The 10 most unusual and awesome power-ups in video games.

[Falcon] One of the most synonymous things with video games is the Power-up.

And today we’re gonna look at some of the most unique ones.

Hi folks, it’s Falcon and today on Gameranx the 10 most unusual and awesome
power-ups in video games.

So before we get going,

let’s talk a little
bit about the fact that

traditional power-ups aren’t
quite as common nowadays

as they used to be.

Like, yes, it’s made a bit of
a comeback in games like Doom

and Doom Eternal where the
little floating icon spins around

in mid-air, you pick it
up and something increases

or you get a new ability or whatever.

That’s a thing that yes, we’re
seeing a little bit of again,

but we’re not gonna stick with that

for the purposes of this list.

In recent years, we think it’s
kind of become a little bit

more abstract so to speak.

So like here, let’s talk about power-ups

as a kind of collectible
or upgrade type thing,

you can unlock.

Little confusing, but we
know it when we see it.

So starting off at number 10

it’s the Timepiece from Dishonored two.

So this is without a doubt,

one of the coolest power-ups of all time.

Now, keeping in mind it was
basically the design of a level.

It’s a gimmick that causes a
level to work a specific way

and it’s only available in one level.

However, it drastically
improves your abilities

in an ability based game

and what the Timepiece basically does,

in the mansion that this level is,

takes you between the past and present.

Now the interesting thing about this level

was that the technique
they used to do the past

and present aspects of it

is actually something
Arcane developed back

when they worked on Bioshock two

in the Outer Persephone level.

Now, there’s a lot to
say about Bioshock two

and what aspects of it are
good and what aspects are bad

but this is an undeniably
interesting aspect of that game

that they realized they could harness

to do something that was
ultimately very difficult.

This is essentially two mats in one mat

that you would have to design separately

that you’re warping between
before the SSD generation.

This is still plain old hard
drive ram loading stuff.

And not only is it extremely
technically impressive

but the results feel totally seamless.

It’s probably the best level in the game

in terms of not only technical ability

but storytelling and atmosphere.

It just, it’s such a masterclass

in giving the player a power
that they didn’t have before

and it being incredible in
the context of the game.

At number nine is the Otter
Hat from Death Stranding.

Probably one of the silliest ones.

Like we went from one of the
coolest things imaginable

to something that is outright silly,

just very, very silly.

So you get the Otter
Hat from Conan O’Brien

which it’s already outwardly
silly at this point

because Conan O’Brien is in
Death Stranding for some reason.

Yes, Late Night with Conan O’Brien,

The Tonight Show briefly,

TBS’s Conan and Conan O’Brien
needs a friend, the podcast.

That Conan O’Brien, has
this absurd celebrity cameo

and he gives you the Otter Hat.

And the Otter Hat is Simply
a silly little thing to wear

on Norman Reedus’ head as he
slowly treks across an America

that no longer has a society on top of it.

It’s all below.

No, it’s not for looks,
it’s actually a thing

that gives you new swimming techniques

and they’re actually
useful swimming techniques.

You’re able to swim on
your back like an otter

because crossing water
in this game is already

like really aggravating and not great.

And this actually makes
it a little easier.

So if you consider this
stupid looking, that’s fine.

It will make your life easier
and you’ll stop caring.

(water splashing)
(seagull squawking)

At number eight is the Weird
Mushroom for Mario Maker

which was introduced in
the original Mario Maker.

It’s probably the oddest
upgrade in the Mario Games.

There’s some weird ones, I’m not gonna lie

but the Weird Mushroom is
called The Weird Mushroom

and it lives up to its name.

They didn’t call it that for no reason

’cause what it does is make
Mario into a a big gangly dufus.

I don’t know why he looks,

like look at that, that is strange.

It feels wrong in every way.

Like his stance is upsetting.

Like he’s standing like
a rabbit on his hind legs

but he’s proportional
to a much larger being.

It stretches Mario into
this like goulish creature

from Mushroom Kingdom Nightmares and,

I don’t wanna forget
about it on this list.

This is, I mean other than
making Mario really gangly,

what does it do?

So weird Mario can jump a
little higher than normal.

That’s it, it’s not really,

it’s not really a big deal
in terms of what powers

you might get, especially
considering how much bigger Mario

becomes with the Weird Mushroom.

You just can jump a bit higher. That’s it.

