Journey to the Future of Doom
All good things must have an end, it's usually true. But is that the case with Doom, the classic first-person shooter from 1993 which kicked off a phenomenon? Certainly, it's not true of the first-person shooter genre of video games, but is it true of the game itself? My opinion is "absolutely not".
Shortly after the release of the game on the PC, it was widely downloaded, immediately modded and very soon upgraded to its subsequent version (even back then, a game's first release was not its only release; patches were distributed so that people who bought the game could upgrade it to its latest version).
The final version was Doom 1.9. But a funny thing happened. You see, Doom was such a huge deal that every home console company wanted a piece of the action, regardless of the processing power of their machines. So, between the release of version 1.7a in November, 1994 and the release of version 1.8 in January, 1995, a Doom port was released for the Sega 32X. The Atari Jaguar port was released later that same month, and in fact, the 32X version owes its mapset and basic details from this port, though the Jag port was derived from Doom version 1.2--and, ironically, they both use textures from Doom II!
Alright, so who cares about all of this?
My mission is to carefully demonstrate, through a series of articles, just how Doom has evolved over the years, alongside gaming technology itself. How it has remained relevant in the advent of games such as Quake, Half-Life and the Halo series by changing in its own way, independently. Over the coming months I will be playing through the console versions of Doom in order of their release, commentating, and sharing insights as to what changed and why.
I've already begun my mission. I'm currently playing through the 32X version, and I'm already on my sixth level (Military Base is technically level 17, but I've gone there already). I'm playing through it with music turned on. The music is awful. I'll probably give it another go without any music. As a general rule, I never play Doom in anything except Ultra Violence. I love a challenge, but I don't want it to be impossible!
Since the 32X version is the second one I ever owned, acquired back in the 90s, I remember a great deal about it. Those details are coming back to me, even though most of them were never forgotten.
I was introduced to Doom by a friend who owned the PC version, including "The Ultimate Doom" (which had the bonus episode "Thy Flesh Consumed"). "The Ultimate Doom" was a follow-up to Doom 1.9 that added an extra nine-level "episode" (can you think of anyone else who calls their level sets "episodes"? I can't.) to the game. Nothing else was really changed, except a switch in the very first level that opens doors into to the courtyard, ostensibly to make deathmatches more fun. This switch does not appear in any console versions of Doom from the 90s, with the exception of the Super Nintendo version. The Ultimate Doom was released in April, 1995, and the SNES version saw the light of day in September, 1995.
In any event, I wanted the game for myself. So, speaking of the SNES version, that's the first one I managed to get my eager trigger-happy hands on. The SNES was the only game system I had at the time. When my friend came over and saw it, he immediately commented on how awful the graphics were compared to the PC version. I argued that my version was better just for the fun of it, and eventually managed to find reasons why. However, we're not talking about that version yet!
I noticed that the game had been released for other systems, and now and then I'd grab a gaming magazine at the grocery store to look at articles and screenshots of games I desperately wanted but had to talk my parents into buying. Luckily for me, the 32X had ceased production and was technically a "dead" system. I got a 32X and a copy of Doom for a more than fair price and fired it up, crossing my fingers and hoping that the 32-bit graphics would prove superior to the SNES' 16, despite the fact that the SNES version of Doom utilized the Super FX2 chip, which aided the system in processing the game. This chip also made games like Donkey Kong Country possible. Surely readers who are old enough remember how amazing that game was.
But--the 32X. Right. As I play through it now, I realize that I never quite appreciated how fast and smooth it was compared to some other console version (<cough>Saturn, 3DO<cough>). It may well be that the 32X version was the fastest and smoothest version of the 90s--or perhaps only the early 90s. One only needs to note that it definitely had the fastest chaingun in town. You could keep a Cacodemon from getting off a single fireball if you kept the fire button down and your aim steady.
The game pulls off this feat in part by not showing monsters from any angle except the front, meaning they look goofy as they walk sideways and backward with the same animation that makes them walk forward, which has the added disappointment of rendering monster infighting impossible. They can damage each other from behind, but they can't turn around and duke it out anymore. They can't ignore you. That makes things pretty intense!
The graphics are grainy and pixelated. That said, they could be worse. The 32X started the consoles on a unique path by including different effects for when you get shot by a Former Human or bitten by a Demon (only the "Pinkies" are actually listed as "Demons" in the manual). A splatter of red pixels hits the screen when you're shot. A huge splash of them comes up from below when you're bitten. It's a cool effect that, even in Total Conversions for the PC, is ignored.
Sadly, I recall that there are no Invisibility Artifacts, Cyberdemons, Spider Demons, Spectres or Light-Amp goggles in this version. It also only has 17 levels, none of which even come from Inferno, let alone Thy Flesh Consumed. The BFG is said to not make a single appearance, though if I recall correctly, it appears in both level 16 and level 17. I'll make sure to let everybody know when I find out!
I look forward to sharing more about my experience! In the meantime, here's a timeline of releases mentioned in this article, as well as relevant related releases (try saying that five times fast):
Doom v1.0: December 10, 1993
Doom v1.1: December 16, 1993
Doom v1.2: February 17, 1994
Doom v1.4: June 28, 1994
Doom v1.5: July 8, 1994
Doom v1.6: August 3, 1994
Doom v.1.666: September 1, 1994
Doom v1.7: October 11, 1994
Doom v1.7a: November 8, 1994
32X Doom: November 14, 1994
Jaguar Doom: November 28, 1994
Doom v1.8: January 23, 1995
Doom v1.9: February 1, 1995
The Ultimate Doom: April 30, 1995
SNES Doom: September 1, 1995
All good things must have an end, it's usually true. But is that the case with Doom, the classic first-person shooter from 1993 which kicked off a phenomenon? Certainly, it's not true of the first-person shooter genre of video games, but is it true of the game itself? My opinion is "absolutely not".
