The Coolest Swords in Video Games to Celebrate Cool Sword Day

Checking the calendar today, the last thing I expected to see was a notification that it was "Cool Sword Day." And as fake a holiday as that sounds, it turns out it's a legitimate thing that fans of swords (especially cool ones) celebrate all over the world by looking at the history of the weapon, its manufacture, different smithing techniques used throughout the centuries, and the lasting appeal of one of the most widely-used armaments in human existence. Of course, video games have long had iconic and instantly recognizable swords baked into the fiber of their being, so it's only fitting for us to take a look at the coolest video game swords in honor of "Cool Sword Day".

• Series — Final Fantasy
• Game — Final Fantasy X
• Wielder — Tidus

Kicking things off is one of the more notorious video game swords, both for its power and for the lengths players have to go to get it. Final Fantasy X's Celestial Weapons are the ultimate armaments for each of the game's main party members, and Tidus' Caladbolg is both one of the most powerful of them all and the hardest to obtain. Putting aside the fact that most players will give up long before they ever get to use Caladbolg, its ability to push past the traditional 9999 damage limit of the Final Fantasy series makes it a unique weapon that has since inspired other JRPG swords to do the same.

• Series — Soulsborne
• Game — Elden Ring
• Wielder — Rykard, Lord of Blasphemy; Tarnished

While it's been somewhat nerfed since the early days of the Elden Ring meta, the Blasphemous Blade is still an incredibly powerful weapon that makes the long trek to get it all the more worthwhile. After clearing one of the game's coolest bosses to obtain it (so long, Rykard), the Blasphemous Blade practically melts both regular mobs and bosses with its special weapon skill "Taker's Flames", which is only made all the more powerful with some investing in the right stats. Throw in the fact that the blade itself is made of tiny writhing humanoid figures, and you have a sword that's as fascinatingly creepy as it is strong.

• Series — Metal Gear
• Game — Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Rising
• Wielder — Grey Fox (Ninja); Solidus Snake; Raiden

For a series that waxes philosophical about the horrors of war and the human cost of conflict, there sure are a lot of cool swords and anime-inspired ninjas in the Metal Gear Solid franchise. One of the coolest of them all is the Cybernetic Ninja, aka Grey Fox, whose signature weapon is the High-Frequency Blade. While it appears to simply be a normal katana, special technology allows the blade to vibrate at ultra-high frequencies, disrupting the molecular structure of anything it comes into contact with and making it easier to cut. Metal Gear Rising takes the High-Frequency Blade to the next level by allowing Raiden to literally cut apart a Metal Gear Ray with one, and it's one of the coolest Metal Gear games as a result.

• Series — Halo
• Game — All
• Wielder — Covenant Elites (Halo: Combat Evolved onward); Master Chief (Halo 2 onward)

The Halo series' Energy Sword made its first appearance way back in the debut title, Halo: Combat Evolved, but it wouldn't be until Halo 2 that players got to get their hands on one themselves. The signature weapon of the Covenant Elite units, the Energy Sword is both cool-looking and incredibly powerful, capable of taking out an enemy in a single hit thanks to its ability to almost completely ignore shields. Thanks to its iconic twin-bladed design, players knew to head for the hills anytime they saw a multiplayer opponent approach with one.

• Series — Final Fantasy
• Game — All (commonly associated with Final Fantasy VII)
• Wielder — Various (commonly associated with Sephiroth)

The Masamune has been an important weapon in the Final Fantasy series dating all the way back to the first game, but its place in the franchise has shifted throughout the years. Perhaps the most iconic and noteworthy incarnation of the Masamune is in Final Fantasy VII, where the legendary katana is the signature weapon of the game's antagonist, Sephiroth. The absurdly long (and absurdly cool) Masamune is both incredibly powerful and incredibly iconic, as it's the weapon that Sephiroth uses to rob Aerith of her young life, cementing it as a notorious weapon and its wielder as one of the all-time great video game villains.

• Series — Final Fantasy
• Game — Final Fantasy VIII
• Wielder — Squall Leonheart

Speaking of Final Fantasy characters with iconic weapons, does it get more iconic than Squall and his Gunblade? Final Fantasy VIII's protagonist might not have much of a personality, but he arguably doesn't need one with a weapon as cool as the Gunblade. The first version players have in the game is the titular original model, which is iconic enough on its own, but it's the ultimate transformation of that weapon, Lionheart, that stands as one of the coolest swords in video games. Its hilt and revolver chamber don't look too different from the original Gunblade, but Lionheart's glowing blue blade transforms it from being just another revolver and sword hybrid into being a cross between a Gunblade and a Lightsaber.

• Series — Soul Calibur
• Game — All
• Wielder — Various (primarily Nightmare)

The Soul Edge from the eponymous first game in Bandai Namco's 3D fighting series and its subsequent SoulCalibur sequels is both one of the coolest and one of the most tragic weapons in gaming. For all the over-the-top action and ridiculous story that the SoulCalibur games fold into their single-player story modes, the underlying tale of the Soul Edge is one of mankind being tempted, and then demonically transformed, by their lust for power. Even heroic characters, like Siegfried, who attempt to stop the Soul Edge from falling into the wrong hands are eventually twisted by the blade's evil powers. At least we get to play as Nightmare, though!

• Series — Soulsborne/FromSoftware
• Game — All
• Wielder — Various (primarily associated with Seath the Scaleless from Dark Souls)

FromSoftware has been incorporating one of gaming's most iconic and recognizable weapons, the Moonlight Great Sword, into its games since the King's Field series. But it would be the weapon's incarnation in the studio's breakout hit, Dark Souls, that introduced most to its glowing green blade and imposing presence. While it's not always a weapon that players can earn and equip, the Moonlight Great Sword continues to show up in every FromSoftware game (even Sekiro and Armored Core VI), to the point where it just wouldn't feel right without it. And in many cases, the Moonlight Great Sword is one of the best weapons for players with high INT stats to wield.

• Series — The Legend of Zelda
• Game — All (first introduced in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past)
• Wielder — Link ("The Hero of Legend" or "The Hero of Time")

Both the original Legend of Zelda and Zelda II feature all-powerful swords that Link can build up to, but it wouldn't be until the timeless third game, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, that Nintendo would properly introduce the Master Sword. Since then, the Master Sword has become just as important a part of the overarching Zelda lore as the titular princess and Link himself, and its importance to the series' timeline can't be overstated. Plus, it also happens to be one of the most iconic and recognizable video game weapons of all time. Show people who've never played a single Legend of Zelda game the Master Sword and there's a strong chance they'll accurately name the weapon.

• Series — Final Fantasy
• Game — Final Fantasy VII
• Wielder — Cloud Strife

Other than the Master Sword, the strongest candidate for "most well-known and coolest sword in video games" is Cloud's Buster Sword from Final Fantasy VII. Clearly inspired by the massive blade carried by Guts in Kentaro Miura's Berserk, the Buster Sword is impossibly large and also impossibly rad-looking. After years of Yoshitaka Amano's art for the Final Fantasy series depicting thinner and more elegant-looking swords and katanas, seeing Tetsuya Nomura's character sketches of Cloud wielding his giant 400-lb slab of steel seemed downright revolutionary. You could also say that the Buster Sword is the antithesis of Sephiroth's impossibly long katana Masamune, making it a suitable visual motif to signify how the two are arch-nemeses.