History Main / PowerEqualsRarity

** The anime takes power card scarcity to extremes. Pegasus kept one copy of Toon World for himself, as he found it [[GameBreaker too game-breaking to put into circulation]], and created only four copies of the strongest normal monster in the game, [[BiggerStick the Blue-Eyes White Dragon]]. Seto Kaiba, who had three cards, the maximum playable of any card in the game, tore up the fourth one so no one could play it against him, [[CombatPragmatist and he would be all but assured to have the strongest deck in existence]]. And outside of his dragons, Kaiba had even more rare power cards. Of course, all of this precedes the Egyptian god cards.

* Somewhat [[ZigZaggingTrope zig-zagged]] in ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'', but mostly played straight. There are a number of useful R and SR-tier shikigami that provide valuable utility effects unique to them which make them widely utilised even by high-level players, most notably Ushi no Toki and Shoyo/Bukkuman. However, when it comes to simply wiping the enemy off the face of the Earth, SSR and SP-tier shikis are just straight-up better in every single regard- their stats make lower-tier shikis look like wimps and their abilities sometimes verge on the outright broken (not mentioning any [[CoughSnarkCough *cough*Onikiri*cough*]] names). And since the game contains heavy, ''heavy'' PowerCreep (with 4-5 times as many new SSR and SP shikis being released as [=SRs=], and new [=Rs=] being literally nonexistent anymore), [=SSRs=] and [=SPs=] are starting to infringe on even the unique lower-tier shikis- for example, the vastly more powerful SP version of Shuten Doji has completely taken over the small niche Kamikui still had as a "pusher" in duels, and the recently-released SSR Enmusubi has already mostly supplanted the previously invaluable Bukkuman in uber boss team compositions.

For a video game item ([=MMOs=] in particular) that's ''exceptionally'' rare and powerful, it has a chance of causing LootDrama.

[[folder:Film]]

Even in games where the creators actively say that rarity means crap in relevance to power, many people will ''still'' associate rarity with overall power, [[PromotionalPowerlessPieceOfGarbage even when]] [[JunkRare it isn't]]. In certain TCG formats, the disproportionate distribution of power between the common and rare cards could lead to {{fake balance}}.

* Played with in the ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' CCG. While it is true that there are powerful rares, several of the most powerful cards in the history of the game actually were only available from ''starter packs as fixed cards''. These generally include the [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Clan Champion]] as well as goodies like the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Clan Swords]]. While you could certainly argue cost-effectiveness, some of the biggest and baddest characters in the settings have been only available as a fixed card (ie always present in that starter) in their clan's starter packs.

* In ''LightNovel/ThereWasNoSecretEvilFightingOrganization'', each human (and a few species of primate) possess the potential for one esper power. 80% of the population have elemental powers- fire, ice, etc. These are definitely worth having, but it's in the other 20% that powers get weirder: invisibility, TimeStandsStill, uber-healing that reverses age and cell death, clairvoyance, and the telekinesis that [[SuperEmpowering everyone else needs]] to get their own powers unlocked. One of the former ''could'' kill the latter, in the way that someone with a knife could kill someone with a gun...if they had the element of surprise and the gun wielder was alone. [[spoiler:And if they weren't fighting the one telekinetic in the world, whose power is so advanced that he can project a perpetual, meteor-proof shield over his body.]] Life isn't fair.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' TCG veered towards this also in its later years. Whereas at common you have an Ally which cost 6 and has 6 attack and 5 health with no other ability, at rare and epic said ally that costs 6 with better attack AND health plus helpful ability. Like TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering, the limited format is generally the reason why these discrepancies exist.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has one particularly glaring one, the Sword of Kings, the only weapon Poo can use effectively can only be obtained from one enemy, which is only available temporarily, in one dungeon, and it has a drop rate of 1/128.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'' tries to zig-zag this but ultimately plays it straight, moreso as the years went by. A vast majority of the game's meta decks are built around archetype-enabling cards as their primary win condition, which have incredibly overwhelming and/or practically uncounterable effects as soon as the deck is able to meet the requirements to play them, which are reserved for Legendary and sometimes Gold cards. Bronze and Silver cards generally tend to be generic minions and spells for padding out the deck or support cards that help trigger their win conditions, but are rarely able to win games on their own. Even Legendaries not used as win-cons are often loaded with insane amounts of utility or tempo and do nothing but improve the deck it's in. Modern viable "budget" decks have 3 copies of one Legendary ''at minimum''.

