From conventional weapons like guns and such to more imaginative and downright spectacular tools of destruction, weapons are one of the prime reasons we even play games at all. Anyone can use a gun, laser or sword to fight their way through levels and bosses, but some tools of destruction stand out from the rest.
10. Master Sword
Game: Legend of the Zelda Series
How often do you encounter a weapon that will seal your spirit away until you’re worthy of using its incredible power? That’s right, Link in Ocarina of Time had to take a seven-year siesta (and get his left ear pierced?) before he could wield the Blade of Evil’s Bane and rescue a Ganon-controlled Hyrule. Appearing in almost every Zelda game, the Master Sword has aided Link across countless monster-slaying, dungeon-conquering, Ganon-butt-kicking adventures. Let’s not forget that Zelda fans will finally get to discover more details about the creation of the most recognized blades in gaming in the upcoming Wii title The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword!
9. BFG 9000
Game: Doom Series
Yeah, yeah, you called this one from a mile away. It’s not like the BFG 9000 can be excluded from the list because of predictability. This big freakin’ gun floats a massive green orb towards enemies and, on impact, spreads to any poor sap nearby. Don’t bother fighting a room full of Cacodemons without it.
8. Morph-O-Ray
Game: Ratchet & Clank
This weapon turns your enemy into a chicken. Comedic value aside, think of the implications. It’s one thing to be dead, but becoming a barnyard animal is so much crueler. Everything you love and lived for becomes a distant memory as you strut about, clucking and laying eggs. This is what anti-game pundits should really be worrying about.
7. Lightsaber
Game: Star Wars Series
The Lightsaber that LucasArts implemented in the first Jedi Knight really changed the way the game was played. All of a sudden, incoming blaster fire from the game’s many gun-toting baddies was not a problem. Kyle would just automatically reflect the shots right back to their rightful owners – as long as you weren’t in the middle of a big swing, that is. The mechanics were refined greatly in the sequels by Raven Software, but the first time you pick it up – the first time you really got to handle a Lightsaber – in what was then a “modern” PC action game, it was a treat. And then when we first heard about the Force Unleashed‘s black lightsaber we imagined a weapon with infinite power. After all, what type of magical crystal creates paradoxical dark light? To say the least, we were a little disappointed to learn the black lightsaber’s powered by just another average crystal. But, hey, the saber sure looks menacing. The aesthetic alone makes this weapon of the force list worthy.
6. Shrink Ray
Game: Duke Nukem 3D
You’d think that a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-type gun wouldn’t ever make it into this countdown, but it’s the sheer badass-ity of Duke Nukem that makes this weapon what it is. If you can tag your enemy with this thing, it sends them to miniature size, causing them to run around hilariously little. Get close, and Duke will look down and squash him with his boot. There’s nothing on this countdown quite like the Shrink Ray, and while we’ve seen weapons somewhat like this more than a couple of times, Duke most certainly does it the best.
5. Railgun
Game: Quake 2
Back when men were men and sniper weapons always fired into the exact middle of the screen, the Railgun was the ultimate skill-based player’s dream. Quake 2 added much-needed depth to the first person shooter genre with trick moves and ways to accelerate movement (which were all accidental additions that weren’t originally intended). But there’s nothing like being in the middle of a 50-mile-an-hour dive for the Red Armor when that spiral trail suddenly appears in the air and you turn into a heap of bloody chunks. Well, it’s even better when you’re delivering the hot death. Any way you look at it, this gun came before all that goofy “cone of fire” stuff with crosshairs that lurch and weave like a first-time drunk kid at a LAN party. Wherever you put the crosshair was exactly where the particle trail would go. It was glorious.
4. Thunder Fury
Game: World of Warcraft
Few weapons in World of Warcraft are certifiably better than the game’s Epic items (the ones with the purple text). The best of which has gotten into more than just a few players’ hands is Thunderfury, a Legendary weapon (using orange text on its items stats). Thunderfury started out ridiculously powerful, and even after getting toned down a lot by Blizzard, remained for quite a while as one of the best single items in the game. Even after The Burning Crusade was released and people started plowing through the content, the Thunderfury was still in the hands of any top-level Warrior. It wasn’t until Blizzard came in again and specifically had to “nerf” the Thunderfury again that players begrudgingly put it away in their banks and start working on picking up new swords.
3. Portal Gun
Game: Portal
In Portal, the player controls the protagonist, Chell, from a first-person perspective as she is challenged to navigate through a series of rooms using the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device (portal gun or ASHPD). The portal gun can create two distinct portal ends, orange and blue. The portals create a visual and physical connection between two different locations in three-dimensional space. Neither end is specifically an entrance or exit; all objects that travel through one portal will exit through the other. Only one on the list this is a weapon though but not of destruction and way too cool.
2. Cerebral Bore
Game: Turok 2
The Turok games were always a little bit of a joke, but they always had the most awesome weaponry. Back when we were still firing our goofy rockets and railguns, Turok was blowing up whole sections of levels with massive explosions that filled the screen and more. But it was the second game’s Cerebral Bore that really got our attention. Just home it in on an enemy’s head and fire, and the tiny projectile would burrow into an enemy’s skull and start drilling. Not more than a few seconds later, the head explodes in a shower of blood. Few gamers had seen this level of gore and violence on the Nintendo 64, and not many games have topped it since.
1. Gravity Gun
Game: Half-Life 2
The Gravity Gun is on this list for a very good reason; it turned everything around you into a weapon! Being able to wield almost every object and piece of debris you came across as a killing tool opened up a ton of different ways to take out your enemies, resulting in endless joy as you used rotary blades, explosive barrels, and even washing machines to put the hurt on the bad guys. Not only did it serve to satisfy our undeniable love of throwing things at other things, it also allowed for some of the most creative physics-based puzzles in gaming. In a time when all first-person shooters had nothing but your generic pistols, shotguns, and rocket launcher, Valve gave us a unique, game-changing weapon that allowed us to tap into our creativity and kill enemies in ways we never had before. From dropping heavy objects on unsuspecting enemies to using a toilet seat to block incoming bullets, the Gravity Gun rightfully earns our spot as the coolest weapon in gaming history.