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  • Abyss Crossing: All playable characters have a "Release" form that boosts their stats and changes their appearance, but costs 10 TP, drains 10 TP every turn, and prevents TP gain. Once they run out of TP, they automatically revert to their base form.
  • Akatsuki Blitzkampf: Wei can power himself up temporarily by invoking different super modes that boost his speed, strength or defense for around five seconds. His EX allows him to summon all three at the same time, and his Super makes him pretty much invincible for around 10 seconds.
  • Altered Beast (1988): Powerups make you successively more muscular, until you max out and gain your beast form and powers.
  • ANNO: Mutationem: The protagonist, Ann Flores, can eventually access "Super Ann" mode (as her best friend Ayane refers to it), which gives her rapidly regenerating health that makes her effectively invincible, dual katanas that are far more powerful than any of her normal weapons, an infinite supply of ninja throwing stars, and vastly increased stats that will utterly wipe the floor with normal enemies or deal severe damage to bosses.
  • Asura's Wrath: The Guardian Generals of the Demigod race can enter a special mode called a Vajra Form, where they have a halo behind their back that represents their Mantra type, and is the only one any of them can obtain naturally without extra Mantra from Humans. There are some occasional differences, however:
    • Wyzen not only has a regular Vajra mode, but when using Mantra and human souls, he can turn into a massive 100 foot Humanoid giant, and with at least Hundreds of MILLIONS of souls, he can turn into the massive huge planet sized Gongen Wyzen. When Asura gets his memories back and awakens to his rage, the downside of this last form makes itself clear, as Asura destroys him with a powerful blow to the colossal finger that Wyzen was trying to use to crush him like a bug.
    • Deus, long with a regular Vajra form, fuses with the completed Karma Fortress to become Sakra Devanam Indra Deus, where he controls the Karma Fortress' movements at will, and powers himself up and gives him a whitish energy mask when fighting on foot to go with his halo
    • Chakravartin starts off with his Golden Spider form, then when using Mithra's special powers by possession, he obtains a humanoid form with 12 pairs of arms and a halo made of thousands of arms. Then he sheds the form to become an even more humanoid, silver colored Reaper-like being, which is known as his Creator form.
    • The reigning king of this, however, is Asura himself, as he has six different versions of this, as he grows progressively angrier and angrier and gets access to more and more power over the course of the game, until his final mode involves him being larger than a planet and flying at Faster Than Light speeds against an enemy who is using stars and planets as bullets. Ultimately, however, this is subverted in the final battle, where Asura's most powerful forms are broken and the only way he can defeat the final boss is by using speed, cunning, and raw determination to outmaneuver and beat him to death.
  • The Baldur's Gate series features Dungeons & Dragons spells that can do a bit of this, but it's especially clear with the Draw Upon Holy Might special ability that the Player Character gains if they have a high Karma Meter at one point in the game. This is a spell that increases one's physical abilities, and it can be gained by a character with no spellcasting abilities, so it's just "you can become physically stronger due to that mysterious power within you." The abilitity carries over to Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn, where it's eventually lost, but then it's replaced with a Superpowered Evil Side.
  • Baldur's Gate III
    • Barbarians, as in Dungeons & Dragons, can enter Rage, which allows them to deal more damage and better mitigate any damage sustained. Each of the three subclasses for Barbarians have their own upgrades to Rage: Wild Magic Barbarians release magical energy that causes random effects; Wildheart Barbarians gain Bestial Heart buffs, which vary depending on the animal chosen; and Berserkers can Frenzy, granting them an extra attack per turn (but at the cost of diminishing accuracy the longer you are Frenzied).
    • Unique to the Dark Urge origin character is an unlockable Slayer Form, which grants them powerful defenses and deadly attacks. There is a cost to gaining this power, however: allowing the Urge to overtake you and murder certain important characters.
  • In Bayonetta, the titular character doesn't actually have a Super Mode in-game, but in cut-scenes, usually when about to battle bosses, she unleashes her power which turns all her attacks into Wicked Weaves, ethereal gigantic versions of her own fists and feet which she normally summons only as combo finishers. In Bayonetta 2, she instead now has a gameplay mechanic Umbra Climax, which is similar to the Devil Trigger mentioned under Devil May Cry above: A temporary mode where her attacks becomes stronger and more far-reaching, in addition to gaining health.
  • BlazBlue:
    • More than one character has one from the first game onwards. Ragna's Blood Kain increases his attack power and lets him absorb life from his victims. Tsubaki's Macto Maledictis gives her unlimited use of her Unlimited meter. Hakumen's Kokujin Ougi: Mugen!/Empty True Sky Form: Light of Judgment lets him use all his specials and Distortion Drives without using any of his magatama. Bang's Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan lets him zip around all over the stage and changes the background music to this.
    • BlazBlue: Chronophantasma has a new "Overdrive" mechanic which gives everyone a character-specific Super Mode when activated. For instance, Hazama gains his infamous health-draining ring, Taokaka gains a doppelganger who follows her, Jin can freeze his opponents more, etc. Many moves which were Super Modes in previous games (Ragna's Blood Kain and Bang's Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan) are now Overdrives as well.
    • The strongest versions are the Unlimited characters. Essentially, an Unlimited character does what the normal character does, but to crazy levels. Purposefully Overpowered, they're all faster, stronger and have more health than their usual version, as well as their moves gaining new and/or stronger properties and gaining new attacks based on souped-up versions of things in their regular moveset. Unlimited Ragna is the series' standard True Final Boss. Interestingly, only a small number of Unlimited forms are actually justified in-game — the vast majority are purely hypothetical.
  • In Breath of Fire III unlike all his other dragon forms which fall under Scaled Up, the Infinity gene turns Ryu into a golden-haired version of himself with greatly enhanced stats. However, he will be uncontrollable unless certain other genes are spliced in as well. Failure for a weakened version, Radiance and Trance for the full-powered one.
  • Cornell of Castlevania: Legacy of Darkness can shift into his werewolf form, boosting his strength for a limited time. This carries over into his Hyper move in Castlevania: Judgment.
  • Crimzon Clover has Break Mode, activated by pressing the bomb button at 100% Break Gauge. It increases your firepower, doubles your Break Rate, and causes stars to shower while damaging enemes. During Break Mode, if you fill the gauge before Break Mode runs out, you can activate Double Break Mode, which gives you even more firepower and doubles your Break Rate again.
  • Cyberpunk 2077 has two different operating system implants to replace your Cyberdeck that grant temporary boosts. One of them, Sandevistan, slows down time while also increasing your critical hit rate and damage. The other, Berserk, fortifies your defenses and increases your damage output and weapon stability.
  • In Darksiders, War can enter Chaos mode after killing enough enemies. Chaos Form deals absurd amounts of damage and is invincible, but is slow and lasts less than 30 seconds. In Darksiders II, Death can enter Reaper Form which is functionally similar, albeit far mobile at the cost of still taking (reduced) damage. Darksiders III has Havoc Mode for Fury, which functions similar to Chaos Mode but with less of a size increase.
  • Defiance: All player characters have nanomachine augments that allow them to use one of four skills, each of which is a high-cooldown temporary super mode:
    • Overcharge: Increases your weapon's DPS. It also reloads your current weapon when activated, which is useful for high-damage slow-reload weapons.
