time gear
Eternity in an hour
Sometimes a big part of what makes a game great is it's unlockables. While thinking about this, I had the idea of starting a thread to discuss games that have particularly fun unlockables. These could be anything from an overpowered weapon to something like big head mode, as long as it can be unlocked in an unmodified version of the game it counts, even if you unlock it through a cheat code.
Here's some that I really like:
Mega Man ZX
Model Ox. Unlocked via defeating Omega Zero in at least Normal difficulty, retrieving the Biometal elsewhere within the Area N ruins, and then bringing it to Flueve, this allows you to transform into a variation of the bloodthirsty messiah himself, with an infinite overdrive that makes you overpowered.
Mega Man X8
Σ Blade. This a giant sword you can unlock for Zero which is easily the most brokenly overpowered weapon in the game. It's really fun to just destroy everything with it.
Mega Man 11
There's a few chips you can buy in the shop after beating the game and reloading your save which allow you to use boss powers without using weapon energy, as well as give you infinite gear powers as long as you aren't using double gear. These make you pretty close to unstoppable.
Crash Bandicoot Warped
The Death Tornado Spin. While short lived, it gives you slow fall while you use it in the air, and doubles as an extended attack. This effectively turns it into a short range glide with a lot of potential to play around with and find shortcuts or even get to places you're not meant to be able to.
Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy; Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Dash. Originally introduced in Crash 3, this unlockable was included in Crash 2's remake. It's necessary to get many of the relics, which were also originally introduced in Crash 3. Used casually however, it can be used to take all kinds of insane shortcuts and just generally break the levels in half. Especially when combined with the Slide Spin Jump for a combination of speed and height.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled
Nitrous Oxide and Emperor Velo. In the original Crash Team Racing, Oxide was not a playable character without using an external cheat device to force the player into him, and even then it didn't always work. Although shrunken down a bit and given a steering wheel in his hovercraft, Oxide is now a legitimate unlockable in the remake. Likewise, while you could unlock Velo's true form in Nitro Kart, his larger mechanical facade body was not playable outside the GBA version. Nitro Fueled introduced him as playable in the final Grand Prix event.
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage/Gateway to Glimmer
Infinite Superflame. The reward for 100% completion, this is so permanent that even starting a new save will still have it. This allows you to play through the entire game with Superflame, which is incredibly overpowered.
Spyro: Year of the Dragon
Squid Board. Accessible through cheat code, this replaces the skateboard in the skate park areas with a rideable squid. It's purely aesthetic, but it's also quite amusing.
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139...
Kaine's Blade. A completion bonus for getting Ending E, this is an overpowered weapon that makes clearing unfinished quests easier, or that can be used to get some of the boss speedrun achievements easily. Or you can just use it for fun.
NieR: Automata
Engine Blade. One of Noctis's swords in Final Fantasy XV, there's nothing super special about this weapon in regards to damage, but when fully upgraded it does give you FFXV style dash trail effects and damage fonts.
Sonic Advance 3
Cream and Cheese. Unlocked by playing through part of Cyber Track Zone as Sonic, Cream is every bit as overpowered as she was in Sonic Advance 2, and more. Now anyone can gain Cheese's powers through Cream's tag action, and pairing Cream with Knuckles will even cause Cheese to orbit around Cream destroying any badniks he touches automatically.
Sonic Generations
Time Break. Although purely aesthetic, it's a really cool callback to Sonic and the Secret Rings.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
HF Murasama. Although technically the strongest weapon in the game when fully upgraded, I include it in my list purely because of how absolutely badass it looks.
Half-Life 2
Overcharged Gravity Gun. The Gravity Gun was already a really cool weapon that allowed you to think outside the box in combat and exploration alike, but near the end of the game you get this overcharged variant which allows you to grab and repel enemies as well as objects and absolutely yeet them around. Easily the most fun I ever have in HL2.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
How could I not bring up the Wabbajack? This thing is as crazy as it is random, which is the main point of fun with it. You never know if it's going to turn an enemy into a sweetroll, summon a mudcrab, shoot out a bolt of lightning, or something else entirely. This makes it fairly impractical in combat due to it's unpredictability, but that's also entirely what makes it fun.
