History Main / ArchaicWeaponForAnAdvancedAge

* In ''Literature/RobotCommando'', your dinosaur rancher protagonist lives on a planet where giant mechs are commonplace and these are equipped with high tech weapons. Yet when outside of a mech, the only weapons you can use are swords, with the first one being your father's sword that you pick up at a ranch for dinosaurs (which aren't even affecte by it).

* ''Anime/YuGiOhVRAINS'': In an era where battle traps are rendered useless due to how often cards come with effects that either negate said traps or outright destroy them preemptively, it comes as a shock to everyone that Revolver's ace in the hole is the one and only [[spoiler:Mirror Force[[note]]Since Link Monsters cannot exist in defense position[[/note]]]]. He later adds [[spoiler:Magic Cylinder]] to his arsenal. Revolver just really loves these types of traps now adding in [[spoiler:Imperial Order and Mind Crush to deal with Link Spells or at the very least, oppressive spells in general]].

* ''Computer War'' by Creator/MackReynolds has a force of saboteurs attacking a government building using bows and arrows which (apart from their silence) can't be picked up by the detector systems being used. The June 1967 Magazine/{{Analog}} cover has a man with a bow and arrow forcing the surrender of a massive tank, but [[NeverTrustATrailer this doesn't actually happen]]; it's RuleOfSymbolism for how saboteurs are using asymmetrical warfare to defeat an invasion.

* ''Computer War'' by Creator/MackReynolds has a force of saboteurs attacking a government building using bows and arrows which (apart from their silence) can't be picked up by the detector systems being used. The June 1967 Magazine/{{Analog}} cover has a man with a bow and arrow forcing the surrender of a massive tank, but [[NeverTrustATrailor this doesn't actually happen]]; it's RuleOfSymbolism for how the good guys are using asymmetrical warfare to defeat an invasion.

* A lot of riot control tactics and equipment are essentially nonlethal versions of medieval European warfare. For starters, their basic equipment is armor and a shield. The tactics are downright ancient, as modern riot control tactics center around a less-organized version of Roman shield-walls. Watch a riot squad deploy in the 'four forward, four up' shield arrangement and it looks like a tiny [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testudo_formation tetsudo formation]].

* A lot of riot control tactics and equipment are essentially nonlethal versions of medieval European warfare. For starters, their basic equipment is armor and a shield.

* The crossbow in ''VideoGame/{{RAGE}}''. It's quieter than the various firearms and robotic gadgets that make up the rest of your arsenal and is accurate enough to outperform your SniperRifle at all but the longest ranges. You also get a couple types of TrickArrow for it that come in handy in various situations.

This occurs with extreme frequency in {{Eastern RPG}}s, probably due to the genre's origins in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Even in {{Steampunk}} and UrbanFantasy settings, you will find swords, axes, spears, {{katanas|AreJustBetter}}, and all other manner of ([[RealityIsUnrealistic seemingly, at least]]) anachronistic weaponry. It also appears in settings with SchizoTech. It's even possible the character uses this because s/he DoesntLikeGuns. Sometimes it will be justified with a RetroUpgrade (said weapon has become useful again because something's changed) and/or by making it an EnhancedArchaicWeapon.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rimworld}}'', you can find advanced sci-fi technology like {{Killer Robot}}s and {{Energy Weapon}}s but simple longswords and spears can remain competitive in the right circumstances. In the same manner as Literature/{{Dune}}, your colonists can wear (and face opponents wearing) personal energy shields which render gunfire harmless but offer no protection against these primitive melee weapons. Even without a shield belt, a colonist can cover the gap with judicious use of cover and movement and then lock a gun-wielding enemy into melee where they are forced to defend themselves and at a grave disadvantage. A competent melee fighter colonist equipped with a shield belt or power armour and a plasteel longsword can be pretty deadly.

** This is even worse with the Orks, whose technology is either stolen and retrofitted pieces from other races, or more commonly bits of scrap welded together into a roughly functional form, whether it be gun or bludgeoning weapon or vehicle or starship.

