Difference between revisions of "BFG9000"

From DoomWiki.org

[unchecked revision][unchecked revision]
m (rv (see section 14 of the Doom Bible))
Line 4: Line 4:
 
The '''BFG9000''' appears as a large, solid metal gun which fires large balls of green plasma. Arguably the most powerful weapon in the game, it is capable of destroying nearly any player or enemy with a single shot.
 
The '''BFG9000''' appears as a large, solid metal gun which fires large balls of green plasma. Arguably the most powerful weapon in the game, it is capable of destroying nearly any player or enemy with a single shot.
  
The abbreviation BFG stands for "''Big Freakin' Gun''", as explained in section 14 of the [[Doom Bible]]. Other expansions of the name that circulated before that document was made public include "''Big Fragging Gun''" and "''Big Fun Gun''".  Characters in the [[Doom novels]] refer to the BFG as a "big freaking gun".  In the [[Doom movie]], BFG officially stands for "Bio Force Gun" [http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/doom3/news_6119703.html], although it is called "''Big Freakin' Gun''" by Sarge.
+
The abbreviation BFG stands for "''Big Fucking Gun''", as explained in section 14 of the [[Doom Bible]]. Other expansions of the name that circulated before that document was made public include "''Big Fragging Gun''" and "''Big Fun Gun''".  Characters in the [[Doom novels]] refer to the BFG as a "big freaking gun".  In the [[Doom movie]], BFG officially stands for "Bio Force Gun" [http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/doom3/news_6119703.html], although it is called "''Big Fucking Gun''" by Sarge.
  
 
In [[Alpha|older versions of Doom]], the BFG was a "billion fireball gun", which released 40 small green and red fireballs with each shot. It was called the [[BFG 2704]]. This version was scrapped because, according to [[John Romero]], it "looked like Christmas" and severely slowed the game down.
 
In [[Alpha|older versions of Doom]], the BFG was a "billion fireball gun", which released 40 small green and red fireballs with each shot. It was called the [[BFG 2704]]. This version was scrapped because, according to [[John Romero]], it "looked like Christmas" and severely slowed the game down.

Revision as of 20:58, 19 September 2006

The BFG9000 in MAP04 of Hell Revealed
The BFG9000 shooting a plasma ball in MAP32 of Hell Revealed

The BFG9000 appears as a large, solid metal gun which fires large balls of green plasma. Arguably the most powerful weapon in the game, it is capable of destroying nearly any player or enemy with a single shot.

The abbreviation BFG stands for "Big Fucking Gun", as explained in section 14 of the Doom Bible. Other expansions of the name that circulated before that document was made public include "Big Fragging Gun" and "Big Fun Gun". Characters in the Doom novels refer to the BFG as a "big freaking gun". In the Doom movie, BFG officially stands for "Bio Force Gun" [1], although it is called "Big Fucking Gun" by Sarge.

In older versions of Doom, the BFG was a "billion fireball gun", which released 40 small green and red fireballs with each shot. It was called the BFG 2704. This version was scrapped because, according to John Romero, it "looked like Christmas" and severely slowed the game down.

Technical

When the trigger is pulled, there is a pause of 6/7 of a second (about 0.857 seconds) before a green plasma ball is ejected. If the plasma ball hits a solid object, it explodes and causes 100-800 hit points of damage to the target, in round multiples of 100.

After a further pause of 16/35 of a second (about 0.457 seconds), blast damage is calculated: 40 invisible rays are emitted by the player in a cone-shaped area (about 45° half-angle) in the direction the plasma ball was fired. (If the player has turned around, the direction of the blast damage rays does not change — they are still traced in the direction of firing of the original plasma ball. If he has moved to another location, their origin moves along with him.) Each ray causes 49-87 points of damage if it hits a solid object within 1024 map units.

Therefore, the minimal damage of the weapon is 49 points (if an object is hit by one ray and not the plasma ball) and, hypothetically, the maximal damage is 800 + (40 × 87) = 4280 points (if the plasma ball hits an object for full damage and all 40 rays also hit the object for full damage). However, that much damage can never actually be inflicted due to the periodicity of the simplistic pseudorandom number generator used by the Doom engine.

