History Main / SpreadShot

Usually, this sort of attack can lead to a GameBreaker weapon, especially in games where most of the mooks die in one hit. Such as the Spread shot in the original ''{{Contra}}''. In other cases, getting point-blank to the enemy and firing will result in very fast kills (though this is usually suicidal for the inexperienced).

** ''BioMetal'' has one, unfortunately it sucked as the mooks were [[IncrediblyDurableEnemies incredibly durable]].

* Ludwig can fire spreads of fireballs (in addition to single homing fireballs) when you re-fight him in his castle in ''NewSuperMarioBrosWii''.

* Ludwig can fire spreads of fireballs (in addition to single homing fireballs) when you fight him for the second time in his castle in ''NewSuperMarioBrosWii''.

* The "Multiple" weapon in the ''{{Turrican}}'' series fires a ''{{Contra}}''-style flared spread shot. In ''Super Turrican'' (and FanGame ''Hurrican''), the "Laser" weapon is a parallel spread shot.

* The famous GameBreaker spread shot in the original {{Contra}} mowed down enemies effortlessly.
** The flash game ''SuperMarioBrosCrossover'' includes Bill from Contra as a playable character. Fire Flowers give him the spreader, which is, if anything, even ''more'' of a game breaker in what is supposed to be a Mario game.
* ShootEmUps are ''rife'' with these, for both [[OneManArmy the player]] and the enemies.

** The red weapon in the {{Raiden}} series.
** The blue weapon in ''FireShark'', which looked and acted very similarly to the red weapon in {{Raiden}}.

** ''SteelSaviour'' had one of these as your secondary weapons.
** ''{{Einhander}}'' has the spreader gun.

** And sometimes, the enemies use this ''[[BulletHell waaaay too much]]''.
* The ''Game/MegaMan'' series had quite a few of these:
** ''2'' had the Air Shooter, which travelled upwards in a spread.
** Magma Bazooka from ''9'' combined this with ChargedAttack. A point-blank charged shot was one of the most painful things for {{MiniBoss}}es and the most painful thing against [[BeeBeeGun Hornet]] [[MookMaker Man]].
** ''Mega Man 10'' had the Triple Blade. It sliced through regular {{Mook}}s like butter (especially when shotgunned), and it felled Strike Man easily.
*** [[IncrediblyLamePun Three Strikes, you're out]]?
** The Thunder Beam from the first game is '''''not''''' a SpreadShot, as the side projectiles do not move in a forward direction compared to the main projectile.
** ''MegaManX'' and company get a few of these too, like the Twin Slasher, Drift Diamond, and X's charged shot with the Hermes Armor in X8. Even Zero gets in on the action in X6; If you use the Overdrive Limit Part (which temporarily lets X spam fully-charged shots), Zero's Z-Buster shoots a five-way spread until it wears off.
*** The buster upgrade from X3 allows the player to charge up both arms and fire the shots so that they overlap and make a spread shot with the right timing.
* ''AlienSoldier'' had the Hunter Force. Unfortunately, it had a slow rate of fire, and it became pretty useless near the middle of the game where it started bouncing off everything. The Lancer, Sword, Flame and Homing Forces pretty much outclassed it.
* In addition to loads and loads of shotguns, ''{{Borderlands}}'' has the Double Anarchy. It's a sub-machine gun that sprays 4 bullets with each shot, while retaining the SMG's best-in-the-game rate of fire. The result is devastating in close quarters.
* {{Fallout}} 3 combines this with NoKillLikeOverkill with the Experimental MIRV. It fires [[BeyondTheImpossible eight miniature nuclear warheads with each shot.]] The ammunition's so rare that actually firing it goes way into AwesomeButImpractical territory, especially since pretty much all enemies can be taken out with one or two mini-nukes from the weapon's single-shot cousin.
* The plasma, fusion, and anti-matter projectors in ''SwordOfTheStars'' fire a large burst of energy blasts in a cone pattern. Most effective on ships up-close.
** There is also a rapid-firing version of the standard [[MagneticWeapons mass driver]] that fires in bursts, as well as a similar version for dumbfire missiles.
* The [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Wide Beam]] in some of the ''{{Metroid}}'' games. It launches a projectile above and below the one fired (each one retains the same upgrades that Samus has already collected), which has the useful side effect of allowing you to shoot along a platform while you hang from its edge.

* ''Descent'' featured this with the aptly - named spreadfire cannon. In Descent 2, there was an even more powerful version known as the helix cannon.