    • Cloak: Begins a cloaking device. The device will short out if you're hit or you perform an action, but once it's on enemies will almost never shoot at you AND your regenerating shields immediately begin regenerating. EXTREMELY useful when paired with high-power, low recharge delay shields.
    • Decoy: Exactly What It Says on the Tin. This is usually the least useful skill, but you have the power to teleport to wherever your decoy is (and replacing your current position with the decoy), which can be really useful with the correct tactics.
    • Blur: Increases run speed and melee damage. Really useful if you use a charge blade instead of a gun.
  • Devil May Cry series:
    • The Hero Dante has various demonic forms (a.k.a. Devil Trigger) — particularly his ultra-powerful "Sparda" form, which is actually an 11th-Hour Superpower courtesy of his father. Overlaps with One-Winged Angel and Limit Break.
    • Enemies can also Devil Trigger in Dante Must Die difficulty, making them tougher. Usually, the weaker the enemy, the sooner they will Devil Trigger. In DmC: Devil May Cry unlockable Gods Must Die mode, enemies spawn in Devil Trigger state.
    • It is ultimately established that anyone with demonic power can Devil Trigger, although only a handful few change their appearance like Dante does. For example, Vergil's Devil Trigger turns him demonic, but Trish' merely gives her a golden aura. In contrast, being a human, Lady's limit break merely has her throw explosives all over the place.
    • In Devil May Cry 5, one of Nero's Devil Breakers, "Tomboy", allows him to strengthen his weapon attacks, albeit at the cost of his ability to lock-on to enemies. When overcharged, it temporarily boosts his attack power further before breaking and needing replacement. Late in the game, Nero also gets his own proper Devil Trigger; while his old Devil Trigger in 4 merely gives him a Fighting Spirit, his true DT in 5 turns him as demonic as Dante and Vergil.
  • DonPachi:
    • Several games in the series have Hyper mode, the effects of which vary from game to game:
      • DoDonPachi dai ou jou gives you more firepower and causes your hit chain to skyrocket when hitting enemies; moreover you can stock up multiple Hyper tokens and their effects will stack when you go into Hyper mode. However it also causes the Dynamic Difficulty to increase, with enemies firing faster and denser patterns, with some of those effects persisting even after your Hyper mode ends.
      • DoDonPachi Resurrection's Hyper Counter gives you the firepower boost and also allows your shots to cancel bullets, with those cancelled bullets adding to your hit counter. Also, Hyper Counter gets its own button, unlike in dai ou jou where it's activated with the bomb button (thus preventing you from firing a bomb if you have any Hypers in stock).
      • DoDonPachi Resurrection Black Label does mostly the same thing, but without the hit counter increase when cancelling bullets; instead, bullets turn into stars whose point values are multiplied by your current hit coutner.
      • DoDonPachi Saidaioujou's Hyper mode is more akin to dai ou jou's, multiplying the rate at which your hit counter rises on top of increasing the visible Rank counter.
    • Resurrection Black Label flips this trope with Red Mode, which you activate by filling a meter past the threshold marked on the Dynamic Difficulty meter by firing both your shot and laser at the same time. Instead of making you powerful, it makes the enemies more powerful, but in exchange your score multipliers will kick in.
  • Dragalia Lost has a few characters who can do things like this, but easily the most notable example would be Euden himself. At the very end of the game, he and Zethia unlock their Bondforged forms, which are physical manifestations of all of the bonds that they have gained on their journeys. Euden’s hair grows and turns the bottom half of it green. His armor turns white with green accents, which helps compliment Primal Midgardsormer. His pact is stronger than ever, and their wind abilities are greatly enhanced. As for Zethia, her scarf turns gold, and she gets a white dress. Her healing and Auspex abilities also greatened. Together, they use their Bondforged Forms to defeat Xenos.
  • Dragon Quest:
    • Dragon Quest VIII has Super High Tension mode which turns the aura of the character purple and quadruple the attack damage. The US and PAL versions both add a bonus by having the hero gain purple spiky hair ala Dragon Ball Z.
    • Dragon Quest XI:
      • Characters can randomly become "pepped up" in battle. It gives them a blue Battle Aura and raises some of their stats, depending on the user. It can be used up to power so-called Pep Powers. It's somewhat unusual in that it can persist between battles.
      • Jade has an additional one in form of the "Jinxed Jade" form, attained by using the "Re-Vamp" skill. It boosts Jade's stats, and makes her look like a demonic Playboy Bunny, with Red Eyes and gray skin. It's learned when Jade is freed from Booga's control in the second arc of the story, where she takes this form while Brainwashed by said villain. While the above might seem like a case of Superpowered Evil Side, an event in the third arc of the story reveals that it's indeed her inherent power.
  • The Dynasty Warriors franchise often feature this in its entries, with a different name depending on the entry.
    • In the Dynasty Warriors games proper, this is called Rage Mode. Characters can only activate Rage Made when the Rage meter is full. Rage Mode will bestow a variety of effects on the player character, such as increased damaged output, increased defense, increased movement speed, knockback reduction, and many more. The Rage meter slowly depletes while under the effects of Rage Mode, and so the mode ends when the meter is empty.
    • Samurai Warriors also has the same Rage Mode, although it functions slightly differently.
    • Hyrule Warriors has Focus Spirit mode, which can be activated when the magic meter is full. During this mode, the character's attack, defense, and speed receive a temporary boost. For most characters the only visual changes are gaining a glowing aura around their bodies or having a slightly different appearance (Ghirahim), but DLC character Young Link is different: he's usually a lot weaker than most characters, but when Focus Spirit is activated, he'll don the Fierce Deity's Mask and transform into the nigh-invincible ferocious god until the magic meter runs out. Young Link also has the unique ability to convert Special Attack energy into magic power, so it's possible to stay transformed for almost the entire battle if the meter is managed well.
    • One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 adds 'Style Mode' for all playable characters. What it actually does varies between characters — Luffy goes into Gear Second, Sanji catches on fire, fighters with appropriate training will activate Armament Haki, Logia-users transform fully into their elemental form (making them immune to normal attacks), and so on. Regardless of the details, however, it always works in much the same way: You start glowing, No-Sell enemy attacks, and access better, stronger combos that you can deliver with increased attack power and speed. It's always time-limited, but with the right skills equipped (and a bit of luck with finding food-items), you can keep it up for a LONG time, laying waste to numerous bosses and hundreds of enemies... Better yet, you can bring along a Crew Member for support — and if you beat enough enemies while in Style Mode, you can end it by activating Crew Strike, where you tag in your chosen Crew Member and control THEM for a while... in THEIR Style Mode. Pirate Warriors 3 changes this to Kizuna Rush mode. Much of the same effects apply, save for the part where you can temporarily control one of your assist characters, which was removed.
    • Warriors All-Stars has a similar mode called Musou Rush, where your character gets an attack and speed boost, while becoming invincible for the duration for it. You can only activate this mode when you have a Rush Star. The player is given a Rush Star right off the bat at the beginning of every battle, and is given one for every 1000 KO's they achieve. As KO count increases in this mode, the player's party members will start to appear onscreen and cheer the player character on and do some assist attacks.
    • Berserk and the Band of the Hawk has the Frenzy Mode, which is activated by filling the Frenzy Gauge. It has 5 different tiers that must be filled, each granting stronger buffs. Characters will start to emit an aura of blood during this mode. If the character has an alternate form available, they can transform into it after reaching the full 5th tier. For example, if in his Berserker Armor, Guts will transform into his Berserk form, turning into arguably the most powerful super mode in the entire franchise.
