I cried to my mom, that I wanted Doom for SNES, when we saw it at West Coast Video, sitting on a shelf. Red cart and all. She got it for me, and then I'd play late at night shitting myself terrified. At the time, I didn't even realize it was running at like 3fps.
I remember begging my dad for the $30 needed to buy a copy of this at the flea market. I was three bucks short. The guy still let me have it. Thirty years later, I'm working on the LRG remaster alongside Randy himself. This world works in funny ways sometimes. :) Some extra commentary: 1) You can play through Inferno on HMP, but you have to play through Shores of Hell first. ITYTD will end after E1; HNTR will let you get to Shores of Hell but not past it. 2) Shotgun functions like how it does basically to conserve processing power. Without getting too technical, on PC you fire seven invisible tracers when you shoot the shotgun, plus they have spread, all of which gets calculated independently - which takes up precious processing cycles, and even the SuperFX can only do so much. 3) The maps being cut was more of a lack of ROM space than being "too complex." We got them in the remaster, after all - all thanks to a 4 MB cartridge instead of 2 MB. Of course, that needed a new version of the SuperFX as well since the SuperFX 2 could only address 2 MB of ROM... 4) Cheats didn't make it in because of the same reason levels got cut - literally no space left in the ROM to add them! The final game has about 15 bytes free in the game's ROM space. Not 15 Kilobytes, 15 BYTES. For an idea of how little space that is, typing "The final game has about 15 bytes free" takes 38 bytes. This too is addressed in the remaster, via a new password system that might hide a few other secrets... 5) Levels in the SNES version actually resemble the PC version more because that's what Randy converted them from. Most other versions of the game use the "JagDoom" maps (so-called because they first appeared on the Jaguar port of Doom) which had various simplifications/alterations. 6) Deafness is, again, a processing optimization. On PC, when you attack, the game basically traverses all sectors that are attached to your sector, stopping only when all the walls stop it, or it reaches two "block sound" lines, and wakes up anything within the traversed sectors. This is WAY too costly to do processing-wise on SNES. 7) Monsters can't infight because it'd look weird due to the one-sided sprites, but to compensate, monster shots DO damage other monsters of their own type (unlike in PC Doom, where they are immune). 8) Floor/Ceiling textures missing are due to lack of space. It was either "floor/ceiling textures but less levels" or "more levels but no floor/ceiling textures." I think more levels was the right call. 9) You're 100% right about why there is no circle strafing, but it's in the remaster by popular demand. :P
Wow! This was awesome to read! I wasn’t aware how tightly packed the original SNES Doom was, which makes it way more impressive. One question though, if the no floor/ceiling textures was due to space limitations alone, does that mean we are getting them on the new LRG version? Also, it’s cool getting a comment from someone working in the actual game I’m talking about in this exact video! Thanks for watching and posting and I hope I didnt make too many factual errors here!
@@motrongames You didn't make too many factual errors! I basically just wanted to point out a lot of what you were disappointed was missing was mostly down to "It only had so much space to contain all that stuff," and in the end, that's basically the answer to several of the questions you mentioned in the video. :P As for the remaster, there's still no floor/ceiling textures in the remaster, unfortunately. It's technically feasible (just like on the original), but it's basically again a case of limited ROM space - 3 MB is going to the game data now (which only the SuperFX 3 can access), while the remaining 1 MB contains data the SNES itself could access as well (think stuff like the FMVs, HUD, etc.). We did gain back some extra space from removing the XBand code and data (yeah, sorry, that's cut), but even then, it's still a pretty tight fit - last I'd heard, we had about 18-19 KB of free space left in the remaster, but there was still some stuff to get in (like the missing music tracks and so on). Basically, even with some compression, we'd probably need an 8 MB ROM to fit in all of the floor/ceiling textures as well, and even this much is with reduced texture variety compared to the PC original (not every wall texture from the PC version is in this version, either, just like the original game thirty years ago). Of course, we did fit the missing maps from the original and all of Episode 4 into that extra 1 MB of space, so just like on the original, it's basically "Do you want floor/ceiling textures, or more levels," and more levels won out once more. Who knows what could happen if we got to do another game in the series though. We'll see how this one does in terms of interest. :)
@@DarkPuIse this is so cool to read. Yeah I figured the Xband stuff should have been scrapped. Heck, I would have scrapped it in the original if it meant a few extra monster frames. Really looking forward to picking up the finished product when it launches! Maybe I’ll do a follow up review!
@@motrongames If you check out the original game's page on The Cutting Room Floor, you'll see there's actually a fair bit of stuff still in the ROM (Player face sprites, etc.), but there was simply no ROM space left to hook up any of it codewise, and with a game like this (and no doubt well aware of the SNES being End-of-Life), removing it could have knock-on effects, so a lot of it was simply left in. Hopefully you guys get to play the remaster soon! There's a bit of footage people took of it from Quakecon if you go looking, and the more recent builds are looking great. :)
Yup. And the only way to play inferno on an easier difficulty is to start the whole game from scratch. And some of those levels have you running around for 30 minutes not knowing what to do.
@@motrongames , I think that, if the new version of Doom is going to have passwords, then said passwords also need to be able to entered in multiple times, so, that way, the cheat codes that are in most other versions of Doom can also be in this version of Doom as well.
Ill just say that for a teenager back in 95 who did not have access to a pc, Doom on SNES was not only playable but also the most badass thing I'd ever played up til that point. I wouldn't get around to playing Doom proper til my first pc purchase in 2003. By todays standards obviously Doom on the SNES is a shell of its proper self, but it impressed the hell outta me back in the day
Got this at a pawn shop for $5 back in the day. It was the only way for me to play Doom as my family wouldn't have a computer until late September of 2001. Beat it and then traded it in for Maximum Carnage at the same pawn shop. Where when I asked for a Spider-Man game, they showed me Maximum Carnage and I was confused--because I thought the game was only going to be Carnage and no Spider-man. Well, I have old man on the internet today, time to go back to bed.
Let's think back to September 1995, there weren't many systems that could play Doom (ms-dos, 32x and jaguar), even Windows 95 was released a couple of days before SNES Doom. Also, a lot of people had systems like 286 or 386 that Doom didn't run properly on, so SNES Doom was a good choice. i can agree with "4 out of 10" from the perspective of 2024
I had a 486 that ran Doom but with difficulty. Nevertheless I was fortunate enough to eventually have access to it when the SNES version came out. Probably the last time I could consider myself a PC gamer to be honest
@@motrongamesI had 486 that ran Doom totally fine with 8 MB of RAM. Standard resolution and all that, but it totally ran fine. It ran multiplayer via 14.4 modem no problem. Any 486 should have been able to run it okay, a 386 enhanced would have done the job too. Once I upgraded to 16 MB, I could run quake on the 486 66 MHz Pentium. Man that was a long time ago dude.
@@alan.smitheee , isn't your username supposed to be a shameful fictional credit to someone that makes something horrible, like your comments, for example?
@@motrongames , the new version of Doom will have two colors, gun metal gray, and the limited gun metal gray with blood red spatter spots, the latter version of which will, naturally, be limited to 666 copies.
As a little kid this was the only way I could play Doom. My older cousin had PC and he would never let me play it just watch him but when it came out my mom got it for me on my SNES my was so Rad
First time i played Doom was on the SNES. My parents gave me a used SNES with a dozen of games for christmas when i was 7. I believe it took me a couple of years to complete it, mainly because we cannot save a game on the cartridge. I remember when i decided i would complete the game, i left my SNES on overnight to keep my progress. The console was really hot after a couple of days. Good memories!
I’ve played this on SNES recently and the biggest issue is the poor framerate. If the framerate was just a little higher it would be 100% playable. Another issue is that the shoulder buttons are for strafing left and right.. Instead they should’ve been for moving left and right like the psx version. Can’t wait for limited run games remaster
Yup! I included a video of the work in progress and you can see the framerate has improved noticeably. They say the finished product will be even better.
Fun Fact: The SNES/NSFC port of Doom is the only port of the video game that allows for both Rotating Map AND Zoom functions, though the latter is obviously scaled back in comparison to the PC port, though, conversely, it CAN scan out further than the PC port as well. Now if we can only get those things together, along with the super close Zoom function from the PC port, and the Item/Enemy/Object Placement Icons from the Sega Saturn/Sony PlayStation 1 ports of Doom on the new SNES/NSFC port of Doom...
Indeed! Also, on some other versions, you can see what changes when something is triggered by looking at the map. Lines will change colours and whatnot. Makes secret hunting easier.
Want an interesting little side note? The SNES actually could render SOME polygons without the Super FX. Not nearly enough to make a game like Star Fox, but enough to actually render the triforce (and the crystals those maidens were captured in) with polygons instead of sprites in Link to the Past. Yep, there's even specialized editors to alter the models used in LTTP since sprite editing won't touch them. Of course, the triforce is literally just three triangles, so making a 3D model with that just involves a front triangle, a back triangle, two triangles for the three sides, and then multiply that by three. That's just twenty-four triangles altogether, with no texturing and the mildest of simulated "shading" to simulate something like a shadow effect while turning. I forget the polygon count for the crystals, but it's still pretty low since every facet is just a single triangle. Meanwhile, Doom doesn't use any polygons, it's just a 3D projection of a 2D map with some logic applied to determine "height". Luckily the SuperFX isn't specifically designed to push polygons, it's a general purpose RISC processor that can be used to accelerate a lot of things, so fortunately it managed to be useful for Doom as well as Star Fox. For sure, a faster clocked Super FX would have helped provide a much smoother experience, and entirely feasible, but at a prohibitive cost at the time.
Awesome comment, thanks! I totally forgot about the LTTP polygons and I’m pretty sure I knew about the way Doom graphics were done but still mentioned polygons in the vid haha. This kind of deep knowledge is my blind spot when I make these videos. Clearly I prioritize stupid voices.
@@motrongames Nothing stupid about it! This is the common understanding a lot of people have so it's understandable! I'm just adding a little context for passers by. I watched your video for the one thing I lacked, a real world experience of actually playing all the way THROUGH the thing. Heck I own the cart and I've never bothered going through all of it. It's funny, the game has mouse support, but doesn't have any sort of "duel mode" allowing use of one half of the controller and the mouse at the same time. Hey they had half-baked XBand support, it would be funny if they'd ever coded in XBand Keyboard support for full mouse and keyboard on the SNES version.
@@motrongames Go ahead! I tested it myself and confirmed it works, BUT with a caveat. It MUST be in controller port 1. That means you can't duel it up with a controller in one hand and the mouse in the other, and frankly the responsiveness is pretty bad, even worse than the controller, but it does work.
