In games, we all have the desire for power. People might like a good underdog story in sports, but no one wants to spend 30+ hours getting their but kicked. Most games follow a similar theme in which the hero is greatly outnumbered by hordes of foes, and then proceeds to mow down said foes, stopping briefly to fight an individual of greater strength every so often. On the flip side, there are games which also feature terrifyingly strong antagonists who – despite being seemingly unbeatable – are eventually overpowered through sheer willpower and determination. Point is, there are plenty of strong characters in gaming. But have you ever thought about which characters are too strong?

Be it within the context of their own universe or just in general, some characters in games – both protagonists and antagonists – seem pretty overpowered. These are the guys who make it look too easy. While judging these kinds of things can get tricky, it isn’t too hard to find several examples of incredibly OP video game characters. What should be taken into account is how these characters interact within their own universe and how overpowered they are in that regard. So taking that into account, here are the top 25 most overpowered video game characters ever.

25 Max Payne – Max Payne Series

The depressed, sour faced main character of the Rockstar series of the same name finds himself as the first entry on our list. While it might seem a little out of place at first to put a guy like Max Payne on here, his skill set certainly justifies his spot. Apart from his lightning quick reflexes and adept ability in hand to hand combat, Max’s ability to slow down time makes picking off enemy’s child’s play. Along with his trusty Beretta’s, Max can easily blast through room’s worth of opponents at a time. So while he might seem like a toned down character at first glance, his vigilante superhero-esque skill set makes him a perfect fit for this kind of list.

24 Pyramid Head – Silent Hill 2

Ah, yes. While the Silent Hill series has produced a number of deformed, nightmare educing baddies none are more iconic than Pyramid Head. A visually disturbing malformation of flesh and metal, Pyramid Head represents Silent Hill 2 protagonist James Sunderland’s desire for punishment. Wielding a giant great knife, Pyramid Head is by far the most terrifying creature Silent Hill has to offer. While not exactly undefeatable, Pyramid Head’s status as a product of the subconscious makes him a much more difficult foe than your traditional video game baddie. In terms of the Silent Hill universe itself, Pyramid Head represents an entity not surmountable by physical means, but instead plays on a mental stigma making him a powerful being in his own right.

23 Eddy Gordo – Tekken Series

Anyone who’s played Tekken has experienced the sinking feeling that comes with seeing your friend take Eddy Gordo from the selection menu. It’s kind of the equivalent of using roller-skates in a foot race. Not cool. Every fighting game has its “easy win” characters, and this button mashing, break dancing hooligan is just that. He’s very much overpowered and offers newer players someone who can at times easily compete with more adept competitors. His unique Capoeira style of fighting makes attacking and defending against him a headache for a majority of players, and is less dependent on the player’s skills and more so on the fact that he’s just inherently broken.

22 Albert Wesker – Resident Evil Series

A mainstay in Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise, Albert Wesker is one of the series’ most iconic villains. Initially possessing a mastery of martial arts along with a unique blood type that made him resistant to foreign substances, Wesker’s power only grew from there. After injecting himself with the prototype virus, Wesker quickly transitioned into a class of his own, proving difficult to handle. His superhuman abilities included super speed, enhanced reflexes, incredible strength and a well improved healing factor, making taking him head on nothing short of a losing battle. Taking an enemy who can endure a multitude of different attacks is hard enough, but someone who can dodge pretty much anything and treat you like a silly ragdoll in the process is just demoralizing.

21 Lu Bu – Dynasty Warriors Series

Lu Bu is by far the strongest character in the Dynasty Warriors series. No argument there. But he’s not just overpowered, he’s frustratingly overpowered. This iconic antagonist appears in almost every Dynasty Warriors game and it’s the same story every time; don’t go near the guy. You’ll die. He’s got the fastest horse in the game, a ton of HP and ridiculous range, hitting anything and everything around him. He can easily take out chunks of soldiers with ease while providing a gargantuan challenge to even the most adept player. Taking him head on by yourself is usually suicide and forces you to basically use everyone around you as a damn meat shield. Remember, do not pursue Lu Bu!

20 Doomguy – Doom Series

Well this one’s pretty self explanatory. The guy singlehandedly kills demons. Demons. All by himself. It’s an impressive feat for a seemingly normal human. Aside from being a completely badass marine, Doomguy can run at 57 miles per hour, can fall from great heights without sustaining much damage and can fit an entire armory on his person. The guy is literally a one man army, with pretty much no help throughout his journey and little to no need for any assistance whatsoever. Demon killing might sound like an arduous task at first, but it’s apparently as easy as pointing and shooting the hell out of whatever moves – at least to Doomguy.

