8) Shrink Ray – Duke Nukem Series
Oh, Duke, what have you done? After appearing in your own platforming series you transitioned to three-dimensions in the riotous Duke Nukem 3D. So why did you come back and ruin it for us all in Duke Nukem Forever, revealing yourself to be the cad you are with the half-baked jokes and the same old moves?
At the very least, the Shrink Ray remains a fixture of your stay, though I’d prefer to revisit it in 1995, rose tinted glasses firmly in place. At least then, your butt jokes made us laugh and your cigar didn’t look like an old man trying to be hip.
7) Portal Gun – Portal Series
Valve can’t claim to have invented the idea of Portal, but they can take credit for recognizing talent when they see it.
In 2005, a university project named Narbacular Drop was released in which a character navigated a level using interconnected portals. Impressed by the idea, Valve’s Gabe Newell, chief overseer and lord of the internet, hired the entire team to work on a fully-fledged standalone game.
So a new series was born, and with it, one of the best “weapons” we’ve ever seen.
The genius of Portal is the portal gun itself, in which two connected pathways are opened using a single gun. Where you place each opening determines whether you’ll navigate the puzzle. Portal might not involve bloodshed, but it’s managed to weaponize physics and make nerdiness cool.
