The 50 Most Awesome Super Powers in Video Games

Comics coined the pop-culture definition of super powers but video games have put the power in your hands.

Manipulating space and time? Summoning demons at will? Generating an energy shield out of enemies' souls? Gamers have gotten the chance kick the tires on all of these. Hopefully comics and video games continue pushing one another to come up with even better, more innovative ways to defend, or destroy, the universe, but The 50 Most Awesome Super Powers in Video Games and tell us where yours sits.

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Character: Aquaman
Game: Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis (2003)

This deservedly maligned GameCube title almost ruined Aquaman for a generation of DC fans. Sporting his rugged underwater biker look from the early '90s, Aquaman looks less like the king of Atlantis and more like a rough trade trick looking for a john. Outfit aside, Aquaman has one of the most underused power-sets in all of the DC Universe, the telepathic manipulation of sea creatures, which is quite impressive when you think about how much of this planet is under water. It makes up for his fishy fashion choices. Almost.

Character: Spider-Man
Game: Every Spider-Man title (1982-present)

At this point, Spider-Man has made appearances on more than 15 platforms over the course of 30 years. The guy's got more staying power than the clap. That might have something to do with the "everyman" relatability of Peter Parker. More likely, it's his superhuman strength, speed, agility, spider-sense, and web-slinging that have given him his stayin power.

Character: Raz
Game: Psychonauts (2005)

Despite selling poorly, Psychonauts has gone on to become a cult classic. Learning how to harness his nascent psychic abilities, then master his powers, Raz enters the minds of characters he meets. It's like summer camp, but for people with prescriptions to massive doses of Lithium.

Character: Earthworm Jim
Game: Earthworm Jim (1994)

Being an earthworm in the food chain has got to be rough. Fish, birds, middle-school science students—the list of things that want to eat/dissect you is nearly endless. You know what helps with that? A super suit falling from space and transforming you into an intergalactic badass with humanoid limbs that can hold guns and blast the hell out of adversaries. That might do it. Yes, that will do just fine.

Character: Jackie Estacado
Game: The Darkness (2007)

Bummer you got your super powers when your dad conceived you and passed one of the most evil and primal forces in the galaxy on to you. On the plus side, your new powers grant you the ability to manifest anything you can imagine out of pure evil. See it's not so bad. Oh, dad also died in the process. Enjoy being the avatar for Satan's seed!

Character: Kain
Game: The Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver (1999)

Chief among the vampire lieutenants of Nosgoth, Raziel had a pretty cush life—until his boss tore his wings off and threw him into an abyss to burn forever. Granted, he did come out the other side with the ability to glide, consume the souls of his enemies for sustenance, and shift between the physical and spiritual realms, never really "dying." Totally screwed that one up, like a boss.

Character: Sparrow
Game: Fable 2 (2008)

During adult Sparrow's journey, he's not able to pop the trunk on his foes as if he would do in present day. That's why he's been given the power to call on his brothers that ain't here. "Raise Dead" wakes up the departed to join in on Sparrow's fight and give him the back up he needs. Eventually, they go back to their eternal slumber so any money looted from enemies never has to get split with anyone.

Character: Dante
Game: Devil May Cry (2001)

Initially you'd think Dante's super power would be his Tokyo fashion boy haircut, but upon closer inspection he's more than just a pretty boy with a trench coat fetish. Devil Trigger let Dante enter a heightened state of awareness, granting super speed and heightened damage; just like yoga.

Character: The Barber of San Andreas
Game: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)

Rogaine and Minoxidil have nothing on the barber in San Andreas, who has the power make a bald person grow a full head of hair in seconds. Thinking about getting a beard? He's got that on lock as well. On the real, the old man with the clippers could make a million bucks if he had an infomercial.

Character: Prophet
Game: Crysis (2007)

Who would be as altruistic as Prophet if granted the power of invisibility? Sure, fighting an evil, faceless hegemonic corporation is one way to use a Nanosuit. Heisting Bank of America would be another. Invisibility, super strentgh, and damage absorption are thrown in at no extra charge. Note: We are not condoning the use of super powers for evil.

Character: Kratos
Game: God of War (2005)

In the God of War universe, no woman can control themselves around Kratos. As soon as he walks into a room full of Greek beauties, they lose it and climb all over him like groupies at a Miami Heat meet-and-greet. Kratos never has any problem with obliging them, either.