It will always have a soft spot in my heart, it served its purpose for those of us that had nothing else. Well, in my case I had a 386 sx16 with a black and white monitor with just pc speaker sounds.(no soundblaster all midi bleeps and bloops) just had shareware doom as well. So snes was in color, with proper sound and more levels. It wasn’t until my dad wanted to play this new thing called “quake” that he brought home a gaming pc that Christmas and I finally got to play doom proper at home.
I was reading some of the comments and I love to delve into tech so here it goes. The super fx chip was used for this. First off the super nes cpu could never have done this alone even though it was extremely efficient for such a low powered chip. The minimum requirements to play doom at the time on a pc was 66mhz running on a 80486 cpu with 8mb of ram. Also I believe the game was 5.27-7.02mb in size spread across 4 floppy disks I believe. As for the snes it had the super fx chip running at 21.48mhz with the Ricoh 3.58mhz and had a total of 384kb of ram, 128 of which is from the enhancement chip in the game cartridge. They were also able to compress the game down to about 1.29mb in size. The ram and size of the file difference aside, those are amazing utilizations of the hardware however the cpu was closer than it would appear as the super fx was also quite the efficient chip even though it looks like it’s less than a third of the power needed to run the game. A 486 running at 66mhz is about 25.6 MIPS while the super fx is about 23. As I said, I think the real amazing part is utilizing the RAM and compressing the game as well as they did. Some of this could be wrong, however I have done pretty thorough research for all these numbers. It just shows how efficient some of these console chips and add ons were to me. One of the things to remember too, pc is running many other things while a console, at least the older ones, were not. They were solely dedicated to making these games run.
Thanks for that comment, I love reading up on that stuff. Knowing all that, I’m amazed they even attempted it. But didn’t they make games bigger than 1.29mb? Why did it have to be so small?
@@motrongames the only thing I can figure if the information I read is correct is; to keep costs down and the ability for the hardware to read the data. I know that the bigger the file, the more RAM you usually need to run it. With only 384kb, and heavy graphical needs, I’m thinking they had to compress it. Either that or the cost part. The cartridge will already cost more because they needed to add the super fx chip. By not having a large ROM chip too, it would make the game more affordable. I’m leaning towards the latter because the larger snes games were up to 6mb. However they didn’t necessarily have an enhancement chip to drive up cost and ROM was expensive. So that’s my thoughts lol.
I think a few of the flaws in this game probably stem from the questionable choice to use the SFX2 chip to begin with. I know that the graphics in Doom *appear* to be polygons, but they are actually created from a completely 2-dimensional trick called "ray casting" (not to be confused with modern "ray tracing"), so the polygonal capabilities of the SFX chip were wasted on that (wonder how long they got into development before they realized that). The SFX chip was also not capable of texture mapping *and* even it was, there would have been no perspective correction, so every texture would have warped to a distracting extent every time it was approached by the player. Tangentially related, John Carmack actually refused to allow the original version of the Saturn port to ship because the dev team used a true polygon engine (like the one that eventually came to Doom 64), but the Saturn hardware also lacked perspective correction and Carmack thought it made the game look bad... which led to the steaming pile that actually did ship on the Saturn (a rush-job port of the Jaguar version, I believe). Still, the SFX2 was itself a powerful DSP and should have excelled at the fixed-point math that Doom uses for most of its calculations BUT the fact that it rendered out visuals on its own RAM and then transferred them to the SNES PPU for output over a very slow, bandwidth-constrained bus was always going to crush the framerate, even with reduced resolution. And, on top of all of that, I think the SFX2 was limited to only 16Mb ROM max (the SFX1 could only do 8Mb). I think I heard there might have been some trick around that, but I'm not sure, and I'm certain the devs weren't aware of it anyway. 16Mb was already considered a budget sized cartridge by the time Doom came out, and doubtlessly led to most of the asset cuts. Personally, I always wondered how the game would have turned out if they used the blazing-fast SA-1 chip and a 24Mb ROM instead of the SFX2 with 16Mb.
I didn’t want to spend much time going over the super FX because I didn’t know too much about it, and I’m not good at getting into technical details, so I just told folks to do their own research. I should link to this comment somehow in the video! Haha
You should also check out the version that’s coming out from Limited Run. I’m curious how they’re making that one “better” while still keeping it on original hardware. Bigger ROM size for sure since 14 extra levels are thrown in.
I thought it was an FX2 chip and not the first one, my memory has served me well over 30 years. I remember them promoting the fact it was FX2 chip, in magazines n things. Snes was the only way to play doom in my home, that or nuffin'. PC's were the realm of academics sons enjoyment, my dad worked for Kall Kwik. I will be gettin the new snes version release of Doom, money is not an issue. I have a refurbed snes and a great hdmi converter. Old console games like the mega drive, ps1, ps2 look great on my Sony 4k 43 incher.
@@XrisD147 I don't really know how to respond to this comment. I wasn't saying that Doom on the SNES is terrible. It is still Doom. This was just a retrospective on "coulda-shoulda-woulda". But, yes, it was SFX2 and not SFX1.
10:17 I remember being shocked at those lighting effects as a kid. Going from Mario to that on the same console was incredible. I actually beat the last episode by turning off the TV and fooling my mom by leaving the SNES on when we went to family function an hour away. Came back and beat the cyberdemon at 10pm before bed with my little brother cheering me on.
This is how I experienced Doom as a preteen. The only downside I remember is of course the draw distance, and getting stuck on walls and corners. That soundtrack though; pretty killer. At least we didn't just get a port of the stripped down Jaguar level set.
The only fps I had played before Doom snes was Wolfenstein 3d. To me, it was an incredible game. The levels were massive with hidden secrets everywhere, the graphics were the best I had seen on snes, and I simply left my snes on until I beat it. All I cared about during the day was finishing school so I could go home, turn out the lights and play doom.
Such a well made and high quality video, you can tell how much time and effort went into it. Definitely deserves my subscription and I look forward to more videos. Keep up the good work!
14:02 Doom was originally meant to be played with a Roland SC-55, but due to how expensive this sound canvas was, most people stuck with the crappy OPL sound blaster. 15:02 While Doom was still being developed, the lost souls were originally meant to play Doom Guy grunt sound when killed, but ended up playing the projectile impact sound instead.
I heard about the SC-55 and had a listen and yeah it sounds so much better. Didn’t know about the lost soul grunt, but the impact sound is so much better.
Excellent question. My excellent answer is: I half-watch/ all-listen to the premiere of each Motron release. Then, I sit down and actually watch it intentionally for my second run through. This is how I get “extended play” from the channel. :D Looking forward to my second watch through later tonight.
All in all i loved it. You got used to the framerate after a few minutes, the music and sound effects were great and almost all levels were there. If only they'd sprung for a battery save feature lol. It had more levels than the Jaguar and 3DO versions and they were all true to their PC counterparts where on the 3DO missed a lot of details. And it had all Bosses and weapons. Pretty amazing IMHO.
Agreed. I should have mentioned the lack of a battery save in the review. But a level select at least if they didn’t want to shell out for battery packs.
Great review, and I really appreciate the category breakdown at the end. Back in the mid 90s, I was definitely the kid that didn't have a computer to run DOOM but did have a Super Nintendo, so this was my formative DOOM experience. In fact even to this day, I don't know the cut levels NEARLY as well as the ones that were present on the SNES. And that lag and frame rate... UGGGGGGGGH.
@@motrongames Beggars couldn’t have been choosers back then… But fortunately, I hadn’t played enough of it on the PC to really know what I was missing.
Was very lucky to always have a PC in the house as my Mom was a translator and needed it. But back then, it honestly just felt 'natural' that certain games would be on certain platforms and that was just that. Doom was a PC game, much like Mario was a Nintendo game. Heck, I remember how monumental it was when Final Fantasy went from Nintendo to Playstation. I never even realized Doom had an SNES port at all back then. lol I do remember Doom 64 which I never played(until very recently) and just always wrote it off as some cheap imitation without knowing much about it(as it's actually excellent). Hard to overstate to younger folks how 'multiplatform' was just not really a big thing back then and so what you chose to game on(or perhaps even just what your parents decided to buy for you) really made a huge difference in how you experienced gaming and how you progressed with it as a hobby.
I also completely took it for granted that my Super NES could “of course” play a PC game like Doom. This video has helped me realize it was hardly a “guarantee” to port Doom to SNES, but rather a black-magic, chip-nesting gamble that [maybe] paid off for Williams.
I remember thinking that ports were all identical as a kid, and that stuff coming from arcades was 1:1, when in reality it absolutely was not. I think I was a bit older and wiser by the time Doom SNES came out, but I also had access to the PC version so I didn’t give the SNES version a second thought.
Let's talk about SNES DOOM a bit. From all console ports (meaning from Jaguar to PS1), it's the most impressive effort, no one expected it to even be conceived and yet it was there. Jaguar, 3DO, Saturn and the 32X could have reached the PC original so close, if you're familiar with DOOM Resurrection for the 32X, you'll know what I mean, it's damn impressive what fans managed to achieve. Considering no one even expected DOOM for the SNES and it was old hat circa 95-96, adding that millions first played DOOM on a hardware that was but a fraction of PCs, hats off to that alone. Now, the Saturn and PS1 could easily run DOOM even better than PCs (IF properly engineered), as again, the 32X comes so close with the Resurrection project. Now, let's talk about the visuals, are you judging it from a modern display? If so, it's not fair, yes, it's true it's not a beautiful game, but even so. As far as I can tell, circle strafing isn't there due to an oversight in the code, changing a single value in the source code (that became available a few years back, and there's a patch for that) we can now circle strafe in SNES DOOM. I do think that going back to it today is rough, indeed, but for that time, it's the best console port, as far as limitation/pushing limits go. Yes, PS1 DOOM is great in many ways, but contrary to the SNES release, it also could have been much better, specially performance-wise. You have great editing skills and you're a funny guy, great narration, too.
Thanks for the comment! There’s actually another comment somewhere here where a guy who is working on the new SNES version explained why certain things were left out. It paints a pretty great picture of just how jam packed and to the limit the game was. The only reason the new release will have more stuff is because the ROM will be bigger and there will be a new Super FX chip to accommodate the bigger size.
It's got its pluses and minuses, but I really appreciate how out of all the 1990s console ports it's the only one that tries to keep the PC version's level geography and content as close as possible. They only got 22 of the original 27, but even excepting those 5 levels, there are maps here that didn't appear in any other console port until the 2010s. And the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind are both present, both being missing from the Jaguar, 32x, and 3DO ports.
