Favourite port [console version] of Doom?

[Tylerisepic1]

Mine is Doom 64 because it's like a whole new Doom experience.

The one that I like that is closest to doom is the Atari Jaguar version.

EDIT: Actually I like the PSX version better. No music doesn't do it for me.

[Xaser]

I don't think it's fair to call Doom 64 a "port." It's a whole new game in the series.

I guess that's somewhat pedantic though because if one used the language "favorite console version," it probably wouldn't have raised my eyebrow despite the two terms meaning the exact same thing. Either way, it's indeed interesting how different the console Doom games are from the original. PSX and 64 are the obvious outliers but even then you have strange things like Jagdoom's stripped-down levels, SNES Doom's lack of flats, 3D0 Doom's soundtrack, etc...

Basically Doom is great and cool and such.

[Marcaek]

If you're including source ports, I'd say Prboom+. I use it for literally everything that's Boom compatible.

As for console ports etc I'd say Doom 64, although the lack of multiplayer is super disappointing. I firmly believe that it would have been a contender vs games like Goldeneye or Perfect dark.

[joe-ilya]

GBA doom
Prboom+

[Waffenak]

I got hold of atari jaguar and working cd unit whit tons of boxed games last week but doom was not included . My fingers are itching to get hold of jaguar doom port. Formerly I have played playstation and n64 dooms and both were good but nothing groundbraking, ps1 doom had nice soundtrack and ran rather smoothly and n64 was completely new doom visually but gameplay mechanics were almost the same

[Blastfrog]

Waffenak said:

ps1 doom had nice soundtrack and ran rather smoothly

PSX Doom is a lot of things, but smooth isn't one of them. It only ran 15fps tops (hardcoded), and suffered from slowdown in detailed areas.

That said, I love PSX Doom just for the presentation. The colored lighting and Hodge's awesome sound really make the game, and the exclusive maps are neat too.

[Avoozl]

Doom 64 in first and PSX Doom in second.

[BaronOfStuff]

Sodaholic said:

PSX Doom is a lot of things, but smooth isn't one of them. It only ran 15fps tops (hardcoded), and suffered from slowdown in detailed areas.

Pretty sure I read somewhere in another topic that the renderer targets 30fps, but animation and logic tics were tied to 15 per second. This is why stuff like doors/platforms and thing movement will appear choppy, but the player movement can actually appear really smooth in less complex areas.

On topic: PSX Doom. I'm really liking Doom 64 as a game these days thanks to EX (because fuck that shitty N64 controller), but it'll never take the top spot. That oft-clumsy art style for one is just... bah.

Everything else is either objectively inferior or a straight port of the PC version.

Waffenak said:

I got hold of atari jaguar and working cd unit whit tons of boxed games last week but doom was not included . My fingers are itching to get hold of jaguar doom port.

Unless it's purely for the sake of just owning another version of the game (which is understandable), don't worry too much because you're not missing anything special. I got a Jag and a bunch of games for £40 almost ten years ago, and Doom was one of them. It's alright to play I suppose, but nothing to shout about. And then there's that fucking controller too! What is it with controllers being shitty for FPS?! Only the SNES/PlayStation layout seemed to be comfortable or have enough buttons!

[Avoozl]

Well I'd rather not put PSX top since it's just the original maps reduced and simply with added colour lighting, sharpened textures and reverb, I enjoyed the TC for it but not so much the original on the actual console.

I'd always put the original maps and games above, but because D64 is like an actual sequel I'd rather put it next after them rather than PSX Doom since it's only really the same games.

Doom 64's art style doesn't seem to bother me at all, and the renderer is far more clearer and not as reduced more than PC Doom's renderer like PSX Doom's renderer is.

I would go the same way for Quake 2, the original above especially since it has expansions, then Quake 2 64 since it feels like a squeal.

Having more of mostly the same in a lesser sense isn't enough for me to want to give it second place, I'd rather have something mostly new as second place.

[Deleted_Account]

My favorite console version of Doom has to be PSX Doom, the moody lighting and ambient music really make it stand out. I especially love Doom 64, I'm glad I can play it on PC. I'm probably one of the few people here who likes the monster designs. I discovered these versions after I first played the original PC Doom back in the day. On a side note, I love Doom 3do's soundtrack.

[Waffenak]

BaronOfStuff said:

Unless it's purely for the sake of just owning another version of the game (which is understandable), don't worry too much because you're not missing anything special. I got a Jag and a bunch of games for £40 almost ten years ago, and Doom was one of them. It's alright to play I suppose, but nothing to shout about. And then there's that fucking controller too! What is it with controllers being shitty for FPS?! Only the SNES/PlayStation layout seemed to be comfortable or have enough buttons!

