The 10 Greatest Swords in Videogame History

Swords are not always the best weapon – guns have better distance, bombs do more damage, and I can never tell whether or not to pronounce the ‘w.’ But swords were always preferable, since they offered a nobler kind of combat: up close and personal, with the winner determined by skill and strength alone. Also, game developers got a lot less angry letters from parents when they didn’t include guns, so that helped too. Here’s our tribute to the greatest blades ever virtually-wielded…

[ComboBreaker]

I mean, swords are badass. Guns are badass too. But when you combine them into a Gun Blade, that's like badassness squared.

[Urmomlol]

Squall's gunblade has to the most illogical, stupidest sword ever created.

[CrzyFooL]

I remember when FFVIII came out I thought the gun would SHOOT the blades and blades would be something you'd have to buy and upgrade. Turns out it did almost jack shit except look cool.

[Brewski007]

A gun that would SHOOT blades????
Really?? , I mean.... REALLY??
I think i prefer it doing nothing rather than that lol.
Never was a fan of the gun-blade personaly. Although i did like the added "press R1" at the exact time for added damage thing.

[Lamarthedancer]

But an average height guy carrying a HUGE sword which would be really heavy isn't...

[AntoineDcoolette]

The Heavenly Sword should be on this list >_>

[K3nji]

Even though the game isn't really that well known, Gatsu's blade from Berserk should've been included! =(

[Etseix]

Buster Sword from VII!? i know its where it first appeared but , dont leave Angel behind! hes the true weilder of this sword, f* u Cloud

[thats_just_prime]

That list if full of fail. Half the swords in there suck. Other then by name you wouldnt know what 3 or 4 of the swords. They look like any random sword in any game. So what are they jugding this list on. Plus no matter what you jugde it on the Lightsaber should be number 1 its the must iconic waepon ever created and its probably the must powerful sword ever created

[Omega Archetype]

Guess you've never heard of a vibration blade? ( http://www.answers.com/topi... Cause that's precisely the concept that's behind the Gunblade.

The gun doesn't shoot bullets, instead it creates an explosion inside the blade that vibrates it and makes it (theoretically) easier to do more damage with a sword/blade.

Granted this technology is sci-fi based, so I'm not entirely sure if it's truly possible, but is far from illogical. There's definitely a reason to have a sword with a gun attached to it (even if that reason is not technically real!)

Oh and btw, the Gunblade is a badass weapon (easily one of my favorite of any medium.) First Tsurugi though takes the cake!

[Perjoss]

short sword of ykesha
not many people will know what this is :)

[antz1104]

Lol, so true.

Where's the Soul Reaver? FAIL LIST.

[Mario18]

Of course when I mention the gun blade I get heavily disagreed with

http://n4g.com/news/683484/...

[StbI990]

Where is mushashi -_-

[klado]

Brave Fence Musashi?, damn, need to revisit that game asap, the Earth-sword was the best.

[baodeus]

where is ryu dragon sword?

[knifefight]

Haha that game was great! Still fun even today!

[Arknight]

Musashi was a swordsman from Japanese history, not a sword.

[gamingdroid]

Where is the True Dragon Sword?

[darkdoom3000]

The gunblade is so awesome, astheticaly aswell. I would buy one and hang it over my TV.

[WildArmed]

haha, ditto,
one of the coolest weapons ever :D
I felt like Lightining carried a remodeled Gunblade (ver. 30.00 lol)
I find it funny when authors mistake the greatest sword's worth not by their design, function, etc but by association of the wielder..
I mean Cloud's sword isn't anything special... it's just a chunk of metal.. iconic.. sure i guess? but only by association.
The rest of the swords in the articles have something unique/special about each sword that isn't limited to the protagonists who used the sword.

@people who didn't know what a gun blade does....
hit R1 at the right time for extra dmg.
During your limit breaker likewise.
I feel most people didn't understand the gunblade and just put everything on Auto when they played FF8

[INehalemEXI]

Practical gunblade http://img.redwolfairsoft.c... It's airsoft ofc

[zeddy]

squal and siefer at the start of ff8 is the best sword fight and Urmomlol if a gunblade is stupid then they might aswell stop making final fantasy games all together.

[FACTUAL evidence]

Cmon, Squalls gun blade is better than that huge chunk of steel cloud uses......They had better off had said seph's massamune. I prefer Brotherhood sword than clouds blade...Brotherhood from FFX. Tidus's.

http://images.wikia.com/fin...

[VersusEM]

Final Fantasy XIII's Lightning's gunblade can shoot.