I mean I enjoyed it. I think you're a bit harsh on it, honestly. Doom on SNES is a great experience because of how much it is still Doom. I didn't experience too much of the input lag but I don't know if that's because PAL version on original hardware on a CRT TV doesn't have that problem or because I'm just a bit slow. Either way I really enjoyed the way the hardware limitations gave us a slightly different take on the Doom experience that was still fully Doom. Even like the shotgun being different, the different monster behaviour pushing you towards different strategies, and the lack of circle strafing giving you less god-tier movement so you have to be a little more careful to not get yourself into situations you can't get out of. The lack of circle-strafing I believe was due to the polling rate on the controller. Randy Linden didn't think he had enough free CPU cycles to poll every button on the controller simultaneously (although people have since realised it would have been possible). Also Doom never played on a pregnancy test. Dude just hooked up a single-board computer to a black and white display. SNES Doom is absolutely the single most impressive port there ever was because I don't think Doom has ever run on anything else as meagre as a SNES. Cool video though. Enjoyed watching it and it's always fun seeing other peoples' takes on my beloved SNES Doom. 😃
Confession: sometimes I go a bit harder on something that usual because it’s more entertaining, and I may have done that here. I did get through the game so it’s not unplayable, but I was having a tough time. I found the shotgun to be a bit OP in this version on account of its power at a distance and the very generous auto aim. But yeah, different dynamic. Thanks for the comment!
@@motrongames Yeah due to the sound compression.. Anyway I agree with your Score. If only the Input Lag wasn't so bad then SNES DOOM would be a 6,5 out of 10
I still have the cardtridge, I remember that I was scare playing this game in the beginning ( I was 11) , but weeks later, my brother and I enjoyed a lot this game. Now I still playing DOOM on PC. DOOM IS ETERNAL!
Oddly enough I feel this port was mostly the work of just Randy Linden. Everywhere I looked it just listed him as the primary architect. Wish I was able to find a credit screen on this game!
@@motrongames I think it is literally just him. He worked for Williams, and told them he could make it, and he did it. It was already mostly done when he showed it to iD. You can find interviews from him, I think he said he did get advice from another programmer.
16:31 Don't forget about the pregnancy test. That had me floored. I grew up with the PC, 32X, PS1, and GBA versions of Doom. The PS1 is the version I played the most and beat first. I just really dug the atmosphere with the music, and sound effects change.
This was a technological marvel upon its release, never played it on the SNES admittedly as my first foray at home was on the Atari Jaguar 🐆 and eventually the PlayStation. Given how poorly the 32X version ran as well as the Panasonic 3DO too and none of these versions having no music and not a woefully underwhelming CPU this was amazing, in spite of all its shortcomings, it was still Doom on a 16 bit machine!!! Goddamn I miss my childhood!! ❤❤😢😢
With so interesting about the 16-bit and 32-bit error of Doom is it felt like if you took all the best pieces of each game and combined them together, you would have gotten the perfect Doom game back then. Like if you took all of the level design that was kept in the SNES version, put in the amazing remix soundtrack by the 3D0 version, The performance capability of the Jaguar version, colored lighting of the PlayStation version, The unique and amazing box cover of the Saturn version, And get it first to mark it like the 32x version? That would have been the perfect Doom game back then. 😅
Yeah oh well. I feel they just were scrambling too hard to get something out there and as a result the quality suffered. I’m glad we have such amazing ports on modern systems.
Doom on SNES was cool for me in 1995 because I was 13, had never gotten to play it, didn't have a PC. But it really only made sense to rent it for a weekend. People just renting the game doesn't really translate to a profitable release for the developer considering that cart was extremely expensive to produce and Nintendo made their licensees eat all the upfront costs.
I actually had no idea there was an SNES version, I just remember the watered down N64 version, which was not a port, but a different game altogether and disappointing in other respects. In any event, really fascinating to hear about this history, just incredible that dude was able to get it to work on the system. Doom was so formative in my middle school years (shareware for the win), so I really enjoyed this video!
Thanks man! I knew you’d like a Doom vid. Also Doom 64 is one of my favourite N64 games. Maybe it was disappointing because it wasn’t the Doom we knew, but as a standalone game, it was amazing! You can buy it on Steam for $3.
Oh on that music, the PC version was designed around an SC-55, where it sounds far better than a Sound Blaster 16.... but it was entirely fair for you to use that as the example because let's face it, MOST of us had a Sound Blaster 16 or clone of one on our PC's at the time, NOT a super expensive external professional MIDI rig like the SC-55. I appreciate hearing it how it was originally intended to be heard, but that's not tickling my nostalgia so much as my desire for better quality, which well... that outweighs my nostalgia on this matter. Hey you want another rabbit hole to jump down? Look at what crazy devices they've made Tetris run on. A soldering iron, a TV's settings menu, an entire building. On that last one, I don't mean they had it running on a giant screen outside the building. They literally used the building's lighting system to turn the lights on and off using each window to represent the blocks. MIT are crazy. Oh, also real life. Tetris without any electronics at all, just a human and a ramp with slow sliding blocks a player has to grab and arrange in lines as they go.
You know a bunch! Wish I could have ran a few things by you before shipping the video. I’m always trying to make sure I’m error-free and I thought I got original “as intended” PC Doom music.
Not worth adding today, but when you were 13 in the mid to late 1990s, with not many other options, it was DAMN sure worth adding to your collection. I also hate hearing about the upcoming re-release because at this point I have managed to find ways to make PC Doom more interesting, including mods where "lost levels" for the PSX Doom were made to happen, plus the ability to jump and duck in certain source ports like GZDoom. Doom is a whole gaming icon because it can be played on anything. Not well on certain platforms, but it can be played anywhere. I might actually be willing to see how to obtain the re-release just because it fills in a lot that was missing from the original, but in a world where Brutal Doom, the illegitimate love child of Doom and Mortal Kombat, exists, is it worth it?
I will buy it and I can’t even justify why I will. I just want it. I’m sure as hell going to play doom elsewhere if I want an enjoyable experience, so guess I’m just a Doom hoarder.
The one good thing about the chainsaw sound is like it going on and off. Imagine the thing going on and off inside a demon so that it wiggles accordingly. What a funny thought.
I think it just sounds weird because it uses sound channels that are being used by other sounds constantly so it gets all intermittent. I probably am wrong though.
In all honesty? This port of DOOM is to this day still my all-time favorite console port, regardless of how superior some others/later ports are. Not something to play often, granted, but definitely something I can't find any reason to dislike, even with all of its flaws. And with the source code being made public a few years ago by its own creator, this port was made better by the community who released a couple patches that made some small but quite welcome improvements. Just recently I did a full playthrough of it on a livestream using two of those patches and it was great. One patch makes it possible to choose any episode on any difficulty and the other introduces circle strafing, I highly recommend.
I love me some Super NES DOOM. As a kid, you don't know any better and so you adapt. On top of that, it's the most "structural accurate" DOOM of the Era. All other ports were ports of the Jaguar version which had altered and subtly re-designed levels. My plan is to get the upcoming re-master and just do a shell swap and having the red colored DOOM we should have always had!
It is the most structurally accurate yes! It’s weird how many versions spun off the Jaguar version. Gonna be wild playing some of those episode 4 levels on the SNES.
@@motrongames I feel many people don't realize that they're essentially playing all the same DOOM when they play on Jaguar or 3DO or PlayStation even GBA! All from the same base Jaguar port. But this new version is what I'm looking forward to most. By all accounts, It's Ultimate Doom in full! Which is mind blowing! When the source code was release several years ago, I figured SOMEONE out there would break it down and create a PC Super NES "Total Conversion" as we've seen with many other versions of Doom (i.e. DOOM 64 and PlayStation DOOM) that had ALL content restored, but keeping that Super NES look. I never expected that it'd be Randy Linden himself that would spearhead not simply the game in full, but still keep it to real Super NES hardware. Great video, BTW!
I remember playing doom on snes when I was either 9 or 10 30 years ago it was awesome 😎 I never played it on pc until later in years I really liked it ❤❤❤❤!!!!
I love your editing ability, or how do you call the way you paste animated things on screen while you explained the lore, history and structure of Doom. Just.. Doom musics rock!! The way tha game uses his tracks is just throwing them as a background.. in a game without dialogues or a story is difficult to put emphasis on a track.. but the fact that prople remember more othe jingles in gaming.. well, it is just for this lack of will or of "marketing" ability to make some of them stand out, not a quality issue. Same thing in other games (like a Zelda or a Final Fantasy): usually the most popular tracks are the ones that the game makes stand out but at a rare more careful listener a lot of tracks got the same high quality.
Listening to the “as intended” soundtrack, it’s not bad. But I prefer the more moody and suspenseful songs, not so much the heavy metal knockoff songs.
@@motrongames Check out the SNES Paperboy 2* game, because it's music sounds a lot like the Seinfeld music. I'm imagining Doom Guy as Paper Boy, and the monsters as the neighbors.
When the super Nintendo was current, I had a super Nintendo. I had no idea what doom is. I wish i did along with Wolfenstein on the super Nintendo back then. I would have loved it for the snes at the time. Playing doom on the snes now, it is way too pixilated. Enemies that are not too far away from you look like one pixel things. The Wolfenstein game on snes holds up a lot better.
I was a huge PC Wolfenstein fan and have yet to try the SNES version. The censorship just looks a bit too silly, plus the use of mode 7 to enlarge the screen, makes it look blurry. I’ll wait until Doom is out of my system before picking it up!
I played a lot of DOOM on the PSX, but SNES? I could not get in to it. But it was near perfect on PSX. Did a lot of system link, whatever they called it. Two TV's, two playstations, and a wire.
I don’t have the motivation to go all-in with CRT TVs unfortunately. And there’s no way to accurately capture them for these videos either. Would be awesome though.
11:52 - The FPS boost between SNES and PC doom is immediately apparent in this sequence. My gosh, it’s a slide-show on SNES, compared to running on a PC.
Yeah! And the recent remasters in current consoles are even better with widescreen and an even better framerate. And let’s not even talk about all the other unofficial mods this game has seen.
I enjoyed Doom on the SNES back in the 90s before getting a PC copy from a friend. I still play it for shits and giggles. It's not good, but playable. In some regards, I like the music more on it.
If you look at it from the perspective of someone who was in no position to buy hardware to get a better version of Doom, this was just fine. Plus it had all the boss encounters and most of the levels the Jaguar, 3DO and 32X ports were missing.
I’m one step ahead of you. The only way this video will be out of date is if the game actually gets shipped, which, won’t be for seven hundred million years.
I suppose so eh? I know super FX can do some additional scaling that mode 7 cant, but I think it’s like, stretching and stuff (like in the Yoshis island clip I included).
I loved this game. It has flows but for me it was enough. Today we have tons or ports, but in the 90s when I had a SNES but not a PC with DooM this was fine.