    • Fire Emblem Warriors and Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes term their super modes as "Awakening Mode". This mode can be accessed after filling up the Awakening Gauge, and it grants the player character extra buffs when under its effects.
  • The Elder Scrolls:
    • Throughout the series, Orcs have a racial ability that allows them to activate a Berserker super mode for a short time once per day. Their ability to dish out and take damage increases significantly.
    • Throughout the series, vampirism and lycanthropy play with it. While each no doubt greatly increases the strength and abilities of the infected, it tends to enter Awesome, but Impractical and Blessed with Suck territory. While the exact details for vampires vary from game to game, making it more or less useful depending on the game, werewolves tend to Subvert it to the point of being a Useless Useful Spell due to the inability to use healing potions or gear.
    • Oblivion:
      • The Mythic Dawn cultists, worshipers of the Daedric Prince of Destruction Mehrunes Dagon, possess a unique spell which allows them to summon a Bound Sword and Bound Armor instantly.
      • The spell crafting system makes it possible for the player to create a similar spell, as well as add other buff spells into one super-spell. At high levels, one can go from a skinny mage in robes to an imposing warrior in full heavy plate armor in an instant... until the spell wears off. It also tends to eat up the entire Magicka bar in one go.
    • Skyrim:
      • Werewolves, being a voluntary transformation for the first time in the series, have it a little better than most other games. It can in fact be a Disc-One Nuke if acquired early enough. However, the aforementioned inability to use items or gear cripples it at higher levels. The Dawnguard DLC adds a skill tree which makes it somewhat more useful, but it still overall Downplayed as a Super Mode.
      • The Dawnguard DLC also adds the Vampire Lord mode for those who choose to play as vampires.
      • The Dragonborn DLC features the "Dragon Aspect" shout. Dragon Aspect which gives the user increased abilities while at the same time giving them a glowing aura in the shape of a dragon.
  • Fairy Fencer F has Fairize forms, that characters access by stabbing themselves with their own weapon to gain mechanic armor, Mask of Power, Battle Aura and kickass music theme. They also gain huge buff to their physical stats, as well as access to their Limit Breaks.
  • Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star has the Moon Crux/Drive mode, represented by a bar above the player's HP bar. During it, the player receives generic buffs, such as an increase in attack, defense, and speed. Some characters, such as Nero and Tamamo, will undergo a visual change, as well as a change in moveset. This is explained in-story as Nero and Tamamo briefly borrowing the Moon Cell's power via the Regalia, while Altera is instead tapping into her true form's power (which she cannot wield when in the form of a Servant). A second version appears in the True Ending, where Nero summons the spirit and power of the goddess Venus into herself in order to match the Velber. This grants her vastly increased power far beyond that of a Servant (literally godlike, in fact), but is a one-time deal that only lasts until the Velber is defeated.
  • Terra's Trance/Morph mode in Final Fantasy VI. Among other things, it doubles her damage output and halves incoming magic damage.
    • Vincent Valentine's Limit Break transformations in Final Fantasy VII. Unique in that his forms look nothing like him and are uncontrollable until the battle ends.
    • Every character's Trance mode in Final Fantasy IX. Including the big Bad's One Winged Angel form '; after giving up on wielding the game's Summon Magic, he actually seeks out and harnesses the game's own Limit Break system to empower himself!
    • Final Fantasy X-2 has a trio of 'Special Dresspheres' unique to each of the girls. By switching between every normal Dressphere on their grid, they can undergo a Sailor Moon-esque transformation into a boss-like form with Cognizant Limbs that replace the other two party members. Even Fiends can pull this off, entering an "Oversoul" state when enough of their species is killed.
    • The Summoner in Final Fantasy XIV has three Super Mode abilities. The first, Dreadwyrm Trance, allows them to instantly cast most spells, resets the cooldown of the ability Tri-Disaster, and allows them to use the powerful nuke ability Deathflare. The second, Summon Bahamut, replaces their summoned Egi with Demi-Bahamut, who attacks with Wyrmwave whenever the Summoner casts a spell and who can use the powerful Akh Morn twice per summoning. The last and most powerful, Firebird Trance, is a combination of these: It allows the Summoner to instantly cast their spells (while replacing their basic spells with more powerful versions) and resets Tri-Disaster's cooldown, while also replacing their Egi with Demi-Phoenix, who attacks with Scarlet Flame whenever the Summoner casts a spell and can use Revelation (essentially a reskinned Akh Morn) twice per summoning.
    • The Cosmos Warriors of Dissidia Final Fantasy's EX-Mode has them either equip their Infinity +1 Sword(s) or go into their respective Super Modes (including upgrading/mastering their job classes, entering a Trance, or something else related to the mechanics or lore of their respective games). On the other hand, almost all of Chaos' Warriors enter their respective One-Winged Angel forms.
    • Final Fantasy XV has Noctis getting one of these first to fight a rampaging Leviathan. He does it again at the end of the game to fight Ardyn in the final battle.
    • Final Fantasy XVI has "priming", wherein a Dominant — a person bound to an Eikon — allows the Eikon to manifest through them, making this a mixture of Super Mode and Summon Magic. Clive can also "semi-prime" for his Limit Break, harnessing Ifrit's power while only partially transforming, temporarily increasing his power severalfold.
  • This is the gist of the titular core mechanic of Fire Emblem Engage. Any unit that is equipped with an Emblem Ring (or Bracelet, if you have the DLC) has an "Engage Meter" that, when full, can allow the user to "Engage" with the equipped Emblem, gaining more powerful skills and access to a once-per-transformation Engage Attack, with the transformation itself lasting for three or four turns. For Alear to access their abilities as the Fire Emblem after becoming an Emblem in Chapter 22, Alear must trigger an Engage with an ally through the Engage+ command, but the mechanics are otherwise almost identical, the main difference from other Engages (and other Emblems in general) being that Alear is a separate unit from the character they are Engaged with.
  • In Flynn: Son of Crimson, Flynn can obtain "Crimson Control" mode after visiting the Crimson Sanctuary at a certain point in the game, greatly enhancing his sword's attack power, speed, and range as long as it is active.
  • Keats' Transcend Mode, from Folklore.
  • Giana Sisters DS: Punk Giana. Giana turns into a Fiery Redhead version of herself with Perky Goth clothes, who is much stronger and can shoot fireballs.
  • Kratos' Rage Of The Gods/Titans/Sparta from the God of War games.
  • Grand Theft Auto V has a super mode for each playable character in story mode: Michael can slow down time on foot, Franklin can slow down time while driving, and Trevor inflicts double damage while increasing his own resistance to damage.
  • The Guided Fate Paradox allows your main character — a down-on-his-luck Ordinary High-School Student who finds himself inexplicably promoted to God Almighty after winning the title in a raffle(!) — to temporarily go into 'God Mode' after killing enough enemies. Floating? Check. Badass-looking armor? Check. Screen-clearing super-attacks? Check. Complete invulnerability? Check. Highly limited duration which goes down even faster if you get hit or use attacks? ...check.
  • Sol Badguy from Guilty Gear has "Dragon Install", which temporarily increases the power of his attacks at the cost of depleting health. This created a minor trend in the fighting game community where people would call any super mode in games similar to Guilty Gear "[X] Install" or an "install super".
