History Main / PowerUpLetdown

*** Despite being the games' main attraction, the Elephant Power ends up being this in practice. It lets you bust blocks and block projectiles by swinging your trunk, but it also makes you larger with a bigger hitbox, meaning attacks that won't normally hit a normal-sized character will hit an Elephant-sized character. It's abilities are highly specialized like the ability to shoot projectiles, that it cannot do without access to water, on top of the competing with the Fire and Bubble powers, and its ability to break blocks ultimately ends up being outclassed by the Drill Power, which also adds tons of extra utility.

** Leather armour. It's less commonly found than higher-tier armours, more expensive and difficult to craft, provides far less durability and protection than even gold armours, doesn't even have the secondary purpose like gold armour endearing you to Piglins or having higher-tier enchantments, and can't even be recycled into scraps the way gold and iron equipment can be smelted into nuggets. By the time you get to a point where you reliably have enough leather to make any of this equipment, you will at least have full iron gear and will likely be getting into enchanting, where the leather is ''far'' too valuable for crafting bookshelves to be wasted on this stuff.

* In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'', if you accomplish the very difficult feat of killing the tutorial boss ''before'' you get your starting equipment[[note]]or the very easy feat of picking Black Firebombs as your starting gift and killing him with those[[/note]], you are rewarded with his awesome looking giant hammer. It is very powerful, yes, but it's Strength requirement is so ridiculously high that when you finally have enough to use the damn thing, the [[BoringButPractical big log that was just lying on the ground in the swamp]] -- which requires 18 less Strength to use and is 10 pounds lighter in a game where equipment weight matters a lot -- will actually do slightly more damage than it because of its superior scaling (assuming both are upgraded to the same level).

*** ** The Invisibility Badge renders the player character completely invisible to everything... including the player themselves. It's just as disorienting as it sounds, as you cannot see where you are or what you're doing.[[note]]You can reveal your location by placing standees or using emotes, but those aren't something you can comfortably do while on the move.[[/note]] It's one of the ''Expert'' badges, meaning its supposed to have an element of challenge to its use as a trade-off to its given perk, but the advantage of enemies not noticing you is really not worth the downside.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': the final upgrade of the Flail of Ages turns it into a powerful +5 weapon with additional elemental damage... and applies the Free Action status effect to the wielder. While in early game it would have proven useful against enemies that can stun or cast Hold, by the time you get the ultimate Flail of Ages you won't have such problems anymore, while Free Action also prevents you from applying useful spells like Haste as well. Many players avoid upgrading the weapon because Haste is so important against final bosses and elite mooks that it can't be renounced. (this is a bug introduced with the Enhanced Edition, the original game doesn't have this issue). On top of this, the Enhanced Edition adds another problem: thanks to a bug in the coding, if an enemy is immune to one of any of the five types of elemental damage that the Flail of Ages inflicts when fully upgraded, it becomes immune to all the flail's elemental damage. Given that the final damage type added is Poison, which something like half the enemies in the game are immune to, this is a huge penalty that will cost you a significant portion of the weapons damage.
** The personal questline of Dorn in the end will earn you a powerful two-handed sword that has additional damage against devils or demons, depending on your choices. With a bit of cleverness, you can get an ultimate version that has both bonuses. Unfortunately, this requires Dorn to lose his blackguard status, with all its inherent special abilities and powers.
** Before the final confrontation with the BigBad in Shadows of Amn, you get immunity to +1 weapons and non-magical weapons. Which is completely useless because you are not going to meet anyone with such weak weapons in the upcoming battle. Even in the expansion Throne of Bhaal, disposable mooks have at least +2 weapons.

*** The Anchor. Each world besides 8 has a super secret Mushroom House unlocked by collecting enough coins in a specific level. Around half of these contain P-Wings, which are among the most powerful items in the game. The other half contain anchors, which are not. Using an anchor stops the airship in each world from moving around if you fail to beat it. This is useless, because the airship only appears after you have cleared a path through most of the world getting to the castle in the first place, and doesn't appear at all if you beat the castle on the first try. Its only real use is in World 5, both so you don't have to go back and forth between the sky and the ground if you fail the airship, and to prevent a GameBreakingBug in the [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] version that can make the airship fly off the World Map completely, making the game UnintentionallyUnwinnable.

