9mm Submachine Gun

Lore & Background

In the world of Duke Nukem 3D, the 9mm Submachine Gun is the kind of weapon you find slung over a guard's shoulder in a corporate R&D lab or left behind in a panic on the floor of a government facility. It is not exotic, not military-grade in the way a rocket launcher is exotic. It is the pragmatic, mass-produced answer to the question: what do you grab when the pistol runs dry but you haven't found a shotgun yet? Duke himself treats it with the same casual contempt he shows everything else. He picks it up, racks the slide with a grunt, and puts a hole in whatever is screaming at him. The SMG's value in his arsenal is purely practical: it keeps the pressure on. While the pistol demands a trigger-pull for every round, the SMG lets Duke lay down a continuous line of lead, pinning down a cluster of mutants or shredding a line of alien soldiers before they close the distance. The weapon's design in the game's art is deliberately compact and utilitarian—a short barrel, a boxy receiver, a pistol grip that fits Duke's oversized hand. It reads as a 1990s action-movie prop: functional, slightly oversized for realism, and always ready to be racked. It is the bridge between the intimate violence of the pistol and the blunt-force chaos of the shotgun, and in Duke's hands it is simply another way to say 'no' to the things that want to eat him.

In Their Own Story

The corridor reeks of ozone and burnt polymer. Duke's pistol clicks empty against the cranium of a skittering mutant, and he spits the magazine onto the tile floor. Three steps ahead, half-buried under a shattered console, the 9mm Submachine Gun catches the emergency lighting—olive drab, dented, perfectly ordinary. He kicks the console aside, snags the weapon by its grip, and the slide snaps forward with a metallic snap that echoes off the wet walls. The first burst tears through a pair of grinning things at the far end of the hall. The second burst is just for fun. Duke grins, reloads, and keeps walking. The SMG hums in his hand like a small, angry engine, and the corridor ahead is full of things that are about to learn what 'no' sounds like at nine hundred rounds a minute.

Reader's Guide

Function & Fire Mode The 9mm Submachine Gun is a full-automatic weapon. Holding the fire button produces a continuous stream of 9mm rounds. It is the first automatic weapon in Duke's loadout and the natural step up from the semi-automatic 9mm Pistol. Both weapons draw from the same 9mm ammo pool, so picking up the SMG does not change your ammo type—only your rate of delivery. Damage & Role Each round deals less damage than a shotgun pellet, but the volume of fire compensates at close and mid range. The SMG excels at suppressing groups of smaller, faster enemies and is the go-to choice when a pistol feels too slow and a shotgun is overkill. It is less effective at long range than the Pistol due to the spread and lower per-round impact. Where to Find It The SMG appears as a floor pickup in a large number of Duke Nukem 3D levels, typically in early-to-mid sections of each map. It is one of the more commonly encountered weapons and is often placed in corridors, labs, and armory rooms. Picking it up replenishes your 9mm ammo and equips the SMG in your third weapon slot. Practical Tips Because the SMG and Pistol share ammo, managing your 9mm reserves across both weapons is important. The SMG burns through rounds quickly in sustained fire, so it pairs well with the Shotgun for burst damage. In tight corridors the SMG's rapid fire can melt clustered enemies, but in open areas the Shotgun or Rocket Launcher will outperform it. No special unlock conditions or developer Easter eggs are widely documented for this weapon beyond its standard level placement.

Did You Know?

• The 9mm Submachine Gun and the 9mm Pistol in Duke Nukem 3D share the same ammunition pool, so equipping one does not change the ammo type you carry.
• The SMG is the first full-automatic weapon in Duke's loadout, making it the player's first sustained-fire option against the game's enemy waves.
• In the game's weapon sequence, the SMG sits directly between the semi-automatic Pistol and the Shotgun, forming a clear escalation of firepower.
• The SMG's compact, utilitarian design is consistent with the 1990s action-film aesthetic that defined Duke Nukem 3D's visual identity.