baja blast rd. Posted July 4, 2022 Found a neat thread but it got no responses, so I wanted to revive it without getting temp-banned for necro-bumping. >:) This time around, though, you can leave uncommentated lists. Or go 5-5-5-5 (or something) if you don't have enough for considered top tens in each decade. Just as a recap, here are the decade bounds: '90s (1990-1999*), '00s (2000-2009), '10s (2010-2019), '20s (2020-2022). A megawad has at least 15 maps, if you're using the term the way it's properly understood. *You might struggle to find anything eligible in the first few years of the '90s. EDIT: We're only a few years into the 2020s, but it already has heaps of good megawads out and only the entire 2010s beats it clearly in that way. If you haven't played enough recent wads, that's fine (also a good reason to not do any other decade). But "we're not far enough into the decade" by itself isn't an excuse to avoid it. Don't be a coward. :P 12 Share this post Link to post
FrancisT218 Posted July 4, 2022 (edited) I can't think of any 90s megawads I'm all that hot on, I can think of some from the 2000s and 2010s that would definitely be among the top ten (ordered by release date), some I've played and others I've seen plenty of streams or videos of. 2000s: Alien Vendetta Scythe Kama Sutra Scythe II Plutonia 2 2010s: Speed of DooM Going Down Valiant Sunlust Ancient Aliens Struggle Eviternity Lost Civilization 2020s: Haste Down the Drain (Are ones I feel have a fairly strong chance to hold up as being in my decadal top ten) I'm leaving the rest open for now, too many that I can't really decide between. 9 Share this post Link to post
Solmyr Posted July 4, 2022 (edited) I don't think i played enough megawads to fill up a complete top 10 ten list per decade, so the 90's list will be a top 5 instead, and 2020's will also be incomplete. Also i'll skip the 2020's period for consistency' sake, we're not even halfway trough this decade so far. Well, i didn't account for the sheer mapping output in the last 2-3 years so far which is greater than the previous decades, so i'll include it the 2020's period. [1994-1999] The Plutonia Experiment. TNT Evilution. Batman Doom. Requiem. Memento Mori. [2000-2009] Alien Vendetta. Scythe. Kama Sutra. Hell Revealed II. Ultimate Simplicity. Reverie. Whispers of Satan. Plutonia 2. Claustrophobia 1024 Doom 2 Reloaded. [2010-2019] Valiant. Going Down. Claustrophobia 1024 II. Back to Saturn X E1. Struggle: Antaresian Legacy. Epic 2. Eviternity. Beyond Reality. Hellbound. THT Threnody. [2020-2022] Rowdy Rudy's Revenge II: Powertrip. Haste. Doom 2 in Spain Only. Faithless; It's Heretic, but its the only actual megawad (to my knowledge) made for this IWAD, after Faithless, the closest Heretic pwad to the megawad definition so far i believe it's "Curse of D'sparil" with 12 or so levels. Ozonia. v64. Edited July 4, 2022 by Solmyr 6 Share this post Link to post
skillsaw Posted July 4, 2022 Just reading through the wiki page and checking them off, I have played through waaaaaaay more megawads than I would have guessed. Anyways, I struggled to fill up each decade, except the 2010s (which are impossibly stacked. I could easily name 15 or even 20 megawads that I really enjoyed). I expect the 2020s will be as tough to narrow down in a few more years, but, I haven't played as much, and the decade is only a quarter through). 1990s Doom II The Plutonia Experiment Cyberdreams STRAIN Doom II Extreme Gold (this is pure guilty pleasure) 2000s Alien Vendetta The Darkening: E2 Kama Sutra Scythe Scythe II Ultimate Simplicity 2010s Back to Saturn X: Episode 1 Back to Saturn X: Episode 2 D2TWID Eviternity Going Down Pirate Doom TNT: Revilution Speed of Doom Unholy Realms Japanese Community Project feel like I have to make an honorable mention to Sunlust, DTWID, No End in Sight, 50 Monsters, Bloodstain, 32-in-24-14, and Jenesis. Again, this decade is insanely stacked. 2020s Doom II: In Spain Only Tarnsman's Projectile Hell 10 Share this post Link to post
baja blast rd. Posted July 4, 2022 27 minutes ago, Solmyr said: Also i'll skip the 2020's period for consistency sake, we're not even halfway trough this decade so far. I actually included it for consistency's sake. Just by quantity of higher-effort releases, 2020-2022 is loaded. So people who've been playing lots of releases as they come out might easily find that one tighter than all but the '10s. 3 Share this post Link to post
