Power-Up #16: Sword (Victory Road)

With a name like Victory Road, you may not grasp how bizarre this Ikari Warriors sequel is. Set thousands of years into the future, our gun-toting heroes are set to not only rid time and space of nefarious terrorists, but also make their way home in time for Ikari III: The Rescue. Will they be able to do it? No, not if they plan on using this questionable power-up.



Purpose: The sword is one of our oldest and most celebrated weapons. And for good reason, since this sharp killing machine is both stylish and effective. Sadly, it's neither stylish nor effective in Victory Road. It's primarily a short-ranged weapon, which makes hitting enemies extremely difficult. Thankfully there is a long-ranged component to it, but it's far from useful against harder enemies and bosses.

Legacy: Perhaps based on user feedback, the sword was nixed from the 1989 sequel and its various ports. Instead, Ikari III: The Rescue chose to trouble players with frustrating hand-to-hand combat and boring level designs. But this isn't the time to review SNK's mediocre sequels; we have all of 2014 for that.

In Real Life: Perhaps there's a reason our brave soldiers don't carry swords into battle anymore. The idea of taking down your foes with a specially crafted blade may sound romantic to those of us who grew up on Akira Kurosawa films, but it's not very practical. This is especially true in a world full of drones and long-ranged weapons. Then again, swords would make Battlefield and Call of Duty more interesting.