Every track weighs heavy with a distinct withered ambience and flows so naturally from one soundscape to the next that one simply can’t believe the whole album was improvised.

Take your time with this release and feel your mind wash away with the tides on the gentle shores of quiddity. I promise you won’t regret it.

Burial Grid ‘Shores of Quiddity’ is out now via Bandcamp and Spotify

One of the downsides to this has been a total ignorance of anything new or cool; only recently was I talked into trying Among Us, and even then I only did it on mobile because it was free. The upside is that Doom can be a million different games with the right source port and add-ons.

The game you want it to be is Shrine.

Shrine and its sequel, Shrine II, are what Doom modders call “total conversions” or TCs. This means that the mod does more than change the game… it entirely presents Doom (or, more usually, Doom II) as a new game in itself. The first installment showed up in November of last year, so it isn’t what I’d call hot news, but I never feel like these things get the attention they deserve. The second installment, Shrine II, was released in June of this year. Both are “total conversions” following the same theme.

There isn’t much story given, but it is known that you play as a “skinless monstrosity” named Tusk, and you are fighting “the Eldritch Horde.” You won’t be able to make sense of much at first, but that’s the point. These games have a solid “weird factor.” You’ll marvel at the strangeness of your enemies, your weapons, and pretty much everything else. The great part is that if you’ve played the original Doom games, you’ve got the core skill set necessary. Just make sure you’re good. Shrine ain’t fuckin’ around with nobody. It’s a respectable challenge, and clearly Scumhead (the developer) knows FPS design.

You’ll face off against a menagerie of monsters, some of whom are very dangerous. Many of these enemies will prove to be less resilient than they seem, but be wary; almost every monster in this game can dish out a great deal of punishment to a player lacking in reflexes or awareness. Stay sharp. The weapons you find and use to murder the horde are often biological in nature, including a tooth-firing pistol and a chainsaw analog made from something’s spine. You may notice superficial leftovers from the Doom series, but that’s all they are. All of this shit is new and challenging.

The atmosphere is probably the best part, despite gameplay being absolutely stellar. The art has a much more “hand drawn” feel to it than Doom or Doom II, but it’s hand drawn really, really well. Careful palette use and effective lighting choices make the entire game an exercise in tension. Both games have an excellent soundtrack, the first one (I don’t know about the second) being by Filmmaker, one of the best and most talented indie music creators out there. The sound effects are gross or eerie, depending on what they represent, but they are also very good.

Shrine II is a continuation of the loose plot, with Tusk finding himself imprisoned before unseen aid releases him from his cell by arming him with a bone saw. This sequel keeps the same theme while rotating in a new set of weapons and enemies to keep things fresh. It’s every bit as challenging and weird as the previous installment, to the point where I consider these to be one game. In fact, that’s the only improvement I could possibly suggest.

As a pair, I rate Shrine and Shrine II 9 out of 10. I am very impressed with Doom mods that not only don’t suck, but totally re-envision the game without compromising anything. That has certainly been achieved here.

To the uninitiated, this sounds like something to be discarded. Something to be disregarded. Maybe even something gross. A wad of what? Snot? Toilet paper?

To those of us with some culture, WAD stands for “Where is All the Data?” It’s the file extension and format used by DOOM (1993) and all games using that engine when it comes to the raw game data. It is also the format used for add-ons, with the exception of modern source ports which often use the pk3 extension. Many Doom fanatics still usually call any add-on or swap a “wad,” though. It’s force of habit. At this writing, roughly 27 years of habit. We’re not breaking it now.

Ever since 1994 or so, when rabid Doom players began making their own levels for the game, there has been a more or less endless flow of WADs. While DOOM.WAD is called an IWAD or “internal wad,” These user-created files are “patch wads,” or PWADs.

I’m talking about those little PWADs today. Well, not all of them. I’d need several lifetimes, and I’d want to spend those several lifetimes doing something more productive, like learning to turn lead into gold or slowly forming a worldwide shadow empire with me on its hidden throne. I’ll stick to three PWADs today. None of them are just maps/levels, although one or more of them do add or change the layout of levels. These are WADs that alter gameplay in some way.

Note: I am playing/testing these wads and mods using GZDoom, and unless otherwise noted, a similar source port is best for optimal results.

Lasting Light (2013)

Author/Creator: Ral22

Link: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=37786

This is a fantastic example of a .pk3 file that turns Doom into a new game with minimal tampering. The maps are dark except for your lantern, which requires oil to keep lit. This oil can be found in little cans that seem to be the only pickups available, not to mention how sparse they are. And trust me, it’s better to keep that lantern lit… except when it isn’t.

You see, three different entities are skulking about in the dark, waiting to terrorize the living shit out of you. All of them react and behave differently. The Screecher can’t hurt you if you don’t look at it, but it makes itself pretty fucking hard not to look at by placing itself directly in your line of site suddenly and scaring the pants off you. The Creeper actually gets pissed off when you roll up with your lantern lit, but will leave you alone if it’s dark (which leaves you vulnerable to the asshole Screecher). The Stalker doesn’t give a shit if your light is lit. She just wants to murder you and you need to run and break line of sight as long as you can.