** In the original UsefulNotes/PC88 game, not only are the sword upgrades MutuallyExclusivePowerups, but you actually have to pay for them with your LifeMeter whenever you pick one up (and the archaic joystick controls are of no help in avoiding upgrades/downgrades you don't want). If you don't have enough health at the time, the game summons a swarm of enemies to finish you off.

* ''[[Series/TheAddamsFamily Fester's Quest]]'' for the UsefulNotes/{{NES}}:

* Once you get the L (Orange laser) powerup in ''Soulstar'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaCD, avoid the C (circle laser) powerup at all costs. The circle laser has a faster rate of fire, but is ''very'' weak. Using it in the exploration levels is suicidal.

* In ''VideoGame/SplinterCellDoubleAgent'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoGameCube, it's possible to get a wood-carving knife in the [[NoGearLevel prison level]] that enables you to use lethal attacks. However, due to a programming bug, Sam uses lethal attacks just fine without it; he quite literally stabs and slashes with his balled-up fist and can kill enemies by doing so. Once you have the knife there is no getting rid of it, and since it's metal, it prevents you from passing through metal detectors without triggering an alarm.

** Perhaps as a reaction to fan responses over the aforementioned Lava Gun, the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 titles have many weapons that do not gain significantly useful functionality when they are upgraded, with effects that are usually unnoticeable and not very useful. They feel worlds away from the days where [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal upgrading a shotgun would give it a beam of death]], or [[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankSizeMatters a sniper would gain rounds that exploded]].

* Creator/{{Seanbaby}} pointed out several of these on his ''[[http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/nes/useless.htm Useless Power-Ups]]'' page - though the Feather is more of a particularly nonsensical PlotCoupon, others include [[UselessUsefulSpell a defensive spell that protects against an attack no enemies use]], an invisibility power that makes it impossible for you to see where you're going but [[TheAllSeeingAI doesn't impede the enemies]], and an attack that requires you to touch the enemies in a game with CollisionDamage.

*** The Bubble Shield is a total waste of time from Mushroom Hill Zone on if you're playing the game with ''Sonic & Knuckles'' locked on. After Launch Base Zone, there's no more water in any of the remaining levels, so the Bubble Shield is never needed unless you want it to make you bounce higher (Sonic only). This gets worse if you are playing ''Sonic & Knuckles'' as a stand-alone, which has no water ''at all''. It's still good for protection from ring loss for one hit, which is better than no shield at all, even if its beneficial function (being able to breath underwater) is useless.

*** Sonic's Magic Hands, which allow him to turn one of his enemies into a held item, which he can then throw at another enemy - but to use it, you have to scroll through an action menu, and thus you can only use it while standing completely still and only on an enemy that isn't actively attacking you. Plus, it's impossible to aim the throw, which doesn't even have much range or do much damage. The default homing attack is superior in every way. [[note]]It is actually useful on Point Runs. Magic Hands doubles the points earned from the enemy it's used on. Since points determine your Rank at the end of the level, using Magic Hands on high-point-value enemies (like Gold Beetles) is useful for getting A-Ranks on hard levels. It is good for insta-killing enemies with shields too, as they can block neither the Hands nor their [[GrievousHarmWithABody thrown partner]].[[/note]]

*** Knuckles' Sunglasses provide no useful function, just let you see and collect certain hidden items. They don't even come in handy in a specific situation (Sonic can use his Magic Hands to make exactly one enemy easier to overcome in Cannon's Core). However, [[CoolShades they do look cool]] and that must [[RuleOfCool count for something]]. Rouge also has a similar item she can equip (the Treasure Scope), which is at least required for one of her missions.

*** Any Steel or Ground-type Pokémon with Overcoat (nullifies damage from sandstorms and hail) as a hidden ability. Because of their types, they're already immune to sandstorm damage. This is averted in Generation VI, where Overcoat gains the additional effect of making the user immune to spore and powder moves, which is very useful considering those kinds of moves can cause crippling StatusEffects like Sleep and Paralysis.

