History Main / ScrappyWeapon

*** Knives. There are only three in the game, they have no ranged options, and the strongest (the Stiletto) has a whopping 8 Mt (the same as a common iron axe), meaning they do pitiful damage even when accounting for their slightly enhanced crit rates. They're also restricted to the game's thieves and sages, of whom only Volke has anything even resembling the strength to make such weak weapons work. On top of all that, to wield knives, sages need to give up the option to use staves--do you want the option to heal your allies and manage all kinds of helpful utility effects, or the option to forego your powerful spells that hit at range on an enemy's weaker stat to wield incredibly weak daggers that key off your abysmal Strength? (Incidentally, both of the game's prepromoted sages went with the latter, as if specifically to nerf them after the sages from the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade previous]] [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones games]] blew their earlygame counterparts out of the water.) Even after being significantly buffed in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'', it was still usually seen as the worst weapon type, only carried by that game's CrutchCharacter. Knives didn't reappear until ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', which completely revamped their role by allowing them to debuff enemies after attacking.

* ''VideoGame/GHOSTSquad''

** Holding true to VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck, the Flamethrower in the 3D era of ''Grand Theft Auto'' games is one of the worst weapons. Its range is greatly {{Nerf}}ed from the 2D games and you're more than likely to accidentally set yourself on fire trying to hit enemies in a crowd. In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', there is no Fireproof bonus, meaning it is more of a liability. It's no surprise the HD era dropped this weapon from the game.
** The Country Rifle in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' is vastly outclassed by the Sniper Rifle once you unlock it. The latter has better overall utility and distribution, despite that weapon slot having no skill slot attached to it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Palworld}'':

** Before the [[TacticalRockPaperScissors weapon triangle]] was codified into the series, axes in earlier titles were not so much an equal to swords and lances as they were a representation of the disposable earlygame [[ComMons commoners]] and [[TheGoomba bandits]] that would quickly be phased out in favor of [[HeroesPreferSwords your sword-wielding heroes]] and TheEmpire's primarily lance-wielding forces. Consequently, good axes were rare and good users even rarer - in fact, ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGaiden'', its remake, and the second book of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' simply don't have ''any'' playable axe users at all. You're not missing much, in any case; axes boast the highest weight of all weapon types, meaning that many axes drag the user's Speed to the negatives (letting them be doubled by anything that isn't another axe-user), and have the worst accuracy in an RNG system that ''isn't'' fudging the results. You could usually mark the point where the game is no longer throwing axe enemies at you as a "taking the training wheels off" moment. After ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776'' introduced Constitution, they became significantly better due to weight becoming a nonissue, and by ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'', they were the best weapon type by far. (''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'' was the main stumble in that path, due to axes having the worst hit rates in a game where accuracy is a going concern.)

** In Expert mode, the Brain of Cthulhu drops the Brain of Confusion, which theoretically induces the Confused debuff on enemies that [[InterfaceScrew switches their controls.]] The biggest issue with this is that Confused is the one debuff that almost ''every'' enemy or boss is immune to, making it almost pointless. The 1.4 update significantly buffed the Brain of Confusion to give it a chance to dodge attacks for this reason - making it competative with its Corruption counterpart, the Worm Scarf.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}} version of ''VideoGame/SpongebobSquarepantsSupersponge'' has the Reefblower, a [[WeaponsThatSuck Weapon That Sucks]] in more than one way. With it equipped, you can suck in just one seashell at a time and slowly aim and fire it at an enemy. The drawback is that wearing it slows you down pretty badly and disables your GroundPound attack, making it much more of a liability with a side effect that doesn't help whatsoever. The only reason to use it is to break down walls that can only be damaged by the Reefblower.

** [[DropTheHammer Blunt weapons]] spent a long time in the wilderness due to a bug in the damage rules, meaning that your dwarves could pound on some poor goblin or kobold for ''months'' in-game without scoring a kill. While that did have [[VideogameCrueltyPotential a certain amount of appeal to many players]], it tended to impair the smooth running of a fortress by making civilian dwarves scared to go near the site of the battle.

** The above example is caused by small impact surface combined with high velocity, which are calculated oddly and thus lead to the massively powerful strikes chained weapons are known for. This also leads to [[DropTheHammer mauls]] being a scrappy weapon of themselves due to having the opposite problem (low velocity plus large impact surface making it very hard for mauls to apply their extra weight properly), and thus being so weak even masterful silver mauls are more like wifflebats that have a hard time cracking bones where a smaller silver hammer would explode the struck part into gore in a tenth of the time. Later updates did at least give it a niche role in twisting joints from its sheer momentum; it won't crush a skull but it ''will'' snap the neck into splinters in the same blow.

