Whether it's Master Chief or Samus, clothes make the hero. Or more precisely, armor makes the hero. A good armor is ideally well-designed aesthetically and functions well in battle. In an RPG, plenty of players will go on ridiculous quests if it means finding an armor that suits their play style and makes it easier to take down a tough boss.
But it's not just RPGs where armor matters these days. So many universes take a realistic approach, and outfit their characters accordingly. But it's not enough to just protect the hero, they have to look iconic too — leading players to remember outfits years after they finished the game.
10 Varia Suit Protects Samus From Extreme Temperatures (Metroid)
Samus is known for wearing a variety of different power suits. But in terms of how iconic it is, there’s nothing that comes close to the Varia Suit. Thanks to it being so powerful in the first place, Samus often has to work to reacquire the armor depending on the game. The armor allows Samus to stay protected against all manner of dangerous threats, such as extreme heat and cold, or even parasite attacks. She’s also granted a massive speed boost in this armor, despite its heavy nature. Although she’ll occasionally pick up “improvements," few of them ever stick around like this one.
9 Augmented Reaction Suit Lets Its Wearer Have Greater Battle Capabilities Thank Tanks (Vanquish)
Not many people remember Vanquish, even though it's the closest people have gotten thus far to a half-decent Iron Man game. In Vanquish, the protagonist is given the Augmented Reaction Suit, which transforms the wearer into a nigh-unstoppable agent of destruction. It increases the wearer’s strength enough to lift over one hundred tons, and they can jet around the field at speeds too fast for most people to hit. Also, its BLADE system allows the user to automatically copy the weapons it runs into and improve on them, making them more deadly.
8 Batman Armor Protected Bruce From Harm And Granted Access To All His Technology (Arkham Knight)
The Batman armor from Arkham Knight represents the most powerful version of the Batman suit Bruce Wayne had ever used. It was referred to as the Batsuit Version 8.03, and was designed to keep Bruce protected at all costs. While it’s not perfectly bulletproof, it can stop most small arms fire unless someone is specifically aiming for the spaces between the armor’s plates.
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Despite this, no maneuverability is sacrificed, and it has room for much of the tech Batman's added to his suit over the years. There’s so much experimental tech in this suit Bruce is basically test-driving the army’s equipment for the next twenty years.
7 Iron Man’s Armor Allows Him To Fight The Hulk As Well As AIM (Marvel's Avengers)
When Tony Stark comes back to the Avengers, it's without a working suit of armor. But after a dangerous mission to get the equipment necessary to build a suit, he assembles a brand-new armor. Resembling the version he had on A-Day, this armor offers maximum protection against enemy attacks whether they’re from AIM or happen to be the Hulk. He’s also able to swap between rockets, lasers, and repulsor blasts for his attacks to keep enemies off him. And when necessary, he can summon a version of the Hulkbuster armor to do battle with larger threats.
6 First Civilization Armor Turns The Player Into A True Assassin (Assassin's Creed Odyssey)
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey offers a number of awesome looking suits of armor, most of which can be collected while the protagonist is in Elysium. This armor was specifically created by the Isu, which means it's not going to fit in anywhere in Greece, but will look awesome while hanging out in Olympus. The armor itself grants an incredible +25% to Assassin damage as well as a variety of other bonuses. Basically, this is the armor people wear if they want to become an assassin in their time playing Odyssey.
5 Grandmaster Wolven Armor Offers Improved Sign Abilities (The Witcher 3)
The Witcher 3’s armor selection was always best when Geralt was wearing the armor of a Witcher rather than a random soldier. Players could collect a number of different armor sets that were based on different Witcher schools, and in the Blood and Wine expansion, collect the “grandmaster” version of any given armor. The Grandmaster Wolf Gear offered a boatload of bonuses, like being able to hit harder with Signs and gain additional attack. Plus it simply looked too awesome, as it was an upgrade of the already iconic School of the Wolf armor.
4 MJOLNIR Armor Is A Constantly Improving Armor To Make The Spartans More Deadly (Halo)
Master Chief’s armor doesn’t just serve as the most iconic design for a Microsoft character of all time. In canon, its also one of the Spartans’ most important weapons in their fight to protect humanity. The Mjolnir armor is designed so only the genetically-enhanced Spartans are capable of wearing it.
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For them though, it comes with a number of abilities. The latest model granted a quick-recharging energy shield, along with upgraded attack and maneuverability. They also have instant access to AI, meaning they constantly have updated intel on whatever their mission is.
3 Malenia Armor Is The Coolest Looking Armor In Elden Ring (Elden Ring)
By now, everyone’s heard of how fearsome Malenia is. Since the character isn’t required to defeated to finish the game, people who want to fight her are in for a true challenge. Many players have spent countless hours trying to fight her, but its worth it. Not only do players get bragging rights, but after beating her they can go buy the suit she wears — which is basically the armor they used to promote the game to begin with. It looks awesome, but it's also quite light, offering boosted magic, physical defense, a sizable boost to player immunity.
2 N7 Armor Allows Shepard To Look Awesome While Saving The Galaxy (Mass Effect)
There might be better suits of armor in Mass Effect, but are there any which are more iconic? When people think of Mass Effect, they think of Commander Shepard’s N7 suit. It’s even in Mass Effect: Andromeda, although those characters aren’t associated with the military at all. In Mass Effect 2 and 3 they offered different bonuses to the protagonist. In ME2, it increases damage, health, and shield by varying percentage levels. In ME3, it increases health by 50%, a welcome boost considering how serious things have become by the time that game begins.
1 Ghost Armor Allows Jin To Truly Become The Ghost (Ghost of Tsushima)
The very nature of Ghost of Tsushima sees the protagonist shift between his role as a samurai and as a “ghost”. At the end of Act 2 however, Jin is given a new armor — the Ghost Armor. This lets Jin become better at sneaking about in the game, and a more fierce enemy against the invading Mongol army. In the ghost armor, enemy detection speed is reduced by almost half. Meanwhile, its even easier to terrify enemies and enter the ghost stance, making this suit a must-have for runs as the ghost.