Super Prototype / Video Games

• The fictional planes of Ace Combat occasionally fall under this trope, particularly the X-49 Night Raven of Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere and the ADFX-01 "Morgan" of Ace Combat Zero: The Belkan War, which is a super prototype of the later (in the series original world timeline) and much more advanced ADF-01 "FALKEN". The Morgan zig-zags this, however, as the Final Boss flies a Super Prototype of the Super Prototype (he gets an ADFX-02 that carries all three special weapons at once while your -01 is stuck with one at a time), and then the later FALKEN is overall somewhat better (it only gets a fuel-air bomb instead of the multi-purpose burst missile the Morgan gets, but its Tactical Laser System carries more shots, holds the beam twice as long, and deals more damage per second).
  • The real planes also have a bit of this. 5 in particular both subverts it (the F-15 S/MTD is better than the stock F-15 it was modified from) and plays it straight (the S-32 is better than the later Su-47).
  • Ace Combat X: Skies of Deception brought us the Fenrir. The original models had optical camouflage, ungodly maneuverability and a microwave weapon. The production models don't have any of that aside from the ungodly maneuverability at the cost of ammo. In the same vein, the Varcolac from Joint Assault is shown to have a rear mounted machine gun that shoots down any and all missiles that approach it. In game, it doesn't have that but it's still the best plane in the game if you give it the right mods.
  • Ace Combat's love of Super Prototypes reaches absolutely absurd levels in Ace Combat Infinity, which brings in no less than six variants of the Morgan/FALKEN line, — starting from a "Block 1" Flawed Prototype of the Morgan, on through the regular Morgan, through to Pixy's version with higher stats, then on to the FALKEN, and from there on to the ADA-01 ADLER, a ground-focused counterpart to the FALKEN, and the Ace Combat 2 version of the original FALKEN.
• In Atlas Reactor PuP and Blackburn are both prototypes of their respective product line and superior to it. In both cases it's because they were subsequently modified beyond their original product specifications and not because they were designed that way. PuP's case is also reinforced by his remaining product line being destroyed by the AI ban; PuP surviving only because he was the Flawed Prototype at the time.
• In Blaster Master Zero, on your way to the Golden Path, you get to pilot SOPHIA ZERO, a superpowered version of your SOPHIA III with much more firepower and enhanced weapons. While much more powerful, the problem is it wasn't made with longevity in mind, and there was very little that could be salvaged after Jason used the thing.
  • Defied with Kane Gardner's original Metal Attacker in Blaster Master Zero III. It really is an obsolete model that lacks the firepower of Jason's SOPHIA-GX. What makes it so powerful isn't the Metal Attacker itself, but Kane, whose incredible piloting skill and years of experience alone make him more than a match for Jason.
• Subject Delta in BioShock 2 isn't just a Big Daddy — he's the first Big Daddy; unlike the production models, he's nimble and has plasmid powers. It's justified in-universe by a whole host of problems with that particular series: they were too costly, their free will and powers made them far more difficult to control, and are permanently bonded to a single Little Sister and doomed to death or violent insanity once she's gone. The "production" models forgo the agility and plasmid powers for greater physical strength and durability, lack free will, and have no preference for any particular Little Sister, all of which better suit the one task they are built for.
  • The Burial at Sea Downloadable Content for BioShock Infinite features a Bouncer Big Daddy that is able to launch its drill and pull enemies towards him. According to a chalkboard in Suchong's lab, this feature was removed because the hydraulic fluids/gases needed for this caused the Bouncer to become unstable.
• The Living Failures of Bloodborne are meant to be a Flawed Prototype of Celestial Emissary since the test subject failed to ascend into kins of the Great Ones. Despite how "failed" it sounded like, they are far deadlier than their successors and can conjure meteors. One wonder why the Healing Church did not weaponise them instead.
• Loaf from Born of Bread was born from a spell to 'raise bread', which was eventually adjusted by the ancient Evil Empire to raise the dead as zombie servants. Naturally by the time Loaf encounters said zombies, he'll outmatch them by every measure.
• In Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, the King Oni is a hulking behemoth capable of bull-charging enemy tanks and shoot Eye Beams for the glory of the Empire of the Rising Sun. Apparently, the original King Oni is a super prototype, given to Emperor Yoshiro as a gift, which he uses when the enemy approaches his palace. It notably includes a set of Rocket Launchers for dealing with aerial threats, something the standard King Oni lacks. It's implied that this King Oni takes much more maintenance to take care of than the standard King Oni, but given that it's the Emperor's personal machine, no expense was spared.
  • In the Uprising expansion, the Soviet Reaper unit is a super prototype for the Sickle. While the Sickle is only armed with machine guns, the Reaper boasts automatic grenade launchers and a roof-mounted rocket launcher. However, unlike the Sickle, the Reaper's legs can barely support its weight and will snap off if it tries to leap like a Sickle. This is reflected in its special ability, which allows it to leap once and become a stationary turret wherever you want it to land.