I remember when Doom launched and how bad I wanted it. At the time, I had a Sega Genesis/Sega CD and Snes. I really wish ID and Sega made an SVP powered Genesis port of Doom. It would have run and looked better on the Genesis (with the SVP), and people would have gladly spent 100 dollars for it. Addendum- It's also a shame Doom was rushed for the 32X. Just like the fixed version of Doom for the Snes, there is a huge fan fix for the 32X. It not only sounds perfect, but it plays in full screen, has all the levels intact, and now includes Doom 2. I believe it also has the complex geometry that was taken out as well...
Did you just try this in an emulator, or on a real console with a CRT? I suspect a lot of the resolution issues become moot with the limited resolution of TVs, and mayyyyybe the input lag issue is an emulator bug?
Nope this is the OG cart, albeit upscaled and converted with a Retrotink. I do all my snes reviews with it and there’s normal input lag. Doom is just a laggy game.
@@motrongames I rented this a couple times back then and was happy to play it even if I wanted it on the PC. All we could do at the time was the shareware since it was hard to convince my parents to do the mail in order over the convenience of buying at the store. The first time my brother and I finally got to see Shores of Hell/Inferno and the Plasma Gun was through the SNES. Zero regrets. Just glad Doom still kicks ass 30 years later.
Jokes on you, I'm going to buy Doom for the SNES specifically because I want this version. Despite your silly reasoning against buying a incredible port with peak gameplay. I also plan to buy the new limited run version that is coming out soon. Lol.
Yes I can't wait for the limited run, one. But will they make a pal cart? My snes is pal if they don't I'm gonna have to buy a ntsc snes and a special power brick for back here in blighty.
@@XrisD147It would be nice if they did make a PAL version. (I have a feeling they won't) I'm pretty sure Randy did say, however that the FX pak pro would be able to play it, which probably means a rom release, and maybe a PAL version?
Back in the day it was an absolute belter, nobody could afford a PC and when I finally tried ‘proper’ DOOM I was more annoyed by the beepy sound than the rich kids were by our slo-res
Despite the Rocket Launcher being a bit of a gamble in this port of Doom, it's ironically STRONGER than the PC version of the Rocket Launcher, though whether it was designed to make things easier for SNES/NSFC Doom players to play, or because Randy Linden thought that throwing a bone to the obviously downgraded port of Doom by giving people a stronger Rocket Launcher in this port of the game was a good idea, we may never know the answer to that question.
I heard the rocket splash is bigger because they didn’t have the specs of the original rocket launcher and just kind of freestyled it (and were off by a pretty large margin).
In 1994, I created "Darkhell" and "Blakhell", two full episodes (18 maps) for Doom1. The custom maps are what made D1 & D2 a timeless treasure. The SNES is not meant for FPS style games (even like "Starfox"), and I'd never recommend it for such programs. Instead, just grab an old laptop, install D1, download hundreds of exemplary custom maps, and you're G2G.
Awesome! So cool having an OG map designer in the comments. I believe the new Doom + Doom 2 game that got released has support for custom maps, which is what people were asking for. I’m gonna check to see if any of your maps are there!
@@motrongames Right on. :) I honestly have no idea where they are specifically, but I am 100% certain that they're "out there" because people have streamed or uploaded their playthroughs (mostly speedruns, it seems) of Darkhell and some of Blakhell over the years. One gent did Darkhell blind more recently and really enjoyed the creativity of all nine. Also, people could just email me and I'd be happy to send 'em the two full episodes. My daughter has actually been enjoyin' 'em, LOL!
I know you complained a lot and didn't recommend the game but even then this review was STILL charitable. There is literally no reason to ever consider playing this version of the game. There's no console version with playing except MAYBE the psx version and even that's being nice. The Seinfeld remix at the end is legendary!
Hahah I had to give it points just because it’s Doom! I think I was a little charitable with the gameplay, but like I mentioned in the video, if you play it enough, you get used to the crappiness and are able to work despite it. I’m glad you like the song at the end! Haha
I was thinking the same thing, but then like, with the latency and framerate, it may have been a disaster. I’m sure it was considered and likely scrapped for that reason.
ya know, under normal circumstances, id be all for giving a detailed history and run over of the mechanics for a game that'll be 30 years old (next year) since you never know who might be unfamiliar with the topic....but considering this is DOOM were talking about, i'm pretty sure the Gen Alpha's in your audience know what DOOM is and don't need the hand hold and are just waiting to find out when the glory kills start happening in this version XD
Love Doom but hated this port. Got it for Christmas and after playing some I wanted to save my progress..... HOW the hell was there no save option ????
Honestly, I've always thought this was one of the better ports of the time simply because they actually managed to get it to work as well as it did on a system that was absolutely never designed for it.... The other ports had their own issues.. Some argueably worse than most of the issues with the SNES version... We wouldn't get a seriously great port until PS1, for good reason..
It was the outlier port. A few folks pointed out that it has more complex levels than the others, which is hilarious. It also kept every weapon and item and almost every enemy.
I cried to my mom, that I wanted Doom for SNES, when we saw it at West Coast Video, sitting on a shelf. Red cart and all.
She got it for me, and then I'd play late at night shitting myself terrified. At the time, I didn't even realize it was running at like 3fps.
I did a test and it’s around 10 fps but I will say there’s something creepy about how the SNES demons ALWAYS are facing you.
@@motrongames same as the GBA version.
You better not put your mom in a nursing home
I like early 3D games anyway blocky graphics and low frames are cool then you get lost in the 20+ levels when 32x owners only had like 14
West Coast Video? Ontario, Canada?
I remember begging my dad for the $30 needed to buy a copy of this at the flea market. I was three bucks short. The guy still let me have it.
Thirty years later, I'm working on the LRG remaster alongside Randy himself.
This world works in funny ways sometimes. :)
Some extra commentary:
1) You can play through Inferno on HMP, but you have to play through Shores of Hell first. ITYTD will end after E1; HNTR will let you get to Shores of Hell but not past it.
2) Shotgun functions like how it does basically to conserve processing power. Without getting too technical, on PC you fire seven invisible tracers when you shoot the shotgun, plus they have spread, all of which gets calculated independently - which takes up precious processing cycles, and even the SuperFX can only do so much.
3) The maps being cut was more of a lack of ROM space than being "too complex." We got them in the remaster, after all - all thanks to a 4 MB cartridge instead of 2 MB. Of course, that needed a new version of the SuperFX as well since the SuperFX 2 could only address 2 MB of ROM...
4) Cheats didn't make it in because of the same reason levels got cut - literally no space left in the ROM to add them! The final game has about 15 bytes free in the game's ROM space. Not 15 Kilobytes, 15 BYTES. For an idea of how little space that is, typing "The final game has about 15 bytes free" takes 38 bytes. This too is addressed in the remaster, via a new password system that might hide a few other secrets...
5) Levels in the SNES version actually resemble the PC version more because that's what Randy converted them from. Most other versions of the game use the "JagDoom" maps (so-called because they first appeared on the Jaguar port of Doom) which had various simplifications/alterations.
6) Deafness is, again, a processing optimization. On PC, when you attack, the game basically traverses all sectors that are attached to your sector, stopping only when all the walls stop it, or it reaches two "block sound" lines, and wakes up anything within the traversed sectors. This is WAY too costly to do processing-wise on SNES.
7) Monsters can't infight because it'd look weird due to the one-sided sprites, but to compensate, monster shots DO damage other monsters of their own type (unlike in PC Doom, where they are immune).
8) Floor/Ceiling textures missing are due to lack of space. It was either "floor/ceiling textures but less levels" or "more levels but no floor/ceiling textures." I think more levels was the right call.
9) You're 100% right about why there is no circle strafing, but it's in the remaster by popular demand. :P
Wow! This was awesome to read! I wasn’t aware how tightly packed the original SNES Doom was, which makes it way more impressive. One question though, if the no floor/ceiling textures was due to space limitations alone, does that mean we are getting them on the new LRG version?
Also, it’s cool getting a comment from someone working in the actual game I’m talking about in this exact video! Thanks for watching and posting and I hope I didnt make too many factual errors here!
@@motrongames You didn't make too many factual errors! I basically just wanted to point out a lot of what you were disappointed was missing was mostly down to "It only had so much space to contain all that stuff," and in the end, that's basically the answer to several of the questions you mentioned in the video. :P
As for the remaster, there's still no floor/ceiling textures in the remaster, unfortunately. It's technically feasible (just like on the original), but it's basically again a case of limited ROM space - 3 MB is going to the game data now (which only the SuperFX 3 can access), while the remaining 1 MB contains data the SNES itself could access as well (think stuff like the FMVs, HUD, etc.).
We did gain back some extra space from removing the XBand code and data (yeah, sorry, that's cut), but even then, it's still a pretty tight fit - last I'd heard, we had about 18-19 KB of free space left in the remaster, but there was still some stuff to get in (like the missing music tracks and so on). Basically, even with some compression, we'd probably need an 8 MB ROM to fit in all of the floor/ceiling textures as well, and even this much is with reduced texture variety compared to the PC original (not every wall texture from the PC version is in this version, either, just like the original game thirty years ago).
Of course, we did fit the missing maps from the original and all of Episode 4 into that extra 1 MB of space, so just like on the original, it's basically "Do you want floor/ceiling textures, or more levels," and more levels won out once more.
Who knows what could happen if we got to do another game in the series though. We'll see how this one does in terms of interest. :)
@@DarkPuIse this is so cool to read. Yeah I figured the Xband stuff should have been scrapped. Heck, I would have scrapped it in the original if it meant a few extra monster frames. Really looking forward to picking up the finished product when it launches! Maybe I’ll do a follow up review!
@@motrongames If you check out the original game's page on The Cutting Room Floor, you'll see there's actually a fair bit of stuff still in the ROM (Player face sprites, etc.), but there was simply no ROM space left to hook up any of it codewise, and with a game like this (and no doubt well aware of the SNES being End-of-Life), removing it could have knock-on effects, so a lot of it was simply left in.
Hopefully you guys get to play the remaster soon! There's a bit of footage people took of it from Quakecon if you go looking, and the more recent builds are looking great. :)
@@DarkPuIse I think I put a quakecon video of it in my video actually haha
A MAJOR problem I have with this version is there's no way to save your progress and it doesn't have passwords.
Yup. And the only way to play inferno on an easier difficulty is to start the whole game from scratch. And some of those levels have you running around for 30 minutes not knowing what to do.
@@motrongamesnoob ❤
My brother and I would play at night and leave the console on all night while we slept and all day while we were at school.
@@motrongames , I think that, if the new version of Doom is going to have passwords, then said passwords also need to be able to entered in multiple times, so, that way, the cheat codes that are in most other versions of Doom can also be in this version of Doom as well.