    • Dizzy's EX moveset in the XX games also gives her a similar ability called "Necro Install" which also boosts her attacks with the disadvantage of leaving her open once it wears off. Ky Kiske meanwhile gets his own Dragon Install in STRIVE due to him becoming part-Gear in Xrd, though here activating it requires him to be at 30% health or lower, making it more akin to a Critical Status Buff.
  • The Super-charged Gravity Gun at the end of Half-Life 2 and the beginning of Half-Life 2: Episode One, which allowed the player to pick up almost anything (including enemy soldiers and APCs) and throw it.
  • Nariko gets one of these at the end of Heavenly Sword.
  • The most recent installment of Killer Instinct includes "Instinct Mode", which gives the character a unique ability when activated. These abilities vary wildly (Sadira can leave behind traps, Orchid can summon a fire cat to run across the screen, and Glacius can become Immune to Flinching for a single hit up to five times) and enhance a character's playstyle (so Glacius, being a keepaway character, can tank a single hit in order to tag an opponent across the screen).
  • Kingdom Hearts:
    • In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories Riku has this once he gets 30 Dark Points (obtained by taking damage or breaking enemy cards), he will enter Dark Mode. Dark Mode gives Riku increased speed and power, plus it lets him use sleights without requiring the Mickey Friend Card.
    • Sora's Drive Forms (particularly the Final Form) in Kingdom Hearts II, with the exception of Anti Form, which is more of a Superpowered Evil Side.
    • The Command Styles in Birth by Sleep may also count.
    • Kingdom Hearts III has Sora’s formchanges, which are similar to his Drive Forms but different in some ways.
  • In Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, "Reckoning" Mode is this for the Fateless One. Everything but the Fateless One goes into slow motion as he/she fights with weapons empowered by the Weave of Fate. "Reckoning" also allows Finishers which consist of the Fateless One ripping out opponents' fate and beating them to death with it.
  • The Legend of Dragoon gives us the titular Dragoon forms when activated cure any status effects and boost the users stats immensely also giving access to powerful Dragoon Magic spells each usually having power enough to equate to a Finishing Move as well as Dragoon additions a power Meteor Move like combo that deals immense physical damage
  • The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel series has Rean's ogre form, accessible by his Spirit Unification craft in second and third games. It dyes his hair silver and his eyes become red. It skyrockets his stats and changes his crafts into more powerful forms, but wears off after three turns. Story-wise, it gives him a power boost huge enough to get away from about a dozen people, each of which is far stronger than he is normally. However, said super mode is more akin to a controllable Superpowered Evil Side that he'd taken up martial arts training to make controllable, and at the end of the third game he loses control and unintentionally helps bad guys finish their evil plan. In the fourth game, Spirit Unification is replaced with Demon Unchained, which works in a similar way, but instead of wearing off, it causes Rean to lose control and start hacking at enemies with normal attacks. The destruction of Ishmelga results in Rean losing the evil aspect of his Super Mode, meaning he gets Spirit Unification back in The Legend of Heroes: Trails into Reverie, but his hair and eyes no longer change.
  • Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth has Kiryu's unique skill "Dragon Resurgence", during which Kiryu temporarily throws the game's Turn-Based Combat out the window (further demonstrated by the normal battle menu breaking) and gains the ability to attack enemies in realtime, ala the games that came before Yakuza: Like a Dragon.
  • Luminous Plume: Those trained in using aura can activate Auradrive, a state that temporarily boosts their strength, defense, and speed while quickly regenerating their AP. Auradrive can be ended early to activate an ultimate tech known as an Ace.
  • LunarLux: Phase Mode is a transformation used by Nickle the Murk Slayer by using up a full Anti Meter. In this form, all of his skill damage is doubled and he ignores attacks that deal less than 50 damage. In the finale, he gets Overphase, which ignores SP cost, quadruples his damage, and drains 50% of his HP per turn.
  • Machina of the Planet Tree -Planet Ruler-: Playable characters can enter Overtension at full TP, which doubles their cost points so they can perform longer combos. However, once Overtension wears off, they'll be dropped to 0 TP and left in a weakened state.
  • In Marvel's Spider-Man 2, after acquiring the Black Suit, Peter gains the ability to use "Symbiote Surge", which increases his attack power severalfold and automatically executes unique finishing moves during its duration. Later in the game, after acquiring the Anti-Venom Suit, it also inflicts additional damage against enemy Symbiotes.
  • In Marvel vs. Capcom 3:
    • While some of the characters' hyper-combos are transformations (i.e., Dante's Devil Trigger and Phoenix's evil version, Dark Phoenix), the most notable transformation isn't even a hyper-combo at all: The X-Factor, which increases in quality depending on how many teammates were knocked-out in the fight.
    • The expanded rerelease, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3, added several more characters with Super Modes, most notably Phoenix Wright (not the same as the above Phoenix) with his ability to become an unstoppable justice juggernaut after collecting enough evidence, easily able to kill anyone in the game with a simple combo ending with his Turnabout Mode-only Hyper Combo. The powered up lawyer glows gold, and a mere wave of his arm summons a massive simulacrum of his extended arm, smiting his foe.
  • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite has Infinity Storms, which can be activated once the player has at least 50% of their Infinity Stone gauge filled. The effect depends on the Infinity Storm chosen by the player before the battle: the Power Stone functions like X-Factor from MVC3, granting increased attack power and easier wall-bounces and OTG attacks; the Time Stone increases movement speed and enhances the stone's Flash Step ability; the Space Stone creates an energy cage to restrict the opponent's movement; the Reality Stone creates flame beams, lightning strikes, and ice waves to overwhelm the opponent; the Mind Stone quickly replenishes the Hyper Combo gauge; and the Soul Stone summons both members of the player's team to fight simultaneously and can even revive KO'd fighters. This is in addition to super modes that some characters have, like Arthur's Golden Armor, Megaman X's First Armor, and Captain Marvel's "Binary" form.
  • From all of Mega Man X's armors, the Ultimate Armor stands out, a secret armor accessed only through a cheat code, or, in some games, beating the game under special circumstances. It's the most broken armor in the series, having several abilities that make some of the games much easier.
    • The same could be said for Zero's own Ultimate upgrade in Mega Man Zero. It increases all his stats, and executing certain button combinations allow him to use Charge Attacks without, y'know, actually charging them.
    • All playable characters in Mega Man X: Command Mission has unique Hyper Mode.
      • For X, it's X Fire, and after defeating a certain Superboss, the aforementioned Ultimate X.
      • Zero starts with Black Zero, and like X, defeating another Superboss gives him Absolute Zero.
      • Axl's Stealth Form.
      • Spider's Trickstar.
      • Massimo's Glint Armor.
      • Marino's Quicksilver.
      • Cinnamon's Iron Maiden.
    • Any EM Wave Change in Mega Man Star Force, which transforms people from "random guy on the street" to "electromagnetic engine of destruction". On top of that, each game tends to have its own Super Modes:
      • In the first game Pegasus, Leo and Dragon, there's also the Star Force forms, Ice Pegasus, Fire Leo and Green Dragon, which specialise in specific elements.