* The ''Anime/YuGiOh'' anime takes power card scarcity to extremes. Pegasus kept one copy of Toon World for himself, as he found it [[GameBreaker too game-breaking to put into circulation]], and created only four copies of the strongest normal monster in the game, [[BiggerStick the Blue-Eyes White Dragon]]. Seto Kaiba, who had three cards, the maximum playable of any card in the game, tore up the fourth one so no one could play it against him, [[CombatPragmatist and he would be all but assured to have the strongest deck in existence]]. And outside of his dragons, Kaiba had even more rare power cards. Of course, all of this precedes the Egyptian god cards.
** On the other hand, unspeakably broken cards like Mirror Force are found in pretty much everyone's deck, with nearly every character having used it at one time or another.
*** The logic seems to be that Spell, Trap, and Virus cards follow typical amounts of rarity; however, MONSTER cards can be absurdly rare, to the point of only a handful existing in the world (such as the God Cards, The Blue-Eyes White Dragon cards, and Yugi's own Dark Magician & Jonouchi's Red-Eyes Black Dragon). Originally, the monster levels were an indicator of rarity — since Blue-Eyes White Dragon was level 8 and only FOUR existed, while the God Cards are each level 10 with 1 existing, one can imagine that Dark Magician and Red-Eyes Black Dragon are nearly as scarce as Blue-Eyes (in fact, another of Yugi's go-to monsters, Summoned Skull, is apparently so rare it surprised even KAIBA that he owned one).
*** In fact, in the manga, while the Legs and Arms of Exodia are all listed as 1-star monsters (thus likely absurdly common), "Exodia the Forbidden One" is listed as a 7-star. Following the Stars-equal-Rarity logic where Blue-Eyes has only 4 copies total in the world, that means there may be as few as *8* copies of "Exodia the Forbidden One" in existence.
** The spinoffs take it even further, with many characters using whole sets of cards that are evidently unique. In ''Anime/YuGiOhGX'', there was only one set of Neo-Spacians, one set of [[SuperPrototype Destiny Heroes]], one set of [[DangerousForbiddenTechnique Cyberdarks]], one set of [[ArtifactOfDoom Phantom Demons]], one set of Gem Beasts, and one [[PoweredByAForsakenChild Super Fusion]] which is so powerful that it definitely creates the Fusion Monsters out of thin air. In ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'', there is only one of each Signer Dragon and their upgrades (the latter being created by the Crimson Dragon's power in the middle of duels), one of each Polar God, and one of each Earthbound God. The really weird bit is that none of the Duelists who played those myriad unique archetypes seemed to have any problem finding support cards for them.
*** ''5D's'' plays with this trope with "Zushin the Sleeping Giant", a card with extremely powerful effects compared in-universe to the God Cards, but whose impossible summoning condition makes it the epitome of AwesomeButImpractical (it was only ever summoned ''once'' in tournament play, and that was in a special format that made its summoning condition remotely feasible). It's listed as a mere Common card, and one scene shows everyone in the stadium bleachers holding their own copy up, meaning that Zushin is extremely cheap and widespread not in regards to its power but rather in regards to its (nearly nonexistent) usability.
** ''Anime/YuGiOhZEXAL'' introduces the Numbers, a group of 100 Xyz Monsters that are created from the hearts of the Duelists who find the blank Number cards, thus almost every Number is designed to fit into the archetype of the original owner. In the anime, all Numbers have the effect that they cannot be destroyed by non-Number monsters in battle, which makes them particularly more powerful than most other Xyz Monsters. Chaos Numbers and cards created from Shining Draw are also unique since they are created by some magic power.

* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' films, the [[TheEmpire Imperials]] favor ZergRush tactics with their starfighters, fielding the ubiquitous (and cheap!) but underpowered [[FragileSpeedster TIE fighters]] in mass numbers. Only a few [=VIPs=] like [[TheDragon Vader]] are issued more advanced ships with survivability measures like shields. The [[LaResistance Rebels]], on the other hand, favor a small but EliteArmy of [[LightningBruiser X-Wings]] tricked out with shields and a more varied and powerful armament. The latter is {{Justified}}: less-advanced Rebel ships like [[MasterOfNone the older Y-wings]] are [[RedShirt destroyed early on]], and unlike [[WeHaveReserves the Empire]], the Rebels can't easily replace casualties of war.
** Though it also applies to the Empire side as far as their Death Stars are concerned: in the decades that the Empire was in power, they only made two (and the second was incomplete).

* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' inverts the trope. There's a good mix of Gifts in the world at all times, but most of them are low-level. Here, rarity equals power: Firestarters who can incinerate an army or Empaths whose range encompasses a country appear several generations apart (and never at the same time). It's a JustifiedTrope because the setting's magic is explicitly tied to what fate requires. The appearance of a prodigious Gifted is alarming for many Valdemaran monarchs because they know it's the gods' way of saying; "I gave you this PersonOfMassDestruction because ''you're going to need them''. Try not to die in whatever calamity is coming up."
* ''Literature/MindGames'':
** The [[SuddenGameInterface System]] awards "Titles" to people when they do something unusual. Since Titles grant benefits (for instance, if you get the title ''Adamant'' for saving someone’s life by nearly losing your own, you become much harder to kill) they are much prized and people who have them are much respected. The harder it was to get the Title, the rarer it is, and the rarer it is, the more benefits it grants. Not one but ''two'' of the main characters have ''Unique'' Titles, which grant absolutely ludicrous benefits.
** Similarly, one of them has a System Class no one else has, and the other has a System Skill no one else has (the Titles are for being the first to ever have the System Class/System Skill, which is why this combination is basically winning the SuperpowerLottery.) And needless to say, both the Class and the Skill are somewhere between [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands “Light Novel Hero Cheat”]] and “GameBreaker,” or will be once they level up.

* One of the best-known offenders of this trope is the ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'' TCG. Generally, if something's even mildly useful, it's going to be rare or up. The gradations of rarity in ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' are many, and the most powerful tend to be the rarest, giving ''Yu-Gi-Oh'' the reputation of being a "rich man's game".
** And sometimes, there were cards that were made useless. Harpy's Feather Duster and Gryphon Wing are a very JustForFun/{{egregious}} example. Harpy's Feather Duster is a pretty ''nasty'' card that wipes out your opponent's magic and trap cards. Gryphon Wing, meanwhile, counters it so that whenever they play it, it backfires and wipes out their ''own'' cards. Gryphon Wing came in a starter deck, whereas Harpy's Feather Duster usually came with Game Boy Advance game or from a promo... so what was the point of having Gryphon Wing?
** The Crush Card Virus is almost synonymous within the community for its rarity and power. It was so rare that in a booster pack with 3 guaranteed ultra rares, it was stated to only occur once in every 10 packs (and rumored to only being printed once every 75 packs). These packs were usually valued at 35 dollars as well, making it quite a stroke of luck to pull one of these. As for power? It could completely destroy your opponent's hand and field of any strong monster, for the next three turns for a comparatively tiny cost.
** [[FusionDance Polymerization]] was an interesting case in the early days of the card game. Fusion Monsters (monsters that were Special Summoned by using Polymerization and the appropriate fusion material monsters) were a part of the game's mechanics since the beginning. Some of the first sets included a large number of Fusion monsters that were easy to obtain, but Polymerization itself was a Super Rare card — not terribly hard to get a hold of, but it meant that using Fusions were not an option unless you got lucky with your pulls. This was later rectified when Polymerization was made a Common card in subsequent sets.
** Dark Armed Dragon was actually upgraded from a Rare to a Secret Rare during localization when UDE noticed that it was dominating the OCG metagame. Konami did ''not'' take this well.
** Many rare cards were later re-released in lower rarities, which made them more accessible to players, including Dark Armed Dragon. On the flip side, some cards were re-released in higher rarities just for aesthetic purposes and aren't really that expensive.

