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Doom 64
Developer(s)	Midway Games
Publisher(s)	Midway Games
Release date(s)	April 1, 1997
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (M)
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Media	64Mbit Cartridge

Doom 64 is a video game for the Nintendo 64 released by Midway Games in 1997. It is part of the Doom first-person shooter video game series.

The plot focuses on events following the original games in the series. An evil entity known as the Mother Demon has survived and brought back the decaying dead creatures you once killed. It's up to you, the lone space marine, to stop the legions once again. Though the game is part of the Doom series, it has not always been accepted as part of the official Doom canon.

Contents 1 Story 2 Gameplay Developments 3 Weapons 4 Maps 5 Computer Conversion 6 Trivia 7 External links

Quoted from the Doom 64 manual:

"Your fatigue was enormous, the price for encountering pure evil. Hell was a place no mortal was meant to experience. Stupid military doctors: their tests and treatments, were of little help. In the end, what did it matter - it was all classified and sealed. The nightmares continued. Demons, so many Demons; relentless, pouring through.

Far Away...

The planetary policy was clear. An absolute quarantine was guaranteed by apocalyptic levels of radiation. The empty dark corridors stand motionless, abandoned. The installations sealed.

The Present...

A long forgotten relay satellite barely executing, decayed by years of bombarding neutrons, activates and sends its final message to Earth. The satellites message was horrific, from the planetary void there came energy signatures unlike anything sampled before.

The classified archives are opened. The military episodes code named "DOOM" were not actually completed. A single entity with vast rejuvenation powers, masked by the extreme radiation levels, escaped detection. In its crippled state, it systematically altered decaying dead carnage back into corrupted living tissue.

The mutations are devastating. The Demons have returned even stronger and more vicious than before. As the only experienced survivor of the DOOM episode, your commission is re-activated. Your assignment is clear: MERCILESS EXTERMINATION."

Enhancements were made to the computer Doom engine for use in Doom 64, and gameplay elements were altered to increase the sense of fear evoked in the player, making Hell a much more frightening place. Doom's core gameplay, however remained the same: the exploration of demon-infested corridors, looking for keycards, switches and ultimately the map's exit while surviving deadly traps and ambushes.

Key differences from the computer games in the series include:

• 32 exclusive new levels.
• New, larger sprites for all enemies, items, weapons and projectiles which were texture-filtered when close to the player to prevent pixelation.
• No Commandos, Arch-Viles, Spider Masterminds or Revenants (removed due to the limited storage capacity of Nintendo 64 cartridges).
• All new textures, scrolling skies, room-over-room architecture, and custom scripting.
• Tripwire booby traps, from darts to homing fireballs.
• Eerie synth ambient music tracks (instead of MIDI rock music)
• More ambivalent usage of Satanic imagery (inverted pentagrams, inverted crosses, depictions of sacrifice) than the computer version of Doom with differing usages of horror schemes. This makes the game have more of a Lovecraftian or Quake feel.
• More advanced atmospheric colored lighting and effects.
• Re-designed weapons that act more devastating than previous installments of the game series (realistic jostling movements when firing the weapons are also present, including being knocked back a few inches from a fired rocket)

All the weapons from the original computer game are present (Fist, Chainsaw, Pistol, Shotgun, Super Shotgun, Chaingun, Rocket Launcher, Plasma Rifle, and BFG 9000), but redrawn with new sprites (the chainsaw was given two blades instead of one, and the shotgun's reloading cock at the handle instead of under the barrel). A new weapon known as the Laser (referenced in-game as "What the !@#%* is this!") or the Unmaker has been added. It was first mentioned in the Doom Bible and was planned to be featured in the computer Doom games but never appeared. Its appearance in Doom 64 is its only official appearance, and with the power of three ancient artifacts found in the game it becomes more powerful by shooting three laser beams instead of one.

Doom 64 featured 32 original levels:

MAP01: Staging Area MAP02: The Terraformer MAP03: Main Engineering MAP04: Holding Area MAP05: Tech Center MAP06: Alpha Quadrant MAP07: Research Lab MAP08: Final Outpost MAP09: Even Simpler MAP10: The Bleeding MAP11: Terror Core MAP12: Altar Of Pain MAP13: Dark Citadel MAP14: Eye Of The Storm MAP15: Dark Entries MAP16: Blood Keep

MAP17: Watch Your Step MAP18: Spawned Fear MAP19: The Spiral MAP20: Breakdown MAP21: Pitfalls MAP22: Burnt Offerings MAP23: Unholy Temple MAP24: No Escape MAP25: Cat And Mouse MAP26: Hardcore MAP27: Playground MAP28: The Absolution MAP29: Outpost Omega MAP30: The Lair MAP31: In The Void MAP32: Hectic

Since the release of the Doom source code for the computer games, programmers have created feature-enhanced versions of the computer Doom game in their own source ports. Several fans of Doom 64 decided to work to convert the game's exclusive content to the computer using jDoom, generally considered the most advanced of the source ports. The add-on, titled "Doom 64: Absolution" is available for download and features the new graphics and maps of the Nintendo 64 game. It is a near-perfect re-creation of Doom 64, with new, original content, and an incomplete, discontinued expansion, "The Outcast Levels". Not everything is the same, however. For example, the Unmaker fires, in the PC version, little orange pulses. In the Nintendo 64 original, it fires actual red laserbeams that can pierce enemies. This mod appeals to many fans as a way to enjoy Doom 64 without emulation.

• The music and sound effects were done by Aubrey Hodges, who did the original sound and music for the Sony Playstation port of Doom two years earlier.

• Midway's original title of the game was "The Absolution", but possibly out of potential fear of players not recognizing the game at face value, opted to change the name to "Doom 64" ("The Absolution" was reused as the name of the last level of the game).

• The original Doom 64 team was working on a potential "Doom 64 2" not long after the first game was released, but decided to scrap it due to the "Doom engine looking dated", and players' attention focusing on Quake and other, more modern 3D shooters.

• According to the team, the game was meant to have every demon enemy from the original Doom game, plus up to six or seven more levels added to the final product, but memory limitations and deadlines were the reason for the lack of Arch-Vile, Revenant, Commando, and Spider Mastermind demons in the game.

• Doom 64 gameplay resources and information at ClassicDOOM.com
• Interview with the Doom 64 level designers
• The official website of "Doom 64: Absolution" PC download
• The Page of Doom: Doom 64
• Doom 64 at MobyGames
• Doom 64 at GameFAQs
• Doom 64 Recon Guide at GameSpot

v • d • e Doom computer games

Doom • Doom II • Master Levels for Doom II • Final Doom • Doom 64 • Doom 3 • Resurrection of Evil • Doom RPG Doom engine • Doom 3 engine • WAD files