* ''Franchise/LupinIII'': Goemon has an obsession with the past, and believes that the Katana is the ultimate weapon. Guns are a poor argument, because he can slice the bullets out of the air, making them fall to the ground.

** Shenhua, a Chinese assassin in the employ of the Kan Yi Fan Triad, favors a pair of kukris with the handles tied together with a length of rope. In her first appearance she beheads a pair of Abu Sayyaf {{mooks}} ''from a moving car'' by [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks by throwing one of them like a boomerang]].

* The space civilization in ''ComicStrip/{{Snarfquest}}'' has starships, fully artificially-intelligent robots, and hand-held laser weapons -- and they're ''terrified'' of Snarf's bad old 20th century pistol. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because lasers just cause burns that can be treated, but an old-fashioned chemical propellant pistol can kill in a single shot.

* In ''Fanfic/TheMysteriousCaseOfNeelixsLungs'', Alina t'Aimne replicates a Romulan honor blade (similar to a cavalry saber according to the author's notes) when the ''Vetar'' is {{board|ingParty}}ed by the Kazon-Nistrim, and uses it to great effect while defending the bridge. In the next chapter she explains to the other crew members that the Romulan MilitaryAcademy mostly teaches classical swordplay to build aggression.

** Melee weapons are also easier to enchant than bullets, and enchanting a plasma or particle beam is not really possible. Paul makes extensive use of "mage slayer" ammunition himself, but frequently finds that enchanted knives, swords, spears or claws are able to easily penetrate his construct-armour.

** Kruger scavenged a katana at some point, and runs Julio through during a skirmish.

** Andy uses a ''labrys'', a double-headed axe from at least the time of Ancient Greece (and possibly earlier). She uses what looks to be a 18th century cavalry saber at one point as well.

* ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' has a lot of this, with the Operative's katana, Inara's bow and the Reavers' various bladed handweapons. The Operative is just that good and also uses period-appropriate weaponry, the RPG explains that Inara's bow has been updated with modern technology to where its arrows strike with nearly the force of a bullet, and the Reavers [[AxCrazy plain don't care]].

* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': Wonder Woman fights with a sword, shield and lasso against WWI Germans using contemporary weapons and tanks. She's shown using her shield to protect herself from machine gun fire and even deflect mortar shells. Justified in that she is using magical weaponry and not an ordinary sword, shield, or lasso.

* Both justified and subverted in the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga''. The Barrayarans began the Cetagandan war with primitive weapons. However they switched to modern weapons as soon as they could get them and learn how to use them.
** Miles' [[AncestralWeapon seal dagger]] is also treated this way, being a pre-industrial relic that has to be wiped down after each use, but is very sharp. It comes in handy during an exercise when Miles needs to cut a rubber hose and can't use his plasma arc because the cabin is filled with an inflammable gas.
* Justified in ''Literature/LambAmongTheStars'', by Chris Walley. Krallen armor is a ceramic that absorbs and dissipates energy weapons, and shaped so that projectiles deflect off except when hitting at the perfect angle. The Assembly uses its superior materials science to molecularly optimize a blade for cutting through it, which proves to be a key advantage in the series.

* {{Justified}} in ''Literature/LucifersStar'' where personal shields are a common tool by people but mostly effective against attacks which occur in a second. Melee weapons, by being a single attack that lasts longer than a second, can be modified to disrupt shields. There's also a strong dueling culture in the FeudalFuture Archduchy of Crius.

* In ''Literature/DocSidhe'', Noriko carries a katana as he primary weapon while her teammates are armed with modern firearms and explosives. Somewhat justified as it has a pure steel blade with is very effective against anyone with fae blood, but she still receives a lot of ribbing for it from the rest of team; especially her boyfriend Jean-Pierre.