Here's some that I really like:
Mega Man ZX
Model Ox. Unlocked via defeating Omega Zero in at least Normal difficulty, retrieving the Biometal elsewhere within the Area N ruins, and then bringing it to Flueve, this allows you to transform into a variation of the bloodthirsty messiah himself, with an infinite overdrive that makes you overpowered.
Mega Man X8
Σ Blade. This a giant sword you can unlock for Zero which is easily the most brokenly overpowered weapon in the game. It's really fun to just destroy everything with it.
Mega Man 11
There's a few chips you can buy in the shop after beating the game and reloading your save which allow you to use boss powers without using weapon energy, as well as give you infinite gear powers as long as you aren't using double gear. These make you pretty close to unstoppable.
Crash Bandicoot Warped
The Death Tornado Spin. While short lived, it gives you slow fall while you use it in the air, and doubles as an extended attack. This effectively turns it into a short range glide with a lot of potential to play around with and find shortcuts or even get to places you're not meant to be able to.
Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy; Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back
Crash Dash. Originally introduced in Crash 3, this unlockable was included in Crash 2's remake. It's necessary to get many of the relics, which were also originally introduced in Crash 3. Used casually however, it can be used to take all kinds of insane shortcuts and just generally break the levels in half. Especially when combined with the Slide Spin Jump for a combination of speed and height.
Crash Team Racing: Nitro Fueled
Nitrous Oxide and Emperor Velo. In the original Crash Team Racing, Oxide was not a playable character without using an external cheat device to force the player into him, and even then it didn't always work. Although shrunken down a bit and given a steering wheel in his hovercraft, Oxide is now a legitimate unlockable in the remake. Likewise, while you could unlock Velo's true form in Nitro Kart, his larger mechanical facade body was not playable outside the GBA version. Nitro Fueled introduced him as playable in the final Grand Prix event.
Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage/Gateway to Glimmer
Infinite Superflame. The reward for 100% completion, this is so permanent that even starting a new save will still have it. This allows you to play through the entire game with Superflame, which is incredibly overpowered.
Spyro: Year of the Dragon
Squid Board. Accessible through cheat code, this replaces the skateboard in the skate park areas with a rideable squid. It's purely aesthetic, but it's also quite amusing.
NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139...
Kaine's Blade. A completion bonus for getting Ending E, this is an overpowered weapon that makes clearing unfinished quests easier, or that can be used to get some of the boss speedrun achievements easily. Or you can just use it for fun.
NieR: Automata
Engine Blade. One of Noctis's swords in Final Fantasy XV, there's nothing super special about this weapon in regards to damage, but when fully upgraded it does give you FFXV style dash trail effects and damage fonts.
Sonic Advance 3
Cream and Cheese. Unlocked by playing through part of Cyber Track Zone as Sonic, Cream is every bit as overpowered as she was in Sonic Advance 2, and more. Now anyone can gain Cheese's powers through Cream's tag action, and pairing Cream with Knuckles will even cause Cheese to orbit around Cream destroying any badniks he touches automatically.
Sonic Generations
Time Break. Although purely aesthetic, it's a really cool callback to Sonic and the Secret Rings.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
HF Murasama. Although technically the strongest weapon in the game when fully upgraded, I include it in my list purely because of how absolutely badass it looks.
Half-Life 2
Overcharged Gravity Gun. The Gravity Gun was already a really cool weapon that allowed you to think outside the box in combat and exploration alike, but near the end of the game you get this overcharged variant which allows you to grab and repel enemies as well as objects and absolutely yeet them around. Easily the most fun I ever have in HL2.
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
How could I not bring up the Wabbajack? This thing is as crazy as it is random, which is the main point of fun with it. You never know if it's going to turn an enemy into a sweetroll, summon a mudcrab, shoot out a bolt of lightning, or something else entirely. This makes it fairly impractical in combat due to it's unpredictability, but that's also entirely what makes it fun.
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