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Boring but Practical/Video Games/Platform Game

< Boring but Practical‎ | Video Games


  • In platformers, Goomba Stomp or basic moves, as opposed to the things you can do with powerups. Vital since the said powerups aren't always available, and if you lose yours mid-level, what then?
  • Kirby can absorb a great many abilities, but his basic spitting attack (that can only be used without an ability), is often one of the strongest attacks he can perform.
    • This is probably due to its boringness - and the fact that bosses have a lot of health to cut through. If you lose your awesome sword-swipey attack halfway through, it would be hellish to have to whittle away a boss' hit points with a wimpy attack.
      • Also, because you have to wait for an enemy to attack before you inhale the projectile and shoot it back. A better example would be be abilities like Sword and Fire in Kirby Super Star. Yes, Plasma firing the Wave Motion Gun is cool, and the Ninja's ability to throw knives and disappear is fun, but for the most part, the simplest abilities are the most effective. On the other hand, the hard to master abilities are perfect examples of Lethal Joke Character.
      • The rock ability is also useful as you can turn into an invincible rock to endure the bosses attacks, turn back to Kirby, fly over the boss, and turn into a rock to injure the boss by falling on them.
      • There are some bosses in Kirby Super Star where you can do nothing but curl up in the Mirror's shield and wait for the boss to bounce off you enough to kill itself. Marx included.
  • The second Jak and Daxter game gives us an extremely large lightning-rocket launcher and a rapid-firing machine gun. The most dangerous weapons? The rifle and shotgun equivalents. No long charge times. No blowing up your own car. No risk of locking onto an enemy and tearing them to shreds with More Dakka while its friends jump you. the Final Boss battle only gives you Blaster ammo, too.
  • No matter which game in the Mega Man metaseries you're playing, the plain and simple Buster attack is this trope. It has unlimited energy, and there's very little that can't be at least damaged or temporarily frozen by it. You'll probably make more use of it then all the fancy (but energy-consuming) weapons you get. Except in Mega Man 2, where it's a weapon of last resort for if you run out of Metal Blade.
    • Enker, a near-endgame boss from Dr. Wily's Revenge and one of the DLC bosses in 10, is immune to all of your special weapons, so the trusty Mega Buster is the only weapon that will help you out against him. Of couse, as always you get his weapon upon defeating him in Mega Man 10, which is the weakness of one of the other DLC bosses who is also immune to everything but the buster and Enker's weapon.
    • A looser version occurs in games that provide power ups for the buster; not the armor parts seen in the X series, but the ones that boost stats. Even if the weapons are really good, the buster is the weapon that has the most support, with parts that can power, speed, size of your barrage, reduce charge time, etc.
    • In Mega Man Battle Network and Mega Man Star Force the buster is pretty much useless, even when fully upgraded (50 damage to one foe in an easy to miss attack, or a P.A. that breaks 1000 damage with no set up to everything on the field and is easy to draw), but it has its uses when 1.In an elec style in 2 or 3, where a charged shot stuns enemies and sets them up for otherwise easily dodged attacks 2.Many bosses have summons that your chips/cards are a waste on, making your best option buster spam.
  • In the Castlevania: Chronicles of Sorrow games, the Medusa Head's soul simply allows Soma to hover in place. For a pittance of mana, which basically means it can be used indefinitely. Against bosses with a raised weak point that attack the floor area most.
    • It gets another application in Dawn Of Sorrow, where Soma's jump kick does more damage the longer he is in the air before striking with it-- including the aforementioned hovering. Using one Boring but Practical move to power up another Boring but Practical move?
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