How DOOM On The SNES Pushed The Hardware To Its Technical Limits

Nintendo thrives on the challenge. That or they like giving people a hard time.

Did anyone ever play SNES Doom against someone else online?

Ah, good times... no need for a clumsy 32X to play some "Doom" on the TV.

Now it's 2018 and we don't even need a TV at all!

WAIT! SuperScope could be used on it?

I still have the GBA version. I thought that was quite a good port. I never played the SNES version

The SNES Mouse? I had one, I wish I knew. You never get a manual when renting games

That cartridge looks amazing, shame I never owned a SNES or else it would have been a must for me to collect. I wish they would release the original Doom on the E-Shop, I have never played it and would love to be able to play a retro game like that portably.

@samuelvictor I didn't play it but I expect it was probably more than good enough for most console gamers to enjoy at the time. But, again, I didn't play it so I'm just going on what would seem to make sense to me. I might, however, go try it on an emulator right now just out of curiosity. . . .

Edit: So I just played it, and yeah, it's bordering on being so low framerate that it's nearly not worth playing at all (although this is via emulation, and it does use the FX chip, so there's a chance it maybe ran a tiny bit better on an actual SNES, which would def help. Any increase in framerate would help). But it is still playable--it's like if you were playing Doom online with some obvious lag, so you just have to slightly over/under compensate your turning constantly to not overshoot or undershoot where you want to aim--and I expect a lot of people probably enjoyed it just enough to look back on it with some fond memories.

DOOM was ported to the SNES in 1995 not 1993. I remember it well because it blew my 10 year old mind. At the time it felt like it ran brilliantly. Doesn't seem so good on the snes mini these days but maybe that's because of the ROM.

I wonder how well Doom snes will preform one the super nt. Does anybody know if it will really help the graphics and frame rate?

They did look at the SNES version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=784MUbDoLjQ

Spoiler alert: it's pretty bad.

Ok, I need that cartridge...

@Gerald is the gba version the same as the snes version. Same game I mean? I have gba version and enjoyed it

I opted for the PS1 version, certainly played that a lot. Don 't remember the year but must of been out aeound a similar time to the SNES version?

I never played Doom on the SNES, but It’s pretty impressive that it started as a solo project, but was still good enough to get support from the big boys to eventually land on a console.

Well done!

@sandman89 The GBA port is based on the Atari Jaguar port, which heavily modifies and removes levels from the original. The music in episode one is also out of order(i.e., e1m1 plays on e1m9, e1m2 plays on e1m1, etc.)in the GBA port.

Didn't know Doom SNES supported the SuperScope.
Though the SNES couldn't go online in 1993. It was 1995, when the third-party operated Xband modem and online network was released. (which only supported a handful of games since the network developed had to make per-game patches. I think Doom and Namco's fighting game WeaponLord were the only two games written to natively support the Xband.)

I hated Doom on the SNES, it just looked terrible. I remember wishing at the time they had made it top down, or something better optimised for the system.

It came out in 1995 on the SNES not 1993. But anyway, I don't care how bad this game appears to play today, for a SNES owner back in the day with no access to a PC or any of the 'next generation' consoles, this port was truly amazing. I played it to death, to the point where I 100% every level and completed it on the hardest difficulty setting.

This port easily has the best music of all the ports, including the original, and if I'm correct has the most levels of all the ports too, for the first 3 campaigns of the first game. Even more than the PS1 and Jaguar versions.

I have such fond memories of this I bought the SNES cart again a few months ago. It's really hard to play now to be honest, with that terrible frame rate and you can't turn and strafe at the same time. But I'm glad I've got it again for the memories alone. Also, I don't remember it looking like it has 'interference' over the screen when playing. Maybe I didn't notice it back in the day when playing via RF, or maybe I just have a duff cart.

I wonder if people complained that we were getting inferior ports of two year old games back then?

And here we are with anamazing port of Doom 2016 for the switch. I actually loved the gba port of doom as well. Wonder why no one talks about that game

@sandman89 I think they are different by just looking at Screen Shots. (It looks like the SNES version did not have texture mapped floors, where the GBA version does)

The only home console version I played was the 32X version which had a border and did not have all of the Levels (without looking it up I remember the 32X having only 15 levels).
The GBA version had all the levels (EDIT: or at least it had more levels that the 32X version) and did not have the border, and played just as good as the 32X version (but at the time, I was amazed that I was playing a game like doom on a small handrheld)

I used to work for Midway(Williams) and no they didn't use the largest available sized chip. It was the largest Midway cheapskated into allowing to be used. Same reason why there was no battery on it, cheaped out. And that 16bytes free is likely why without the x-band modem why you also had no level select either.

The game for what it is is fantastic, but because of skin flint tactics it was lesser than what it easily could have been. A simple growth to the next size chip would have allowed for stage/campaign select, even a password save if not battery, and also more than 1 (of 8 viewable angles on PC) direction for all enemies.

@sandman89 Just to add to what Sgt Jack put, but yes that game on GBA has out of order music and the Jag levels, but you'll find they did a great job on it, probably the best source material Jag port.

Look at this to see how close all versions of DOOM (1 and 2) are over time and platform it's amazing: https://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/524287-doom-1993/faqs/1774

Also if you or others missed out on GBA — DOOM2 is on there. That one is a PC port! Memory limit aside causing 1 huge level to be broken into 2 stages, the game is accurate other than green blood (like DOOM1 GBA and SNES share.) Be really amazed, look into that one. Best FPS period (Even if it is a port) on the GBA.