      • The second game, Zerker x Saurian and Zerker x Ninja give secondary, tertiary and even quaternary Super Modes in the forms of Tribe On (one element), Double Tribe (two elements), and the obscenely powerful Tribe King (which requires One Game for the Price of Two). There's also the Element + Void tertiary mode known as Mega Man Rogue, which can't even be accessed until you've beaten the game and is somewhat Awesome, but Impractical.
      • The third game, Black Ace and Red Joker also has a few. Specifically, the Vibrant Noise forms, which unlock the abilities of your chosen Noise Change, and once the Noise gets high enough, you can finalize into one of the two titular forms (That is to say, Black Ace and Red Joker), which gives ultra-powerful folders that tend to violate folder-building rules.
    • Star Force's prequel, Mega Man Battle Network is no slouch, either. The recurring Super Mode for MegaMan.EXE is Hub Style, which grants him drastically increased power (Though it is risky because due to it causing MegaMan.EXE and Lan to undergo Twin Telepathy, which side effects such as the two's physical states reflecting each other). On top of that, there are also the game-specific Super Modes:
      • The second and third games feature Style Changes, which alter MegaMan's specializations.
      • The fourth and fifth games feature Soul Unison, which sacrifices a Chip to allow MegaMan to temporarily exhibit the abilities of a Navi he has synchronized with. The fifth game also features Chaos Unison, where doing so with a Dark Chip allows MegaMan to safely use the power of Dark Chips without the risk of becoming corrupted.
      • The sixth game has two: The Cross System, a more easily accessible version of Soul Unison from the previous game, and Beast Out, where MegaMan draws upon the power of the Cybeast sealed within him to enter a more powerful bestial form. Beast Out also has its own enhanced state, called Beast Over, where the Cybeast takes control for a brief moment, granting temporarily invulnerability and automatic attacks, at the cost of leaving MegaMan on the verge of defeat once Beast Over wears off.
    • Mega Man ZX has the Overdrive Invoke System, where a Biometal overclocks to boost its Mega Man's powers even further and they gain a nifty Battle Aura, though as a consequence it drains energy and can only be used for a limited time safely. In exchange for costing Biometal Weapon Energy, Vent/Aile can Overdrive with Models H, F, L, and P to imbue all their regular attacks with their respective elemental powers for the former three, and gain a flat damage increase and the ability to use Shadow Dash for the last. Though it doesn't have one in the game, in the manga, Model Z's Overdrive turns its Laser Blade into a BFS. Serpent's own Overdrive with Model W gives him limited-time boosted attack, speed, and range, and Vent/Aile's Overdrive with Model O lets them use nearly all of Omega Zero's attacks with impunity and it's infinite.
  • Monster Hunter
    • The Dual Blades weapon type allows players to enter "Demon Mode", which grants faster attacks and enhanced power, albeit at the cost of continually draining your stamina while active. If the player succeeds in filling up a special meter while in Demon Mode, however, they can activate "Archdemon Mode", which grants them significant buffs without the need to burn stamina.
    • In Monster Hunter 4, the Frenzy Virus simply causes monsters to behave erratically and potentially spread the virus to hunters, but 4 Ultimate introduces the Apex status, which not only allows the host monster to spread the virus, but also higher attack power, complete immunity to elements, traps, and status effects, super-hard skin/scales/hide that bounces off even purple-sharpness attacks except in a few select areas of the monster's body, and the abilities of the monster's subspecies. Apex monsters can only be effectively fought with the Drive Wystone active, which allows the user to pierce its super-hard defenses and (like the other Wystones) temporarily knock it out of Apex status.
  • Hard Drive Divinity in Neptunia. Typically changes the appearance of the user and her weapon and makes her hover; in Neptune's case, it also changes her voice. In the original game, HDD lasts indefinitely until the battle ends or the user is incapacitated, while in the series reboot, HDD lasts as long as the user still has Skill Points to spare.
  • No More Heroes: Travis Touchdown utilizes an ability called Dark Side mode that randomly triggers as he kills enemies. Depending on the matching slots shown, the powers he gains are different such as moving at fast speed, killing single enemies instantly and destroying all enemies in the area.
  • No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: Getting all BARs will cause Travis to turn into a tiger for some reason. It scares the shit out of your enemies and lasts a surprising amount of time.
  • Odin Sphere:
    • Oswald gets Shadow Form, an ability that transforms him into the Shadow Knight by holding the the Attack button for a few seconds. This mode greatly enhances his abilities, but jacks up his POW consumption to such a high rate that it's Awesome, but Impractical without an auxiliary item to rapidly restore POW.
    • Leifthrasir replaces Shadow Form with Berserk Mode. By filling the Berserk Gauge through attacking or getting hit, Oswald can transform into the Shadow Knight with R1 + Triangle. While in Berserk, Oswald's damage, speed, attack speed, and Skills are all greatly amplified with no drawbacks. Oswald can also learn skills that grants Berserk certain boons, such as reducing damage taken by half.
    • In Leifthrasir, Cornelius can find the Psypher Skill Lightning Saber. Lightning Saber causes Cornelius to point his Psypher skyward until it receives a lightning strike. If the skill is successfully performed without being interrupted, Cornelius enters a pseudo-super state where his movement speed increases to insane levels, his attack speed goes up, all of his attacks fire electric shots that have a high chance to stagger or inflict Dizzy, and his dash attack transforms Cornelius into a redirectable bolt of electricity that leaves behind a trail, inflicting damage over time to enemies that come into contact with it.
  • In Paladins, Makoa and Buck have Ultimates that act as super modes. Makoa's "Ancient Rage" Ultimate fills him with an ancient power, fully healing him and doubling his health while he swings his anchor with brutal force. Buck's "Buck Wild" Ultimate lets him cut loose, giving him Bottomless Magazines and greatly increasing his shotgun's fire rate.
  • In Persona 3, Aigis is able to use "Orgia mode" which releases her limiter upon an order from MC, which increases her performance a lot. In FES, her sister Metis is also able to use a somewhat improved version called "Neo Orgia Mode" since Aigis' own one has been fried after the battle with her. The downside is that after it runs out, they overheat and become inactive for a few turns.
    • Aigis regains her Orgia Mode in Persona 4: Arena. It's also been improved, allowing her to continue fighting even after overheating (though her performance still suffers somewhat in that case).
  • Phantasy Star:
    • Phantasy Star Universe includes a race of playable characters known as Beasts. Exclusive to this race, they have a power known as Nanoblasting that allows them to take on various forms that are large in size, give a boost in attack powerful and other abilities depending on the form used, but at the cost of not being able to use items (especially healing items) making you more more prone to being incapacitated.
    • Phantasy Star Online 2 introduced Dark Blast in Episode 5, which temporarily transforms the player into a Dark Falz, granting them a minute worth of immense damage output and unique abilities depending on the form they take.
  • PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale's transformation Level 3 Supers are meant to invoke this by letting the user kill instantly, like with the above-mentioned Devil Trigger, Goddess-form and Kratos instead of Rage of the Gods/Titans/Sparta calls upon his powers from his time as the god of war while wielding the Blade of Olympus. Others include Light Jak, Gravity Panther, the Sweet Bot and The Beast.
  • The Tengu Pro Energy Drive in P.N.03 gives an invincible aura and a boost in Palm Shot firepower.