Lorenz0 Posted July 4, 2022 2000s: Plutonia 2 Scythe Scythe 2 I'm pretty sure I liked quite a few wads from this time period, but it seems like these 3 are literally the only megawads I liked enough to put on a list like this. I'm just a normie who prefers modern maps. 2010s: Ancient Aliens Valiant Eviternity Skulldash Expanded Edition Exomoon Very stacked decade in terms of great wads. 2020s: Tarnsman's Projectile Hell Auger;Zenith Bourgeois Megawad Rowdy Rudy 2: Powertrip Skulltiverse Considering that I already have a decent top 5, this decade will most likely surpass the previous one for me. 5 Share this post Link to post
Firedust Posted July 4, 2022 (edited) Great topic! Feel that, with all the quality output we've already gotten this decade, we might have to split the 2020s into two separate periods xD Anyway, here's what my list looks like: 1990s -Ultimate Doom -Plutonia -Eternal Doom 2000s -Speed of Doom -Alien Vendetta -Plutonia 2 -Scythe -Scythe II -Kama Sutra -Community Chest 3 -2002: A Doom Odyssey 2010s -Going Down -Ancient Aliens -Valiant -Urania -Good Morning Phobos -Struggle -No End In Sight -Epic 2 -Nova 3 -Monti's Favillesco episodes - he actually released these as four separated episodes for UD without ever compiling them together, so I'm not sure if they count I also consider Avactor and Counterattack as eligible megawads - although they don't meet the criteria specified in the OP and hence they aren't included, but on average they take longer to complete than your usual vanilla 32-map pwad. 2020s For these I only picked insta-super-slamdunks, because we aren't that far into the decade. I can't believe how many awesome mapsets we got in the past 2 and a half years. Doom 2 In Spain Only Akeldama Cydonia Plutonia Revisited 2 Ozonia Edited July 4, 2022 by Firedust 6 Share this post Link to post
Budoka Posted July 4, 2022 (edited) Why do you people dig up my three year old posts.:-P Actually, I may or may not take this opportunity to rewrite my original post. Just not right this second, though. By the way, just to clarify my personal issue with uncommented lists, it's that they communicate so little in terms of specific information that I end up forgetting the entire contents of the list before I'm even done reading the very same list. It also gives me zero understanding of the motivation behind any of the person's choices unless I have some familiarity with said person's taste in WADs, and actually even in those cases my personal speculation is more likely to be wrong than right. It's like, formally speaking those lists answer the question, but when it comes down to it they essentially don't. That's how I see it at least. I've come to notice over time that most people tend to prefer surface level conversation over deeper analytical dives (excepting in specific situations and contexts), but as for me that kind of basic talk tends to make my brain literally not react. 4 Share this post Link to post
gabirupee Posted July 4, 2022 (edited) - 1990; Plutonia - 2000; Scythe 2 Scythe Community Chest 2 Claustrophobia 1024 Claustrophobia 1024 2: The Mystery of Too Many Maps Congestion 1024 - 2010; Speed of doom Sunlust Good morning phobos Struggle: Antaresian Legacy Slaughterfest 2012 - 2020; Cydonia Haste Auger zenith Unpopular opnion but aside from plutonia i dont enjoy 90s megawads, through there some gems in 90s :P Edited July 5, 2022 by gabirupee 4 Share this post Link to post
baja blast rd. Posted July 4, 2022 13 hours ago, Budoka said: Why do you people dig up my three year old posts.:-P Actually, I may or may not take this opportunity to rewrite my original post. Just not right this second, though. By the way, just to clarify my personal issue with uncommented lists, it's that they communicate so little in terms of specific information that I end up forgetting the entire contents of the list before I'm even done reading the very same list. It randomly showed up in a search I was doing for threads on a completely different topic. It's funny how unrelated the query was. Spoiling the rest because this is kind of long for something that is borderline off-topic. Spoiler 13 hours ago, Budoka