gaming Useless or pointless power up or weapon in a video game?

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

Have you ever played a game where you encounter a pointless or useless power up or weapon? Many games have a great load of stuff to keep you powered up, entertained, or just cool to look at. However, every now and then, there's those power ups where you wonder why are they even there in the first place.

 

I would like to know what useless or pointless power up have you witnessed or encountered and why?

 

I'll give my two examples.

 

In the mario kart series, one of the power ups you get is the fake item box, which looks like an item box, but it's a trap to fool other players and get hit. The problem is that it's TOO OBVIOUS when one is fake, and if your playing online, good luck trying to fool someone with it.

 

 

In Patapon, (one of my favorite rhythm games) there's this one song you can learn from you army called the "Pon Pon Chaka Chaka" song. It's supposed to make your army stand still for the song, then when you attack or defend, you do it stronger. The problem is that if you've mastered how to get the rhythm right, you won't use it much, and if your already in FEVER mode, it's pointless.

 

  

[Scootalove 10,689]

The most useless weapon is the alien pistol in Saints Row IV, is usually overpowered but it isn't as powerful as it was in the story mode.

[Ruddboy Olaf 10,628]

The most useless weapon in a game ever,is the cane in Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde NES!

 

Sure you can kill bees with it,but it really doesn't make a difference,when you got angry townspeople,

Billy Pones,a guy with a bomb,duck hunters,barrels,and plenty of other things you can't kill.

 

[Rockymoo 2,137]

 

• The sleep copy ability from the Kirby series. This is pretty much HAL trolling us, so it's intentionally useless.

 

The Skip Sandwich in Earthbound. The idea was to make you run faster, but the thing is you still couldn't outrun enemies. So there really is no point.

 

The Mini Mushroom in the New Super Mario Bros. series. Nintendo, if you're going to think of a gimmick, at least make it a good one. It's great because the game actually DOES count it as a power-up; you can get it in item houses and it'll replace any other power-up you may have if you touch it. What makes it so bad? First of all, it's even worse than having NO power-up. You still immediately die if you get hit. On top of that, jumping on an enemy usually doesn't do anything. The idea is that you can run on water and fit in small spaces specifically designed for it, but... fucking seriously? Mario's maneuverability is completely batshit crazy too, which makes it worse.

 

[Celtore 2,770]

The Destiny Knot in the fourth generation of pokemon. Basically when a pokemon holding this item is affected by infatuation, the opponent is also infatuated. There are two problems with this item, the first being that attract is the only move that causes infatuation. The second problem is that attract isn't exactly a top fear in the competitive space. You're better off giving a pokemon a lum berry, chances are that you'll be affected by one of the 5 conditions rather than the gender dependent status.

 

Oh, and also the kicker that it doesn't even prevent your pokemon from becoming infatuated. If your opponent doesn't switch, you two are just stuck in a battle of luck to see which one of your pokemon decides to attack. All in all, a pretty crappy item if you ask me.

 

The Suporma from Earthbound. If you fund Orange Kid's inventions, you get this item. All it does for you in battle is sing a song called "ode to orange kid" and then bursts into flames. It does do a little damage, but it's pretty pointless...

Edited August 25, 2013 by Celtore

[Radiance64 7,053]

I find the Sword & Shield in Monster Hunter to be pretty useless, but that's just personally, I know it can be good for status and stuff though, but it's not really great at anything, I like using pretty much any Blademaster weapon but that one.

Some Pokemon are doomed for uselessness, most can be useful if used right but some are doomed for uselessness forever like Farfetch'd.

The Fire Flower power up in most Mario games is usually pretty useless compared to alternatives like capes and Tanooki Suits, but it's at least used well in the Mario Galaxy games, albeit on a timer.

The mine thrower in Resident Evil 4 doesn't get enough ammo drops to be useful, which would be a problem for magnums as well if they didn't do such massive damage to bosses.

Handguns should never be used in Resident Evil Revelations Raid Mode, like ever.

The Spinner in Zelda Twilight Princess was so seldom used I don't even know why it was in the game, was good for a fun boss fight though.