• Custom Robo is all about "ace customs" but your "super prototype" has a drawback for each advantage it has against mass produced robos of the same class.
• Elohim Eternal: The Babel Code: Kaphar is the first Azar to be outfitted with seraphim system, which allows it to travel through space. Although the Kenomans manage to reverse engineer the seraphim system, their standard Azars are far inferior to Kaphar in combat, to the point where Joshwa managed to beat two experienced Azar pilots despite having no prior experience.
• Fallout:
  • Fallout 3 has some really powerful prototype stuff. Example: MPLX Novasurge, a unique plasma pistol which greatly increases damage and the critical multiplier at the cost of doubled power usage and weight. It was developed by a "Section: A61" shortly before the Great War broke out. The prototype survived the war by being beamed aboard Mothership Zeta approx. 200 years before the Lone Wanderer found it in the ship's cargo hold.. Or the MP-47/A power armor prototype with a built-in medical dispenser and an onboard AI. And the Capital Wasteland's sole set of T-51b power armor(not counting the indestructible Winterized version from Operation: Anchorage). Finally, there's Liberty Prime, a Humongous Mecha built for the Anchorage Reclamation, but kept out of battle due to problems with its power supply.
  • Fallout: New Vegas shows that at least one prototype model of eyebots had a TV-screen, and not just a built-in radio. ED-E, however, is not quite this trope, despite being a prototype and much more powerful than its mass-produced cousins: it was the prototype to a series of combat-adapted eyebots that were scrapped in favor of Hellfire power armor, with the common eyebot being its predecessor rather than its successor.
  • There's also the Tesla-Beaton Prototype, a unique Tesla cannon, and the AER-14, a prototype Laser Rifle with a green laser. The Q-35 Matter Modulator is an example and also has some backstory to retcon why the FO3 plasma rifle is so different from the original plasma rifle (dubbed the "Plasma Caster" in NV): The plasma caster was too expensive, had an awkward form factor, and required too much training to be proficient in, so a military project was started to adapt it to a more familiar pistol grip rifle form factor, and lower the cost. This is because the original plasma caster was meant as a construction tool rather than a weapon — it's basically a really big welding torch, and as a result, while it's one of the strongest energy weapons around, it also has a massive spread due to being completely unergonomic.
    • Old World Blues has the Stealth Suit Mark II, which like the Medic Power Armor, has an onboard AI that automatically dispenses Med-X and Stimpaks.
  • Fallout 4 adds the T-60 Power Armor, a step above the T-51 armor that was previously used. It was only beginning to be deployed experimentally (one of the Vault's military guards is wearing a suit of this armor in the pre-War sequence) when the Great War happened.
    • There's also a unique version of the Railway Rifle called "Prototype Railway Rifle". However, the player expecting it to follow the usual workings of this trope — and indeed of every other unique weapon in the game — will be disappointed: it gets subverted and does piddling damage, has poor range and only holds one round. It behaves, in other words, exactly how you'd expect from an unfinished prototype.
    • As revealed in Far Harbor, Nick Valentine was one of the two prototype Synths capable of independent thinking and judgement, the other being DiMA. Rather than being junked by the Institute as he believed, he actually escaped alongside his "brother" DiMA.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Vivi, like all Black Mages in Final Fantasy IX, is an animated doll. However, as the prototype model, his power is greater than that of his "brothers", and his lifespan is much longer, as well.Also in a far darker sense Kuja is a Prototype of the real Angel of Death Zidane, though it is arguable who is more powerful/competent
  • Final Fantasy VI's Kefka was the very first Magitek Knight (a normal human given magical powers by way of an infusion from an Esper). He consistently has much stronger magic then Celes, a later-generation Magitek Knight that joins your party.^note  The first time you fight him as a boss, he is Level 18, and has spells like Blizzara, Poison, Drain, and all three 1st level Fire, Ice, Lightning spells. Celes would only have Blizzard, Antidote, Imp, Cure, and Scan at that same level. Unfortunately, as a prototype, he was exposed to an imperfect version of the infusion process, which resulted in him going just a teensy bit insane.
  • In the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth is a super prototype who is much stronger and more powerful than regular SOLDIERs and much more physically stable than the competing Project G prototypes Angeal and Genesis, who are subject to degradation. Unfortunately, Sephiroth could not be duplicated and he cannot replicate his genetic traits in monsters (like Angeal) or in humans (like Genesis). Later, Hojo made a series of experimental transhumans called Sephiroth Clones, never meant for actual combat, to test some properties of the augmenting technology in question; one of these prototypes is our main protagonist, who ended up no less powerful than the original himself.