  • Pokémon introduces "Mega Evolutions" in Pokémon X and Y. Not to be confused with the usual evolution in the series, Mega Evolution is a temporary in-battle form that requires special items to unlock. Not all Pokemon can Mega-Evolve, though. It's quite useful as it counts as a free action — activating after the Speed stat check for the turn, but out-prioritising everything except switching and Pursuit targeted against aforementioned switchouts — and can give some incredibly useful abilities. Depending on the changes, some function simply as a more powerful version of the original while others change a lot to the point where they function like a completely different Pokemon.
    • Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire introduced a slight variation for their two main legendaries: Primal Reversion. While still requiring Groudon and Kyogre to hold certain items, the transformation is automatic, activating as soon as they enter battle, and both can be used on the same team without affecting any other Pokémon's ability to Mega Evolve.
    • Pokémon Sun and Moon:
      • The Demo version introduces Ash-Greninja, carrying the Bond Phenomenon over from the anime. Its tranformation is triggered by the "Battle Bond" ability, which activates after defeating an opponent. The power boost is actually slightly better than Mega Evolution (+110 points to stats instead of a flat 100).
      • Sun and Moon proper also introduced Zygarde Complete Form, which like the above, is triggered during battle without the use of an item. It occurs when Zygarde's health falls below 50%. While it is debatable if it counts as in the same league as the above three, what is known is that it is the only form change that comes with a special transformation sequence.
    • Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon added another new super mode, being Ultra Burst, for Ultra Necrozma. Like Mega Evolutions, it requires a special item, but it can use a Z Move alongside its transformation.
    • Pokémon Sword and Shield introduces a new super mode in the form of "Dynamax", which allows trainers to grow their Pokemon to the size of a Kaiju. Some Pokémon can also "Gigantamax", which not only makes them larger, but gives them a new look and a G-Max move.
    • Pokémon Scarlet and Violet has its own spin on super mode mechanics with the "Terastal Phenomenon": when using a Tera Orb on a Pokemon to "Terastallize", its body becomes encased in a gem-like shell with a distinctive Tera Jewel adorning their head. Terastillization greatly increases the effectiveness of abilities that match the Pokémon's "Tera Type", and while the Tera Type of most Pokémon are the same as one of its original types, it is possible for a Pokémon to have a completely different Tera Type to their original types. As one example, the Teddiursa used by the Cortondo Gym Leader Katy is a Normal Type with a Bug Tera Type: when Terastillized, the Teddiursa's Bug Tera Type overrides its Normal Type, and as such, any Bug-type moves it knows is strengthened when the Teddiursa is Terrastilized. At the same time, however, it also becomes vulnerable to moves that would be super effective against Bug types, so knowledge of Pokémon type match-ups is key.
  • Robot Alchemic Drive: Each of the controllable robots has a super mode (Vavel starts with its own super mode that gets upgraded halfway through the game, while Glangg and Lagioule have to earn their's). The trade-off is that activating the super mode puts the player on a three-minute time limit: exceeding that limit will destroy the robot, resulting in a game over.
  • Jaster Rogue's "Star King" form in Rogue Galaxy. It doesn't actually seem to make you any stronger, in-game, but you DO get some fairly impressive Cutscene Superpowers, and it looks undeniably badass.
    • Actually, it increases his maximum Hit Points by a certain percentage, but by the time you first get to it, you'll probably be very close to max Hit Points anyway.
  • R-Type 3 has a Hyper Mode which replaces your Wave-Motion Gun with a Spam Attack.
  • Scarlet Nexus has two of them, Brain Drive and Brain Field.
    • Brain Drive activates automatically during fighting, and makes the character generally stronger. It covers the user's face with a "display" with red markings, as seen on the cover of the Western version.
    • Brain Field, meanwhile, becomes avilable after spending some time in Brain Drive. In addition to Brain Drive effects, it gives the user several tentacle-like cables "growing" from their head and back, transports everyone into an Amazing Technicolor Battlefield, and changes battle music to "The madness inside". It amplifies the user's abilities tremendously, such as replacing main characters' attacks with powerful telekinetic moves, but also puts a lot of stress on their mind, which is represented with them becoming a bloodthirsty, cackling maniac for the duration. Naturally, it's regarded as Dangerous Forbidden Technique in the story.
    • Most human bosses will use Brain Drive themselves when their HP drop under a certain threshold, and several will even bust out Brain Field. In the latter case, your best course of action is to run like hell until the mode wears off.
  • Super modes are nothing new in Senran Kagura, though early on they were typically restricted to plot-mandated stages, only a few characters had them, and the only one who could access hers reliably was Homura. Later games gave them to more characters, and made them easier to access, going along with the girls becoming more experienced each game. Estival Versus finally standardized their use in gameplay — each team leader (Asuka, Homura, Yumi, Miyabi, and Ryoki) can access their super mode using their Super Secret Ninja Art, beginning with a powerful attack and gaining invincibility and better combos for about 30 seconds. Despite what the plot would have you believe, they're actually best used for mowing down hordes, since the boss AI was programmed to be aware of its properties and will spam their own Secret Ninja Arts, or anything else with invincibility frames, just to run down the clock and stop you cheesing the fight.
  • Shatterhand has a mode activated by getting the same sets of robot powerups twice in a row.
  • Painwheel's Super Mode in Skullgirls is officially named "Hatred Install".
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
    • Super Sonic is obtained after collecting all the Chaos Emeralds. In this mode, his eyes turn red, and his quills stand up and glow yellow. It's highly reminiscent of Dragon Ball Z, which, considering creator Yuji Naka is a huge fan of, isn't surprising. There's also Hyper Sonic, with all the Super Emeralds in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which can cause a huge flash when jumping that causes all enemies on-screen to be destroyed, flashes all the colors of the rainbow, leaves afterimages when at high speed and unlike regular or Super Sonic, either can breathe underwater or doesn't need air at all.
    • Furthermore, several other characters have gone into "super" forms over the course of the story. Most notable would be Super Ix from Sonic Chronicles, for being one of only two super transformations that used the Master Emerald and the first humanoid villain to use a super transformation. There's also Super Mecha Sonic, in Sonic 3 & Knuckles, the other Super form achieved through the Master Emerald, a robot that used a super transformation — and in a boss fight where the player is not.
    • Shadow also features a Super transformation, featuring a lemon yellow color. To date he's achieved it with the Chaos Emeralds three times.
    • Silver is also given a Super form by Super Sonic himself in Sonic 2006.
    • Knuckles, like Sonic, is also able to use the Chaos Emeralds to gain a Super form, and use the Super Emeralds to achive Hyper Knuckles. Both forms have him glow pink, with the difference that Hyper Knuckles leaves afterimages like Hyper Sonic and can kill everything on screen simply by gliding into walls at high speed.
    • Tails also gets a super form, but only with the Super Emeralds from Sonic & Knuckles combined with Sonic 3. Among the usual increased speed and invincibility, but has four birds that he shares his power with, who fly around killing things on their own. At least until Sonic Mania, where Tails can access his Super Form using the Chaos Emeralds. No Super Flickies, though. The Flickies do return for Sonic Origins' version of 3&K as part of Tails' Hyper form, with the regular super form unlockable with the Chaos Emeralds.
    • Darkspine and Excalibur Sonic from the Storybook Series, where Sonic taps into the power of three of the seven World Rings (the Big Bad uses the other four for his own One-Winged Angel) and the sacred magic swords of the Knights of the Round Table respectively.