said: It also gives me zero understanding of the motivation behind any of the person's choices unless I have some familiarity with said person's taste in WADs, and actually even in those cases my personal speculation is more likely to be wrong than right. It's like, formally speaking those lists answer the question, but when it comes down to it they essentially don't. I'm glad you said this! Something I've noticed is that sometimes people think they can identify a "common factor" in a list; I'd say they're often making a pretty big mistake of identifying a very weak correlator, when the truth is that preferences are often "disjoint" and that people usually like certain wads for very different reasons. I actually hope someone doe a thread on why that is a mistake. But idk, I still think they are very fun. 13 hours ago, Budoka said: That's how I see it at least. I've come to notice over time that most people tend to prefer surface level conversation over deeper analytical dives (excepting in specific situations and contexts), but as for me that kind of basic talk tends to make my brain literally not react. I think the preference actually runs the other way, even on casual websites. It's just that "surface convo" is absurdly easier to have than deeper analytical dives, by a huge amount, so it ends up greatly outnumbering it anyway. I've actually intentionally started a few "almost no one will reply to this thread because the effort barrier is so high" threads (one that even took me a month to reply to lmao), so I'm not really opposed to those. I think your original thread is fine. But it's fun to mix it up! One good approach is to leave the effort barrier low, but have a topic that is very conducive to further effort -- so 90% of people leave briefer responses but there are higher-effort walls of text too. 4 Share this post Link to post
LadyMistDragon Posted July 4, 2022 (edited) 90s (leaving out Final Doom because that would just be too easy 1. Memento Mori II 2. Eternal Doom 3.Requiem 4. Strain 5 Biowar 2000s 1. Alien Vendetta 2. Scythe 2 3. New Doom Community Project 4. Plutonia 2 5. The Ultimate Torment and Torture 6. Deus Vult 2 7. Kama Sutra 2010s 1. Ancient Aliens 2. Eviternity 3. Sunlust 4. Doom: The Way Id Did 5 Doom II: The Way Id Did 6. Japanese Community Project 7. Going Down 8. Back to Saturn X Episode 1 9 Hellbound 10. Lost Civiilzation 2020s 1. 180 Minutes Por Vivre 2. 1000 Lines Community Project 3 3. Skulltiverse 4. Rowdy Rudy's II 5. Haste 6. Doom 2 in Spain Only? 7. Judgment Unfortunately, I'm not as familiar with many of these as I'd like yet (why you don't see Epic 2 in the 2010s in other words) Edited July 6, 2022 by LadyMistDragon : Added some rather important wads 8 Share this post Link to post
roadworx Posted July 5, 2022 these are completely unordered '90s: - Memento Mori (i've grown to appreciate it more over the years...oh god, i'm becoming doomkid) - Memento Mori II - Obituary - Demonfear - Perdition's Gate - Plutonia - Icarus: Alien Vanguard (another one that i've grown to appreciate more) 2000s: - Alien Vendetta - Scythe 2 - Kama Sutra - Plutonia 2 - The Darkening: Episode 2 2010s: - Valiant - Eviternity - Going Down - 3 Heures d'agonie 3 - TNT: Revilution - Doom 404 - Bloodstain 2020s: - Doom 2 in Spain Only - Rowdy Rudy II - Vigor i really gotta play more 9 Share this post Link to post
Dusty_Rhodes Posted July 5, 2022 Ooooh I love talking about wads. 1990s When I first got into PWADs I kinda fell for the meme of only using GZDoom and only playing really crazy mods that were popular in the press or Doom's more casual Youtube audience. That changed when I saw some speedrunnning videos of the IWADs. Can't remember the videos, but they were using PrBoom+. The look of it piqued my interest and I dug deep into the source port rabbit hole and learned about exe hacks, Boom, MBF, ZDoom, DOSDoom, JDoom and the like. I made me really fascinated by the 90s era of online Dooming and what wads were like. For more traditional wads (ie non Zscript crazy mods) I got recommended some crazy hard stuff which kind of burned me a bit on modern levels. I knew there were other popular wads from back in the day, but I had no clue where to start. Well thank goodness for Doomwiki. I found the top 100 wads list and I love reading