Monday may be the worst day of the week, but Tuesday honestly isn’t a whole lot better. The week is still early, and we’re still a long way from the weekend, but rather than counting down the days until the weekend is upon us once again I thought I’d spend my Tuesday counting something else instead. That’s why I’ve come up with a new theme for today: TOP FIVE TUESDAY!
It’s as simple as it sounds. Each week I’ll be doing a Top Five list, on a Tuesday, ranking or rating my top five somethings in a particular genre or field, and since right now I’m playing Injustice 2, I thought I’d start it off by continuing the theme from yesterday’s “Lexy Plays” (if you haven’t read it, go read it now! And if you have, go watch the video again anyway) and by rating something from Injustice 2. The question is… what? I could do the top five funniest intros, I could list my top five characters, but really the most obvious one that jumps out at me is the Top Five Super Moves, so I thought I’d kick things off with that.
There are a few rules in this category. The first is that these are only the ones included with the original game, and not including the DLC. I haven’t bought it yet because right now I can’t afford it, but I do plan to get it in the future so when I do that may change this list dramatically. The second, and possibly most important, is that this isn’t a list of the top five most powerful moves, or the top five flashiest moves, but rather my top five, and I have a rule: when a Super Move happens in the middle of a fight, I hate when they’re so insanely overkill that it looks like the character got blasted into a hundred pieces, or thrown into space, or pummelled into the ground, and they just get up again and keep fighting. That means I’ve excluded any moves that seem like they’d be better suited as a fatality in Mortal Kombat than as a super move in Injustice. That means no Batman and the Batwing, which is a pity, but when it’s hit on someone like Green Arrow there’s no way he’s getting up after… and he often does.
So, with the rules in mind, let’s begin:
5. Poison Ivy
She may be one of my least favourite characters so far (although I’ll be honest, I haven’t really given her too much of a chance), but Poison Ivy’s super move is definitely worthy of my top five.
This is a perfect example of what I was talking about. This is a great move that could be hit really at any time, and while it’s utterly awesome to behold and one you could watch multiple times quite happily, it’s not so ridiculously powerful that you’re left wondering how anyone could possibly get up and continue to fight the next round, let alone get up and keep going in the same round. It’s also powerful enough that it looks like it could hurt against any character in the game, without being so powerful that it seems like it would outright murder anyone but the toughest characters. There is an element to it, however, where I wonder if someone like Darkseid or Superman would really be THAT affected by it, after all it is just a plant munching on them at the end of the day, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief for long enough because visually this is just a nice move.
4. Supergirl
I said I’d break my own rule, and I did to include this massive overkill move from Supergirl, which still makes my list despite its flaw of being overkill just because… it’s really fun!
There’s no doubt in my mind that if you get thrown up into space and you’re any of the “lesser” characters, which even includes characters like The Flash, not to mention people who possess not much “meta human” attributes – and especially Batman – then you’re going to die. That’s a mark against this move. The pros for this move however are that it’s one thing that Supergirl has going for her which is much cooler than her cousin has, plus the look of sheer anger on her face when she blasts her heat vision on them to propel them back to earth just puts a smile on my face. It’s finished off with her gracefully landing back down again, rather than just being there when it’s finished, which rounds out quite nicely my favourite of the overkill moves.
3. Green Arrow
Now we get down to the characters I just enjoy, and while I haven’t played him much on my own game yet, I’ve logged a good number of games as Green Arrow, and I really enjoy his super.
It’s not overkill. There was the possibility that he could have fired a thousand arrows at them and then walked away while they exploded, or something overkill like that, but he doesn’t. Instead he fires an explosive arrow behind them and throws them onto it, firing them up into the air and then knocking them back down with an ice arrow before crashing down onto them to finish them off. It’s a nice series, and it shows off his range of trick arrows quite impressively. It’s also not beyond the realms of possibility for someone like Oliver to do. It is, after all, just the combination of a few trick arrows and then landing on them with the final shot. Ok, so it’s not humanly possible, but then if we limited ourselves by what’s humanly possible then 90% of the game would be removed. Overall it’s good, but it’s not the best…
2. Black Canary
There’s no secret, given the fact that she’s my highest ranked character so far, that I have a soft spot for Dinah in this game. Her super move is just awesome too, and I almost gave it the top spot… but not quite.
Dinah is a meta-human, so it makes sense that she’d have a powerful super move. It also makes sense that her move would be based on her scream since, you know… Canary Cry is kind of her thing. What I like about this move though is just how visually cool it is. From her first jump and initial scream (which hits hard enough to finish off a lot of opponents for me) to then the kick into the air and the super scream at them which pins them to the ground, the move looks like it really hurts, and disorientates opponents enough that it wouldn’t matter if you’re Superman or the lovely Oliver, you’re going to get pinned to the ground by the sheer force of that blast. Then, like Oliver, she finishes it off with a final kill shot which is simply a falling punch to the soul, creating almost the perfect move. It shows off everything she’s all about, while also being visually great to look at and a perfect fit for the character. There is just one better than it though…
1. The Flash
For me, it has to be The Flash’s super move in this game as the best one. It’s funny, it’s very watchable, and it’s just perfect for what The Flash is all about. They could have done so many different ideas with super speed, but this is just perfect.
First off, what could be more Flash than super speed? Secondly, if you’ve watched The Flash TV show, what could POSSIBLY be more Flash than time travel? He does it almost every week on the TV show, or at least that’s how it feels. This isn’t just time travel though, this is time travel and comedy mixed together. I remember sitting there laughing about this move with my friend, commenting on how many times that poor dinosaur was about to chow down on its meal when it’s randomly hit in the face by a super speed blur. I have this vision that it’s the same dinosaur and each it is just after the last one, so the dinosaur recovers, is about to go for a bite and boom, it’s hit again. Then, to finish the move off, he comes back just before he originally left in order to throw his opponent into the past version of themselves. Honestly, this move has everything I need from a super move, and it’s officially my favourite one in the game. Now, if only I was good enough with The Flash to see it more often…
If you enjoyed the list, why not check out the video on YouTube? And if you want to discuss my list, feel free to do so. You can talk to me on Twitter (@alexisebdon) or on Facebook (facebook.com/ajebdon).