For some more examples, using a sword to strike at a distance (Project Blow, IIRC) is fairly common in anime and anime-inspired games - Jubei from
Ninja Scroll, Raijuta (and to a lesser extent Kenshin) from
Rurouni Kenshin, and Moriya from
The Last Blade all have this ability, and you can find more examples over at tvtropes under
Sword Beam (although those are sometimes weapon-specific). In the first
Legend of Zelda, Link had a similar ability anytime he had full health, although since then it's been nerfed (making some foes immune, and reducing the range in
Adventure of Link), modified (in
Ocarina of Time and
Twilight Princess, it extends the reach of your spin attack), mangled (in
Majora's Mask, it's a special ability of the Fierce Deity's Mask), and associated only with the Master Sword (notably in
Link to the Past, where it's also nerfed to have the same damage as the normal sword and some enemies are immune to it) - but in the original, Link could pull it off with his starting practice sword.