@@MysteryD I had to do this before I had a memory card for my PS1
Ill just say that for a teenager back in 95 who did not have access to a pc, Doom on SNES was not only playable but also the most badass thing I'd ever played up til that point. I wouldn't get around to playing Doom proper til my first pc purchase in 2003.
By todays standards obviously Doom on the SNES is a shell of its proper self, but it impressed the hell outta me back in the day
It may be a shell of its proper self, but at least the shell is a cool red colour amirite?
@@motrongames yea the red cartridge was definitely a vibe for that time 😈
Got this at a pawn shop for $5 back in the day. It was the only way for me to play Doom as my family wouldn't have a computer until late September of 2001. Beat it and then traded it in for Maximum Carnage at the same pawn shop. Where when I asked for a Spider-Man game, they showed me Maximum Carnage and I was confused--because I thought the game was only going to be Carnage and no Spider-man. Well, I have old man on the internet today, time to go back to bed.
Were they like “this guy likes red carts!” and that’s why they showed you maximum carnage?
The first time I played Doom was on the Super Nintendo.
Gotta get it where you can I suppose!
Let's think back to September 1995, there weren't many systems that could play Doom (ms-dos, 32x and jaguar), even Windows 95 was released a couple of days before SNES Doom. Also, a lot of people had systems like 286 or 386 that Doom didn't run properly on, so SNES Doom was a good choice. i can agree with "4 out of 10" from the perspective of 2024
I had a 486 that ran Doom but with difficulty. Nevertheless I was fortunate enough to eventually have access to it when the SNES version came out. Probably the last time I could consider myself a PC gamer to be honest
@@motrongamesI had 486 that ran Doom totally fine with 8 MB of RAM. Standard resolution and all that, but it totally ran fine. It ran multiplayer via 14.4 modem no problem. Any 486 should have been able to run it okay, a 386 enhanced would have done the job too. Once I upgraded to 16 MB, I could run quake on the 486 66 MHz Pentium. Man that was a long time ago dude.
@@SeveredLegs I just remember my dad fighting with mine. Everything we bought never seemed to work.
@@motrongames Cyrix 486?
@@alan.smitheee , isn't your username supposed to be a shameful fictional credit to someone that makes something horrible, like your comments, for example?
One of the few games I owned for the SNES. The red cart was the best part I remember
Haha yeah if the cart colour is the best thing about a game, then that game is probably not super great.
@@motrongames , the new version of Doom will have two colors, gun metal gray, and the limited gun metal gray with blood red spatter spots, the latter version of which will, naturally, be limited to 666 copies.
That red cartridge though!
“Guys, it sucks, what can we do?”
“Red cartridge?”
“GIVE THIS MAN A RAISE”
Well, it was a game running on a 200 bucks console when the PC one required 2000 bucks PC to be enjoyable.
Yup. They did their best, and that’s all that counts.
As a little kid this was the only way I could play Doom. My older cousin had PC and he would never let me play it just watch him but when it came out my mom got it for me on my SNES my was so Rad
I believe I do shout out the “older cousins” at the beginning of the video haha.
@@motrongames you indeed did
Getting lost and slaughtered in the Slough of Despair is one of my best gaming memories
First time i played Doom was on the SNES. My parents gave me a used SNES with a dozen of games for christmas when i was 7. I believe it took me a couple of years to complete it, mainly because we cannot save a game on the cartridge. I remember when i decided i would complete the game, i left my SNES on overnight to keep my progress. The console was really hot after a couple of days. Good memories!
Yeah the only way to beat it on an easier difficulty is to play the whole game start to end! You can only start episode 3 on Ultra Violence!
I’ve played this on SNES recently and the biggest issue is the poor framerate. If the framerate was just a little higher it would be 100% playable. Another issue is that the shoulder buttons are for strafing left and right.. Instead they should’ve been for moving left and right like the psx version. Can’t wait for limited run games remaster
The og developer is doing some work to improve the framerate. I think it's open source now
Yup! I included a video of the work in progress and you can see the framerate has improved noticeably. They say the finished product will be even better.
For me it’s the latency that’s the biggest issue.
@@motrongames Latency shakes hands with FPS.
Can it be improved through emulation?
Fun Fact: The SNES/NSFC port of Doom is the only port of the video game that allows for both Rotating Map AND Zoom functions, though the latter is obviously scaled back in comparison to the PC port, though, conversely, it CAN scan out further than the PC port as well.
Now if we can only get those things together, along with the super close Zoom function from the PC port, and the Item/Enemy/Object Placement Icons from the Sega Saturn/Sony PlayStation 1 ports of Doom on the new SNES/NSFC port of Doom...
Indeed! Also, on some other versions, you can see what changes when something is triggered by looking at the map. Lines will change colours and whatnot. Makes secret hunting easier.
Want an interesting little side note? The SNES actually could render SOME polygons without the Super FX. Not nearly enough to make a game like Star Fox, but enough to actually render the triforce (and the crystals those maidens were captured in) with polygons instead of sprites in Link to the Past. Yep, there's even specialized editors to alter the models used in LTTP since sprite editing won't touch them. Of course, the triforce is literally just three triangles, so making a 3D model with that just involves a front triangle, a back triangle, two triangles for the three sides, and then multiply that by three. That's just twenty-four triangles altogether, with no texturing and the mildest of simulated "shading" to simulate something like a shadow effect while turning. I forget the polygon count for the crystals, but it's still pretty low since every facet is just a single triangle.
Meanwhile, Doom doesn't use any polygons, it's just a 3D projection of a 2D map with some logic applied to determine "height". Luckily the SuperFX isn't specifically designed to push polygons, it's a general purpose RISC processor that can be used to accelerate a lot of things, so fortunately it managed to be useful for Doom as well as Star Fox. For sure, a faster clocked Super FX would have helped provide a much smoother experience, and entirely feasible, but at a prohibitive cost at the time.
Good comment. Worth reading.
Awesome comment, thanks! I totally forgot about the LTTP polygons and I’m pretty sure I knew about the way Doom graphics were done but still mentioned polygons in the vid haha. This kind of deep knowledge is my blind spot when I make these videos. Clearly I prioritize stupid voices.
@@motrongames Nothing stupid about it! This is the common understanding a lot of people have so it's understandable! I'm just adding a little context for passers by. I watched your video for the one thing I lacked, a real world experience of actually playing all the way THROUGH the thing. Heck I own the cart and I've never bothered going through all of it. It's funny, the game has mouse support, but doesn't have any sort of "duel mode" allowing use of one half of the controller and the mouse at the same time. Hey they had half-baked XBand support, it would be funny if they'd ever coded in XBand Keyboard support for full mouse and keyboard on the SNES version.
@@Dark_Jaguar I looked online and I see folks saying the mouse doesn’t work despite people saying it does. I suppose I should try it out for myself.
@@motrongames Go ahead! I tested it myself and confirmed it works, BUT with a caveat. It MUST be in controller port 1. That means you can't duel it up with a controller in one hand and the mouse in the other, and frankly the responsiveness is pretty bad, even worse than the controller, but it does work.
The music at the end got me lol.
Good! I was definitely aiming for 50% “haha” 50% “wtf?!?”
track name? I'm searching Doom Seinfeld music but get another version🤪
It will always have a soft spot in my heart, it served its purpose for those of us that had nothing else. Well, in my case I had a 386 sx16 with a black and white monitor with just pc speaker sounds.(no soundblaster all midi bleeps and bloops) just had shareware doom as well. So snes was in color, with proper sound and more levels. It wasn’t until my dad wanted to play this new thing called “quake” that he brought home a gaming pc that Christmas and I finally got to play doom proper at home.
Wow that must have been rough to play. Can’t even imagine black and white Doom!
@@motrongames it was awful for sure 😆
I was reading some of the comments and I love to delve into tech so here it goes.
The super fx chip was used for this. First off the super nes cpu could never have done this alone even though it was extremely efficient for such a low powered chip. The minimum requirements to play doom at the time on a pc was 66mhz running on a 80486 cpu with 8mb of ram. Also I believe the game was 5.27-7.02mb in size spread across 4 floppy disks I believe. As for the snes it had the super fx chip running at 21.48mhz with the Ricoh 3.58mhz and had a total of 384kb of ram, 128 of which is from the enhancement chip in the game cartridge. They were also able to compress the game down to about 1.29mb in size. The ram and size of the file difference aside, those are amazing utilizations of the hardware however the cpu was closer than it would appear as the super fx was also quite the efficient chip even though it looks like it’s less than a third of the power needed to run the game. A 486 running at 66mhz is about 25.6 MIPS while the super fx is about 23. As I said, I think the real amazing part is utilizing the RAM and compressing the game as well as they did. Some of this could be wrong, however I have done pretty thorough research for all these numbers. It just shows how efficient some of these console chips and add ons were to me. One of the things to remember too, pc is running many other things while a console, at least the older ones, were not. They were solely dedicated to making these games run.
Thanks for that comment, I love reading up on that stuff. Knowing all that, I’m amazed they even attempted it. But didn’t they make games bigger than 1.29mb? Why did it have to be so small?
@@motrongames the only thing I can figure if the information I read is correct is; to keep costs down and the ability for the hardware to read the data. I know that the bigger the file, the more RAM you usually need to run it. With only 384kb, and heavy graphical needs, I’m thinking they had to compress it. Either that or the cost part. The cartridge will already cost more because they needed to add the super fx chip. By not having a large ROM chip too, it would make the game more affordable. I’m leaning towards the latter because the larger snes games were up to 6mb. However they didn’t necessarily have an enhancement chip to drive up cost and ROM was expensive. So that’s my thoughts lol.
It definitely was when I was 13 lol, but it was very hard because all enemies went directly towards you
Yeah try it on nightmare difficulty. Super freaky.
I think a few of the flaws in this game probably stem from the questionable choice to use the SFX2 chip to begin with. I know that the graphics in Doom *appear* to be polygons, but they are actually created from a completely 2-dimensional trick called "ray casting" (not to be confused with modern "ray tracing"), so the polygonal capabilities of the SFX chip were wasted on that (wonder how long they got into development before they realized that). The SFX chip was also not capable of texture mapping *and* even it was, there would have been no perspective correction, so every texture would have warped to a distracting extent every time it was approached by the player. Tangentially related, John Carmack actually refused to allow the original version of the Saturn port to ship because the dev team used a true polygon engine (like the one that eventually came to Doom 64), but the Saturn hardware also lacked perspective correction and Carmack thought it made the game look bad... which led to the steaming pile that actually did ship on the Saturn (a rush-job port of the Jaguar version, I believe). Still, the SFX2 was itself a powerful DSP and should have excelled at the fixed-point math that Doom uses for most of its calculations BUT the fact that it rendered out visuals on its own RAM and then transferred them to the SNES PPU for output over a very slow, bandwidth-constrained bus was always going to crush the framerate, even with reduced resolution. And, on top of all of that, I think the SFX2 was limited to only 16Mb ROM max (the SFX1 could only do 8Mb). I think I heard there might have been some trick around that, but I'm not sure, and I'm certain the devs weren't aware of it anyway. 16Mb was already considered a budget sized cartridge by the time Doom came out, and doubtlessly led to most of the asset cuts.
