The "buster sword" is commonly mistaken for a purely fictional sword, due to it's appearence in the video game Final Fantasy VII. In said game it is used by the main character, Cloud Strife, and is a foot in width and six feet in length. Buster swords actually existed, however, as a modification of the Bastard sword. While Bastard sword's have blades that are like a Longswords in that they are roughly the same thickness and width as the hilt, and like Greatswords in that they are much longer than longswords (though bastard sword blades are still much thicker than longswords) a "Buster sword" is an early version of the Bastard sword in which the blade much thicker than the hilt, almost as much so as a Greatswords. Buster swords never became a popular weapon simply because they weighed much more than a Bastard sword but could not be used one handed due to the extra weight in the blade. The few people strong enough to handle a "Buster sword" like a Bastard sword could cause great damage, however, as it retained more weight from it's Greatsword ancestor, making it more effective for breaking up pike formations than a Bastard sword, despite the fact that Bastard Swords themselves were effective for breaking up all but the best-armored formations.

Great_Swords