Let's talk about Enjay Doom for a goddamn minute

[Maximum Matt]

Okay, I finally had a proper run through NJDOOM2.wad by Nigel Rowand (reputedly one of the earliest fan-made megawads) the other day and, speaking as an amateur Doom wad archaeologist and Maximum Doom connoisseur, found this to be an incredibly impressive package. 
I had played many of these levels before as they'd been packaged in Max Doom as either single-level wads, as part of random wadpack collections, or even as previous iterations of Enjay Doom (NJDOOM12, NJKD1A2, NJ_SOH12), but by all accounts NJDOOM2 is the definitive version, and it is an incredible achievement as a fully-realized and rounded megawad circa '95.  It has a consistent theming of the sets of levels - starport, city maps, then hellish - has a noticeable yet gradual ramp up in difficulty as it goes along, it even has stuff like starts of levels resembling the ends of previous levels (the map12-14 sequence).  The variance in level design really grabs me, as most wadpacks made by a single author usually get old real fast as you begin to 'feel' their style. 
I mean, not to say you don't notice certain hallmarks of Enjay's style - his penchant for multiple paths to the same area starts to stick out like a sore thumb after a while for example, occasionally levels can get a bit too mazy for their own good, and overuse of slow-moving platforms and strobe-lit areas can grate from time to time. 
But as a bunch of levels that look good, are fun to play, and have no major technical issues, this is an incredible achievement from one guy (with a little bit of help from another guy).  The many highlights include:
* The striking 'white light pillar' room in map04;
* Possibly the best Dead Simple rip-off ever;
* The Kit-Kat-wafer-ass shaped prison on map13 (one seriously long hallway);
* The epic outside 'town' slaught section of map15; 
* the open 'sandbox' layout of map16;
* the stunning skylights and big canyon of map18 (one of the three made by co-conspirator Mark Matheson);
* the epic sewer of map19 (ditto);
* the real cool-looking bridge at the start of map21;
* the slaughty-ness of map26
Special mention has to go to the last two levels: 'Spinal Trap' (love the name) does what a penultimate Doom II level should do, and that's being goddamn epic.  I love how Enjay seems to have been inspired by Mark's sewer level, but made to look absolutely evil.  And 'The Icon's Brother' says it all - can't end a Doom II megawad any other way.  And yes, the levels have names, that are displayed in the intermission screen (one of the only times this happens in Max Doom).  The Wolf3d maps are here, by the way, still accessible through a secret exit in map15 (thank you), although curiously the second one is slightly edited to match the original 'escape to the outside' exit, very weird. 
So yeah, if you wanna stick your nose into some Maximum Doom, you can't do any better than this.  A full, professional-level megawad from '94, still playable and fun to this day.  Maximum Doom IS actually worth something.  

Edited January 18, 2020 by Maximum Matt : U, not I

[Redneckerz]

Having played through both NJDoom an NJDoom2, i can attest to this. Its a remarkable achievement, done in a time where doing maps was a lot different than how it is today.

 

And Enjay's maps aren't just one room one-offs or testings: They are proper levels that clearly deviate from id's own work.

 

NJDoom and its offsprings are the megawad OG's that inspired the whole megawad idea to begin with. If anything else, that is one heck of an achievement.

 

 

[Mystic 256]

I didn't even know about Enjay's Doom until this thread

I thought Memento Mori was the first megawad

 

Ill have to try Enjay's Doom and play through it

 

[Diabolución]

https://www.wad-archive.com/wad/f2e1b26f56c6fdf7cf83310ece45009b

https://doomshack.org/uploads/DM2NJ.ZIP

 

Full version, the one with the slightly edited Wolfenstein levels described by the OP. The one of /idgames lacks these levels.

[Phobus]

NJZDoom 2001 is a nice version of this that makes experimental use of early ZDoom features. I'd recommend it to see how he continued to evolve towards the master GZDoom craftsman he is today. 