*** Darmanitan has Zen Mode as its hidden ability. When Darmanitan's health drops below 50%, it changes form from a GlassCannon to a MightyGlacier, and gains an additional Psychic-type and much higher stats overall. While it sounds good in theory, it's anything but. If Darmanitan recovers its health to above 50% in Zen Mode, it will revert back, so good luck tanking hits with less than 50% HP. Furthermore, regular Darmanitan has a fantastic Attack stat but its Special Attack is abysmal, while Zen Mode Darmanitan has an abysmal Attack stat but a fantastic Sp. Attack stat. Essentially, this means a Darmanitan have to waste at least one move slot for a special move, and waste EV points for its Sp. Attack stat, to take advantage of its Zen Mode, which won't activate until its health drops below 50%. And to cap it off, Darmanitan's non-Hidden ability is Sheer Force, which heavily buffs the power of all moves with secondary effects (at the price of removing those effects, but that's a small price to pay), making it hit much harder than Zen Mode Darmanitan. This means, ironically, that you'll almost never see a Darmanitan trainer that makes use of the species's signature gimmick.
*** Durant receives ''Truant'' as its hidden ability. An ability whose only use is to balance out [[LightningBruiser Slaking]]. Its effect is that the Pokémon attacks one turn and the next will do nothing. The only use for the Ability is for Durant to use Entrainment to give the Ability to other Pokémon and cripple them; [[AIBreaker useful against the AI]], but any human player worth their salt will just switch Pokémon.
*** Ferrothorn gets Anticipation as its Hidden Ability. Upon switching in, Anticipation... tells you whether the opponent can hit Ferrothorn super effectively or is packing a one-hit KO move. And that's all it does. It doesn't even tell you what move they have, which might at least be useful (knowing the opponent has a Fire-type move would be pretty helpful, as Ferrothorn ''really'' doesn't like Fire). Needless to say, this is a huge step down from its regular ability Iron Barbs, which damages attacking enemies on contact and can actually rack up quite a bit of residual damage due to Ferrothorn's tankiness. And just to add insult to injury, ''its own pre-evolution Ferroseed gets to keep Iron Barbs'', meaning that if you obtain a Ferroseed through any means that can give it a hidden ability, it's entirely possible for it to go from a good ability to a crappy one on evolution.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', the Super Rod is an example of this. Sure, it lets you fish up Pokémon unavailable via the Old Rod & Good Rod, but it also expands the games' fishing ScrappyMechanic from a max of 3 "Oh! A bite!" checks to 6, making fishing with it much more tedious than necessary.

*** Gigantamax Corviknight loses Max Airstream for G-Max Wind Rage, which breaks moves like Light Screen and Reflect. The problem is, the effect of Max Airstream is to boost speed, which Corviknight needs desperately.
*** Gigantamax Drednaw loses Max Geyser for G-Max Stonesurge, which sets up Stealth Rock. Drednaw's hidden ability is Swift Swim, which means you'll usually want to have the rain that Max Geyser sets up instead, not to mention that Stealth Rock is widespread enough (and Drednaw can learn it anyways) that you usually don't need to waste your Dynamax just to set it up assuming you don't use the move in in [=VGCs=].

*** Gigantamax Eevee loses Max Strike for G-Max Cuddle, which infatuates the target. Not only is infatuation a lot more situational than the reliable Speed drop from Max Strike (infatuation only works on opponents of the opposite gender while Speed reduction works on basically everything), but Eevee that can Gigantamax lose the ability to evolve... which, given Eevee's horrendous base stats, means it tends to do absolutely nothing compared to a Dynamaxed (or even ''non-Dynamaxed'') Eeveelution. Gigantamax Pikachu suffers from this as well as not only does it also have terrible stats, but G-Max Volt Crash's ability to Paralyze Ground-types only works in Double and Max Raid Battles with Dynamaxed Raichu having more bulk and being able to use Max Geyser and Max Overgrowth to get rid of Ground-types.
*** Gigantamax Charizard was originally considered an example: It trades Max Flare for G-Max Wildfire. The former summons harsh sun, which will boost Charizard's fire moves ''and'' boosts Charizard's special attack by 50% if it has its Hidden Ability, Solar Power, turning it into a potent sweeper. The latter merely causes non-fire enemies to lose one sixth of their health every turn for four turns. This changed later on, however, as the ability to deal constant damage to all opponents at once for several turns straight became very valued, and in formats where a separate sun-setter can support Charizard the G-max variant actually sees a lot of use.

** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' features the Volaticus glyph, which is an awesome glyph that allows you to fly freely around the screen. So why is it a letdown? It's gained so late in the game that you barely get to ''use'' it unless you do the BonusDungeon Large Cavern. It does make Dracula much easier, though, since he's programmed to use an easily-dodged flame pillar attack over any of his other ones if you use it against him. It also allows you to fire [[GameBreaker Nitesco beams]] while moving, even backwards if you fired before moving.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'''s Owl Morph has a similar issue. Again, it's good in and itself, but not long after you get it, you find the Griffon Wing, which is a super jump that outclasses the Owl Morph in every way. You'll use the morph 3 or 4 times at most.