*** Notably averted in the famous "War of the Lance" campaign for the Literature/DragonLance setting: it is possible for the party to come into possession of four Orbs of Dragonkind over the course of the campaign. Since each one is an incredibly powerful artifact, this has the potential to be a real MontyHaul campaign; on the other hand, they all do the same thing.

** One classic example of Rarity = Power is comparing the mythic rare [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=191065 Baneslayer Angel]] with the uncommon [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=193767 Serra Angel]]. At one point, both were printed in the same set, highlighting the fact that although both are identical in cost and type, the Mythic [[OurAngelsAreDifferent angel]] is vastly more powerful than the Uncommon angel.
*** Generally speaking these days, if you compare two cards of the same type (often Creature) but different rarity, the one of higher rarity will either have cheaper cost for the same effect as the one of lower rarity, better effects for the same cost, or both.

* Wizards of the Coast has been pretty good about averting this trope in their miniature games as well. Sure, Rare/Very Rare pieces are going to be the most powerful, but they are not necessarily the most efficient or the most highly sought-after. Discussion threads in both their Star Wars and D&D Minis forums had long lists of competitive armies that could be built using only Common and Uncommon pieces.
* Enforced by the very nature of reality in ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': Humans are common and laughably weak, enlightened Mortals and Godbloods are rarer and stronger, Dragonblooded are more rare and powerful still, while there are only 700 Celestials in all of Creation, and they're able to defeat small armies of Dragonbloods. Likewise, powerful Manses, Artifacts, Charms, Sorcery spells, et cetera are all said to be rare and hard to come by (though the design of [=PCs=] in any given campaign may or may not support this).

* Played with in the ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' CCG. While it is true that there are powerful rares, several of the most powerful cards in the history of the game actually were only available from ''starter packs as fixed cards''. These generally include the [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority Clan Champion]] as well as goodies like the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Clan Swords]]. While you could certainly argue cost-effectiveness, some of the biggest and baddest characters in the settings have been only available as a fixed card (ie always present in that starter) in their clan's starter packs.
* The Dragonball Z CCG by Score Entertainment ran into this problem as the game progressed. Competing in tournaments was an extremely expensive endeavor, a problem even many Score employees recognized. Once the game reached the final set of the DBZ CCG and its GT continuation, it was not an exaggeration to say that some of the best decks could cost a few ''thousand'' dollars to build with all the hard to get promos and ultra-rares across 15 different card sets. Many of the most powerful cards in the game were Ultra-Rares which fit their name well; though the exact odds are unknown, many have estimated that your odds of pulling an ultra-rare '''from an entire 32 pack box''' were between 1:10 and 1:6(though GT made the odds much better). But much worse were the extremely powerful promos from obscure or cost-ineffective sources such as:
** The later sagas had very rare "subset" cards as inserts(for example, the Buu Saga set contained the Broly subset).
** A 38 card promo set only found 1 card at a time as inserts with $10-15 DBZ action figures.
** Promos found 1 at a time as inserts into the Gameboy Advance port of the game
** A 10 card set from a Kraft Cheese promotion [[NoExportForYou only in Australia]].
** Top cuts in tournaments. Though some cards were later reprinted(at least once by accident) and made more common they still fetched extraordinarily high prices, many remained extremely hard to get. Score exacerbated this in GT by making more and more superpowered promos that were only available during big tournaments. An egregious example was Farewell Drill, a card almost every single deck would want to run and of which only 32 copies were printed and would sell for several ''hundred'' dollars.
** One of the most expensive decks to play competitively was the Namekian style deck around the middle of the game's life. It required three copies of Goku's Blinding Strike(one of the aforementioned Ultra-Rares), three copies of the promo Namekian's Strike(these could go for over $100 EACH), and numerous other expensive promos.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'' bases its army selection system on this trope. A player selects their army from their race's army list, which divides all the available troops, war engines, monsters, etc. into three categories - Core Units, Special Units, and Rare Units - and assigns points values to each entry based on how powerful it is. A player's army must contain at least 25% of its total value from the Core section, and cannot contain any more than 50% from Special and 25% from Rare. Character models - individual heroes, wizards, priests, etc. - are likewise divided into two ranks - Heroes and Lords - and an army can have no more than 25% of its total points value spent on each.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' has a case of this in-universe with anything of use in the Imperium; most powerful weapons or vehicles were relics from the Great Crusade or older, and with the general superstition and the Adeptus Mechanicus's paranoia about inventing new things, much of these relics have either been irrecoverably destroyed or lost. Thus some insanely powerful weapons are only wielded by the most venerated and powerful individuals, making their appearances on the battlefield a rare sight to behold. The most infamous of these is the Corvus, Sammael's personal Jetbike and reported the last of its kind; however, even in documented cases of it being destroyed beyond repair, the Corvus always returns to service, leading to some to suspect that the Dark Angels are intentionally keeping it a rarity for some reason.

