Videogame weapons, whether they’re completely realistic and true to their real life counterparts or bizarre future alien technology, they can really make a game. This list isn’t about the best weapon, the most impressive, the most visceral or bad-ass weapon. No this is about weapons that define the game, the weapons that pop into your head at the very mention of the game. In many ways I’ve limited myself, while Turok 2’s Cerebral Bore is a lot of fun is it iconic? Honestly to me it’s just a green mass of gibbed lizard creatures when I think about Turok, so it’s not in the list.

 

As long as this list is (and it was originally going to be a lot shorter) there are still a couple that just didn’t make the cut the runners up are;

 

As with my previous lists I’ve only included games I’ve played and without further ado the most iconic weapons in video-games are:

 

 

 

The Poltergust 3000, okay it’s a vacuum cleaner but it’s also a parody of the Ghostbusters’ proton pack. It isn’t very cool and despite it intentionally trying to be a funny weapon it doesn’t make it that much of a laugh. The weapon sums up the game Luigi’s Mansion quite nicely; funny for a little while, looks a bit stupid and it ultimately it sucks.

 

 

Okay I was a little harsh Luigi’s Mansion was good fun but was a massive disappointed on launch day. For more viewing see the end of Luigi’s Mansion as it shows the vacuum cleaner does have quite a punch to it.

 

 

 

 

Dead Rising has a lot of brilliant weapons, the chainsaw comes to mind and the upcoming Dead Rising two allows you to combine weapons together so you’ll be able to attach two chainsaws on a broom and go Darth Maul on the zombies. I however think the lawnmower is the thing that sticks into the minds of gamers that have played Dead Rising; mainly because it’s found pretty early on and most people turn off the game by the second day. You use it exactly as you think, simply run over a zombie and the extremely unsafe lawnmower will chop them up into fine shreds. Over the top gore, very funny, but breaks down after too much use; pretty much the game right there.

 

 

I guarantee everybody who has played this game has done this and then had to endure the disappointment when you realised it broke. See its slightly less impressive Wii counterpart for more viewing, while it does have fewer zombies the plus side is it does have a poodle.

 

 

 

 

When we first see Dante he’s carrying around some rubbish sword, I think, I vaguely remember it unlike the weapon he gets next...which is kinda the point of this list. So Dante dies, another thing that I didn’t really notice, and Death turns up to take his soul to hell. Most people at this point would have said fair dos and went with him or challenged him to a game of chess, not old Dante though. Dante decides to beat the living err, dead, hell out of Death and steal his scythe. In fact it was rather easy and makes you wonder why nobody else has tried it before. The scythe is rather special too, with the magical ability to change its blade shape to just the right angle without much input from Dante himself.

 

 

See very impressive and it certainly puts to shame all the other incarnations of Death’s Scythe. For more viewing why not see how he gets the scythe in the first place. Oh so that’s how he dies, I remember now.

 

 

 

 

The Hammer in Red Fraction: Guerrilla is probably the only weapon you’ll ever need. It’ll destroy buildings, cars and people with equal proficiently. Available from the get-go this impossibly hard weapon will be your bosom buddy throughout the game. I can’t help but think it’s a bit too engineered as it’s placed on the cover of the game and features prominently in logos but it certainly brings the game to mind.

 

 

Okay so this guy a bit of a psychopath, but give a man an indestructible hammer and this kind of thing is bound to happen. For more viewing check out the opening of the game to see how Alex gets his hammer and some proper usage later.

 

 

 

 

The Camera Obscura is the only weapon in the Fatal Frame series (yes okay, there was a flashlight in a Wii game) so instead of sucking up ghosts, or shooting them the game had you looking down the lens, in a desperate attempt to capture the ghosts on film. Not only would these images end up on ‘Most Haunted’ TV shows but they also damaged ghosts and stopped them from attacking you. Switching to first person with limited view also added a lot to the general feel of the game.

 

 

So that gives a little history on the camera but fails to really show why it’s such an important part of the game; for that check out this clip from Justin TV, this guy is well known for screaming at scary things and this is no different, just turn down the volume.

 

 

 

 

Universally loved and hated, it just depends on who’s got it. The Red Turtle Shell embodies Mario Kart, it’s pretty wacky as a weapon, it’s easy to use; but only a master knows how to utilise it correctly, and above all its fun. Send off one of these bad boys in an opponent’s general direction and they’re in for a world of hurt; as it homes onto them and knocks them off course. Out of all the weapons for the game this is the one that’ll pop up time and time again.

 

 

Frankly I don’t need to be here after that video but for more viewing check out a hack for infinite red shells and then wonder how he still manages to lose.

 

 

 

 

There aren’t many weapons that get a game named after them (although there is another on this list, also with Soul in the title) but Soul Edge is one of them. Sure the series changed its name to the more recognisable Soul Calibur but its, heh, soul remains. So the Soul Edge is an ancient sword that has bathed in the blood of so many fallen warriors that it’s gradually gained sentience, it is by human standards evil. Yet it holds within it an awesome power, despite the fact that the sword will attempt to devour its holder, men still covet it.

 

 

I don’t know about you but if any sword starts talking to be and enticing me to pick it up, I’m not going to. I should probably also mention that the sword transforms itself depending on the person holding it but it also transforms the holder. To see what happens to that unlucky person check out the next link.

 

 

 

 

How can we do a list of iconic weapons without mentioning Cloud’s Buster Sword? To start things rolling the sword is bigger than the actual person holding it! How the hell does somebody swing that thing and managed to do any damage to anything other than his own back? Cloud’s sword marks the beginning (in my mind) when swords and guns started to mix and no matter how stupid it was to attack a group of guys armed with guns with a sword, Cloud managed it, and managed it with style. Another weapon that features prominently on the box-art and a favourite of cosplayers everywhere.

 

 

See just how big that sword is...and how skinny cloud is, how is that even possible? For more viewing behold an impressive display of swordsmanship/acrobatics, and yes I know I’m cheating slightly, because it’s not the same sword but it does looks similar.