Dress for Success

Born into a family of soldiers, peacekeeping was in Fareeha Amari’s blood. After enlisting in the Egyptian Army, she rose through the ranks and earned a reputation of a courageous leader. Her exemplary record caught the eye of a private security firm, and she was chosen to receive training in the Raptora Mark VI. This experimental combat suit was designed for rapid mobility and devastating firepower, and it allowed Fareeha to make a difference on a global scale under the call sign Pharah. Her thrusters let her to hover in place or soar high through the air for short periods. This increases her range, provides opportunities to escape, and allows her to reach snipers with ease. She can also knock her enemies back with a concussive blast or unleash a barrage of rockets. She can even propel herself with these rockets if need be.

The Confederate Marine Corps (CMC) Powered Combat Suit worn by the Terran Marines is an armored exo-skeleton defined by its oversized shoulder pads and gorilla-like mitts. In addition to its natural defensive properties, the bulky armor also allows ample space for ammunition storage and a built-in life support system. It can take several minutes for a trained marine to suit up, but it’s possible for them to survive in the suit for an entire week. Several generations of CMC suits are used in the StarCraft series. The fusion powered suits can be equipped with thrusters, cloaking devices, PSI emitters, warp mechanisms, and various stimpacks to improve the users speed and reflexes. As if the hulking size didn’t make the hard-skinned CMC suits stand out already, the suits are also commonly personalized with unique colors and designs.

The conception of the Augmented Reaction Suit (ARS) stemmed from the ambition to create infantry units that could exceed the mobility, firepower, and situational awareness capabilities of existing battle tanks. Made from an advanced carbon-nanite-based material, the suit has unmatched durability and regenerative properties while still remaining light-weight and agile. Thanks to power actuators fitted into the suit, users can potentially lift 100 tons and sprint fast enough to keep up to flying dropships. An adaptable electronic weapon system allows the for replication of enemy field weapons, while a built in “AR” mode increases the reactions of the user ten-fold. For all intents and purposes, individuals wearing an ARS essentially function as experimental super soldiers on the battlefield.

It’s only natural that protective power suits would play a big role in a series set in an irradiated, post-apocalyptic wasteland. Initially developed in the West Tek Research Facility laboratories, the power combat armor represents the peak of armored infantry technology. There are many variants used throughout the series, but the T-51b model is the most iconic and was prominently featured on the cover of the first three Fallout games. The suits are equipped with a back-mounted microfusion pack which generates an impressive 60,000 watts of power. They were designed to shield against radiation, reflect lasers, and protect the wearer from any projectiles. The hydraulic systems built into the frame of the suits allow for increased strength while the lightweight design allows for increased mobility relative to earlier models.

The versatile CryNet nanosuits can dedicate energy to specific functions in order to augment properties of the wearer. The suits are can re-rout regenerative energy supply, control the flow of oxygen, inject performance-enhancing narcotics, and utilize crystalline generation in order to enhance armor, strength, speed, or cloaking abilities of the wearer. Armor mode can absorb the kinetic energy of incoming projectiles. Strength mode allows for lethal melee attacks and super-human jumping abilities. Speed mode allows for an extremely fast sprint and improved dexterity. Cloaking mode will absorb and bend incoming light in order to render the wearer virtually invisible to the human eye. The outside appearance of the CryNet nanosuits are altered in accordance to the mode they are using, so they earn points for style in addition to being incredibly useful.

The primary purpose of the Resource Integration Gear (RIG) is to monitor the vital life signs, and its spine-mounted display indicates the user’s general state of health. Outside of its use as a health management system, the RIG functions as a strength augmentation system. There are many different variations of RIG available, and each is suited for specific working environments. The engineering exo-suit worn by Isaac Clarke has various modules available which give him the ability to decrease the speed of machinery, cling to metal surfaces, and maneuver through zero-gravity environments with the help of thrusters. The suit also allows its wearer to breathe in space and provides protection from radiation. If I was basing this list entirely on how cool each suit looked, the Resource Integration Gear may have been ranked even higher.

Power suits have played an important role in the Mario series since Super Mario Bros. 3, and a number of them were considered for this list. The Frog Suit is technically the first suit that Mario can obtain and the Cat Suit is the most adorable, but the Tanooki Suit is one of Mario’s most versatile outfits. When wearing the suit, Mario can fly into the sky or turn into a statue. Mario’s jumping skills defined him as a character – he was originally known as Jumpman, after all – and the Tanooki Suit accentuates his proficiencies. The ability to fly takes the concept of jumping to its logical extreme, and the descent of every jump is more exciting since Mario’s statue form can crush nearly anything below it. Mario’s primary form of attack is jumping on things, and the Tanooki Suit encourages this behavior.

Master Chief is a biologically-enhanced super soldier who was trained for war from a young age. Some view him as a generic space marine, but his stoic nature is the result of his intense training. Master Chief is a decorated soldier and a natural leader, but he isn’t exactly the talkative type and is seldom seen without his armor. Despite being a faceless protagonist, Master Chief is one of the most recognizable figures in all of gaming. This is largely due to his iconic “MJOLNIR” Powered Assault Armor. The armor is an exoskeleton system designed to vastly improve strength, speed, agility, reflexes, and durability. He was already a capable soldier to begin with, but the suit lets Master Chief create energy shields, flip over tanks, jump several meters into the air, and somehow survive falls from outer space!

The ancient alien race who designed Samus’ power suit had the foresight to make it upgradable. The suit comes equipped with a standard arm cannon, but it can also be upgraded with missiles, freeze rays, x-ray scopes, grappling beams, and high jump boots. By obtaining different upgrades, Samus can run through walls, spin through the air indefinitely, and damage anything she comes in contact with. There are also upgrades that increase resistance to high temperatures and improve mobility under water. I’d be remiss not to mention the iconic morph ball that allows Samus to drastically decrease her size by contorting herself into a ball. In recent years, Samus’ form-fitting “Zero Suit” has become popular in its own right, but the Chozo armor is still more iconic even if it’s not quite as provocative.

No suit is more significant to its game than the ultra-high-tech-indestructible-super-space-cyber-suit (better known as the super suit). The super suit is central to the plot of Earthworm Jim and is the reason why Jim is hounded by so many villains. The suit was never intended for Jim in the first place, and he only came into possession of it because a careless bounty hunter dropped it from the sky. The suit provided Jim with a human-like body and made him super intelligent… at least by earthworm standards. If that’s not enough, the suit also came equipped with a pair of boxers with heart patterns on them! Without his suit, Master Chief is still a biologically-enhanced super soldier. If you remove Samus’ suit, you’ve still got yourself an badass bounty hunter. Take Earthworm Jim’s suit away and all you’ve got is a useless earthworm.