Personally, I always wondered how the game would have turned out if they used the blazing-fast SA-1 chip and a 24Mb ROM instead of the SFX2 with 16Mb.
I didn’t want to spend much time going over the super FX because I didn’t know too much about it, and I’m not good at getting into technical details, so I just told folks to do their own research. I should link to this comment somehow in the video! Haha
You should also check out the version that’s coming out from Limited Run. I’m curious how they’re making that one “better” while still keeping it on original hardware. Bigger ROM size for sure since 14 extra levels are thrown in.
I thought it was an FX2 chip and not the first one, my memory has served me well over 30 years. I remember them promoting the fact it was FX2 chip, in magazines n things. Snes was the only way to play doom in my home, that or nuffin'. PC's were the realm of academics sons enjoyment, my dad worked for Kall Kwik. I will be gettin the new snes version release of Doom, money is not an issue. I have a refurbed snes and a great hdmi converter. Old console games like the mega drive, ps1, ps2 look great on my Sony 4k 43 incher.
@@XrisD147 it was FX2. I just didn’t mention it in the vid.
@@XrisD147 I don't really know how to respond to this comment. I wasn't saying that Doom on the SNES is terrible. It is still Doom. This was just a retrospective on "coulda-shoulda-woulda". But, yes, it was SFX2 and not SFX1.
10:17 I remember being shocked at those lighting effects as a kid. Going from Mario to that on the same console was incredible. I actually beat the last episode by turning off the TV and fooling my mom by leaving the SNES on when we went to family function an hour away. Came back and beat the cyberdemon at 10pm before bed with my little brother cheering me on.
Nice. Those are the best memories!
This is how I experienced Doom as a preteen. The only downside I remember is of course the draw distance, and getting stuck on walls and corners. That soundtrack though; pretty killer. At least we didn't just get a port of the stripped down Jaguar level set.
Yeah I forgot to mention the sticky walls. Definitely ate a cyberdemon rocket because of that.
The only fps I had played before Doom snes was Wolfenstein 3d. To me, it was an incredible game. The levels were massive with hidden secrets everywhere, the graphics were the best I had seen on snes, and I simply left my snes on until I beat it. All I cared about during the day was finishing school so I could go home, turn out the lights and play doom.
I haven’t played Wolfenstein on the SNES but I’ve heard mixed things. I definitely played it on my old 486 though. Awesome stuff.
Such a well made and high quality video, you can tell how much time and effort went into it. Definitely deserves my subscription and I look forward to more videos. Keep up the good work!
Thank you kindly! Looking forward to putting more out there! And you’re right, a lot of (too much) effort went into this haha.
great video, very underrated, subscribed!!
Thank you! Glad to have you along for the ride!
14:02 Doom was originally meant to be played with a Roland SC-55, but due to how expensive this sound canvas was, most people stuck with the crappy OPL sound blaster.
15:02 While Doom was still being developed, the lost souls were originally meant to play Doom Guy grunt sound when killed, but ended up playing the projectile impact sound instead.
I heard about the SC-55 and had a listen and yeah it sounds so much better. Didn’t know about the lost soul grunt, but the impact sound is so much better.
Jokes on you, I owned Vortex.
The real question is, did you like it?
@@motrongames Yeah, it was fun for ~10 year old me.
I’m all smiles at that end song!
How the heck are you not commenting on that cameo appearance at the 3 minute mark?
Excellent question. My excellent answer is: I half-watch/ all-listen to the premiere of each Motron release. Then, I sit down and actually watch it intentionally for my second run through. This is how I get “extended play” from the channel. :D Looking forward to my second watch through later tonight.
@@CarletonTorpin you’re gonna love it
@@motrongames Saw it. Laughed out loud. Loved it. It's an honor to have a cameo!
@@CarletonTorpin getting the right face with a screen grab sure was fun
Amazing viddy! Love the animations in graphics during the intro. You've got style.
Thanks man! Appreciate the comment and the watch!
All in all i loved it. You got used to the framerate after a few minutes, the music and sound effects were great and almost all levels were there. If only they'd sprung for a battery save feature lol. It had more levels than the Jaguar and 3DO versions and they were all true to their PC counterparts where on the 3DO missed a lot of details. And it had all Bosses and weapons. Pretty amazing IMHO.
Agreed. I should have mentioned the lack of a battery save in the review. But a level select at least if they didn’t want to shell out for battery packs.
Enjoyed this! Gotta support my fellow Retro Gaming content creators! Hello from Nova Scotia. Subscribed.
Sup Nova Scotia! I’m Ontario. Canadian retro gamer cabal represent!
Great review, and I really appreciate the category breakdown at the end. Back in the mid 90s, I was definitely the kid that didn't have a computer to run DOOM but did have a Super Nintendo, so this was my formative DOOM experience. In fact even to this day, I don't know the cut levels NEARLY as well as the ones that were present on the SNES. And that lag and frame rate... UGGGGGGGGH.
Thanks! It’s a bad port, but I’m sure this seemed pretty great back then though right?
@@motrongames Beggars couldn’t have been choosers back then… But fortunately, I hadn’t played enough of it on the PC to really know what I was missing.
Great quality video for a channel of this size
Thank you! Working on increasing the size!
Was very lucky to always have a PC in the house as my Mom was a translator and needed it. But back then, it honestly just felt 'natural' that certain games would be on certain platforms and that was just that. Doom was a PC game, much like Mario was a Nintendo game. Heck, I remember how monumental it was when Final Fantasy went from Nintendo to Playstation. I never even realized Doom had an SNES port at all back then. lol I do remember Doom 64 which I never played(until very recently) and just always wrote it off as some cheap imitation without knowing much about it(as it's actually excellent). Hard to overstate to younger folks how 'multiplatform' was just not really a big thing back then and so what you chose to game on(or perhaps even just what your parents decided to buy for you) really made a huge difference in how you experienced gaming and how you progressed with it as a hobby.
I also completely took it for granted that my Super NES could “of course” play a PC game like Doom. This video has helped me realize it was hardly a “guarantee” to port Doom to SNES, but rather a black-magic, chip-nesting gamble that [maybe] paid off for Williams.
I remember thinking that ports were all identical as a kid, and that stuff coming from arcades was 1:1, when in reality it absolutely was not. I think I was a bit older and wiser by the time Doom SNES came out, but I also had access to the PC version so I didn’t give the SNES version a second thought.
@@motrongames 100% same. Kids are so much more gullible than adults.
Let's talk about SNES DOOM a bit. From all console ports (meaning from Jaguar to PS1), it's the most impressive effort, no one expected it to even be conceived and yet it was there. Jaguar, 3DO, Saturn and the 32X could have reached the PC original so close, if you're familiar with DOOM Resurrection for the 32X, you'll know what I mean, it's damn impressive what fans managed to achieve.
Considering no one even expected DOOM for the SNES and it was old hat circa 95-96, adding that millions first played DOOM on a hardware that was but a fraction of PCs, hats off to that alone. Now, the Saturn and PS1 could easily run DOOM even better than PCs (IF properly engineered), as again, the 32X comes so close with the Resurrection project.
Now, let's talk about the visuals, are you judging it from a modern display? If so, it's not fair, yes, it's true it's not a beautiful game, but even so.
As far as I can tell, circle strafing isn't there due to an oversight in the code, changing a single value in the source code (that became available a few years back, and there's a patch for that) we can now circle strafe in SNES DOOM. I do think that going back to it today is rough, indeed, but for that time, it's the best console port, as far as limitation/pushing limits go. Yes, PS1 DOOM is great in many ways, but contrary to the SNES release, it also could have been much better, specially performance-wise.
You have great editing skills and you're a funny guy, great narration, too.
Thanks for the comment! There’s actually another comment somewhere here where a guy who is working on the new SNES version explained why certain things were left out. It paints a pretty great picture of just how jam packed and to the limit the game was. The only reason the new release will have more stuff is because the ROM will be bigger and there will be a new Super FX chip to accommodate the bigger size.
It's got its pluses and minuses, but I really appreciate how out of all the 1990s console ports it's the only one that tries to keep the PC version's level geography and content as close as possible. They only got 22 of the original 27, but even excepting those 5 levels, there are maps here that didn't appear in any other console port until the 2010s. And the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind are both present, both being missing from the Jaguar, 32x, and 3DO ports.
For real! As I was playing through it I was often like “whoa they even included THIS”
Jokes on you, I've owned the OG red cartridge Doom for SNES for like 27 years now.
Darn it should have made this video sooner
I mean I enjoyed it. I think you're a bit harsh on it, honestly. Doom on SNES is a great experience because of how much it is still Doom. I didn't experience too much of the input lag but I don't know if that's because PAL version on original hardware on a CRT TV doesn't have that problem or because I'm just a bit slow. Either way I really enjoyed the way the hardware limitations gave us a slightly different take on the Doom experience that was still fully Doom. Even like the shotgun being different, the different monster behaviour pushing you towards different strategies, and the lack of circle strafing giving you less god-tier movement so you have to be a little more careful to not get yourself into situations you can't get out of.
The lack of circle-strafing I believe was due to the polling rate on the controller. Randy Linden didn't think he had enough free CPU cycles to poll every button on the controller simultaneously (although people have since realised it would have been possible). Also Doom never played on a pregnancy test. Dude just hooked up a single-board computer to a black and white display. SNES Doom is absolutely the single most impressive port there ever was because I don't think Doom has ever run on anything else as meagre as a SNES.
Cool video though. Enjoyed watching it and it's always fun seeing other peoples' takes on my beloved SNES Doom. 😃
Confession: sometimes I go a bit harder on something that usual because it’s more entertaining, and I may have done that here. I did get through the game so it’s not unplayable, but I was having a tough time.
I found the shotgun to be a bit OP in this version on account of its power at a distance and the very generous auto aim. But yeah, different dynamic. Thanks for the comment!
Plasma Gun is *BEST GUN!*
I actually like how it’s not as noisy in this version.
@@motrongames Yeah due to the sound compression.. Anyway I agree with your Score. If only the Input Lag wasn't so bad then SNES DOOM would be a 6,5 out of 10
@@JAGtheTrekkieGEMINI1701 sounds about right
Cool video, content, script and editing. Was fun!
