Why didn't they release all 21 levels for the Xbox?

[mkfanatic]

Does anybody know why they didn't put all 21 levels from Master Levels of Doom II on the Xbox version? I'm sure it can handle all the levels. I'm kind of disappointed seeing how I'm a console gamer and not really a pc gamer. I really want to play every Doom game and levels on a console. They only put 18 of the levels on the Xbox version. Also, I would love to play all the Final Doom levels on a console too. The Playstation version was so extremely limited and there are so many levels they left out. I would love to play all these levels on a console but anyways, back to my initial question, does anybody know why?

[wildweasel]

The sad truth is probably that they wanted to make sure that sales of the PC Doom Collector's Edition didn't drop. From what I can tell, they didn't put the Final Doom levels on the XBox version either.

[Doom_user]

Paradox and Minos were both in the Playstation Master Levels so it seems rather peculiar that they aren't in the XBox version. Mephisto wasn't in either, but this may explain why.

http://www.cultmovies.dk/mlfaq102.htm said:

Mephisto.wad (Mephisto's Maosoleum) by Sverre Andre Kvernmo "Cranium"

This is basically a variant on DOOM II MAP30, only more difficult.

[Doom_user]

To delve further into this subject, does anyone know why the console versions tend to lack so many of the original levels?

The Jaguar version, which I believe was the first console port, was missing 5 of the original levels. I presume Tower Of Babel and Warrens were removed because of the Cyberdemons and Dis was removed because of the Spider Mastermind. What I can't figure out is why Hell Keep and Slough Of Despair were removed, it seems if they were too large they could have been simplified like the 22 levels that were kept. The first 3 episodes of the Playstation version came from the Jaguar version, which is probably why there's the same problem of simplified/missing levels, with the exception of Tower Of Babel. What I can't figure out is why 4 of the Episode 4 levels, 9 of the Doom 2 levels, 8 of The Master Levels, 21 of the TNT Evilution levels, and 26 of The Plutonia Experiment levels aren't included. Are these levels too large and complex for the Playstation to handle or were the developers just too lazy?

[Doom_user]

WildWeasel said:

The sad truth is probably that they wanted to make sure that sales of the PC Doom Collector's Edition didn't drop. From what I can tell, they didn't put the Final Doom levels on the XBox version either.

The PC Doom Collector's Edition doesn't include the Master Levels.

[Sporku]

Doom_user said:

To delve further into this subject, does anyone know why the console versions tend to lack so many of the original levels?

The Jaguar version, which I believe was the first console port, was missing 5 of the original levels. I presume Tower Of Babel and Warrens were removed because of the Cyberdemons and Dis was removed because of the Spider Mastermind. What I can't figure out is why Hell Keep and Slough Of Despair were removed, it seems if they were too large they could have been simplified like the 22 levels that were kept. The first 3 episodes of the Playstation version came from the Jaguar version, which is probably why there's the same problem of simplified/missing levels, with the exception of Tower Of Babel. What I can't figure out is why 4 of the Episode 4 levels, 9 of the Doom 2 levels, 8 of The Master Levels, 21 of the TNT Evilution levels, and 26 of The Plutonia Experiment levels aren't included. Are these levels too large and complex for the Playstation to handle or were the developers just too lazy?

Well, it's just my personal opinion that Hell Keep and Slough of Despair just weren't very good maps to begin with. The replacement for Hell Keep in Jaguar/PSXDoom is of much higher quality. While a lot of the levels were majorly simplified, they also underwent texturing changes, which I believe make the maps look much better (especially the e2/e3 maps).

As far as removing maps goes, I'm pretty sure they were removed because they either weren't up to par, or ran too slow on the system. If you play PSXDoom's equivelant to E4M2 (not sure exactly which map number it is), that map already has quite a large performance drop, so I imagine some of the other levels in Episode 4 would have been much worse.

[Combustable]

Okay, well heres a good one for you. Why do the 'secret' levels in the Xbox Doom 3 limited edition 'Classic Doom' extra, suck so much? First, they hide these special extra levels in a place where no one would find them. Theres no switch, you're just supposed to press on a random wall in E1M1 of Doom, and a DOOR FRAME in Map02. Once you get to them, they suck majorly. The first one was made up of mostly one texture rooms, seemingly random design, with huge, boring mazes that don't really go anywhere, and misalligned textures. The second is mostly just a bunch of square rooms with a small teleporter maze-ish section, and slime for floors.

People are quite easy to toss around "such and such sucks ass", but this is the first time I am completely conviced that these are BAD maps. I'd almost think they did it on purpose.

[Sporku]

Why they added these levels is beyond me, and I'm pretty sure they just grabbed a couple of random levels off that Maximum Doom CD that came with the Master Levels, and tossed them in there.

[Koko Ricky]

I've never understood why Doom runs so sluggish on console systems, specifically the Playstation. The playstation can handle complex, fully 3-D, huge environments at 24-30 frames per second, but a 2-and-a-half-D game runs at about 15 fps, and is missing the interpolation of the PC version.

[Udderdude]

GoatLord said:

I've never understood why Doom runs so sluggish on console systems, specifically the Playstation. The playstation can handle complex, fully 3-D, huge environments at 24-30 frames per second, but a 2-and-a-half-D game runs at about 15 fps, and is missing the interpolation of the PC version.

Doom PSX was a first gen title. It wasn't really known how to get the most out of the system. If you hired Square to do a port of Doom to PSX, they would do a much better job. Of course, it'll never happen.