What? Yes, you are utterly defenseless. I know, that’s hard to accept when you’re playing Doom. Once I got over it, I actually found this mod really entertaining. It’s a creative little set of changes that totally turns Doom on its head and it made episode 1 of Doom into a challenge again. The music and atmosphere are really effective, and you’ll be jumping despite yourself when you get taken unawares.

Extreme Weapons Pack (2013)

Author/Creator: Doggo120

Link: https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=37611

This one seems to only work with DOOM2.WAD and is barely a mod. It seems more like high-effort trolling. I’m not even in doubt. That’s exactly what it is. But it gave me a laugh when I first found it. Then I looked at the Zdoom forum topic (link above) and it’s not only a joke, but a fairly popular one. I’m a fan.

This mod makes the game considerably more challenging, and it does this by giving you the goofiest weapons possible. Your starting pistol will fire, at best, 3-4 shots (usually 1 shot) before requiring a good cleaning. Your normal shotgun pretty much doesn’t fire, and the double barrel one spins you around (the barrels are uneven) and takes forever to reload. The Chaingun takes a while to wind up (like an old school WW1 rotary gun) and fires at a pretty clumsy rate. It also has significant kickback. The rocket launcher fires slow-motion rockets that are usually duds. The plasma rifle is a vacuum cleaner. The BFG is… well, it’s faulty. Comically faulty.

The chainsaw is replaced by an electric toothbrush, which is probably the least ineffective of all the mod’s weapons, interestingly enough. As someone who appreciates (and sometimes engages in) alpha-level trolling/griefing, I find myself oddly in love with this hilarious piece of shit. It’s funny. I’d recommend sparing yourself the tedium of trying to beat Doom II with this mod, though. I’m sure it’s possible, but the joke wears thin well before that point unless you’re the right kind of insane (I’m not).

Diaz: Last Hours of Purity (2008)

Author/Creator: wildweasel

Link: https://www.doomworld.com/files/file/15465-diaz-last-hours-of-purity-ww-hits-collection/

I really enjoy this one. It’s a non-shitty attempt to create an entirely separate narrative, connected to the base Doom lore, but with a different storyline and character. From the lore text file (and I love that there is one):

The Research Crimes Prevention Agency (RCPA) is targeting the UAC over their controversially unethical research. Agent Diaz is sent as a peacekeeper to oversee their latest experiment, and to see if the evidence is correct. But of course, everything’s gone to Hell before she even gets there…

The mod itself features some excellent weapons with good implementation of more contemporary reloading and recoil mechanics. I especially enjoy the Mauser rifle and the big clunky revolver. The enemies are a handful and a half too. D:LHP replaces the standard, clumsy humanoid zombiemen with living, lethal soldiers (including a berserk experimental soldier with cyber-psychic enhancements that you can also use if they drop the module when they die). This mod makes Doom a bit more dangerous to play without being ridiculous about it, and it’s another mod that makes episode 1 of the original Doom a challenge again for this old jackal who knows the maps by muscle memory. It smooths the curve by making what used to be minor threats into things that can (and will) kill you. And don’t fucking forget to reload or you’re dead. Many of your weapons can be alt-fired as bludgeons, but they’re slow and don’t do much. Keep your weapons loaded and conserve ammo.

I’m reluctant to rate them, since many Doom WADs are a matter of taste. However, I like my own opinions about everything and you should too because my opinions are the best. So here goes.

LASTING LIGHT: 8/10 (Good concept, totally different gameplay that flips Doom’s axis completely in a refreshing way)

EWP: 6/10 (It’s a joke WAD, but it’s a pretty funny joke WAD)

DIAZ: 8/10 (Still Doom, but very different Doom, I feel like it’s a nice halfway point between Doom and modern FPS games)

Final note: some pedantic jerkwad on Discord tried to give me shit about my use of semicolons. I avoided using a single one in this article, just for you, jerkwad. I hope this gesture helps you heal and move forward.

In a couple of days you’ll be seeing another tabletop RPG article, but I felt like I owed you a video game article first. Stay Retro!

Here is the story, according to John himself:

“After killing the Spiderdemon at the end of E4M8 (Unto the Cruel), your next stop is Earth — you must save it from hellspawn that is causing unimaginable carnage. But Baphomet glitched the final teleporter with his hidden sigil whose eldritch power brings you to even darker shores of Hell. You fight through this stygian pocket of evil to confront the ultimate harbingers of Satan, then finally return to become Earth’s savior.”

Sigil’s opening screen. KVLT ANTI-HVMAN BLACK METAL

I am a pretty well-seasoned DOOM player, and can usually handle the original 3 episodes on Nightmare or at least UV. This shit is turning my guts inside out on Hurt Me Plenty. You will not see health much at all. You will need to be extremely careful. Yes, there are horrible monster traps everywhere. Inescapable pits too. You will die. You will know death again, Marine. You can never truly rest. But Space Marines are made for this shit. Let’s hit it.