*** Jellicent has the Hidden Ability Damp, which stops [[TakingYouWithMe self-destruction]] moves like Selfdestruct and Explosion. Being a Ghost-Type, it {{No Sell}}s both of those attacks anyway. Granted, this could still see use in Double Battles and maybe save it from an exploding Alolan Golem with Galvanize, but Jellicent's original two abilities are still considered too much better to bother.
*** Rotom's alternate forms, as of ''Platinum'', change type, keeping the Electric typing and adding a second. Rotom's Fan Form becomes Electric/Flying, a good typing. However, its ability remains Levitate, and both Levitate and the Flying-typing will cancel out Ground-type moves, effectively giving it a double immunity. Of course, you could also give it an Air Balloon to make it triple.

* The Super Powers in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped'' range from GameBreaker (the Fruit Bazooka) to "the Time Trials are actually possible now" (the Crash Dash) to "incredibly useful" (the DoubleJump and Death Tornado Spin) to "am I doing it right? I don't think it's working" (the Super Charged Body Slam). What this "upgrade" to your body slam does is increase the range of its shock wave by around one box width, but this is something that will be useful in the game exactly ''one time'', the bonus stage of Dino Might, and in a scenario tailor-made to specifically require it. Its only other "use" is it's possible with ''very'' careful positioning to use the shockwave to detonate Nitro crates without taking a hit, which should be handy but there's just simply never a scenario where this is actually necessary or useful when you can just jump over or walk around said crate. And when you do need to destroy Nitro crates because there is no Nitro switch in level you have Fruit Bazooka, which is of course much better suited for the task. You'll otherwise forget you even have it (it's rather telling that said bonus stage has an icon in the background ''reminding you the power-up even exists''), and it's such a non-upgrade that the [[VideoGameRemake N. Sane Trilogy]] just up and lets you start the game with it.
* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootTheWrathOfCortex'':
** It introduces tiptoeing as a skill awarded for beating the first boss. This allows you to walk on suspended Nitro Crates which otherwise blow on contact. However, the main paths in levels never ever require you to use this, and for gem paths and Death Routes it's easier to wait until you can use the Double Jump and Death Tornado Spin combo to glide over the boxes, so many players will fully complete the game without using this power even once beyond plain curiosity.
** Super Charged Body Slam gets it even worse here than in ''Warped''. It is never ever needed, and to get it you must complete Red Gem path, so it's completely optional to get it. Seems like devs kinda saw how useful it was in previous game.

* As a rather hastily done marketing tie-in, the ''[[Series/{{Firefly}} Serenity]]'' RPG had a number of these. One strong example was Healthy As A Horse, an ability that improved your hit points. It cost exactly as much as upgrading your Constitution one rank did, gave exactly as many hitpoints as raising your Constituion did, and provided none of the other benefits of raising your Constition. Even if you'd already maxed your Constituion out (something you were highly unlikely to do in a normal game), taking it was still of dubious value given how damage worked in the game: typically the difference meant you were looking at being left alive with a CareerEndingInjury rather than simply being dead.

** Surskit possesses a unique design (a water strider), a typing (Bug/Water) that was completely unique for four generations, and pretty good stats for an unevolved Pokémon. When it evolves, it becomes Masquerain, which changes its design into a fairly generic moth and alters its typing to the fairly common and competitively awful Bug/Flying. Its stats do increase somewhat and it gets the good ability Intimidate, which lowers opponents' attack, but it's still outclassed by [[CrutchCharacter Butterfree]], and until Generation VII, it actually ''lost'' a few points of Speed.

*** Devil, who moves the stage around, changing the boundaries and making it harder for both the opponents and the summoner to maneuver. His trophy description acknowledges how he isn't really helping.
*** Helirin doesn't help the summoner at all, only acting as a temporary platform--and a terrible one at that, as it slowly spins around so you can't even stand on it for very long.
*** Resetti doesn't do anything to help his summoner. The only damage he can do is explode, and that's only if somebody decides to hit him enough times.