@impurekind everytime I've played it on an emulator I haven't enjoyed it or got very far yet back on the SNES I loved it and finished it. FX chip emulation is iffy at best due there being several variations. Even playing on the SNES mini it seems slower then I remember but it's been a long time. I may just seek out the SNES cart for a true comparison 😃

@carlos82 Interesting. And part of that could just be nostalgia, how you recall it, but it also fits in with what I was saying.

I enjoy the SNES port of Doom, for what it's worth. But only with my WiiU pro controller hooked up via 8BitDo's Bluetooth adapter. (That analog stick makes a difference, even if it's just a placebo.)

If you are hunting this cart down, get the Japanese version. It lets you pick any episode on any difficulty unlike the US version which gates them off for some odd reason.

Of all the versions of Doom I have tried over the years, this one was technically impressive (just one more impressive thing the 16-bit SNES did to stay competitive in a 32-bit world) but it has not aged well.

If you really want to play the original Doom, go visit GOG and buy it. The original version is still the best one, and you can find a dozen open sourced engines that add modern features to it.

It was good effort and decent result for the time. Definitely was not unplayable.

I seem to recall back in the day, a huge comparison in EGM about all the different versions. Jaguar had the most accurate, I believe. While the 3DO version had to be shrunk down to the size of a postage stamp in order to get a decent framerate.

I do recall the SNES music being somewhat better than the PC version. But I recently went back to check it out and I might have just been a dumb kid Cause the framerate on the SNES was really bad. The music though was still good.

Doom is a bad example of the capabilities of any 16-bit console. The game has always been favored on the PC for a good reason.

While many people crap on the SNES port of Doom, they forgot that unlike the GBA version it actually is more faithful to the PC original and is a complete uncensored version unlike Wolfenstein 3D for SNES and Doom for GBA (which was based more on the Jaguar version).

Digital Foundry does a good video on this. The short version is, the port isn't great, but the fact that it runs is where the technical achievement is.

More levels?
Did they have to omit some of the levels from the PC version?

Where was Iwata when they needed him??!

@tanookisuit Doom II GBA looks much better than the first one, but feels completely off, imo. It runs on a different engine made by Torus Games instead of the Doom engine, and either the porting process or the engine itself butchered how movement feels in that game.

Yes it does run on that engine, but the content is intact which you can't say for any other non-PC version of Doom before you got those android/(hacked) ios source ports after the fact. They did an amazing job squeezing that in there. I think it controls fine but it's more just a comfort issue of the GBA limitations. Also aware of the engine, which ran Ice Nine(terrible game due to odd objectives) and the stunning pseudo-sequel to Duke Nukem 3D(DOS) with Duke Nukem Advanced. Second best FPS on the hardware.

The controls, in my OPINION, don’t work as well. I’m just not used to it.

I'd be interested in trying Doom using a SuperScope.

@tanookisuit PS1 Doom pretty much had the entire Doom (Jaguar modification for levels) and Doom 2 plus a bunch of custom maps on it. It pretty much ran better also.

Doom64 was a much better version although the levels were specially designed to take advantage of the engine built for that version.

That Amiga version of Dragon's Lair was pretty impressive.

@Darknyht Oh I know. SNES was only tops in trying to accurately recreate just the stage layouts of the original 3 episode title. The PS1 release was the best overall console release until the time the BFG Doom3 dropped as it just ran the original games.

Doom64 though is beyond comparison. So many are confused or dismissive over the stupid title to think it's just DOOM on N64, but no it's a 100% unique game just for the N64 and an amazing one at that. The guys who did Turok1 and 2 for PC cut their teeth originally converting the DOOM64 game to the PC. DOOM64EX look it up. It scoops the necessary data from the N64 ROM file, then drops it into their app to run on PC or other formats, awesome.

@samuelvictor Totally disagree, me and my brother played this game for hundreds of hours and discovered every last secret. In 93' when it came out i ha dnever played Doom on anything else nor did i own a PC to possibly do so. WE never looked at it and thought that it was choppy or pixelated, we thought it was like V.R, stepping into a first hand battle. It was amazing.

The only way to play Doom in the 90s was on a PC, as simple as that.

@samuelvictor It's cool. I didn't take your comment as though it was meant in any disparaging way. It was taken as a statement of your true and personal experience with the game. I was just curious as to how objectively accurate it might be, and especially when considered in the context of this kind of game being released on a home console back at that time, and indeed the expectations of the time.

I had doom on the snes back in the day
It was ok good to see it run on the snes
But it was not great the picture quality was very bad the monsters and stage had very bad pixels the monsters was very hard to see at a distance just blended in the the scenery
But the fact it ran on the snes was great

@Leon-mirage A lot of the consoles ran in low detail mode which made it easier for them to process everything by doubling the vertical pixels. There is a digital foundry episode comparing the various console Doom ports that will give you the full technical details if you are interested.

Yeah be great to check it out
All though it had its issues it was still great in its time

@impurekind I actually own a copy ($20 wooo) and for a SNES port it is BOSS! I think your emulator might be off a bit because I had no issues with the frame rate (it would had been 15fps which is not bad considering even the N64 had a hard time with 30fps)

EDIT: It was the NTSC version so I cannot comment on the PAL version.