• Though the Five Nights at Freddy's series' Anachronic Order makes constructing a timeline difficult, the animatronic Funtime Foxy seen in Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location along with the rest of their Funtime counterparts is significantly more advanced than the Funtime Foxy who would later become the Mangle in Five Nights at Freddy's 2. That said, they were made (apparently!) by different people, and there were good reasons not to use the same design.
• Front Mission 3 has a couple interesting examples.
  • In the start of the game your character is a test pilot for Kirishima Heavy Industries and your first mission is actually a final test run of a new prototype Wanzer for the Japanese Defense Forces. The Shunyo Mk. 111 is far more powerful than the test Wanzers you fight against.
  • The true Super Prototype of the game, though, is the Hoshun. This is a Wanzer that is somehow sent to you through the Internet and not only has more HP than any other pilotable Wanzer, but also has one of the only beam rifles in existence.
  • Interestingly, the starting wanzer Kazuki pilots, the Zenith RV (misromanized as Zenislev), is the super prototype of the next game, Front Mission 4, obtainable in Elsa's scenario. Since 4 canonically happens before 3, this indicates how much Wanzer development has progressed.
• Zigzagged in Generation Zero. Prototype class machines are actually the least well armed and armored of their respective robot models, and often have exposed weak points that are better protected on higher tier machines. Experimental weapons, however, are rare, extremely powerful models boasting some unique extra capability over the weapons on which they are based.
• God Eater: Soma Schicksal is the original God Eater, created by being injected with Oracle Cells in utero. The result is someone with Super-Senses and Super-Strength, able to fight Aragami from the age of twelve, and resistant to being devoured thanks to internally producing their own Bias Factor. However, this creation process was morally objectionable (one of the scientists involved admitted to the Godzilla Threshold but objected so strongly they walked off the project), incredibly dangerous, and their birth resulted in an incident that destroyed the medical lab and cost their mother their life. As a result, the process was refined to be used on compatible volunteers instead, which was much safer but came at the cost of deriving their abilities from interfacing with their God Arc and being dependent on regular injections of Bias Factor from an outside source.
• Granblue Fantasy: The Nightcypher, the speedship the crew uses in Platinum Sky, is ancient according to Sierokarte and lacks the fancy weapons that modern speedships have, but it has a powerful speed boost and it uses lost technology from the War, making it actually superior to its modern contemporaries.
• Guilty Gear: Gears are artificially-engineered Humanoid Abomination Super Soldiers. The very first one ever created is leaps and bounds above the later ones in terms of power, cutting a swath through them and emerging unscathed in one encounter, but he seems to be the only one of his type. This Gear is Frederick, the brilliant scientist who created the Gears in the first instance, though he goes by the name Sol Badguy now.
• Gundam:
  • As one might expect from a Gundam game, Gihren's Greed has its share of Super Prototypes. However, it plays both the "production cost" and "only super until obsolete" angles brutally straight. For the former, building an army of Gundams is prohibitively expensive while a force of GMs will do the job at a fraction of the cost and so the Super Prototypes are best used as force multipliers at the hands of ace pilots, while for the latter as technology marches on Super Prototypes from earlier in the game will struggle against and later be completely outclassed by later models (e.g. the original RX-78 Gundam will barely be able to keep up against Zeta era mooks like Hi-Zacks). This is actually mentioned with the Prototype Gundam Mk-II's backstory: the machine was stupidly powerful and was made with performance over cost in mind; thus, when it was done, it was a machine that couldn't be piloted unless you were extremely skilled (or a Newtype) and it cost as much as a fleet of Pegasus-class warships^note That's the same class as the White Base. Of course, being based on Gundam this is sometimes played with or even subverted:
    • The prototype versions of some machines like the Gouf or Dom are actually inferior in some regards to their mass produced brothers due to being testbeds for new technology rather than being combat models.
    • The prototype Gelgoog is slightly more powerful than the mass produced version (usually shown via higher health and other stats), but is otherwise exactly the same as the mass produced version. The ace customs versions, however, are often much more potent.
    • Some Super Prototypes have unique features that result in them still seeing use long after becoming obsolete. The RX-78 is one of the only Federation mobile suits that can fight underwater, and vastly outperforms the other two options the Aqua GM and Aqua Gundam (which is just an Aqua GM with a Gundam-style head and a beam gun). As a result, a Federation player may feel desperate enough to build the RX-78 to counter the much more numerour underwater MS Neo Zeon can field. The Xamel and Rhinoceros both have extremely long range artillery cannons that can still make them useful long after they become obsolete.
    • The prototype Pegasus is inferior to the White Base, which is treated in-game like an Ace Custom unit instead. Mass produced Pegasus class ships are based on the protoype.
  • Another Gundam game, The Blue Destiny, features the three prototype Blue Destiny units, based on The 08th MS Team's RX-79(G) Gundam Ground Type units, extensively modified with a new control system. BD-1 used a GM head and was still ground-based, while BD-2 and BD-3 both sported Gundam heads and were modified for space use. Their control systems were based on a Zeon prototype, the MS-08TX(EXAM) Efreet Custom, whose designer defected from Zeon to the Federation.
