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Dodgers[1] are a rare special type of enemy encountered in Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number. As their names suggest, they are enemies capable of dodging projectiles, whether these would be bullets, thrown items or even both. The player can only kill them using melee weapons, basically being the opposite of a Thug.

When it comes to unique abilities however, they often differentiate between enemy factions. Dodgers are only ever found in the Gang, Colombian, Russian Military and Prisoner factions. Although rare, dodgers are much more common in Hard Mode. For unknown reasons, there is no Russian Mafia dodger present in the game. Even on Richter's two levels featuring dodgers in hard mode where he mostly fights Russian mobsters, First Blood and Demolition, Colombian Dodgers are used instead, indicating a previous alliance between the two factions before they went to war two years later. It is also worth noting that there is no police dodger variant in the game either.

Dodgers will stand completely still until they are alerted by the player.

Enemy Types[]

Gang Dodger: The gang variant of the dodger. Unlike regular gang members, they wear ski masks. These enemies wield chainsaws and share the same abilities as Colombian dodgers, despite their different appearance and choice of weapons. Gang Dodgers will wait in a single spot and idly wait for the player.

Upon being triggered by either the sound of gunfire or spotting the player, they will charge after the player in an attempt to kill them. They will often head straight back to their position if the player is out of sight or travels too far away from them. Gang dodgers cannot be hurt or killed via punches (attempting to punch them will result in death) unless the player is playing as Tony, and cannot be hurt by bullets or thrown weapons (as they will dodge these immediately). However, they can only be killed with a single swing of a melee weapon. Gang dodgers might also slowly walk near the players vicinity and idle if they have seen you.

Gang dodgers are only ever encountered in Hard Mode, and only appear in Down Under and Subway.

Soldier Dodger: The Russian Military variant of the dodger. These enemies dual-wield 9mm pistols. Like Gang Dodgers or Colombian Dodgers, these enemies wait for the player in a single spot and are attracted by gunfire or upon spotting the player and will chase after the player. However, they will rapidly shoot at the player upon sight, rather than charging up to them and killing them with melee. They can dodge bullets and even flames from the Flamethrower. They can only be killed with Beard's combat knife. If they are somehow inserted into a non-Beard level in the Level Editor, they will dodge thrown weapons, and cannot be hurt or killed by punches, unless the player is controlling Tony, The Son using his Dirty Hands technique, or Jake when wearing the Dallas mask.

Soldier dodgers are only ever encountered in Hard Mode, and only appear in Ambush. This makes them one of the rarest enemies in the entire game, not counting bosses or unique single enemies like the gang leader.

Colombian Dodger: The Colombian variant of the dodger. These enemies wield katanas and share the same abilities as gang dodgers. Colombian dodgers will wait in a single spot and idly wait for the player.

Upon being triggered by either the sound of gunfire or spotting the player, they will charge after the player in an attempt to kill them. They will often head straight back to their position if the player is out of sight or travels too far away from them. Colombian dodgers cannot be hurt or killed via punches if Dirty Hands aren't equipped (attempting to punch them will result in death), bullets or thrown melee weapons (as they will dodge these immediately). However, they can be killed within a single swing of a melee weapon.

Colombian dodgers only appear in Take Over in Normal Mode. In Hard Mode however, Colombian Dodgers appear in Dead Ahead, First Blood, Demolition, Seizure and Take Over.

Psycho[2]: The Prisoner variant of the dodger. These enemies feature traits that are entirely unique to the rest of the other dodger enemies. Psychos are the only variant that remain unarmed and attack with their bare hands. They are also the only variant to have different idle behaviors, such as clinging to walls or windows, or crouching over the dead bodies of Security Guards and possibly even cannibalizing them due to blood splatter on their faces and said dead Security Guards being heavily mutilated and gutted.

Psychos are never attracted by the sounds of gunfire. Upon seeing the player, Psychos will charge directly at the player at incredible speeds (similar to Dogs -- a Psycho can bizarrely actually be seen being petted by another prisoner during the Prison Boss fight) and will try to kill the player by tackling the player and bashing his head repeatedly into the ground. Psychos can dodge bullets (albeit at a slower pace compared to other variants of dodgers), but they cannot dodge thrown items and can be knocked down with either punches or thrown weapons. Attacking these enemies with melee will also finish them off easily.

Interestingly enough, if a knocked down psycho is not finished off and simply gets up again, they will revert back to regular enemies. Psychos are the only variant of a dodger that does this, as well as the only variant of dodger than can be executed for that matter. They are also the only variant of a dodger that can be hurt with punches or thrown weapons.

Psychos only appear in Release, but can be placed in custom levels for Richter in the level editor.

Trivia[]

  • Dodgers were originally supposed to be in the first Hotline Miami game, but were cut due to lack of time.
    • It's possible due to the SWAT's unusual uniform in Crackdown, that they were originally intended as the Police Dodger.
  • It is unknown as to why the Russian Mafia have Colombian dodgers in their 1989 levels instead of their own variant. However, it could be due to an alliance the two factions had before they went to war two years later in 1991 under the leadership of The Son.
  • The Prison dodgers are the only dodgers that can be knocked down and executed.
  • There used to be a bug in which Colombian dodgers might sometimes move while ducking.
  • There are unused sprites of dodgers being stunned in the game files similar to the Pig Butcher when being punched. It is possible punching them previously only stunned them for a short time before this was changed in the final version of the game.

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. They are named "Dodgers" in the Level Editor.
  2. Also known as Prison Dodgers. However, the animation sprites for Prison Dodgers are labelled "Psychos" in the Level Editor.
Enemies in Hotline Miami
Normal Enemies Russian Mobster · Policeman · Phone Hom Worker · Teenager · Gang Member · Soviet Soldier · Colombian Mobster · Security Guard · Prisoner · Hallucinatory Demon
Special Enemies Dog · Thug · Waiter · SWAT · Doctor · Inspector · Dodger
Bosses Producer · Biker · Van Driver · Police Chief · Panther · The Bodyguard · The Father · Jacket · SWAT Chief · Gang Leader · Prison Boss · Mark · Corey · Tony · Alex · Ash
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