Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown offers a large selection of weapons to choose from, all of which can be carried simultaneously with full ammo with no drawbacks. Same as Duke Nukem 3D, but re-rendered slightly.
Weapons
Mighty FootDuke's only melee weapon. Duke will always have the use of both of his legs to kick with. The Mighty Foot can either be selected as the "weapon", or it can be used while holding another weapon as the Quick Kick. The "weapon" Mighty Foot uses Duke's right leg, while the Quick Kick uses Duke's left leg. A kick will deal 10 damage, and is the best way to deal with Protozoid Slimers. Duke will automatically kick at a frozen or shrunken foe when he is close enough. In the original 1.3d version of the game, a bug allows Duke to kick both legs at the same time while still moving around normally. |
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PistolA small and silver pistol. It is Duke's basic weapon, and is the weapon you start the game with. Each round deals 6 damage. This weapon uses hitscan, which means that the bullets travel infinitely fast. The Pistol needs to be reloaded every 12 rounds (this happens automatically). Pistol clips can be dropped by Assault Troopers and Assault Captains, despite the fact that they use laser weapons. |
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ShotgunA sleek black pump-action shotgun. It first appears in the first level of Episode 1 (L.A. Meltdown, Hollywood Holocaust). Each shell can deal up to 70 damage, in 7 lots of 10 damage, but at long ranges it is weaker, since these shards of damage spread out with distance. The Shotgun needs to be reloaded after each shot. The Shotgun is the weapon of choice of Pig Cops, which sometimes drop them when killed (although the dead Pig Cop sprite shows not only a different style of shotgun, but also that it still has it even if it drops it). |
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Chaingun CannonAlso known as the Ripper (its original name), this is a gray Nordenfelt-style weapon. It is fed ammo from Duke's belt, and has a high rate of fire. Each round deals 9 damage. It is less accurate at long distances. The Chaingun Cannon is the weapon used by Enforcers, although oddly theirs is a different design more like a Gatling gun and is attached to their right arm. |
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RPGShort for Rocket Propelled Grenade, this is the familiar rocket launcher weapon of the game. It is a bulbous cylindrical shape, and silver. The RPG does not need to reload. Each rocket deals a lot of damage, and also explodes for even more splash damage. Duke's sprite is shown to be holding this weapon to one side of his chest, regardless of what weapon he is actually holding. Since it is a rocket, it has a finite speed, and can be evaded by quicker enemies like the Sentry Drone. When fired underwater, the rockets travel slower. |
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Pipe BombA small gray metal tube filled with explosives. After it has been thrown, it is detonated via a remote detonation switch. Multiple Pipe Bombs can be thrown, and when the remote detonation switch is pressed, all of them will explode at once. The explosions cause a lot of damage, and have a larger blast radius than the RPG. Pipebombs fall slower underwater. |
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ShrinkerAn alien weapon sometimes also called the Shrink Ray. As the name suggests, this weapon immediately shrinks the foe to a couple of inches in height, allowing the player to then easily squish them underfoot. When Duke or an alien gets close enough to a shrunken being, they will automatically trample it. While an enemy is shrunken, they cannot attack (nor can Duke when he is shrunken), and they cannot be shot with hitscan (bullet-firing) weapons, although they are still vulnerable to explosions. If not trampled to death, a shrunken alien or player will shortly return to normal size with no ill effects. The Shrinker's rate of fire isn't particularly fast, and it inflicts zero damage. Also, it doesn't affect any mechanical enemies, Bosses (and Battlelord Sentrys are only affected when weakened). The Shrinker shots reflect off mirrors, which is an important part of several puzzles. Using Steroids will revert a shrunken Duke to regular size immediately, as well as providing the effects of the Steroids as usual. |
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DevastatorThe most powerful weapon in the game, and it's easy to see why. Each rocket it fires deals 50 damage, and it fires 2 at a time. It also has a high rate of fire like a machine gun. However, the rockets only have a small blast radius, and the relatively small limit on the number of rockets you can carry means you can quickly deplete all your ammo. The rockets fired by the Devastator move slower underwater. |
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Laser TripbombThese are black rectangular flat pads that can be attached to any flat surface. Once attached, it automatically activates, and emits a red laser beam perpendicularly to itself. The laser beam itself is harmless, but when broken it causes the pad to explode. The Laser Tripbomb deals 100 damage upon explosion, and has a very large blast radius. While falling a great height, there is a bug such that if Duke places a Laser Tripbomb onto a wall, Duke momentarily stops falling in order to place it, and then begins falling again after rest. When used underwater, the laser beam is green. There is an option in a CON file that sets the visibility of the laser beam - the options are always visible, translucent, visible only with Night Vision Goggles, and never visible. This weapon is only available via inventory with 1 tripbomb will go up to 10. |
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FreezethrowerA large yellow weapon that fires spiked pale blue orbs of what looks like ice. Each orb inflicts 20 damage, but will never reduce a foe's health below 1 (unless it is a mechanical enemy, in which case it can kill them). When a foe's health is 1 and they are shot by the Freezethrower, they are frozen solid for a short time. Any player or enemy close enough to the frozen foe will automatically kick at them, and shatter and kill them. A frozen foe can also be shot at or take damage from explosions as usual (and since they have 1 health, they will die immediately). A frozen foe, if not killed, will thaw after a short time, and remain with 1 health. The orb will bounce off any surface, for up to 2 bounces, before disappearing instead of a third bounce. A CON file option allows for modification of the number of bounces up to 255. |
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Trivia
- The weapon that is always seen with Duke Nukem is a different Shotgun-like weapon that does not feature in the game.
- In the shareware version (that contains the first episode, L.A. Meltdown), only the first half of these weapons are available to use. That is, the Pistol, Shotgun, Chaingun Cannon, RPG and Pipe Bomb.
- The Laser Tripbomb is also seen in the shareware version, but in their deployed modes only, and thus serve as nothing more than traps.
- The Shrinker is the only weapon to share a weapon number. He shares the weapon model, and just use different ammo. This weapon has opposite effects (shrinking and no direct damage).
- The Laser Tripbomb is the only weapon that has just one pick-up associated with it. All other weapons have two (the weapon itself and ammo for it).
- The Shrinker shares a weapon pick-up.
- The Pipebomb is the only weapon that has two kinds of weapon pick-up (individual Pipebombs and a box of 5 Pipebombs).
- All of these weapons are made on Earth. None are of alien origin (although the Shrinker's origin can be questionable).
- The Shrinker is the only weapon that cannot kill enemies by itself, as it deals no damage. The Freezethrower is only able to destroy mechanical enemies by itself (the Recon Patrol Vehicle, the Turret, the Sentry Drone and the Underwater Drone), while it deals no damage to any other enemy if it has 1 health point.
- These two weapons are also the only ones in the game that have non-damaging effects. The Shrinker shrinks most foes, while the Freezethrower temporarily freezes them solid when they are weak enough.
- Most of Duke's hands on the weapons and in the game were those of artist Stephen Hornback. A few were from Tim Neveu.
- The in-game shotgun for Duke was purchased by Greg Malone from a pawnshop a few doors down from [[3D Realm]s] office.