USgamer Community Question: What's Your All-Time Favorite Video Game Weapon?

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How many video game enemies have you vanquished over the years? Tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Perhaps even more than a million? And what did you use to send your foes to the great video game graveyard in the skies? Guns? Lasers? Melee weapons? Magic? Good old fashioned fists and kicks?

What we want to know is, out of all the weapons you've ever wielded in a video game, which one do you love the most? Whether it's a BFG or a fighting game character's killer combo, we want to hear which offensive weapon is your all-time favorite.

Jeremy Parish, Editor-in-Chief

I want to name the Universe Enema as my favorite, because seriously, that name! But the truth is I've never played much of the game it appeared in (Skullmonkeys for PlayStation), and I don't think I can make up 300 words' worth of text about a weapon I know strictly by name.

So instead I'll be boring and practical and go with Halo's battle rifle, probably my favorite weapon in any first-person shooter. It's not the flashiest or most powerful weapon you'll ever find in an FPS, but what it lacks in pizzaz it more than makes up for with its +5 bonus to precision play. I tend to play keep-away in action games, avoiding melee and short-ranged combat whenever possible, and the BR fits perfectly into that strategic approach. It fires in short bursts with remarkable accuracy, which makes it terrible for in-close combat. But, you know, in Halo I have Master Chief's skull-cracking melee strike for when the situation gets hairy. Used correctly, the Battle Rifle means it never really gets to that point.

While it lacks the indiscriminate spray-and-pray stopping power of a shotgun or assault rifle, the BR can be even deadlier if you take the time to aim. It's somewhere between the classic pistol and go-to sniper rifle in terms of range, precision, and power. Facing a mob of low-end Grunts? Headshots. Up against dogged Elites? Multiple headshots, maybe mixed with a grenade to soften them up. Dealing with the Flood? The BR is great against the little scuttling ones and can pop the big guys in their vulnerable spots. There's really nothing the BR can't do if you hang back and line up your targets. And since I'm basically a giant coward when it comes to playing FPSes, that suits me just fine.

I just wish it had a name as descriptive as "Universe Enema."

Jaz Rignall, Editor-at-Large

I have so many favorite weapon candidates, it's almost overwhelming, but the thing that ensures Benediction/Anathema sits atop my list is simply the effort required to get it, and how phenomenally cool it was back then - and indeed now

It's basically a first edition World of Warcraft Priest-only weapon whose acquisition required players to complete a series of sprawling, challenging quests, and win a rare drop from a difficult 40-person raid.

In those early days of WoW, before players geared up with armor that smoked, glowed or was animated in some weird and wonderful way, Benediction/Anathema's brilliant mist effect and cascade of dripping sparks was a huge attention-grabber wherever you went. I discovered this when, after a huge amount of effort, I earned myself the staff with two names. Wherever I went, people would ask me about it. They'd also ask me why did it have two names? That's because it's actually two staves in one: the golden glowing Benediction is for Healing Priests; clicking on it turns it into Benediction, a sinister-looking, purple smoking Shadow Priest staff.

I've been playing WoW for a decade, and it's still the item I feel proudest about earning. It really was tough acquiring it, and the feeling of accomplishment when I turned in that last quest is up there amongst my most favorite ever video game moments.

The sad thing for me is that I accidently deleted the weapon some years ago, and I can't recover it. Not sure why, because I am surely flagged as completing the quest, but for some reason Blizzard hasn't put a recovery option into the game for that specific item. I can recover many other items I've deleted over the years - but not Benediction/Anathema. A shame, because I'd love to be able to transmogrify it as part of my current look. Not only is it visually distinctive, it's also a great way to show just how old my character is.

Mike Williams, Associate Editor

All of these swords and guns. Such limited scope. Where is your thirst for real power, my compatriots? I choose to go further. I choose a real weapon.

Let us look at the dictionary definition of weapon: "anything used against an opponent, adversary, or victim." Wouldn't you call an item that instills fear in man, woman, and child a weapon? An device that consumes everything in it's path, without regard to their status as animate or inanimate object? A weapon that grows stronger as you use it? A construct whose output can replace the stars themselves?

I'd call it a weapon. Such is the Katamari.

When I pondered this question to myself, staring out at the teeming masses below, I too chose baubles and trinkets like Assassin's Creed's Hidden Blade, Metal Gear, Turok 2's Cerebral Bore, Symphony of the Night's Crissaegrim, or Red Faction: Armageddon's Nano-Forge. But in the end, I asked myself, "what is true power?" Is it not a weapon that even the great weapons in this article cannot stand against? It was then that I understood the truth. It was then that I realized that the Katamari is one of the most powerful video game weapons… ever.

Kat Bailey, Senior Editor

I'll just go ahead and pick probably the most famous weapon in video game history: the Master Sword from The Legend of Zelda.

The Master Sword is an immediately recognizable symbol of gaming, as iconic as Mario's hat or Master Chief's armor. The sharp blade and the familiar blue handle contribute to a design that's cool without being cartoony, and is immediately distinguishable from other video game weapons.

Over time, the Master Sword has become almost a character unto itself. It has a title ("The Blade of Evil's Bane"), a personality (it's inhabited by the spirit Fi), and a home (the Lost Woods). Its origin story is told in Skyward Sword, where its bathed in the power of the gods and used to vanquish a spirit called Demise. In many ways the Master Sword is as integral to the mythology of The Legend of Zelda as Link, Zelda, or Ganon.

As a longtime fan of the series, I appreciate the Master Sword's iconic design, its ability to vanquish foes with a blast of energy when at full power, and the way it symbolizes the transformation of each variation of Link into a full-blooded warrior. There may be better video game weapons out there, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. In my mind, the Blade of Evil's Bane is tops.

Bob Mackey, Senior Writer

Devil May Cry is known for being over-the-top, but 2005's Dante's Awakening nearly broke the "crazy bullshit" meter.

Though the game released directly in the middle of the '00s, it had a distinctly '90s sense of hyper-machismo that makes Duke Nukem 3D look like a game of Spider Solitaire. Devil May Cry never lets you know if you're supposed to read its more ridiculous content as legitimately "cool," but that's what makes the series so fun--just like any of the good-bad movie greats, Capcom created a comedy without knowing it.

Devil May Cry 3's adventures in inventive weirdness hit a peak when Dante picks up one of the many weapons available to him throughout the course of the game: the "Nevan." Now, if I told you DMC3 had a weapon that took the form of an electric guitar that transformed into a scythe and also fired bats, you might wonder why we didn't just end video games forever at this moment, seeing as nothing could ever top it. Well, it happened, and here's some video proof. Take note of the stage pyrotechnics and cheering audience Dante seemingly summons from nowhere. (I'll understand if you mute the nu metal.)

So why did I choose this weapon above all others? Well, when I received this assignment, the words "electric bat-firing scythe guitar" entered my mind immediately, and don't think they'll leave until I play a little more Devil May Cry 3 again.

Out of all the video game weapons I've used, Nevan represents one of the dumbest possible ideas executed perfectly.