E5M1 is a true gauntlet-run involving the elevation of platforms in order to find your way through a winding path of hitscanners and imps. The maps are very dimly lit, and instead of switches, Romero has us shooting the demonic eye symbols to activate/open things. I’ll save you the five or so seconds it’d take to puzzle it out. Sheol (E5M2) continues to incline the difficulty in a steady fashion. Breaking a sweat yet? You often find yourself with little room to move one way or another, measuring moments and shots, clinging to cover while whittling away at potentially deadly ambushes. I hope you like seeing barons and cacodemons up close, because you fucking will be. E5M3 is called Cages of the Damned, and it looks slightly more “conventional” as a map when you first start blasting through. Vaguely castle-like, with great run-and-gun action and a few open spaces (finally!) to use in combat. I’d even call E5M3 “classical” because of how true parts of it are to the original feel of the trilogy. You’re still, however, finding very little health. And yes, you’re still in horrible peril on a constant basis. Paths of Wretchedness (E5M4) is another hectic rim-grabber over pools of magma as you battle your way through a shooting gallery with you as the turkey. Movement is again limited, and you find yourself getting pummeled in bottlenecks – sometimes caught with your fucking pants down – and perishing if you’re not on your LeBron “Leatherface on Mars” James A-game. This level has a splash of that old alien-mechanical feel to it reminiscent of Knee-Deep in the Dead. Probably another of my overall favorites of the episode. While health is scarce throughout this episode, you will find enough ammunition if you are thorough, frugal, and keep your eyes open.

Pictured: One scrub (yours truly), pre-tenderized.

Abbadon’s Void (E5M5) hits us with the sound of a cyberdemon right out of the starting gate, and we don’t clearly see it, but we know it’s aware of us and it’s pissed off. Great. More indoorsy, wood-paneled infernal décor, peppered with monster closet ambushes and tense high-wire acts. I particularly enjoy the MIDI OST track for this map (more on the music below); it’s atmospheric and rich and it reminds me a little of Blood’s great theatrical-style music. E5M6, Unspeakable Persecution, has the exit to the secret level E5M9 (Realm of Iblis). I’m not going to spoil where the door is or what the secret level is like; if you want that shit you can find it easily online. (I admit that I had to look it up. My skills have gotten mad rusty.) I will say that E5M9 is as hot and nasty as you’d expect Sigil’s secret map to be. Buckle up, buttercup. E5M7 is the Nightmare Underworld, and it was originally meant to be the fifth map, but it belongs here in spot #7. It is an expansive and adventurous map, and it pounds me into hamburger at an embarrassing rate. John’s work in Sigil is the work of a man who intimately understands the tools he is using to engage the player. It is the work of a methodical, gifted, calculating psychopath. E5M8, Halls of Perdition, presents the final obstacle in Sigil. Like E4M8, it is not just a straight boss fight; you must find your way through one last intense firefight against the full host of DOOM’s baddies intent on beating you down. The finale has a marathon-like feel and is almost joyful (I only beat it once using equipment cheats on Hurt Me Plenty).

decino’s entertaining and thorough playthrough of Sigil. He is a much better player than me. Props.

Hi. <3

Let’s talk about the absolute fucking banger soundtrack. If you don’t know who Buckethead is, you should, and he wrote the CD soundtrack for Sigil. Apparently, he’s a long-time DOOM fan. Who’d have thought a dude like the immortal Buckethead would have good taste. It is busy, atmospheric, haunting, and it fits Sigil’s gloomy theme of desperation perfectly. The episode also features a fantastic MIDI soundtrack written by James Paddock. It’s a little more action-themed but fits the game every bit as well as the Buckethead score. E5M1 and E5M7 stand out to me as highlights, and you should have a listen.

Ol’ Johnny R. goes hard in the paint with Sigil, reminding us longtime Space Marines that while our blood may smear every hallway and elevator from Phobos to Mt. Erebus, we can never die. Besides, who the hell else is going to keep the demons down? You know they’ll just be back . They always come back.

Sigil gets a 9 out of 10 from me. It’s difficult, but that’s not a complaint at all. It’s a brutally refreshing shot in the arm for a game that’s been loved for over twenty-six years. Devastatingly crisp, well-executed, and effective. John Romero has given us more to love about DOOM… and a new way to get our asses kicked and GET GOOD.

See you later for more articles in October. Stay spooky as hell… and Stay Retro.

BONUS: Of course there’s a Zero Master speed run of 9:32 for it already. Hallelujah.

It’s October, and I believe I promised you RetroFiends some spooky shit. Well, let’s ease into it, since it’s so early on in the month… we’ll start with one of the creepiest FPS games of the 1990s, one that took good advantage of the legendary Doom Engine – a tale of magic, evil, destruction, and revenge.

Here’s the absolutely sick-nasty box art by Gerald Brom again… Corvus’s eyes are mad with rage as he hurls ruin into some trick-ass skeletons in the dark. Everything Gerald Brom draws looks like it’s channeled right out of Robert E. Howard’s id. I love it.

