History Main / PowerupLetdown

** In ''Aria of Sorrow'', the Killer Fish soul enables you to summon a fish which attacks enemies in your path. If you're not underwater, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the fish just dies]]. [[SchmuckBait The soul description does mention this side effect]].

* In ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom2'', Silver Samurai can spend meter to temporarily charge his sword with [[FireIceLightning fire, ice, or electricity]], which [[StanceSystem alters the properties of his attacks and health and changes his main super]]. Though they aren't used much in competitive play due to being a bit overcosted, even by those standards, the fire boost drew the short straw. It does increase his damage somewhat and allow his normals to do chip damage, but it comes at the cost of massively dropping his stamina, giving him the lowest health in the game--it's intended to be a GlassCannon mode, but it's not even that much of a boost to his standard offense, which makes it mostly detrimental. You can spend three bars of meter on it to negate the health penalty, but what you can't remove is what it does to his main super. Ordinarily, it's a burst of lightning that covers most of the screen, does immense damage, and is great for punishing an opponent for calling an assist wrong, to the point that some players will outright avoid using their assists while Silver Samurai has meter. With the fire mode in play, it becomes a spinning fire pillar that does about half the damage and basically only covers Silver Samurai and the area directly above him.

** While every [[SuperMode Mega Evolution]] is stronger by adding 100 points to their BST (along with sometimes changing ability and/or typing), Latias and Latios are actually weaker Mega Evolved because they can't hold Soul Dew, which boosts their special attack and defense by 50% (amounting to a 120 point boost). Though in Latios' case, Mega Evolution is NotCompletelyUseless due to giving it a respectable physical attack stat. As of ''Sun and Moon'', however, with the Soul Dew [[{{Nerf}} nerfed]], Mega Latias and Latios get a bit more use. Mega Tyranitar also got this and still gets this from time to time; yes, it is extremely powerful, but it is also just Tyranitar with higher stats and no other changes, and while it has its uses as a Mega, most people will concede that regular Tyranitar is good enough as is and doesn't use the Mega slot that could be used on something with more potential to change the game.
** Mega Garchomp is notable for being the only Mega Evolution to be worse than it's base form. In exchange for losing 10 points in Speed, Garchomp gains a substantial boost in both Attack and Special Attack (which was the lowest stat in their pre-Mega form) as well as gaining a new Sand Force ability which allows it to hit incredibly hard under the Sandstorm weather, turning a LightningBruiser into a MightyGlacier. However, all the attack power gained is nowhere near enough to compensate for it's loss in speed as it'll no longer able to outspeed most of it's competition and it's Mega Ability is simply put, inferior to both it's abilities (Sand Veil which provide Evasion during Sandstorm or Rough Skin which hurts any Pokemons that uses a contact move on it). Many players agree half of the stats gained ended up being wasted on it's uneeded Special Attack Stat, feeling that it should have left both the former & Speed alone in exchange for putting them into their Defense and Special Defense stat.

** Gold tools provide some perks to be sure by working fast and getting better enchantments, but they have such poor durability that they're just not worth using in favor of the more BoringButPractical iron or diamond gear. While there is a renewable source of gold in the Nether (farming zombified piglins), this is too dangerous and time-consuming to be wasted on gold gear: if you're going to spend that much time faffing about in the Nether, it could be far better, and far more safely, spend deep in the Netherrack digging Ancient Debris to craft Netherrite gear.

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

** Trance, unlike ''VII''[='s=] {{Limit Break}}s, can't carry over from battle to battle. If you happen to hit Trance while in a fight with a bunch of common {{mook}}s that you're perfectly capable of [[OneHitKO one-shotting]] without it, which statistically is bound to happen far more often than not, then too bad, it's wasted.

** After Rinoa becomes a Sorceress she gains the ''Angel Wing'' Limit Break, which puts her in a berserk state where she fires off powerful magic. Unfortunately, this means that spam offensive spells completely at random, potentially healing enemies with the elements they absorb and you lose all control of her unless she's KO'd or petrified. Rinoa will also never use cure magic while berserk, forcing you to look after her while she goes nuts. The Power-Up Letdown also extends to the main story, as Rinoa becoming a Sorceress has no effect on her magic stat. Subverted if you know the specific EliteTweak,[[note]]removing every offensive spell in her inventory except Meteor, which is the only spell that hits multiple times but has a low damage multiplier, which Angel Wing fixes by multiplying all her magic damage by 5[[/note]] which makes her an incredibly powerful and fast damage dealer.

** After Rinoa becomes a Sorceress she gains the ''Angel Wing'' Limit Break, which puts her in a berserk state where she fires off powerful magic. Unfortunately, this means that she'll burn through stocks of offensive spells completely at random and you lose all control of her unless she's KO'd or petrified. Rinoa will also never use cure magic while berserk, forcing you to look after her while she goes nuts. The Power-Up Letdown also extends to the main story, as Rinoa becoming a Sorceress has no effect on her magic stat. Subverted if you know the specific EliteTweak,[[note]]removing every offensive spell in her inventory except Meteor[[/note]] which makes her an incredibly powerful and fast damage dealer.

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'' grants you immunity to normal and +1 weapons if you complete the Fear trial in Hell by following the Good path. Thing is, it's far too late in the main game to be useful (just a stone's throw from the final boss) and basically every enemy in Throne of Bhaal uses stronger enchanted weapons, so it doesn't really benefit you much, if at all.
** The Aeslyferund Elven Chain is disappointing for similar reasons - immunity to normal weapons is useless when you can't actually get it until literally everyone's using enchanted stuff. It does have the benefits of low AC and not disrupting thieving abilities or arcane spells, but there are better options available for all non-Bard classes.
** The Jester's Chain in the labyrinth beneath Spellhold costs 20 of the 21 available tokens, so it must be great, right? Well... no. It's mediocre chain mail with a garish color scheme which, despite its name and description, isn't suitable for Bards, Jester or otherwise (disrupts their spell casting when equipped). There's basically no good reason to choose it when you can get a much more valuable Boots of Speed for 15 tokens and some Boots of the North for 5.

