Top 10 Video Game Spaceships

Kicking off our list is the ship that acts as one of the main characters in Fast Than Lite, or FTL. Although you get many different classes of vessel to play around with, all players start with the Kestrel Cruiser as their first ship. Directing her crew, you must repair, upgrade, and maintain this ship if you are going to complete your mission. Along the way, you form a peculiar bond with it, as your fates are so strongly intertwined. If the ship goes down, so does your progress, and you have to start the game all over again. So be sure to keep her safe.

Within and epic and mythical backstory of Ikaruga, you play as the last remaining pilot fighting for peace against a sweeping tyrannical force. Given your prophetic nature, you are granted a ship capable of switching at will between light and dark polarities, allowing you to absorb a barrage of enemy lasers and wipe out whole fleets of bad guys. In a world literally divided and in conflict, the Ikaruga is your vehicle on this epic journey for peace. Peace through blowing shit up of course.

Sure, Knights of the Old Republic's Ebon hawk was memorable, but we actually got put the Outrider through her paces. Playing as Dash Not Han Solo Rendar, he pilots this totally not Millennium Falcon ship in a game set between the storylines of Episodes five and six. At certain points in the game you use the Outrider to escape Hoth, fight through asteroid fields and even take on a space station. This was a ship that put you smack dab in the middle of the Star Wars Universe.

A lot of ships have personality, but this one actually has a personality. And but that, I mean, it talks to you. After being crash landed on Fastoon, our furry lombax and his robot companion fix the ship, only to have it wake up and reveal that it is actually an ancient ship that was built by the Lombax’s before they disappeared. Still the best ship for getting you around the magnificent universe of Ratchet and Clank, she’s also not too shabby in the offensive department as well.

One the largest ships on this list, the Ishimura is a planet cracker, an epicly large ship that’s used to rip worlds apart in order to mine their resources. When the game starts, you play as an engineer sent in response to distress signal. Once on board, you find the maze like vessel is now infested with Necromorphs, members of the crew who have been reanimated into ungodly horrors. Fighting tooth and nail to survive, you must work to discover the mysteries of the Ishimura and it’s terrible fate.

Halo is renowned for it’s fluid first person shooter combat as well as it’s epic storyline, and it doesn’t get more epic than the pillar of autumn. The starting point for Halo 1 and the last McGuffin of Halo: Reach, the Autumn is intrinsically linked to the series mythos. Sadly, as a last ditch attempt to save the galaxy, Master Chief is forced to detonate the fusion reactor within the ship in to destroy the first Halo ring.

A simple ship with a simple mission: Shoot everything! However the ship doesn’t stay simple for long, as throughout the game you are able to upgrade and alter the fighter, slowly turning it into an unbeatable monstor. With additional lasers, rockets, the ability to drop bombs, all coupled with it’s extreme maneuverability and agility, the mindless swarms attacking you really never stood a chance.

Don’t get us wrong, Starcraft has a ton of great spaceships and the Protoss carrier was also a serious contender, but in the end we had to go with the Battlecruiser. The main Terran Capital ships, the Battlecruisers are a one-ship war machine, capable of not only defending itself with smaller gun batteries, but has a powerful Yamato cannon, aptly named after the popular anime series. Whether it’s used as a mobile command center during the campaign, or even to just even the score in a late game battle, we would recommend having it on your side.

The backbone of Commander Shepard’s team in the Mass Effect series, the Normandy is a high speed stealth ship. Piloted by ace pilot Joker, and maintained by its onboard A.I EDI, the Normandy very quickly comes to feel like your home. Although the first iteration of the Normandy was destroyed by the Collectors, the 2nd edition SR-2 became the ideal ship for travelling to dangerous parts of the galaxy, and would have been #1 if you could actually fly it.

Before we hop in our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions:

F-36 Hornet
“Wing Commander” series (1990-)
Van Braun
“System Shock 2” (1999)

Samus’ Gunship
“Metroid” Series (1987-)
Arrow Ship
“Asterioids” (1979)

Four words: Do. A. Barrel-roll! Although Great Fox does look cool, it can’t compete with the pure-awesome factor of the Arwing. Sleek in design, this small, fast, and versatile fighter is the weapon of choice for Fox McCloud and the Star Fox team. Armed with an upgradable laser, and powerful Nova-bombs, these things can wipe entire enemy fleets when in the hands of a pro. Also Bayonetta gets to take one of these for a spin in her latest game, just to show that this thing is still as big today as it was in the 90’s.

Do you agree with out list? What video game spaceship do you want to do cool tricks in? For more top tens about your favorite games and more, DO A BARREL ROLL! And then, subscribe to watchmojo.com.