Thanks! Glad you had fun!
I still have the cardtridge, I remember that I was scare playing this game in the beginning ( I was 11) , but weeks later, my brother and I enjoyed a lot this game. Now I still playing DOOM on PC. DOOM IS ETERNAL!
For an old “3D” game, it holds up so so well.
@@motrongames Absolutely, I had the old Gog versions and the new version Doom + Doom 2 is incredible
Humans can really achieve miracles when they work together!
Oddly enough I feel this port was mostly the work of just Randy Linden. Everywhere I looked it just listed him as the primary architect. Wish I was able to find a credit screen on this game!
@@motrongames I think it is literally just him. He worked for Williams, and told them he could make it, and he did it. It was already mostly done when he showed it to iD.
You can find interviews from him, I think he said he did get advice from another programmer.
16:31 Don't forget about the pregnancy test. That had me floored. I grew up with the PC, 32X, PS1, and GBA versions of Doom. The PS1 is the version I played the most and beat first. I just really dug the atmosphere with the music, and sound effects change.
It’s in there! 16:34!
@@motrongames I know. Still makes me laugh. 🤣🤣👍
Doom on the SNES was actually my first time playing it. The only PC we had at time was a Commodore 64. For me, it was amazing at the time.
Maybe if they were a bit more ambitious we could have gotten a Commodore 64 port. The “real” Doom 64.
This was a technological marvel upon its release, never played it on the SNES admittedly as my first foray at home was on the Atari Jaguar 🐆 and eventually the PlayStation. Given how poorly the 32X version ran as well as the Panasonic 3DO too and none of these versions having no music and not a woefully underwhelming CPU this was amazing, in spite of all its shortcomings, it was still Doom on a 16 bit machine!!! Goddamn I miss my childhood!! ❤❤😢😢
Yup. It hurts giving it a low score. If we were scoring technical achievement, this would be up there.
With so interesting about the 16-bit and 32-bit error of Doom is it felt like if you took all the best pieces of each game and combined them together, you would have gotten the perfect Doom game back then. Like if you took all of the level design that was kept in the SNES version, put in the amazing remix soundtrack by the 3D0 version, The performance capability of the Jaguar version, colored lighting of the PlayStation version, The unique and amazing box cover of the Saturn version, And get it first to mark it like the 32x version? That would have been the perfect Doom game back then. 😅
Yeah oh well. I feel they just were scrambling too hard to get something out there and as a result the quality suffered. I’m glad we have such amazing ports on modern systems.
Doom on SNES was cool for me in 1995 because I was 13, had never gotten to play it, didn't have a PC. But it really only made sense to rent it for a weekend. People just renting the game doesn't really translate to a profitable release for the developer considering that cart was extremely expensive to produce and Nintendo made their licensees eat all the upfront costs.
That’s why a lot of games were made stupid hard on purpose. So you couldn’t beat it in a rental. Lion King comes to mind.
I actually had no idea there was an SNES version, I just remember the watered down N64 version, which was not a port, but a different game altogether and disappointing in other respects. In any event, really fascinating to hear about this history, just incredible that dude was able to get it to work on the system. Doom was so formative in my middle school years (shareware for the win), so I really enjoyed this video!
Thanks man! I knew you’d like a Doom vid. Also Doom 64 is one of my favourite N64 games. Maybe it was disappointing because it wasn’t the Doom we knew, but as a standalone game, it was amazing! You can buy it on Steam for $3.
Yeah still play it on PC every once in a while. Specifically a balls to the wall mod called Brutal Doom, honestly one of the funniest FPSs out today
Oh on that music, the PC version was designed around an SC-55, where it sounds far better than a Sound Blaster 16.... but it was entirely fair for you to use that as the example because let's face it, MOST of us had a Sound Blaster 16 or clone of one on our PC's at the time, NOT a super expensive external professional MIDI rig like the SC-55. I appreciate hearing it how it was originally intended to be heard, but that's not tickling my nostalgia so much as my desire for better quality, which well... that outweighs my nostalgia on this matter.
Hey you want another rabbit hole to jump down? Look at what crazy devices they've made Tetris run on. A soldering iron, a TV's settings menu, an entire building. On that last one, I don't mean they had it running on a giant screen outside the building. They literally used the building's lighting system to turn the lights on and off using each window to represent the blocks. MIT are crazy. Oh, also real life. Tetris without any electronics at all, just a human and a ramp with slow sliding blocks a player has to grab and arrange in lines as they go.
You know a bunch! Wish I could have ran a few things by you before shipping the video. I’m always trying to make sure I’m error-free and I thought I got original “as intended” PC Doom music.
Between this and RE2 on N64 I am amazed how they got made. Unbelievable achievement. Bravo!
RE2 on N64 is pure sorcery. I have NO clue how they got all spoken audio AND FMVs on the cartridge.
SNES and Jaguar versions hold a special place in my heart. SNES was the first version I saw and played.
I can imagine everything else seemed like a pretty significant step up!
Not worth adding today, but when you were 13 in the mid to late 1990s, with not many other options, it was DAMN sure worth adding to your collection. I also hate hearing about the upcoming re-release because at this point I have managed to find ways to make PC Doom more interesting, including mods where "lost levels" for the PSX Doom were made to happen, plus the ability to jump and duck in certain source ports like GZDoom. Doom is a whole gaming icon because it can be played on anything. Not well on certain platforms, but it can be played anywhere. I might actually be willing to see how to obtain the re-release just because it fills in a lot that was missing from the original, but in a world where Brutal Doom, the illegitimate love child of Doom and Mortal Kombat, exists, is it worth it?
I will buy it and I can’t even justify why I will. I just want it. I’m sure as hell going to play doom elsewhere if I want an enjoyable experience, so guess I’m just a Doom hoarder.
0:48 - 100% accurate. The first place I played PC Doom was at my 1st-grade friends' dad's house. I wore at least one of those 3 t-shirts, too.
I really hope that resonates with people because that’s exactly how I experienced it as well.
The one good thing about the chainsaw sound is like it going on and off. Imagine the thing going on and off inside a demon so that it wiggles accordingly. What a funny thought.
I think it just sounds weird because it uses sound channels that are being used by other sounds constantly so it gets all intermittent. I probably am wrong though.
Snes DOOM was the only way available for me to play the game at the time, I absolutely loved it!
I knew there were folks who had this experience! I know as a kid, I would have loved any chance to play Doom!
In all honesty? This port of DOOM is to this day still my all-time favorite console port, regardless of how superior some others/later ports are. Not something to play often, granted, but definitely something I can't find any reason to dislike, even with all of its flaws. And with the source code being made public a few years ago by its own creator, this port was made better by the community who released a couple patches that made some small but quite welcome improvements. Just recently I did a full playthrough of it on a livestream using two of those patches and it was great. One patch makes it possible to choose any episode on any difficulty and the other introduces circle strafing, I highly recommend.
Sounds like the kind of stuff they’re introducing in the new version coming out from Limited Run in 2025. I’ll be picking it up.
@@motrongames I wish I could do the same!
I love me some Super NES DOOM.
As a kid, you don't know any better and so you adapt. On top of that, it's the most "structural accurate" DOOM of the Era. All other ports were ports of the Jaguar version which had altered and subtly re-designed levels.
My plan is to get the upcoming re-master and just do a shell swap and having the red colored DOOM we should have always had!
It is the most structurally accurate yes! It’s weird how many versions spun off the Jaguar version. Gonna be wild playing some of those episode 4 levels on the SNES.
@@motrongames I feel many people don't realize that they're essentially playing all the same DOOM when they play on Jaguar or 3DO or PlayStation even GBA! All from the same base Jaguar port. But this new version is what I'm looking forward to most. By all accounts, It's Ultimate Doom in full! Which is mind blowing!
When the source code was release several years ago, I figured SOMEONE out there would break it down and create a PC Super NES "Total Conversion" as we've seen with many other versions of Doom (i.e. DOOM 64 and PlayStation DOOM) that had ALL content restored, but keeping that Super NES look.
I never expected that it'd be Randy Linden himself that would spearhead not simply the game in full, but still keep it to real Super NES hardware.
Great video, BTW!
I remember playing doom on snes when I was either 9 or 10 30 years ago it was awesome 😎 I never played it on pc until later in years I really liked it ❤❤❤❤!!!!
The Doom DNA is there and that DNA is awesome! Just fell short technically.
Dude the Seinfeld DOOM mashup is incredible. Phenomenal editing my friend.
Seinfeld with a splash of NES Paperboy.
Hahah thank you! I recorded it myself trying to match the sound of Seinfeld as closely as possible. Harder than it sounds! Glad it worked out.
I love your editing ability, or how do you call the way you paste animated things on screen while you explained the lore, history and structure of Doom.
Just.. Doom musics rock!!
The way tha game uses his tracks is just throwing them as a background..
in a game without dialogues or a story is difficult to put emphasis on a track.. but the fact that prople remember more othe jingles in gaming.. well, it is just for this lack of will or of "marketing" ability to make some of them stand out, not a quality issue.
Same thing in other games (like a Zelda or a Final Fantasy): usually the most popular tracks are the ones that the game makes stand out but at a rare more careful listener a lot of tracks got the same high quality.
Listening to the “as intended” soundtrack, it’s not bad. But I prefer the more moody and suspenseful songs, not so much the heavy metal knockoff songs.
Also thank you! I spend a lot of time on those animations so I’m happy to hear people like them!
Great production value for a channel with 1700 subs. Earned one more today.
Heyo! Thank you very much! Working my way up there slowly but surely thanks to folks like yourself!
Checking-back in on the credits song; still amazing, all these... days later.
Thanks man. Still thinking of how I could turn it into a video of some kind.
@@motrongames Check out the SNES Paperboy 2* game, because it's music sounds a lot like the Seinfeld music. I'm imagining Doom Guy as Paper Boy, and the monsters as the neighbors.
When the super Nintendo was current, I had a super Nintendo. I had no idea what doom is. I wish i did along with Wolfenstein on the super Nintendo back then. I would have loved it for the snes at the time. Playing doom on the snes now, it is way too pixilated. Enemies that are not too far away from you look like one pixel things. The Wolfenstein game on snes holds up a lot better.
I was a huge PC Wolfenstein fan and have yet to try the SNES version. The censorship just looks a bit too silly, plus the use of mode 7 to enlarge the screen, makes it look blurry. I’ll wait until Doom is out of my system before picking it up!
@@motrongames Right but i was pretty good for the snes (Wolfenstein) if it was the only way you play it not having a pc back then.
In 1996 as a 16bit console owner and not a PC owner. It was incredibly playable. You just played through any apparent flaws in games.
