There can’t be many things more fun for videogame designers than dreaming up weapons. In the real world, building a 500-lb. shoulder-harnessed rocket launcher is fairly impractical, but there’s nothing stopping designers from making big-ass guns.
These are the weapons gamers can’t wait to get their hands on—even though they usually carry heavy restrictions like a limited number of uses or they have to be unlocked in some way. Of course, some are simply overpowing, game balance be damned.
While there are tons of ridiculously oversized weapons out there, these are some of our favorites.
Weapon: Cloud’s Buster Sword
Game: Final Fantasy VII
The classic oversized weapon, Cloud’s famous Buster Sword is one of the most iconic weapons from the Final Fantasy series. Passed down to him by his mentor and friend Zack, Cloud says the Buster Sword is easy to wield, despite being close to six feet long. Though it’s quickly outclassed by other equipment in the game, the Buster Sword is unique to Cloud and can’t be sold or destroyed in any way.
Weapon: Experimental MIRV
Game: Fallout 3
In Fallout 3, the largest single weapon available is the “Fat Man,” a hand held mini-nuke cannon. However, completing an unmarked quest grants players access to the National Guard Depot armory bunker in which lies the Experimental MIRV, a modified Fat Man that fires eight—yes, eight—mini-nukes at once. Though it’s extremely costly as mini-nukes are quite rare, there is a certain satisfaction to launching eight at once.
Weapon: BFG 9000
Game: Doom
Coming from the Doom videogame series, the BFG 9000 was the game’s ultimate weapon, capable of killing nearly anything in a single hit. And yeah, it stands for exactly what you think it stands for.
Weapon: Bayonetta’s hair
Game: Bayonetta
Action game Bayonetta stars Bayonetta, a gun-toting witch with the power to summon demons with her hair. As it happens, her skintight black outfit is an extension of said hair. Her demonic hair attacks often reach ridiculous proportions, filling the screen with giant black demon-hair creatures and, of course, leaving Bayonetta herself in varying states of undress.
Weapon: R.Y.N.O.
Game: Ratchet and Clank series
In a series is known for its comically large and interesting weapons, nothing beats those with the affectionate “Rip You a New One” tag. The original model would fire seven individual auto-targeting missiles that would immediately seek out and destroy enemies, and carried a high rate of fire despite its size.
Weapon: Pyramid Head’s Great Knife
Game: Silent Hill series
To date, Pyramid Head remains one of the most terrifying and disturbing videogame antagonists ever. A large masculine figure with a bloody pyramid shaped helmet, Pyramid Head drags with him a giant bloodied knife used to dismember and mangle his victims.
Weapon: Hammer of Dawn
Game: Gears of War
The Gears of War series has given us a number of ridiculous weapons, including an assault rifle with a chainsaw for a bayonet, but for sheer magnitude of power, the Hammer of Dawn takes the prize. An Imulsion-powered orbital cannon, the Hammer of Dawn is aimed using a hand held device. After forming a satellite link and a seven second targeting procedure, a massive particle beam smashes down from the sky, obliterating nearly everything it hits.
Weapon: P.R.L. 412
Game: Resident Evil 4
The Plaga Removal Laser 412 is a chargeable laser canon in Resident Evil 4 capable of harming any enemy infested with Las Plagas, the parasite responsible for many RE enemies. The laser, when fully charged, would inflict heavy, often fatal, damage to almost any enemy in the game.
Weapon: Halo
Game: Halo series
The Halo installations, the first of which played setting to the original Halo title, were giant rings floating in space designed by the Forerunners, an ancient species in the Halo universe. The structures were so massive (seriously—50,000 km in diameter) that they had their own atmosphere, climate, and distinct landmasses, oceans and all. Oh and they were designed with the sole purpose of eradicating every living organism in the galaxy.