[Optimus]

I have vague memories of playing a level or two of those, but maybe not in a megawad. Some levels are annoying but some are very fun for oldschool. I've just reached that altered wolfenstein grosse level and besides the exit there is one additional secret in the Cybie room.

[Ashley_Pomeroy]

On 1/18/2020 at 8:52 AM, Maximum Matt said:

* the open 'sandbox' layout of map16;

 

Playing it now - and it's generally good fun - that level in particular reminded me of Rise of the Triad. It has the same open-air-with-pillars design and I wonder which came first.

[Xeriphas1994]

On 1/18/2020 at 3:52 AM, Maximum Matt said:

if you wanna stick your nose into some Maximum Doom, you can't do any better than this.

 

Damning with faint praise. :>

 

My notes from Maximum Doom say that, while NJDOOM2's technical quality and thematics are indeed exceptional (especially for 1995), the second half seemed repetitive. Combat difficulty remained constant, pinkies and lost souls were everywhere, and UV provided far too much extra ammo. If indeed each map was originally released alone, then some of this is not the author's fault. With 20/20 hindsight, a distilled eight to twelve maps might have felt more focused.

[Maximum Matt]

On 1/22/2020 at 9:48 AM, Optimus said:

I've just reached that altered wolfenstein grosse level and besides the exit there is one additional secret in the Cybie room.

I just checked map 31 from this against the original, and the only differences are the exit rooms are square and not slightly angled.  Now that's some pedantry.  (Hold on, am I projecting??)

6 hours ago, Xeriphas1994 said:

My notes from Maximum Doom

Dude you should post them up on here!! 

[Kes Gaming YT]

On 1/18/2020 at 3:52 AM, Maximum Matt said:

found this to be an incredibly impressive package. 
 

*That's what she said

[Maximum Matt]

* slow clap

[Arrowhead]

Amen to that huge post! I loved NJDOOM2 when I first played through it.

 

This thread makes me want to burn through it again! :)

[Devalaous]

 

2 hours ago, Maximum Matt said:

* slow clap

 

Hey now, bad bump reason aside, I got reminded of another classic megawad to try. It all works out..I think.

 

On 1/19/2020 at 9:19 PM, Diabolución said:

https://www.wad-archive.com/wad/f2e1b26f56c6fdf7cf83310ece45009b

https://doomshack.org/uploads/DM2NJ.ZIP

 

Full version, the one with the slightly edited Wolfenstein levels described by the OP. The one of /idgames lacks these levels.

 

Thank you for this. I never grab censored/cut versions if possible.

[ReaperAA]

2 hours ago, Kes Gaming YT said:

*That's what she said

 

Btw Kes, since you are going to be playing N wads (and thus the NJDoom wad) soon, I recommend that instead of using NJDOOM12.wad, you should use the original NJDOOM.wad. Because from what I tested, NJDOOM12.wad is the same Doom 1 wad converted to Doom 2 and you know how conversions go (stuck monsters, softlocks etc.)

 

I also recommend to play NJDOOM.wad before NJDOOM2.wad (since NJDOOM2 was released later and is likely to be more polished)

[Wavy]

Bump of the century.

 

Well, skimming through the maps, they seem pretty high quality for an old 1994 WAD. Might give this a play.

Edited August 9, 2021 by Wavy : I can't English

[Devalaous]

how much of a difference is there between the Doom and Doom 2 versions and the ZDoom version? Kinda curious, but I dont want to play through it three times with a wad backlog as big as mine is

[Kes Gaming YT]

8 hours ago, ReaperAA said:

 

Btw Kes, since you are going to be playing N wads (and thus the NJDoom wad) soon, I recommend that instead of using NJDOOM12.wad, you should use the original NJDOOM.wad. Because from what I tested, NJDOOM12.wad is the same Doom 1 wad converted to Doom 2 and you know how conversions go (stuck monsters, softlocks etc.)

 

I also recommend to play NJDOOM.wad before NJDOOM2.wad (since NJDOOM2 was released later and is likely to be more polished)

Thanks for the recommendation, but I think I'll just stick to the crappy converted version.