Heretic was first released in December of 1994, and was published by id Software through GT Interactive. The game used a modified (one could say “expanded”) version of the Doom engine, featuring advances such as ambient sound, an inventory system, and the ability to tilt the player’s view up and down. Though they published Heretic, id didn’t make it… that credit falls to Raven Software.

Raven has become a big name in modern gaming, having worked on games for Marvel as well as the Call of Duty series. Their first title, an RPG called Black Crypt, was released in 1992. Raven garnered more attention with the following year’s ShadowCaster, a first-person adventure game that utilized an engine somewhere between Wolfenstein 3D‘s and Doom‘s in terms of capability. John Carmack of id wrote the engine and licensed it to Raven, establishing a working rapport that led to the production of Heretic a year later.

1992’s Black Crypt, Raven’s first game. I’ve never played it, but this is making me want to. It looks metal as fuck, just like Heretic and Hexen. Nothing wrong with sticking to a formula.

Heretic tells the story of a doomed world called Parthoris. Three entities called the Serpent Riders have possessed the kings of this world and corrupted its people. Only a clan of elves known as the Sidhe have dared to stand against the Riders, who have retaliated by declaring the entire race “heretics” and waging brutal war on them. In the end, the Serpent Riders’ grip on Parthoris is weakened… but at the cost of many elf lives. The Sidhe retreat, but one remains, intent on vengeance – Corvus, the character controlled by the player. Corvus is intent on destroying D’Sparil, the weakest of the Riders who has stayed behind to rule Parthoris. To reach the evil overlord, Corvus must make his way through three episodes (plus two in the expansion) of fantastic horror. Lucky for him, he’s not some soft-ass Keebler bitch. Forget all you know about the stereotype… this elf is a streetwalkin’ cheetah with a heart full of napalm, to quote one of the world’s purest poems.

The “barrels” in Heretic grow back when you destroy them, crowding tight areas and presenting just as much of a hazard to Corvus as they do to anything else. One upside to them is that you can move them around by pushing them, if you’re willing to risk a stray shot ruining your day.

While gameplay is very similar to Doom at the ground level, Heretic boasts additional capabilities not present in the original game format. You can fly, look all around, and save powerups for careful use when needed. Heretic has an extra layer of play that is a solid improvement on an already legendary engine. Instead of boomsticks and rocket launchers, Corvus blasts his way through the evil armies of D’Sparil with potent spells and relics. You start out in a dockyard with nothing but a simple wand and the butt of your staff to defend yourself, but do not despair – enchanted crossbows, jolting gauntlets, and fireball-hurling staves can be found and used to wreak havoc on the enemy. Most of these implements are noticeable analogs of their Doom counterparts; for instance, the electrifying gauntlets behave very much like Doom‘s chainsaw, while the Phoenix Rod is clearly a rocket-launcher wearing a different skin. Corvus also picks up items along the way that he can carry with him and activate later on, as inventory. These tools include wings for flight, masks that render the wearer temporarily hazy and near-invisible, and even rings that give you a few moments of indestructible invulnerability. Learning to conserve these relics and not waste them is a key part of the game’s strategy… and strategy you will need.

Beatdown in Spookytown. Unlike you, the forces of evil never run out of ammo. These guys in particular hit unreasonably hard… who am I kidding? Everything hits hard in Heretic.

The rank and file monsters you encounter range from the bizarre to the downright terrifying. Mummies, skeletal warriors, scorpion-men, mutant reptiles, and ghostly enemy warlocks hound your every step. Not only are these creatures visually impressive, but the sound effects for Heretic bring them to ghastly life as they shriek and howl for your blood. The soundtrack is pretty middle-of-the-line, but E1M1’s music stands out, as well as the tracks for the boss fight levels. The boss-type monsters are also impressive; perhaps the most visually striking are the Iron Liches (hovering steel skulls bedecked in grand helmets, spitting elemental ruin from their mouths) and the Maulotaurs (think minotaurs, but fucking huge and armed with hammers capable of launching flame). Even the environment itself will work against you – not just in the familiar ways (lava, etc), either. In Heretic, you take damage from falling too far, and rushing water and push you into such chasms as well. The walls can crush you in new ways, and gaseous puffballs the size of a human being fill certain areas (behaving much like Doom‘s barrels but respawning rapidly after their destruction). Parthoris is not a safe world, not in the clutches of D’Sparil.

The Maulotaur and an Iron Lich. In true video game tradition, the huge terrible asshole boss monsters become regulars after their first climactic appearance. Happy Birthday. (click to enlarge.)

An expansion, Shadow of the Serpent Riders, was released in 1996, the game’s first actual retail release (the original full version was available only by mail after registering the shareware demo). The expansion adds two more episodes as an epic epilogue to the defeat of D’Sparil, packed with even more peril and adventure. The game’s formal sequel, Hexen, was released in 1995. Hexen features non-linear gameplay and in-depth puzzle solving as well as multiple player-character choices. Both of these titles would receive numerical sequels in the latter part of the 1990s, more conventionally 3D with polygon-based graphics running in an engine based off of Quake II‘s.

