- 6 days ago
Welcome to WatchMojo.World, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most unfair and unbalanced playable characters in video games!
These characters weren't just powerful — they broke the meta, tilted the balance, and often turned competitive play into pure chaos. Whether it’s through insane damage, near-invincibility, or game-breaking abilities, these picks made you feel unstoppable — and made your opponents rage quit.
Our countdown includes:
🦾 Sentinel from Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (2000)
👻 The Wraith from Dead by Daylight (2016)
🗡️ Meta Knight from Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
⚔️ Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)
…and many more overpowered characters who made balance feel optional.
🎮 Who do YOU think is the most unfair playable character of all time?
Let us know in the comments — and don’t forget to subscribe to WatchMojo.World for more epic (and rage-inducing) gaming countdowns!
These characters weren't just powerful — they broke the meta, tilted the balance, and often turned competitive play into pure chaos. Whether it’s through insane damage, near-invincibility, or game-breaking abilities, these picks made you feel unstoppable — and made your opponents rage quit.
Our countdown includes:
🦾 Sentinel from Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (2000)
👻 The Wraith from Dead by Daylight (2016)
🗡️ Meta Knight from Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008)
⚔️ Anakin Skywalker from Star Wars Battlefront II (2017)
…and many more overpowered characters who made balance feel optional.
🎮 Who do YOU think is the most unfair playable character of all time?
Let us know in the comments — and don’t forget to subscribe to WatchMojo.World for more epic (and rage-inducing) gaming countdowns!
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the top 30 most unfair and
00:10cheesy characters to play in video games. Question your friends if they pick any of these guys.
00:15Number 30, Gil, Street Fighter 3 New Generation. We'll try to refrain from filling this list with
00:31too many boss fights, but Gil is definitely worthy of being here. It isn't enough to defeat
00:35him in a traditional fight. Nope, strike him down and he'll return more powerful than you
00:39can possibly imagine. When downed, Gil can trigger a reversal that will allow him to
00:43almost instantly replenish his health bar. Thankfully you can knock him out of this state
00:46before his bar is filled, assuming you're quick enough. But a boss fight suddenly getting to
00:50Marty McFly his way out of a fight through health regen is nothing new, which is why Gil is at the
00:55very bottom here. Number 29, Scorpion, Injustice Gods Among Us. Guest fighters used to have a
01:09notorious reputation within NetherRealm, studio's player base. In the realm of Injustice, Scorpion was
01:14the biggest offender due to how he could be played in almost any way imaginable. He could spam attacks
01:19from a comfortable distance, or suddenly bum rush you with attacks that had little to no room for
01:23punishing on block or with. And of course there was the spam teleporting. Things got so out of hand
01:28online that Scorpion had to be severely nerfed a couple of times before he was tolerable. Even now,
01:33he's still a major pain in the backside. Number 28, Funky Khan, Mario Kart Wii.
01:48On the surface, it doesn't seem like Mario Kart Wii's roster sports much of a difference between
01:52each other outside of weight class. Well, it's a totally different story if you play as Funky Khan.
01:57Despite being a heavy character, Funky is the only one in his class that offers a speed bonus in stats,
02:02and when paired with the Flamerunner Kart, he can become a force to be reckoned with. In fact,
02:07one look at the speedrun leaderboards will show you that Funky is the top choice for speedruns
02:10because of that speed bonus that can be applied to an already speedy kart. Needless to say,
02:15if you ever did enter a lobby filled with Funky players back in the day, your goose was cooked.
02:25Number 27, Cinder, Killer Instinct.
02:27In a fighting game as fast and furious as Killer Instinct, it can be a little hard to tell who is
02:36truly broken and which character is just really volatile. Thing is that Cinder truly was a broken
02:40character. In the original arcade release, there was a glitch that allowed Cinder to pull off an
02:45infinite combo, meaning one hit was all it took to watch your health bar get deleted. The AI may not
02:50have had knowledge of this exploit, of course. However, the few who did know about it back in the day
02:54were most likely dominating their local arcade.
03:03Number 26, Goku GT, Dragon Ball FighterZ.
03:06Don't hold back on me just because I look like a kid, Vegeta!
