History CoolStarship / VideoGames

* In ''VideoGame/SDGundamGGeneration Cross Rays'', the battleship ''Carry Base'', which was once just a recolored ''Space Ark'' from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamF91'', got itself a nifty redesign which divorced it from its [[JustForPun base]] and made it its own distinct ship. It has a nice fearsome silhouette and you'll be using it a lot until you can access canon ships.

* Most space shooters feature a few of these.
** The Vic Viper and its peers from ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' are good examples.
*** Bonus point for the [[AMechByAnyOtherName Orbital Frame]] version of Vic Viper in ''VideoGame/ZoneOfTheEnders The 2nd Runner'': it can even [[TransformingMecha transform]] into a HumongousMecha!
** The [=R9A=]-Arrowhead and its peers from ''VideoGame/RType'' are also famous examples.
** The titular ''VideoGame/{{Axelay}}''.
** Every protagonist ship in the ''VideoGame/RaySeries''.
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* The ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' series has a number of cool ships. ''Nova'' alone has the cool-looking Starbridge, the hideously powerful Polaris Raven, the very cool Auroran Thunderforge, and the SeriesMascot Kestrel[[note]]originally from the first game in the series, brought forward in graphically updated form as a reward for completing one of ''Nova's'' storylines[[/note]]... and the [[http://evn.wikia.com/wiki/Manticore Manticore]] -- built out of junked Leviathans, it's probably the best ship for piracy in the game as its primary weapon, a ring of eight ion cannons named the Crown of Thorns, only disables and doesn't destroy targets, and its huge cargo carrying capacity can be converted to carry weapons.

** Eventually, the UNSC would create the ''Autumn'' class, a successor to the ''Halcylon'' class based upon the improvements that the ''Pillar of Autumn'' introduced.

* The Liset ships used by the Tenno in ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' are ''stupidly'' cool. The ships themselves are a little over 10 metres in length, with a design reminiscent of manta rays. The Tenno owner rides the underside into battle in a way that is [[WordOfGod specifically reminiscent]] of how ninjas rode kites to infiltrate their destinations. The ship features directional thrusters for superior maneuverability (it can pretty much hover ''vertically'' in order for you too awesomely power-walk into the underside recess after killing all the bad guys), a speed unmatched by any other ship class in the Origin System, and a "Void Mask" to make itself almost undetectable; combined, its speed and stealth mean your primary way of getting around the system is using the [[PortalNetwork Solar Rails]] controlled and blockaded by the enemy; intercepted enemy transmissions reveal that Tenno Lisets are routinely detected barely seconds before making the rail jump, with the blockading ships helpless to stop them. Furthermore, the Liset is considerably [[ClownCarBase bigger on the inside]] (another of the Orokin's Void tricks), is run by an only ''slightly'' defective [[ArtificialIntelligence Cephalon]], and likely features its own Torsion device so it can enter the [[AnotherDimension Void]] with only a key (whereas the Grineer need a key, a Torsion Beam and a working Orokin Portal).
** The Liset actually attaches to a much larger Orbiter, which is what the Tenno can walk around in while not in a mission.
** The new Rising Tide update tasks the player to reconstruct a Railjack, a ship which was used in open combat against the Sentients. The following Empyrean update lets you take it into space and into open combat. Bring a crew for this one.

** The Magathron Navy Issue was at one point considered one of the most aesthetically pleasing ships in the game, given that its base design was already badass looking. However, unlike the regular issue, it sported a jet black paint scheme with blue lighting. To the point that people bought it just because it looked cool. This changed when the Dominion expansion altered the paint scheme to a [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks horribly ugly forest camo.]] Chided by players as being perfect to hide the ship behind all the trees in space. The price of the Mega Navy Issue took a nice drop in response.

* The ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' series has a number of cool ships. ''Nova'' alone has the cool-looking Modified Starbridge, the hideously powerful Polaris Raven, the very cool Auroran Thunderforge, and the SeriesMascot Kestrel... and the [[http://evn.wikia.com/wiki/Manticore Manticore]] -- built out of junked Leviathans, it's probably the best ship for piracy in the game as its primary weapon, a ring of eight ion cannons named the Crown of Thorns, only disables and doesn't destroy targets, and its huge cargo carrying capacity can be converted to carry weapons.

