After 37 years, the best weapon in video game history gets a new life in Vampire Survivors

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The best part of the Contra arsenal is here

Vampire Survivors
(Image credit: Poncle)

Vampire Survivors is getting another DLC pack next week, this time bringing a crossover with Contra, Konami's classic shooter series. It wouldn't be a Contra mashup without the iconic Spread Shot, and developer Poncle has just revealed a bit about how the weapon will work in the indie smash.

As in proper Contra, Vampire Survivors' take on the Spread Shot "fires in a wide spread in the faced direction," as Poncle explains in a tweet. Paired with the Empty Tome, it'll eventually evolve into something called the Prototype C. There's no clear indication of what that is, but you can be sure it'll be exactly the kind of monster-melting power-up that makes the flurry of fireworks at the end of a round of Vampire Survivors so satisfying. 

If you've ever played Contra - either the 1987 arcade original or the beloved 1988 NES version - you already know that the Spread Shot is the best weapon in video game history. In an infamously challenging run-and-gun platformer, it turns out that it's pretty helpful to have a gun that can fire a spread of bullets to cover just about the entire screen, and there's no greater gaming heartbreak than losing out on the weapon to either a needless death or a greedy co-op partner.

The Spread Shot joins the Vampire Survivors arsenal on May 9 as part of the Operation Guns DLC, which includes a total of 22 new weapons alongside a selection of new characters and stages to explore. Vampire Survivors remains one of the most entertaining things $5 can buy, and its uber-cheap DLC hasn't disappointed yet.

Check out our guide to the upcoming indie games of 2024 if you want a heads up on gaming's next hidden gem. 

Dustin Bailey
Dustin Bailey
Staff Writer

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.