[TheShow01]

We all remember what kinda damage sephiroth's sword could do ... slash .... 3000 pt !!!! whoaa !!

definitely should be on the list.

[Hedberg]

the Heavenly Sword and Gatsu's sword from Sword of the Berserk should be on that list as others have mentioned. Agree that the Gunblade from FF8 should be there too.

[MarcusFenixITA]

Blades of Chaos

[DRiX]

Doesn't make sense. BoC aren't swords. You should've said the Blade of Artemis.

[ScentlessApprentice7]

Going forward with what you've said, I really enjoyed using the Blade of Artemis. Who else was hypnotized by that "Schwooonq" sound effect it made whenever Kratos swung it around?

[MarcusFenixITA]

Read the article before posting. It's explained there.

[Hudahudahuda]

Blade of Olympus.

Just swinging the thing makes entire armies vaporize '_'

[silkrevolver]

I mean come on, after you saw the buster sword in the article picture, what was the first sword that came to mind? (Hint: it rhymes with “Smashter Smord.”)

[midgard227]

ummmmm dude, not to burst ur bubble and ur entitled to ur opinion, but the master sword is one of the ugliest swords I've ever seen. im a character designer and i would never make a sword like that. now is it iconic??? yeeaaaah, great or badass??? naaaaah i can find 10$ swors that look cooler. but hey u know its just what i think anyway lol.

[silkrevolver]

I like its minimalistic design. It’s a very basic looking sword with a very iconic hilt. But the reason it’s popular isn’t because of its design, but of the feeling you get once you obtain it in a number of Zelda games.

[midgard227]

i understand what you mean. it is iconic, and u know once u get it that ur about to finish the game and kill ganon. i personally think cloud had better swords in ff7 than the bustersword. especially in advent children. Badass!

[NeutralGamer]

Sure you are a character designer and I'm a nigerian millionaire...

[NeoSprtacus]

@NeutralGamer

I'll help you transfer your money into America if you give me $500,000...

[Eamon]

LMAO, midgard227, please stop.

Master Sword is probably THE most iconic sword in gaming. The music and feeling when you obtain it after hours of effort is nothing less than satisfying.

[NCAzrael]

@midgard227

This isn't "The 10 coolest looking swords in videogame history", it's "The 10 greatest swords in videogame history." Real swords aren't all flash and form. With the exception of some really fancy swept hilt rapiers, and just about every decorative/ceremonial sword, real swords aren't much to look at.

Granted, this is for videogames, so the look is actually important. Considering the fact that the Master Sword is pretty much the first sword in gaming, it's no surprise there's not much to it's shape.

Regardless, the Master Sword has history, it's extremely powerful, and regardless of it's simple design, it still has a lot of design cues from the roman short swords.

Personally, if they sold replicas I'd gladly shell out some cash and mount it on my wall.

[hamburger123]

Heavenly Sword FTW

It was soo awesome, it was like 3 swords in one.

[CrzyFooL]

List is ok, not great.

[Urmomlol]

I find it pretty funny that a writer for Ripten would be criticizing anyone elses' work.

[LordLaguz]

what about the Onix blade from soul nomad?

[Lavalamp]

I think these blades should, at the very least, get an honorable mention:
Sword of Mana - Mana Series
Z-Saber - Mega Man X Series
Dragon Sword - Ninja Gaiden

[eutiagopato]

No berserkers sword?.. come on

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

Soul Calibur > Soul Edge

The Kiblade (not to be confused with keyblade) from KHBBS was sick too.

http://fc07.deviantart.net/...

[awiseman]

Lol @ japaneese, bigger sword = better

ive never understood that logic.

[ps3360games]

no frostmourne?

[JsonHenry]

Where is Pyramid Head's sword at on this list?!?! (from Silent Hill series)

[digitalivan]

Cloud took it from him.

[JsonHenry]

Hahahahahaah!

[Hozi89]

My sword is the biggest and baddest of the bunch. It shoots white little thingies into women and can sometimes impregnate them!

[RockmanII7]

So your hand is a woman?

[Sharingan_no_Kakashi]

LOLOLOLOLOLOL

[Hozi89]

Does your hand shoot white thingies into women?

[Eamon]

Bubbles for RockmanII7!

Hozi89, that has got to be the nerdiest comment I've seen all day. Thanks for the entertainment guys!

[sasuke99]

GTFO
Filthy scums like you must be banned

[DelbertGrady]

Nier has tons of them. The Beastlord is my favourite. Extremely underrated game imo.

[RockmanII7]

I would have added the Z saber somewhere in there, but I'm a Megaman fanboy :P

[Hudahudahuda]

Soul Reaver was good aswell.