Character: Blanka
Game: Street Fighter II (1991)

Blanka, who acquired his electrical charge from exposure to electric eels in the Amazon Rainforest, is the best character for players who are more into defensive fighting. If you time it correctly, an opponent's fancy flip would land them into a world of electrified pain. How's that for a combo-breaker?

Character: Marston
Game: Red Dead Redemption (2010)

When you can slow time to a crawl, and place the trajectory of your bullets with laser precision, you officially have the Wild West version of a super power. Also, this is the only time chewing tobacco has ever been used for anything other than inducing vomit.

Character: Reciever
Game: John Elway's Quarter Back (1987)

The football players in John Elway's Quarter Back didn't come into the game with powers but they could acquire them through a cheat. When activated, the receiver would be able to outrun any other player at a lightning pace. The best part of this power was knowing how to wield it before anyone else you'd play against. Voila! Instant rage.

Character: Nariko and Kai
Game: Heavenly Sword (2007)

How these Shen clan warriors are able to launch cannon balls and shoot arrows, then control them in mid-air, is something no one will ever understand. They're able to do it though. But if Nariko is able to run top speed on severed ropes above mountains without falling, why not?

Character: Nilin
Game: Remember Me (2013)

Instead of simply controlling minds, Nilin can also alter and erase memories. If you think about it, Nilin would be the most awesome girlfriend. Whenever she wants to watch a TV show you hate or see a movie that would make you want to leap out of a window, you could just have her wipe your brain every five minutes.

Character: Dovakiin
Game: The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim (2011)

Dragons are known as creatures that can fly and turn people into grilled wieners with as much as a yawn. Dovakiin has the power to suck the soul out of dragons and use their knowledge as his own. Dovakiin would totally breeze through dragon college if there were such a thing.

Character: Joseph
Game: Summoner (2000)

Taking a cue from Japanese role-playing games, Summoner gave players summoning powers to bring demons from their rest to help fight battles. While it may be difficult to fathom why a demon would just be waiting for a dirty mortal to call them up for a fight, just go with it and watch the pretty animation.

Character: Sonic the Hedgehog
Game: Sonic the Hedgehog (1991)

Big deal you can run fast. We can run fast. It's not that hard, we just choose not to. Oh, you're breaking the sound barrier? Doing back flips? Bending gravity to suit your blue hearted whims? Yeah, that's all you, buddy. Still we can't figure out if Sonic was born that way or if he's been spending what's left of his Sega money on low grade meth binges.

Character: Samus Aran
Game: Metroid (1986)

Samus has the ability to crumple into a ball and roll into cramped spaces. The bonus of having this special power was that rolling to destinations were a lot faster than running there. It would've been even more badass if you could shoot while rolling, but you can't have everything, can you?

Character: Centurion
Game: Altered Beast (1988)

Given the choice, we'd be the first ones to pick being a werewolf over a vampire. Seems pretty obvious: no prancing around in Victorian corsets, we still get to enjoy the beach, and no damn sparkles. This Sega arcade game had you platforming as a fallen Roman Centurion brought back to life by Zeus to rescue his daughter...by turning into a werewolf. By absorbing the dropped orbs of fallen enemies, players could shift into their wolf form. The Greeks and the Japanese...always on that shit you probably don't want to probe too deep into.

Character: The Prince
Game: Katamari Demarcy (2004)

The Prince's magic ball sounds like something that the Sham-Wow guy would be screaming about in a commercial but it's a lot more useful. After the drunken King of All Cosmos wiped out everything in the sky including stars, the moon, and constellations, it's up to the Prince to roll everything up into a giant ball so dad can rebuild the galaxy.

The Prince's ball is awesomely epic in that no matter what an object is made of, it will stick to it like a magical lint roller. When the ball reaches a certain size, dad can take a break from boozing and create a star out of it. The Prince doesn't have killer martial arts skills or the ability to strangle someone with his mind, but he's one helluva a hardcore janitor.

Character: Jack
Game: BioShock (2007)

Big Daddies have become iconic video game enemies, onew that were best avoided early in the game. Later, however, players are granted a plasmid that allows for a full system takeover of a Big Daddy. Hypnosis of an underwater death machine was a massive boon when taking on rooms full of Splicers. After he's served his purpose, rocket launcher to the back.

Character: Cloud Strife
Game: Final Fantasy 7 (1997)

Heated battles in Final Fantasy 7 got even more awesome when a Limit Break was triggered. At that point, a character would black out and perform a special devastating move. In Cloud Strife's case, he'd do an Omnislash that would turn his opponents into bite-sized chunks.