*** In "Field of Fire", it's mentioned that Starfleet had experimented with chemical-propelled firearms for use in environments that render phasers useless. However, they eventually just put out a new, more resilient model of phaser. The villain of the episode is using a specially modified version [[spoiler: that integrates their super advanced transporter and scanning technologies to create a sniper rifle that can look through walls (no way to hide) and teleport the bullet it fires directly to the target (no way to take cover), turning the archaic weapon into an almost perfect tool of assassination]]

* In the Series/{{Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}}verse, vampires and demons prefer to use either their teeth and claws or edged weapons rather than firearms, as do Vampire Slayers and other demon fighters. There are notable exceptions, more so in the ''Series/{{Angel}}'' spin-off which is set in Los Angeles with vampires etc acting as part of (and therefore influenced by) the criminal subculture. The trope is lampshaded in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS3E14BadGirls}} Bad Girls]]" when the modern-thinking vampire Mr. Trick remonstrates an opponent who comes at him with a sword.

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Despite space travel taking place most people use lever action rifles or revolvers. The resultant [[RuleOfCool Cowboys in Space]] setting is partly justified in that the planets are in the process of being colonized and they only have what they need (the Alliance gear is much shinier and spacey). Jayne also mentions once that Vera needs oxygen around her to fire, which, assuming it wasn't just ArtisticLicenseChemistry, suggests that a different type of propellant is in common use.

* In ''Literature/DocSidhe'', Noriko carries a katana as he primary weapon while her teammates are armed with modern firearms and explosives. Somewhat justified as it has a pure steel blade with is very effective against anyone with fae blood, but she still receives a lot of ribbing for it from the rest of team; especially her boyfriend Jean-Pierre.
* ''[[Series/WonderWoman1975 Wonder Woman]]'': Whether it's during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII or TheSeventies, Wonder Woman faces off against gun toting [[{{Mooks}} bad guys]] armed with a boomerang tiara and a lasso.

* In the ''[[TabletopGame/{{Battletech}} MechWarrior]]'' RPG, swords are described as still being a preferred weapon aboard starships because combat will invariably be close quarters and the blade won't rupture the ship's hull as opposed to firearms. In the base ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' game, some [[HumongousMecha BattleMechs]] carry hatchets, or (more rarely) swords alongside their lightning guns and railguns. Hatchets are basically lumps of endosteel or ferro-fibrous armor which is gripped by the mech ([[BladeBelowTheShoulder or built into its arm]]). Hatchets have the advantage of dealing tremendous damage for relatively little weight, generate no heat, and have no ammo. Swords deal less damage but are more accurate due to them being better balanced. Other more advanced weapons exist for both infantry and battlemechs, such as [[VibroWeapon Vibroblades]]. In the [[GladiatorGames Solaris Arena gladiatorial arenas]], more oddball weapons such as flails, maces, and pile drivers are used in battlemech and PoweredArmor combat, though more for their wow-factor than for their actual effectiveness.

* ''TabletopGame/FadingSuns'' also has melee weapons frequently used in boarding actions because they don't ricochet, and spaceships are LostTechnology and thus extremely valuable so the attackers generally don't want to wreck anything. And there aren't too many manufacturers of guns or higher tech weapons left in operation.

** Most Giant Robots, instead of using a handheld weapon, mount a BladeBelowTheShoulder in a retractable housing. German mechs are starting to carry vibro-axes, electrified maces, kinetic hammers, and plasma whips into battle however; along with shields that can mount missile launchers.

** FridgeBrilliance with Gray Fox: he's an assassin using a stealth suit and firearms, even silenced ones, would give away his postion. Using a [[KatanasAreJustBetter katana]] he can get close enough to use it for assassination without being detected.

** Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', where Personae are summoned by shooting yourself in the head with a very realistic (but thankfully not real or loaded) pistol. Yukari asks Detective Kurosawa why he procures you more fantasy weapons like swords, bows and knives when better weapons exist. Kurosawa explains that is would ''not'' be hard to confuse a pistol-like object with ''an actual pistol''. Let's just say, it's a mistake you'd only make once. Incidentally, Aigis ''can'' use guns, and very effectively at that, but she is a gynoid/weapons platform and doesn't need an Evoker.
* ''VideoGame/FableIII'': Despite fire arms becoming common enough to be used by the military, being flintlock pistols and muskets they are slow to reload and as seen Mourning Wood monsters tend to [[ZergRush charge with vast numbers]] which means infantry men, with simple swords, still play a vital role in combat.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', one of the Sniper's primary weapons, alongside a host of various rifles, is a bow-and-arrow set called "The Huntsman". It can be just as effective as the rifles, and is particularly effective in close(r) ranged combat. Also, most of the melee weapons are either this or an ImprovisedWeapon. Special mention goes to Demoman's wide variety swords and shields that make him deadly at melee range, which is usually his weakness due to damaging himself with his own SplashDamage.
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', Hunters and Warriors can choose among rifles or bows. The competence and damage difference is negligible. That's of course, when they aren't using axes, swords or hammers...
* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' had the Beam Katanas, a special ability for the basic infantry for the Empire of the Rising Sun that changed their rifles into beam katanas. The ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries Red Alert]]'' series ran almost entirely on RuleOfCool by that point, and in the scenario the sword is an old idea but still scores {{one hit kill}}s (assuming they get near enough for it and clear garrisoned buildings to boot).
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' is an interesting case, [[ApocalypseHow mostly because of the nuclear war ending society]]. Energy weapons are highly accurate but are either weaker than conventional fire arms (laser), or strong but slow moving (plasma) and always a pain to find until mid-late game. Small guns are diverse but can break, jam or just plain miss a lot more and ammo is always scarce for big guns (which have the same issue as small guns, though pack a larger punch). Melee weapons are durable and can be strong (sometimes augmented with technology), always silent and with the correct armor you can close the distance with ease, and can be found on pretty much any raider, giving you a constant supply of spare parts, and while using unarmed is challenging at first it has some of the best perks for combat and several gloves with devastating effects. As such using any of them is viable and has its own strengths and weaknesses.

** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' brings the Laser Musket as its IconicItem. It's single-shot just like an actual musket, and definately looks the part, but with a little tinkering, it can be modified to blast apart apart a [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Deathclaw]] in two shots. [[DifficultButAwesome Archaic but awesome, indeed.]]

** Happens on the protagonists' side, too. Several multiplayer classes have swords for their melee weaponry: the [=N7=] Shadow and [=N7=] Slayer use swords, and the Krogan Warlord carries an immense hammer. You can attach metal bayonets to the front of various shotguns, and omniblade bayonets to assault rifles. Omniblades are also becoming widespread at the time of the game as an emergency melee blade was well, simply because everyone is facing the prospect of close quarters melee combat while fighting the Reapers' ground troops.

* ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' Has you fight pirates and privateers with everything from pistols and rifles to flamethrowers and grenades but one of the best weapons in game is a recurve hunting bow, despite the fact that it can be hard to aim it. Justified because it is completely silent, you can recover the ammo from enemies and it is designed to bring down tigers and other large predators. For similar reasons stealthily killing your enemies with your machete is often much better than picking them off with silenced firearms: you don't have to worry about people realizing they're being shot at, it doesn't use ammo, take downs are an insta-kill and there are a variety of upgrades allowing takedown to be used in a variety of situations (such as jumping on enemies, booby-trapping them, killing heavies etc.)
* Despite ''Videogame/EYEDivineCybermancy'' taking place in the far future with [[CyBorg extensive cybernetics]] [[CyberPunk readily available]], [[HumansArePsychicInTheFuture psychic powers]] allowing users to bend reality, and handheld [[HandCannon anti-tank revolvers]] being common, melee weapons such as warhammers and katanas remain popular for members of the Secreta. The Facere Mortis katana, for example, is a standard katana which has been imbued with psychic energy and possibly [[EmpathicWeapon its own personality]]. However, the other old tech has been [[EnhancedArchaicWeapon augmented with modern technology]]; the Damocles {{BFS}} releases burst of energy to set things on fire via a series of distortion capacitors, and the Arrancadora De Tripas [[DropTheHammer warp hammer]] creates a localized warp in reality upon contact with flesh.

