Enemies are a staple of just about every video game genre ever created. Whether it's an RPG, first-person shooter, platformer, or beat-em-up, players are bound to come across enemy units that need to be defeated in one way or another. Despite all the different ways that genres represent combat, all of these genres and sub-genres have all experienced the 'Turns red' gaming trope at least a handful of times.
Popularized in 2D side-scrolling platformers, the 'Turns red' trope has since spread itself across the entire video game industry, evolving with each new gaming generation. While each evolution of the 'Turns red' trope takes it further from its origin, each iteration is still immediately recognizable, with the trope having a few obvious tells.
The Turns Red Gaming Trope Explained
The 'Turns red' trope is one of the most recognizable in all of gaming. The trope refers to when an enemy changes color mid-fight, often flashing red, denoting a change in its behavior. Once the enemy starts flashing red, it'll often get more aggressive, and its speed is likely to increase, making it a little trickier for the player to try and defeat them.
While this trope can be used for any enemy character in a game, it's most often used in conjunction with boss battles, and in particular, multi-phase boss battles. Once a player has whittled down a boss' health bar, they're likely to start glowing red, and their health bar might be filled again. The boss will almost always be more aggressive during its subsequent phases, likely unleashing at least one or two new attacks that could catch an unaware player off-guard.
The Best Examples of the Turns Red Trope in Gaming
Super Mario World features one of the best examples of the 'Turns red' trope in gaming. During the game, players can encounter Wigglers. These long caterpillar creatures are usually yellow in color, with a neutral expression on their face, but when Mario stomps on one, it turns red, gains an angry expression, and starts chasing the plucky plumber at high speed. Super Mario World's final boss, the Bowser Clown Car, also follows a similar pattern where it glows red after being hit, and becomes faster and more aggressive.
In more modern games, this 'Turns red' trope isn't quite as obvious, with enemies no longer visibly glowing red. However, most games still feature this trope heavily, albeit with some visual changes. Halo 3's Brute enemies, for instance, become enraged when they take a certain amount of damage. These enemies don't glow red, but they do all repeat the same visual behavior of arching their back and screaming at the player before lunging towards them. Monster Hunter's large monstrous enemies also display this muted version of the 'Turns red' trope, entering a "rage" mode if they take enough damage where their behavior changes. Horizon Forbidden West features a few enemies that glow red and become empowered in certain situations; when he's fighting alongside Aloy, Erend can do it too.
Of course, most iterations of the 'Turns red' trope can be found across gaming's many boss fights. The Donkey Kong Country series features the 'Turns red' trope in almost every one of its boss fights, with bosses like Queen B, Kruncha, King Zing Sting, and Mugly and Thugly all glowing red after being hit, then transitioning into a more aggressive phase. The Metroid series is another franchise that sees the 'Turns red' trope appear around every corner, with Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion having multiple bosses that change color during the fight alongside their behavior.