* While there has always been a positive correlation between effectiveness and rarity in the ''TabletopGame/{{Pokemon}} Trading Card Game'', it was at its most blatant in [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Generation V]], in which there would be a card of a Pokémon in Uncommon or Rare, and then a card of that same Pokémon in the same set at Holo-Rare that's superior in every way. The designers weren't even trying to hide it: These superior Pokémon were always illustrated with a sparkle of light somewhere on its body (usually an [[TwinkleinTheEye eye]] or a [[TwinkleSmile tooth]]).

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': {{Mons}} [[ComMons you find a lot of in one place and/or in many places]] are weak. Ones which are relatively hard to find, only in a small number of places, or you are only given one of are stronger, and ones that you can only ''catch'' one of are '''[[OlympusMons much]]''' [[PurposelyOverpowered stronger]].
** The textbook examples are the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, which, as the name suggests, have stats that rival those of Legendaries. They can (most of the time) only be caught in their initial form, in one or two places in the world (and often right before Victory Road), and eat experience like few else. But once they reach their final stage...
** Then there's the Master Ball, a Pokéball that has an absolute capture rate. It has 100% accuracy and is inescapable once thrown. Typically there is only one of these in the game and is to be saved for the most exclusive 'Mons (like Mewtwo at the end of R/B/Y). Most of the main games have a lottery to win more, but only in the very unlikely chance that the daily number matches one of your Mons' ID number ''exactly''.
** Mega Evolution is a SuperMode that a select few Pokémon species can access which grants powerful stats, abilities and otherwise would make them absurd {{Game Breaker}}s. However, there are a few limitations: For one, the Pokémon usually needs the appropriate Mega Stone to Mega Evolve and the trainer needs a Key Stone to activate it. In-Universe, both items are in extremely short supply, thus only a very select few trainers even have access to this sort of power boost (the player characters, rivals, champions and evil team leaders). Also, only one Mega Evolution is allowed per team.
** Z-Crystals in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' is a [[ZigZaggingTrope ZigZagging example]]: Z-Crystals allow the Pokémon to preform a Z-move, a [[ItOnlyWorksOnce a once-per-battle]] technique that is extremely powerful. Any Pokémon can use a Z-move as long as it knows the same type of move that works with the appropriate Z-Crystal. In-Universe, Z-Crystals are apparently common enough in that they're given to trainers as proof of completing trials and grand trials in the island challenge, similar to gym badges from past games. That being said, Z-Crystals only appear to exist in Alola, and there are some Z-Crystals which only work for a specific Pokémon, and these are extra rare.
* This is present in two forms in the ''VideoGame/PokemonRumble'' series. Firstly, Pokemon that are rarer tend to have a higher power rating than common ones. On top of this, any Pokemon you obtain has a chance to possess a special ability that improves it in any of a number of ways. The best abilities are extremely rare and only found on around one of every hundred or even thousand Pokemon you obtain on average. This makes getting the ideal Pokemon extremely time-consuming, as it can take dozens of trips through a level to even see some rare Pokemon in the first place, then you still need to hope they have a good ability.
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has several Legendary Items, incredibly powerful items beyond the highest Tier, and incredibly difficult to attain (requiring, say, 40 rare drops plus drops from head bosses of the toughest dungeons of the game, or two very rare drops from different bosses plus crafting materials, or just being incredibly rare drops from a specific boss), so there are usually only a few on any given server.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' averts this, as any Uncommon (read: moddable) can be made functionally identical to a Very Rare or Unique weapon. The real value of the Very Rare and Unique weapons are the skins.
* ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' has Regular, Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare [[ItemCrafting Invention recipes]]. They increase in power with rarity.
* ''VideoGame/TheLastRemnant'' features a number of weapons that there are only one of, and are incredibly powerful (most however are found in the course of the main story). Also, the most powerful non-Remnant weapons and accessories require a number of rare components to craft.