03:10Goku FighterZ, excuse us, Dragon Ball FighterZ, is a game built off auto combos almost entirely,
03:15but don't expect that to carry you for every fight. No, if you truly want to stand a chance
03:19against stronger opponents but can't dedicate the time to learn your favorite character,
03:22just choose GT Goku. The child Kakarot has long been known to be the cheapest fighter on the roster
03:27as most attacks punch above his size. On top of that, his own auto combos could diminish your health
03:32bar in just a few seconds. Emphasis on could because GT Goku has seen some nerfs over time,
03:37but some still find him to be insanely cheap.
03:40If we and you work together, I thought you'd be able to take on anyone!
03:44Number 25, Electross, Pokemon Black and White.
03:47It's almost hard to find a pocket monster as unbalanced as Electross. Heck, it's hard to find
03:56one to begin with, but Electross is one that practically breaks everything we knew, or what
04:01we thought we knew. In Black and White, Electross possesses a passive ability called Levitate,
04:05which allows it to avoid any and all ground-type attacks. Just one problem, electric-type Pokemon
04:10are only weak to ground-type attacks. In other words, Electross has no weaknesses.
04:14What's worse is that this even applies to its lesser forms, Tainamo and Electric. Utter nonsense.
04:24Number 24, Phoenix, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
04:30Go for broke!
04:32Fight!
04:33The Marvel vs. Capcom games have been notorious for never being balanced, but a few characters
04:38tread into total BS territory. Phoenix is one of the two we want to address. While she does
04:43have lower health and defense than most characters, Phoenix can heal herself using her healing
04:47shield hyper-combo. You can also save your meter for later on for something even more busted.
04:51If Phoenix falls while the hyper-combo meter is full, she resurrects herself as Dark Phoenix
04:56with a brand new health bar and attacks that hit harder than ever. Again, Marvel vs. Capcom
05:00has never been known for being fair, so we're almost not even surprised that this is in the game.
05:04Ask not for games, or games.
05:06Ask not for games. There is none in it.
05:09Number 23, Freddy Krueger, Mortal Kombat.
05:16Before Scorpion was burning everyone and scaring folks away from injustice, a dream demon, Freddy,
05:21was ruining Mortal Kombat. Zoning characters can be fun, but when they're as busted as Freddy,
05:26no one's having fun. Through the use of his bladed hands, Freddy had an unbelievable advantage
05:30in range in addition to a couple of combos that could send you flying back if you got too close.
05:34It wasn't uncommon to see skittering hands and blades popping out every second or two during an online match.
05:40It also wasn't uncommon for players to quit upon getting matched with a Freddy player.
05:44And so, the dream demon has gone down in infamy.
05:46It doesn't help that he may have been the reason why MK9 has long been delisted from digital storefronts.
05:55Freddy wins. Babality.
05:59Number 22, The Wraith, Dead by Daylight.
06:04Everyone in this community has a killer they believe to be broken.
06:10The Nurse and the Spirit have seen plenty of hate thrown their way, but the Wraith is a real problem that needs further changes.
06:16This guy can camouflage himself so well within the environment that it can be really hard for some players to even notice.
06:21Not only that, but while cloaked, the Wraith still has the ability to break pallets and doors, damage generators, and vault windows.
06:27On top of that, staying cloaked gives him an increase in movement speed, allowing him to blast from one end of the map to the other in very little time.
06:35Blend all of this with add-ons that speed up cloaking and uncloaking animations or take away crucial audio cues, and what you have is a severely unbalanced killer.
06:43Number 21, Kratos, PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.
06:55Whereas it took some tweaking in a year or so for Mario Kart Wii to become Funky Kart Wii, PlayStation All-Stars was busted the second it arrived.
07:02And it's all because of the Ghost of Sparta.
07:04Kratos was widely regarded as the best fighter in the game on account of his speed and various moves that could quickly build his meter in seconds.
07:11There was barely any room to counter his attacks, and before you knew it, every lobby was filled with nothing but Kratos players.
07:17Developers Superbot Entertainment did try to nerf him a couple of times, but they barely made a dent.
07:21The Ghost of Sparta was simply busted beyond repair.
07:24This dapper villain took on the role of final boss in the original King of Fighters and has made several memorable appearances since.
07:47Similar to many final bosses in fighting games, he was designed to be overpowered with his signature move, Genocide Cutter, dealing higher damage than any other in the game.
07:55He was made playable in the King of Fighters 98, and from a pure strength standpoint, he surpassed every other character.
08:01That made him easy to play as, but a pain to face.