19 Akuma – Super Street Fighter II Turbo

While not the most iconic character in the franchise, Akuma is undeniably the most broken Street Fighter character out there. With his fiery red hair, red demonic eyes and questionably large beaded-necklace, he’s quite the imposing figure. While not all too fast of a character, Akuma is a bruiser who can take out opposing players with ease if they’re too careless. Akuma’s Shoryuken can deplete a third of an opponent’s health with the majority of his move set being equally overpowered. It’s as if the game developers wanted to give the player a reasonable challenge but completely lost track of that objective halfway through the process. While he’s been nerfed in following installments, Turbo’s Akuma really was a pain in the ass.

18 Galen Marek – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Series

This video game exclusive character’s reception among the fiercely loyal, incredibly demanding Star Wars fan base has been somewhat mixed. The term Mary Sue seems to stick to Galen Marek like glue. It’s understandable as to why some might be inclined to associate him with the term. Despite being Darth Vader’s apprentice in The Force Unleashed series, Marek a.k.a. Starkiller, a.k.a. The Apprentice is ridiculously strong. In fact he might be one of the most powerful playable characters in any Star Wars game. Apart from his skills as an assassin, Marek is adept in lightsaber combat and is skilled enough in the force to rip a damn Star Destroyer out of the sky. Anyone that young who can stand up to both Darth Vader and Darth Sidious is seriously overpowered.

17 Cole MacGrath – Infamous Series

The Infamous games have offered a fresh spin on superhero video games since first coming out in 2009. While the majority of superhero games focused on long established characters primarily known through their comic book fan base, Infamous started from scratch allowing the player to mold average Joe turned superhuman badass Cole McGrath’s from the very moment he got his powers. While that all sounds well and good, Cole is completely OP. With the power of Electrokinesis and Electromagnetism, along with superhuman strength and an enhanced healing factor, Cole can overpower mostly any opponent – regardless of whether or not they’re fellow Conduits. Though he has the kind of weaknesses you’d associate with one with electronic based superpowers, Cole’s ability to develop his powers allows him to overcome nearly any obstacle, leaving him with a very high ceiling.

16 Alex Mercer – Prototype Series

True, Alex Mercer does get his but handed to him by James Heller in Prototype 2, but seeing how much Mercer’s powers had matured and the disadvantage Heller was at during the fight, we’re going to give the original Prototype the slight edge in this one. Originally a scientist consumed by the Blacklight virus, Alex Mercer became one of the most brutal monstrosities in gaming. With too many powers to list off, Mercer – along with his genius intellect – possessed every physical advantage imaginable. Be it versus soldiers or infected creatures, Mercer’s biomass allowed him to claw, slice, slash and consume all in his path – to the point that heavy artillery proved to be nothing more than child’s play to him.

15 Sephiroth – Final Fantasy VII

As much as you might hate the guy for orchestrating one of the most heartbreaking death scenes in video game history, you’ve got to admit that Sephiroth is a pretty awesome character. Once the strongest member of SOLDIER, Sephiroth has solidified himself as one of Final Fantasy’s biggest baddies, mostly due to the immense power at his disposal. With superhuman speed, strength and reflexes, Sephiroth proved to be in a class of his own. After assimilating with Jenova, Sephiroth gained the ability to cast magic without the use of Materia, fly and manipulate Jenova’s cells as though they were his own. With all this taken into account, you’d be hard pressed not to say that the main cast for Final Fantasy VII were more than a little overmatched in their task of taking this behemoth down.

14 Majora – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask

While the loner Skull Kid is initially presented as the primary antagonist of Majora’s Mask, The Mask itself is eventually revealed as the true antagonist in the game. Though technically an inanimate object, Majora’s Mask is a sentient being and can even speak through whoever is wearing it. Majora’s Mask is a completely evil entity that grants great destructive powers to anyone who dares wear it. On its own it has three forms, each more dangerous than the other. There’s its initial form, followed by Majora’s Incarnation – swapping out its tentacles for legs and arms, and finally Majora’s Wrath which is by far the most menacing of the three. The sheer tenacity of Majora along with the various forms it takes makes it one of the most frightening foes in The Legend of Zelda universe.

13 Arceus - Pokémon Series

Though he isn’t the strongest Pokémon out there by any stretch of the imagination, Arceus is the most powerful entity within the Pokémon mythos. As the Pokémon universes iteration of God, Arceus is responsible for the creation of most Pokémon and therefore can be seen as that universe's most polarizing entity. Though initially a Normal-Type, Arceus can change whatever type it is based on whichever plate it is holding through its Multitype ability. This adds a great deal of flexibility to how battles can be approached and shows just how adaptable an entity like Arceus can be within the Pokémon universe. Don't go anywhere near this God on the battlefield!