** The ''Alien Hunters'' DLC goes even further. In the first mission, you get an axe, a crossbow and a flintlock pistol. They're all better than the equivalent regular weapons of the same tech level, and [[EnhancedArchaicWeapon can be upgraded to magnetic and plasma beam technology]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'' takes place in a future where there's faster than light space travel and high technology. However, during one mission (The Baron's Keep), you're tasked with protecting a Glitch (race of robots in MedievalStasis) from the [[{{Cult}} Occasus Mooks]]. Said mooks, while previously shown to use high tech swords and guns, inexplicably attack the player and the keep with low-tech swords, crossbows and ballistae, and it gets ridiculous when their AirborneMook is a guy riding an [[http://www.fiddlersgreen.net/aircraft/DaVinci-Airscrew/IMAGES/Penikas-Aerial-Screw.jpg aerial screw]] that probably wouldn't even be able to fly.

** The first weapon the player picks up is a Khvostov 7G-02, a battered assault rifle with cracked holographic sights. Much, much later, it can be scrapped and upgraded to the Khvostov 7G-0X, which cleans up the damaged components (but still keeps the cracked sight). Both versions look like modern, real world assault rifles.

** The exotic sniper rifle No Land Beyond is old and bolt-action, with a wooden stock. It fires extremely slowly, but hits hard.
** ''VideoGame/{{Destiny 2}}'' has "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the Old Fashioned]]", a legendary-rarity hand cannon that looks like a a single-action museum piece.
** The Drifter in ''VideoGame/{{Destiny 2}}'' offers a wide variety of guns as rewards for playing Gambit, all of which are made from black metal and dark wood like World War II era weapons. The Gambit guns are just as strong as modern firearms, with a few examples being considered top tier in their weapon type.
* In ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'', many high-ranking Sangheili/Elites favor energy swords, while the standard armament of a Jiralhanae/Brute Chieftain is a gravity hammer, despite both species having plenty of access to advanced energy firearms. The justification is that both species also wear heavy armor that can resist small arms fire long enough enough to get into range with their one-hit-kill melee weapons (as both the sword and hammer have enough power lore-wise to smash through spaceship-quality plating).

* In ''VideoGame/{{SYNTHETIK}}'', you are an android that fights their way to prevent [[RobotWar the rogue AIs from wiping out humanity]]. You can find many advanced guns or high-tech items in this game. But you can also find low-tech items like [[AnAxeToGrind tomahawk]], or [[StockNinjaWeaponry kunai]]. They are effective as much as other items.

* ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden'': Ryu Hayabusa can defeat enemies who use rocket launchers, machine guns, tanks and helicopters with weaponry like swords, kunai, spears and arrows.

