Highlights
- Kirby's Dream Buffet features a strange form of combat where players roll into each other while gobbling up food-based power-ups.
- Undertale offers a unique combat system where players can choose to either kill enemies or engage in dialogue options, all while dodging attacks in a bullet hell scenario.
- Everhood combines rhythm games with combat, where players dodge attacks in a musical note-filled battle arena and can even weaponize the enemy's fragments to their advantage.
Combat is one of the most constant features in video games. Whether it is melee or range, fighting enemies is a crucial part of most experiences. There have been a lot of combat-focused games, with many having similar combat systems to each other. However, there are plenty exceptions.
Out of the good handful of games that have truly unique combat systems, there are quite a few that are strange. This could mean that the game controls a bit differently from others or that the actual presentation differs in such a way that raises an eyebrow. Either way, there are some games with strange forms of combat that stand out above everyone else.
10 Kirby's Dream Buffet
The Kirby franchise has had its fair share of interesting spin-offs. One of the many games the series had on Switch is a party game called Kirby's Dream Buffet. In this game, Kirby has been shrunken down and must fight other Kirbys to eat as much as they can over a four-course event.
While the competitiveness in Kirby's Dream Buffet has a focus on racing, each event ends with a combat section where all players must attack each other while also gobbling up more food on a small arena. This combat is strange because the players are mostly rolling into each other to knock the others off with the use of food-based power-ups.
9 Undertale
Role-playing games are among the more innovative genres when it comes to creating unique combat systems. Undertale had some inspiration from previous games, but made a combat system that controlled the entire destiny of the player character in the game.
There is a clear choice that players can make during their journey through Undertale: either kill an enemy like normal or talk it out with them. Outright attempting to kill an enemy has more to do with getting the timing exactly right, but the pacifist route allows players to engage in unique dialogue options while attempting to still dodge attacks in a bullet hell scenario.
8 Everhood
Rhythm games are not always known for having combat in them, but there have been some solid examples of the genre experimenting with the mechanic. One example of this is Everhood, which uses five columns of musical notes as its main battle arena.
On the journey to recover a lost arm, players are a wooden doll named Red who runs into various characters and is forced into battles. Attacks from the enemy come in the form of light fragments moving towards them in these five columns with the main goal being to dodge them. Halfway through the game, a new mechanic is introduced that weaponize these fragments to Red's benefit.
7 Gang Beasts
A good way to introduce a strange combat system is to have strange ragdoll avatars to go along with it. The concept of Gang Beasts revolves around friends battling each other in matches that will leave one person left standing at the end of each round. The winner is the one with the most wins at the end.
On its surface, Gang Beasts is a straightforward fighting game where players go around throwing punches. However, what makes the combat system strange is how players manipulate each of their arms, allowing for unique gameplay where it isn't about simply hitting one button to attack.
6 Rollerdrome
While it is a strange form of combat that we typically don't see in games, Rollerdrome is objectively cool to watch as well as to play. The game revolves around an event that is played in the near future that puts athletes' lives on the line in a roller derby combat sport.
Players are constantly moving in the gameplay of Rollerdrome, needing to rely on quick thinking to get around, perform tricks, and eliminate any targets they can lock on to. Luckily, players don't have to worry about wiping out when attempting to land. All they need to do is take out everyone in the arena using their arsenal of firearms.
5 Arms
2017 was the launch year for the Nintendo Switch, which included releases of some of the biggest games the company has ever made. Among the 2017 lineup was one of the few new IPs Nintendo has created this generation. Arms is a multiplayer fighting game all about the fighters' long arms.
The 3D fighter can have up to four players going toe-to-toe in matches where players extend their arms to try to hit the other opponent. These arms have unique attachments that can deal different levels of damage and can be changed in-between rounds. There are 15 fighters in Arms, as well as numerous modes that go beyond just fighting.
4 Your Only Move Is Hustle
While it may first appear like a typical 2D fighting game, Your Only Move Is Hustle is an incredibly unique fighting game where the entire battle is turn-based, allowing players to set up their player for every single move that they perform before they actually execute on it.
The menu is filled with a variety of options that allow players to choose what kind of move that their stick figure performs next. This includes a list of attacks, specials, dodges, and defensive moves. The way that the games are played, cinematic fight scenes can be born out of nearly any match.
3 Paper Mario: The Origami King
While the Paper Mario series was once known for producing some great, simple turn-based combat sequences, the franchise has now taken a step into a more creative direction that has led to some strange choices on the combat. The most recent example of this is Paper Mario: The Origami King.
More of a puzzle than an action sequence, The Origami King introduces ring-based battles where players must rotate the rings to have all the enemies lined up perfectly so that way Mario can make his attack. In boss fights, players must find a path that Mario can walk to reach a boss in the middle of the stage.
2 Fight Crab
How cool is the idea of being a crab that wields a weapon? Well, that idea comes to life in Fight Crab, a 3D action game that pits different kinds of crustacean against each other in a physics-based arena battle. To win a battle, players must successfully tip the opposing crab over.
To do this, players will be armed with anything from a knife to a sword to a gun. Whatever the player chooses out of the arsenal, they will then need to learn how to control the crab and its limbs to successfully charge at the opponent. There are also cute settings that go along with this, from cage matches underwater to being kaijus in the city.
1 Toribash
One of the earliest forms of introducing weird combat mechanics in games, Toribash still has an active community to this day since its initial launch in 2006. Its popularity stems from the fact that players control human-like entities where every aspect of their body can be manipulated.
In battles, players will adjust various aspects of their character to have them move in a specific direction. Their opponent will do the same until both submit their move. This leads to a hilarious moment of seeing the characters flail briefly in a specific direction. But mastering this can be very rewarding, especially with a variety of modes to practice with.