* The same as above happened in ''VideoGame/HellgateLondon'', although this was more of a case of 90% of the gear being worthless to you.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'' has one particularly glaring one, the Sword of Kings, the only weapon Poo can use effectively can only be obtained from one enemy, which is only available temporarily, in one dungeon, and it has a drop rate of 1/128.
** Less notorious but even worse to get is the Gutsy Bat. 1/128 droprate dropped by the strongest single enemy in the game, the Bionic Kraken. Also extremely rare, spawns in only one place so you'll probably go through the entire game without seeing one, and so close to the end of the game that all you can use it for is the final boss. It is satisfying to see every other hit be a [[CriticalHit Smaaaaash!]] though.
* Most weapons in the ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'' series can be of common, rare, or legendary quality ([[InfinityPlusOneSword The best weapon]] of each type is always legendary). The better the quality, the better the item's base stats will be, and the degree to which its stats can be boosted in the Item World will be much higher, as well.
* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX''; just because a piece of equipment is the rarest in the game, it's not always the ''best''. For example, the InfinityPlusOneSword you get in the PostGame adds 180 to your attack, while a sword you can get just before the FinalBoss can double it. The only reason you'd want to use the InfinityPlusOneSword instead of the other one is that it has a surprisingly good chance of decreasing the foe's defense or if your base Attack is less than 180.
* Like the above, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyLegendII'' used this trope, although it also was combined with TooAwesomeToUse.
* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/GranblueFantasy'', SSR characters are easily considered as the most sought-after characters due to the luck factor of being able to draw them in the gacha. They tend to have the highest level caps of 80 (or 100 in a 5★ uncap), and in turn having the highest base attack and health. R-rarity characters on the other hand have a significantly lower level cap and have fewer skills compared to the SR and SSR characters. But due to the cycle of old characters becoming outdated gameplay-wise, and new characters having more utilities, even SR characters can prove to become stronger than a number of SSR characters of their own element, especially for 5★ SR characters who can have a level cap of 90 in contrast to the level 80 cap for a majority of SSR characters. This trope is then averted for SR characters who not only can surpass some SSR characters but are also given out for free during story events (i.e. Meteon, Minami). Likewise, SSR characters who are in the lower tier rankings and are below SR characters also avert this trope.
* ''VideoGame/BillyVsSNAKEMAN'' has this, not at the level of individual pieces of equipment (The way equipment works in the game means that [[http://bvs.wikidot.com/items:billycon-emblem rare gear]] doesn't have to be any more powerful than [[http://bvs.wikidot.com/items:chakra-armor common gear]] to be worth the extra effort), but in the ''kinds'' of bonuses that they give. A full set of equipment gives somewhere in the neighborhood of + 40-60 of the inherently diminishing rewards bonuses, but Strength, which can make challenges auto-win in great enough quantities, gets only +16, and Successes, an even ''more'' "GameBreaker in excess" bonus, has a mere + 3.

* ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' invokes this. Kang the Mad doesn't want to mass-produce the Marvelous Dragonfly, because as long as there's only one, it will be the greatest flying craft ever made. Make more and it will be merely average.
* ''VideoGame/LegendsOfRuneterra'': Cards generally get more complex and powerful the rarer they are, going in the order of "Common", "Rare", then "Epic", with "Champions" being their own classification. Compare say the common Chip with the Champion Malphite. Chip costs 1-mana and with simple 1/1 power and health stats. He can become stronger under the condition that a player plays a "Landmark" card, gaining a useful stat boost. Malphite on the other hand costs 7 mana, is 6 power and ''10'' health, and has the "Tough" keyword which lets him take 1 less damage from every attack. And when played, he can stun an enemy unit, a very useful tool to have to mount an attack.
* In the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' series, the more useful a piece of gear or item is, the harder it'll be to find or more expensive it'll be to buy (with some exceptions). Same with most of the Bros/Luiginary Attacks (minus the Slingsniper). And with rare MetalSlime enemies like the Gold Beanies in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'' and ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam''. Averted with badges in the latter though, you buy all of them (from most to least useful) from the exact same two shops.
* ''VideoGame/SevenDaysToDie'' has this with quite a few guns. Especially Rocket Launchers.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'' tries to zig-zag this but ultimately plays it straight, moreso as the years went by. A vast majority of the game's meta decks are built around archetype-enabling cards as their primary win condition, which have incredibly overwhelming and/or practically uncounterable effects as soon as the deck is able to meet the requirements to play them, which are reserved for Legendary and sometimes Gold cards. Bronze and Silver cards generally tend to be generic minions and spells for padding out the deck or support cards that help trigger their win conditions, but are rarely able to win games on their own. Even Legendaries not used as win-cons are often loaded with insane amounts of utility or tempo and do nothing but improve the deck it's in. Modern viable "budget" decks have 3 copies of one Legendary ''at minimum''.
* Played with in ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}''. Every generated world has a handful of incredibly powerful weapons. The weapons themselves are guaranteed to be inside special chests which are always in a generated world. The ''keys'' for those chests are a different story and, while they can drop off any enemy in a given area, the drop rate is around 1 in 2,500.
* Averted heavily in Smashy Road: Wanted. The four tiers are common, rare, epic, and legendary. However, some of the epic tier cars are horrible to use and takes a lot of skill to master compared to the ones in lower tiers.

* ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'': Ancient-tier equipment has a slightly higher power boost than regular Legendary-tier equipment. Full gear sets are extremely hard to complete but make up for it with an ''average 400% DPS increase''. Combine the two with other rare Legendaries with special abilities and you'll be unstoppable.
* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'':
** Servants of higher rarity have higher stats and a higher level cap when compared to Servants of lower rarity. However, this trope mainly applies to pure stats. Skill-wise, there are enough low-rarity Servants with a very good kit of skills that allow them to compete with high-rarity Servants. One notable advantage low-rarity Servants have over high-rarity Servants is that they are easier to obtain, thus it's easier to raise their NP level, while most players struggle to raise the NP level of their 5*-Servants (or getting any 5*-Servant at all). Similarly, the enhancement costs and required number of enhancement materials of lower rarity Servants is much lower than that of higher rarity Servants. A 5*-Servant requires double the amount of QP than a 4*-Servant for each skill level.
** Palingenesis is an enhancement mechanic that allows Servants to go beyond their level cap, allowing them to go up to level 100, a level no Servant can naturally reach on their own. Servants of lower rarities benefit from it the most, as their stat curves scale much higher than those of the highest rarity. Due to that, while low-rarity Servants need more Holy Grails to raise their level cap up to 100, they are finally able to stand to their high-rarity peers on a more even ground. However, even with Palingenesis, the stats of low-rarity Servants are ultimately inferior.
** A few Servants have stats that are rather unsuitable for their rarities.
*** Artoria Lily is noted for having the lowest ATK stat and one of the lowest HP stats among 4*-Servants and she doesn't have the kit of skills that would allow her to compete with fellow 4* Servants. This is due to being the very first welfare Servant and she never has managed to handle the PowerCreep. In comparison, Medea Lily has the second-lowest ATK stat among 4* Servants, and Medusa Lancer isn't that much stronger either. But both of them do have very high HP for their rarity and either of them have skills or a niche that makes them more usable than their fellow Lily, Artoria.
*** Aŋra Mainiiu is notable for being the only 0*-Star Servant, reflecting his status as the worst Servant. However, his stats as well as his natural maximum level is equal to those of 2*-Servants and gameplay-wise, he isn't the worst either. Ironically enough, he is the ''rarest'' Servant, since he's even more difficult to pull out from the gacha than 5*-Servants. His enhancement costs are identical to a 2*-Servants, but the number of required materials is the same as a 5*-Avenger or 5*-Foreigner.
** Holy Grails (a material required for Palingenesis) and Crystallized Lore (a material that every Servant needs to have their skill level raised from 9 to 10) and 4*-Fou cards are all very rare materials and they cannot be obtained through normal means. While Crystallized Lore and 4*-Fou cards are available as restockable goods from the Rare Prism Shop, most players are only able to obtain them from events, particularly from Challenge Quests and Event Shops. Holy Grails can only be obtained from clearing main story chapters and certain events. While 4*-Fou cards are used to maximize a Servant's stats even further (albeit the increase in stats isn't actually significant), and Holy Grails are not necessary to improve a Servant's performance, Crystallized Lores are a very important material. Since skill cooldowns are reduced by 1 turn whenever a skill is raised up to 6 and 10, reducing a skill's cooldown time vastly improves the consistent performance of a Servant, but Crystallized Lores are so rare that you can maximize the skills of only a dozen Servants with them per year.
* ''VideoGame/SaltAndSanctuary'': After the [[ShearMenace Jaws of Death]] became standard-issue for the Askarian army, a swordsmith from Markdor attempted to one-up the rival nation by creating a superior version. His Northern Cross was indeed superior to the Jaws of Death, but unlike the Jaws of Death, it was impossible to mass-produce due to the rarity of its materials. In a bit of GameplayandStoryIntegration, the Jaws of Death is obtained by transmuting a greatsword with the remains of a certain regular enemy, while the Northern Cross is obtained by transmuting a greatsword with the remains of a certain boss. So you can create as many Jaws of Death as you like (provided you belong to one of the two religions that lets you buy more greatswords), but only one Northern Cross per playthrough.

