The 90s had a large amount of videogames that revolutionized the industry. Great examples would be Super Mario 64, Need for Speed, and Half Life. But none made a more profound impact than DOOM. When it hit shelves back in 1993, gamers had never seen anything like it. Sure they got a taste of the FPS genre with Wolfenstein 3D, but that was nowhere near as ground breaking as this. The game was such a success that it outsold Windows 95 and capitalized the once obscure ID Software into a juggernaut. Soon, developers saw the popularity of the game and decided to reach as many people as possible. This led to DOOM being ported on every system at the time. This included the Atari Jaguar, the Sega 32x, the Panasonic 3DO, the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation, and the Gameboy Advance. But out of all ports, none were as good as the PC version. And out of the entire pile, the worst was on the Super Nintendo. For some reason, Williams thought up the bright idea to port DOOM on the SNES and the final result was a disaster. Let’s see why.


Graphics – 3


DOOM on the SNES suffers from a mix of flaws, but the biggest problem that the SNES version suffers from is the graphics. It’s a heaping mess. The stages and monsters are too blurry to see unless you are standing right in front of them and the movement on your character and enemies is stiff and choppy. The sad thing is that the Super Nintendo simply wasn’t capable of producing graphics for a game like DOOM. The hardware was too limited and primitive. Despite the horrendous blur, the game’s models and levels still show a sign of effort albeit a mixed one. The monsters, levels, and weapons look just like they did on the original PC version. But as I mentioned, everything is too blurry to see unless it’s right in front of you. And that’s the biggest flaw any game can suffer. Even the Sega 32x and Atari Jaguar, horrible systems nonetheless, were capable of showcasing fluent graphics for a game like DOOM. Which is why it gets a 3/10 on the graphics department.



Sound – 8



Despite the many flaws that plague this version of DOOM, it did get a couple things right. For one, the SNES version has almost all of the levels from the original PC version. Another thing the SNES version got was its music and sounds. Dare I say it; it has the 3rd best sound after the 3DO and PC version. The music is perfect and gives you a perfect understanding of what the Super Nintendo was capable of. It was a MILLION times better than the 32x version. And it had every single theme that the original PC version had. It had everything from “At Doom’s Gate” to “Demons on the Prey”. The Super Nintendo’s take on the music has a different feel to it than the PC version. The original soundtrack was a tribute to heavy metal at the time. The SNES version had a more techno feel to it and sounded as if it were for something like Terminator or Robocop. The music is surprisingly well done, which is why it gets an 8/10.



Addictiveness – 3



When it comes to DOOM, it’s one of the most addicting shooters to play. That is, on the PC. This port is nothing special. It’s not like Super Metroid or Castlevania IV where it’s an SNES exclusive, it’s DOOM; you can find superior ports of this game on other systems. If you want the best experience, get it on the PC. But if you must get DOOM on a console, get the PS1 version. With that said, this port suffers from a couple of problems aside from clunky controls and blurry graphics. Like the PC version, you have a choice of 5 difficulty settings; “I’m too young to die”, “Hey, not so rough”, “Hurt me plenty”, “Ultra Violence”, and “NIGHTMARE”. But there’s one problem; if you want to advance beyond the first episode, “Knee deep in the dead”, you need to be on the “Hurt me plenty” setting. If you do the first two difficulty settings, you don’t advance after the first episode. After beating the final level, it puts you back to the beginning.



Of course playing this for the first time, you wouldn’t know this. And why should you? None of the other ports did this. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue but this combined with the port’s clunky controls and blurry graphics makes it much more difficult than it should be. Then there’s the second problem. We can all agree that DOOM is a pretty long game with all three episodes. Well imagine if ID Software decided to not add a Save feature. That’s right; if you want to beat this game, you can only do it in one long sitting. I find this to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. Out of all the problems that this port suffers, this is the biggest one. Doom is a game that you play in multiple sittings. Imagine Metroid or Zelda without any save features; they’d be impossible. It’s because of this reason why I don’t like this particular port of DOOM. This, coupled with the difficulty settings, is why the addiction is a stale 3.