*** Tingle is an odd case: His balloon spell does nothing, his hammer spell just spawns hammers that everyone can use, his fire spell causes everyone to start breathing fire, and his zoom effect only harms the summoner slightly less than it does the opponents. His banana spell is the only one that doesn't harm the summoner (it makes everyone else trip more often).
*** Isabelle spawns health-restoring fruit that any player can pick up. Fortunately, she always aims toward her summoner, and the summoner has the added benefit of automatically eating the fruit instead of having to grab it like everyone else. [[PromotedToPlayable She didn't last.]]
*** Nightmare completely obscures the vision of everyone.
*** Skull Kid's three effects are flipping the camera upside-down, mirroring it, or turning every fighter invisible, affecting everyone -- including the summoner.
*** Just like Devil, the Squid Sisters alter the stage by slowly zooming it in and greatly decreasing the blast lines. On one hand, you have less room to maneuver, but on the other, it is far easier to KO the opponent; especially since the screen eventually gets small enough that you can probably take out an opponent with 0% damage with one strong hit.
** Some of the Poké Ball Pokémon qualify:

*** Mew, Jirachi, and Celebi drop rare collectible items like trophies, stickers, and [=CDs=], but otherwise do nothing. In ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', Mew does nothing since none of these items exist.

** Wario's [[LimitBreak Final Smash]] in ''Brawl'' and ''4'' is an ''amazing'' ability, vastly increasing Wario's strength and speed, granting him flight, and making him invincible to almost everything in the game. However, one of its changes is to the Wario Bike, increasing its speed to the point that it's TooFastToStop. (The official website suggests that this was intentional.) Even if you have good enough reflexes to not kill yourself, not only will you most likely zoom right past your opponent without hitting them, but even if you do manage to hit them, the damage it deals is only a little more than regular Wario's bike.

** Blur Artifacts in ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', ''VideoGame/DoomII'' and ''VideoGame/Doom64'' are actually a negative facing projectile shooting enemies. They make you harder to see, with the effect that monsters have very poor aim when trying to shoot you. The problem is straight shots can be predictably dodged, whereas stray ones you've got a good chance of dodging ''into''. Against {{hitscan}} enemies, the partial invisibility significantly reduces their accuracy, rendering them far more manageable when fought in groups.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosWonder'': Wall-Climb Jump badge certainly sounds cool, acting as a homage to the wall-climb glitch in the original NES game by making the player jump vertically up a wall before instigating a proper wall jump. However, not only are there few scenarios outside the badge's dedicated challenge levels where you'd want to do a wall-climb over immediately wall jumping, but it is completely invalidated in those scant instances by two other badges: the Parachute Cap and the Grappling Vine, as both allow the player to indefinitely ascend any vertical surface by repeatedly wall-jumping off and gliding/grappling back onto it. This is on top of other badges, such as the Boosting Spin Jump, that can grant the user greater verticality when they aren't near a wall.

*** Downplayed by the doubled magic meter, your reward for the [[ThatOneSidequest arduous stray fairy quest]] of Snowhead Temple, the second dungeon. While it's not bad in its own right, especially since it's a permanent upgrade, it's overshadowed by obtaining Chateau Romani, which grants ''infinite magic'', and is earned for completing the much easier (if longer) Romani Ranch sidequest which can be completed at the exact same time as the Snowhead fairy sidequest. Since every dungeon relies heavily on magic-consuming arrows and abilities, there's rarely a time where relying on a bit longer of a magic meter is a better alternative than just dropping200 rupees on Chateau Romani each cycle and waiting until 10 PM at night (as that's when the Milk Bar opens up). The [[VideoGameRemake 3DS version]] further changes the doubled magic meter to the reward for completing the stray fairy quest of Woodfall Temple, the ''first'' dungeon, which is not only the easiest of the quests to complete but long before you can access Chateau Romani.

*** The doubled magic meter, your reward for the [[ThatOneSidequest arduous stray fairy quest]] of Snowhead Temple. While it's not bad in its own right, it's overshadowed by obtaining Chateau Romani, which grants ''infinite magic'', and is earned for completing the much easier (if longer) Romani Ranch sidequest which can be completed at the exact same time as the Snowhead fairy sidequest. Since every dungeon relies heavily on magic-consuming arrows and abilities, there's rarely a time where relying on a bit longer of a magic meter is a better alternative than just dropping some rupees on Chateau Romani each cycle.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaWindWaker'': Unlocking Blue Potions at the potion shop on Windfall Island requires you to collect Chu Jelly from 15 of the rare Blue Chuchus scattered around the entire map. You cannot receive jelly from the same Blue Chuchu twice and you'll need the item from the penultimate dungeon to reach at least 15 of them. Or you could just trade 4 common Boko Baba seeds in at the potion shop in the Forest Haven, accessible just before the second dungeon, making the tedious Chu Jelly sub-quest completely superfluous.

