We play video games for fun. Sometimes that fun comes from meticulously building the perfect character, min/maxing your stats, playing through the story, or playing with friends on a grand adventure.
And sometimes it's because the game just have some really fun attacks and abilities.
Here's ten of my favorites.
10: Mrofsnart (Justice League: Heroes)
Well this one's going to age me. Justice League: Heroes is an RPG featuring the titular Justice League with gameplay based on the Dark Alliance series. Among the roster of characters is one of my favorites, the magician Zatanna and one of the best attacks in the game: Mrofsnart (For those who have no idea who Zatanna is, first: READ A BOOK! and second: Read the attack backwards). The spell turns an opponent into a rabbit, reducing their attack and defense significantly for a few seconds. If you spam the attack in the middle of a swarm of enemies you will end up surrounded by harmless rabbits that your partner can tear through while you laugh yourself into hysterics. Other games have spells that turn opponents into animals, but this one has very little cooldown and eventually has a minimal cost once leveled up. Zatanna was my main throughout the game whenever I could use her.
9: Fury (Skyrim)
It's hard to pick the most fun thing to do in the legendary Skyrim, but my favorite is the illusion spell Fury. Sneak up on a group of bad guys, cast Fury on whoever has the biggest weapon, and watch the fun. The spell makes the opponent attack everyone nearby for 30 seconds, making everyone else attack him back. This is a good way to whittle down a harder encounter early on in the game, and is just fun to watch from the shadows. Pick off the remaining guys when they're done and loot the treasure.
8: Chewbacca's Melee attack (Lego Star Wars)
In A New Hope we get the famous line "Droids aren't known for pulling people's arms out of their sockets when they lose. Wookies are known to do that." Sadly, we don't get to see this in live action until Book of Boba Fett, but we did get to see Chewbacca tear through minifigures in the Lego Star Wars games. Get him close to an enemy and attack and he'll hop up and let everyone know why you let the wookie win. It's better than wielding a lightsaber.
7: Gargoyle Attack (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
While a staple of the Arkham series, Batman's stealth attack from the gargoyles were the best in the first game. In other games, Batman dives from the top of the gargoyle to snatch an unwary thug beneath, but in Asylum Batman actually hangs upside down until the enemy comes close, when he snatches them up and hangs them unconscious from his perch. It's a small thing, but it's just too funny of an image, especially in a serous game, to see Batman hanging upside down watching someone looking for him. We get his gimmick is bats, but this is just silly.
6: Reverse Pick-Pocket (Fallout 3)
Characters being able to pick-pocket isn't new in video games. It's a handy way to take what you need without having to get into combat, or in some games, to steal weapons before the fight making it easer to take the bad guy down. Fallout 3 gave us a fun new option: If while pickpocketing you put an explosive into the victim's pockets, which will explode after about three seconds. It's an incredibly mean prank to pull, and unless you're maxed in your stealth it's one you can only use maybe once per combat, but it's a fun way to start a fight.
5: Peach's Frying Pan (Super Smash Bros)
At first glance Princess Peach is a weird fit for the Smash Bros games, since she is usually a non-combatant, but in the game she brings her own weapon: A frying pan. Perform the right combo and the princess pulls out either a golf club, a tennis racket or a frying pan from the folds of her dress and hits the opponent with it. The frying pan though makes the perfect gong sound that will get you roaring with laughter immediately, making it one of the few weapons in the game that directly effect the player instead of the character. I may've spent several hours in a friends basement in high school perfecting the technique just for the gong sound.
4: Metronome (Pokemon)
Nearly ten generations after its original debut, metronome is still my favorite Pokemon move. Originally learned by Clefairy and Clefable, the attack picks a random attack and uses it, no matter how useful or useless the ability may be. You might get that perfect electric type move to take out that pesky Seaking, or you might get splash and watch your Clefairy get KO'd. Either way, it's too funny not to use.
3: HULK SMASH (Marvel Ultimate Alliance)
Hulk's not known for his tactical mind, but he does have a good idea in the Ultimate Alliance series. He picks up one minion and starts using them as a club against other minions, taking out two bad guys at once and scaring everyone who watches him. It's funny to see some HYDRA or HIVE agent attacking thinking that they can take on the Hulk only to be picked up and used as a bat against his coworkers. I wonder if Workman's Comp covers acts of Hulk...
2: Zombie Charger (Diablo 3)
Before the game was updated and added the Necromancer, the zombie lord of Diablo 3 was the Witch Doctor. His best (okay my favorite) attack is Zombie Charger. When first unlocked a zombie rises from the ground, shambles towards the enemy, and dies attacking the opponent. You can hold this attack down to send a zombie conga line at the enemy, which is terrifying in and of itself. Upgrade the spell though and instead of regular zombies you get to summon swarms of zombie bears, nasty and gooey with rot. Which would you rather face, a regular zombie or a zombie bear? Also which would make you laugh more?
1: Poke (Worms: Armageddon)
This game features dozens of weapons that are hilarious and fun to use, but the best is a little finger used to poke an opponent and nudge them just a few pixels. You can easily take out an opponent by nudging them off a tall cliff or into a pool of water. It's funny because forget shotguns or holy hand grenades, just killing someone with a single poke is the cherry on the cake for this hysterical game.
-JOE