    • Burning Blaze from Sonic Rush and its sequel, thanks to using the Sol Emeralds.
    • As a Werehog, Sonic has an Unleashed Mode that comes from tapping into Dark Gaia's power to increase his attack and change the power of his finishers.
    • The Game Mod Sonic the Hedgehog Megamix lets all of 5 of its playable characters gain access to their Super Transformation after 6 Chaos Emeralds (the hack is based on the Sonic 1 which only has 6 instead of 7). The game also adds in the useful option of letting you change your character back to normal with the same button combination as activating Super Mode in case you want to conserve rings or are in a stage where the Super form's speed is detrimental to the jumping sections, which also appears in Sonic 3 Complete.
    • Sonic Heroes features different super forms for Tails and Knuckles, achieved with only the Chaos Emeralds (while Tails previously needed the Super Emeralds). While their appearance is rather simplistic — Just a yellow, spherical aura around them with their appearance unchanged — They still have all the attributes of a Super form in the series, however.
    • Sonic Mania also introduces Super Mighty and Super Ray via the Sonic Mania Plus DLC, who glow brighter colours similar to Super Knuckles and Super Tails.
    • Fan hacks that introduce new playable characters into games that originally had a Super Mode usually code the new character to take advantage of it. For example, the second and third Amy Rose in Sonic the Hedgehog games feature Super Amy if all the emeralds are collected, who has Super Sonic's speed and invincibility, and still gets to take advantage of her normal ability set, the disadvantages of which are all negated by the invincibility. And it happens in official works in Sonic Origins Plus and Sonic Superstars, especially in the former's emulations of 2 and 3.
    • Sonic Frontiers' "The Last Horizon" DLC introduces a brand new form: Super Sonic 2, Super Sonic harnessing the power of the Cyber Corruption to become a fearsome force of good to destroy THE END. Sadly (or thankfully), Sonic has to expend this power to destroy THE END, so it's highly unlikely it'll make a return.
    • Unlike the rest of the cast, Trip the Sungazer from Sonic Superstars is able to transform into a golden dragon with the Chaos Emeralds' power and completely change her moveset, allowing her to fly around and breathe fire from her mouth.
  • Among the various Special Weapons in Splatoon is the Kraken, which temporarily transforms the user into a sized-up, invincible version of their squid form that can One-Hit Kill enemies just by jumping into them. Splatoon 3 revamps it into the Kraken Royale, which inflicts 60 damage when jumping and 120 damage when surging ahead after a short charge-up period; said surge allows it to power through munitions fire, making the old tactic of rapid-firing upon it less useful than before.
  • Street Fighter V has V-Triggers, special abilities that take the form of temporary powerups for many characters. To name a handful of examples: Ryu's "Denjin Renki" electrifies his Hadouken and Shoryuken, increasing damage and making it easier to stun enemies; Cammy's "Delta Drive" increases her movement speed and strengthens her specials; and Birdie's "Enjoy Time" powers up his attacks and lets him break through an opponent's guard while granting armor to his specials.
  • The battle with the Final Boss of the SNES game Super Godzilla has Godzilla transform into the much more powerful Super Godzilla, allowing him to go toe-to-toe with Bagan.
  • While Mario's powerup forms tend to be more along the lines of Swiss-Army Hero; the Fire Flower is treated as his Super Mode in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, although other things, including, at one point, being electrocuted, seemed to be able to trigger it. Many of the major bosses have their own Super Mode, as well.
    • The Super Star or Starman item in the game series are also super modes for the Mario Bros. The item makes them invincible and flash a bunch of different colors, sparkle, flash in rainbow colors, or something else, depending on the game. Super Paper Mario has the characters become giant 8-bit pixel version of themselves and flatten anyone that gets in the way. Super Mario 3D Land and New Super Mario Bros. 2 have the White Tanooki and White Racoon forms, which give you permanent invincibility.
  • Some Original Generation in Super Robot Wars use this.
    • Cybuster can power up by being possessed by the spirit of wind Cyfis, culminating in the godlike Full Possession Mode.
    • In Endless Frontier:
      • Alteisen Nacht and Weisritter Abend will enter Rage Mode when they use Overdrive attack.
      • Your robotic partner Aschen Brodel has a special overheat mode called DTD (Dust to Dust) that lets her operate at improved efficiency. Thing is, she triggers it in half of her regular moves and its more of a different stance than anything.
    • In Super Robot Wars Z, Gunleon transform into Magna Mode to perform its two strongest attacks.
  • The Super Smash Bros. series features this starting in Brawl with some of the Final Smash attacks.
    • Melee had a True Final Boss that was basically a One-Winged Angel version of Bowser called Giga Bowser. That form becomes his Final Smash starting in Brawl. Besides him, we have Yoshi gaining wings and fire breath, Wario turning into Wario Man, Diddy Kong going berserk with his jetpack and Peanut Popguns, Mr. Game and Watch turning into the Octopus, ROB continually shooting laserbeams from its eyes, and Sonic turning into Super Sonic.
    • You could also count Ganondorf turning into Ganon, but functionality wise, it's a directional type Final Smash rather than a transformation type.
    • In the next installment for Wii U and 3DS, in addition to all of the above (except R.O.B., who now has a directional eye laser), Little Mac can turn into Giga Mac, Charizard can Mega Evolve into Mega Charizard X, Lucario can Mega Evolve into Mega Lucario, and Pac-Man turns into a giant 8-Bit Pac-Man. DLC character Mewtwo becomes Mega Mewtwo Y for his Final Smash, but only long enough for him to use his Psystrike attack.
    • Downplayed in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, where transformation-type Final Smashes were reworked to function like super-attacks rather than transformations. The closest to a functioning super mode in this game is Joker summoning Arsene, powering up his attacks temporarily.
  • Sword and Fairy 7 has a pretty run-on-the-mill super mode, named "Art of Sanity". It gives the lead character a Battle Aura and makes them invulnerable. However, if the gauge was filled completely, the user will summon a god instead.
  • Sword of Paladin:
    • Theseus can transform into a minotaur to boost his attack power.
    • Miguel can awaken his Demon King blood to boost his magic attack at the cost of constant MP damage.
    • Will learns Dead Man's Chest, which makes him immortal for a few turns, even if he's knocked down to 0 HP. Later, the skill is upgraded to increase his physical damage too.
    • At the end of Chapter 3, Nade learns Master Paladin mode, which turns his hair white and boosts all his stats, including his max HP. While using it is optional in regular battles, Nade will always use in in subsequent duels.
    • At the end of Chapter 3, Alex gains the Elemental Master mode when dueling Nade. Once he regains control of himself, he uses this mode as a playable character while fighting Ragnarek. Despite losing the Royal Gems, he can still access this form and all the Royal Gem skills in his postgame duel.
    • In the postgame, Lena learns Cast Off, which removes all of her clothes except her underwear. This boosts her attack while lowering her defense.
    • In the postgame, Zechs gains a new mode that turns his hair black while giving him power mirroring and surpassing Nade's Master Paladin mode. He's even able to copy some of the Paladin's more unique abilities, such as stopping time.
  • Overlimit and its renamed variations throughout the Tales Series. It generally allows arts to be used rapidly, the temporary use of some special arts (Including the flashy Mystic Artes), and some degree of protection from enemy attacks.