* At first glance the use of biplanes in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. However, it should be remembered that most of these would only have been out of date by a few years; for instance it was only in 1937 that the German Luftwaffe started to replace its biplane fighters (Heinkel He 51 and Arado Ar 68) with Messerschmitt Bf 109 monoplanes. And in the combat environments of the first years of the war, many biplanes could still find an "ecological niche", for instance by flying at night, especially before aircraft-mounted radar became available in sufficient numbers. Some specific examples:
** Owing to short-sighted defense cuts between the wars, the [[UsefulNotes/BritsWithBattleships Royal Navy]] entered WWII with biplane fighters and bombers to equip its aircraft carriers. Yet the Fairey Swordfish managed to catch most of the Italian Navy in its home port of Taranto, causing widespread destruction in a night attack the Japanese studied and emulated at Pearl Harbor. A year or so later, it was a carrier-launched Fairey Swordfish biplane which fired the torpedo that crippled the ''Bismarck'', leaving Germany's most modern battleship wide open for the surface fleet to catch up with her. The fact that the German Navy did not finish building any aircraft carriers, thereby allowing British aircraft to operate in the North Atlantic with impunity, obviously was a major factor that enabled the Swordfish to continue to be used in frontline combat missions as long as it did. The last one was built in August 1944! The Swordfish also proved ideal for anti-submarine warfare, as its slow speed gave it good endurance and allowed it to land on the decks of even the smallest escort carriers, something that many of the larger and more advanced bombers could not do.
** For similar reasons, units like the [[AmazonBrigade 588th Night Bomber Regiment]] (Night Witches) in the Soviet Union could use interwar-era Polikarpov Po-2 biplanes. Though hopelessly obsolete compared to Messerschmitts or even the aforementioned Swordfish, these planes proved to be tremendously maneuverable and capable of extended unpowered gliding, permitting them to approach German positions without any noise beyond the wind in the wings; their low top speed, below the stall speed of German fighters, made them exceptionally difficult to intercept in the air; and their simple but sturdy construction made them exceptionally durable and resilient under enemy fire. Their nightly harassment thus caused the German invaders no end of grief, and led to a psychological and morale impact on the Wehrmacht far out of proportion to the actual material losses inflicted. They proved their effectiveness as night bombers again in the Korean War, where the wooden airframe of the "[[ReportingNames Bedcheck Charlie]]" gave the venerable biplane another significant advantage in modern warfare - a negligible radar cross-section that made detection no easier than it had been for the Germans, in spite of now-ubiquitous radar systems.
** Enjoying near-complete daylight air superiority during the first campaigns of the war, the Luftwaffe was able to continue using Henschel Hs 123 biplane divebombers as ground-attack aircraft. This type had gone out of production in 1937, but on the Eastern front continued to see active service until 1944.

** The Royal Italian Air Force's main fighter at the start of the war was another biplane, the Fiat [=CR.42=] ''Falco'' (Hawk). This time it was not due to cost considerations (and in fact it started production in ''1939''!), but because the brass considered the maneuverability inherent to biplanes a better advantage than the speed and heavier armament of the monoplanes being introduced by the air forces of France, Britain and Germany at the time. It enjoyed some successes against RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires whenever these were stupid enough to enter into a maneuvered combat, but they truly shone in the hands of the Royal Hungarian Air Force, that deployed them against the Soviets in general and the aforementioned Po-2 in particular, where the ''Falco'''s high maneuverability and ''low'' low speed allowed it to intercept the Po-2 where more modern designs failed miserably.

** Close combat in the Burmese jungle often pitted Japanese officers and noncoms armed with swords against machete-armed British soldiers. Or kukri-armed Gurkhas. Or Sikhs with the traditional tulwar sword. Or African troops with native swords from Nigeria, Kenya, etc. Bladed weapons could be silent, deadly and ultra-effective in close quarters jungle fighting and ambushes, and sword fighting in combat happened even in 1942-45. Also, tribal units and natives fighting alongside British Fourteenth Army and on Borneo used native weapons, such as blowpipes and bows and arrow, to deadly effect in close-quarters jungle fighting.

** The Junkers Ju 86 slow medium bomber had been phased out by the Luftwaffe before the war even began, but it then was possible to use it in a reconnaissance role by adding a pressure cabin. These planes then operated at heights that could not be reached by anti-aircraft guns and British fighters. The RAF in North Africa eventually tackled the problem by adapting some Spitfires for high-altitude work, among other things by reducing the armament from eight machine-guns to two, and taking the fight directly to the Junkers pilots.
** Often overlooked is the role actual horse mounted cavalry played in the war. While dominated by mechanized units, cavalry was still widely used, mostly in the Polish, Balkan and Soviet campaigns (contrary to popular myth, the Poles did not charge tanks on horseback). Horses had the advantage of being able to navigate terrain that bogged down tanks and were not dependent on fuel. Or rather, the fuel they depended on was of the type that grows out of the ground everywhere in Europe. One of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Schoenfeld last battles]] of the European war was comprised of a successful cavalry charge against an enemy that failed to acount for them.