And you know what?

I’m all for upgrades and enhancements

that simply exist to be weird.

This isn’t really a useful one

but it’s breaking the rules in a way

we really cannot help but love

and would love to see more
nonsense like this in Mario.

(Mario Brothers them song)

And number seven is the Kin
Transformation in Bloodborne

probably one of the weirdest
power-ups in any game ever.

By completing a side quest

for a deformed experiment
of the research hall

you can sign a contract with
the Lumenwood Kin Covenant.

Completing her request eventually
gets you a Caryll Rune,

basically a little upgrade
accessory you can equip.

Instead of giving you a
little buff or a bonus though

it transforms your body

into a glowing blue celestial nightmare.

Even better equipping
the Kos Parasite weapon

gets you an enhanced move set

with new animations and an improved dodge.

You just have to put up with
looking like a great old one.

And it’s not the worst trade.

Your head might look like a disgusting,

fleshy blooming flower,
but your dash is longer

and that matters probably more

than how you look in the game.

It is gross. It is gross.

Looks like something out of Last of Us.

Well, you know, whatever.

Again, you’re more powerful.

And number six is
Duplication in Scarlet Nexus.

Instead of gaining literal
power-ups in Scarlet Nexus,

you gain people.

Each character on your team
is like a walking power-up.

You can activate at any time

and they’re not always available.

As you increase your relationship
with different characters

you unlock all these various abilities

when you activate a
character’s power in combat.

My favorite, and definitely
one of the weirdest,

is the Duplication power.

Once you sufficiently
level up your social link

with that character, you’ll duplicate

into four and then five total bodies,

all dishing out damage at the same time.

The best part about using
power-ups in Scarlet Nexus

is that you can chain ’em together.

You also have characters
that gain superhuman speed.

They make you invulnerable to damage.

They give you the ability
to instantly teleport,

slow down time, et cetera.

Each one’s very useful.

But if you can just imagine
quadrupling your power

by activating Duplication
while you’re also buffed

with a deadly pyrokinesis,
that’s a spicy combo.

I don’t want to characterize this game

as like unnecessarily difficult,

but it’s one of those
times where you feel like,

oh, there we go I’m just
gonna take everybody down now.

And number five is Zombie
Blood from Call of Duty Zombies

which is not going away anytime soon.

This bonus mode has been lurching along

with the Call of Duty franchise ever since

its original surprise
inclusion in World at War.

I mean it’s become a mainstay

with an absurdly elaborate
level of mat building

and complex hidden quests

that usually end up being solved
at like a community level.

Usually you’re able to purchase power-ups

with the points you’ve
earned blasting zombies

but there’s also sort of
alternate classic power-ups

that draw from enemies as well.

My personal favorite out
of those is Zombie Blood

which appeared in Black
Ops two, three, and four.

Zombie Blood as a power
up is a lot more weird

than it is useful.

Grabbing it transforms your character

into a zombie widening your field of view

with a special effect and
making all the undead hoards

simply stop chasing you it.

It doesn’t last long, but it’s very weird

and it’s required for some
of the Easter Egg quests.

And it’s just one of
those ones you can’t help

but love whenever it appears.

I mean it can kind of be useful

but mostly it’s just really fun.

(rapid gunfire)

And number four, the Doctor Copy ability

from Kirby Planet Robobot.

Kirby is a hungry pink fluff

that can’t stop eating the
same classic copy abilities.

But every few games the
developers down at HAL labs

give him something new

that doesn’t stick around for super long.

Maybe they’re totally unique to the game

maybe they stick around
for maybe two games.

But the Doctor Copy Abilities
is one of those specifically.

It’s also easily one of my favorites.

So when Kirby uses the
Doctor Copy ability,

he becomes a pharmaceutical
maniac plopping pills

just in every possible direction.

His primary weapon is giant
pills that bounce around

kind of maybe randomly.

I’m not a hundred percent
sure how to characterize it.

He can also use his portable lab

to mix up a random chemical concoction

that unleashes one of three
different elemental attacks.

Even better, Kirby can
store the elemental power

within and unleash it later.

The only way you lose
it is if you take a hit.

It’s so weirdly hyper specific,

it’s become a favorite from
like the entire franchise.

Like step aside Suplex, the doctor’s in.

(small explosions)

(drills grinding)

And number three, Train
Yoshi from Yoshi’s Island.