  • Blue Destiny received a pseudo-sequel called Missing Link, which focuses on an offshoot of the EXAM project known as the HADES system. Only one prototype ever has the system installed: the RX-80PR Pale Rider. It's so powerful that the unit is still effective 10 years later, during the Neo-Zeon Wars, where it is finally taken down in a Mutual Kill with a Queen Mansa (one of the most successful Mobile Armor designs Neo-Zeon ever produced).
• Halo:
  • The Spartan-IIs are this to the Spartan-IIIs and IVs. The IIs tend to be larger, stronger, and just more naturally talented overall, due being subject to a much more stringent selection criteria than their successors. On top of all that, their MJOLNIR armor is far better than the III's SPI armor (though not the IV's GEN2 MJOLNIR). On the other hand, the IIs were also much more costly to produce and equip, and the process of augmenting them had a much higher failure rate than with the IIIs and IVs, making them much fewer in numbers and much less expendable. That said, there were some IIIs that were considered the rough equals of the IIs, such as those of Noble Team, who were given their own sets of MJOLNIR.
  • The IVs are superior in both equipment quality and numbers compared to their III and II predecessors. However, while the IVs are highly-skilled volunteers drawn from the best veterans and recruits, the IIIs and IIs were both trained to be the perfect soldiers from childhood; this difference manifests itself most clearly in the comparatively lesser skill and professionalism of the IVs. Word of God has also stated that the IVs' physical augmentations are inferior to those of their predecessors — the aforementioned superior GEN2 MJOLNIR armor is intended to make up for the difference.
  • Averted by the Spartan-I program, which did not have the success that the later programs did; if Sergeant Johnson and the "1.0s" in I Love Bees are any indication, they're just slightly better than the best Badass Normals. In fact, the Spartan program as a whole had to be renamed from "Project Orion" in order to distance the S-IIs from their predecessors (who themselves were retroactively renamed "Spartan-Is" to acknowledge they did provide the necessary data for the success of the later programs). Admittedly, the Orions were very effective soldiers, but just not quite good enough to prevent the Insurrection from spreading, not to mention that far too many of them started to experience severe degenerative side effects from the augmentations, both mental and physical.
  • There's also the HRUNTING/YGGDRASIL Mark I Powered Armor, which was this to the Mark IX "Mantis" Mini-Mecha. Whereas the Mark I had flight, rockets, chainguns, mines, a bubble shield, and a nuclear self-destruct system, the Mantis usually only has a chaingun, a rocket launcher, and standard Deflector Shields; the latter's still a force to be reckoned with, though.
• Subverted in Homeworld: Cataclysm: while the second of the two Explorer-class ships built by Kiith Somtaaw, the player ship Kuun Lan has superior armour, engines and module capacity to the prototype due to correction of design flaws discovered during construction.
• The original X-Blade from Kingdom Hearts was practically this to the keyblade. It originally coexisted with the true Kingdom Hearts, acting as its guardian. However, numerous people used the X-Blade as the basis for their own keyblades, leading up to the inevitable Keyblade War for control over Kingdom Hearts, which sunk the world in darkness, killed every last keyblade wielder, and split the X-Blade into seven lights and thirteen darknesses.
• Near the end of the first planet in Knights of the Old Republic, you get to win a swoop bike race on a bike modified with a prototype accelerator. The adversary tries to deny your prize on the grounds that it was an unfair advantage, but the prize, being a Jedi, takes matters into her own hands by breaking out and killing most of the bad guys.
• In The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie, Rean Schwarzer and Crow Armbrust end up piloting a new generation prototype of soldats called the "Tyrfing" with Rean piloting the Tyrfing-S and Crow piloting the Tyrfing-X. It replicates Divine Knight movement after the Divine Knights disappeared at the end of Cold Steel IV.
• Justified with the Florian sisters from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's Portable: The Gears of Destiny. Their father was trying to create non-sentient worker robots to aid in repairing his planet's ecosystem, but he accidentally overdid it when designing them. So he raised the two of them as his daughters and dumbed down the later models to match what he actually needed.
• In Mega Man (Classic) series:
  • Proto Man is usually depicted as being much more capable than the later model, Mega Man, and due to a bug in his design, a flawed nuclear core, is the first robot in history to have full free will. On the flip-side, that same unstable core makes him far more vulnerable to damage and means his power reactor will catastrophically fail at some point (Implied to be quite soon in Mega Man 10). On the plus side, being built with an energy source far more raw and unrestrained generally makes his buster output more powerful than his brother or Bass, enabling the extremely potent Proto/Blues Strike. Proto Man also has a rather similar design and weaponry to the common Sniper Joe enemy — in at least one continuity, he was the prototype for them specifically.
