DOOM 64 is a curious entry in the pages of gaming history. The first entry of the franchise
developed outside of id Software, released solely for the Nintendo 64 and maintained
a lot of the established DOOM pricinples at a time when first person shooters were experiencing
a revolution. When compared to games released within the same period, notably Quake on PC
and the Nintendo 64's Turok Dinosaur Hunter and GoldenEye 007, it seems dated and lackluster.
But there's still a lot of interesting things to explore here, and with the recent re-release
coinciding with DOOM Eternal, what better time to revisit and explore it in detail.
I'm Tommy Thompson and this episode of Design Dive, I'm here to offer some absolution.
By 1997 DOOM had spread its message of demon blasting mayhem across a vast sect of the
games industry. DOOM and DOOM II released for PC in 1993 and 1994 respectively, meanwhile
Ultimate DOOM in 1995 re-released the original game to a broader market with a new episode.
In the meantime, the original game was subsequently ported to the Sega 32X, Atari Jaguar, Super
Nintendo, Playstation, 3D0 and Sega Saturn to varying levels of quality. But while we
would be waiting until 2004 before DOOM 3 - the next major entry in franchise - there
were still efforts to placate an audience hungry for more. Id Software released Final
DOOM in 1996: a collection of two level or WAD packs for DOOM II originally developed
by modders - TeamTNT and the Casali Brothers - that was later subsequently licensed and
released as a commercial product by id and GT Interactive. But more critically 1997 saw
the release of DOOM 64: an entirely new game in the DOOM franchise that was not only exclusive
to the Nintendo 64 - and never re-released until now - but wasn't even developed by id
Software.
The now defunct Midway Games - famous for licensing arcade titles such as Space Invaders
and Pac-Man in the US, as well as being the creators of Mortal Kombat - started development
in 1994 with id overseeing the project. DOOM 64 carries 32 levels exclusive to this game,
with many of the core mechanics, weapons and enemies of the first two games retained, but
with changes to aesthetic, map and enemy design and some very subtle gameplay tweaks. It's
an often overlooked but fascinating chapter in the DOOM franchise, a genuine sequel to
DOOM 2 that experiments with some of the design pillars we'd eventually see in DOOM 3, all
the while bringing new gameplay and rendering features that help innovate but still retain
the feeling of classic DOOM at a time that the industry as a whole is moving away from
it.
And it has remained hidden from the wider world until the 2020 re-release, as the game
has never officially been ported to other platforms until now. It's been bouncing around
in the PC mod space for years, with the likes of the DOOM 64 total conversion or TC port,
often known as Absolution, followed by DOOM 64 EX which was a more accurate reproduction
of the game. It's only now as elements of DOOM 64's lore have surfaced in both DOOM
2016 and DOOM Eternal that the game is finally receiving some long overdue attention. With
this return, it's worth looking at the ways the game deviates from the formula and provides
a unique snapshot of the DOOM experience that is still worth trying out all these years
later.
What is undoubtedly DOOM 64's greatest strength is its tone. A game of moody and atmospheric
lighting, with ominous and creepy music alongside a variety of gutteral snarls and growls from
the variety of enemy AI within the game. It re-establishes the terror of the franchise
at a time when it was waning. Sure, it's a little quaint now when you consider the more
nightmarish creatures of recent titles, but DOOM could prove scary for players caught
up in the thrill of it, but the now outdated graphics compared to the likes of 1996's Quake
made it feel a lot less threatening. Plus while other N64 shooters such as Turok and
Goldeneye embraced fully 3D rendered environments and characters, it seemed like the now aging
DOOM engine couldn't deliver a game with a unique aesthetic and style that would capture
a players imagination any more.
DOOM 64 is built on a heavily modified version of the original DOOM engine, hence sticking
with the traditional angled and aggressive geometry but also the use of 2D sprites for
enemies. That said, the modifications to the engine are extensive and it completely shifts
the tone of the game. Enemies are rendered from high-poly 3D models built on Silicon
Graphics workstations, giving them a lot more visceral detail, the engine is capable of
rendering more atmospheric lighting with use of coloured lights and even fog to obscure
the players view, the soundtrack ditches the more heavy metal inspired themes for something
more ominous and unsettling. The environment art leans a lot more into the hellish iconography,
with pentograms and other satanic themes.
When you put all this together, it creates a mood and tone that is strikingly different
from the previous games. Despite the fact this is - for all intents and purposes - a
sequel to DOOM 1 and 2 and the Final/TNT expansions - it *feels* like something else entirely.
The tighter, darker environments force a more methodical playthrough rather than guns blazing.