[Lamarthedancer]

The Buster Sword but no Gunblade even though it looked better and cooler. The Buster sword just looks like a huge butchers knife ...

Again it shows you just how much FF7 is overated where every "Top 10....in videogames" has to include FF7 somewhere. <sigh>

[mightyboot]

FFVII is a masterpiece of a game:
- A very well told story with great characters.
- Imense rpg gameplay
- Various ways of exploration like land, sea(above and under) and air
- Alot of secrets
- Plenty of minigames
- Epic Soundtrack

And FFVIII was almost as epic.

The internet morons made this game overrated because they simply dont like jrpg´s.If anything is overrated is something that someone doesnt like period.

[darkdoom3000]

There are other better RPGs out there, FF7 is treated like a king because it's most people's first RPG.

FF8 was my first RPG, thus my favourite.
The genral concencus is that FF6 is better than 7 (by thoes who have played both)

[Lamarthedancer]

Or it could be because it's the first FF most people got to play as darkdoom3000 has said and it was the first FF game to come onto the PS1 making it better by terms of graphics (at the time anyway) and advance gameplay.

@darkdoom3000 "FF8 was my first RPG, thus my favourite"

I'm exactly the same, it was my first FF game, can't believe people don't like it just because it dosen't live up to FF7. If FF8 came out before FF7, then it would be classed as the "best" FF game.

[Rage_S90]

yh i played both but 7 is my fav just my opinion it was the first game to have that emotional connection for me which is why its 1 of my all time favs also ff 9>8 imo

[evrfighter]

"there are other better RPGs out there"

enlighten us. I played secret of mana, chrono trigger, dragon quest etc. before I played ff7 but overall ff7 was the better game. this is my opinion and so no you can't change that. If you enjoyed some other rpg moreso than ff7, that's your opinion and I can't change that. don't try and force your opinion on other's in a matter of fact tone.

the problem is when something goes mainstream alot of the people who THINK they are hardcore can't handle it and will look for some off the wall, underground product that nobody has ever heard of to call the best. It happens in music, art, movies and gaming.

[NCAzrael]

Except that the Buster Sword was wielded by an awesome character, and the gunblade was wielded by a whiny bitch.

[Lamarthedancer]

There both depressing in their own ways

Whiny Bitch...how, yeah he moans (I mean who wouldn't in them situations it adds realism to his character) but his character develops throughout the course of the game to the total opposite at the end. That's a worthy character and thats why in my opinion he'll always be better then "Mr serious" Cloud

[NCAzrael]

Eh, I just never felt Squal's character ever developed past whiny and mopey. He was very annoying as a character. This was why FF8 was my least favorite of the series.

[TheMutator]

mehhhhhhhhh where is Guts ( Berserk ) sword

[InTheLab]

The problem with that is it's just another sword. It's large and...that's it. Guts is what makes that sword badass.

At least Guts looks like he can wield that monster sword as opposed to....every other Japanime character...

[mightyboot]

Some say that FFVII´s Buster Sword was inspired by Berserk manga then FFVII`s sucess origined the anime tv series.

[gamingisnotacrime]

doubt they are the greatest as the title suggest

[Eamon]

I will never understand how a sword can be shaped as a Key.

Even as I attack enemies with the keyblade in Kingdom Hearts, I always have a WTF feeling about it.

Dunno, probably the most retarded idea for a sword?

[darkdoom3000]

It would have made sense if the key part was sharp... but it isnt.

It's actually a bashing weapon rather than slashing. should not be considered a sword.

[Kran]

WHERE IS FROSTMOURNE?

It deserves to be up there.

[mightyboot]

Zelda´s sword is a regular looking broadsword doesnt look anything special aside from the fact that belongs to Link.

And the Keyblade is not cool at all but oh well...

Darksiders sword looks also pretty badass.

[gam3fr33k]

How did rebellion make it over sparda?

[GiantJedi]

What about the little wooden pirate sword in LBP? lol

[Laeto256]

Cloud created Omnislash and then Omnislash v. 1.5 or 2.0 w/e it's called in AC.

in FACT WHERE IS THAT ADVENT CHILDREN SWORD?!?!? I dont care what people say but taking 7 swords and combining them into 1 supersword was actually smart.

[Dan917]

I think the Masamune (Frog's sword) should be higher on the list.

Frog cut a damn mountain in half with the masamune while one of the most heroic tunes played in the background.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Arknight]

I love the highest rated comment on that YouTube video:

"French people, beware."