so I soaked it all in. Scythe had a kickass TITLEPIC and I liked the sound of small levels with nice visuals and a progressing difficulty (American McGee and Milo Casali maps were my favorite from the IWADs at the time. Still love them but Ty Halderman, Sandy Peterson, Dario Casali, and John Romero have grown on me a lot). I also heard of a wad called Demonfear, said to be a genesis of sorts for Scythe. I downloaded both, fired up PrBoom on complevel 2 and had a blast. I beat them both in one weekend back to back. I loved the styles and something about the aggressive combat. The story element of Demonfear also grabbed me and I really enjoyed the laid back narrative it played during the campaign. So I went looking for more 90s and 2000s content and never stopped. I'm even fascinated by shovelware, being one of the cofounders of the Pandora Club heh. Anyway, to the list: 1. Demonfear My absolute favorite of the 90s, Demonfear is authored entirely by Adam Windsor. It only uses vanilla assets, including music and textures. This makes it really approachable after playing Doom 2 a few times. The difficulty too is a nice step up from the IWADs. The handsome maps have pretty great balls to the wall action in them and none of them really take more than 15 minutes to beat (maybe less!). The first two levels are a bit unremarkable, but Map03, with it's slime ceiling, Doomcute gas station, and Archvile attacks sucks you into the wad. Other highlights include Map15, a Cyberdemon mini boss fight with the mandatory secret exit leading to two concept levels for Map31 and 31 (called Black Magic and White Magic if I'm remembering correctly). The two maps are mirrored but have different combat scenarios. Really creative and a great surprise when you play for the first time. I love this wad and never tire of playing it. 2. The Darkening More Adam Windsor! After playing Demonfear, I really wanted to play everything Mr. Windsor had touched. This is one of the best (I need to play Biowar though). The Darkening is a collaboration between Jan van Der Veken, the legendary Nightmare, John Bye, Travers Dunne, Adam Windsor, and Ukiro. Ukiro and Nightmare split the texture duties and that's one of the aspects that really sticks out. This wad still uses plenty of vanilla textures but also has a great set of new ones that mesh really well with the tech and city patches of Doom 2. To compliment the great visuals are solid layouts and surprisingly modern traps. Combat really is brutal (still easy over all but much harder than say The Crusher from Doom 2) for the time and the ambushes keep you on your feet. Hordes of hitscanners to blow through, a Spider Mastermind boss fight in Map03, popup Archviles, Chaingunner snipers, and many more refreshing fights fill up the 11 singleplayer levels. The layouts are really smooth. Doomguy really ricochets off the walls and into mobs. The secrets are gratifying to find and are well hidden. These aspects make The Darkening really fun to UVMAX. 3. Eternal Doom Quite different to the first two entries here, Eternal Doom blew me away on first playthrough. The levels are long, brooding, atmospheric, and incredibly creative. Scored by @rfnagel's excellent soundtrack, Eternal Guy makes his way through damaged spaceships, dark medieval castles, large open cities, dank dungeons, and more. This wad is really infamous for strange progression and strange difficulty spikes (Map17 is quite hard compared to Map29 and 30 which kind of lay down and die for you combat wise) but it's feeling is unmatched. I don't care if textures are stolen from Hexen, this wad is a work of art. I've never played any levels that give such an impossible feeling when walking through (shoutout to Gothic DM 1 for getting somewhat close). If you don't get what I'm talking about, turn down the lights and pistol start Map12: Darkdome. Really give it a chance and beat it. Such a lonely, mysterious level. It feels dead and alive, full of terror and beauty. The combat and atmosphere are beguiling and compelling, driving you further into this dark cathedral. Other maps feel like this most certainly, but Map12 is the peak of the wad if you ask me. Side note, the vanilla tricks and crazy amount of resources provided in the wad blow my mind for 1997. 