Classic DOOM And DOOM II Receive Performance Improvements On Switch

Really nice to have old Doom games on Switch. I would like to be able to use some cheats I remember, like for getting all weapons, I had more fun that way

I am ready to buy these now.

I’m really not sure how Doom 1 and 2 got the green light when the music tracks were way off from the originals. Really mind boggling. Glad they’re fixing it, but it shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Makes me think it was rushed out the door or that they thought no one would notice, either way, it wasn’t a great launch out of the gate.

Glad they're fixing them. Guess I'll hold off until the patches go live. I don't replay games very often, so I want to have the optimal experience on my first go.

Great

Now how about a mode that removes the two borders by stretching the aspect ratio a bit.

Then we'll take Final Down in a nice PS1 style package please.

@brunojenso these are supposed to be recreations of the originals. If they made it wider, you’d be able to see more, and it would be a bit easier than the originals

I wish they'd add multiplayer on multiple Switches. I want to play Doom against my friends, but not on split screen!

So happy about this

Good news. I think it was already reported on here yesterday though? Or perhaps it was someone in the comment section.. Hopefully online multiplayer is in the works too but I'm not too confident,considering the low price.

@brunojenso I thought the aspect ratio had already been stretched from the original. I'm fine with it as it is but I recall some complaining that there was no 4:3 option.

That audio update is big, the slowed down tunes are just depressing in comparison to the originals.

But what about multi-screen multiplayer?

@Nintatious agreed. Local wireless play would be great. I would especially love it for Doom 3. It would be nice to play Doom 3 co-op with a friend via wireless play. Just like you can on the OG Xbox with system link.

@ALinkttPresent I mean by stretching the ratio of all pixels – not showing more field of view – which would require coding. Normally I'm no fan of stretched pixels at all but I already know Doom looks fantastic stretched to 16:9 and the original 4:3 looks weirdly squashed to me.

@OorWullie 'I thought the aspect ratio had already been stretched from the original'

Yeah I think your right – but it looks better to me than 4:3. I feel the same way about 4:3 looking better than pixel perfect with SNES games – but I suppose that's a different scenario. I guess a selection of screen options would be good. In general I love the ports btw.

Oh, boy! Spam comments have hit this site! 😕

@antonio2244

On Switch the cheats are available from the menu screen.

@antonio2244 cheats can be enabled in the menu...

Game for 90s computers gets update that almost makes it runs a smoothly as it did. On 90s computers.

Ok.

Yay?

Good news, I'll pick them up as soon as the patches will go live. Unless it's in Zelda or Dragon Quest week of course, then they'll have to wait

@brunojenso Are you nuts? The image is already stretched and jacked up as is. The developers who handled these ports just plain suck. Source ports like GZDoom can run the games 16:9 with no alteration to the image perfectly, along with adding in tons of other enhancements/features to boot. If Bethesda had truly cared, they would have had some really skilled developers port the games using the GZDoom engine and also included the ability to download and run all the countless amazing fan created WADs, oh, and also included online play for death match and co-op. I would have thrown down 20 bucks a game for something like that. But alas, at least they are fixing some of the major issues with these ports.

@antonio2244 ,

All the cheat modes are built into the game I think.

I’ve been enjoying playing Doom I again. It has an arcade vibe to it, I have to say i’ve never actually played it with music on. Dunno what it is but I like the eerie silence. It also helps me remember where those secret doors are.

Doom 3? I downloaded it last night and gave it a spin, but I dunno. I think I need to give it more time. Too much fluff.

Good, I'm looking forward to it. I really hope DOOM 64 releases soon also. With the ratings popping up for it, you know it's coming.

I'm hoping we also get Final Doom and No Rest for the Living.

Doom Ultimate (PS3) >>>>> Doom 1 & 2 (Switch). Seriously, Switch deserves better, particularly when better exists on both PS3 and 360.

Still crossing my fingers for a gyro-controls update arriving unannounced. :E

Adding in DOOM 64 for free as an apology to fans!

*Yea right lol

Waiting for all the patches. Glad I held off.

I really like the look of this, Vietdoom. The chances of it ever coming to Switch once it's finished are probably slim to none though.

@vio I'm not nuts thank you very much, and the image looks fine to me. I like clean pixels without any crappy filters, and this version gives just that. Like I said normal I don't like stretching pixels, even when said pixels retain their sharpness, but with Doom it works. We have different tastes. I'm not sure what you mean by 'jacked up' though. Is that a term for bad compression or else something that happens to badly pixel processed pixel art?

I'm aware of GZdoom, Chocolate Doom, Crispy Doom and many others. Personally, whilst these are amazing pieces of coding, they often over-extend the pure experience of the source game and introduce many unwished for complications and additions that Doom doesn't need (for me that is - and you milage clearly varies).

They have their place, I'm glad they exist, and I'm very gratefully to such kind open-source devs. I use them, especially for things such as the incredible Castlevania mod. I don't care for a million different mods but some are too well done to ignore.

But there is also a place for a streamlined official port with just the right amount of options (which isn't quite the right amount at the moment).

