Examples of enemies that manage to be challenging without having tons of health...?

[Grottnikk]

Back in the day I hated the eagle that the boss from Karateka would send at you. You only had to hit it 5 times, as opposed to the tonnes of hits the other fighters could take, but DAMN the timing was a bugger. When the stupid little thing squawked and burst into a puff of feathers it was very satisfying.

 

[Squilookle]

A bit different but... Cop cars in Driver. They were always lighter than your car, which meant they weren't as strong, but they were faster than you, too.

 

[MrStab]

Capra Demon from Dark Souls. He is not hard by himself per se, but the fight is in cramped quarters and there are 2 1 shottable enemies that cockblock and poison you.

This. It's fucking cramped as hell and the only reason I died in that fight was from being poisoned then jumped on when I tried to use purple moss.

 

[CrimsonBlaze]

I would say the earlier enemies in El Shaddai.

They are by no means difficult to defeat, but they do present the opportunity to learn the combat system and graciously smack you around if you think for a second that El Shaddai is a button smasher. Seriously, if you do, they will toss you around the field and take you out. They force you to learn different moves, different timing of attacks, and the weapon stealing/purification aspect of the game to prepare you for the more challenging enemies ahead.

 

[Dogstile]

Exemples how NOT to do it: Dwarves in Stalker. They midget bastards will rip your guns from your hands and send them flying, will drain your entire stamina, making you immobile, they have a protective shield imprevious to damage they can put up at any time, AND they have noth ranged and melee attack.
You'd think they would have barely enough hp to survive a single magazine from a simple assault rifle, but no. Those midgets will take a beating, and only an ultra rare rocket launcher round, or well placed sniper rifle rounds to the head will end the battle quickly, without spending either a fortune in medikits, healing yourself to knife them to death, or even more energy drinks to keep stamina at the max level to shoot them without losing your weapon.

I hate those fucking dwarves.

I wouldn't say that's not how to do it. You're meant to either take them out from great range or hit them up close with your knife and dodge back whenever they do the groundpound thing. They were actually pretty smart enemies, its just the shield seems really unfair for a while.

OT:

Stalker Psydogs. I hate anything that makes your character see shit anyway, but these ones are smart enough to try to hide with the illusions.

 

[Treeinthewoods]

Spider Clan ninjas in Ninja Gaiden Black. Joyfully slicing them up looking so cool when, all of the sudden, THWACK! There's a little hissing, sparkling shruiken in my ass and I know it's about to explode... and there's nothing I can do about it!

 

[viranimus]

Capra Demon from Dark Souls. He is not hard by himself per se, but the fight is in cramped quarters and there are 2 1 shottable enemies that cockblock and poison you.

Really? That was a boss that I beat without dying. I get the close quarters bit, but its really all about the ole stick and move technique. And personally its a long standing front line strategy for me to focus on eliminating mooks before even trying to engage the true boss mob. (How else will you know if its a FF type of boss that if you eliminate all the mooks the boss will immediately spawn more, so you know if you need to leave a mook alive?.


Anyway, yes, Demon/Dark souls have plenty to mention. But I have to ask for clarification on topic. What about mobs that are "challenging" not because they have excessive HP, but because they can reduce your HP with ease such as Mike Tyson in the original Mike Tysons Punch out, Or say for example creepers (which really arent all that challenging) because that is really just as bad and common of a fall back position for developers to craft faux difficulty.

 

[RedDeadFred]

Hmm.... The Marionette boss in Shining Force was quite difficult. Probably the hardest battle in the game. It really was overpowered considering how early in the game you have to fight it.
FREEZE LEVEL 3! Super long range with AOE and very high damage. Will two shot any party member and 1 shot others. He also has infinite mana and regenerates some of his health each one of his turns. You basically had to pick off all of his minions without getting near him and when that was finally done you had to throw everything at him and hope that you could kill him in at most two turns for each attacker.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Anything in Dwarf Fortress..

Combat in dwarf fortress in general is "realistic", that is to say incredibly brutal. This means that on one hand even a giant dragon or horrible monster from before the dawn of time will generally die in one hit if you get lucky and ram a spear through its eye socket, on the other hand your guys are equally vulnerable. Even a fairly minor hit can leave someone having to walk with crutches for the rest of their life.

I'm not sure I can really describe it as good design, especially since it's far from balanced as of this time, but it does put the imperative on you to prepare for every fight.

 

[NerfedFalcon]

Major Biomechanoids will go down in 5 rockets, but if you don't have 5 rockets...hoo boy. And if they get too close to you, the splash damage from the rockets they fire will make you very unhappy, very quickly. Both of these occur at once the first time you fight one in Serious Sam 3. Excuse me while I go repress some memories.