4. Fava Beans I have a lot less to say about this wad (maybe doesn't count, just being an episode) but I love Fava Beans. It's so comfy and fun. Low impact, well made, not much more you could ask for. 5. Crusade Again, another episode, Crusade is an atmospheric nine levels that replace Thy Flesh Consumed. With textures and one midi taken from Gothic DM, Crusades attempts and succeeds to create it's own take on the style of The Ultimate Doom. The difficulty is much higher than non Episode 4 Doom as well. The author gives you barely enough ammo to survive and plants you in tight spaces with Barons and Imps. The lighting is really well done too, the shady corners and dark hallways compliment the orange sky amazingly well. Architecture is quite detailed as well, for Ultimate Doom the buildings and caves look really great. The mix of Gothic DM textures and vanilla Hell ones leads to a really tasteful look. Overall, really well done for 90s Doom 1 mapping with tight combat that lends itself to careful playing. Honorable Mention: Gothic DM Yeah, yeah, I know, it's infamous. I actually enjoy playing this in DM. I love looking at the levels and fragging buddies with plasma. This was one of the earlier wads I played and the music and textures really left an impression on me. It's equally entertaining to walk through in single player for me. Something's just enamoring to me. I'm going to revisit this thread in a bit and upload my favorite 2000s maps next. That's my favorite era so far, so expect a lot of writing heh 9 Share this post Link to post
Andromeda Posted July 5, 2022 From what I have played: '90s (1990-1999) STRAIN (1997) Hell Revealed (1997) Eternal Doom (1996) Requiem (1997) Realm of Chaos (1996) Obituary (1995) The Talosian Incident (1997) Memento Mori II (1996) Mars War (1998) Icarus: Alien Vanguard (1996) '00s (2000-2009) Plutonia 2 (2008) Alien Vendetta (2001) Kama Sutra (2005) Scythe 2 (2005) Community Chest (2003) Scythe (2003) Congestion 1024 (2005) Heroes' Tales (2009) Hell Revealed II (2003) Vile Flesh (2004) '10s (2010-2019) Sunlust (2015) Speed of Doom (2010) Newgothic Movement 2 (2017) Resurgence (2014) MAYhem 2016 (2016) ESP (2014) Urania (2016) Unholy Realms (2013) 50 Shades of Graytall (2015) A.L.T. (2012) '20s (2020-2022) Haste (2021) Uprising (2021) Micro Slaughter Community Project (2021) Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP (2020) Skulltiverse (2021) 1000 Lines 2 - Community Project (2020) MAYhem 2020 (2020) Zone 400 (2021) 180 Minutes Pour Vivre (2020) Judgment (2021) 12 Share this post Link to post
m8f Posted July 6, 2022 (edited) From here: 1990s: Hell Revealed Memento Mori Eternal Doom Memento Mori II Requiem The Plutonia Experiment STRAIN Icarus: Alien Vanguard Cyberdreams Dwango5 2000s: Alien Vendetta Scythe 2 Scythe Plutonia 2 Sunder Hell Revealed II Kama Sutra Congestion 1024 2002: A Doom Odyssey Revolution! 2010s: Ancient Aliens Valiant Sunlust Eviternity Back to Saturn X E1: Get Out of My Stations Going Down Speed of Doom Back to Saturn X E2: Tower in the Fountain of Sparks Resurgence TNT: Revilution 2020s: Rowdy Rudy II: POWERTRIP! Abandon AUGER ; ZENITH 180 Minutes Pour Vivre Faithless: Trilogy Haste Micro Slaughter Community Project Judgment Ozonia Running Late 2 Edited July 6, 2022 by m8f : fixed lists according to thread's megawad definition 5 Share this post Link to post
galileo31dos01 Posted July 6, 2022 (edited) 1990s. The Plutonia Experiment Memento Mori II STRAIN Requiem Hell to Pay Perdition's Gate TNT: Evilution Eternal Doom Realms of Chaos The World of DETH 2000s. Plutonia 2 Kama Sutra Scythe 2 Newdoom Community Project Alien Vendetta Garrulismo Scythe Armadosia Hell Revealed 2 Fragport 2010s. Ancient Aliens Resurgence Sunlust No End in Sight Back to Saturn X (E1-E2) Speed of Doom Lost Civilization Valiant Epic 2 NOVA II: New Dawn 2020s. Cydonia Uprising Judgment AUGER;ZENITH Vigor Doom 2 in Spain Only Skulltiverse 1000 Lines 2 Doom: Damnation Anomaly Report Honorable mentions, runner-ups and whatnot, because condensing the lists to just ten each is too tight for me: 90s. Memento Mori, Obituary 00s. Wonderful Doom, Scientist 2 10s. JPCP, Urania, Mutiny, Revilution, REKKR, Plutonia Revisited, 1000 Lines, Jenesis, Base Ganymede, 50 Monsters, Going Down, 3 Heures d'agonie II, Struggle, Mass Extinction, Sparta 2 - Project Vesuvius 20s. CPD, Boaty McBoatlord, The Long Trek Back Home, Demonic Destruction!, Hellevator, Three's a Crowd, A Doomer Boards Christmas Carol, Oops All Techbase, Switcheroom 2, Zone 400, Akeldama As you can see there is a lot of time in my hands so much more that would fit in the lists and I can't just not mention them -- even the '10s extras ended up being longer, that just says how bad I am at excluding, though also how rich that decade is in good eligible content. Edited July 8, 2022 by galileo31dos01 : had to add more, sorry it's not in my dna to have low count of favs!! 10 Share this post Link to post