* Pikes came briefly back into use before and during the American Civil War. John Brown's raid on Harpers' Ferry on October 16-18, 1859 had some of his supporters armed with pikes. In 1862, governor Joe Brown of Georgia ordered 10,000 pikes from the state's mechanics, recognizing that there were not enough guns and ammunition to arm the populace: "The short range pike and terrible knife, when brought within their proper range, (as they can be almost in a moment) and wielded by a stalwart patriot’s arm, never fail to fire and never waste a single load.” Admittedly their actual distribution and effectiveness was very limited, but it just goes to show that desperation causes people to fall back on old technologies.
* The sword still saw plenty of use, at least for cavalry and officers, well into the 19th century. When most firearms were single shot, mechanically unreliable, and/or difficult to reload, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzypKZlEwS4 it was helpful]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKHdJfnM9rA to have a weapon]] that didn't jam or run out of bullets. Horse cavalry with swords and lances were obsolescent in WWI (although the Battle of Armageddon in 1918 was decided by an improvised Canadian cavalry charge), and swords saw little use in WWII -- although the Poles in the early war, and the Germans and Russians down to the end, used rifle-armed cavalry to very good effect. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Churchill And there was also that one guy with a longbow and a basket-hilted broadsword.]]

* A lot of riot control tactics and equipment are essentially non lethal versions of medieval European warfare. For starters their basic equipment is armor and a shield.

* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3'' had the Beam Katanas, a special ability for the basic infantry for the Empire of the Rising Sun that changed their rifles into beam katanas. The ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlertSeries Red Alert]]'' series runs almost entirely on RuleOfCool, and in the scenario the sword is an old idea but still scores {{one hit kill}}s (assuming they get near enough for it and clear garrisoned buildings to boot).

* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Despite space travel taking place most people use lever action rifles or revolvers. The resultant [[RuleOfCool Cowboys in Space]] setting is partly justified in that the planets are in the process of being colonized and they only have what they need (the Alliance gear is much shinier and spacey).

-> ''"I mean Jedi, as I've always said before, well they've chosen a sword in a time of, you know, laser guns, so they'd better be damn good with it."''

** British Army officer Jack Churchill (of no known relation to Winston Spencer Churchill) famously fought with an English longbow and a claymore. His motto made this ''even'' more clear:

*** Worf favors a smaller weapon called a [[http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Mek%27leth mek'leth]] that proves more practical in close quarters, and at one point he snaps Jadzia's bat'leth clean in half with it.

*** This also comes into play with the difference between Raiden's and Sam's swords. Raiden's HF blade was specifically made for him after losing the one he had in the prologue chapter, and so is not the greatest weapon around. Sam's, however, was created from an original 16th-century katana, and so is among the greatest HF blades currently in existence.[[note]]Yes, every single thing about Sam is justified with little more than [[RuleOfCool "because he's a SAMURAI!"]][[/note]]

** The Klingons love their {{Cool Sword}}s like the bat'leth, but ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' makes a point of mentioning that an old lady with a phaser is worth a dozen Klingons with melee weapons. On the other hand a ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode shows a group of holographic Klingons armed with bat'leths handily defeating a group of submachinegun-armed [[ThoseWackyNazis Germans]] (also holographic). Granted, anyone would panic at the sight of angry Klingons charging at you, but still.

*** In "Field of Fire", it's mentioned that Starfleet had experimented with chemical-propelled firearms for use in environments that render phasers useless. However, they eventually just put out a new, more resilient model of phaser.

It's also TruthInTelevision to an extent. While it's true that the modern battlefield is dominated by guns, hand-to-hand and melee weapon combat training will likely always be a part of military curricula: guns can be cumbersome in close combat and melee weapons are much quieter, so the humble dagger and its modern derivatives will never go out of style.

* In Heinlein's "Literature/{{Beyond This Horizon}}" where lethal duels with rayguns are commonplace, the hero makes a replica of an obsolete weapon, the '.45'. When his friend informs him that chemical reactions are too slow, the hero replies that it's human reflexes that make the difference.

* Most of the immortals of TheOldGuard use bladed weapons from their past as well as modern firearms.