  • Zigzagged in Mega Man 11 with Wily's Double Gear system, which he developed back in his college days. After being reminded of it, Wily decides to revisit the concept, outfitting his 8 Brainwashed and Crazy robot masters with Power and Speed Gears to vastly improve their capabilities. Fortunately, Dr. Light kept ahold of Wily's discarded prototype — containing both a Power and Speed Gear (compared to the robot masters who either have one or the other) — which he installs in Mega Man. However, at the end of the game, Wily reveals his own perfected Double Gear system installed in his personal Wily Capsule, which has all the benefits of Mega Man's plus an enhanced cooling system that ensures that it never overheats, thus unlike Mega Man he can leave both gears running at the same time indefinitely (which he does as his Desperation Attack.)
• In Mega Man X: X is a Super Prototype to all of the Reploids that were created afterwards. He was built with the ability to make his own decisions like Proto Man above, but was built with a "suffering circuit" that would allow him to weigh the consequences of his actions. This, plus over a century of self-checks made X a perfect machine. The Reploids that were built from his blueprints, however, lacked the same power of his suffering circuit and the checks, which caused many of them to become Mavericks. In general, the whole Mega Man franchise typically provides some viable explanation as to why a first draft might be superior to the later models.
• In the Metal Gear series, the prototype Metal Gear RAY is of far superior quality to the mass-produced models later encountered by Raiden as a boss battle; then again, it may have been actually designed for its supposed purpose (to defeat REX derivatives) whereas the mass-produced versions were actually tactical defense units for Arsenal Gear. In Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Bladewolf, a prototype unmanned gear, is self-aware and pretty durable, while the mass-produced Fenrirs go down much faster and have less intelligence than a real dog.
  • Metal Gear REX itself. The culmination of Otacon's work to build a machine that can protect people. As the raid on Shadow Moses happened while its weapon was being tested, the combat data is limited to simulations. This virtual combat data and leaked plans were the basis of the REX derivatives RAY was designed to defeat... Which is why when REX is reactivated by Old Snake and Otacon in MGS4, it manages to defeat RAY despite its age and disrepair. Its full potential was never really tested, and so RAY was ill-equipped to deal with the real deal, especially once Otacon activated its secret "Street Fighter" program, allowing it to fight in CQC against other mechs. This also reflects handily on the conflict between Solid and Liquid Snake, with the "inferior" (older) model defeating the "superior" (newer) model.
• No Man's Sky features prototype spaceships in each of its three ship classes (Trader, Explorer, and Fighter) that are incredibly rare (not to mention extremely cost-intensive) but are leaps and bounds above most of the other ships you can find.
• The ultra-powerful Genesis Weapons wielded by the ARKS Council of Six in Phantasy Star Online 2 are actually the first photon weapons ever made. Every usable weapon in the game utilizes the same technology but severely scaled back for mass production, as the original units are too powerful for most people to be able to control.
• Phantasy Star Zero makes fun of this trope to a degree. Occasionally you will find messages with tips in them. A message talking about a particular robotic enemy in that area says, "Production model & Prototype. Do we need to spell out which one is more powerful?"
• Rengoku: The backstory of the second game tells that Gram, based on a human Captain Gram was a wartime android who has grown higher intelligence. Virgil, the chairman of the Deucalion, seeing it as a symbol of strength, has created the ADAMs based of his AI data to finish the war, but Beatrice has removed his memories from the template for personal reasons. After his revival, the way he is identified is by having an unparalleled combat skill.
• In Rise of Legends, the Vinci faction has the Prototype Factory which allows the making of a Super Prototype unit. While these types of units are individually unique, choosing to make one will lead to overall bonuses to units that the Super Prototype was related to and these bonuses persisted even if the Super Prototype unit was destroyed. For example, making the unique Siege Zeppelin will lead to all your Steam Cannons becoming more powerful. These Super Prototype units are usually far better than the units that benefit from their development (such as the Siege Zeppelin to the Steam Cannons and Zeke the Robot to the Steam Fortress and Defense Tower).
• In Sakura Wars (2019), Sumire Kanzaki had Reiji Shiba develop the Oubu, a Mini-Mecha which served as the prototype to the Koubu's successors, the Mugen. Sakura Amamiya uses it after Yasha destroys her Koubu in Chapter 4.
• In Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, any prototype starts out one Morale (i.e. experience) level ahead of a normal unit produced at the same base. This means that, with a Command Center and Bioenhancement Center, a prototype is Elite right off the rack. However, this is justified in the background material: Factions entrust their newest tech to their most experienced and effective troops and crews; the actual equipment is not significantly different from that given to subsequent units. Furthermore, prototypes take longer to build (unless the base has a Skunkworks facility), indicating the extra resources needed to work out the kinks. The actual equipment is probably not a prototype at all, just first-generation production with a best-of-the-best crew.