I give Heretic a solid 8 out of 10. It’s a solid improvement on a game engine that had already shocked the world, its dark fantasy theme is a novel flavor for an FPS, and it packs an addictive challenge. If you’re into classic FPS games and you’ve never played it, please treat yourself.

It’s time to round out September with some more unbelievably lush and unforgettable art from our favorite classic games. I chose a few more, and I’ve even got some videos this time, because I got all nerd-excited over some of the choices. I also made an earnest effort to find out as much as possible about the individual artists who created these visual masterpieces… that information is oddly difficult to find – or maybe I’m just dumb as hell and don’t know where to look. If you see one I credit incorrectly or that doesn’t have an artist credit, and you’ve got that information, PLEASE TELL ME! Without any further unnecessarily wordy prefacing bullshit, let’s get right to it! Feast your eyes!!!

Salamander/Lifeforce (Konami)

Year: 1986

Artist: Uncertain, my guess is either Kenji Shimoide or Naoke Satō

The cover of the official OST, perhaps the least intruded-upon version of the base image. Back in early days, at the rental store… this snake scared me so stupid I HAD to try Lifeforce. Just to see if I could teach that snake a lesson.

You are looking into the face of galactic evil. Are you even remotely ready for this shit? Do you even know what “ready for this shit” means?

I don’t think you do, ese. I think you’re gonna get schooled into little fragments.

This one always entranced me as a kid. I originally saw it on the US NES cover, and later on in life I was awed at the detail lost in shrinking it from the original arcade flyer. I know it’s just a space snake, but it’s a fucking scary space snake, man. That perfectly coiled length behind it, framed by the yawning star-speckled nothingness of outer space.

I hope you said your space prayers, kiddo.

Space Harrier (Sega)

Year: 1985

Artist: Sega doesn’t even denote who did what in their game credits, everyone just gets lumped in as “STAFF”

I managed to find this one without the retail trim, so you could soak in the moment of visceral chaos. There’s so much going on… there is a gigantic floating brain back there. It’s got a city on top of it. Yeah, everything’s normal here.

There is a lot going on here, and you’d benefit from a close look. Soaring through planetary atmospheres destroying shit with a gun as big as you are? AMAZING career path. Let him show you.

Our dude is so unspeakably cool that he is point-blank nuking the ouroboros dragon thing without even folding p his shades and putting them somewhere safe. He knows the space babes are watching, and Space Harrier never disappoints. The stone heads just sort of toodle by; it seems like they’re either used to this shit by now or just so sullen and insular that they dare Space Harrier to destroy them.

My favorite touch is the light panic on Space Cyclops Elephant’s face. He is not even sure how he’s getting by in this ecosystem, but he sure as hell didn’t sign up for this. He’s got kids.

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK KEEP UP CARL OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK 

Meanwhile, a gleaming futuristic metropolis stands majestic against the sublime sunset in the background.

The space babes are definitely there.

DOOM (id Software)

Year: 1993

Artist: Gregor Punchatz

“I don’t need any support, advice, or compassion, because even if I am the most ruinous man, I still feel so powerful, so strong and fierce. For I am the only one that lives without hope.” -Emil Cioran

I had to come here. Had to tread the blood-red sands of Hell once more. A UAC space marine’s job is never done. It’s a good thing someone tossed med-kits and boxes of bullets all over the place.

This one image defines my late childhood/early adolescence, at least in part. I still have the 11×17 poster that I framed and hung in my room as a preteen. I just don’t keep it hung up anymore because wherever you put that thing, it sucks the eye away from everything else near it.

Here we see a man who’s pretty certain he’s about to die. He’s bleeding, the sneering legions of Hell are grasping at hims limbs, and you can see the stark animal fear building on his face beneath the visor of his helmet. He drops one, maybe two, but like a pissed-off Satanic swarm of fire ants, the demons simply pile on. His buddy’s running up, shouting that he’ll help cover a retreat. Our man doesn’t even have the breath to say what he’s thinking: you’d better turn right back around, private, or this is gonna be you about twelve seconds after I hit the ground.

That’s the thing that really nailed me to the genre and the aesthetic of games like DOOM when I was younger. I was nihilistic, full of existential terror, and coming to terms with my own mortality at an age when I should have been basking in the bucolic sunshine of oblivion. Doom grabbed me because it was not only action packed and no-holds-barred, but because it really did have this nuance of hopelessness to it. The imagery, the implied storyline, and even certain pieces of music from the game are enough to invoke images of humanity’s twilight. This cover art is no exception. We have stumbled upon a fictional future man about to die, just like billions have before him… except he’s fighting demons and it fucking rules.

Anything Yoshitaka Amano Has Done for the Final Fantasy Series (Squaresoft)

Year: So many, and it’s awesome

Artist: Yoshitaka “World-Crafting Visual Arts Deity” Amano

I’m not one of those people who gushes over shit just because it’s Japanese. Don’t get me wrong; I deeply appreciate what Japanese creators and innovators have contributed to video games throughout the history of the industry. I just tend to sift through my consumption of anything a bit more than it seems… some people do. I’m not judging them. Anyway, I WILL gush over this, because every piece of this man’s art is like Hellenic Greece and ancient Rome collided with the hyperbolic world of JRPGs and created an alternate reality where literally everyone was a god.