*** Your "reward" for finding all stray fairies in Stone Tower is the Great Fairy's Sword. It boasts an impressive 4x the damage of the Kokiri's Sword, but by the time you get it all you have left is the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon... which has next to no combat save for the "Link" dungeon. While it ''can'' be used against Majora, it leaves you defenseless against his projectiles and whips as it's a two-handed blade that can't be used in conjunction with your shield. Finally, even if you backtrack to fight some enemies with it, you'll find that it's barely stronger than your Gilded Sword and tends to maybe save you one or two swipes against foes. It's ''only'' useful if you rely on an exploit to beat Stone Tower ''before'' Great Bay, and even then it's a novelty at best.

*** The Dominion Rod is a contender for one of the most useless items in ''Zelda'' history. Its description makes it sound great, being a rod that can bring statues to life. In reality, all it basically lets you do outside the Temple of Time once Shad powers it back up again is move six obstacles -- eight if you also take on the [[BonusDungeon Cave of Ordeals]] in its entirety -- throughout the entire rest of the game out of the way, and once that's done it has no more use at all.
*** The Horse Call. In theory, it would be great: a portable horse grass that you could use to call Epona anywhere in the game. Unfortunately, you don't get it until you're almost through the entire game and by then you can just use Midna to warp almost anywhere, with Link's wolf form being almost if not as fast as the horse to fill the gaps. Adding insult to injury is the fact that you actually receive the item earlier in the Hidden Village, but at that point it is called Ilia's Charm and can't be used until you ''show it to her'' again.
*** The powered up Master Sword obtained in lieu of a dungeon item from the Palace of Twilight is only marginally useful as it's able to one-punch Twilit Enemies (Which are non-threats as the unpowered sword can kill them in one or two hits already) and clearing out Shadow Crystal Fog (Like using the Lantern to clear poison fog). The power up doesn't work outside of the Palace of Shadow, which makes it nothing more than a form of dungeon key.
*** In addition to the weak dungeon items, the HD version also added Miiverse stamps. They're effectively emojis that can be used in your Miiverse posts, so within the game itself they are [[UselessItem completely useless]]. They were placed in existing chests, replacing consumable items that would have been found in older versions, so it can be rather disappointing and even frustrating to work for a chest only to get a reward that doesn't help at all InUniverse -- even considering money isn't worth much in the game, at least finding rupees was ''situationally'' useful and helped out in the early game. It's become even worse after Miiverse has been shut down, as the stamps now serve no purpose whatsoever.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap'' has Picolyte, several bottled items that can be purchased from Beedle in Hyrule Castle Town. Beedle himself must be unlocked, and there are several varieties of Picolyte that you can unlock as well. Each type of Picolyte is a one-use item that temporarily increases the drop rate of certain items from grass and enemies, such as hearts, useable items, or Rupees. The problem is that each type of Picolyte lasts a mere 30 seconds, and they cost ''200 Rupees'' each--an absolutely terrible cost-to-benefit ratio.

*** As you progress weapons you find can be equipped with modifiers that boost the stats of the weapon. One of these modifiers is 'Long Throw', which simply increases the distance at which you can throw the weapon. There are many problems with this: Weapons can only have a single modifier, so Long Throw fills that spot that could go to something more useful, most weapons aren't made with throwing in mind, with the exception of Boomerangs you must retrieve weapons you throw making it a poor offensive option in a sustained fight, and in the few cases where throwing range is relevant you already have a Bow to provide much more sustained damage over long ranges. The big mark against Long Throw however is that the game consideres it a 'strong' modifier, meaning that it replaces the much more universally useful 'Critical Hit' buff that the game only considers weak.

** Normally, the Mirror Shield allows you to reflect projectiles and light beams, enabling the solution of several puzzles, but in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'', it's used twice: to block the feathers from the Evil Eagle and to get past the flamethrower obstacle en route to Level 8.

** Pokémon that evolves via evolution stone will learn fewer moves than their unevolved forms or, more often, will not learn any moves from leveling up at all. It's advisable to get your Pokémon to the level of the last move you want it to know that it learns through level-up before evolving. Thankfully, this was changed in '''Sword and Shield'', where the evolved stone evolution can relearn any move its pre-evolved form had. Say hello to level 15 Arcanine with Flamethrower before the first gym.