Shortly after the release of the game on the PC, it was widely downloaded, immediately modded and very soon upgraded to its subsequent version (even back then, a game's first release was not its only release; patches were distributed so that people who bought the game could upgrade it to its latest version).
The final version was Doom 1.9. But a funny thing happened. You see, Doom was such a huge deal that every home console company wanted a piece of the action, regardless of the processing power of their machines. So, between the release of version 1.7a in November, 1994 and the release of version 1.8 in January, 1995, a Doom port was released for the Sega 32X. The Atari Jaguar port was released later that same month, and in fact, the 32X version owes its mapset and basic details from this port, though the Jag port was derived from Doom version 1.2--and, ironically, they both use textures from Doom II!
Alright, so who cares about all of this?
My mission is to carefully demonstrate, through a series of articles, just how Doom has evolved over the years, alongside gaming technology itself. How it has remained relevant in the advent of games such as Quake, Half-Life and the Halo series by changing in its own way, independently. Over the coming months I will be playing through the console versions of Doom in order of their release, commentating, and sharing insights as to what changed and why.
I've already begun my mission. I'm currently playing through the 32X version, and I'm already on my sixth level (Military Base is technically level 17, but I've gone there already). I'm playing through it with music turned on. The music is awful. I'll probably give it another go without any music. As a general rule, I never play Doom in anything except Ultra Violence. I love a challenge, but I don't want it to be impossible!
Since the 32X version is the second one I ever owned, acquired back in the 90s, I remember a great deal about it. Those details are coming back to me, even though most of them were never forgotten.
I was introduced to Doom by a friend who owned the PC version, including "The Ultimate Doom" (which had the bonus episode "Thy Flesh Consumed"). "The Ultimate Doom" was a follow-up to Doom 1.9 that added an extra nine-level "episode" (can you think of anyone else who calls their level sets "episodes"? I can't.) to the game. Nothing else was really changed, except a switch in the very first level that opens doors into to the courtyard, ostensibly to make deathmatches more fun. This switch does not appear in any console versions of Doom from the 90s, with the exception of the Super Nintendo version. The Ultimate Doom was released in April, 1995, and the SNES version saw the light of day in September, 1995.
In any event, I wanted the game for myself. So, speaking of the SNES version, that's the first one I managed to get my eager trigger-happy hands on. The SNES was the only game system I had at the time. When my friend came over and saw it, he immediately commented on how awful the graphics were compared to the PC version. I argued that my version was better just for the fun of it, and eventually managed to find reasons why. However, we're not talking about that version yet!
I noticed that the game had been released for other systems, and now and then I'd grab a gaming magazine at the grocery store to look at articles and screenshots of games I desperately wanted but had to talk my parents into buying. Luckily for me, the 32X had ceased production and was technically a "dead" system. I got a 32X and a copy of Doom for a more than fair price and fired it up, crossing my fingers and hoping that the 32-bit graphics would prove superior to the SNES' 16, despite the fact that the SNES version of Doom utilized the Super FX2 chip, which aided the system in processing the game. This chip also made games like Donkey Kong Country possible. Surely readers who are old enough remember how amazing that game was.
But--the 32X. Right. As I play through it now, I realize that I never quite appreciated how fast and smooth it was compared to some other console version (<cough>Saturn, 3DO<cough>). It may well be that the 32X version was the fastest and smoothest version of the 90s--or perhaps only the early 90s. One only needs to note that it definitely had the fastest chaingun in town. You could keep a Cacodemon from getting off a single fireball if you kept the fire button down and your aim steady.
The game pulls off this feat in part by not showing monsters from any angle except the front, meaning they look goofy as they walk sideways and backward with the same animation that makes them walk forward, which has the added disappointment of rendering monster infighting impossible. They can damage each other from behind, but they can't turn around and duke it out anymore. They can't ignore you. That makes things pretty intense!
The graphics are grainy and pixelated. That said, they could be worse. The 32X started the consoles on a unique path by including different effects for when you get shot by a Former Human or bitten by a Demon (only the "Pinkies" are actually listed as "Demons" in the manual). A splatter of red pixels hits the screen when you're shot. A huge splash of them comes up from below when you're bitten. It's a cool effect that, even in Total Conversions for the PC, is ignored.
Sadly, I recall that there are no Invisibility Artifacts, Cyberdemons, Spider Demons, Spectres or Light-Amp goggles in this version. It also only has 17 levels, none of which even come from Inferno, let alone Thy Flesh Consumed. The BFG is said to not make a single appearance, though if I recall correctly, it appears in both level 16 and level 17. I'll make sure to let everybody know when I find out!
I look forward to sharing more about my experience! In the meantime, here's a timeline of releases mentioned in this article, as well as relevant related releases (try saying that five times fast):
Doom v1.0: December 10, 1993
Doom v1.1: December 16, 1993
Doom v1.2: February 17, 1994
Doom v1.4: June 28, 1994
Doom v1.5: July 8, 1994
Doom v1.6: August 3, 1994
Doom v.1.666: September 1, 1994
Doom v1.7: October 11, 1994
Doom v1.7a: November 8, 1994
32X Doom: November 14, 1994
Jaguar Doom: November 28, 1994
Doom v1.8: January 23, 1995
Doom v1.9: February 1, 1995
The Ultimate Doom: April 30, 1995
SNES Doom: September 1, 1995