Shooters are always about that aesthetic moment where the trigger's pulled and the audiovisual effects deliver that moment of utterly blowing a video game creature away. So how do design all that stuff to feel just right? Bill Munk, animator and creative director at Tripwire, had this to say about developing Killing Floor 2: 'If it does more damage than any other gun, it doesn't matter if it has no sound effects, you're going to be using it,' he laughed. There's so much that goes into a good game gun, but those pain points have the biggest impact in making a weapon feel powerful. He was talking about weapon design in general. 'Number one, the damage it does is the most important part,' said John Romero. Step one: make it kick, and make 'em bleed. Today we're celebrating that lineage by talking about some of our favorite shotguns and why we love them. In the wry words of John Romero, when we spent half an hour reflecting on the design and history of Doom's shotgun: 'No other game has a BFG 9000 in it, but lots of games have shotguns.' And for annihilating practically anything else: as Doom birthed a new genre, you could rely on the trusty shotgun to be there almost anytime, more steadfast and reliable than a squirrely pistol or a ammo-hungry rifle.

After Doom, they were for annihilating demons. Before Doom, shotguns were for shooting clay pigeons.