@BarefootBowser
That’s only a issue when the game is poorly documented and lacks the source code which isn’t the case with Doom. Source ports have gotten around this and some use interpolation to give everything smooth movement while not breaking the hardcoded 35fps game logic.

Are they going to also fix the freaking freeze issue that happens to me every goddamned time I wake the console from sleep?

Also, appreciate the optional login, but that login window should go away completely and be a menu option instead. Everytime I start the game while in the train each day, it tries to connect to a network, have to wait for the scan to finish, cancel that, go down to the "cancel" or "skip" button (don't remember how it's called), and then click and access the main menu... that is beyond ridiculous. Fix that mess please before working on "performance improvements".

@Realnoize 'Are they going to also fix the freaking freeze issue that happens to me every goddamned time I wake the console from sleep?'

That's true, I've had that problem quite a bit.

@Realnoize Freezing?

The issue I've had before is that when you put the Switch into sleep mode, it would disconnect the log in with BethesdaNet. Meaning that when you turn the system back on to play it again, ti would pop up this window every 5-30 seconds about having to reconnect, even though you could only do that from the title screen, and not in game. But I haven't seen that since the update that removed the mandatory sign in, and you can just play it without interruptions even if you lose a connection.

These games were released pretty much out of nowhere, right? Why didn't they just fix up these issues and then shadow drop them? Word of mouth can hurt sales, especially for a game that's better on every other system.

@brunojenso Sorry, I wasn't implying you were literally nuts. LOL. It's just an expression. To address what I'm talking about with the aspect ratio/stretched image, please watch The Digital Foundry video and skip to 3:45 where they talk about it. You will see and understand exactly what I'm talking about. I can't stand it, so much so that I stopped playing Doom 2 because of it and the slowed down music.

@vio No problem Good video and I understand the issue now. Maybe it'll start to bother me when I go back. I've noticed this effect on games trying to fit to low-res screens such as Bittboys – or how horrible NES classic games looked on GBA, but with a Switch and it's nearly 240ppi screen I thought it'd be a non-issue. I'll probably notice it now

Does anyone know if you can turn off head bobbing in the Doom 1 & 2 on Switch?

I'm crossing my fingers for 60fps. It would be my favorite split screen shooter on Switch at that smoothness! Even if they just lock it down to a perfectly even rate at 30 or 35fps or whatever it is supposed to run at that would be much appreciated.

Limited Physical CE to celebrate!

Once they are fixed i may consider buying them until then nah

Wow, you'd think devs would be actually smart and fix these issues before release.

It's kinda sad that DOOM, of all things, needed to be fixed twice now...
ID really needs a new mother company... ZeniMax/Bethesda is an absolute dumpster fire...

@NESlover85 Never buy based on promises. Developer/Publisher promises may never get fulfilled. Wait until they actually do release these updates

@vio
Watching the video and seeing all the messups they managed to do on the porting I was involuntarily laughing in disbelief. How the hell can a "professional team" make this kind of mess and release it lol.

@mario-64 Good point. Not really something I need right this minute.

Still love these games and was happy to fork over the reasonable asking price for them, perfect or not.

@DTfeartheBEARD Yep - it just seems crazy to me that this is not included. But its the same for loads of games. I'm sitting in the living room with my son, we both have Switches with Doom, the wife's watching TV. But we cannot play with a screen each...It's really really odd.

@Nintatious While it does suck that the original doom trilogy doesn't support local wireless play, there are still plenty of other switch games that do. Trust me I have 2 switches and I buy 2 copies of each game that supports local wireless. I even got my girlfriend to buy a Switch and we play games together all the time next to eachother on our own screen. If you want any suggestions for games you can play with your son. I'll gladly help out.

@SepticLemon

Yes, freezing. Everytime I put the system to sleep, when I get back to it, the game is completely frozen, and no amount of button presses of any kind can get it working again. The only thing that work is the home button, which brings me back to the Switch interface, where I can close the game and start it again. And this happens whether or not the system has access to the net.

This is the first time I encounter such a poor port of a game on the Switch, with bugs like these, and annoying log in screen that ends up looking for a network while offline, and while I'm not picky enough to worry about the performance issues as some others do, the fact it has those as well is just insulting for the consumers.

Even for a low-price port of an old game, this is completely innacceptable. It is baffling that this actually got past any kind of serious testing before being released. I actually think it didn't get any.

@DTfeartheBEARD That would be very helpful. Thank you!

I'll be ready to buy these once they're fixed and I'm glad they're fixing them, but I can't believe the games released in this state to begin with.

Still looking forward to Doom Eternal though.

@DTfeartheBEARD It would be awesome to hear what multi-screen 2 player games you would recommend!

@Nintatious Sure 😁.

