Fits Like a Glove

The Heavy from Team Fortress 2 has a variety of cool gloves in his arsenal, and it’s hard to decide which pair deserves a place on this list. The Killing Gloves of Boxing are guaranteed to land critical hits while the Gloves of Running Urgently increase movement speed. Even the community-created gloves are interesting, and the Heavy can wear everything from bulky robotic gauntlets to decorative holiday mittens. The Bread Bites are especially interesting. The impromptu boxing gloves are made out of a sentient loaf of bread which has mutated. Although Bread Bites function in the same way as the Gloves of Running Urgently, they frequently growl and will snap its jaws whenever the Heavy throws a punch. The effect is purely cosmetic, but I still love the idea of a bread monster being used as boxing gloves.

The Ratchet & Clank series is notable for its vast array of outrageous weapons. Ratchet has had access to several interesting gloves during the course of his adventures, and many of them are worth a mention. The Holoshield Glove could generate energy shields, the Bomb Glove could dispense explosives, and the Decoy Glove could create balloon decoys modeled in Ratchet’s likeness. The Bee Mine Glove is being singled out for its sheer absurdity. This glove allows Ratchet to handle metallic beehives which house explosive bees. Once released, the swarms of robotic bees will attack nearby enemies and break open crates. I’ll concede that the Glove of Doom is more useful since it disperses an army of small androids. Nevertheless, the whole “bees as a weapon” concept perfectly exemplifies Ratchet & Clank‘s over-the-top nature.

Torvald is a supportive Front Line Champion whose main purpose is to provide shielding against enemy attacks. The Runic Sage is on the forefront of crystal-powered technology, and he has all sorts of tricked-out gadgets at his disposal. The massive stone gauntlet looks like it would be ideal for pugilistic purposes, but Torvald isn’t the type of guy who throws hands. Instead of punching people, Torvald uses his gauntlet to generate shields, fire bursts of magical energy, and nullify attacks. He can also unleash the latent power within the gauntlet and channel massive waves of energy. The gauntlet proves to be one of the most versatile weapons in Paladins since it has numerous offensive and defensive capabilities. Torvald doesn’t look like a typical war hero, but the gauntlet makes him a force to be reckoned with.

There are a handful of Street Fighter characters who can generate electricity. Blanka developed unusual powers from a genetic mutation, while Necro gained his abilities as a result of unethical experiments. Crimson Viper, on the other hand, merely relies on technology. Her battle suit augments her natural speed and agility, and her boots allow for temporary jet propulsion. Her gloves have metal knuckles that can carry a charge, and this allows her to unleash powerful arcs of electricity. Depending on how much power is supplied, C. Viper can simply stun her enemies or inflict enough damage for her opponents’ skeletons to become visible. She can even create powerful electrical shockwaves by simply punching the ground! The gloves have to charged before each use, but that’s a minor inconvenience when you consider all the benefits they provide.

White gloves are commonplace in the world of animation, and they’re strongly associated with Golden Age characters like Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny. These gloves are prevalent in video games too, with Mario and Sonic being two obvious examples. Rayman is an especially notable case since his gloves aren’t attached to his body! He has no arms to speak of, and this somehow allows him to use his fists as projectiles. The gloves themselves don’t have any magical properties, and Rayman’s hands would work in the same way even if he wasn’t wearing them. I’ll always associate Rayman with white gloves, however. The floating gloves draw your attention by their very nature, and they were one of the things that defined Rayman as a character. Ubisoft even included one of Rayman’s gloves as a secret weapon in Prince of Persia: Warrior Within.

Many of the characters in Sonic the Hedgehog wear white gloves, and this is an obvious throwback to the early days of animation. It’s a common (and therefore unremarkable) design trope that countless video game characters adhere to. Knuckles the Echidna does things a little bit differently, however. He still wears white gloves like most of his peers, but his gloves are adorned with spikes! This ultimately allows him to climb up walls, and he’s able to reach hidden areas that are off-limits to his friends. He also has an assortment of punches in his repertoire, and he never misses an opportunity to serve up a knuckle sandwich. The only reason why he’s not ranked higher on this list is because the aforementioned spikes are presumably a part of his body. Even so, the gloves are tailor-made and one-of-a-kind.

Link has worn an assortment of special gloves during his adventures. The Handy Glove from Zelda II let him break bricks with his sword, the Power Glove allowed him to lift heavy rocks in A Link the Past, and Mole Mitts could quickly dig through the ground in The Minish Cap. The Magnetic Gloves are arguably the most creative gloves that Link has ever worn, however. First seen in Oracle of Seasons, the gloves are used to solve puzzles and to cross chasms. Link can also reverse the polarity of the gloves on a whim, and this makes them an effective weapon. He can defeat numerous enemies by simply attracting and repelling metal orbs and spiked balls. The gloves showed up again in Four Swords, and they were even more useful because of the game’s multiplayer component. In this outing, the gloves could be used to push or pull other Links!

It’s common for VR games to give players control over a pair of disembodied floating hands. This is a logical way to interact with a virtual world, after all, and it let’s the user know exactly what part of their body is relevant to the gameplay. This concept worked especially well in Half-Life: Alyx since Alyx was equipped with a pair of “gravity gloves” that gave her more control over her surroundings. These gloves – or “Russells” as the creator calls them – could be likened to the gravity gun from Half-Life 2, and they allow Alyx to draw in nearby objects with remarkable accuracy. Alyx uses the gloves to solve various puzzles, and they’re able to absorb energy blasts by the end of the game. As an added bonus, the gloves have their own built-in display that keeps track of your health, ammo, and resin stores.

As Glover begins, a careless wizard is concocting potions while wearing his magical gloves. When the experiment goes awry, the old man is encased in stone while his gloves go flying in opposite directions. One of the gloves lands in the cauldron and becomes corrupted as a result. Glover, on the other hand, is hurled out of the window with his faculties in tact. From here, the sentient glove sets forth on a quest to save the wizard and restore peace to the kingdom. This sounds like an impossible task, but keep in mind that Glover can walk around like a normal person. He’s not really limited by his form factor. The glove’s fingers can be used as veritable arms and legs, after all, and he can effectively communicate via the wonders of pantomime. Even though he spends most of his time playing with his balls, Glover is surprisingly adorable.

The Super Smash Bros. series features an expansive roster of characters from different franchises. Many people forget that the characters in the first Super Smash Bros. were actually depicted as toy dolls that came to life. Master Hand can be seen playing with the toys during the game’s intro, and it’s implied that the disembodied glove is the creative spirit that set everything in motion. (It’s not a coincidence that he shares a voice with the game’s announcer.) As a boss character, Master Hand has a wide range of attacks at his disposal. He has various ways to pummel his opponent, and his fingers can be used as impromptu gun barrels or laser cannons. Needless to say, he’s quite a handful. Although his role has evolved over time, Master Hand is still the symbolic link between the real world and the imaginary Smash Bros. battlefields.