Left: The crew from FFII, the Japanese II that was so hard they second-guessed releasing it Stateside but relented eventually; and on the right we have FFIV’s Twin Pimp Squad, Cecil and Kain.

I have a confession to make: the latest Final Fantasy game in the series that I’ve played is IX. I just couldn’t stay interested, plus I stopped doing the console thing around the time the Dreamcast went the way of the dodo. My two favorites, both of which mark me as a minority among FF fans, are I and IV. They are the two that I grew up chewing through, that helped shape my sensibilities about RPGs. I also enjoyed VI very much because it had an even richer story than IV had, and once I got to play them in an intelligible format I fell in love with II and III.

Left: the gang from III, all grown up and jobbed out. Right: Some fabulously crazy shit from VI.

Seeing Amano render those characters in such a graceful, hyper-human style takes me back every time. There’s something deeply Classical as well as something very Art Noveau about everything he illustrates, and it depicts these characters as both visually striking and starkly human.

Splatterhouse 2 (Namco)

Year: 1992

Artist: Probably one of the following – A. Chan, Gyoee~! Miyachan, or Taiji Nagayama (again, they just pile names together in these things)

I just realized while preparing to publish: the fucking octopus has eyebrows. Click for larger version.

I finished with this one because October’s right around the corner. Horror in classic video games is one of my favorite topics to swim around in. Usually the end result of such efforts ends up either painfully cool (but not scary) or laughably shitty. The Splatterhouse series (at least, the original three) are painfully cool. This cover is so 1990s cool I can’t even look at it without muttering “yeah dude” under my breath reflexively.

He is battling the SHIT out of a massive purple mutant and an absolutely FURIOUS land octopus with what appears to be an oversized slot machine lever. You can tell he’s been busy, because that knob is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, an army of the living dead shuffles forth under the guidance of the shittiest little Eddie Haskell ghost I’ve ever seen. One look at Rick’s face tells you all you need to know: he’s HAD IT, and every single thing he can physically reach tonight is going to die.

What’s even more amazing than this is the little intro movie from the game. We’re treated to parallaxing horizons, an almost legitimately moving vision of Jennifer begging to be rescued and then PLUMMETING back into the gullet-anus of some unthinkable creature, and some really driving music that consider the best track out all three OSTs. Look on.

All right, RetroFiends. Put on your hockey masks and go get your pillow cases. I will see you in October!

Believe it or not, at the time of this writing, we are seeing the eighth generation of home video game consoles. It has been that long.

We’ve seen and experienced a plethora of amazing concepts, innovative ideas, and ultimately spent millions (maybe billions?) of dollars as a civilization on this particular hobby, video gaming. From the early days of the Atari 2600 and the Intellivision, to the glory days of the 8 and 16 bit hit parade, to the transition from cartridge to disc to download… one could say that video games represent their own wonderland for the human spirit.

Even wonderlands have graveyards.

Some of these ideas just didn’t catch on. Be it a glutted market, poor execution of a concept, or even an idea too far ahead of its time, a few consoles have fallen by the wayside, trampled underfoot in the war-march of the gaming industry. The real heartbreak lies in the fact that some of these concepts were even good. However, it can be argued, they were simply not good enough. After all, the market is brutal, and not every idea sticks. Today I will talk about one of the notable losers, one of the ideas that you probably saw… but not for long. Today I bring you…

Generation: 5th

Year Released: 1993

Discontinued: 1996

In the early 90s, things were changing significantly in the home video game world. Companies like Sega and Sony were developing consoles that ran games from a CD-ROM interface, instead of clunky and easily-dirtied cartridges that had limited data storage potential. Sony’s future powerhouse, the Playstation, hadn’t been released yet, but the buzz was everywhere. What had been released was Sega’s CD attachment for its existing Genesis console, and it had gone over very well despite a high price point and an initially limited game library (which quickly grew).

Atari knew it had to cash in! Atari felt it COULD cash in. After all, hadn’t they been the arcade dynamos of the early 80s? Surely there was a place for them among the new stars of this bright era. There had to be. They began R&D on two systems: the never-to-be 32 bit “Panther,” and the 64-bit Jaguar. Both of these projects were farmed out to a company called Flare, which had originally worked on a home arcade system called the Konix Multisystem. Flare had bailed on the Multisystem due to what could be called an overreach; they were shooting to replicate the arcade experience at home… in the early 90s… with an eye on price. Needless to say, with a floppy-disk system and limited RAM, the Multisystem did not take off.

Why Atari saw Flare as a sure winner despite this baffles me.

Sleek. Stylish. Sophisticated. An utter flop.