* The ''Normandy'' of ''Franchise/MassEffect''. Not only is it ''really'' fast, it is also a stealth ship... and incredibly efficient, to the point of being arguably AwesomeButImpractical. But hey, you can't put a price tag on cool! (Though, between themselves, the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy managed).
** The ''Normandy'' [=SR2=] built by Cerberus in the second game [[spoiler: to replace the [=SR1=] after it got blown up]] is even cooler. Everything from the original design was amped up, including the luxury; Joker likes the new leather seats. And it has an Artificial Intelligence that eventually [[spoiler: takes total control over the entire ship (don't worry she's not evil) and describes the ship as being her body]]. One trailer features the ''Normandy'' leading a squadron of fighters as if it were one itself, and not to mention [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNkegHiSspA&t=1m2s this]] memorable scene where it outruns Cerberus' advanced fighters. Oh, and there's even a bar if you fork over the cash for some DLC.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', she gets another overhaul, including an Alliance Blue paint job, the ability to provide [[DeathfromAbove fire support]] to the player (in some instances), and new areas opened up. How cool is the ''Normandy'' in ''[=ME3=]''? A fully upgraded ''Normandy'' is worth more as a War Asset than ''[[OneManArmy any fleet from the Council races]]''.

** The Shadow Broker has a pretty damn sweet vessel which is basically a giant flying fortress modified to be able to perfectly hide within thunderstorms.
** Given that [[MemeticBadass Sir Isaac Newton]] [[MemeticMutation is the deadliest son of a bitch in space]], presumably the Everest-class dreadnoughts count.
** The ''Destiny Ascension''. The flagship of the Citadel fleet, this oversized asari dreadnought dwarfs even the largest human warship, takes a full crew of 10,000 and alone packs as much firepower as the rest of the asari fleet combined. An excited volus who was given a guided tour of the Destiny remarks that he was on the ship for six hours and only saw a tenth of the interior. [[spoiler: Though she can't stop the entire geth fleet on her own and if you don't send reinforcements (the Renegade option) she ''will'' be destroyed. Which can bite you as she's a War Asset in ''3''.]]

** ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' continues the tradition of the previous games with the ''Tempest'', ''Normandy'''s smaller, speedier cousin, right down to suspiciously sharing some of the highly experimental systems built just for her. It's also been tested against drunken krogan. But no guns (the recoil would blow out all her fancy windows). And thanks to some unfortunate circumstances, she's also the Last of Her Kind (the others got smashed to pieces).
** There's also the ''Nexus'', a Citadel-inspired mobile space station, designed to cross the intergalactic void in a mere 600 years.

** ''VideoGame/Pikmin1'': Olimar's starship, the Dolphin, is a cool starship if only because it is the size of a soda can, yet can travel between star systems at hyperspeed, can more or less withstand an asteroid impact and re-entry, and can even repair itself.

* The ''Normandy'' of ''Franchise/MassEffect''. Not only is it ''really'' fast, it is also a stealth ship. ...and incredibly efficient, to the point of being arguably AwesomeButImpractical. But hey, you can't put a price tag on cool! (Though, between themselves, the Systems Alliance and the Turian Hierarchy managed).
** The ''Normandy'' [=SR2=] built by Cerberus in the second game [[spoiler: to replace the [=SR1=] after it got blown up]] is even cooler. Everything from the original design was amped up, including the luxury; Joker likes the new leather seats. And it has an Artificial Intelligence that eventually [[spoiler: takes total control over the entire ship (don't worry she's not evil) and describes the ship as being her body]]. One trailer features the ''Normandy'' leading a squadron of fighters as if it were one itself, and not to mention [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNkegHiSspA&t=1m2s this]] memorable scene where it outruns Cerberus' advanced fighters. Yeah, the [=SR2=] is pretty much the definition of Cool Ship. Oh, and there's even a bar if you fork over the cash for some DLC.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

* The ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'' series has a number of cool ships. ''Nova'' alone has the cool-looking Modified Starbridge, the hideously powerful Polaris Raven, the very cool Auroran Thunderforge, and the SeriesMascot Kestrel... and the [[http://evn.wikia.com/wiki/Manticore Manticore]] - built out of junked Leviathans, it's probably the best ship for piracy in the game as its primary weapon, a ring of eight ion cannons named the Crown of Thorns, only disables and doesn't destroy targets, and its huge cargo carrying capacity can be converted to carry weapons.