** The Jester's Chain in the labyrinth beneath Spellhold costs 20 of the 21 available tokens, so it must be great, right? Well... no. It's mediocre chain mail with a garish color scheme which, despite its name and description, isn't suitable for Bards, Jester or otherwise (disrupts their spell casting when equipped). There's basically no good reason to choose it when you can get a much more valuable Boots of Speed for 15 tokens and spend the last 5 on some Boots of the North.

** The Jester's Chain in Spellhold costs 20 of the 21 available tokens, so it must be great, right? Well... no. It's mediocre chain mail with a garish color scheme which, despite its name and description, isn't suitable for Bards, Jester or otherwise (disrupts their spell casting). Theres basically no good reason to choose it when you can get a much more valuable Boots of Speed for 15 and the last 5 on some Boots of the North.

** The Aeslyferund Elven Chain is disappointing for similar reasons - immunity to normal weapons is useless when you can't actually get it until literally everyone's using enchanted stuff. It does have the benefits of low AC and not disrupting thieving abilities or arcane spells, but unless you're using specifically a Bard there are better options available.

** The Aeslyferund Elven Chain is disappointing for similar reasons - immunity to normal weapons is useless when you can't actually get it until everyone's using enchanted stuff. It does have the benefits of low AC and not disrupting thieving abilities or arcane spells, but there are better options available even for the niche classes it's built for.

** The Aeslyferund Elven Chain is disappointing for similar reasons - immunity to normal weapons is useless when you can't actually get it until everyone's using enchanted stuff. It has the benefits of low AC and being usable by thieves and casters without disrupting their special abilities, but there are better choices for both.

** The Aeslyferund elven chain's special ability is useless too for similar reasons - immunity to normal weapons is useless when you can't actually get it until everyone's using enchanted stuff. It has the benefits of low AC and being usable by thieves and casters without disrupting their special abilities, but there are better choices for both.

** The Jester's Chain in Spellhold costs 20 of the 21 available tokens, so it must be great, right? Well... no. It's mediocre chain mail with a garish color scheme which, despite its name, isn't suitable for Bards, Jester or otherwise (disrupts their spell casting). Theres basically no good reason to choose it when you can get a much more valuable Boots of Speed for 15 and the last 5 on some Boots of the north.

** The Jester's Chain in Spellhold costs 20 of the 21 available tokens, so it must be great, right? Well... no. It's mediocre chain mail with a garish color scheme which, despite its name, isn't suitable for Bards, Jester or otherwise (disrupts their spell casting). Theres basically no good reason to choose it when you can get a much more valuable Boots of Speed for 15 and the last 5 on some Winter Boots.

*** Knockback Rage lets you temporarily enter a state where your attacks have heavy knockback. On paper, this sounds useful, being able to send enemies flying and delay bomb-carriers--but nearly all attacks in ''Team Fortress 2'' deal more damage up close, and if an enemy is hurtling back 30 feet, then you aren't getting that damage buff. That's not mentioning the fact that it also makes said enemies harder for your teammates to shoot when they're careening around the map. The only reasonable scenario to use this is where the bomb carrier is standing right near an BottomlessPit, but that has its own problems since said upgrade is exclusive to [[MightyGlacier the Heavy]], and since his main niche is dealing damage, this is far less useful than it sounds.

*** One other Pokémon that gets Unnerve is '''[[OlympusMons Mewtwo]]''', whose other ability, Pressure, effectively halves the opponent's PP, which is much better against Pokémon with powerful moves that only have a few chances to use it anyway.

*** Darmanitan has Zen Mode as its Hidden Ability. When Darmanitan's health drops below 50%, it changes form from a GlassCannon to a MightyGlacier, and gains an additional Psychic-type and much higher stats overall. While it sounds good in theory, it's anything but. If Darmanitan recovers its health to above 50% in Zen Mode, it will revert back, so good luck tanking hits with less than 50% HP. Furthermore, regular Darmanitan has a fantastic Attack stat but its Special Attack is abysmal, while Zen Mode Darmanitan has an abysmal Attack stat but a fantastic Sp. Attack stat. Essentially, this means a Darmanitan have to waste at least one move slot for a special move, and waste EV points for its Sp. Attack stat, to take advantage of its Zen Mode, which won't activate until its health drops below 50%. And to cap it off, Darmanitan's non-Hidden Ability is Sheer Force, which heavily buffs the power of all moves with secondary effects (at the price of removing those effects, but that's a small price to pay), making it hit much harder than Zen Mode Darmanitan. This means, ironically, that you'll almost never see a Darmanitan trainer that makes use of the species's signature gimmick.

*** Gigantamax Corviknight loses Max Airstream for G-Max Wind Rage, which removes terrain and breaks moves like Light Screen and Reflect. The problem is, the effect of Max Airstream is to boost speed, which Corviknight needs desperately.

* ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'': Maxing out Kiryu's Soul level changes Weapon Attacks into much stronger Heat Actions while he's in Brawler style... stronger in that they deal more damage, but they're worse otherwise. The weapon Heat Actions are strictly single-target ''and'' provide no additional effects that the equivalent Weapon Attack may have inflicted, and there's no way to toggle them off once they're unlocked.