Character: Any player
Game: Blitz: The League (2005)

Once an indoor kid, always an indoor kid. Activating the clash meter and snapping a femur was as close as we got to actually playing football. Laying out members of the opposite team with comic book savagery was about as close as we got to the actual field. And considering he value our intact bones, that's fine by us.

Character: Torque
Game: The Suffering (2004)

When Torque hit the scene, he was in one of the scariest video games made. In addition to that, his powers in The Suffering, to change into a grotesque monster and savagely kill everyone in his path, would make you want to morph yourself out of your soiled underwear.

Character: Cole MacGrath
Game: Infamous (2009)

Usually mistaken as the lead singer of Sugar Ray, MacGrath was last seen trying to deep-fry Fat Princess in Sony PlayStation All-Stars. Cole's power of electricity isn't the first time we've seen shocking abilities in a game, but you can't front on how cool it is to surf power lines like they're rails at a skate park.

Character: Ken or Ryu
Game: Street Fighter (1987)

Often mispronounced as "ha-yew-git," Hadouken, or "wave motion fist," from Street Fighter has become one of the most popular powers both in and out of video game culture. The thrusting of one's palms forward, sending a surge of spirit energy at enemies, is now a staple of popular culture through song references, Internet memes, and music. Why it hasn't made it into Webster's Dictionary yet is way beyond us.

Character: Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad
Game: Assassin's Creed (2007)

Being able to see the guy you have beef with in a crowd before you catch up to him was an ingenious idea for a video game. Altaïr's power gave even the most noobiest of noobs a step up in becoming the deadliest assassin on the planet.

Character: Max Payne
Game: Max Payne (2001)

Nothing looks cooler in the Max Payne series than triggering the "Bullet Time" feature, which allowed you to gun down baddies in slow motion like in The Matrix. The feel of the controller rumble while popping off hot ones in mid-air is an adrenaline boost unmatchable in other games that use a slow-mo engine.

Character: Kat
Game: Gravity Rush (2012)

It took a while for Kat to come to terms with her powers but when she did, it didn't take long to master the ability of bending the law of gravity to her will. Getting access to roof tops and the skies was nothing but a thought for the good girl gone better in this heavily slept-on game.

Character: Nick Scryer
Game: Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy (2004)

The introduction of Nick Scryer brought us the concept of rag-doll physics in video games. Whenever Nick would grab an enemy using telekinesis, they would flop around helplessly before being thrown to their death. Don't be surprised if this becomes a network television game show.

Character: Crypto
Game: Destroy All Humans (2005)

Just as you would assume from a sneaky alien bent on human world destruction, Crypto has the ability to hypnotize humans and make them start partying and forget that they ever saw him. Crypto can then take over their minds and control the human of his choice or anally probe them until their heads explode. That would make one hell of a live-action movie.

Character: Abe
Game: Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (1997)

Yes, farts. Abe's flatulence can be used in two ways to help him accomplish his mission to save his race. One is by just ripping one in front of his fellow creatures, which causes them to laugh and follow him to freedom. The other is to create a deadly explosive to destroy his enemies. Your gas? Far less heroic. Pffft.

Character: Princess Peach
Game: Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988)

Anyone who says that they've neve used Princess Peach to finish Super Mario Bros. 2 is a liar. Instead of timing jumps and all that mess, why not simply float through the Mushroom Kingdom safely for a clean finish to the game. You could always do a replay and use Luigi for a real challenge.

Character: Bayonetta
Game: Bayonetta (2010)

Bayonetta's "Wicked Weave" ability walks a wobbly line between sexy and tasteless. On a primal level, watching her hair whip in to the air and become a blood-thirsty demon while she strikes a video vixen-like pose is somewhat stimulating. Combining that with a demon ripping an enemy to pieces while Bayonetta is still in said pose just isn't right.

Character: Booker DeWitt
Game: BioShock Infinite (2013)

The most satisfying power in BioShock Infinite is using the Possession vigor against an enemy. It uses quite a bit of magic power but it's priceless when you're up against a battalion of soldiers, automatic gun turrets, and those relentless Heavy Hitter robots that look like George Washington. It's a god-like feel when you see them all turning on each other.

Character: Any player
Game: NBA Jam (1993)

No matter how much time has passed since you last played NBA Jam, hearing the phrase "He's on fire!" triggers a crystal clear vision of outrageous, flaming, triple-flip dunks and shots sunk from any distance. We've been wishing for a new basketball game with as much comedic value as NBA Jam but as every video game company is going for realism these days, it doesn't look too promising.