    • Tales of the Tempest has "Beast Transformation" arte, available to Caius and Forest. It transforms the user into their Leymon form and increases their attack tenfold, but constantly drains TP and replaces all artes with powerful, but not very combo-able "Beastly Blow".
    • Ludger, the protagonist of Tales of Xillia 2 has a second one in the form of his Chromatus transformation, which gives him a lance, a new moveset, invincibility (Getting hit reduces the duration, however), the ability to perform nearly infinite combos (Only limited by the duration of the mode), and access to another Mystic Arte. It's a total Game-Breaker if used properly, as not even the strongest bosses can survive a single combo from it if you trigger it while they've got a massive damage bonus on them from exploiting their weak points. If you really want to go for maximum overkill, it's possible to do a lengthy combo using the aforementioned Overlimit, end it with a Mystic Arte, then transition into this mode to keep the combo going, then hit them with another Mystic Arte before it ends.
    • Velvet from Tales of Berseria has her Therion mode, in which she turns her arm into demonic claw. It maker her invincible, increases her attack power and prevents debuffs, but constantly drains her HP. Velvet exits this state after hitting 1 HP, but it's okay, since by then you'll probably have resources to enter Therion mode once again.
  • Tokyo Xanadu has non-playable version in form of Asuka Hiiragi's Omega Mode. It covers her body with runes and her eyes become yellow. It serves mostly as justification for her being stronger than everyone else in the party in story, but not in gameplay. In eX+ version this mode becomes playable for one dungeon during Side-Story 3, and it's indeed overpowered. It maxes out her skill levels, increases her Max HP, and halves SP cost, allowing player to spam skills. As a tradeoff it causes Asuka to slowly lose HP.
  • Virtua Quest features an ability called Synapse Break that gives the protagonist a super mode that grants him a golden aura as well as give him the ability to attack faster, chain combos, take no damage and slow the rate of descent of enemies knocked into the air.
  • Warframe: Certain Tenno Warframes are able to achieve this with their final abilities. For example, Valkyr is able to fly into a mad rage in which she becomes invincible and deals massive melee damage at the expense of not being able to use her guns. Excalibur can switch to Exalted Blade mode, giving him a very powerful sword of pure energy that can fire Sword Beams. Mesa can initiate Peacemaker, which lets her deploy literal Finger Guns that can be fired at incredible speeds. But the ultimate example of this is Operator Mode, where the Tenno summons their Operator, the human controlling the Warframe, who has several abilities such as teleportation, intangibility, and can use powerful beams and blasts of Void energy that no enemy has any resistances to. Ironically, going into Operator Mode makes the Tenno more vulnerable, as the Operator is a lightly-armored human teenager who relies on their stealth and teleportation to avoid damage. If "killed" the Operator returns back to their Warframe and it takes some damage but otherwise there are no consequences.
  • The Warriors: Every playable character has a "Rage" meter of varying length. When it fills up, the character can use a highly effective radial attack and their grapple specials become a great deal more violent, usually capable of outright killing an opponent regardless of health. Later on, you can even trigger it by using a healing item with full health.
  • Werewolf: The Apocalypse — Earthblood: Frenzy, shown as a purple meter next to your health and Rage bars. When it's full, you can tap into it and gain a massive, but temporary, attack and defense boost.
  • Wild ARMs 4 and 5 have Detonation mode. Both allies and enemies can activate it at the start of battle, and it remains active for the whole battle. The mode itself gives the user a sparkling Battle Aura and raises their stats (flat increase in 4, percentage in 5), as well as making skills activate more often. In certain encounters all enemies start in this mode, and there's a badge that makes an ally always start in it, but making it last only one turn.
  • World of Warcraft gives this to Demonology Warlocks in Wrath of the Lich King called Metamorphosis. This demonic form originally lasted for 30 seconds and gave the Warlock some unique moves, plus more armor and increased damage. With Mists of Pandaria, Metamorphosis was revamped. Players can now shift into their demon form as long as they have energy in their new Demonic Fury bar, plus grants them Nether Plating. Furthermore, Warlock skills are replaced with demon skills(Ex: Corruption becomes Bane of Doom)
    • The Glyph of Demon Hunting gives Warlocks a Dark Apotheosis form, like a minor Demon form made for soloing content. In some cases, they can serve as off-tanks for Normal and sometimes Heroic Dungeons if the main tank croaks. Unlike Metamorphosis, Dark Apotheosis can stay in place till the player wants to disable it. Glyph of Demon Hunting was removed from the game in patch 6.0 so warlocks can no longer do this.
  • Xenoblade Chronicles series:
    • Xenoblade Chronicles 1 has Melia's Element Burst. It activates automatically after discharging several of her summoned elementals, and gives Melia a Battle Aura that doubles damage, dealt by elemental discharge. It also allows her to use Burst End and Mind Blast arts.
    • In Xenoblade Chronicles X, you will unlock an ability called Overdrive that multiplies your attack power by as much as 6 times its base value. With a good setup, you can maintain it indefinitely and easily overpower most enemies in the game.
    • Xenoblade Chronicles 2:
      • Pyra and Mythra have one in Pnuema. The form can only be activated with a full party gauge, Rex can't switch Blades while they are in this form, Rex has permanent aggro for the duration, and it can only be used once per battle, but the form gives out increased defenses and damage, the ability to save Rex from death once, damage is always done against the enemy's weakness, blocked damage is reflected back to the enemy, the party gets increased Critical rate, evasion, and accuracy, but the two biggest boons are the form's ability to change the element of the the form's Special attack, allowing them to use any Elemental combo, and when they attack during a chain attack, their special hits all elemental orbs, but at less damage than when in their normal form. Story-wise, Pneuma is Pyra and Mythra's true form. They are eventually reverted back to said form and keep said form during end-game cutscenes, but the game continues to treat their true form as a Super Mode.
      • Zeke gets Eye of Shining Justice when wielding his signature Blade, Pandoria, in New Game Plus when you unlock it in his Hidden Affinity Chart. He gets increased damage, immunity to all debuffs, and faster attacking animations and movement speed, but can only use once per battle, cannot Switch Blades while using it, and will be inflicted with Blowdown when it ends.
      • Elma returns from her home game as a DLC Blade and brings along that game's Super Mode, modified slightly for this game. Overdrive brings back the counter (maxing it out at 999), the buffs Overdrive gives to the party increases as the counter increases, and anyone can increase the counter with Arts and Specials, with Specials giving out more, but Overdrive does use a full Party gauge like the other Super Modes and the Party Gauge increases more slowly, but unlike the other Super Modes can be used basically infinitely if you can build up the party gauge again.
    • Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Late into the game Noah unlocks an ability called "Unlimited Sword", which allows him to draw the katana hidden inside his Blade, and wield it for 90 seconds. It replaces all of his arts with an entire new moveset that bears more than a passing resemblance to Monado arts from the first game. These arts are not only very powerful, they have a chance to inflict Doom on any non-boss enemy. Noah also gains a new Talent Art, which allows him to perform the entire Smash combo all by himself. If the player chooses to Interlink during this time, the Ouroboros form will also gain a new Talent Art, Origin Blade, which is not only more powerful than a normal one, it weakens all enemies with a unique debuff.
  • In ZHP: Unlosing Ranger vs Darkdeath Evilman, the player can activate "Unlosing Mode" after gathering enough power. Unlosing Mode greatly boosts one of the player's stats for a set number of turns.


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