  • An interesting exception is the Spartan Federation; because of their martial focus, one of their unique traits is that they do not have to prototype new unit designs, with the effect that (1) the first of a unit type does not take extra time to build but (2) the first of a new unit type doesn't get the experience advantage available to other factions. This is probably a game balance consideration, as all Spartan units get a +2 Morale advantage by default.
• The Delphinus from Skies of Arcadia is a possible example, but it's not entirely clear whether the weaker mass-produced equivalent (the Spectre-class battleships) are scaled-back mass production versions or the immediate predecessors of the Delphinus.
  • The Delphinus was a proof-of-concept model, but doesn't necessarily fit the trope, and THE Flagship for the entire Armada — it was overkill for the reason of it being an Ace Custom essentially.
• Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey has the insanely overpowered Lightning, which is in many ways a fully-retrofitted version of the game's standard dimensional-crossing warship. She's got even Reality Warper tech (too energy-consuming to move or deploy the plasma shield, but still...) even in-game, the difference between the Lightning and the other ships is explicitly compared to a fully-tuned and upgraded car against one fresh from the dealership.
• Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • Averted and then invoked in Sonic Adventure by E-102 Gamma. During his story, he faces off against his older brother E-101 Beta for a spot on Robotnik's E-100 series of enforcer mechs and soundly defeats him in battle. Later on, after revolting against Robotnik, Gamma goes on a mission to destroy his brothers to save the animals trapped inside. After handily defeating all of his brothers, E-101 shows up again, having gotten a dramatic overhaul with abilities far surpassing Gamma's. Gamma is still able to defeat him without too much trouble, though Beta sees to it that Gamma doesn't leave the battlefield.
  • Sonic Adventure 2 has the Biolizard, the prototype ultimate life form which was enormous compared to its successor Shadow the Hedgehog. It was locked in suspended animation by GUN until Dr. Eggman reactivated it in the process of inserting the Chaos Emeralds into the Eclipse Cannon and sent the ARK hurtling towards Earth, after which it was defeated by Shadow but recovered and merged with the Eclipse Cannon in order to ensure that the colony would fall, only to be defeated again by the combined efforts of Super Sonic and Super Shadow. It is subverted in that the Biolizard seems to suffer from severe asthma, and even with a huge life support system attached to it, it can't sustain combat for half a minute without getting tired.
  • Invoked (but not in any meaningful manner) in Sonic Heroes. One of E-123 Omega's combo-score quips is "Worthless consumer models!" Additionally, when he earns an E-Rank at the end of a stage, he laments that he couldn't even beat Gamma or Beta.
• Happens in StarCraft II where a prototype superweapon called Odin is stolen from the Dominion. It doesn't just have more hit points than any other unit in the game and do more damage than anything short of hero units — it's also got several luxury amenities, including a restroom for the driver and an onboard nuke launcher. Rory Swann, the engineer of Hyperion, says it's too impractical to mass-produce, at least with the facilities available to Raynor's Raiders, so a scaled-down machine called a Thor is slated for mass production. (Oddly, the Dominion seems to have agreed with Swann, as the Odin is one of a kind and the Dominion only ever fields Thors aside from it.) There's also the Loki, a prototype for a new class of battleship, which boasts ridiculous firepower and toughness, completed at the same research station. The Loki at least is destroyed, which may be why that never went anywhere.
  • The Loki may have been destroyed, but during the "Fire in the Sky" Zerg mission multiple similar looking Battlecruiser's appear, which may be the mass produced version to the Loki's super prototype. There's also the Pride of Augustgrad, and the Jackson's Revenge mercenary ship, both of which look identical to the Loki; the implication is that Jackson's Revenge is an old ship retrofitted to be competitive on the modern battlefield, an Ace Custom of sorts, and perhaps the Pride of Augustgrad and Loki were test beds for normalizing such upgrades for the production models fought in the Zerg campaign.
• Prometheus, the last boss in the Starsiege human campaign, is the first Cybrid. For the Cybrid campaign, you become one once you reach the highest rank.
• Star Trek Online reveals that the prototype of the Advanced Escort ships, the U.S.S. Prometheus from Star Trek: Voyager, was this, as the mass produced Advanced Escorts removed the Multi-Vector Assault Mode (which allowed it to separate it into three parts) due to parts being easy to damage. Then, they put it back for the special variants.
  • For a fun thing, one of the purchasable add-ons is the NX prefix for all Federation ships. As it is cosmetic, there's nothing big about it beyond RP material, but with all the special high-ranking gear, you could pretty much say that you are flying a Super Prototype.
• The Smithy Gang in Super Mario RPG (Mack, Bowyer, Yaridovich and the Axem Rangers) are the super prototype models for their production lines. When you reach the last area, you discover that Smithy is creating an entire army of the bosses, though the machine-made versions are less powerful than the actual bosses.
