The BFG is a fictional weapon found in many video games, mostly in first-person shooter series such as Doom and Quake. The abbreviation BFG stands for "Big Fucking Gun" as described in Tom Hall's original Doomdesign document and in the user manual of . The Quake II manual says it stands for "Big, Uh, Freakin' Gun". This euphemistic label implies the more profane name of the BFG. Another version of the name used in the Doommotion picture is "Bio Force Gun". The versions found in the Doom games are called "BFG 9000" and those in Quake "BFG 10K".
Appearances
''Doom''
The first appearance of the weapon is the press beta release of Doom. In that version, the BFG 9000 released a cloud of 80 small plasma balls per shot. Computer Gaming World described the BFG 9000 in the first commercial Doom game as "the Ultimate Weapon". It is a large energy weapon that fires giant balls of green plasma. The most powerful weapon in the game, it causes major damage to most types of enemies and can clear an entire room of foes in one use. A direct hit from it is often an instant kill. The player is unaffected by the splash damage, which makes it possible to use the BFG 9000 safely in close quarters, unlike some of the other powerful weapons. In the first Doom, the weapon can only be picked up in the third and fourth episodes. The BFG 9000 also appears virtually unchanged in , Final Doom, Doom 64, and Doom RPG. The BFG's internal game mechanics are two-fold: the actual projectile deals a huge amount of damage, but after that, a large dose of damage is dealt in a cone facing away from the player who fired the shot; this increases the weapon's devastating area-of-effect. One peculiar quirk about the internal workings of the game code is that it remembers the direction the player fired the shot in, but not the position, meaning that the player is allowed to move far away even into an entirely different room, and still deal damage to whoever is in that room depending on the timing of the projectile's impact.
Other versions
In Doom 3, the BFG 9000 is a charged weapon: holding down the trigger causes the weapon to accumulate energy before release, resulting in a more powerful shot. Overcharging the BFG too much will cause it to overheat and explode, killing the player instantly. Quake II and Quake III Arena pay homage to the BFG 9000 with a pair of weapons both called the BFG10K. The Quake II version fires a slow plasma glob that fires rays at any enemies in range and line-of-sight. The Quake III Arena version of the BFG fire a series of fast plasma orbs, and acts quite like the Rocket Launcher. BFG10K from Quake III also appears in OpenArena and Quake Live. Rage also pays homage to the BFG 9000 with a weapon known as the "Authority Pulse Cannon", which fires "BFG Rounds". In the Doom movie, the "bio force gun" fires a bright blue projectile which appears to burst on impact and spray a caustic substance over its target and the surrounding area. The BFG makes a return in the 2016 reboot, but unlike in its first two appearances, it follows the mechanics of its Quake II rendition, firing a projectile that shoots beams at enemies. The game itself doesn't resolve the acronym "BFG" either in-game or in its codex entries, although one challenge in the game's final campaign level involving the BFG is called "Big Gun" as a nod to the original vulgar name. In that game's pinball adaptation, it is called the "Big Fancy Gun", and is the most powerful weapon that the Doom Slayer can obtain; collecting it will grant the player an extra ball. It also makes a return in 2020's Doom Eternal, where it's functionally identical to the 2016 version; it is introduced as the main component of the BFG 10000, which appears as a massive interplanetary cannon mounted on Mars's moon, Phobos, used by the Doom Slayer to shoot a hole into the surface of Mars. The BFG also makes an appearance in Avalanche Studios' Rage 2.
Reception
ranked the BFG 9000 at number two on their list of top video game weapons of all time, stating "it was marvelous and complex, and we should not hesitate to put this weapon down in history as one of the best." X-Play ranked it number one on their list of top "badass" weapons, stating that while "not as fancy as the gravity gun", it was the first weapon that "really made us swoon". IGN also listed the BFG as one of the hundred best weapons in video games, placing it at number 2, saying that "The BFG established exactly what we should expect when it comes to powerful in-game weaponry". Machinima.com named it number one on their list of top video game weapons, stating "Do you really need a reason why this tops the list?"
BFR
"BFR" was the codename for SpaceX's privately funded launch vehicle announced by Elon Muskin September 2017. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has stated that BFR stands for "Big Falcon Rocket". However, Elon Musk has explained that although BFR was the code name, he drew inspiration from the BFG weapon in the Doom video games. The BFR had been referred to informally by the media and internally at SpaceX as "Big Fucking Rocket". The upper stage was called Big Falcon Ship. The BFR was eventually officially renamed to "Starship".