 

[Little2Raph]

They don't really count as bosses, but all the enemies in the original Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis and ArmA: Armed Assault. They were meant to be less shooters and more simulations (in fact, Bohemia Interactive actually make simulation software for military application) so most of the time all it took was one shot to put out of the fight (enemies also usually went down with one shot). Engagements took place over realistic distances (what most shooters would call "sniper rifle" distance), explosives like hand grenades had realistic lethal radii, enemy rounds followed ballistic trajectories and would punch through flimsier structures - so you could take cover behind solid concrete or brick (briefly), but wooden walls and vegetation offered no protection at all (other than concealment). Finally, I said you could briefly hide behind solid objects because the enemies would actively try and suppress you while sending their mates around to flank you, so if you tried to stay in one place for too long you'd usually wind up dead quite quickly.

All in all hard (or perhaps I should say challanging) as hell, but all the more satisfying when you completed a mission or objective. Also quite sobering when over 90% of the time I never even saw the guy who shot me - makes me glad I've never had to serve in a real war 'cause I'd most likely be dead several times over. . .

 

[SovietX]

I'd have to say the Necromorphs from Dead Space. It supports precision aiming rather than spray until it dies.

Also the Bosses from the Metal Gear Solid games. They usually offer quite a challenge without having bullshit health meters.

 

[RuralGamer]

STALKER mutants. Especially Bloodsuckers.
They didn't have that much health but besides the fact that the gun your carrying may be a wel disguised piece of crap, they also camoflauged into their surroundings and would constantly try to come up behind you.

They were probably best in CoP where they had pretty good AI and a pack of them would surround you, one would distract while another moved in from behind.

Pretty much this... unless Pseudogiants are involved; those things have ridiculous amounts of health; you're looking at several hundred rounds of .45ACP ammo and several magazines from the Dragunovs. Besides them, everything else, especially human enemies aren't that bad health wise, just most have good attacks or nasty psychic powers; Chimeras, for example, aren't that bad because most of the time you're actually missing due to their tendency to pretty much kangaroo jump everywhere.

 

[Mr Companion]

STALKER mutants. Especially Bloodsuckers.
They didn't have that much health but besides the fact that the gun your carrying may be a wel disguised piece of crap, they also camoflauged into their surroundings and would constantly try to come up behind you.

They were probably best in CoP where they had pretty good AI and a pack of them would surround you, one would distract while another moved in from behind.

Agreed, a single well placed buckshot can kill one but good luck landing that shot!
You're right about the AI was in COP, how they would go in for a single strike leaving you bleeding and helpless while they circle around again for another strike. Much better than Clear Sky where you can only hurt them when visible which was both inconsistent and made them less scary because you actually look forward to them attacking.

 

[Dandark]

STALKER mutants. Especially Bloodsuckers.
They didn't have that much health but besides the fact that the gun your carrying may be a wel disguised piece of crap, they also camoflauged into their surroundings and would constantly try to come up behind you.

They were probably best in CoP where they had pretty good AI and a pack of them would surround you, one would distract while another moved in from behind.

Pretty much this... unless Pseudogiants are involved; those things have ridiculous amounts of health; you're looking at several hundred rounds of .45ACP ammo and several magazines from the Dragunovs. Besides them, everything else, especially human enemies aren't that bad health wise, just most have good attacks or nasty psychic powers; Chimeras, for example, aren't that bad because most of the time you're actually missing due to their tendency to pretty much kangaroo jump everywhere.

Oh I completely forgot about those. If I remember correctly I think they were the mutated dogs that caused you to hallucinate so that you saw about 10 of them rather than one. I ended up burning through so much ammo in Red forest trying to find the real one who was hiding in a nearby bush. Also yeah Chimeras. urg those things are evil.

 

[Dandark]

STALKER mutants. Especially Bloodsuckers.
They didn't have that much health but besides the fact that the gun your carrying may be a wel disguised piece of crap, they also camoflauged into their surroundings and would constantly try to come up behind you.

They were probably best in CoP where they had pretty good AI and a pack of them would surround you, one would distract while another moved in from behind.

Agreed, a single well placed buckshot can kill one but good luck landing that shot!
You're right about the AI was in COP, how they would go in for a single strike leaving you bleeding and helpless while they circle around again for another strike. Much better than Clear Sky where you can only hurt them when visible which was both inconsistent and made them less scary because you actually look forward to them attacking.

Well if I remember correctly they had a animation they do if they attack you from behind. They grab you and start sucking blood from your neck so that by the time they actully let you go and you get back up, your now bleeding heavily and the others have moved around into a new position.
I once had to fight a pack of them while an emission was approaching, it didn't end well for me, everytime I tried to run away to find shelter they would grab me from behind.
I had such fun with them though.

 

[Keneth]

The spider-vamps in the original Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver always annoyed the hell out of me. They were the same quick/evasive type that everyone else is mentioning. However, like the rest of the vamps in the game, they had the added annoyance of coming back to life if you didn't impale them quickly ehough.

 

[Hamish Durie]

any boss in KH
(yes some of them do have stupid amounts of health)
it was all about getting in rythm with the boss and then adapting when the boss got to a certin amount of help and switched tactics and used new moves........but then again MR. Freeze