10 Video Games Where The Villain Had Better Abilities
These villains had you totally licked.
What are video games if not power fantasies in which we get to become awesome heroes who thoroughly layeth the smacketh down on their enemies? It’s what the medium is all about.
And yet, we’ve all surely had times where we’ve been playing a game and thought to ourselves, “Gee, I sure wish I had what the villain has.”
Sometimes the Big Bad or even some of the regular enemies have powers, weapons, and attacks so freakin’ cool and useful, that we can only lament that we were never able to wield them for ourselves.
No matter how likeable and capable our hero might be, they can’t help but pale in comparison to these villains, each of whom rocked some decidedly more impressive abilities on the battlefield and beyond.
Our hero is no slouch themselves in most cases, but all the same, it’s tough not to crave the villain’s arsenal after having it used against us.
In some cases these games even had us wishing for a spin-off starring said villain, but alas, we haven’t been so lucky as of yet…
10. Psycho Mantis - Metal Gear Solid
In fairness, this list could probably be comprised solely of Metal Gear Solid bosses, given that the franchise has seen Solid Snake/Big Boss fight, among others, an awesome cyborg ninja, a couple of legendary snipers, a guy who can make you see everyone you've ever killed, and even a bloke who controls bees.
But the MVP of mind-f**kery is unquestionably the first Metal Gear Solid's Psycho Mantis.
Mantis is a powerful psychic who can not only use telekinesis to hurl objects at you, but also possess support character Meryl, and in more meta fashion read your console's memory card and predict your movements.
By comparison, Snake's array of weapons and gadgets seem decidedly less impressive, though he does manage to defeat Mantis in the end by swapping controllers, in turn preventing Mantis from reading his mind.
Even in defeat, it's easy to see why Mantis was so fearsome, because the guy's abilities make him such an awe-striking threat to anyone in his vicinity. Sorry Snake, but even you can't measure up to the terrifying awesomeness of one of the world's most powerful psychics.
In fact, creator Hideo Kojima himself seems acutely aware of this, given that Metal Gear Solid 2 originally featured an unlockable "Mantis Mask," allowing players to read the minds of anyone in the area. But alas, it was ultimately scrapped.