
* ''[[DuckTales (video game)|Duck Tales]]'' for the NES has Scrooge bouncing off of enemies with his cane. It is, in fact, very effective in-game. More so than his golf swing.
* Also represented in the game "Balloon Fight". While you aren't hopping on their heads necessarily, you are bumping into their balloons from above.
* [[Dark Forces Saga|Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy]] are odd examples, as jumping on enemies won't kill them, but it will knock them down for a free hit or two. Given that you're using a ''lightsaber'', this pretty much guarantees their death; there's even an animation for it, though it's apparently meant for more conventional knockdowns, such as Force pushing them. The name Death From Above was also given to an attack in ''Outcast'' made using the strong style while jump and striking forward, which was very difficult to block and all but killed the opponent in a single hit.
** In the original ''Jedi Knight'', the Force Jump ability dealt damage to both the user and anyone beneath them, if one jumped high enough. Obviously it wasn't a useful tactic for the player since it's likely to kill them as well, but worked for one particular boss who had a habit of landing on the player.
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* In ''[[Epic Mickey]]'', jumping on enemies stuns them long enough for you to spray them with paint or thinner.
* A ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' server mod introduces, yes, you've guessed it, Goomba stomping. This makes explosive-jumping Soldiers and Demomen and even bigger threat than they already are, as they can gain the necessary height to pound you right into the dirt.
** [http://vimeo.com/1462359 This] video of a soldier pulling a double Goomba stomp on an [[Über Charged]] (read: invincible) Medic/Pyro team is without a doubt a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]]
** The Über Update made this an ''officially sanctioned'' tactic: the Mantreads, a Soldier item, doesn't protect him against self-damage from rocket jumps, but delivers ''triple'' the amount of fall damage he would normally take to any enemy he lands on. When you're taking an average of 30-40 damage from falling, this can easily inflict 100+ damage on your target (more if you know how to chain multiple rockets together to fly up to ridiculous heights).
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYUego6W8yw Case in point.]
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* The basic enemies in ''[[Braid]]'' are Goomba analogues, which are defeated predictably, and provide Tim with a [[Goomba Springboard|boosted jump]] after he bounces off their heads. In a partial inversion, the goombas also get a boosted jump if they land on Tim's head. Since that requires Tim to die, though, it's hard to think of a way that could be useful...
** It is if the goomba has a green glow, meaning that your reverse-time doesn't affect it, allowing you to undie but still give the goomba its boost.
*** Enemies can also inadvertently
* In ''[[Pikmin]]'', if you throw a Pikmin directly on top of any Dwarf Bulborb or Dwarf Bulbear, it instantly kills them. Very useful even though they don't pose much of a threat.
** [[Color Coded for Your Convenience|Purple pikmin]] in the sequel are especially suited for this, since their heaviness also stuns larger enemies that aren't killed outright by the first hit.
* In ''[[Mega Man ZX]] Advent'', Bifrost can crush enemies under his feet... But it's justified, since he's bloody '''huge'''.
* ''[[Drawn to Life]]'' lets you jump on enemies if you want to save your ammo.
* ''[[Mirror's Edge]]'' allows players to drop down on top of enemies and knock them out in one fell swoop. The 360 version even features an achievement called "Hey, it's-a-me!" for pulling this off. Same for the [[Play Station 3]] version, except it's called a trophy.
* Appears in ''[[Dawn of War]] 2''. Yes, in ''[[Warhammer
** Some of the Tyranids can do it too. Except they don't need jetpacks.
** Interestingly, several editions ago it was a valid tactic in the [[Tabletop Games|tabletop game]] as well, although mainly the Fantasy line: units would both take and cause damage when something fell on them, particularly if they dropped or crashed from Flying High. Enter Bloodthirsters and Lords of Change, which were immune to non-magical damage, including falling damage, so you could take out that nigh-invulnerable unit of Ironbreakers by flying your Greater Daemon above it and... stopping.
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* In ''[[Spelunky]]'', of all places, this is one of the more effective ways of getting rid of the various [[Goddamn Bats]] that populate the underground levels. It also cancels out falling damage. And since you're going down, down, down all the time, it's remarkably easy to pull off.
* In the first two ''Robot Ninja Haggle Man'' mini-games in ''[[Retro Game Challenge]]'', this is one of the only ways to kill an enemy. The other is to get them in front of a door and hide behind one of the same color.