Dubium Posted July 8, 2022 Sounds like a fun activity. But I don't think I have played enough megawads to list 10 wads per decade. Especially, for the 1990s and 2020s. So I guess I will go with 3-5-5-3. I will also provide a 1-3 sentence explanation of why I like each of them, just for fun :D 1990s - The Plutonia Experiment I just love how its sadistic usage of AVs and chaingunners. In fact, it greatly shapes my current mapping philosophy. - Icarus: Alien Vanguard It has some sci-fi maps that seem to be ahead of its time. - Hell Revealed I have only played some maps. But I'm interested in its history and how it influenced modern wads (similar to Plutonia) 2000s - Scythe 2 It has a great atmosphere and challenging combats towards the end. Its attention to environmental details is also ahead of its time. - Sunder It is the first wad that I had a hard time beating. I used to not play it often due to its extreme difficulty, but as time goes on, I gradually appreciate it. Now it's one of my favorite megawads. - Plutonia 2 A great sequel to Plutonia... And I already like the original Plutonia a lot - Kama Sutra It gives me a funny vibe due to its music, aesthetic, and random secrets at where you spawn-- but that's why it's memorable to me. It also has interesting doom cute stuff. - Community Chest 2 Due to The Mucus Flow (lmao) 2010s - Valiant Perhaps the first megawad I played that focuses on fast-paced gameplay. It successfully gave me a great first impression with its loud and fun fights - Eviternity I love its modern-looking maps with great layouts. A cool usage of OTEX textures. - Hellbound I'm impressed by how detailed the maps are even though they only use stock textures - Sunlust It has great combat designs and sick MIDIs. It feels influenced by Plutonia in terms of the usage of monsters - Back to Saturn X Episode 2 It has some great nature/temple maps which effectively use BTSX custom textures. It also has a few memorable MIDIs. 2020s - Haste Great difficult megawad with combat puzzle designs, seems to be professionally crafted. - Doom 2 in Spain Only Good design in general. I also love its humor about using google translate words in the map titles, the HUD, etc. - Judgment It has a great aesthetic, especially towards the end. To be honest, I usually don't like a lot of custom enemies and weapon modifications that much, but Judgment feels different for reasons that are hard to describe (This time, I actually like them) 3 Share this post Link to post
Thelokk Posted July 8, 2022 (edited) 1990s TNT: Evilution Eternal Doom 2000s Alien Vendetta Old Sunder Scythe Scythe 2 Tarakannik 2010s Doom Zero Sunlust BTSX e1 CChest 4 JPCP Tarakannik 3 DBP11 Interception Frog and Toad 2020s Ozonia Haste (wouldn't qualify if it wasn't for I_G's maps) Micro Slaughter CP Old Still Life Edited July 8, 2022 by Thelokk 5 Share this post Link to post
Noiser Posted July 11, 2022 (edited) There's too many wads to list, so I doubled the number to 20: 90's: Memento Mori II Perdition's Gate STRAIN Plutonia Dystopia 3 Requiem Eternal Doom Batman Doom Inferno series Cyberdreams Titan series Cabal series Odessa series Phobos\Earth Hell Revealed Memento Mori All Hell is Breaking Loose The Talosian Experiment Hell to Pay00's: Scythe 2 Scythe Vile Flesh Harmony Plutonia 2 Kama Sutra Whispers of Satan Action Doom 10's: Valiant REKKR Back to Saturn X 1-2 Sunlust Moonblood Speed of Doom Doom the Way id Did Doom 2 the Way id Did Khorus' Speedy Shit Estranged Ancient Aliens Baculus Reverie Unholy Realms No End in Sight Erkattäññe Doom Zero 20's: (too early to know and too much to remember already) Edited July 11, 2022 by Noiser 4 Share this post Link to post