BFG9000 data
Weapon number 7
Damage 100-800 (main projectile)
49-87 (per blast tracer)
Included ammo 40 (80 on skill 1 & 5)
Max ammo 300 (600 with backpack)
Ammo type Plasma cells
Shot type Projectile (direct hit)
Hitscan (blast damage)
Velocity 25 (plasma ball)
Shots / minute 54
Sound DSBFG (firing)
DSRXPLOD (impact)
Appears in Registered Doom
Ultimate Doom
Doom II/Final Doom
Thing type 2006 (decimal), 7D6 (hex)
Radius 20
Sprite BFUG (before pickup)
BFGG (wielded)
BFGF (firing)
BFS1 (plasma ball)
BFE1, BFE2 (impact)
Class Weapon
Pickup

As with the rocket launcher and chaingun, the full BFG sprite (after pickup) is slightly too large for the screen, and can only be viewed with a level or resource editor; the lower edge of the sprite includes a BFG logo.

References

Many subsequent first-person shooters implemented similar weapons, but few were quite as notorious as the BFG9000. In addition, due to its reputation, the BFG has been referenced or parodied in many other places:

  • Quake II and Quake III both include the "BFG 10K" (later copied by Skulltag). In Quake II, the projectile sprites are exactly the same as Doom's.
  • Doom 3, also includes the BFG 9000. It looks and behaves like Quake II’s BFG.
  • In the hack-and-slash RPG Sacred, one character, the Seraphim, has a combat art called "BeeEffGee".
  • Magic: the Gathering (Unglued expansion) includes The "BFM" (Big Furry Monster).
  • A character in the movie Jason X mentions using a BFG.
  • In the 1995 computer game Jazz Jackrabbit, one character's gun is called the "LFG-2000".
  • In the RPG Adventure Quest, the "BFG" weapon is an obvious clone of Doom's BFG.
  • The character Bob in ReBoot plays a guitar called a BFG.
  • In the game Gauntlet: Dark Legacy, the Archer and Tigress characters have a turbo attack called "BFG", which fires a huge green burst shot forward.
  • There was originally a quest in the second EverQuest expansion, The Scars of Velious, which resulted in an item called "Breezeboot's Frigid Gnasher", using the image of the BFG9000. The item lore calls it "Model 9000".
  • In the 1999 space simulator FreeSpace 2, the largest red- and green-colored beams in the game are referred to internally as BFRed and BFGreen.
  • In the platform shooter Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal, there is a level called "The Nefarious BFG" (a reference to both the weapon and to The Notorious B.I.G.).
  • It appears in the PSP game Infected as the BMFG (Big Mother Fucking Gun).
  • In the television series Eureka, the episode "Alienated" referred to a high-tech gun called the "BMFG."
  • The M249 SAW is an unlockable weapon in the FPS game Black, where it is called the "BFG".
  • Version 3 of the tabletop RPG Cyberpunk introduced a new class of lightweight, large-bore, man-portable gyrojet weapons known as Ballistic Flechette Guns (BFGs).
  • Magnum Research, Inc. produces a line of powerful revolvers called the Magnum Research BFR. Officially, this stands for 'Biggest Finest Revolver'.
  • Duke Nukem: Zero Hour contains a weapon called the BMF Thunderstrike.
  • A "BFG" is the preferred weapon of SEMME agent Joyce (who apparently keeps it in hammerspace) in the webcomic It's Walky!.

Appearance statistics

The IWADs contain the following numbers of BFG 9000s:

Game ITYTD and HNTR HMP UV and NM
Ultimate Doom 9 9 10
Doom II 20 20 19
TNT: Evilution 9 9 9
Plutonia 15 15 16

Trivia

  • Roald Dahl's novel The BFG predates Doom by over a decade, but is completely unrelated. Roald Dahl's "BFG" stood for "Big Friendly Giant".
  • The Games Workshop tabletop wargame Battlefleet Gothic is sometimes also referred to as "BFG".

External links

Weapons from Doom and Doom II
Slot: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Fist Pistol Shotgun Chaingun Rocket launcher Plasma gun BFG9000
Chainsaw Super shotgun