Synopsis:
This may be the second worst Doom conversion of all time (the 3DO version will always hold the title of worst of course) and many consider to be a half assed hack of the original Doom. But you know what? I love it. I had been a Doom fan for a long time and Doom 32X was the first version of Doom I ever had (of course not the last) and I loved it to death. Despite the many bugs, despite the falsehoods of the instruction manual, and despite the corners that were cut to put the game on the 32X, I still love it.
The title screen, obviously missing the background of the original. Why? I don't know.
The main menu screen. Unlike just about every other Doom version, this one let you choose which level to start at (1-15). According to the manual if you choose a later level, once you reach the end of the game it will "wrap" back so you can play levels you skipped. Well, not exactly...
The difficulty settings are exactly like those in the PC version. Unfortunately the Nightmare setting doesn't bring the monsters back to life like it should (memory restrictions?).
Ah the first level in all Doom versions (good ol' E1M1). *Sniff* Nostalgia. Notice the signficant texture changes from the PC version. I guess they couldn't stick them all in the cartridge or something.
Ooooh! Nice action shot! Also from E1M1, this room underwent a major change as well. I would like to note here that although a lot of the game was removed, the music is actually faithfully taken from the PC and quite good.
Two "tough as a dumptruck and nearly as big" Barons of Hell about to attack me. This is E1M8 and the final level of Episode 1 in Doom PC, or simply level 8 in Doom 32X where no "episodes" exist. In 32X Doom you go straight to level 9 (Episode 2s start level on the PC) after completeion of this level.
Level 10 (aka E2M2, PC) may have been the most chopped up level in Doom 32X. Almost half of the original level was removed and what was left was moved around a bit to accomadate the change. I would also like to point out that all home versions of Doom (Playstation, Saturn, 3DO, and from what I've read Game Boy Advance) used the 32X and Jaguar Doom versions of the levels and not the PC versions (although they use the PC versions of Doom 2 levels, so I guess it was just a matter of laziness, er, convenience on their part). The only version that didn't was the SNES version.
A shot near the upside down cross in level 9 (E2M1). Interestingly this level is an almost exact copy of its PC counterpart. Only a few other levels of 32X Doom can boast this.
A shot form the last "actual" level of 32X Doom, level 15 (E2M7). If you completed the game the "right" way (ie, no cheat codes, started at level 1) you would then go on to the real final level, level 16 (E2M9) and if you beat that then you would see the credits and be able to have a little shooting gallery (if you've beaten Doom you know what I mean). If you did cheat or started at a level other than one, after you beat level 15 you saw the credits and then...
...a C:> prompt?! Is this a joke? Did the developers seriously not encounter this? Is this proof that Doom 32X is just a hack? Who knows. It's quite an enigma. Oh, and incidentally, you have to reset the game at this point since you can't leave this screen at all.
Back to Scrapbooks