12 Nyx – Persona 3

This has got to be one of the gloomiest, depressing boss fights in gaming. The stagnant air of hopelessness never lets up for one second as Nyx spouts out line after line of deprecating nonsense. Standing as an entity determined to bring about the end of the world, Nyx is something of an undefeatable entity. Yes, you do have to “defeat” her avatar at the end of the game, but that’s a moot point. The avatar shifts trough 14 different arcana, constantly swapping out of weaknesses and changing attacks. Its two strongest abilities reflect all damage done to it and do a great deal of damage and cause random status effects respectively. Any attempts to defeat both her and her avatar are futile and the only way in which to truly defeat Nyx is to prolong her coming by sealing her away.

11 The Prince – Katamari Series

Though not necessarily physically menacing, The Prince of the Katamari series is certainly someone to be feared. While his personality is innocent enough that he doesn’t pose that much of an initial threat, The Prince lugs around something called a Katamari. It’s basically a giant ball that absorbs whatever it comes into contact with. It usually starts out small and grows gradually from there, even absorbing clumps of planets by the end of Katamari Forever!, all the while being pushed around by this otherwise harmless looking character. Though he may not seem like it, The Prince basically possesses God-like powers along with the strength to move entire planets worth of mass. If that’s not at least a little overpowered then what is?

10 Dracula – Castlevania Series

One of the most iconic characters in the Castlevania series, Dracula is also its most fearsome. As a primary antagonist, Dracula’s the full package; a seemingly undefeatable enemy with a multitude of abilities backed by demonic forces and overwhelming power. Dracula is pure evil incarnate, and through his immortality gained many skills and abilities. Though a normal vampire would fall to a shot to the heart or a ray of sun light, Dracula possesses a wide multitude of powers making such simple means of disposal incredible difficult. His ability to control multiple creatures of the night along with the ability to transform makes direct combat with him difficult. In direct combat he can hold his own and very easily overpower most adversaries making him a difficult target to capture and to fend off.

9 Kefka Palazzo – Final Fantasy VI

Another powerful Final Fantasy baddy, this one more frightening than the last. Though he starts off as nothing special, Kefka Palazzo’s powers steadily increase throughout the events of Final Fantasy VI. It gets to the point that Kefka becomes a God, wielding frightening magical powers that can overwhelm almost any foe. At full power, Kefka can form magical barriers, manipulate the elements and utilize telekinesis. His power grows so great at one point that he destroys dozens of towns on a whim. Being the God of Magic, Kefka can create his own minions and utilizes some of the strongest magic in the game. He became so powerful that following his death, magic itself left the world.

8 Steve (Creative Mode) – Minecraft

Alright, alright, just hear this one out. While not a competitive game in the traditional sense, Minecraft does offer players a competitive landscape in which they’re constantly trying to one up themselves or their friends in some of the most creative ways imaginable. With a multitude of modes offered, the most lax and forgiving by far is Minecraft’s Creative mode, in which the player is given an infinite number of blocks to build with and have neither health nor hunger to worry about, not to mention the inability to take damage. Meaning that dying in Creative is very very difficult, to the point that it’s only possible if the player is very careless or trying to off themselves. Players in Creative mode pretty much have every resource available at the snap of a finger, making building and excavating areas way simpler than they’d usually be.

7 Pyron – Darkstalkers Series

Apart from having a totally badass design, Pyron is one of the most fearsome characters in gaming. The cosmic entity surpasses The Milky Way itself in size and possesses incredible strength. Well that’s fairly obvious seeing that he dwarfs planets. Pyron can travel faster than light, consumes worlds in order to sustain himself and can withstand almost any kind of attack without so much as a scratch on him. Plainly put, he’s nearly invincible. Though he does have his weaknesses, Pyron makes up for them in a way that makes them easy to overlook. His ability to control gravity or the ability to make his flames as hot as a supernova for example, those abilities right there makeup for any weak points he has - they also make him seem pretty broken.

6 Giygas – Mother Series

There is perhaps not a more twisted or frightening entity in video game history than Giygas. With his sole purpose to sentence all of reality to infinite darkness, Giygas is truly a frightening foe. Not just based on his intent, but his appearance itself is incredibly disturbing and stirs a deep feeling of unease. With the power to manipulate humans, as well as an army of violent war machines backing him up, Giygas is an overwhelming threat to humanity. With his influence, all living creatures around him become incredibly violent and distraught, causing mass panic and hysteria. Apart from his ability to influence what’s around him, Giygas possesses incredible psychic power making him an incredibly difficult foe to handle.