* ''VideoGame/DiscoZoo'': Economic power, in this case -- Rare animals earn more coins and stay awake longer than Common ones, Mythical ones even more so, and Timeless ones most of all.

** Basic cards, the set every new player has by default, are ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. They're either completely textless beatsticks or otherwise very simple effects, usually just one keyword or a single sentence ability. Some of the most useless cards in the game are predictably in this set... but it has some powerful and practical staples too, like Novice Engineer, Animal Companion, Blessing of Kings, or Acidic Swamp Ooze.

* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive''): A {{Justified}} example in the case of Shardblades and Shardplate. Both are ludicrously powerful {{Magitek}}, but nobody remembers how to make them and there are a very limited number (such that a single Shard is worth enough to buy you a small country).

** On the other hand, there are several cases of cards affected by PowerCreep where they are replaced with more efficient cards. For example, Princess Huhuran[[note]]5-mana Legendary with a Battlecry that triggers an ally's Deathrattle[[/note]], a Hunter Legendary, was almost never used even on a Deathrattle-based deck, then a year later, Terrorscale Stalker[[note]]3 mana Rare with the same effect[[/note]] was released and did the same thing but with way less cost ''and'' can have two copies of. Speaking of Hunter Legendaries, players have joked that Savannah Highmane, a Rare card from the original set, is the best Hunter Legendary due to how every Hunter Legendary has been too niche or underpowered to see high-rank play.

** This is played straight by Hero Cards and Quests. They tend to be very powerful build-around cards that totally change the flow of the game. Even the weaker ones have abilities far beyond what comparable cards can do. They're always Legendary, meaning meta stars from multiple classes need either luck or a large sum of dust to use.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shadowverse}}'' tries to zig-zag this but ultimately plays it straight, moreso as the years went by. A vast majority of the game's meta decks are built around a specific card as their primary win condition, which have incredibly overwhelming and/or practically uncounterable effects as soon as the deck is able to meet the requirements to play them, which are reserved for Legendary and sometimes Gold cards. Anything more common are meant to be win condition fillers or something to play for tempo. Even Legendaries not used as win-cons are often loaded with insane amounts of utility or tempo and do nothing but improve the deck it's in. Modern viable "budget" decks have 3 copies of one Legendary ''at minimum''.