Yes I'm DOOM collector but I also know the jaguar port of doom is less altered console port of the original doom for pc. Jaguar controller is big and clunky and before I had change to test it I feared it would be horrendous but after trying few games like cybermorph and tempest 2000 i didnt even notice the controller in my hand I was so immersed into gameworld. I have to get procontroller which is a little smoother around edges and includes few extra buttons and also jaguar catbox addon which adds few extra outputs to jaguar and other cool stuff. Wolfenstein 3d port on jaguar also looks nice. best port of wolfenstein 3d I have played was on panasonic 3do.

[Armaetus]

Doom 64 for its creepy atmosphere and music, the SNES version for its music as well.

[Doomkid]

Doom and Street Fighter were whored on many a video game street corner [aka home console] back in the day. Rather than decide on a favorite, here are my opinions of popular ports:

SNES Doom - Technically, amazing this game runs on a SNES. The gameplay lag and lack of circle strafing are real ball-busters though, making some encounters harder than they need to be.

32x Doom - An OK port, for an old console. All this is good for these days is listening to the very fucked up music and having a laugh.

GBA Doom - Pretty accurate and runs really smooth given it's on a damn gameboy. Feels very similar to the PSX version, but uses the classic SFX which I love and doesn't have colored lighting. The music isn't amazing, but it's passable.

GBA Doom 2 - Totally different engine than GBA D1. Feels ever so slightly wonky at times (Aiming at monsters has to be more precise than you'd expect) but again a great port and the music is way better this time around too, sounds like a great replica of the PC MIDIs. Also crafty ways in the settings to make the game run smoother, such as removing gradient lighting.

Doom 64 - Really interesting game, it was nice to finally see a half-sequel at this time. I prefer the sprites and sounds of classic Doom, but the dark atmosphere of these levels was great at the time. I really don't know why this wasn't released for PC with a few engine tricks added in, I guess they felt it was too primitive compared to Quake or somethin' like that?

PSX Doom - I never owned this one, but I always hated how the Doomguy's face is smushed up and sorta garbled on the HUD, The PS1 can do better than that! The colored lights would have been cool at the time as well, but I strongly prefer the original PC soundtrack and SFX. Nifty that it has all of D1 and D2, plus the new secrets as well.

I'm aware of other ports out there, but I've never played them or had first hand experience with them. Apparently some are really horrid, the 3D0 version had a tiny screen and the Jaguar or Saturn(?) version suffered from terrible slowdown all the time. Overall though, Doom seemed to get slightly better treatment when being ported than some games from that era did.. So many AWFUL versions of Street Fighter 2 out there during this era, holy crap.

[Maes]

Doomkid92 said:

Overall though, Doom seemed to get slightly better treatment when being ported than some games from that era did.. So many AWFUL versions of Street Fighter 2 out there during this era, holy crap.

This is due in no small part to the fact that Doom's source code was unusually highly portable -for a video game of its era, and well beyond it-, so it was relatively easy to port the game to other platforms while leaving most of the mechanics and gameplay intact, and even a good deal of the game data. Also, none of the platforms it was ported to required severe resolution or color depth compromises to the point of having to use different resources (actually, they all were capable of indexed 8-bit color, plus all had the capability of playing back multichannel digitized sound, and the ability to use about 4 MB of addressable memory space between RAM and ROM, if need be).

The only ports clearly diverging in look and/or feel, as you said, are the SNES and the GBA Doom 2 port, and in general any port which is based on a different engine or is a complete rewrite.

Compare that with the situation of games that started off on arcade machines, home computers or home consoles: each further port of the original was basically a more or less complete rewrite from the ground up, usually having only unportable assembly (!) code or just mechanics observation for reference, not a highly portable engine written in a high-level language and already neatly modularized. And let's not even speak about the graphics and sound: those almost always need to be retouched or redrawn by hand, in order to fit a different palette, lower color depth, lower resolution, inability to play back samples, smaller memory etc.

[scalliano]

A rundown of the versions I own (in order of acquisition):

32X: First version I ever owned. Enjoyed it at the time, but little more than a year after getting it my 32X crapped out permanently and it was consigned to the scrap heap. People rag on this version's music, but I still have a soft spot for its rendition of E1M5.

PSX: After my 32X went on strike, I got a Playstation and insisted that the first game I got was Doom. Was immediately blown away by the smoothness compared to the 32X and the overhauled audio. I maintain that this is the definitive console port.

N64: Actually liked the art direction, although I prefer the original visuals. Thoroughly enjoyed this version, although some parts did suffer from Nintendo Power syndrome.