[Mutemutt 773]

Okay, the chainsaw pick-up in Prinny 2: Dawn of Operation Panties, Dood. When you're using the standard hero prinny, the chainsaw does 3 times as much damage as a normal sword attack and it does the attacks automatically. So, why is it a pointless power up? Well, if you're a hardcore masher (which you'll need to be if you want to get through the latter stages of this game) you can outdo the damage delivered by the chainsaw and still have the option of using the long range projectile attack, prinny barrage, which doesn't work with the chainsaw (I think you still get the slashing in the air but no projectiles come out). To make matters worse, you're stuck with the thing until you clear or exit the stage (or pick up the cat or guitar as prinny Asagi). Oh, and pretty much all of prinny Asagi's weapons are more useful than the chainsaw except maybe the eggplant.

Edited August 25, 2013 by MuteMutt

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

The flamethrower in Dead Space 2 is as useless as useless weapons get. I don't think it could kill something if you spent all day trying, it is an incredibly weak and pointless weapon. I don't think it's hot enough to toast bread. I think it's flames must be cactusdamned lukewarm or something because not a damn thing can be killed by it.

Edited August 25, 2013 by Jacob Danik

[FabulousJeremy 48]

The dagger in Super Castlevania IV.  Items in general are very, very circumstantial since your whip is so awesome.  When your whip is way better with damage and speed and it still has a very practical range, why even bother using the dagger?

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

The P90(or whatever they call it in that the game) from The Punisher, it does very little damage per shot and and is horribly inaccurate(you can actually seen the bullets scattering like buckshot, that's how bad it is).

 

The M60 is a runner up(it does decent damage but has a near-uncontrollable rate of fire and your can't using the zoomed in "pin-point" aiming mode with it due to having to be fired from the hip.

 

The flamethrower as well, it's range is so short you're likely to catch yourself on fire as well.    

Edited August 26, 2013 by Shoboni

[TheSupremeLeaderOfChaos 1,206]

The entire combat system in Rule of Rose is useless. The story in that game is amazing, but man, that combat system is horrid. It's so hard to maneuver and just seems like a waste of time. Thankfully the story is really cool.

[Sapphire Quill 1,186]

Well, Since the thread title includes the words "Power Up" I'd Say that Pokemon Moves by leveling Up counts as one per say? Then Mud Sport or Water Sport. Both Just useless moves, I mean, no one would use them and well earning them by leveling up some pokemon is just a waste of a move spot.

[caramba2654 602]

 

• The Skip Sandwich in Earthbound. The idea was to make you run faster, but the thing is you still couldn't outrun enemies. So there really is no point.

 

I always thought the Casey Bat was useless. It had the highest attack ratio, but missed 3/4 of the time. I always dropped it when I defeated the weird puke pile that I always forget the name.

[~Silver Essence~ 2,625]

 

 

I find the Sword & Shield in Monster Hunter to be pretty useless

 

That is true for me as well.

 

It's not the worst, but if your going alone with this weapon, I'd recommend choosing something else like the switch axe.

 

Also, glad to meet anohter monster hunter fan.

[QuirkyUsername 1,576]

Useless weapon? The frying pan in Fable 1, designed to be or not a weapon that does 0 damage doesn't belong in video games -_- Novelty weapons are the worst.

The BB gun in New Vegas was awful, Fallout 3 at least it had tutorial purposes but New Vegas I don't understand why it's even a thing

[Prince Doopliss 2,351]

Sheild weapons from Megaman series. Mini-mushroom from New Super Mario Bros., yeah it can help you shorten the game, but that is it. Banana peels from Mario Kart. Also the Blooper from Mario Kart. Sing by Edward in FF IV (I know more of ability) and heck his weapon being a harp just sucks. Hmmm that is all I can think of....

[Thrashy 2,800]

I feel the Magic Rod in the Legend of Zelda was pretty useless whether or not you had the Magic Book. It always seemed like more of a novelty item to me than a viable weapon. And speaking of Zelda, I deem plenty of the masks in Majora's Mask to be useless, but by far one of the dumbest is the Postman's Hat. Literally, all it's good for is getting a heart piece out of a postbox. That's. About. It.

