Super Shotgun

The super shotgun is a double barrel shotgun.[1] The weapon fires 20 bullets at once, each dealing a random amount of damage.[2] The weapon debuted for the first time in Doom II, released in 1994.[1] The weapon returned in the series' 2016 reboot.[1] In Doom Eternal, the super shotgun returned and was given a grappling hook attachment, which was noted to change the gameplay drastically to where it effected development.[3] The weapon appears in the Quake series as well, in Quake,[4] Quake II,[5] and Quake Champions.[6]

The original shotgun was considered the definitive weapon in the original Doom, being usable in almost every situation.[7] With the upcoming release of Doom II, id Software approached weapons more conservatively to try and keep it simple, only doing the one they thought everyone would love". The result of this was the super shotgun, though it was originally called the combat shotgun.[7] To prevent the gun from being completely overpowered, the developers made it where the super shotgun's damage output would always be one of the lowest possible numbers, resulting in damage from a range of 5 to 15, when it could have been up to 255.[2]

The super shotgun has been praised by many for its incredible power and satisfaction when used in combat and has been considered one of the greatest video game firearms ever made. Kotaku labeled the gun as "the best video game shotgun" and the "ultra-powerful killing machine" against enemies such as the Cyberdemon, praising its power in combat and stating that id Software "christened it Super for a reason".[8] Rock Paper Shotgun stated that the super shotgun's sounds and satisfaction directly encouraged the player to get closer to enemies, working "perfectly" with the games flow,[9] and in a separate article, would refer to it as the greatest video game weapon of all time.[10] Game Informer referred to the super shotgun as "the doubled-barreled beauty",[1] GamesRadar+ referred to it as the "double-barreled beast" and to be "Perfect, just perfect. Glorious, in fact",[11][12] and Shacknews referred to it as a "fan favorite weapon of mass destruction".[7] GameRevolution labelled the double-barreled shotgun as "the most important invention in human history" in their Doom II review as a nod to the super shotgun.[13] Vice described the super shotgun was the "real star of the Doom series" and its most iconic weapon.[14] The Quake incarnation of the super shotgun was referred to by PCGamer as a "handheld anti-aircraft gun" that the player could truly feel the power of when using.[15]

When the super shotgun was upgraded with a grappling hook in Doom Eternal, the change was labelled as one of the most important changes in the gameplay from Doom (2016) by developers and critics.[3][16] A reference to the super shotgun was included in Borderlands 3 in the form of the Speedloadn' Hellwalker weapon.[17]