History Main / RecursiveAmmo

** Hyperion even gets in on the action with the Conference Call shotgun. The pellets shot fire more pellets in a horizontal perpendicular path either at intervals or when it hits a surface or enemy.
** Another Hyperion gun that can ''potentially'' do this is the Fibber pistol. If the version generated has a particular barrel, the pistol bullet will break into nine ''shotgun pellets'' upon hitting an inert surface and ricochet in a parabolic arc. The pellets hit for the full damage of the original bullet. As the weapon card doesn't have a multiplier attached, each of the pellets get the full damage amplification from Hyperion amp shields (including their Legendary, "The Bee"). Because of the shift in ammo types with this variation, a Gaige character with the Close Enough skill can have the skill activate and not lose half the damage it would normally lose. With enough Anarchy stacks, this pistol can become a GameBreaker.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}''
** The most common example are MIRV mods for grenades, which are essentially cluster bombs. Explosive Rain ones are the same, except [[DeathFromAbove they jump way up and rain down a number of bomblets]], [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin as the name indicates]]. Due to their large blast areas and high damage potential, these Recursive Grenades are often the best grenades available.
** ''Anarchy''-type submachineguns fire multiple bullets per bullet drawn from the magazine – [[MoreDakka two bullets per trigger pull, each worth two individual bullets]]. The tradeoff is poor accuracy.
** A rocket launcher called 'The Mongol' shoots rockets which shoot [[MacrossMissileMassacre MORE ROCKETS]].
** Bouncing Betty grenades, which launch themselves to chest height and then fire a radial pattern of explosives.
** S&S Orion: Aside from doing massive shock damage, the bullets split into 3 smaller fragments upon hitting a wall.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''
** The legendary Tediore "Deliverance" shotgun is particularly weird: once thrown, it homes in on a target ''while shooting'' before it explodes. The bullets aren't coming out of the magazine (it still happens if you ran out of ammo), they just... exist.
** There's always the Torgue-made MIRV legendary, the Bonus Package, and its Seraph counterpart, the Meteor Swarm. For when the entire room has to die, it's a standard grenade that spawns up to ''12''[[note]]for the Meteor Shower; the Bonus Package maxes out at a slightly saner 10[[/note]] ''more'' grenades, which each spawn another grenade when they explode. The main downfall of this abomination is that the player tends to get caught in the murderstorm as well.
** Also by Torgue: The Unkempt Harold, a Legendary pistol whose explosive bullets split into three, then ''five'', then '''''seven''''' projectiles in a straight horizontal line. Made even better when it has its "Double Penetrationg" double shot prefix.
** Again by Torgue: In Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon's Keep, SWORDSPLOSION!!!, a shotgun that shoots a sword that blows up into three more swords. It's less a shotgun proper than it is a GrenadeLauncher capable of [[AttackItsWeakPoint criticals]] and whose "grenades" are MIRV's. Highly unusual, highly deadly, highly useful.

** ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 Red Alert 2]]'' allows this with [[FrickinLaserBeams Prism Tanks]]. Since they're not equipped to combine their beams into one super-powered beam like the larger Prism Towers, they instead have their lasers [[ReflectingLaser scatter on impact]]. With sufficient experience, a single one of them can attack a lone tank or sentry gun in an enemy base and end up destroying or severely crippling half of that base.

* ''VideoGame/GPolice'' has the Star missile. Upon firing it it instantly separates into eight smaller rockets that then all but HitScan on the target. It's less of a rocket and more of a cannon, really.

* ''Literature/NightWatch'' the film ''Day Watch'', there is an aluminum foil ball attached to a rubber band. If thrown, it unfolds in midair and splits into three identical, but ''faster and harder'', balls, which also split, etc. ''It devastates Moscow in one strike.''

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' has the Torpedo sub weapon. After being thrown, the Torpedo rocket will lock on to the nearest foe, and then [[HomingWeapon home in on its target]]. Not only does it explode on contact, but it also scatters small explosive pellets over the area around it to deal additional damage.

* [[http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_weapons_that_shoot_other_weapons_that_don%27t_exist,_but_should Guns that shoot swords that shoot guns that shoot swords that shoot guns that...]]
** Darn, they got rid of it. [[http://web.archive.org/web/20090107133150/http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_weapons_that_shoot_other_weapons_that_don%27t_exist,_but_should Thank you, Internet Archive!]]

* ''VideoGame/GodsEaterBurst'' allows you to take this to [[SerialEscalation ridiculous levels]] with its bullet creation system. It is entirely possible to make bullets that shoot bombs that shoot more bullets that shoot lasers and lightning.

* The ''[[VideoGame/{{X}} X-Universe]]'' calls them swarm missiles. They run the gamut from worthless (Cyclone missile; although it fires a single warhead at first, it will split up into several of them if it misses its target) to dangerously effective (Tornado missile, [[InfinityMinusOneSword Typhoon missile]]) all the way up to [[GameBreaker Game Breakingly]] powerful (Shadow missile). The Flail AntiAir missile used by missile frigates also possess the ability to select a new target if the existing one is destroyed; when combined with the frigates ability to [[MacrossMissileMassacre simultaneously fire 16 Flails which individual split into 8 missiles a piece]], things can get silly.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' DLC the "Gun Runners Arsenal is a DLC that adds many new guns and Ammo types. To make up for the lack of mini-nukes available in the base game, the DLC includes four new fun flavors of these miniature atomic bombs that you can buy, and a great new nuke catapult named "Esther" to launch them from. One of these new mini nukes, the tiny tots variant, is a mini nuke that splits up and becomes several more nukes. At range, this ammo type functions like a normal cluster bomb, pepping a wide area with several mini-mini nukes to kill a bigger region of mooks. This ammo also makes the nuke catapult a viable close range weapon as the sub munitions can be detonated at relatively close range without being harmed, so you effectively have a nuclear shot gun. To top it off the Tiny tots nuke only costs the same as a normal mini-nuke, (assuming that people actually sold normal mini nukes).