** The Rifter class of frigate also fits in this trope. Like all Minmatar ships, Rifters look like they're made of scrap. [[http://www.eve-tribune.com/index.php?no=1_13&page=4 This article]] (non-canon) claims that the first Rifters were constructed during the Minmatar Rebellion out of actual scrap, with converted plasma cutters for engines. But they don't just fly well - the Rifter is commonly held to be the best combat frigate in the game. Every pilot in Goonfleet knows that the original Rifters were built from bicycles and televisions stolen from the Amarr.

* The CSS Astrid from ''VideoGame/GroundControl'' deserves a definite mention - it's introduced by way of hammering an opposing ship belonging to a technologically superior faction into retreat with just a couple of salvoes from its cannon... It then goes on to reappear in the sequel as a 300-plus-year-old derelict which just happens to still be in working order, and house an engine which would allow it to reach the next galaxy over...

** Other ships in the original trilogy include the significantly less-cool ''In Amber Clad'' and ''Forward Unto Dawn''. However, you also get to see High Charity - a giant ship/asteroid/city, which more than holds its own in the awesomeness category.

** The ''Long Night of Solace'', the Covenant Supercarrier in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', counts, partly due to its impressive entrance (one-shotting a UNSC Frigate from out of nowhere), and partly because of its sheer size - the thing is '''huge'''. At 29 kilometers long, Covenant Supercarriers are the largest warships ever made by the Covenant, and only about a dozen of them are known to have existed throughout the Human-Covenant War. As a comparison, it would dwarf even ''Franchise/StarWars'' Executor-class Star Destroyer (19 km), with ''Franchise/MassEffect'''s Citadel (47 km) beating it out with twice that length. A Covenant Supercarrier is about 11 kilometers wide and about three kilometers "tall". They also carry hundreds of thousands of troops (and all of the armored vehicles, aircraft, gigantic cloaking-teleporting-jamming pylons, and more). One wonders how even the Covenant build these, let alone in significant numbers.

* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}}'': Pretty much any ship controlled by Durandal - the beginning of ''Marathon 2'' sees him destroy a Phfor battlegroup using a single stolen scoutship... which he had upgraded to be able to hit targets a twice the maximum distance a dedicated warship could; ten thousand years after that game he's upgraded to a [[{{Precursors}} Jjaro]] dreadnaught renamed ''Manus Celer Dei'' - given that a Jjaro ''space station'' was capable of creating black holes as a weapon (to combat {{EldritchAbomination}}s), you're left wondering what a Jjaro ''warship'' could do to top that...

* The various Hunter-class gunships from the ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' series. GFS ''Olympus'' from ''[[VideoGame/MetroidPrime3Corruption Prime 3]]'' probably also counts, if only because it has its own [[strike:Mother Brain]] Aurora Unit onboard, where Auroras are usually limited to larger installations - like, oh, entire cities.

* All ships in the ''[[VideoGame/{{StarCitizen}} Star Citizen / Squadron 42]]'' games are essentially trying to out-cool each other - with all of them being fully walkable and having (eventually) functional interior - leading to players complaining that there's a distinct lack of [[BoringButPractical boring, functional]] vessels - but the [[http://fullhdpictures.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Great-Star-Citizen-Wallpaper.jpg Bengal]] [[http://productnewbie.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/star_citizens_bengalcarrier.jpg fleet]] [[http://www.loneclone.de/media/starcitizen_02.jpg carrier]] stands above many of them. Seen in the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpgUuGunU0o original reveal trailer]] it became the iconic ship of the 'verse.

* Olimar's starship, The Dolphin, from ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' is a cool starship if only because it is the size of a soda can, yet can travel between star systems at hyperspeed, can more or less withstand an asteroid impact and re-entry, and can even repair itself. And the ship from Pikmin 2 is certainly cool after its bling upgrade.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', she gets another overhaul, including an Alliance Blue paint job, the ability to provide [[DeathfromAbove fire support]] to the player (in some instances), and new areas opened up. How cool is the ''Normandy'' in ''[=ME3=]''? A fully upgraded ''Normandy'' is worth almost as much War Assets as ''[[OneManArmy an entire Alliance fleet]]''.