Classic Doom gameplay screenshot of the BFG9000 pickup on a pedestal in a courtyard.

BFG

1993catchphraseclassic

Published October 19, 2026

BFG, short for "Big Fucking Gun," is the fan name for the plasma superweapon introduced in id Software's 1993 first-person shooter Doom3. The in-game designation BFG9000 fired green plasma balls capable of clearing entire rooms, and the acronym became gaming slang for any absurdly powerful weapon. The 2005 Doom film retconned the letters as "Bio Force Gun version 3.14," which carried the joke to mainstream film audiences3.

gaming slang memes gun memes early internet memes doom memes

Overview

Beyond the Doom series, players slap the BFG label onto any oversized or absurdly overpowered firearm across first-person shooters and fan art. TV Tropes documents the usage as a trope: a single character wielding comically outsized personal artillery, with id Software's weapon as the trope-naming example6. Lists of greatest video game weapons on gaming sites like IGN and GamesRadar routinely place the BFG9000 at or near the top12.

Each sequel feeds the joke. BFG10K appears in the Quake games as a direct tribute, and BFG variants show up in Doom 64, Doom 3, Doom RPG, Doom (2016) and Doom Eternal3. Fans produce replica props, 3D-printed models and DeviantArt art built around the original green-plasma design, keeping the nickname active decades after Doom shipped.

Origin & Background

Platform
Doom (video game) / Urban Dictionary (viral spread)
Date
1993

The BFG9000 debuted in Doom, released by id Software on December 10, 1993, as the game's final and strongest weapon3. It fired a slow-moving green plasma orb that detonated with secondary tracers, killing every eligible enemy within line of sight on impact, which made collecting it the pay-off for reaching the later episodes. According to the game's design document, the letters stood for "Big Fucking Gun"4.

The 2005 live-action Doom film gave the acronym an in-universe cover: on-screen text identifies the weapon as "Bio Force Gun version 3.14," and Dwayne Johnson's character Sarge mutters "Big Fucking Gun" when he first sees it floating in its containment cell3. That moment became one of the few bits of the movie that fans of the original games actually praised7.

How It Spread

Urban Dictionary user Mad Walrus logged an entry for BFG on August 6, 2002, defining it as a powerful weapon from the Doom and Quake series4. The nickname traveled with each new id Software release, from Quake 2 and Quake 3 (where BFG10K served as a direct tribute) through Doom 3 in 2004 and the Doom reboot in 20163.

Games journalism treats the weapon as a reference point for ranking FPS firepower. Shack News put the BFG9000 on its badass-weapons feature5, GamesRadar included it in its 100 best weapons list2, and IGN placed it in its all-time top video game weapons1. TV Tropes picked the acronym as the title of its page on outsized personal artillery, citing the Doom weapon as the trope's namesake6.

The 2005 film scene with Dwayne Johnson still circulates on YouTube as a highlight clip, and fan replicas and art of the green plasma rifle keep showing up on DeviantArt and prop-building forums7.

Timeline

1993-12-10

Doom releases with the BFG9000 as its final weapon, firing green plasma orbs that clear entire rooms.

1997

Quake 2 ships with the BFG10K, a direct tribute to the original Doom superweapon.

2002-08-06

Urban Dictionary user Mad Walrus submits an entry defining BFG as the Doom and Quake plasma weapon.

2004

Doom 3 ships with a redesigned BFG9000, keeping the acronym in the gaming vocabulary.

2005-10-21

The Doom film debuts, retconning the acronym as "Bio Force Gun version 3.14" while Sarge mutters "Big Fucking Gun."

2016-05-13

Doom (2016) relaunches the series with a new BFG9000, introducing the weapon to a new generation.

Frequently Asked Questions