* ''[[{{Contra}} Super C]]'' for the NES had the [[KillItWithFire flame weapon]], greatly improved over the original game's. It shot a large fireball that exploded into 4 (or 8, if you [[ChargedAttack charged it up]]) smaller fireballs on contact with the ground or an enemy.
* The {{BFG}} from ''{{Doom}}'' worked in a slightly different variant- it fired traces from the player's location in a 90-degree arc after the main projectile hit.
* ''Game/MegaMan 7'' had the Freeze Cracker.
** ''Mega Man & Bass'' had the Spread Drill.
** ''Mega Man 8'' had the VERY broken Arrow Shot.
* ''MegaManX'' had the Shotgun Ice which exploded on contact, and the Chameleon Sting which started off as one projectile but split into three after half a second.
* ''InTheHunt'' had the green power-up, which allowed your submarine to fire out a torpedo that exploded into a spread of shrapnel. Similar to Contra, it was a GameBreaker as it killed many enemies quickly.
* ''{{Borderlands}}'' had the Orion sniper rifle. Shots that hit surfaces instead of enemies would split into 3 or 4 shots.
* ''UNSquadron'' includes the Bullpup, which does an initial ''and'' exploding spread. Each shot fires a bunch of missiles in a spread, then the missiles split into more shots so it covers an even wider range.
* ''Space Megaforce'' (aka ''Super Aleste'') has the Scatter Shot, which fires large shells that explode into small shot bursts upon contact with an enemy or structure.
* ''GunstarHeroes'' has the Force + Fire combo. The fireballs explode when it hits something solid or in mid-air when you stop holding the fire button.
* ''SwordOfTheStars'' has the Burst Shot, which fires a large round that explodes near the target into a hail of small rounds. Useful against tightly-grouped destroyers. Also, if one happens to hit the hull, this can be a OneHitKill, as all small rounds are somehow directed at the same ship. Likely a bug.
* The ''Descent'' series loves this, with the classic Smart Missile in the first game (which was retained for the next 3), the Earthshaker Missile and the Smart Mine in the second game, and the ''Napalm Rocket'' and ''Cyclone Missile" in the third game.

* ''{{Metroid}} Fusion'' has the Diffusion Missiles, which do this when charged. ''Other M'' had a Diffusion Beam which worked much the same way.

* The ''Descent'' series loves this, with the classic Smart Missile in the first game (which was retained for the next 3), the Earthshaker Missile and the Smart Mine in the second game, and the ''Napalm Rocket'' and ''Cyclone Missile" in the third game.

* The ''MegaMan'' series had quite a few of these:
** ''Mega Man 2'' had the Air Shooter, which travelled upwards in a spread.
** Magma Bazooka from ''Mega Man 9'' combined this with ChargedAttack. A point-blank charged shot was one of the most painful things for {{MiniBoss}}es and the most painful thing against [[BeeBeeGun Hornet]] [[MookMaker Man]].

** Megaman X and company get a few of these too, like the Twin Slasher, Drift Diamond, and X's charged shot with the Hermes Armor in X8. Even Zero gets in on the action in X6; If you use the Overdrive Limit Part (which temporarily lets X spam fully-charged shots), Zero's Z-Buster shoots a five-way spread until it wears off.

* ''MegaMan 7'' had the Freeze Cracker.

** The flash game ''SuperMario Crossover'' includes Bill from Contra as a playable character. Fire Flowers give him the spreader, which is, if anything, even ''more'' of a game breaker in what is supposed to be a Mario game.

** Sometimes, the enemies use this ''[[BulletHell waaaay too much]]''.

* The red weapon in the {{Raiden}} series.
* ''SteelSaviour'' had one of these as your secondary weapons.
* ''{{Einhander}}'' has the spreader gun.

'''Initial Burst:''' The attack is fired out in a spread of bullets forward, usually in a uniform spread. This makes it easier to hit enemies spread out too far. Furthermore, these attacks can usually be shotgunned into a larger Mook, causing up to more than three times the damage.

Usually, this sort of attack can lead to a GameBreaker weapon, especially in games where most of the mooks die in one hit. Such as the Spread shot in the original ''{{Contra}}''. In other cases, getting point-blank to the enemy and firing will result in very fast kills (though this is usually suicidal for the inexperienced). If you are doing this with a bow, you are doing a {{Multishot}}.

Usually, this sort of attack can lead to a GameBreaker weapon, especially in games where most of the mooks die in one hit. Such as the Spread shot in the original ''{{Contra}}''. In other cases, getting point-blank to the enemy and firing will result in very fast kills (though this is usually suicidal for the inexperienced).

* ''SwordOfTheStars'' has the Burst Shot, which fires a large round that explodes near the target into a hail of small rounds. Useful against tightly-grouped destroyers. Also, if one happens to hit the hull, this can be a OneHitKill, as all small rounds are somehow directed at the same ship. Likely a bug.

* ''[[{{Contra}} Contra: Hard Corps]]'' had Fang's rapid-fire shot, which had quite a bit of spread.