Doom
From Sega Retro
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Publisher:  Sega,  GT Interactive (US/EU), Soft Bank (JP)Developer: id Software, System(s): Sega 32X, Sega Saturn ROM Size: Peripherals Supported: Genre: FPS
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Doom (in Japan either as ＤＯＯＭ or as ドゥーム) is a first person shooter developed by id Software and released on December 10, 1993 for DOS-based IBM PC compatibles. It was later ported to numerous platforms, two of which are Sega consoles; the Sega 32X (as a launch title) and Sega Saturn. It is widely considered to be one of the games that pioneered and popularized the first person shooter genre, and retains a large, dedicated fanbase to this day.
The player assumes the role of a nameless space marine and through use of a varied set of weaponry, must fight his way through moonbases on Mars and the depths of Hell itself.
Contents
Gameplay
The game is played through the eyes of the main character. The player navigates through the level and collects weapons, ammunition, powerups, and other miscellaneous items. Certain doors are locked via a red, blue, or yellow keycard which are hidden throughout the level. Eventually the player finds the exit and progresses to the next level. Every so often a boss is encountered, where the level ends upon defeating the boss.
Levels are often made more varied by use of gimmicks and traps such as elevators, poisonous pits, monster closets, and secret rooms.
Differences from PC Version
32X Version
Due to hardware limitations, the 3D portion of the screen is shrunken. Although the 32X is technically capable of rendering the full screen, performance concerns caused the developers to shrink the screen during development.
The level design and texturing in several levels is noticeably changed, presumably for the sake of performance, hardware constraints, and/or aesthetics on a TV screen as opposed to a computer monitor.
Due to storage space limitations on a cartridge, the 32X version contains a reduced set of levels from the PC version. The music was also noticeably changed, the developers deciding to remake the soundtrack with GEMS and keep it on the Mega Drive side only rather than use the 32X's PWM — having to make launch date didn't help the situation either. It's known by many fans and critics as the worst version of Doom's music for any console port, with even the SNES surpassing it in terms of quality. The game now features a level select menu, allowing the player to select any level within the game; however, by using the level select, the game only presents the user with a DOS prompt at the end, instead of giving the true ending away.
Interestingly enough, even after the game was released to the market, the developers continued adding onto the game. These versions were leaked in the February 23rd, 2008 Proto Release by drx.
Prototypes
Scene member drx released a few demos of Doom on the 32X, showcasing a better engine and direct ports of the PC levels before being changed.
Saturn Version
The Sega Saturn version of Doom was a rushed port of the PlayStation version that was poorly received by critics. For example, the framerate is considered to suffer greatly during gameplay. Otherwise, the game features the same content as the PlayStation version including both Ultimate Doom and Doom II, with some changes to accommodate for the lost power on the console. It also contains the new levels the PlayStation version has, such as Club Doom.
There were a number of differences between versions released the North American, European and Japanese versions of the game. The American release does not feature multiplayer of any sort, despite being advertised on the box, and has the worst system performance. The Japanese release came out at a slightly later date and features improved performance. The European and Japanese releases of the game features multiplayer using the Taisen Cable accessory, which also requires two copies of the game played through two consoles. Multiplayer allows two players to play the game in cooperative or deathmatch modes on all the levels. (The boss levels however do not have level exits, where the only way to end an unlimited match is to quit the game.)
Production Credits
32X Version
(in-game credits)
id Software Development Team: John Carmack, John Romero, Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud, Sandy Peterson, David Taylor, American McGee, Shawn Green
Sega of America Development Team:
- Programming: Jonathan E. Flamm, Banjo Bob Hardy, Toshiyasu Monita, Marty Franz, Rex Sabio, Unni Pillai
- Music: Brian Coburn
- Art: Jenny Martin
- Producer: Jesse K. Taylor
- Software Testing: Mike Baldwin, Joel Breton, Chris Lucich, Matt Underwood, Fernando Valderrama, Kim Rogers, Ben Cureton, Lloyd Kinoshita, Alfred Dutton, Sam Sallba, Stan Weaver, Mike Mansourian, Carey Camacho, Aaron Hommes, Jeff Loney
- Special Thanks To: Jay Wilbur, Dave Albert, JBM III
(US manual)
id Software Team
- Biz Guy: Jay Wilbur
- Biz Assistant: Donna Jackson
- Software Engineers: John Carmack, John Romero, Dave Taylor, Shawn Green
- Artists: Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud
- Designers: Sandy Peterson, American McGee
- Composer: Robert Prince
- Doom Logo: Don Punchatz
Sega
- Producer: Jesse Taylor
- Assistant Producers: Vincent Nason, Greg Becksted
- Product Manager: Tim Dunley
- Product Specialist: Nemer Velasquez
- Programming: Jonathan Flamm, Robert Hardy, Unni Pillai, Toshi Morita
- Art: Jenny Martin, Susan Greene
- Music: Brian Coburn
- Game Lead: Michael Baldwin
- Assistant Game Leads: Joel Breton, Christopher Lucich, Matt Underwood
- Testers: Fernando Valderrama, Aaron Loichinger, Kim Rogers, Ben Cureton, Lloyd Kinoshita, Aaron Hommes
- Manual: Carol Ann Hanshaw, Jay Wilbur
- Special Thanks: Haven Dubrul, David Albert, Robert W. Lindsey, Doria Sanchez
Saturn Version
(US manual)
Programmers: John Carmack, John Romero, David Taylor, Michael John Cash
Artist: Adrian Carmack, Kevin Cloud
Level Designers: John Romero, Sandy Peterson, American McGee, Shawn Green
Development Support: Shawn Green
Biz: Jay Wilbur, Mike Wilson
Biz Assistant: Donna Jackson
Developed By: Rage Software
Programming: Jim Bagley, Alan Webb
Graphics: Simon Street, Ian Rickard
Sound: Steve Lord, Kev Bruce
Producer: John Heap
Promotional Material
32X ES print advert
Physical Scans
32X Version
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90 | Sega Retro Average | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Based on 15 reviews | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 32X, US |
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    Cover
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 Cart  Manual |
| 32X, EU |
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 Cover
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 Cart |
| 32X, JP |
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   Cover
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   Cart  Manual |
| 32X, BR |
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 Cover
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 Cart |
| 32X, Asia |
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 Cover
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Saturn Version
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48 | Sega Retro Average | |||||||||||||||
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| Based on 4 reviews | |||||||||||||||||
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| Saturn, US |
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  Cover
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 Disc  Manual |
| Saturn, EU |
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 Cover
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 Disc  Manual |
| Saturn, JP |
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  Cover
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 Spinecard  Disc |
| Saturn, Italy/Spain |
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 Cover
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| Saturn, BR |
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 Cover
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