* In ''Franchise/DragonBall'', Krillin uses a KiAttack variation of this where he throws an energy ball into the air which then breaks apart raining death on all those below.

* The version of Dark Firaga used in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3D'' launches a fireball that travels in a straight line until it nears a foe, at which point it splits into a multitude of homing fireballs that converge on the target.

** ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 Red Alert 3]]'' arms [=MiGs=] with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll appropriately-named]] Matryoshka missiles.
* ''VideoGame/{{Worms}}'' has clusterbombs and bananabombs. The latter is more fun. And the Sally Army. A wandering Salvation Army ActionBomb which explodes into exploding ''tambourines''. Yes.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', episode "Gateway Shuffle": a group of insane ecoterrorists launches a large bomb toward a moon. As our heroes near it, it opens and releases three missiles. Two are destroyed by Spike, and just as he's about to destroy the third, it splits further into a thousand tiny rockets.

!! Examples:

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has the Experimental MIRV, which acts a lot like a shotgun that fires 8 mini-nukes in a single shot. It's considered AwesomeButImpractical mainly because mini-nukes are a rather rare ammo type (there are less than 30 to be found in the entire game) and only Super Mutant Behemoths can survive being hit with ''one''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' has the Legendary weapon ability Two Shot. [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Each shot launches two projectiles but only costs one round of ammo]] with a slight decrease in accuracy. One of the vendors sells a unique Fat Man named Big Boy that comes with this property. And the Fat Man, including Big Boy, can be equipped with the MIRV weapon mod, which changes it from firing a single large bomb to eight tiny submunitions. Unless the weapon already has the Two Shot property, in which case it causes it to fire ''[[UpToEleven twelve]]'' [[MacrossMissileMassacre bomblets]] at once.

** The Wasp fighter has the unique Swarmer Pod missiles, which release ''eight'' smaller missiles that track the original target.

** Ordinatus Golgotha, from the 2nd Edition of the ''Epic'' scale version of the ''Warhammer 40'000''' game system, is armed with six enormous Hellfire Missiles, each of which is fitted with multiple warheads that separate before impact so that the war machine can devastate a large section of the battlefield with a single shot.

Can be one of the three different types of SpreadShot and frequently a way to instigate SplashDamage. SubTrope of AbnormalAmmo and MatryoshkaObject.

** The Manticore Multiple Rocket Launcher has, as its most common armament, a rack of 4 (and ''only'' 4) Storm Eagle rockets. A Manticore may only fire one Storm Eagle per turn, and each Storm Eagle breaks into a barrage of 1-3 mini-rockets once the main Storm Eagle reaches the apex of its trajectory. Due to their temperamental nature, Manticores are sometimes distrusted by commanders, but having that kind of potential in firepower makes up for it.

* ''Film/StarTrek'' The missiles of the ''Narada'' which break open and deploy warheads.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', the Tediore Corporation's guns are more like gun-shaped explosives that somehow shoot bullets. Instead of reloading, you simply toss the gun at your target like a grenade, and a "new" one materializes in your hands. Rocket launchers are special in that, once you've fired all the rockets it can carry or reload midway through, ''the launcher itself'' turns into a rocket! This is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in game: they are real guns. Tediore is known for their quick reload speed and ''very'' cheaply made guns. The explosion [[PolishTheTurd isn't supposed to happen, so they market it as if it's supposed to do that]].
** The legendary Tediore "Deliverance" shotgun is particularly weird: once thrown, it homes in on a target ''while shooting'' before it explodes. The bullets aren't coming out of the magazine (it still happens if you ran out of ammo), they just...exist.
** There's always the Torgue-made MIRV legendary, the Bonus Package, and its seraphic counterpart the Meteor Swarm. For when the entire room has to die, it's a standard grenade that spawns up to ''12'' (for the Meteor Shower, Bonus package maxes out at a slightly saner 10) ''more'' grenades, which each spawn another grenade when they explode. The main downfall of this abomination is that the player tends to get caught in the murderstorm as well.
** Also by Torgue: The Unkempt Harold, a Legendary pistol whose explosive bullets split into three, then ''five'', then '''''seven''''' projectiles in a straight horizontal line. Made even better when it has its double shot prefix.

** Another Hyperion gun that can ''potentially'' do this is the Fibber pistol. If the version generated has a particular barrel, the pistol bullet will break into nine ''shotgun pellets'' upon hitting an inert surface and ricochet in a parabolic arc. The pellets hit for the full damage of the original bullet. As the weapon card doesn't have a multiplier attatched, each of the pellets get the full damage amplification from Hyperion amp shields (including their Legendary version called "The Bee"). Because of the shift in ammo types with this variation, a Gaige character with the Close Enough skill can have the skill activate and not lose half the damage it would normally lose. With enough stacks in her Anarchy ability, this pistol can become a GameBreaker.
* ''VideoGame/RazingStorm'' The [[GiantSpider Giant]] SpiderTank fires missiles into the air as a LastDitchMove. The missiles start homing in, then shoot out ''[[MacrossMissileMassacre even more homing missiles]]''. However, it's not aiming for you- it's aiming for the mid-air platform that you're on...

** One of the {{Support Power}}s in ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerGenerals Generals]]'' is a plane that drops a bomb... that spreads mines. Also see the RealLife example below.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps2'' (and every COD since then) has a killstreak in multiplayer where a controllable missile being dropped onto the map can be split into multiple missiles which can hit multiple targets.