History Main / AutomaticCrossbows

* In ''Film/VanHelsing'', its titular hero is given a pressurized gas operated, [[MoreDakka magazine fed]], fully automatic crossbow (pictured above) upon returning to the Vatican after the opening fight with Mr Hyde. The Catholic Church gives him the weapon (among other fantastical weapons and gadgets, all of which were made in an underground weapons lab that the Vatican has for some odd reason) to help him in his fight against Dracula and his minions. Sadly though, this weapon is only used [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS9N8dEdZCQ in one scene throughout the entire film]] before he switches to regular firearms.

* ''Film/VanHelsing'' gives its hero a [[{{Steampunk}} steam powered]], [[GatlingGood gatling gun]] crossbow.

** Some Minecraft greifing clients not only restore the fully automatic nature of the bow, but can make it fire ''even faster''.

* Interestingly, the official lightgun attachment for the Nintendo Wii, known as the Wii Zapper, comes with ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link's Crossbow Training]]''. Link's Crossbow never needs to be reloaded, and can be powered up with 100 bolts of automatic rapid-fire. The idea was later expanded upon with Linkle's dual crossbows in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors Legends'', which combines this trope with some mild GunKata.

* ''VideoGame/WarhammerTheEndTimesVermintide'': Victor Saltzpyre can acquire a Repeater Crossbow in Drachenfels, which has a burst-fire mode that shoots out three bolts in rapid succession.

* In ''Videogame/EndlessLegend'', the comparatively high-tech Vaulters use magazine-fed crossbows as their standard infantry weapon. Amusingly, the Vaulters flee the planet Auriga [[SchizoTech on a spaceship before they even invent firearms]]. When they reappear in ''Videogame/EndlessSpace'', they upgrade to ballistics and directed energy weapons.

** ''TabletopGame/DiscworldRoleplayingGame'' also has a repeating crossbow that is unreliable but still popular in the Brown Islands, mostly for the [[DramaticGunCock impressive noise it makes when a bolt is loaded]].

* Emperor Zemeckis of Esgares Empire from ''VideoGame/{{Brigandine}}'' wields a big crossbow called 'Tempest Bow', where he can call out lightning to enhance its bolts ForMassiveDamage. In the vanilla game, he can shoot while moving, but in ''Grand Edition'', [[{{Nerf}} he cannot move and shoot.]]

** Those make a showing in DavidDrake's ''Ranks of Bronze'', used by the defenders during a siege since they had the height advantage on their walls.

** Historic repeating crossbows all had the same problem, they lacked the range and penetrating power of their slower firing brethren. Great for volume of fire, less then spectacular when it comes to precision marksmanship, long range target shooting, and armor penetration. Which is why the bolts were often [[PoisonedWeapon poisoned]].
*** But they were still powerful enough for a corpse, dating from the Roman siege of a Celtic fort in England, to have a crossbow bolt protruding through his spine. Which had penetrated through his stomach.

* Interestingly, the official lightgun attachment for the Nintendo Wii, known as the Wii Zapper, comes with ''[[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Link's Crossbow Training]]''. It remains to be seen whether the next Zelda game will feature one of these. Link's Crossbow never needs to be reloaded, and can be powered up with 100 bolts of automatic rapid-fire.

* A rapid-fire crossbow in one of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII Vaan's]] [[MultiMeleeMaster (ma]][[MultiRangedMaster ny)]] BRV attacks in ''[[DissidiaFinalFantasy Duodecim 012]]''.

* The PC RPG ''{{Albion}}'' tells the story of an Earth astronaut who crash lands on an alien planet that's part alien jungle and part fantasy land. The local civilization hasn't developed guns, but later in the game repeating Automatic Crossbows (referred to as bolt guns) become available as weapons.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'', the pitiless Dwarf paladin Kore is equipped with ferocious multi-strung pistol crossbows each capable of firing ''eight'' bolts before needing to be reloaded.

* In ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'', the Demon Hunter class can {{Dual Wield|ing}} single shot hand crossbows like a pair of semi-auto pistols without ever apparently reloading. The Rapid Fire skill lets them fire like fully automatic machine guns.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'' has the Attica, a Tenno made crossbow that fires high-damage bolts at decent rate. A later patch doubles its firing rate and allows it to equip the [[StuffBlowingUp Thunderbolt mod]], essentially turning it into a fast-firing automatic rocket launcher.

* In ''FistOfTheNorthStar'' the apocalypse seems to have wiped out all the bullets but few of the guns, so the guns have naturally been retooled to shoot pointed sticks.

* Creator/DavidGemmell's anti-heroic assassin Waylander the Slayer used a weapon normally referred to as a "double crossbow" -- effectively two small crossbows stuck one on top of the other, allowing two shots without reloading. The second shot often takes people by surprise, which is handy because he's a mediocre swordsman.

* A character in ''LightNovel/VampireHunterD: Bloodlust'' fires quarrels at a rate of roughly seven billion per second out of a ''hand-loaded'' crossbow. No explanation is offered as to how, although it looks like he's pulling a [[Franchise/DiscWorld Detritus]]-loading a bundle of them and letting them [[RainOfArrows diffuse mid-flight]].

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal'' movie, the land where the Tarna segment was set did have guns. But automatic bolt-shooters were in exclusive use by those mounted on giant featherless birds. [[JustifiedTrope Well, giant featherless birds that also didn't exist in the medieval age]].

* An historically accurate model is seen in use by Sun Quan's army in ''RedCliff''.

* The vampire soldiers use three-stringed crossbows in ''UnderworldRiseOfTheLycans''. Sensible, since the Lycans typically show up in numbers and might be able to shrug off a single bolt.

[-[[caption-width-right:320: The practical solution for a VampireHunter who doesn't want to put as much [[WoodenStake at the stake]]: [[MoreDakka More stakes.]]]]-]

[-[[caption-width-right:320:Because a regular bow just wouldn't be [[RuleOfCool cool enough]].]]-]

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' features a repeating crossbow, which can fire 5 bolts before needing a reload. The next shot is readied by pulling a lever.

** Due to badly designed rules, repeating crossbows are worthless in D&D. A regular crossbow is considered a simple weapon, usable by anyone. A repeating crossbow is an exotic weapon which nobody knows how to use by default. Thus anyone who wants to use a repeating crossbow must spend a feat on the appropriate weapon proficiency. That feat slot is better spent on rapid reload which reduces the loading time of light crossbows from a move action to a free action. This makes them actually fire faster than a repeating crossbow which you need to spend a whole round reloading every 5 shots.

** This particular weapon was demonstrated in real life on ''Deadliest Warrior'', during the show pitting Sun-Tzu against Vlad the Impaler. It worked better than they expected.