SNES: Toss-up between this and the 32X version for weakest port. Glad I only paid a tenner for it as opposed to the £60 they were demanding at the time. Has many of the same issues as the 32X version plus a few of its own, but the SNES' PCM sound chip is what lifts the experience with renditions of the original music that actually surpasses the PC's MIDI's in places, even if the drummer needs to be sacked.

Saturn: A rushed, half-arsed hack-job of the PSX version with fewer features. Gone are the coloured sector lighting, Nightmare Spectre, translucency and half of the sountrack, replaced with an appalling framerate made even worse by the fact that I'm running it on a PAL system. Even Quake ran better on the Saturn.

Also have the numerous versions for more modern systems, but they don't count as they're basically direct ports (BFG Edition aside).

[TruGamingReloadedYT]

Even though I haven't played Doom on any other console except the modern consoles and PC, I would say that PS1,32X,and Jaguar look the best, despite some things here and there

[Flesh420]

PSX Doom. When I was younger I'd only played PC Doom. I went to a friend's house and the cover art ignited my imagination. Then I saw it and heard the 'music' and was instantly in love and a little bit frightened.

[Devalaous]

Avoozl said:

Doom 64 in first and PSX Doom in second.

Pretty much this.

[Five Magics]

PSX Doom, that colored lighting always made it scarier for me in most areas.

[Moktar]

PSX DOOM definitely, both DOOM & Final DOOM; I really loved how they made the game to look creepier with the colored lighting, I played it first time at my friend's house.

[Jayextee]

Doom 64. It's the only one that can really justify any of the dumb changes made.

In before 'something something inferior hardware'. :P

[vinnie245]

PSX Doom and Doom 64

[Koko Ricky]

It's hard to choose, it really is, but I think PSX Doom/Final Doom is the winner. I can't really describe how much difference it makes to have a dark ambient soundtrack, better sound effects and colored lighting. It singlehandedly transformed Doom's mood; the over-the-top action and 80s appeal became isolated, horrific desolation. Even the choppy framerate had an interesting psychological effect; in the original Doom, having everything fly by at 35fps made for a very frantic and hyperactive experience. The PSX cuts it by than half and as a result the movement is somewhere between classic film and the indistinct motion of remembered dreams.

Doom 64 didn't win out because it has a few issues that don't detract from the main gameplay but do add up. The limited RAM resulted in the omission of not only enemies but graphics that I feel are integral to the Doom experience. The art style, while competent, isn't as slick as the original. The lack of multiplayer on a system fully capable of handling it is also very unfortunate. That said, it would totally be the best console experience if the PSX versions didn't exist, because its atmosphere, map design, gratuitous violence and gothic aesthetics are not only unmatched on the N64, but can still chill one to the bone today.

[mrthejoshmon]

PSX without a single doubt.

Although I have been playing a lot of the XBLA versions (The XBLA releases have the Nazi's still intact, BFG does not and it acts weird in co-op)

[TheLazenby]

Doom 64 was and still remains my favorite "Doom" game to this day. I'm glad Doom 64 EX came around, because "Absolution" got on my nerves a bit.

As far as direct ports go, I'd probably pick SNES Doom for the nostalgia factor - for years before my cheapo family bought a respectable computer, that WAS Doom for me.

[Koko Ricky]

Man, SNES Doom must only be nostalgic to those who played it before any other versions. It's ugly, slow and enemies are one-sided. I just can't see the appeal. Then again, I played it more than a decade after first playing the PC version.

[Patrol1985]

TheLazenby said:

Doom 64 was and still remains my favorite "Doom" game to this day. I'm glad Doom 64 EX came around, because "Absolution" got on my nerves a bit.

Using the occasion I'd like to confess that I haven't played Doom64 yet. Assuming I'd like to experience it as it was originally meant to is Doom64 EX a good choice? Is it as close to the console version as, say, chocolate doom is to DOS ones? Or should I get an emulator?

[Tylerisepic1]

I tried Doom 64 EX, and it is the same as Doom 64 but on a PC. I'd recommend it.

[Torturephile]

Xaser said:

I don't think it's fair to call Doom 64 a "port." It's a whole new game in the series.

I agree.

Tylerisepic1 said:

I tried Doom 64 EX, and it is the same as Doom 64 but on a PC. I'd recommend it.

I also like that super sampling anti-aliasing works in it.

Back to the topic, the SNES port of Doom has always been my favorite. It introduced me to Doom in general, and I'm still impressed that the graphics in it are pretty good. I'm also fond of the iPod port of Doom, specially earlier versions before a recent update.

[William Blazkowicz]

I made a post about a favorite DooM port before. But I will have to go with XBLA Doom games. Partly because Doom II has No Rest for the Living.