It's been a fairly crazy week, as I've spent a good bit of time slogging through some admittedly tough Doom levels on the 32X. They might not be the most challenging levels ever, but I was never the best at Doom (not very coordinated) and it's been a while since I've played a first-person shooter with a single direction pad instead of two sticks or a keyboard. Never really worked to get good at mouselook--sorry, folks.
I have to recant a couple false "facts" I shared in my last article. It was brought to my attention that Donkey Kong Country did not, in fact, use the Super FX Chip. At first, I was not going to believe what I was told. However, as I own both DKC and Doom for the SNES, it was a simple matter to peek at the DKC cart and see that it does not, in fact, contain the additional piece of hardware that the Doom cart does. This additional piece is the reason I could never quite get SNES Doom to work with a Game Genie--the damn thing just didn't fit.
The second false "fact" also regards SNES Doom. I observed that it has the switch added to E1M1 in Ultimate Doom to open up the courtyard. It doesn't. Even though it was created after Ultimate Doom, it wasn't influenced by it in that way.
If you've read the first article in this series, you are aware that I've been playing through all the console versions in release order on Ultra Violence. I'm still on the first version, which was released on the 32X. It's hard, it's intense and at times a level will have me cursing up a storm because it's so damn hard. Case in point: Command Center. This is listed as level 13, but if you followed the secret exit in level 3 to Military Base like I did, it's the 14th level you'll play. I died and had to go forward from a pistol start.
I died a lot.
Now I've progressed through Halls of the Damned to Spawning Vats, and I only made it through Halls of the Damned by running the hell away from the last set of monsters after I grabbed the yellow key and hitting the exit button before they could catch me.
Intense.
There are a couple serious downsides to 32X Doom that bear mentioning. First off, one you've probably seen everywhere on the internet if you've gone to look up information on it already. The monsters only have one side. In every other iteration of Doom prior to the inclusion of 3D models in source ports, all the other sprites have only one side, but live monsters have eight sides from which they can be seen. They're not always facing you. They can accidentally shoot each other no matter which version you're playing, but on the 32X this can't spark infighting amongst them. The only other port--the ONLY other port--where this is a problem is the SNES. And yet, despite that, the SNES port is a feat of sheer brilliance. We'll talk more about that one later.
The second problem is that of lighting effects. Different sectors (segments of rooms, or entire rooms, depending) have different light levels. Sometimes the lights flash on and off. This affects the floors, ceilings and walls, but not the monsters or items. The monsters and items are always displayed at their full brightness, including whatever weapons you're carrying. This problem is also present on both the SNES and 3DO--and after the end of the 90s, on the GBA ports.
I can't complain too much about it, however. If this problem didn't exist, I might find myself stuck trying to beat the game for the rest of my natural life. See, at times I find that I can't tell where I am. In particularly dark areas, without any bright landmarks to navigate by, the textures on the walls, floors and ceilings are so dark that you can't tell when you're going forward and when you're walking into a wall. Maybe it's just the modern TV I'm using that's causing the problem, because I don't remember it being an issue before. It really pissed me off, because I wanted to grab a suit of blue armor in Command Center that triggered a door with a bunch of demons behind it, and then book it and hit the exit button before they could kill me. The problem is that when I tried to spin my ass around and run for it, I couldn't see where I was and they killed me. Two or three times.
Rage.
I did some research on the port I'm going to play next. I remember quite clearly that the Jaguar had arguably the best use of shading and color of any of the ports; many people would point to the Playstation and/or N64, with their colored lighting, and indicate that they did an even better job. However, the Jag is just more subtle. It has more shades for every single sprite than all of its counterparts, rivaling only modern source ports. Additionally, the invulnerability effect tints the screen a pleasing shade of purple, instead of simply turning everything white. The Berserk Pack gives a subtle brownish-red tint instead of a painful red flash or an annoying bright red tint. The Radiation Suit tints things a cool mint green instead of a gouge-your-own-eyes-out green. It's the little things.
From my reading so far, this is due to the use of the CRY color mode on the Jag, a mode which apparently no other Doom has used, and it has a number of benefits. More on that when I actually start playing JagDoom, though. It's the next port on the list, but I've got to get a new AV Cable for the Jag first. I'd like to see it in the best quality possible!
For now, I'll continue to work on beating 32X Doom and probably give it another playthrough, or at least another partial playthrough, because it deserves it. Having watched Youtube videos of the Jag version, I can tell you that they match up with my memories--JagDoom didn't have serious lag issues and the graphics were, on average, superior, but 32X Doom has a better frame rate and smoother animations in general. 32X Doom is fast, make no mistake. This can be attributed to the fact that it (and, supposedly, all console Dooms) runs in the equivalent of the PC's low-detail mode. I can believe it.