08:03Console versions even had a code to let you use his much faster second form, Omega Rugal, in case you really wanted to annoy your friends.
08:09Number 19. Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa. Mario Kart Double Dash.
08:26On paper, it's hard to imagine that any Mario Kart racers are more unfairly balanced than any others, but Double Dash introduced special items unique to each duo of characters.
08:34Koopa Troopa and Paratroopa's special made them quick choices when entering the character select screen.
08:38Before they were added as items any racer could get, these minions had access to a trio of green or red shells.
08:44While the green ones made for excellent defense, the homing red ones made it much easier to get opponents out of the way.
08:49Each racer's special had benefits, but this level of offense and defense was unmatched.
09:02Number 18. Lion. Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege.
09:05Dr. McIntosh is holed up in the serology lab, but external cons just went dark.
09:13Reach your location ASAP.
09:14Each of the operators in Rainbow Six Siege naturally has their own strengths and weaknesses.
09:19However, when it came to Lion, weaknesses were hard to spot.
09:21His signature feat was using a drone to scan the environment, highlighting players on the opposing team through walls of all his teammates to see.
09:28Given the game's destructible environments, you and your allies could then easily unload into them.
09:32It got to a point where Ubisoft had to remove him for a while to figure out how to rework him.
09:36When he returned, he was significantly nerfed, with enemy outlines being replaced by pings on the map and shortened duration for how long they appeared.
09:46Number 17. Anakin Skywalker. Star Wars Battlefront II.
09:50They weren't built so tough after all. Guess we should get out for them then, please.
09:58To be fair, any character wielding a lightsaber and the Force is overpowered compared to most of those who don't.
10:03But when Anakin first released, he was on another level.
10:05Added to Battlefront II in early 2019, players only got to exploit him for a few months before the nerfs started rolling in.
10:11His retribution ability charged when he or his allies took damage, and choked every enemy around him when unleashed for four seconds.
10:17He could also hit multiple enemies with heroic might, a powerful blast that dealt more damage depending on how much Anakin was taking.
10:23Both of these abilities, along with face damage output, would thankfully be reworked as he was a nightmare to encounter.
10:36Number 16. Ned Flanders. The Simpsons Wrestling.
10:39It was funny finding out the soft-spoken Flanders was secretly buff on the show.
10:50But facing him in the arena is no laughing matter.
10:52While you did have to unlock him and his regular attacks weren't too strong, his special abilities made him a popular pick.
10:58He's the only combatant in the game who can be revived after he's been pinned.
11:01Not only that, but a special move which summons lightning bolts from the sky to smite you, deals the highest damage of any attack in the game.
11:08Who could have known that this mild-mannered churchgoer was so good at laying the smackdown?
11:12One, two, three.
11:20Number 15. The Zerg. StarCraft.
11:23In StarCraft, players can choose to play as one of three different races.
11:26The human Terrans, the technologically advanced Protoss, and the violent alien Zerg.
11:30Each has benefits and faults, but when playing in multiplayer, the latter group is definitely the most problematic to face.
11:36Due to all of their weapons and structures being organic, it takes the Zerg much less time and costs less resources to build their attack units.
11:43While they are physically weaker than the other two, it gives you an edge at the onset as you can quickly overwhelm your opponents before they have a proper chance to defend themselves.
11:50If you want the early advantage, the Zerg are extremely enticing.
11:56Number 14. Pet Shop. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Heritage for the Future.
12:08Hey-ho, perfect.
12:14As an updated version of Capcom's original game, Heritage for the Future brought in several new fighters, including the insanely broken Pet Shop.
12:22Being a bird, he may not look all that powerful, but yeah, he certainly is.
12:25His wings give him ridiculous mobility and agility, making the possibility of landing a hit on him very small.
12:31His speed means he can rack up powerful combos with some moves being unblockable.
12:34In fact, he can summon icicles above an opponent and hit low at the same time.
12:38His opponents won't be able to block both.
12:40Understandably, his ability to suppress every other character has gotten him banned in competitions.
12:44Number 13. Monkey King. Dota 2.
12:55Daya's new talent is under attack.
13:00Bury me with my splinter.
13:02Valve's ridiculously popular MOBA has seen a lot of characters get added over the years, but none were quite as unbalanced as the Chinese mythology-inspired Monkey King.
13:12Added in late 2016, the Monkey King was the type of character you could just watch pop off with high damage numbers, or groan if you were on the receiving end.
