The most iconic video game weapons of all time

Games can be defined by their heroes, villains, settings, or even weapons. Especially in long-running series, oftentimes it isn’t a single character that becomes the face of the games, but a weapon that persists throughout. Other times, a weapon can be so unique in function or design that it only needs one appearance to make its mark in gaming history. Since weapons are so fundamental in most games, competition is stiff. A weapon needs to look cool, but also be fun to use. These iconic weapons check all the boxes and are so recognizable that even those who never played the game they’re from will recognize them.

Master Sword

We have a lot of swords to talk about, so we might as well start with the one we’ve been fighting evil with the longest. The Master Sword has aided many incarnations of Link in defeating any threats to Hyrule for generations (literally and in-game). It isn’t in every single Zelda game, but tends to be a core component of the best ones. The design changes slightly each time we get our hands on it, but the long silver blade and purple grip make it instantly recognizable.

Buster Sword

It’s a little odd to attribute the popularity of Cloud’s Buster Sword to the game when it was very heavily inspired by Guts’ sword from Berserk. Since that was a manga, however, most gamers associate the massive slab of metal with Cloud’s default sword. Making a sword so big that it is no doubt heavier than its wielder is certainly one way to draw attention to it, but the beautiful simplicity of a massive sword just looks so good. It makes even less sense in Remake and Rebirth, but that’s part of why we love it.

Keyblade

Using a key as a sword? It sounds dumb, and it is if you think about it too much, but the Keyblade has defined the Kingdom Hearts games. What makes this weapon so impressive is that it can take on so many different forms and designs, but you never confuse it for anything but a Keyblade. Plus, who wouldn’t want their sword to also be able to open any