* Non-game (but game related) example: [[CHIKARA]] wrestler Player Uno (the 8-bit luchador!) uses the
* The one foe that must be killed to progress in [[Deus Ex]] is easily dealt with via this (as he stand in place and you can enter the area on the ledge above him), allowing the game to be completed without the use of items. Even outside of a self imposed challenge, this is still the most fun way, and quickest (the only downside being some minimal falling damage if you don't have a jump enhancing augmentation)
* One of the signature moves of former WWE cruiser weight champion Paul London was the mushroom stomp. [[Shout-Out|Naturally he liked using it on Nunzio of the Full Blooded Italians]].
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* ''[[Tenchu]]'': The [[Ninja]] have a unique [[One Hit KO|stealth kill]] if you drop down on your enemy from above.
* In ''[[Video Game/EVO The Search For Eden|EVO The Search For Eden]]'', jumping on an enemy is one of your many weapons (along with charging tackles, bites, and sometimes horns).
** You can even ''improve'' your Goomba Stomping ability by evolving forms who are heavier and/or who can jump higher. Quite a few upgrades have the
* Some ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' games use this trope.
* ''Joe and Mac'' feature a Caveman Stomp.
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* A goomba stomp is your only weapon in [[Eversion]].
* Jumping on enemies from a decent height is an instant kill in the Viking third-person sword-slasher ''Rune''.
* ''[[Dystopia (video game)|Dystopia]]'' lets you use a charged jump to deal major damage to anything you are standing on, especially people. Since it requires a charge time, it's really only used on players that are climbing ladders and [https://web.archive.org/web/20130603151820/http://www.dystopia-game.com/wiki/index.php?title=Avv%27s_Comics_-_Hacking_in_Broadcast players that are busy in] [[Cyberspace]].
* The
* ''[[Cosmos Cosmic Adventure|Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure]]''. You even get bonus points by goomba stomping certain enemies while they're in mid-air.
* In ''[[Bunny Must Die]]'', Bunny and Chelsea can not only stomp enemies, but also projectiles (and this is sometimes the only way to reach certain areas). They both gain special shoes that allow them to increase their stomp damage.
* Nearly all ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' handheld games have this, as part of a general resemblance to Super Mario Bros.
* There is a feature in the freeware FPS ''[[Urban Terror]]'' that requires some good timing and skill in order to jump down, land on an opponent and "stomp" them to death. Unsurprisingly, it's indeed called "Goomba kill".
* [[BattleTech]] does this in likely the biggest way out there. Sure, you've got all manner of Missile Racks, Autocannons, Laser Batteries, PPC's, Gauss Rifles and all the other destructive goodies you could ask for... But if you've got the skill to pull it off, almost nothing puts down a problem faster than firing up your Jump Jets, heading airborne, and mashing your enemies into the ground with the incredible force of a 70+ TON, HEAVILY ARMOURED ENGINE OF DESTRUCTION LANDING DIRECTLY ON THEIR HEADS!
* [[Living Statue|Stone Boy]] of [[The Legion of Super Heroes|the Legion Auxiliary]] does a variant of this. All legionnaires have rings that allow them to levitate, and his usual means of fighting is to deactivate the ring immediately above his foe's head. Given how much he weighs, it's quite effective.
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* In ''[[Purple]]'', you can dispose enemies this way, granting extra [[Scoring Points]] if you can [[Kill Streak|stomp them without landing inbetween]]. Of course, [[The Spiny|there are exceptions]].
* Also done in ''[[Halo: Reach]]'', where the goomba stomp is an animation for assassinating an enemy from mid-air. And yes, using an Elite to cushion your fall by landing on its head is both as funny and as awesome as it sounds.
* The protagonist of ''[[No Hero]]'' favors this tactic during the period after he becomes a vigilante and before he gets any superpowers. We only get to see him doing it once, that also being his first confirmed
* The Gunner from [[Monday Night Combat]] has a variant of this, his slam ability can be used while airborne and will kill any pro (and most bots) who happens to be underneath when he lands.
* Averted almost everywhere in ''[[I Wanna Be the Guy]]'' (that would make the game [[Platform Hell|too easy]]), but played straight with some Bullets Bill on one screen so that you can [[Goomba Springboard]] them.
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