Cuts Like a Knife

Kano is an opportunistic mercenary and the leader of the Black Dragon clan, but he should be completely out of his league in the company of thunder gods and fire-breathing skeleton ninjas. He’s not above using underhanded tactics to gain an advantage, however, and he’s surprisingly proficient in battle. The dude can fire lasers out of his cybernetic eye and turn himself into a human cannonball, but he mostly relies on his signature butterfly knives. These weapons are surprisingly versatile, and Kano can throw from afar or use them at close range. Given the opportunity, he’ll stab his opponents in the abdomen, slash them with upward swings, and plunge blades into their throats. If there’s one thing I learned from Crocodile Dundee, it’s that Australians really like big knives. This is certainly true in Kano’s case.

The Touhou Project bombards players with curtains of bullets and it’s not unusual for the screen to be filled with hundreds of projectiles. Sakuya Izayoi attacks with an endless array of silver throwing knives and can conjure them from thin air. She’s supposedly accurate with her blades, but in practice she pretty much unleashes an endless barrage of knives in an attempt to cover as much area as she can. Although she’s clearly skilled with her knives, she’s defined by her ability to manipulate time and space. This uncanny ability goes hand-in-hand with her knife skills, however. By freezing time and assiduously collecting her thrown knives, Sakuya can appear to have an infinite number of knives at her disposal. She’s not as direct as some of the other knife wielders on this list, but what she lacks in efficiency, she makes up for with volume.

Knives play an important role in the Resident Evil series. They are often used as a last resort in battle, and they can also be used as a means of conserving ammo. Although knives are frequently used by the protagonists in Resident Evil games, I’m recognizing Jack Krauser here because he’s defined by the weapon. An experienced soldier in the United States Army who later found work as a mercenary, Krauser is unable to function in society and only finds meaning in combat situations. Krasuer’s epic knife fight with Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil 4 was one of the game’s defining moments and an early example of how quicktime events could make cutscenes feel more interactive. Krauser’s knife is shot out of his hand before he can finish Leon off, but he wastes little time in replacing it with another one.

The eclectic Team Fortress crew is comprised of snipers, demolition experts, and soldiers who specialize in heavy weaponry, so the Spy seems outclassed with his simple array of knives. Ultimately, his extensive use of stealth and trickery makes his knives the most efficient weapons in the series. Through cloaking, teleportation, and the use of disguise kits, the Spy has many ways of working his way past enemy lines. He can even fake his own death in order to surprise his rivals. After his unsuspecting enemies lower their guards, the Spy can eliminate them with a literal backstab. This swift maneuver is dangerous enough to kill any foe with a single hit! Some knives allow the Spy to absorb health from his victims, silence their death cries, or make their bodies disappear entirely! Who needs dynamite or miniguns?

Wang Yuanji is a relatively new addition to the series, but she’s one of the most beloved Dynasty Warriors characters and regularly tops online popularity polls. Fans are drawn in by her beauty and tsundere tendencies, but her place on this list is entirely based on her skills on the battlefield. She jumps into the air and throws the knives to the ground in a large radius, she hurls knives in front of her in a cone-shaped formation, and she is able to fend off attackers from all angles by throwing daggers while she spins. She can throw daggers in multiple trajectories and can home in on her targets with pinpoint accuracy. In some instances, the knives she throws will return to her like boomerangs. Her knives can even be imbued with elemental powers, which allows her to overwhelm her rivals with flaming spirals or surges of electricity.

Ezio represented the Assassin’s Creed series on this site when gaming’s best assassins were recognized, but Altaïr is being mentioned here because he is more closely married to the knife theme. Altaïr and Ezio both use a myriad of hidden blades and hidden throwing knives to carry out their assassinations, but Ezio takes advantage of “modern” technologies like handguns, hang gliders, and smoke bombs that weren’t commonplace during Altaïr’s era. Ezio’s cache of knives might be more impressive on a technical level, but you have to give Altaïr credit for accomplishing so much with so little. His hidden blades are ideal for close-quarters, and he relies on knives for long range attacks as well. He was so effective with his knives that he didn’t even bother building himself a crossbow until he was a senior citizen!

American McGee’s Alice serves as a macabre sequel to Lewis Carroll’s beloved 19th century novels. After losing her family in a house fire, Alice slipped into a catatonic state and was sent to an asylum. Not surprisingly, Wonderland was transformed into a dark and twisted version of its former self as a result of her fractured psyche. Alice has to contend with many wretched creatures during her new journey through Wonderland, and her primary means of defense is her “vorpal blade.” The blade looks like a typical kitchen knife, but Alice handles it with deadly intent. She uses the blade to slash her enemies at close-range and can also throw the knife to hit targets from a distance. It’s implied that the blade has a will of its own, and it will even return to her hand automatically! All in all, a knife is perfectly-suited for a hot mess like Alice.