Enemy patterns in metroidvania games (and side-scrollers in)

So, here I was, sitting on my bed, being all like "eh, I gotta clean my room, but I don't wannnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaa" and then I spotted NES Mario 3 on my desk and I was like "well, that's convenient" and I flipped through the book and read up on a few guys I forgot. Before I start, those Fireball Ghosts that walk after you are called Hot Foot. And the walking Pirana plants are called Ptooie.

Rocky Wrench - Sorta one-with-the ground and then spawn as a thin block then rise up and look in your general direction and throw a wrench (always looked like a bone to me) horizontally and then retreats back into the ground. You can stomp then, but they'll respawn infinitely.

Stretch - Long white floors/ceilings that have ghosts that rise up and slide along back and forth for a while then retreat within the block again.

Jelectro - Where as the game trys to pass them off as foes, they're honestly just blocks that hurt you on touch

Fire Chomp - Black balls that fly through the sky with a small trail of fire behind it. It flys after Mario and will stop periodically to open it's mouth and spit a fireball. When it runs out of fireballs, it continues to chase mario and will begin to flash and promptly explode afterwards.

I love good old instruction books like this. Gets you pumped up to play the game. Manuals now days barely tell you anything more than the controls, if that.

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dOn'T MiNd mE! i'M jUsT CoNtAgIoUs!!!
Play Orbs CCG: http://orbsccg.com/r/4r6x

I seem to remember this one facing you, but I can't remember if it just spawns facing you, or if it turns around to face you when you jump over it.

Those guys were all over the place in world 8, and I think I played that world more than any other.

Oh! What Giz said reminded me that the Commander Keen has lots of enemies with interesting behaviours. Its been at least 10 years since I've played any of them, so I couldn't really remember details.

But looking through videos on Youtube I see enemies that crawl up walls or ladders/fireman poles; big aliens with clubs which can stun you by whacking the ground in your vicinity; red ball enemies which jump about randomly and which you can stand on top of to get carried around; other enemies (blooglets?) which can't harm you either but push you (typically into danger) as they run around (these have a chance of turning towards you); enemies which can reflect your shots; various things that charge at you when they see you; and a number of different things that jump from platform to platform, possibly only when you're near.

And who could forget Dopefish?

They pop up out of little holes in the tops of the airships and such. I don't remember if they'll turn while they're out of the hole if you jump over them then (maybe they'll turn toward you if they haven't thrown their wrench yet by the time you jump? that sounds about right, but it's been a while since I've played Mario 3 so I'm not entirely sure), but the next time they pop up after ducking under they'll pop up facing wherever you are at the time.

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FYS:AHS -- Swapping out some step-on NPCs for zones + each step script
Puckamon -- Not until the reserve party is expanded.[/size]