The Pulse Rifle is a weapon in era 2030, in the pre-alpha version of Daikatana which is an early version of the game in 1997.
It's a grey, bulky gun with a monitor, which looks like a targeting monitor (probably a screen for better trajectory) The monitor also has a side monitor on the right side. When the gun is switching, more details are seen, such as the fins that come out, and the Pulse Rifle's barrel rotates. The rotated barrel that was at the bottom appears to have a rail for attachments and has some resemblance to the Plasma Rifle from the first Doom. It has a stock and has Hiro’s hand and he appears to be holding a grip at the bottom.
Unlike most weapons in the pre-alpha, the Pulse Rifle has the unique feature that switches between fire modes, that can switch to a grenade launcher, which is the primary fire mode and launches grenades. They have a trajectory, then explodes after a few seconds and uses Cordite Grenades as ammo according to the .dll file, or the gun mode, of which is the secondary fire mode, automatic and similar to a assault-rifle and fires bullets and uses Pulse Bullets as ammo. These bullets have perfect accuracy, even when fired automatically, but chew up Pulse Bullet ammo rather quickly. These can be switched pressing the 2 key.
An early .bmp texture for the Pulse Rifle can be found in the pre-alpha files. It is much less detailed and browner than the one in the pre-alpha, as half of the texture is taken up by the muzzle flash from firing the gun. While it’s never seen in action, it looks pretty close to a weapon seen in very early Episode 4 screenshots, making it likely that mystery gun is the Pulse Rifle.
After the pre-alpha, the Pulse Rifle was never seen in the final game after that.
Trivia[]
- The Pulse Rifle is strikingly similar to the M41A Pulse Rifle from the science-fiction horror movie Aliens. They fire can fire both bullets and grenades. Also the Pulse Rifle has the same firing sound as the M41A. This would probably make a good homage to Aliens. However, the M41A doesn’t need to switch modes every time one wants like the Pulse Rifle needs to.
- The Pulse Rifle appears to be similar to the Slugger in the final game as both guns can switch modes, needs the player to press a key to use\switch back to fire modes well as fire Cordite Grenades, though the Slugger does not have a assault-rifle mode, and the primary mode of the Slugger instead functions essentially like a shotgun, while the Pulse Rifle does have a assault-rifle mode. It's worth noting that the Pulse Rifle's grenade launcher mode is the primary mode and starts with Cordite Grenades when it's first aquired by the player and needs PulseBullets to use the secondary fire mode, whereas for the Slugger, it's the other way round. The Cordite Grenades were later on carried over to the final and only available on the Slugger weapon in the final game.
- It seems to have much more work and code put in to it unlike some other weapons in the pre-alpha.
- The grenades fired resemble the ones from Quake - another game - using a similar engine that the pre-alpha uses.
Gallery[]
The Pulse Rifle‘s old texture which is similar the weapon seen in early screenshots, and the muzzle used along with other parts.
Weapon seen in early screenshots which looks and matches like the Pulse Rifle's old texture.
