In general, conflict requires the heroes to be on the defensive, and have the possibility of losing. Video Games also require a challenge, for the game to be fun. Some characters, however don't have any challenge at all. This can easily derail the story, and remove any drama. Tropes Are Not Bad, however. A powerful villain gives the heroes a credible threat, and a powerful hero can be fun to watch. Just don't overdo it.
It should be noted, however, that overpowered characters aren't necessarily boring, as they can have their overall weaknesses in terms of their powers, abilities, and personality, among other things. An example of an overpowered character with weaknesses is Kal-El/Superman from DC Comics. He may have an incredible amount of powerful abilities, but in truth, he still has plenty of weaknesses to his powers and abilities according to his physiological stature as a Kryptonian. For instance, he is susceptible to not only psionics, chi and magic, but also the most prominent one of all: kryptonite.
Contrast Weakness Tropes, Power at a Price and This Index Is Useless. See Power Tropes for general information about powers. See also How to Stop the Deus ex Machina.
Not to Be Confused with Overdosed Tropes.
- The Ace: A character who is highly skilled or gifted in numerous different areas, and is often highly respected and popular to boot.
- Begin with a Finisher: A character begins a fight with another character by using their strongest move, often leading to an instant win, or alternatively the opponent proving to be strong enough to withstand it.
- Cheese Strategy: A particular tactic in a game that requires little skill or game knowledge to implement but offers a very high success rate.
- Comically Invincible Hero: The Invincible Hero's overpoweredness is Played for Laughs.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: An opponent is defeated with barely any effort.
- Disc-One Nuke: An item or ability that can be exploited early in a game to become a potential Game-Breaker.
- Game-Breaker: A game mechanic that can be gained or exploited to greatly lower the game's difficulty.
- God-Mode Sue: A ludicrously overpowered and heavily idealized character.
- Infinity +1 Element
- Infinity +1 Sword: A super powerful weapon, item or ability that the player can only obtain through a lot of blood, sweat and tears.
- "Instant Death" Radius
- Instant-Win Condition
- Invincible Hero: A hero that never loses or faces any truly significant setbacks (which can kill dramatic tension if handled badly).
- Invincible Villain: A villain that never loses or cannot be fully defeated by the heroes due to their immense abilities and/or cunning.
- The Juggernaut
- Lightning Bruiser: A fighter who is physically strong, fast and resilient.
- Master of All
- Min-Maxing
- Munchkin: That one player who constantly tries to one-up everyone else in terms of powers, abilities and/or achievements, even if that's not the point of the game.
- New Life in Another World Bonus: When the bonus is a Story-Breaker Power.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown
- Not So Invincible After All: A seemingly invincible character is shown to be vulnerable.
- No Saving Throw
- Olympus Mons
- One-Hit Kill
- The Omnipotent
- Purposely Overpowered
- Reality Warper
- Self Made Super Powers: When the artificially created powers far outclass the natural ones.
- Semantic Superpower: When it gives access to many powers without restrictions.
- Showy Invincible Hero
- Squash Match
- Story-Breaker Power
- Story-Breaker Team-Up
- Superpower Lottery
- Token Super
- Token Wizard
- Touch of Death
- Villain Sue
