The origin of the BFG 9000 from DOOM

The BFG 9000 is an iconic part of DOOM’s identity. The BFG 9000 is a large, solid metal gun which fires large balls of green plasma. It’s considered as the most powerful weapon in the game. The initials composing the weapon’s name stand for “Big Fucking Gun”. In the 2005 movie they called it “Bio Force Gun”. Alternatively, is also stands for “Big Friggin’ Gun” or “Big Fancy Gun”.

The BFG 9000 was based on photographs of a toy blaster sold by Toys R Us in the early 90s. This is probably due to the popularity of toy guns in the late 80s and early 90s. Movies like Rambo, The Terminator, Predator and Alien had their own toy lines.

The industrial futuristic aesthetics of the weaponry provided vibrant inspirations for the developers of DOOM. All of these toy guns were fairly cheap, and finding them was as simple as driving to the mall.

The first appearance of the weapon was in the original DOOM’s Beta known as the BFG 2704 in the DOOM bible, which was the original game’s design document. In the document the weapon was described as following, “BFG 2704 (red). Horrible hallway-scouring weapon. Damages user a bit. Awful recoil. BFG stands for ‘Big Fucking Gun’. Safest use: back to wall, distant target.”

You can watch the video below if you want to find out more about the BFG. You can also find the original DOOM bible here.

How A Toy Gun Became DOOM’s Iconic BFG - Loadout

Thanks Gamespot and Wiki.

5 thoughts on “The origin of the BFG 9000 from DOOM”

  1. The BFG also originally didn’t shoot 1 big ball. It was meant to shoot dozens of green balls at once.

    There is a good doc on youtube that breaks down the BFG and how it actually works. something like when you pull the triggers, the green ball does 20-100 damage. Its in that range. Then the gun send out an invisible scan laser, those targets its hit get like 50-75 damage. Pretty interesting stuff. This site doesn’t like me posting links, but if you search for this youtube video “The Evolution Of The BFG 9000 In DOOM” you will find it.

    1. Kinda sounds like the unmaker. I remember back in the day the BFG was a giant green ball. Gonna watch that video now.

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