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Glisp

Doom 32X prototype ROMS

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And no, this is not a thread for downloading them as I'm not sure about how legal they actually are, since they are ROMS after all.

But anyway, back in February of 2008, a guy named drx released a massive amount of Genesis/Mega Drive, Gamecube, Sega 32X, and Mega CD/Sega CD prototypes. Among these were 16 builds of Doom 32X.

Yes, I know what you're thinking. "Farts and Zippers" version. Well, the earliest prototype is completely silent and the second one features a primitive (and possibly better) version of "At Doom's Gate.

The earliest two prototypes also use the PC textures and geometry before using the Jaguar layouts in builds after that. They were also fullscreen. Unfortunately, it causes performance problems as the game is kinda choppy at points. In addition, both of these protos cannot be completed because the game freezes after the level 5 end switch is pressed.

I've actually started a list of changes between the prototypes here on this Doomwiki page: http://doomwiki.org/wiki/Doom_32X_Development

There's also a screenshot gallery at the bottom of the page you can look at.

This list is far from done though I'm afraid. I still have to dig in more thoroughly. Of noting, there are actually four prototypes dated AFTER the release. Three of these go under the name "DOOM RR" whatever that means. These four have no noticable differences but some bugs may have been fixed. Needless to say, if this was a revision, SOA quickly canned the project.

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I'm in the middle of uploading a youtube video of the September 6th prototype so bear with me while it's uploading.

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There are actually remnants of the old textures in the final version's maps; E1M1's lowered sky ceiling for example. The Jag/32X version don't error out about missing textures.

I have to say, I'm glad they changed them. While some parts looked better using more variety, E1M1 is atrocious looking with STARGR2 being used everywhere. I loved the new texture themes E1M3 and E1M5 got in the final version, too.

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Glisp said:

And no, this is not a thread for downloading them as I'm not sure about how legal they actually are, since they are ROMS after all.

Then why call the thread "Doom 32X prototype ROMS", why not call it "Doom 32X prototypes"?

I've never had a 32X much less played that version of Doom, so what stands out for me are (a.) front-only enemy sprites a la SNES Doom, (b.) no depth cueing (darkening with distance). Other than that, hm, not too shabby!

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It looks like the hex numbers in the video are:

Tic #
Current weapon ammo
Weapon bob?
Current health
Current armor

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I'm guessing they could have mostly had the level designs be intact (Except maybe E1M6 would have to be toned down since it apparently caused memory crashes) had they had enough time to do it since I'm guessing 32X Carts had more memory than the Jaguar version. Hell, the 32X version doesn't even have a legitimate way to get the BFG9000 (You have to cheat to get it) even though it's clearly fully functional. They probably could have even included the Spider Mastermind and Cyberdemon if they wanted to. Combine that with the fact that someone actually managed to use 32X hardware to produce far better sounding Doom tracks and it all forms together to show that the problem wasn't the system, Sega shouldn't have pressured ID to rush it like that.

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MetroidJunkie said:

I'm guessing they could have mostly had the level designs be intact (Except maybe E1M6 would have to be toned down since it apparently caused memory crashes) had they had enough time to do it since I'm guessing 32X Carts had more memory than the Jaguar version. Hell, the 32X version doesn't even have a legitimate way to get the BFG9000 (You have to cheat to get it) even though it's clearly fully functional. They probably could have even included the Spider Mastermind and Cyberdemon if they wanted to. Combine that with the fact that someone actually managed to use 32X hardware to produce far better sounding Doom tracks and it all forms together to show that the problem wasn't the system, Sega shouldn't have pressured ID to rush it like that.

To be honest i never saw what was the idea behind the 32X. They already had the Saturn plus is quite unlikely that the 32x could even try to compete with the PSX..... And by the time 32x was out, the Snes had already won the war.....

I still wonder why they released Doom for the 32X and the Snes... Both were released way too late and playing with either the Snes controller or the Sega controller was not fun.

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In the end, it is/was, all about money which also may explain why Doom was ported to the SNes.
Btw, the amount of assembly code to get the Jaguar version running is tremendous - Carmack truly delivered.

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_bruce_ said:

In the end, it is/was, all about money which also may explain why Doom was ported to the SNes.
Btw, the amount of assembly code to get the Jaguar version running is tremendous - Carmack truly delivered.

No Argue with that.... But it did deliver money???
Two ports for two console that were dying in the case of Snes and were never a seller in the first place in the case of the 32X addon.

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Wild Dog said:

No Argue with that.... But it did deliver money???
Two ports for two console that were dying in the case of Snes and were never a seller in the first place in the case of the 32X addon.


The Doom name was a HUGE draw back then - even if the product failed to make much money in the end... the "marketing folks" surely had dollar signs in their eyes when deciding to put hell in a cartridge... bragging rights may have had a part in this.

My guess is that the Jaguar version was more of a "luckier" deal, as at the times the "64 bit monster" was most likely seen as an interesting novelty(also Microsoft's "Talisman architecture" comes to mind).
This may have sucked in Carmack to take matters in his own hands and show the console's power...
after all being said and done the hype had vanished and an interesting oddity(both cartridge and source code) in the hands of Doom fans remained - and that's all that really matters.

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_bruce_ said:

In the end, it is/was, all about money which also may explain why Doom was ported to the SNes.
Btw, the amount of assembly code to get the Jaguar version running is tremendous - Carmack truly delivered.


At least they seemed to take their time with the SNES version, that was more hardware limitations than anything else. They didn't even have to censor the game because, by then, Nintendo quit caring about gore. Ironically, the blood on Doomguy's face pops out more in this version.

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MetroidJunkie said:

At least they seemed to take their time with the SNES version, that was more hardware limitations than anything else. They didn't even have to censor the game because, by then, Nintendo quit caring about gore. Ironically, the blood on Doomguy's face pops out more in this version.

It was since the collaboration and coming together to form the ESRB ratings that Nintendo started to chill a little bit after the whole Mortal Kombat censoring debate.

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Wild Dog said:

To be honest i never saw what was the idea behind the 32X. They already had the Saturn plus is quite unlikely that the 32x could even try to compete with the PSX..... And by the time 32x was out, the Snes had already won the war.....


Technically the Saturn had not been released yet in the United States. The rushed 32x was suggested as a response to the Jaguar, and Sega wanted something new on the shelves for 1994 holiday season. They obviously overstated the importance of the Jaguar and ended up undercutting their own consumers once again with another stupid add-on. But your response was on the mind of all the third party developers who had no interest in supporting this thing, they knew it had no future and the development kits were also allegedly terrible.

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