* ''VideoGame/SilentHill1'' has two: the Kitchen Knife and the Hand Axe, the first and last melee weapons you get, respectively. The Kitchen Knife is a mandatory pickup, has zero range and in terms of defense is much worse than simply running from danger, and it's as if the game realizes how worthless it is because you can find the Steel Pipe, one of the game's more useful weapons, ''less than a minute later''. The Hand Axe is a barely-noticeable upgrade to the Kitchen Knife, which is rather unacceptable since by then you're 75% through the game and already have the magnificent and deadly [[DropTheHammer Emergency Hammer]]. You don't have to get the Axe, though it does have one use: Breaking the lock keeping you from the sewer. Other weapons can break it, but it requires careful positioning and the Axe makes it easier.

** Also from the game, the Zodiac is a downplayed example of this. On the one hand, it releases a powerful energy blast that disintegrates all the enemies in the area in [[OneHitKill one shot]] with the exceptions of bosses and the [[BossInMookClothing Arctic Leviathans]] (and even in the case of the latter, it still does massive damage to the Leviathans). On the other hand, the amount of damage it inflicts on bosses is incredibly inconsistent, ranging from major to almost none at all, it can only hold 4 ammo at once, and the ammo is very expensive, costing 10000 bolts per shot. You ''can'' find ammo for it in crates, but it's not very common save for a few specific areas in the game. It ''would'' make for a great means to defend yourself in situations where you are surrounded by enemies and desperately need to wipe them all out at once… [[AwesomeButImpractical but by that point in the game, you should have plenty of other weapons capable of taking hordes out if you simply spam them instead of going for a more dramatic effect]]. It also can't be used while jumping, and unlike every other weapon in the game, it has a lengthy animation that Ratchet had to do before it fired. And if Ratchet takes any damage, it will stop the firing sequence. It ''can'' be useful in certain situations, but because of how costly the ammo is and the fact you have plenty of other weapons to use, it should only be used sparingly for major situations.
** Another downplayed example is RYNOCIRATOR, the final upgrade of [=RY3NO=], from ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank3''. Up until the final upgrade, [=RY3NO=] is your standard fare of [=RYNO=] [[MacrossMissileMassacre weapons]] which fire volley of missiles or energy blasts per round, making it an ideal weapon against multiple enemies or bosses. The final upgrade though just turns it into [[PowerUpLetDown a Zodiac clone]]; the energy blasts instead converge and obliterate everything on screen. While this weapon solves many of Zodiac's problems -- namely ammo capacity, ammo price, and you can move while firing it -- it still retains some of its problems, such as the enemy out of the camera's view not getting turned to ashes and it not effective against bosses unless you hit them with those energy blasts, a no easy task as it has no targeting. What's worse is that you can't find ammo for this weapon in crates anymore.

** The Submachine Gun. It replaces the Rifle from the first 2 games, which was great at killing things in one shot. Unfortunately, not only is the SMG's ammo rarer than gold, you also need to fire a lot of it to do worthwhile damage, effectively burning through a big chunk of the whole game's supply for just a couple targets. It feels like overkill to use on minor enemies, as it's usually much easier to run past them than to stay and fight, while the bosses have a nasty habit of abusing invincibility frames to make those precious bullets a complete waste, a problem the single-shot weapons aren't as affected by. In particular, the final boss on hard mode and up has an added ''immunity'' to the weapon, where it snaps to its invulnerable state after taking just one bullet, and requires a lot more ammo or waiting around just to bring it back out; sure, it still does damage, but you could probably escape a prison cell with a spoon before it actually dies from that.

** The Submachine Gun. It replaces the Rifle from the first 2 games, which was great at killing things in one shot. Unfortunately, not only is the SMG's ammo rarer than gold, you also need to fire a lot of it to do worthwhile damage, effectively burning through a big chunk of the whole game's supply for just a couple targets. It feels like overkill to use on minor enemies, as it's usually much easier to run past them than to stay and fight, while the bosses have a nasty habit of abusing invincibility frames to make those precious bullets a complete waste, a problem the single-shot weapons aren't as affected by.