13:20His passive Jingu Mastery had no duration and could earn extra charge attacks that dealt higher damage and stole life.
13:26He had high armor and health.
13:28His Boundless Strike dealt major critical damage, and his special Wukong's Command created multiple clones with the Bash ability,
13:34which gave them a chance to stun and deal extra damage.
13:37Needless to say, he's been nerfed quite a bit.
13:40Radiant Space is under attack.
13:43Really?
13:44That's your best.
13:45Daya victory.
13:46Number 12, Idle.
13:48Killer Instinct.
13:51Winner!
13:52Hoor!
13:53Supreme Victory!
13:56The final boss in Rare's classic fighter, Idle undoubtedly brought in a ton of quarters at the arcade.
14:02However, if you went up against someone who knew the secret code to play as him, that basically ensured you'd lose the next fight.
14:08Idle is definitely a powerhouse with his ability to shoot multiple fireballs, massive horns, and a move that can reflect projectiles.
14:14Thankfully, it's only during his boss fights where he can heal himself, though that's just replaced by an ability that powers up special moves.
14:20He made it onto the console version as well, being locked behind a code meant you could Lord Idol over anyone you wanted.
14:28Fight ready!
14:29Number 11, Sentinel, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, New Age of Heroes.
14:43Fans of this beloved mashup refer to a group of characters as the four gods due to how
14:47overpowered they are. Of the group, it's the gigantic Sentinel that seems the most unfair.
14:52It isn't just the mutant killing machine stature that makes fights unbalanced, though
14:55it certainly plays a part. You'd expect a lumbering behemoth to move slowly, but Sentinel
14:59moves with frightening ferocity. It also has a handful of unblockable attacks, which is
15:03more than a little annoying, and its specials take up the majority of the screen unlike many
15:07others, meaning there's no place to hide from taking damage. No wonder these things are so efficient.
15:19Number 10, Bastion, Overwatch.
15:29No matter how many times Blizzard reworked Bastion's kit, he always seemed to pour damage everywhere
15:37while easily avoiding it himself. While in turret mode, Bastion's extremely fast fire rate led
15:42to many easy kills of the opposing team. Switching between turret and recon mode also gave him
15:47a huge clip size before needing to reload. And if he had a Mercy attached to him with a shield,
15:51there wasn't much anyone could do to stop him. All of these annoyances on top of a self-healing
15:55mechanic, and an ult that could one-shot nearly every other hero. Thankfully, the sequel finally
16:01nerfed several of these overpowered abilities.
16:12Victory!
16:15Number 9, Leroy Smith, Tekken 7.
16:17Time to take out the trash.
16:27Added through DLC in late 2019, it didn't take long to realize how Leroy broke the entirety
16:32of Tekken 7. At the Evo Japan 2020 tournament, seven of the eight top contenders fought as
16:37him, which just goes to show how badly he needed to be nerfed.
16:41You win.
16:42Prior to patches released that solely targeted him, he could deal heavy damage with minor
16:52button inputs. His ridiculous combo potential and the ability to parry most moves other than
16:56throws and projectiles made for a fighter that worked too well. Even if his attacks missed
17:00or were blocked, his recovery time made it hard to retaliate. These days, the game is all
17:04the better for having balanced him.
17:06You're done.
17:08K.O.
17:11You win.
17:14You're going out with nothing to show for.
17:17Number 8, Akuma, Street Fighter Series.
17:25Introduced in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Akuma was a nasty piece of work to fight but a joy to
17:30use against others. While he looks and fights a bit similarly to Ryu and Ken, he's much
17:34stronger, faster, and has a few troublesome moves the other two don't.
17:43His phasing ability made it so he could pop up right behind his opponent while his mid-air
17:48fireballs would catch players off guard. On top of that, his super move became infamous for
17:52how much damage it could deal. He's been unbalanced in other games as well. After being added to Tekken
17:567, developers had to nerf his over-the-top X-Gage.
18:07Number 7, Ivan Ooze. Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Fighting Edition.
18:19In most fighting games that let you unlock the final boss, their power is scaled back so that it's fair
18:23while playing against others. Well, the developers behind the mid-90s Power Rangers tie-in chose not
18:28to do that with Ivan Ooze. He's just as difficult to face in the hands of a player as the computer.