• The Original Generation mecha of Super Robot Wars is overloaded with super prototypes, Ace Customs,and a few Flawed Prototypes too; way, way too many to list on this page. Averted in Super Robot Wars 3. When you begin the game, the Getter Robo team is piloting the Proto-Getter Robo. instead of normal Getter Robo. When Proto-Getter attacks and doesn't kill an enemy, Ryouma gripes that the Proto-Getter is just weaker than the normal Getter and is actually happy when the original Getter is dropped in a few stages later.
• A similar effect occurs with the Supreme Commander Experimental units. Any player will realize that these 'experiments' are always a great success, and utterly trounce dozens if not hundreds of the 'tested' units. And although you can build more than one of them, the too-expensive-justification is in full effect, as you need a very solid economy before you can start building one.
• Played with by Prototype Jack in Tekken. While it's unknown what happened between him and Jack (both survived the original tournament), P. Jack was soundly scrapped by Jack-2 in Tekken 2. However, P. Jack's ability to fly was implemented in all subsequent playable Jack models.
• A Continuity Nod in the Thunder Force series. The mass production model of Styx in III appear as NPC in IV; The Rynex in IV has its production model appear in VI and also serve as prototype of Gauntlet in V. It take Mid-Season Upgrade the Gauntlet into Ace Custom Vambrace and Mecha Expansion Pack Brigandine module that Earth's fighter can fight the Rynex. It's justified since Gauntlet is Earthling's replica, built with alien technology they aren't fully understand.
• The Unholy War has a regular unit called Razorfane, a robot that attacks with circular saw blades. One of the secret unlockable characters is called Betarazor, which is basically just an upgraded version of Razorfane, with more health and more powerful attacks.
• The Edelweiss in Valkyria Chronicles, made by Isara's father for Welkin's father for the previous war. Unlike most super-prototypes, it was actually put forward to Gallian High Command. It was found to be an incredible tank, but it was too expensive for any kind of mass production.
• The Excavated ATACs in Vanguard Bandits are super prototypes from which all basic ATACs were reverse-engineered.
• In Vanquish, the ARS armor that Sam Gideon is wearing is a prototype of a new weapons system being developed by DARPA, and he is taking it along on the assault on Providence for two reasons: to test out its capabilities in live fire combat, and because the military is desperate for any weapon they can use to stop the colony's microwave array from being fired. In-game, it is indicated that the ARS has several limitations, primarily among them being that the suit will explode if it overheats too much.
• The eponymous armor from Vay has been copied and mass-produced by the Danek Empire to create their massive robotic army. However, once the five magic orbs are retrieved and the Vay Armor's power is fully realized, it can stand toe-to-toe with almost anything Danek can throw at it.
• The backstory of Virtual-ON provides both aversions and straight examples. Some prototypes like Viper Alpha and Proto Temjin have inferior armaments to their production model. Original Fei Yen is much more powerful than the production model but is sentient and eventually runs away from the lab.
• In Warframe, Prime items are invariably stronger than their present-day Tenno reproductions. With Warframes, the difference tends to be fairly minor, but most Prime weapons see a significant boost in power over their production models. Naturally, Orokin technology was so far beyond anything the rest of the system could create even to this day that it's incredibly difficult to replicate; most efforts depend on scrounging up components and blueprints from Orokin ruins. Umbra Warframes serve as another level of this, crossing with Flawed Prototype and Psycho Prototype: while they were immensely powerful at taking down Sentients, their rage made them uncontrollable. Ivara's Leverian story later implies that Prime Warframes are NOT in fact, prototypes, subverting this. Rather, the non-Prime models were in fact the originals, and are tested to see if they're worth keeping. Those that survive their ordeals and prove their worth were rewarded with the superior, Primed versions of their models, while ones that failed were scrapped and forgotten.
• WipEout 2048 features unlockable prototypes which each has a huge drawback, but can be powerful compared to regular racers.
  • The first unlockable Prototype: The Feisar Prototype, can exceed massive speed but it only speeds up when hitting speed pads. Also, its top speed resets after every lap.
  • Second unlockable: The Auricom Prototype. It deals a decent amount of damage and doesn't get slowed down or wipes out when hit by a weapon. It can't pick up defensive weapons though and if you aren't careful, you won't notice when your craft is on low energy.
  • Third unlockable: AG-Systems Prototype. Fast, ultra-agile and hard-hitting, but has the weakest shielding in the game.
  • Fourth unlockable: Qirex Prototype. Sacrifices normal weapons for a special cannon which is even more powerful than the Plasma Bolt itself.
  • Final unlockable: Pir-Hana Prototype. The fastest ship in the game hands down, but cannot steer without airbrakes.