** The ever-so-infamous Blue Shells. They are almost impossible to avoid, cannot be blocked or destroyed (except with the Super Horn, which was introduced in ''VideoGame/MarioKart8'') and create a huge explosion that stops the victim for much longer than other items. This sounds powerful, but they only target the racer in first place, and can only be obtained by racers near last place, so it's ''very'' unlikely that the person using the Blue Shell will benefit from it. The is especially true from ''Double Dash'' to ''Wii'', where the shell has wings and flies directly to first place, ignoring everyone else in the way. At least in ''64'' and ''7'' onwards, the shell can also hit other racers on its way to its target, although it's very easy to avoid for ''them''. In short, it's an item whose sole purpose is [[DoWellButNotPerfect punishing players for being too good]], but provides zero benefit for the player using it.

** Daytime Guest Stars is considered one of the worst cards in the game. It's a hideously expensive attack with the gimmick that it becomes free if your draw pile is empty. The problem is that this is awkward to accomplish -- even if you manage to get your draw pile to exactly 0 cards, there's no guarantee you'll actually have the thing in hand at that point, and if you draw it early there's no reliable way to Retain it in your hand until you can use it.[[note]]Contrast its inspiration -- the Silent's Grand Finale from ''Slay the Spire''. She has access to Well-Laid Plans, a power that can let her retain it for as long as shse wants to. Another point of awkwardness is that while the Silent has a lot of cards that let her dig through her deck, most of those in ''Lost Branch of Legend'' are in Blue or Red (not one of Daytime Guest Star's colours, so you need a third colour to play it more reliably) and may be exclusive to Sakuya (though other characters can access them by fighting her in Act 1 and taking one of her Exhibits).[[/note]] Its best use is in a gimmicky infinite combo deck that runs so few cards that you'll usually have an empty draw pile anyway.

* The M63 in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' if you decide to use it during the bike chase (which, owing to this being an ActionBasedMission and its high ammo capacity, you most likely will). Yes, the weapon is handy, but Snake's [[ShoutingShooter constant]] ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}''-[[ShoutingShooter esque yelling]] (which will occur non-stop since you'll be firing in bursts) is [[DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound painful to listen to]] and tempts many players into using the less effective (but less annoying) AK-47, [=XM16E1=] or Skorpion.

** Daytime Guest Stars is considered one of the worst cards in the game. It's a hideously expensive attack with the gimmick that it becomes free if your draw pile is empty. The problem is that this is awkward to accomplish -- even if you manage to get your draw pile to exactly 0 cards, there's no guarantee you'll actually have the thing available at that point, and if you draw it early there's no reliable way to Retain the card in your hand until you can use it.[[note]]Contrast its inspiration -- the Silent's Grand Finale from ''Slay the Spire''. She has access to Well-Laid Plans, a power that can let her retain it until she needs it. Another point of awkwardness is that while the Silent has a lot of cards that let her dig through her deck, most of those in ''Lost Branch of Legend'' are in Blue or Red (not one of Daytime Guest Star's colours, so you need a third colour to play it more reliably) and may be exclusive to Sakuya (though other characters can access them by fighting her in Act 1 and taking one of her Exhibits).[[/note]] Its best use is in a gimmicky infinite combo that aims to run a tiny deck and will usually have an empty draw pile anyway.

** Daytime Guest Stars is considered one of the worst cards in the game. It's a hideously expensive attack with the gimmick that it becomes free if your draw pile is empty. The problem is that this is awkward to accomplish -- even if you manage to get your draw pile to exactly 0 cards, there's no guarantee you'll actually have the thing available at that point, and if you draw it early there's no reliable way to Retain the card in your hand until you can use it.[[note]]Contrast its inspiration -- the Silent's Grand Finale from ''Slay the Spire''. She has access to Well-Laid Plans, a power that can let her retain it until she needs it. Another point of awkwardness is that while the Silent has a lot of cards that let her dig through her deck, most of those in ''Lost Branch of Legend'' are either in Blue (not one of Daytime Guest Star's colours, so you need a third colour to play it more reliably) or exclusive to Sakuya (though you can access them by fighting her in Act 1 and taking one of her Exhibits).[[/note]] Its best use is in a gimmicky infinite combo that aims to run a tiny deck and will usually have an empty draw pile anyway.
* Two rare exhibits are notorious for being stinkers:

* ''VideoGame/TouhouLostBranchOfLegend'': Two rare exhibits are notorious for being stinkers:
** The Ibuki Gourd lets you draw a new card whenever your hand is empty. This effect is easily shut down by {{Deck Clogger}}s (of which there are a lot), and has awkward anti-synergies with both Retain cards and Teammates (you might have to waste them to trigger the Gourd). And unlike its ''VideoGame/SlayTheSpire'' counterpart Unceasing Top, no character really has enough cheap/free cards or mana production to get much mileage out of it -- even if you manage to play every card in your hand, there's a good chance you won't be able to play the extra card.
** Shiny Bulb unlocks the option to Think at Gaps, which adds a random rare card to your deck. The issue is that you don't get any choice -- not even to reject the card once you've chosen the option and seen it (unless you {{save scum|ming}}). So you might get the perfect rare for your deck... or (more likely) something mediocre or a glorified DeckClogger.