18:41He can fly, meaning that throws and low kicks won't work against him, and can even rise high enough so
18:46that most attacks in general will miss. He has a variety of fire attacks, one of which hones in
18:50on his opponent, and others which block projectiles. Even if you do land an attack, he has an ability
18:55to break out of combos.
19:05Number 6, Bayonetta. Super Smash Brothers for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
19:09Ready? Go!
19:13Fans were ecstatic to see Bayonetta get announced for the fourth Super Smash Brothers, but for many of them,
19:17that excitement quickly turned sour when they had to fight against her. Her Smash attacks, which called
19:22giant demonic appendages for her, had insane range. Her Witch Time ability could easily slow everyone
19:27around her, allowing for great follow-up potential. She was also great at juggling and had fantastic recovery.
19:41After a player won the EVO Smash Tournament with her in 2017, players who used her the following year were booed
19:47throughout their fights. Players were likely glad to see her nerfed for the release of Smash Ultimate,
19:51as facing her here was usually an uphill battle.
20:04Number 5, Mega Rayquaza. Pokemon series.
20:07While Pokemon is meant to seem balanced with different types and passive abilities, Mega Rayquaza
20:21is undeniably broken. As a legendary, it's already a pretty powerful Pokemon. Usually a Mega Stone is
20:26required for a Pokemon to briefly evolve into their ultimate form. But Rayquaza is the only one who
20:31doesn't need it, meaning a player can then give it a different item to hold and use in battle.
20:35Its base stats are also tied with Mewtwo's Mega Evolutions for the highest of any creature
20:39at 780. Even uber tournaments meant for the ultra-powerful banned Pokemon couldn't handle them,
20:44and a new Anything Goes tier had to be created.
20:58Number 4, Yoda. Soul Calibur 4.
21:01This fighting series has seen its fair share of broken guest characters. Soul Calibur 2 on the GameCube
21:15featured Link, whose long-range bow, boomerang, and bombs gave him an unfair advantage. But at least
21:19players could still land a hit on him, which was a lot harder with Yoda in Soul Calibur 4. The Jedi
21:24Master appeared in the Xbox 360 version, while PS3 players got Darth Vader, though Yoda could still be
21:29purchased his DLC. He used his short height to his advantage, making it easy for those who played
21:37as him to avoid many of their opponent's attacks. Coupled with his stature were his acrobatic flips,
21:41so you could essentially become a tiny spinning ball of death.
21:43Number 3, Brigitte. Overwatch. While many players would rather let someone else take care of the
21:55team's healing, there's no denying how Brigitte completely changed Overwatch. She dealt pretty
21:59solid damage for a support hero, and she could easily keep her team well-armored on top of their
22:03health. Her shield bash could also stun any character out of any ability, even able to go
22:08through the shields of tanks. Many fans credit her with having broken the game's meta, and so Blizzard
22:12has nerfed her to hell and back several times over. Her shield isn't nearly as durable anymore, nor do
22:17her repair packs offer as much help, and Overwatch 2 removed suns from most characters.
22:22Number 2, Meta Knight. Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
22:31Introduced in the Wii's Brawl, no character in the history of Smash has ever been more unfairly balanced
22:35than Meta Knight. We had fast characters before, but he was faster. We had characters with great recovery,
22:39but his was better. His varied moves, including two, where he essentially becomes a tornado of blades,
22:44could rack up percentages, and his general mobility made him an expert edge guarder.
22:56That's not to mention his down special, which could teleport him to either close distance or avoid damage.
23:00He has the honor of being the first Smash character to be banned in tournaments, and we completely understand why.
23:04That doesn't stop us from picking him all the time, though.
23:12Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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23:28Number 1. Oddjob. GoldenEye 007.
23:31When players think of the most unfair playable characters in video games,
23:43Oddjob is likely one of the first who comes to mind.
23:46GoldenEye 007 revolutionized first-person shooters on consoles and was another multiplayer giant in the N64's library.
23:52But an unspoken rule between friends and siblings was upheld in nearly every household.
23:56No one's allowed to pick Oddjob.
23:57Despite being relatively normal-sized in his movie appearance, the villain's height is drastically decreased here.
24:03For every other character, you can shoot down the sights just fine.
24:05But for him, and because of the retro control scheme, you'd have to stop moving and manually aim.
24:10Anyone who picked him was almost guaranteed to win, leading to a legacy that will never be topped.
24:14Did you enjoy this video?
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