 

Just about any of the shield weapons from the Mega Man series, they just suck all around. Especially the Plant Barrier and Skull Barrier. As laughable as the Leaf Shield was, at least you could throw that one...

 

Then there's the stop watch from Castlevania. Pretty pointless since it doesn't stop time for nearly long enough to make up for the amount of hearts you blow on it. Not to mention it doesn't work against bosses, anyway.

 

There's the Excalipoor from the Final Fantasy series that only ever deals 1 damage point. Although I suppose it can have a legitimate use for harmlessly subduing allies afflicted with confusion or sleep statuses.

 

Oh yeah, and last but not least, the kitchen knife in the first Silent Hill game. I'd honestly feel safer defending myself with a damn pool noodle.

[Vertigo_95 572]

Most of the shield weapons are bad to me, but the weapon I find the absolute worst from Megaman is the Power Stone from Megaman 5 just because of the way the shot spreads out. 

[Commissar Alexer 763]

Oh man, there are many useless powers, wepaons and other stuff. And honestly, i don't really remember them all. Often weapons with too rare ammo, powers and abilities who cost too much or take to long to use and in RPG there are even some completely useless class too.

[GrauWitz 1,010]

In Battlefield 3, there's the Type 88 LMG and the LSAT. Both are very inaccurate and have slow rates of fire and low damage. They don't do ANYTHING special, they're just bad at every situation. And there's the EOD Bot which is a horrible gadget, its impossible to control and the driving physics on it are non-existent.

 

In Black Ops 2 Zombies, there's the War Machine. It used to be the noobtube of death in Zombies, but Treyarch nerfed it to hell and now it fires HAND GRENADES that dont explode on impact.

 

In Sniper Elite V2, there's the SMG you start with, the Thompson. Its a good SMG, but there's one huge problem with it. There is no ammo for the Thompson laying around ANYWHERE. So its borderline useless if you use all 60 bullets since you cant get ammo for it.

[Zygen 6,066]

Hm.

 

Well the blooper in Mario kart for DS is useless, because you can see everything fine on the bottom screen, Atleast on wii it does a little tiny bit...

 

Any water sport of mud sport move from pokemon. Better off raising your defenses or something then protecting yourself from only 1 type of damage.

 

Sleep Kirby, it's basically an obstacle more then a power up.

 

Can't think of anymore right now really.

[Jokuc 8,174]

 

 

Well the blooper in Mario kart for DS is useless, because you can see everything fine on the bottom screen, Atleast on wii it does a little tiny bit...

 

 

Haha I was actually going to say this myself. But I disagree with OP about the mario kart fake box, I mean it's pretty camouflaged once you put it with other boxes

 

Oh and splash in pokémon.

 

lol I mean, I LOVE how they have "splash" as an attack. It's hilarious. But as said, useless.

[Zygen 6,066]

 

 

Haha I was actually going to say this myself. But I disagree with OP about the mario kart fake box, I mean it's pretty camouflaged once you put it with other boxes

 

Oh and splash in pokémon.

 

lol I mean, I LOVE how they have "splash" as an attack. It's hilarious. But as said, useless.

Yeah either I'm an idiot or fake boxes are not that useless.

 

Plus I mean Atleast they can serve like bannans do.

 

Or you can place them inside other item boxes .

 

I don't consider them useless either though.

 

Splash is best move btw, every Pokemon master knows that.

[Nerdy Luigi 2,065]

Boston Basher from TF2?

If you miss, YOU HIT YOURSELF.

The only compensation is extra bleed damage, and even then that actually in a way works against the user.

[Flutter's lover <3 8,206]

The "eavsdrop" perk in one of the older Call Of Duties.....most useless thing ever.

 

The perk allowed you to "listen" to the enemy player's voice. 50% of people don't' talk and 40% are in party chats. the other 10% are just random kids trash talking.