Resident Evil Revelations collection
Diablo 3 Eternal collection
Dragon ball fighterZ
Dragon ball Xenoverse 2
Mario kart 8 deluxe
Mario tennis aces
Marvel ultimate Alliance 3 the black order
Mortal kombat 11
Monster hunter generations ultimate
Payday 2
Red faction Guerilla Remarstered
Street fighter 30th anniversary collection
Ultra Street fighter 2- the final challengers
Super Bomberman r
Super Mario maker 2
Super Smash bros ultimate
Team Sonic racing
Windjammers
NBA 2k18, 19, 20
Overcooked 2
Saints row the 3rd

@DTfeartheBEARD Thanks for taking the time to do that - really helpful!

@antonio2244 there is a menu in game called cheats...

Maybe they decided to use the cut firm 3do/jaguar levels 'cause the switch can't handle the original ones. :B

Seriously, how do you achieve bad performance on doom ports? I can effin run doom on my old Sansa Clip zip mp3 player.

Cya
Raziel-chan

Was disappointed by the port, with the borked lighting and audio, as well as requiring online

Glad they listened to everyone and fixed these issues, especially the lighting and audio

@Razzy These ports use Unity engine, for whatever reason.

Which is really weird, thinking about it.

From what I understand though, Unity is just being used as a "wrapper" so to speak.

Nothing for Doom 3? The framerate could use more consistency.

anyone knows if the patch fixes the freezing issues when waking up the system from sleep? It is insane that this isn't yet fixed.

Also, get rid of that splash screen asking me to log in. Even if you can select "cancel", you have to go down to the cancel button, and doing so pops up a "connect to a network" if you're not online. And doing most of my playing in the train ride everyday (offline), this is annoying as hell.

Fix those issues (freezing and nagging popup automatically starting the find network screen). Make the goddamned game work as a proper game should first, THEN, get on with improving the performance. Priorities, folks. Priorities.

Ok, improving performance of an 25 yo game. It needed a 386 pc in the past... Strange times...

Relieved I didn't have to login to slayers.net to read this update.

Excellent! My wife tells me my Neon Red Joy-Con has arrived back from the Nintendo UK Repair Team today, as good as new... I hope!

I shall download this update realllll soon. :V

Ok, now I'll get them!

Really wanted DOOM on Physical cart.

Unique skins? All I see are color swaps. What is this the SNES?

What about fixing their incorrect aspect ratio?

It's about time.

@Giygas_95 Buddy, they announced 64s release date a little while ago: https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2019/09/bethesda_brings_hell_to_switch_this_november_with_the_release_of_doom_64

Wooooo! Fingers crossed for Final Doom too!

Edit: Sorry. Just realized this was an updated post. Lol.

@PhilKenSebben Heh, I was about to say...

Originally this update was all about the forced sign-on. now they've changed it to be about the graphics. I refuse to buy it until they cancel the forced sign up, there's too much of that garbage on the net, to begin with.

Forced sign on is also fixed

@Atariboy @brunojenso @OorWullie : I am not sure what people are talking about when they complain about the aspect ratio. I am somewhat of a videophile and I'm sure that after 20+ years of playing the original DOOM games that I would have noticed if something was amiss.

After a bit of research, the original DOOM games (in DOS) were rendered at 320x200 (which is 16:10 aspect ratio, which explains the presence of slight bars on the sides in order to preserve the aspect ratio of the original DOS games). The same technique was used for the Switch port of Commander Keen in Keen Dreams (also developed by the iD Software team back in the day) which has black bars on the sides of the image to preserve the original 16:10 aspect ratio due to the native 320x200 rendering of the software.

I have played GDoom recently and was immediately struck by the warped dimensions of the in-game sprites, so perhaps those who have spent a lot of time playing the classics in such a manner have perhaps have a distorted view of how the game is supposed to look. I have mostly played the DOS versions of DOOM, so I cannot really see much that is consistent with the DOOM that I had grown up with (though I have experienced the odd visual bug that is idiosyncratic to the port itself).

Black bars will appear on the sides of the image when playing the original DOOM games on DosBOX as well, which is the version that these console ports are trying to replicate (albeit with mixed success).

Can we get Final DOOM on Switch too, please?

Also, the option to use touch controls (or pause) to swap weapons would be very useful as it takes too long to switch weapons in the higher difficulties (in the original games, you simply pressed 1-7 to alternate between weapons).

Not sure why it took them this long to fix these issues.

My interest in these games has gone. Maybe it'll pick back up when Doom Eternal is available.

@tendonerd The 'unique skins' are for the new game, Doom Eternal.

@Silly_G Good to know. I only played the 32X Doom back in the day which I assume will have been 4:3. The Switch ports look fine to me though, I actually appreciate the wider aspect ratio so even if they had vene stretched slightly it looks good enough to me. Like you said though, that's how the originals looked anyway.

@SyFyTy Forced sign-on was fixed in a patch ages ago.

When i First saw it I thought it would be unfair sense the grahpics..

@Silly_G You clearly did not watch the Digital Foundry video I linked here. I suggest you watch the video.

I don't really understand how you've been playing these games for 20+ years and don't see the problem. I am also an old man(39) who played the games when they were brand new back in the early 90s.

@Silly_G The DOS originals are not 16:10. Not sure where you dreamed that up from an era years before 16:10 computer monitors even existed. The games were developed with the intention of filling a 4:3 computer monitor.