* ''Franchise/{{Splatoon}}'':
** The first ''VideoGame/Splatoon1''[='=]s incarnation of the Rapid Blaster stands as one of the few weapons in the entire series that are almost universally considered bad. While they have more range and higher rates of fire than the normal Blaster, they have much less power. It lacks the one-hit kill that the other Blaster types are used for while other weapons like .52 and .96 Gals are more reliable for kills due to having a higher range and fire rate. It's not helped by the fact that the Damage Up ability can't reduce the number of hits needed to splat someone, meaning that it can't be used as a regular blaster, and even having the decent sub-weapon and special sets of Ink Mine and Bubbler or Suction Bomb and Bomb Rush does little to redeem it.
** In multiplayer, the Stingray introduced in ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' started out as easily the least effective special weapon in the game. All it had going for it were its long-range and ability to see through walls, both of which were rendered useless by the fact that was incredibly slow to aim, making it very difficult to hit anyone with it unless they're busy trying to dodge ''someone else's'' special. And to add insult to injury, it took multiple hits to down an opponent, meaning there was a good chance that they'd get away even if you manage to hit them, making it more distraction than actual hindrance (and if you want that, there are much better displacement specials for the job). It was ''slightly'' more useful in Salmon Run mode due to the Salmonids generally not bothering to dodge and being the only weapon that can kill [[DemonicSpider Flyfish]] without using a bomb, but even then it was situational at best. Then the Versions 1.3.0 and Version 1.4.0 updates hit, buffing it to the point that the weapon is now hated by competitive players for being ''too'' good, even after Nintendo spent the remainder of the game's lifespan trying to nerf it.
** By the end of ''Splatoon 2''[='=]s life, Splashdown was almost unanimously considered to be the worst special outside of [[MultiMookMelee Salmon Run]], falling into AwesomeButImpractical territory in the eyes of the competitive community. In spite of its flashy animation, it's slow, predictable and therefore easy to dodge and '''extremely''' easy to punish for experienced players, making some people compare it to being a suicide button. Due to it being painfully hard to use effectively, and the high probability of the user getting killed for using it, it's often considered a downside for a weapon to even ''have'' this special.
** [[PlayerVersusEnvironment Salmon Run]] makes it clear that there are a number of weapons which are notably ill-suited to taking on mobs of enemies at once:
*** The Inkbrush and Octobrush are the worst weapons in the mode, bar none. Their multiple hits are each individually weak, which while able to splat an Inkling/Octoling quickly is merely a nuisance against larger and more dense Salmonids, and the lack of range only makes things worse since they cannot flatten anything bigger than a Smallfry. On top of that, [[TheAllSeeingAI the Salmonids' sense of smell can pick out hiding Inklings]], making this weapon's popular "assassin" style of gameplay dead weight.
*** Blasters are some of the most difficult-to-use weapons in the mode due to their limited range (which makes them go from not very effective to completely useless when dealing with bosses) and a slow fire rate (which makes them bad at clearing out the {{Mooks}} that try to mob you). Their secondary selling point (being able to do damage around corners) is almost completely useless given the aforementioned fact that you can't hide from Salmonids and sneak attack them. That said, they are the only single-shot weapon capable of blowing multiple Stinger segments off at once, and the Grizzco Blaster's fire rate makes the lack of range a moot point.
*** The Goo Tuber has a shorter range compared to other chargers as well as a longer charge time. It does have the ability to hold a full charge for much longer, but this isn't really useful in Salmon Run.
*** The Bamboozler has a quick charge time but lacks the damage and range of other chargers, which works against it more often than not.
*** The H-3 Nozzlenose only fires in a three-shot burst with each press of ZR and has a longer cooldown between bursts; this can cause plenty of damage to a single target, but Salmonids are never single targets for long.
*** The Hydra Splatling takes way too long to charge, and the user slows to a crawl during spin-up, making it easier for them to get mobbed before their belt is ready. The ink consumption leaves much to be desired, too.
*** The Dynamo Roller destroys any mook caught under it, Cohocks included, but takes too long to fling, making it unwieldy as a boss buster. Aside from what it does to Cohocks, it mostly just ends up doing exactly what other Roller types do, but slower.