[ReaperAA]

10 minutes ago, Kes Gaming YT said:

Thanks for the recommendation, but I think I'll just stick to the crappy converted version.

 

Me: *bangs head on wall*

[Nikoxenos]

10 hours ago, Kes Gaming YT said:

Thanks for the recommendation, but I think I'll just stick to the crappy converted version.

Truly a man of culture.

[Rudolph]

Just found out about this. Is there a way to play the mapset with GZDoom with the proper level names?

[P41R47]

16 minutes ago, Rudolph said:

Just found out about this. Is there a way to play the mapset with GZDoom with the proper level names?

NJDoom2.rar
Enjoy yourself, thats the story i wrote for it. With map names and so, too.

 

Here is a recommended Status Bar for it.

Crappy looking, but i found it really fitting for it, somehow.
https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/graphics/mystbar

Enjay Doom II should be on the top 100 for me.

One if the first complete replacement mapset and a hell of fun with a lot of things that would later be use to greater extents.
Here is the indepth review of it:

 

[Rudolph]

Thanks! You might want to proofread the new intermissions, though, as they have some typos.

[NiGHTMARE]

On 1/19/2020 at 7:43 AM, Mystic 256 said:

I thought Memento Mori was the first megawad

 

 

Just FYI Enjay Doom isn't the first megawad either, though it probably is the first with almost all maps being by a single creator.

 

There were several "compilation" megawads released even earlier, the most (in)famous of which may be NEWDOOM.wad:  https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom/m-o/newdoom

 

If you go by the definition of a megawad being anything with 15 or more levels, two of the authors of MM had themselves developed a megawad before MM, Obituary: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/m-o/obtic11

 

Edit: some more megawad that came out before MM (but not Enjay Doom)

 

The Abyss: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/levels/doom2/megawads/abyss24a

 

BF_Thud!: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=1248

 

Cleimos 2: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/?id=18135

Edited August 10, 2021 by NiGHTMARE

[Pechudin]

I played some last night, and TBH I don't understand what's so good about it. Looks very crude, even for its time.

[Rudolph]

6 hours ago, Pechudin said:

I played some last night, and TBH I don't understand what's so good about it. Looks very crude, even for its time.

Visually, yes, but the level design seems solid enough in terms of pacing and enemy and items placement.

 

Hopefully, someone remakes the mapset by updating the visuals.

[P41R47]

1 hour ago, Rudolph said:

Hopefully, someone remakes the mapset by updating the visuals.

Enjay Himsel did that for his Enjay ZDoom.

He is kinda low profile and don't make much buzz with every release, but he is a monster modder for zdoom base ports.

Waterlab GZD from 2017 was a runner up of the cacowards. Marvelous map.

There is a Thief crossover with Heretic made by him, and is excellent, too. Thief: Trail of the Arch-Heretic i think it was called. Amazing mod.
He is one of the oldest and still active mappers from when Doom just come out.

Edited August 10, 2021 by P41R47

[Rudolph]

So is it better to just skip NJDOOM2 and play Enjay Zdoom instead?

[P41R47]

On 8/10/2021 at 12:40 PM, Rudolph said:

So is it better to just skip NJDOOM2 and play Enjay Zdoom instead?

two different kind of monsters i would say.
can't compare them as they are different enough from each other

[Devalaous]

On 8/11/2021 at 3:40 AM, Rudolph said:

So is it better to just skip NJDOOM2 and play Enjay Zdoom instead?

 

I had a look at both, and the ZDoom version uses pretty different versions of the maps, the pyramid map for example, uses ZDoom specials to be an actual sloped pyramid, and theres animated skies and all sorts of changes. Basically youve got an old classic version, and a more modern version. A 'modern' version thats TWENTY years old x.x

[Pechudin]

Okay, I'll revise my opinion somewhat. The design is mostly corridors but the combat and layout of those corridors is pretty good. MAP16 even had a decent "dwelling area" feel.

 

EDIT: Even died a couple of times, and pistol start ammo balance is tight later on.