[SeraphimBlade]

-Warcraft: Frostmourne - So awesome, you'll kill your friends over it.

- Red Steel 2: Kusagari katana - just how much you could control it was awesome, and it looked badass too.

- Scott Pilgrim: The Power of Love - it was awesome in the books, it was awesome in the movie, and it's awesome here. Plus, it's really the only thing that can kill Gigadeon.

[Darrius Cole]

Heavenly Sword should be on list.
True Dragon Sword should be on list.
Soul Calibur, especially Knightmare/Siegreid's Soul Calibur from SCII should be on list.

But there own list is out of whack as someone said above, with the Buster Sword and the Master Sword they rated them by association to the user and not by their power relative to their game nor by the swords own unique cool factor.

P.S.

Okay, maybe not the buster sword, a sword that is a big as its wielders entire body is cool.

[Dark_king]

I always liked Cloud's apocalypse blade,all bustled up to hell and back but still looked good.An triple AP didn't hurt.But some of my favorite blades of all time were in Drakengard.I loved the little stories that came with each blade.

[yojoe26]

So for me I have to say that the most iconic and awesome swords in my book will have to be Clouds Buster and Sephiroth's Masamune (think that was the name). I can't help it. I mean look at them. Both totally impossible to wield, but that's like exactly why I love them. Cloud's sword weighs probably 500 pounds and the Sephiroth's sword is like 14 feet long. I know it's probably just nostalgia that makes them special to me but what can I say? I'm a nostalgic guy when it comes to FF7. : )

[Relientk77]

Where is Lumia from Brave Fencer Musashi
and the gun blade from FFVIII and Tidus sword from FFX

[zackacloud]

of course cloud sword on final fantasy vii advent children was awesome it like sword bundle loool

it really nice and good sword

[gamey]

Haha. Great list. "...the best swords, like bands, are affiliated with Satan..." Funny stuff.

[TheREAL-HyDRo1x]

These aren't the best, just the most popular!

[HINDERIZATION]

dragon buster - Legend of Dragoon

[hellzsupernova]

Lilarcor cmon people it has a mans soul traped inside it and it talks to you about killing it is awesome! far far cooler and deeper then the FF swords but the gunblade would be my 2nd choice as its just badass!

wow the energy sword from halo is greater then GoW swords and Lilarcor and the gunblade and so many others are you kidding me?!!?!

[Too_many_games]

Squal's Gunblade....#2.....Master Sword...yes...#1

[mastershredder]

Hmm... I'm thinking the Sword familiar in Symphony of the night.

Nier had a good assortment as a more recent game (although some were just not big enough ;)).

The Master Sword at #1? Um...Why? There is very little story/interaction/customizatio n etc.etc. concerning the Master Sword. It is famous for its Sword in the Stone rip-off scene and that is about it.
I think that is one of the things about Zelda that just seems stale to me (that and the years of regurgitated story and gameplay).

[Rudy_loves_Akuma]

where the fuck is sephiroths masamune.....that shit is riddiculous lol

[bananlol]

The queens sword from ico would be my choice.

[JamieLeeC93]

Now all we need is 'The Top 10 Greatest Guns In Gaming History'.

[x5exotic]

ebony
ivory
pandora
etc
we kinda know'em all :P

[x5exotic]

1)Blades of chaos should be Numb1 IMO
2)replace rebellion wit YAMATO!!
3)why isnt there cloud's sword? or did i miss it im not sure

[Bobbie001]

why the hell is the energy sword from halo higher up in the list then the light saber from star wars

[XxPURExX]

U know what they say about ppl with big swords...

[Shadow_DR2]

Were are the Monster Hunter Swords?
You think they would have found a cool one out of all the swords you can get in that game.

*sigh* Good list anyway.

[danielle007]

Ooooo

I always loved the energy sword for Halo. <3

[BYE]

Personally, I like the Demon's Souls meat cleaver :D

[rybobales]

I'm pretty sure I've seen this article with a few minor changes at least a dozen times. Kinda getting old.

[commander]

Dragon Bone Smasher or Meatcleaver (Demons Souls)

[The_Great_D]

GET OVER THAT STUPID MASTER SWORD ALREADY!!!!!!!! IT SUCKS!!!!!!!! how many times do I have to see an article talking about the best swords and that fruit cake blade comes up at #1? what cuz its called the "master" sword? if you have ever even played a zelda game you would know that its garbage.

[NCAzrael]

I'm guessing you've never played a Zelda game, then. Master Sword > you.

[oxypsychobabbler]

dragon tooth sword from deus ex should have made the cut

[Kte]

FF>ALL