Character: Leah
Game: Diablo III (2012)

You'd have to possess quite a bit of confidence to take on someone who has the power of the most evil being in the universe. First comes the intolerable headache and then a dark force kills everyone on the screen. Just imagine what went on when her adopted uncle Deckard Cain mouthed off too much about doing chores around the house.

Character: Corvo Attano
Game: Dishonored (2012)

Nailing the perfect teleportation in Dishonored is a surge of power that makes you want to cry out, "I'm going to kick someone's ass with this." In fact, there is a lot of ass that gets kicked by using the teleportation power. In the event Corvo is surrounded, he can zip to another location, heal a little and then zip back to put a blade between an enemy's ribs.

Even though it wasn't the first time teleportation was used in a video game, it's by far the most pleasurable in Dishonored. It's just like going warp speed without a spaceship.

Character: Starkiller
Game: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008)

Combine force lightning, a protection bubble, and telekinesis and you have a devastating attack that will wipe out every living being in a given area except for yourself. There aren't too many Jedis or Sith that could come close to holding Starkiller's lightsaber hilt. Force choke on that Darth Vader.

Character: Wolverine
Game: X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009)

One could argue that Wolverine's healing power is the perfect one for a hero. You can shoot, stab, run him over with an ice cream truck and he still won't die. Second to regenerating, Wolvie's next greatest power is printing money for Marvel Comics through merchandise, films, cartoons, and anything else that can be price-tagged.

Character: Any boxer
Game: Ring King (1987)

The most hilarious super power ever imagined is the Ring King manager's power to heal your boxer's battered body with an enthusiastic "belt adjustment." Whenever a round is over and your fighter returns to his corner, the trainer immediately drops to his knees and goes to work on your fighter's "belt." Somewhere in Japan there's an old programmer laughing their head off at the fact so many American kids had to watch this over and over again.

Character: The Prince
Game: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2003)

Imagine if the average person had the ability to turn back time and do things over again like in Prince of Persia. There would be a lot less crazy baby mamas/daddies and the state lottery would be bankrupt. Unfortunately, that's not the case with The Prince, as he uses his time-shifting powers to avoid falling from cliffs or getting stabbed to death by enemies with a literal axe to grind.

Character: Sub Zero
Game: Mortal Kombat (1992)

A classic move for one of the most infamous ninjas in video games. Sub-Zero's freezing ability has gone through a number of changes throughout the life of the Mortal Kombat franchise but it still remains one of our favorites.

When enemies take a hit from Sub Zero's icy projectiles, they're out of luck unless Sub Z suffers a glitch or something. Otherwise, it's a well placed uppercut to cool off any impending hot streaks of fighting moves.

Character: Kirby
Game: Kirby's Dream Land (1992)

Getting your ass kicked by a glorified Pokémon is embarrassing enough, but to get digested by something that looks like a Pepto Bismol tablet is just sad. What makes Kirby so powerful, though, is his ability to suck in anything in his way. After inhaling, he could either blow it out into its own death or turn it into a destructive object to get rid of other enemies. Most of all, he'd totally wipe out anything in a bong.

Character: Jody
Game: Beyond: Two Souls (2013)

It's one thing to hear a spirit's voice but to be able to outright control one is an entirely different level of awesomeness. Jody can do that with her otherworldly bodyguard Aiden. Let's see a celebrity hire a security team that can top that.

Character: Elizabeth
Game: BioShock Infinite (2013)

Elizabeth is cool enough for tossing much needed ammo and heath potions but what makes her the ultimate gangsta is her ability to tear into one dimension and enter another. Liz can also grab supplies from a parallel universe and bring them into her own. Which is not to say you should ask her to go grab you some cold ones from the next dimension over while you sit on your lazy misogynist ass.

Character: Mario
Game: Super Mario Bros. (1985)

Magic stars in Super Mario Bros. are like cigarettes in prison. The value is simply unmatched, as it grants a brief period of invincibility. Most players decide to put on the speed while Mario is under the influence but if not careful enough, there's always a turtle waiting to take our favorite plumber out once the effects have worn off.

Character: James Heller
Game: Prototype 2 (2012)

The vengeful ex-Marine sergeant can transform his body to look exactly like anyone he wants after he consumes them. It comes in handy when Heller needs to keep a low profile and avoid conflict. In real-life, it would make total sense to shape-shift into an old suburban couple. That way, Heller could make moves without any problems. Also, the tax breaks would be pretty awesome.