I'll beat the game in just a couple levels, and in a week, I'll be back with more insight. In the meantime, here's an updated timeline with an interesting event added to it. Notice how Doom II preceded multiple versions of the first Doom, as well as all the console releases?
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 II: September 30, 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
I have to recant a couple false "facts" I shared in my last article. It was brought to my attention that Donkey Kong Country did not, in fact, use the Super FX Chip. At first, I was not going to believe what I was told. However, as I own both DKC and Doom for the SNES, it was a simple matter to peek at the DKC cart and see that it does not, in fact, contain the additional piece of hardware that the Doom cart does. This additional piece is the reason I could never quite get SNES Doom to work with a Game Genie--the damn thing just didn't fit.
The second false "fact" also regards SNES Doom. I observed that it has the switch added to E1M1 in Ultimate Doom to open up the courtyard. It doesn't. Even though it was created after Ultimate Doom, it wasn't influenced by it in that way.
If you've read the first article in this series, you are aware that I've been playing through all the console versions in release order on Ultra Violence. I'm still on the first version, which was released on the 32X. It's hard, it's intense and at times a level will have me cursing up a storm because it's so damn hard. Case in point: Command Center. This is listed as level 13, but if you followed the secret exit in level 3 to Military Base like I did, it's the 14th level you'll play. I died and had to go forward from a pistol start.
I died a lot.
Now I've progressed through Halls of the Damned to Spawning Vats, and I only made it through Halls of the Damned by running the hell away from the last set of monsters after I grabbed the yellow key and hitting the exit button before they could catch me.
Intense.
There are a couple serious downsides to 32X Doom that bear mentioning. First off, one you've probably seen everywhere on the internet if you've gone to look up information on it already. The monsters only have one side. In every other iteration of Doom prior to the inclusion of 3D models in source ports, all the other sprites have only one side, but live monsters have eight sides from which they can be seen. They're not always facing you. They can accidentally shoot each other no matter which version you're playing, but on the 32X this can't spark infighting amongst them. The only other port--the ONLY other port--where this is a problem is the SNES. And yet, despite that, the SNES port is a feat of sheer brilliance. We'll talk more about that one later.
The second problem is that of lighting effects. Different sectors (segments of rooms, or entire rooms, depending) have different light levels. Sometimes the lights flash on and off. This affects the floors, ceilings and walls, but not the monsters or items. The monsters and items are always displayed at their full brightness, including whatever weapons you're carrying. This problem is also present on both the SNES and 3DO--and after the end of the 90s, on the GBA ports.
I can't complain too much about it, however. If this problem didn't exist, I might find myself stuck trying to beat the game for the rest of my natural life. See, at times I find that I can't tell where I am. In particularly dark areas, without any bright landmarks to navigate by, the textures on the walls, floors and ceilings are so dark that you can't tell when you're going forward and when you're walking into a wall. Maybe it's just the modern TV I'm using that's causing the problem, because I don't remember it being an issue before. It really pissed me off, because I wanted to grab a suit of blue armor in Command Center that triggered a door with a bunch of demons behind it, and then book it and hit the exit button before they could kill me. The problem is that when I tried to spin my ass around and run for it, I couldn't see where I was and they killed me. Two or three times.
Rage.
I did some research on the port I'm going to play next. I remember quite clearly that the Jaguar had arguably the best use of shading and color of any of the ports; many people would point to the Playstation and/or N64, with their colored lighting, and indicate that they did an even better job. However, the Jag is just more subtle. It has more shades for every single sprite than all of its counterparts, rivaling only modern source ports. Additionally, the invulnerability effect tints the screen a pleasing shade of purple, instead of simply turning everything white. The Berserk Pack gives a subtle brownish-red tint instead of a painful red flash or an annoying bright red tint. The Radiation Suit tints things a cool mint green instead of a gouge-your-own-eyes-out green. It's the little things.
From my reading so far, this is due to the use of the CRY color mode on the Jag, a mode which apparently no other Doom has used, and it has a number of benefits. More on that when I actually start playing JagDoom, though. It's the next port on the list, but I've got to get a new AV Cable for the Jag first. I'd like to see it in the best quality possible!
For now, I'll continue to work on beating 32X Doom and probably give it another playthrough, or at least another partial playthrough, because it deserves it. Having watched Youtube videos of the Jag version, I can tell you that they match up with my memories--JagDoom didn't have serious lag issues and the graphics were, on average, superior, but 32X Doom has a better frame rate and smoother animations in general. 32X Doom is fast, make no mistake. This can be attributed to the fact that it (and, supposedly, all console Dooms) runs in the equivalent of the PC's low-detail mode. I can believe it.
I'll beat the game in just a couple levels, and in a week, I'll be back with more insight. In the meantime, here's an updated timeline with an interesting event added to it. Notice how Doom II preceded multiple versions of the first Doom, as well as all the console releases?
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 II: September 30, 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