• World of Tanks is rife with this. Many of the more powerful vehicles are prototypes that were never produced in any significant number in Real Life, but any number of them can be used in the game. They also lack the flaws that made them Awesome, but Impractical in reality. Many of the tier upgrades are from real tanks to prototype upgrades that never saw service.
  • To give you an idea of the extent of it, of the 32 Tier X (the most powerful. Count as of patch 8.10) Tanks/TD's/SPG's, three were ever mass produced, with one having just over 200 built.
  • Although in most cases, the super prototype is a prototype of the next tank, where the next tank might be overpowered for gameplay purposes. For example, the Germans get prototypes of the Tiger, Panther, and Leopard tanks. The prototypes are tougher and perform better than any of their lower-tier vehicles in their tech tree... but do not perform better than the Tiger, Panther, and Leopard themselves.
• X-COM
  • XCOM 2 has the SPARK, a robotic combat unit introduced in the Shen's Last Gift DLC. SPARK-001 was the only one Dr. Shen could build before XCOM's defeat in the 2015 invasion, and as the prerogative was to protect his daughter Lily at all cost, he beefed it up as much as he could. ADVENT reverse-engineered the design and downsized it to create the mass-produced MEC family. When the revived XCOM gets their hands on SPARK-001, it's possible to build more just like it, but owing to their Super Prototype characteristics, each SPARK takes steep amounts of resources and time to produce.
  • Epic Weapons from XCOM: Chimera Squad are, in the context of the game, unique weapons that are plain better than their normal counterparts, and fall into one of three categories: Ace Custom, prototypes that were rejected for eating through ammunition too fast, and one that stands out by being just an improved model that didn't enter mass production in time.
• Subverted with Poppi in Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Despite her initial form being labelled "alpha", when asked about it she says she's feature-complete and only carries the moniker because her creator Tora wanted to tweak her U.I. It actually goes deeper than that, as it's discovered Poppi isn't the first functional artificial Blade... which means she benefits from additional development time and a superior power source, and can fight her predecessors to a standstill easily. Played straight by said power source, however, as her ether furnace is noted to be a one-of-a-kind advanced design that no one else has been able to replicate perfectly ever since its creator (Tora's grampypon Soosoo) was seemingly murdered, while Tora's dadapon Tatazo, himself a fellow collaborator on Artificial Blade development, could only produce self-admitted inferior knock-offs. Tora only has it because Tatazo literally shoved it into his hands and told him to run away with it. It's to the point that the ones responsible for mass-producing the new Artificial Blades (as well as kidnapping Tatazo and murdering Soosoo) want to get their hands on her so they can finally analyze and possibly replicate it.
• Xenogears normally averts this trope, and hero Gears are usually either Ace Customs or relics of Lost Technology. The one major case of a prototype that's clearly superior to the followup model is Grahf's Alpha Weltall, which is built using 4000-year-old Lost Nanotechnology that can't be replicated in the modern world. Fei's Weltall is essentially a kitbashed knockoff designed by modern engineers, and is itself a Flawed Prototype. Several of the compromises in the original design are patched out when Weltall is redesigned by Taura, but it's still no match for the Alpha because Taura still lacks access to the Zeboim nanotech.
• Zigzagged in the X-Universe series. Prototype vessels tend to fare differently than their production versions, some having quirks that make them better or worse (such as higher weapon energy recharge but lower rudder speed). That said, some ships designated as prototypes fit the trope: The Paranid Hyperion Vanguard is a limited prototype run of Corvettes that far eclipses all other corvette classes (Among its many advantages, its the only one that can carry fighters and is either the top or tied for top in terms of speed, durability, and offensive potential amongst M6 vessels). The Hyperion Vanguard never entered full production run however (Which is why they cannot be bought by the player — only acquired through boarding existing copies). And all prototype ships, once they're acquired, can be reverse-engineered and then produced in the Player Headquarters in practice like the factory-produced versions. The only ship that cannot be reverse-engineered is the Xperimental Shuttle, making it Too Awesome to Use.
  • In X: Rebirth, the player salvages a one-off prototype, the Pride of Albion (now the "Albion Skunk", much to the chagrin of the pilot), which was designed to fight in the Second Terraformer War. It's a hybridized ship combining the best features of both the old M3 Fighter and an M6 Corvette classes — it's maneuverable, very powerful, carries a compliment of drones in a wide variety of flavors, and one of the fastest ships around, but it was never put into mass production due to excessive production costs.
• Zone of the Enders has the Orbital Frame Jehuty, an Orbital Frame in its own tier of power compared to everything else. Unfortunately, due to very bad luck, it was launched without 90% of its equipment drivers installed, leaving its performance at the bare minimum of its specs. Even then it tears through other Orbital Frames, including ones produced years later. The bad news is: the bad guys got Jehuty's brother unit Anubis... and Anubis is at its full power. Do not try fighting Anubis before Jehuty has unlocked all of its equipment... it will not go well at all.

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