Story – 7



When it comes to DOOM, the story doesn’t really get in the way of gameplay. Not to mention, it’s only referenced after you’ve finished an episode. From what I’ve gathered from the brief references in the game, the story is rather eerie. A secret scientific research project known as the U.A.C. (Union Aerospace Corporation) has been studying the theory of teleportation in the planet Mars. The UAC was also successful at building bases in Mars’ two moons, Phobos and Deimos. However things go horribly wrong when a teleporter in testing malfunctions and opens a pathway into the Netherworld, or Hell. Desperate for help, the U.C.A. calls for a group of U.S. Marines to help stop this invasion. Things make a turn for the worst when all the Marines end up butchered by this army. All except one. This Marine is the last and only salvation left for Mars and the inhabitants of Earth. It’s up to him to stop further chaos and destruction, or die trying.

Now with that said, THAT IS A GOOD PLOT. The idea of you fighting on the surface of Mars and its two moons sounds interesting along with the history of U.A.C. It’s also nice how the Marine you play as doesn’t have a name. One of the game’s developers, John Romero, stated that the Marine is supposed to be the player as ID Software felt that the character would make a more profound impact with players if he wasn’t a distinct person. Because of the overall idea, setup, and environment, this game gets a 7 for its story.



Depth – 7



I’d be lying if I said that DOOM lacked depth. And surprisingly, this port kept almost everything from the original game. It features all of the levels, has all of the weapons, and has all of the enemies with the exception of the specter. Because of this, the port has a great amount of depth; Williams was considerate enough to realize the point of DOOM; to kill as many enemies as possible with as many weapons as possible. The game starts you off with nothing but a pistol and your bare hands. But as you progress through the later stages, you acquire new weapons. You’ll be given the following weapons as you progress through the later stages: the chainsaw, shotgun, machine gun, rocket launcher, plasma rifle, and BFG 9000. Not to mention, you have all these enemies to take down. You have the zombie foot soldier, the shotgun soldier, the imp, the pinky demon, the lost soul, the Cacodemon, the Baron of Hell, the Cyber Demon, and the Spider Mastermind. However this port left a couple things out. For one thing, you can’t circle strafe. Also, because of hardware limitation monster infighting is impossible. There’s also little to no gore or satanic imagery as this subject matter didn’t fit Nintendo’s policy on its games. With that said, it’s good to see that most of the stuff from the game was kept in this port. Because of this, it gets a 7 for its depth.



Difficulty – 10



This port is, and remains the most difficult version of DOOM, but for all the wrong reasons. As I mentioned before, you can’t progress beyond the First Episode unless your difficulty is “Hurt Me plenty” or higher. This doesn’t help as the game also suffers clunky controls and blurry visuals. The game also has a terrible problem with the rocket launcher. Regardless of how the state of the marine is, all it takes is one rocket to kill you. In the PC version, the Marine could sustain 1, 2, maybe 3 rockets if he had the maximum 200% percent health. But in the SNES version, you can have 200% health and still die after taking just one rocket. And it doesn’t even have to be that big of an impact. The rocket’s impact can barely touch you and it will still kill you. This makes it a real pain when facing something like the Cyber Demon when all it takes is one hit. Good luck trying to take down the Cyber Demon when it takes 40 rockets! Because of these unnecessary flaws, this game gets a full 10 for the difficulty.



Overall: 5.3/10 – A passing grade



When I first reviewed this game, I slacked off big time. I never explained the issues that plagued this port and never went to depth on it. As I finish this re-review my final verdict is: MEH. The game is by no means good, AT ALL. But at the same time, it’s amazing how ambitious this port of DOOM was. The SNES was the weakest out of all the systems at the time and yet Williams managed to make a game that was somewhat playable. This is by no means a good port; this is one of the worst versions of DOOM. But with that said, it was a no win outcome for the SNES. The system simply didn’t pack the punch that all the other systems had. But first impression wise, I was surprised at how well the SNES managed the textures, backgrounds, and enemies. Because of this, the SNES version of DOOM may be the most surprising out of all ports. With the Atari Jaguar, Sega 32x, PS1, and 3DO ports, it was expected for them to be just as fluent and good as the original PC version. But the SNES was only 16 bit and it’s the most complete port of DOOM. For what it is, it could have been far worse. Which is why I have to give it a pass. If you want a good port of DOOM then stay away from this one. But for what it is, I can appreciate it.