Anybody remember this one?

This one, This goes back a ways.

Okay, back to Super Nintendo.

Yoshi’s Island which was
originally Super Mario World two,

keeping in mind that it
became its own franchise

outside of that, was a
game where you’d normally

just be sort of running
around, solving puzzles,

and keeping Baby Mario safe.

Not only because it was an objective

but his screams were so painful to hear.

(baby crying)

For certain levels, there’s
transformation bubbles

that turn Yoshi into various
things like a helicopter,

a drill tank, a submarines one of them.

And those are well and good

but this is for weird stuff
you don’t see too often,

so Train form!

When in Train form, Yoshi
sticks to these tracks

that are painted on walls with white chalk

and outlined enemies can spring to life

and attack you while you’re
navigating these chalk tracks.

And it’s as weird as it sounds.

You can only chug along moving forward,

changing directions only at
these track intersections.

And well, it’s a struggle, honestly.

It’s not really that I want to say

this is a great power-up,

it’s unusual and awesome in its own way,

but it’s not necessarily enjoyable.

It’s just so spectacularly weird.

And number two is Dog Mode
from Rise Of The Triad.

Speaking of weird things,

let’s go with something a little more fun.

Rise Of The Triad is
kind of a sorta sequel

to Wolfenstein 3d, the
original first person shooter.

The developers went
totally wild with it too.

They threw in all these
stupid special weapons

like magical baseball bats.

And yeah, they do exactly what you think.

They launch big arrays
of explosive baseballs.

The best thing in this game is Dog Mode

which is basically God Mode.

But when you spell God
backwards, you get dog.

And I’m guessing that’s
where the inspiration

for this came from ’cause it’s
God mode except you’re a dog,

you are a dog.

That’s the actual power-up.

You grab it and you turn
into an invincible dog.

You’re short, you have
a furry little nose,

you can claw enemies with an
adorable paw that you have.

You even have a killer
dog bark that blows away

any bad guy dumb enough
to get close to ya.

(painful screams)

(deadly howl)

How does this jokey nonsense
fit into a gritty game

about fighting an evil cult?

Well, it doesn’t.

And that’s what makes a game

like Rise Of The Triad so special.

The developers just were
like, Yeah, whatever.

Let’s do it.

They threw all this weird
nonsense of the game

and they didn’t have a
marketing team saying,

Wow, no. No, don’t do that. We can’t,

we can’t create enough
expectation for this to be okay.

And that’s great.

That is a time that I often
wish we could go back to.

And finally at number one is Boo Mario

from Mario Galaxy the original.

Mario’s of course got a lot
of different transformations

and power-ups throughout the history.

But Boo Mario is a big favorite
for probably two reasons.

One, he’s a spooky ghosty Mario,

and two because of number
one, he is adorable.

The Boo Mario Power-up
turns Mario into a Boo,

which gives you all the
benefits that it implies.

You can fly, you can pass
through solid objects,

you can read the Boo language

which you probably didn’t
even really know they had

until you became Boo Mario.

It also confirms a long held rumor

that all the Boos are actually ladies.

When Boo Mario appears
all of the other Boos

instantly fall in love with him.

They chase him with pink
hearts over their heads.

It makes sense because apparently Boo

was based off a very shy
woman in the Nintendo offices

which is both adorable
and very, very strange.

Got a couple of bonuses for you.

The Poison Mist from
Symphony of the Night.

Probably one of the strangest
in dubiously useful upgrades

to ever grace a Metroidvania.

Gives you limited flight

and the ability to pass
through some objects

also makes you immune to damage
for a short period of time.

Very interesting. Doesn’t ever reappear.

So it’s literally just
in Symphony of the Night.

And then finally the
Ramblin’ Evil Mushroom

from Smash Brothers Ultimate.

It was not a power-up in Earthbound

where it originally appeared

and it kind of isn’t in
Super Smash Brothers.

But you deploy it against an
enemy and well this happens

you throw it at an enemy, a
mushroom grows outta their head

and their control’s
reversed until it goes away.

And it’s not helpful in Smash Brothers.

Like in Earthbound, you get a mushroom

growing outta your head

and you have reverse
controls, it’s annoying.

In Super Smash Brothers Ultimate

or any Smash Brothers
game that, it’s the worst.

It’s literally the worst to
have your controls reversed.

And that’s all for today.

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