In their first brilliant move, Flare and Atari decided to go with cartridges. Knowing that their competitors were moving to CDs and doing quite well at it, they decided to try and pack more into a ROM-style cartridge. The controller design is also questionable; I liken it more to a TI-83 calculator than a joystick.

Does this mean I can use it to call Atari’s complaints department?

The system was released in November ’93, and had sold only around 100,000 units by the end of 1994. With only 67 total games in its library, the Jaguar’s selection of games was tiny throughout its first (and formative) years. Flaws in the CPU and UART components of the console contributed to this, as well as third-party developers’ unwillingness to take a risk on making games for a system already doing so poorly on the market.

The system’s belated CD attachment was kind of like putting a truck cap on an El Camino. It also did little to expand the Jaguar’s piss-poor game library.

Despite later attempts to save its flagging sales, which included a CD attachment and even an earnest try at VR technology, the Jaguar never really caught up with the emerging competition. Once the PS1 was released in 1995, sales took an even greater nose dive. In late 1995, Atari even tried infomercials to boost sales. In mid 1996, the Jaguar was laid to rest… and Atari was on the skids too.

It did have a killer BIOS screen though. I like to imagine that Tony Montana would see just this part alone and buy like 20 of them. One for every room in his coke mansion.

There were (and are) some high notes to the console’s ill fated tale. Firstly, its most successful title, Alien vs. Predator, was a notable success. A memorable and underrated entry to the FPS genre, it was an early example of diversity in that category, offering multiple characters for play. It also boasted an incredibly atmospheric setting, both audio- and video-wise.

Another high point would be Tempest 2000, a remake of the 1981 arcade title. This game was originally exclusive to the Jaguar, but was ported once sales began to truly dip. It is widely praised for its soundtrack, and is exhilarating to play even now.

It should also be noted that the Jaguar received ports of two of my favorite games: Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. Both received good reviews on the Jaguar.

The system still maintains a cult following. Hasbro bought Atari in the late 90s, and released the rights to the Jaguar. It is officially an open platform, and interested third parties can develop whatever they like for it. Some of the results can be seen (and grabbed) here.

I’m going to cover this one back up and let it rest in peace, but I’ll see you soon for another edition of Console Graveyard. Thanks for reading!

Arrogance? Wishful thinking? I’d say six of one, half a dozen of the other. Until next time, RetroManiacs!

]]> https://newretrowave.com/2016/03/16/ljph454ovaoyrkcyl6gvru2tbo7k91/feed/ 0 https://newretrowave.com/2015/07/16/doom-id-software-1993/ https://newretrowave.com/2015/07/16/doom-id-software-1993/#respond Thu, 16 Jul 2015 17:45:42 +0000 http://new-retro-wave.com/2015/07/16/2015716doom-id-software-1993/

Wolfenstein 3D was a commercial success, as well as a new standard for 3D action gaming. It prompted developers, including id Software, to ask themselves, “what can we do next?”

The very next year, id answered its own question and made gaming history.

I was ten, not much older than I was in the previous article’s flashback. I had a buddy in school (we both liked video games) who handed me another set of blue 3.5” floppies one day. “Don’t let the teacher see,” he said softly under his breath. “It’s doom.” Little did I know this was a proper noun, not just some dire warning. I played the shareware version through in two days, out of both grim fascination and obsession.

Welcome to Phobos. We hope you survive your stay!

Released in December of 1993, Doom is still played today by more people than you’d think. Once again, pioneer John Carmack devised a versatile 3D game engine from scratch. id’s team used this game engine to tell a grim story, a tale of pyrrhic victory in the face of demonic horror. Doom came under fire often for its intense level of violence, even being tied to the infamous Columbine shootings. However, even 22 years after its release, the original game still has a loyal following and a lively community.

The id team began working on Doom even as they were putting the finishing touches on Wolfenstein 3D. Carmack had already begun work on an even more advanced rendering engine, one with far less limits and far more detail than what had come before. Floors and ceilings could be on different elevations, even rising and falling during play if programmed to do so. Walls no longer had to be at 90 degree angles, either. This was done by dividing the map into “sectors,” each of which had its own set of data (floor/ceiling levels, lighting, etc.). In addition to more dynamic lighting options, the engine also boasted the capacity to texture all surfaces visible in the game, adding a new level of immersive detail. While the enemies and objects in Doom were still represented by 2 dimensional sprites, the art team created many of them by photo-scanning sculptures, resulting in some truly impressive monster graphics. All this art was painstakingly produced by the team of Adrian Carmack (no relation to John, believe it or not), Kevin Cloud, and Gregor Punchatz. The game had much richer sound and music, as well; Bobby Prince made a return as the composer, borrowing licks (within legal boundaries) from some popular heavy metal bands to fill out a soundtrack that is still hailed today as one of the most lush scores in 1990s gaming.

