Everyone always remembers and talks about the big baddie of the game, the ultimate boss who is keeping us from attaining our goal. However, that boss would be nothing without their army, their soldiers, their cannon fodder—their minions! Whether they are mindless little critters or dangerous threats to our quest, they are constantly standing in our way! We hack and slash our way through hundreds upon thousands of minions at any given game, so it seems only appropriate that we take some time to remember those minions who laid their lives down for their bosses, whether they were willing or not. Take a look at who we thought deserved to be remembered for their dastardly deeds!

10. Waddle Dees (Kirby Series)

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Hanging out at the very bottom of the list are the lovely little Waddle Dees who are practically a staple of the Kirby series. They have the amazing ability of doing… absolutely nothing. Really. They are probably the least threatening minion on this list, as all they actually do is walk around and relax in Kirby’s path. They do, however, have one sinister ability that will chill your Kirby right to his none existent bone: Waddle Dees won’t give Kirby any Coby Abilities if he inhales them, so they have that up their sleeves at the very least. One Waddle Dee in particular managed to break the mold of his fellow minions and became a supporting character to Kirby in Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, but other than that, they don’t really have any meaningful exploits. They are an adorable little roadblock employed by King Dedede, so his expectations for his minions are clearly quite low.

~Caitlin Garden

9. Rhynocs (Spyro the Dragon Series)

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Hailing from the early era of the Spyro series, the Rhynocs were what made up the army of the Sorceress in Spyro: Year of the Dragon. They appeared in every single world, usually dressed up to suit the theme of the world they were currently invading and pillaging. It was their job to help Bianca steal the baby dragon eggs from their home, and after that they plagued the Forgotten Worlds to make sure that Spyro didn’t rescue the eggs. Strangely enough, these minions were actually semi-immortal; the same Rhynoc could be brought back countless times, but only by the Sorceress herself. They could be pretty irritating baddies to deal with; some could only be killed with flames, while some could only be killed with a good head charge. Others required you to shoot missiles at them or they could pull off some pretty cheap hits that seemed unfair. They were easily recognizable by their trademark grunts and the way they fell onto their backsides once they were bested, landing them low on this list due to their frail nature.

~Caitlin Garden

8. Slimes (Dragon Quest Series)

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This cute blob with eyes and a mouth has been the mascot of the Dragon Quest series since the beginning. That is likely the most special thing about these creatures. In the actual games, they are often the weakest enemies—an introductory monster there to ease the player through until they get to more difficult monsters. In some games, they can even be domesticated and speak the human language. For these guys to be an actual threat, there would need to be multiple of them, either making a King Slime or Slime Stack.

~Melissa Buranen

7. Husks (Mass Effect Series)

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Husks are the synthetic, modified bodies of creatures under the indoctrination of the Reapers. During Mass Effect 1 & 2, these creatures were human in form. They moved and acted like zombies, swarming around and running forward into the bullets. In Mass Effect 3, we were introduced to new forms based on other races. A few examples would be Banshees of the Asari Ardat-Yakshi; Marauders from Turians; and Ravagers from the Rachni. All these versions of the Husks serve as the ground forces for the Reapers, because it isn’t enough to just blow the planets to bits—they have to turn members of the species into mindless monsters, killing their own kind.

~Melissa Buranen

6. Shadows (Persona Series)

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These creatures weren’t just born from the darkness, they thrive in it! The Shadows hail from the Persona series, born from humans and usually thriving on negativity and harmful emotions (slightly similar to another entry on this list, but more on that later on). They come in all manner of shapes, colors, and appearances, and some even reflect the inner turmoil of the human they come from. Each Persona game introduced more information on these strange minions, and with Persona 5 coming out next year, we will probably see some more epic looking Shadows. The anticipation of crawling through a dungeon and seeing that inky puddle crawling along the floor can get a player’s heart racing, especially since you won’t know what Shadow you are facing until you actually enter a fight. Bring your best weapons to the fight, you may just end up facing your own personal Shadow!

~Caitlin Garden

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