Plus one of the additional features built into the level editor is a more nuanced macro
system, this results in switches that completely change the shapes of rooms or tripwire boobytraps
that fire arrows or explosives. Even the now established principles of enemies teleporting
into rooms is achieved through an immediate fade-in rather than a louder and more progressive
teleportation sequence like in previous games. Hence rushing through environments is now
laced with peril, with many an opportunity to take unwanted damage or potentially be
trapped surrounded by too many demons in an awkward situation. It's the first of the series
that arguably forces you to not rush into a room with the intent of wiping everything
out as you can all too easily find yourself in a spot of trouble. However it achieves
a rewarding middle ground compared to the likes of DOOM 3: a game that arguably employs
this too heavily and results in the player often walking one step forward, only to take
three steps back and expend a lot of ammo.
Outside of the overall mood and aesthetic, there is also a shift in the enemy AI and
behaviour - which y'know I gotta talk about. Ranging from the levels of aggression to order
of introduction and even the enemy types themselves. DOOM has a rather infamous collection of enemy
archetypes, from the sluggish zombiemen and rushing pinky demons to the air attacks of
the cacodemon and lost souls. The enemies introduced across both DOOM and DOOM 2 have
become the template archetypes for many an open-arena first-person shooter. Each has
a unique combination of movement speed and range, fire-rate, projectile type and overall
health that all help reinforce the need to constantly be reprioritising targets and knowing
when to fight or flee.
DOOM 64 delivers a slightly more focussed interpretation of this combat puzzle, given
that there are only 13 enemies from the first two games that make a re-appearance: the Zombieman,
Shotgun Guy, Imp, pinky Demon, Spectre demons, Cacodemon, Hell Knight, Baron of Hell, Mancubus,
Arachnotron, Lost Souls, Pain Elementals and the Cyberdemon. Meaning that three enemies
from DOOM II: the Commandos, Revenants, Arch-viles plus the Spider-Demon boss of the first DOOM
are not included. It's been suggested the tight deadlines and storage limitations in
the Nintendo 64 cartridges are the reason these enemies are missing, but given the arch-vile
is a total tool I'm happy for him to be anywhere the fuck else at this point.
That said, there are two new enemies: the nightmare imp and the Mother Demon the boss
monster of the game. The imp is a faster, more aggressive and slightly translucent variant
on the original imp (and was reportedly a leftover from the Playstation port of the
original DOOM given it has nightmare variants of spectres and Cacodemons which were later
added to the DOOM 64 TC port), while the Mother Demon is the end-game boss and the first enemy
in DOOM history that attacks you with two different attacks at the same time, with flame
trails and homing missiles.
This slightly distilled DOOM experience still delivers but as a fan of the series, it's
an exciting deviation from the originals given the number of small tweaks made to individual
behaviours, as well as the changes made to the make-up and distribution of enemy types
in specific maps. Enemy aggression is rebalanced alongside some slight changes to attack behaviours,
which alongside the more claustraphobic environments can often mean players are punished quickly
for their mistakes. For example, Zombiemen now deal more damage, the Barons and Hell
Knights are more likely to in-fight with one another, Lost Souls are now weaker and take
only one shotgun round while Pain elemental spawn attack rate is increased and deals proximity
damage, Arachnotrons fire two rounds at a time but in concentrated bursts and the Cyberdemon
leads its shots better than in previous games. All of this makes subtle imapact on the overall
pacing and spatial puzzle solving but without compromising the core fun of the game.
In amongst all of this, one of the more interesting elements is the way in which enemy archetypes
are selected throughout. Unlike the first DOOM games, which start with zombiemen, shotgun
guys and then a handful of imps, DOOM 64 jumps mixes it up straight away. The first level
introduces over a dozen Pinky Demons in the first level, surrounded by hordes of soldiers
and one solitary imp at the exit. Followed by Spectres in level 2, nightmare imps, cacodemons
and lost souls in level 3 and your first hell knight in level four. When you compare this
to the first DOOM games, it's bringing in more challenging archetypes much earlier,
upping the difficulty in new and interesting ways. It's interesting, because it acts as
more of a remix of DOOM - and much more in line with Final DOOM - than the first two
games, or even DOOM 3 or 2016 in how it messes around with enemy order.
DOOM 64 is for many - myself included - one of the greatest entries in the franchise that
deserves a lot more love than it actually received at release. It's a game that suffered
largely because it lacked many of the innovations in mechanics and 3D rendering that other shooters
of its era where pushing, with Quake and its successors ultimately bearing down upon it.
It's fantastic to see that after over 20 years the game is finally being given an official
re-release and for many who missed out on it originally and embrace its darker and more
foreboding mark on the franchise. The port of the game is released by Nightdive Studios,
who ironically have already ported Turok Dinosaur Hunter and it is exceptional, so I'm confident
DOOM 64 is in safe hands.
Thanks for watching this episode of Design Dive, I'm going to disappear into a cave for
the next month as I replay DOOM 64 for the 50th time - albeith the first time on an officially
licensed port - alongside of course a full playthrough of DOOM Eternal. And if I have
some opinions on that game - and odds are I will - I'll be back to talk all about it
next month.
In the meantime please help support my work like these awesome people: Andrei Schuch,
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a good one folks, I'll be back.