It is funny how much you get used to the flaws. I wasn’t even thinking of them when I was an hour into playing.
I played a lot of DOOM on the PSX, but SNES? I could not get in to it. But it was near perfect on PSX. Did a lot of system link, whatever they called it. Two TV's, two playstations, and a wire.
That sounds like a sweet “no school tomorrow” night with the buds.
For me yes: stil got this game on snes and done full run back in day.
Even got Doom on GBA
I sold my boxed copies of Doom and Doom II on GBA and I gotta say I kind of regret it.
I loved Snes Doom. The fact enemies were always facing you was tough.
Especially on nightmare difficulty!
But what about the Wolfenstein 3D port for the snes?
Haven’t played it! But I heard it was rough (and very censored).
@@motrongames yes but it has a god mode cheat
This was the only way i could play it back in the day. Graphics didn't actually look as bad on a CRT
I don’t have the motivation to go all-in with CRT TVs unfortunately. And there’s no way to accurately capture them for these videos either. Would be awesome though.
In order for the music on the PC version to sounds good you need to use an SC55 synthesizer.
That’s what folks are saying, but the average PC gamer had a sound blaster back then.
@@motrongames Most gamers also played doom with only the keybored, but no one plays it like that anymore. Play the games in the best way you can.
11:52 - The FPS boost between SNES and PC doom is immediately apparent in this sequence. My gosh, it’s a slide-show on SNES, compared to running on a PC.
Yeah! And the recent remasters in current consoles are even better with widescreen and an even better framerate. And let’s not even talk about all the other unofficial mods this game has seen.
I enjoyed Doom on the SNES back in the 90s before getting a PC copy from a friend. I still play it for shits and giggles. It's not good, but playable. In some regards, I like the music more on it.
I’m just glad it existed. And having a sweet boxed copy with the art and everything is nice.
If you look at it from the perspective of someone who was in no position to buy hardware to get a better version of Doom, this was just fine. Plus it had all the boss encounters and most of the levels the Jaguar, 3DO and 32X ports were missing.
I remember putting up with quite a bit when I was kid. I probably wouldn’t have minded this port.
Seinfeld DOOM music at the end was brilliant lmao
Hahah was really looking to make people go “wtf is wrong with this guy” with that one.
@@motrongames your channel rules! Discovered it last night and watched every single one of your reviews. Best SNES reviews on TH-cam imo.
@@jamesbanks1845 you’re too kind! Glad to have you on board! 😎👉👉
Releasing "soon" is a massive under statement. Remember this is Limited Run. It takes them years to ship anything.
I’m one step ahead of you. The only way this video will be out of date is if the game actually gets shipped, which, won’t be for seven hundred million years.
@@motrongames , yes, it could be a Duke Nukem Forever or Star Citizen scenario, but it could also be a legitimately good remake of the game as well.
*Correction:* Map wad done solely by using MODE7! no fancy magic on this one...
I suppose so eh? I know super FX can do some additional scaling that mode 7 cant, but I think it’s like, stretching and stuff (like in the Yoshis island clip I included).
I've been playing a lot of old console ports of doom and actually quite liked SNES doom. Yeah, it has issues but ultimately is fun to play.
A real wide variety of opinions on this topic that’s for sure!
are you running this on og hardware? The chainsaw definitely didn't sound like that in my version.
Yup original hardware!
I loved this game. It has flows but for me it was enough. Today we have tons or ports, but in the 90s when I had a SNES but not a PC with DooM this was fine.
Yeah I feel that was the case for a lot of folks. You did get a whole lot of it, as flawed as it is!
One of the best video game reviews I've seen on the internet.
Thank you! I appreciate your view and your comment! 😎
I remember when Doom launched and how bad I wanted it. At the time, I had a Sega Genesis/Sega CD and Snes. I really wish ID and Sega made an SVP powered Genesis port of Doom. It would have run and looked better on the Genesis (with the SVP), and people would have gladly spent 100 dollars for it.
Addendum- It's also a shame Doom was rushed for the 32X. Just like the fixed version of Doom for the Snes, there is a huge fan fix for the 32X. It not only sounds perfect, but it plays in full screen, has all the levels intact, and now includes Doom 2. I believe it also has the complex geometry that was taken out as well...
Yup Sega was so focussed on beating Nintendo to market that they released an underpowered Doom. Too bad! Could have been a system seller.
@@motrongames
Absolutely!
Did you just try this in an emulator, or on a real console with a CRT? I suspect a lot of the resolution issues become moot with the limited resolution of TVs, and mayyyyybe the input lag issue is an emulator bug?
Nope this is the OG cart, albeit upscaled and converted with a Retrotink. I do all my snes reviews with it and there’s normal input lag. Doom is just a laggy game.
This was a great version for the mid 90s. Didn't age well, sure, but if you didn't have a PC or wanted to play on your TV you were good.
Gotta take what you can get in 1995. The Kex engine Doom that’s out now is amazing. Just tell your younger self to wait 30 years haha
@@motrongames I rented this a couple times back then and was happy to play it even if I wanted it on the PC. All we could do at the time was the shareware since it was hard to convince my parents to do the mail in order over the convenience of buying at the store. The first time my brother and I finally got to see Shores of Hell/Inferno and the Plasma Gun was through the SNES. Zero regrets. Just glad Doom still kicks ass 30 years later.
Thanks for the Spidermind brother...it wasn't wasted time.
I appreciate you appreciating it 😎👉👉
Jokes on you, I'm going to buy Doom for the SNES specifically because I want this version. Despite your silly reasoning against buying a incredible port with peak gameplay. I also plan to buy the new limited run version that is coming out soon. Lol.
Hey man go for it! Don’t let me get in the way of a good time!
Yes I can't wait for the limited run, one. But will they make a pal cart? My snes is pal if they don't I'm gonna have to buy a ntsc snes and a special power brick for back here in blighty.
@@XrisD147It would be nice if they did make a PAL version. (I have a feeling they won't) I'm pretty sure Randy did say, however that the FX pak pro would be able to play it, which probably means a rom release, and maybe a PAL version?
Back in the day it was an absolute belter, nobody could afford a PC and when I finally tried ‘proper’ DOOM I was more annoyed by the beepy sound than the rich kids were by our slo-res
I bet the PC kids were jealous of our sick SNES exclusives though. Until their rich parents bought them Super Nintendos.
John Romero said id had to make Doom on the SNES, they had to learn the software and code everything and it only took them 3 weeks
That was Wolfenstein
Yup Doom was a whole different team (mainly one guy) and he had a bit more time.
Despite the Rocket Launcher being a bit of a gamble in this port of Doom, it's ironically STRONGER than the PC version of the Rocket Launcher, though whether it was designed to make things easier for SNES/NSFC Doom players to play, or because Randy Linden thought that throwing a bone to the obviously downgraded port of Doom by giving people a stronger Rocket Launcher in this port of the game was a good idea, we may never know the answer to that question.
I heard the rocket splash is bigger because they didn’t have the specs of the original rocket launcher and just kind of freestyled it (and were off by a pretty large margin).
That end Seinfeld track is fantastic! Where is that from??
I made it!
In 1994, I created "Darkhell" and "Blakhell", two full episodes (18 maps) for Doom1. The custom maps are what made D1 & D2 a timeless treasure. The SNES is not meant for FPS style games (even like "Starfox"), and I'd never recommend it for such programs. Instead, just grab an old laptop, install D1, download hundreds of exemplary custom maps, and you're G2G.
Awesome! So cool having an OG map designer in the comments. I believe the new Doom + Doom 2 game that got released has support for custom maps, which is what people were asking for. I’m gonna check to see if any of your maps are there!
@@motrongames Right on. :) I honestly have no idea where they are specifically, but I am 100% certain that they're "out there" because people have streamed or uploaded their playthroughs (mostly speedruns, it seems) of Darkhell and some of Blakhell over the years. One gent did Darkhell blind more recently and really enjoyed the creativity of all nine.
Also, people could just email me and I'd be happy to send 'em the two full episodes. My daughter has actually been enjoyin' 'em, LOL!
Doom on SNES is so good lol. Amazing that it runs, and it's honestly not that bad.
You should pick up the new version that’s coming out next year. Looks like even more or a miracle
I know you complained a lot and didn't recommend the game but even then this review was STILL charitable. There is literally no reason to ever consider playing this version of the game. There's no console version with playing except MAYBE the psx version and even that's being nice. The Seinfeld remix at the end is legendary!
Hahah I had to give it points just because it’s Doom! I think I was a little charitable with the gameplay, but like I mentioned in the video, if you play it enough, you get used to the crappiness and are able to work despite it. I’m glad you like the song at the end! Haha
Playing and completing snes D00M on nightmare, then, completing it again on nightmare IS like going thru Hell literally. Trust me.
I can’t imagine. At least the enemies didn’t respawn!
If only the SNES mouse was compatible with this game..
I was thinking the same thing, but then like, with the latency and framerate, it may have been a disaster. I’m sure it was considered and likely scrapped for that reason.
@@motrongames Yeah pretty sure you're right about that!
It was, the only problem was it didn't work at the same time with a controller. You had to move the mouse forward to move forward.
Ouch.
That framerate. 😅
I am used to play Doom on PC in Full HD at 144 FPS.
Do you even notice a difference over 60?
@@motrongames I see a difference from 60 FPS to 120 FPS.
But not from 120 FPS to 144 FPS.
I did, but when I saw it on PS1 I was in awe.
I dunno but I still think Doom looks good.
ya know, under normal circumstances, id be all for giving a detailed history and run over of the mechanics for a game that'll be 30 years old (next year) since you never know who might be unfamiliar with the topic....but considering this is DOOM were talking about, i'm pretty sure the Gen Alpha's in your audience know what DOOM is and don't need the hand hold and are just waiting to find out when the glory kills start happening in this version XD
Well, if they’re expecting glory kills in old school Doom, maybe they do need to be taken back to the drawing board.
11:36 Giving Imp’s voices LoL 😆
I’d like to think they’re working a shift and the Doom guy happened to come through at 4:45pm on a Friday and they’re like “gaaahhh!!!”
Love Doom but hated this port. Got it for Christmas and after playing some I wanted to save my progress..... HOW the hell was there no save option ????
The cart was probably expensive enough to manufacture with the super FX chip. Adding a save battery would have added even more to the cost.
Honestly, I've always thought this was one of the better ports of the time simply because they actually managed to get it to work as well as it did on a system that was absolutely never designed for it....
The other ports had their own issues.. Some argueably worse than most of the issues with the SNES version...
We wouldn't get a seriously great port until PS1, for good reason..
It was the outlier port. A few folks pointed out that it has more complex levels than the others, which is hilarious. It also kept every weapon and item and almost every enemy.