Doom’s story is split up into three episodes. You play the role of a marine sent to investigate strange messages coming from Mars’s twin moons, Phobos and Deimos. The UAC has been developing teleportation technology there, and recent messages indicate that something’s gone terribly wrong. In the first episode, “Knee Deep in the Dead,” you arrive on Phobos, only to find out that the messages were right on the money; the UAC base is crawling with undead humans and what can only be demonic creatures. By fighting your way to the source of the infestation on Phobos, you are transported to the other moon, Deimos… and “The Shores of Hell.” In this second episode, your marine must forge through increasingly ominous and Hell-like landscapes to reach the Tower of Babel, where the cyberdemon awaits. At the end of this struggle, you discover that Deimos floats above Hell itself. In “Inferno,” you seek nothing less than to cut the head off the invasion; you must reach Dis, the capital of Hell, and destroy the spider mastermind. As you move through the last two episodes, you see less and less of the possessed humans and many more of the various types of demons.

Between levels, you are shown your percentages of kills, items, and secrets. you are also treated to a bird’s eye view of the region you’re in.

Speaking of the monsters, they take various forms… and present a variety of threats. Your stock enemies are possessed human soldiers, some of whom carry shotguns that make them significantly more dangerous than their bottom-tier cousins. The first demonic foes you encounter are the imps. Not the little red men of folklore, these big brown bastards hurl fireballs and possess claws like Ginsu blades. There’s big pink-skinned demons, whose bite can put a serious hurt on any marine who lingers too close. The bosses of the first episode, the Barons of Hell, become rank-and-file heavies in the other two chapters of the game. They behave much like the imps do, but these massive goat-headed thugs are much more adept and both dishing it out and taking it. Some enemies fly, making them even more of a pain in the ass; the pumpkin-like cacodemons belch electricity, and the flaming skulls known as Lost Souls simply launch themselves at you like maniacal little cannon balls. The cyberdemon at the end of episode 2 is a sight to behold, and he’s also quickly lethal if you don’t watch out for his constant barrage of rockets. The spider boss in episode 3’s last hurrah is slow and ponderous, but if it draws a bead on you with its massive multi-barrel cannon, you’re toast.

Top row, left to right: Barons of Hell, Cacodemons, Lost souls. Bottom row: Demons, Imps, and the two varieties of possessed soldier.

Don’t go thinking that the monsters are the only thing that can kill you in Hell… Various environmental hazards present themselves, from acidic chemicals to lava to the incredibly unpleasant crushing ceilings that pepper the game’s corridors. Walls and surfaces can also shift, trapping you in hopeless ambushes that pit you against superior numbers. Doom is one of the most entertaining games I’ve ever played, but it is not a friendly game. It’s actively trying to kill you. All the time.

Not pictured: the turds falling into your marine’s pants during this final moment.

You start each episode with naught but a wee pistol (which looks to be modeled loosely off a Beretta M9, but I’m not a firearms expert). However, some of the zombies drop shotguns, and there are even better weapons waiting to be found. Chain linked machine guns, rocket launchers, and even experimental plasma weapons like the BFG 9000 can be discovered. They appear both conspicuously and in the secret areas that dot each level. You’ll also want to keep an eye out for a chainsaw, which not only beats your puny fist in terms of damage output but drags the targeted enemy into it while you carve up some meat. Since you’ll also be hurt on a regular basis, it helps to look around for medical kits… and there’s also a big blue ball that does more than any doctor could ever do. Armor will help too; it comes in two varieties, and absorbs a fraction of the damage you take from certain sources. There are also various powerups and tools to help you, like night vision goggles and hazard suits. If you find a black medkit, it not only fills your health, but gives your punch the force of a rocket as you blitz out on the adrenaline high. There are even green spheres that render you temporarily invulnerable, at the small cost of forcing you to see in high-contrast monochrome for the duration. Another sphere turns you temporarily hazy, almost invisible. I stress “almost.” This makes it slightly harder for the enemy to target you, but it’s more effective in multiplayer deathmatch against actual humans.

Some military men are stone-faced, but your marine is very expressive. Rage, horror, and even a little grim joy. All in a day’s work. This concept was a carry-over from Wolfenstein 3D.

Doom also pioneered the multiplayer deathmatch. Via modem or other means, players could face off not against demons, but one another. Much of this is self explanatory, but suffice it to say that even a rookie deathmatch opponent presents a much more tangible threat than any demon. Players could also progress through the normal game together, but deathmatch was (and is) considered much more fun.

Doom’s success was monumental, but the game also fell under the same crosshairs so many violent games do; public outcry over the gore and (vaguely) Satanic imagery led to widespread controversy. Doom was even implicated in the 1999 Columbine shootings, as both shooters were not only avid players but also dabbled in editing it and creating maps. Harvard, the Secret Service, and the US Department of Education all did studies that eventually showed no real correlation between video games and real-life violent crime, but the stigma remains. Overall, this didn’t hurt Doom’s popularity; if anything, it boosted its signal.

“This is an adult situation.” Another pre-mortem screenshot from some fool about to get ground into red mist.

In response to fan-made editing tools for Wolfenstein 3D, id purposefully made Doom’s content easy to access and edit. To this day, a diligent Internet search will turn up great vaults of user-made maps, graphics, and even sound effects for the game. In more recent years, Doom even got a loving overhaul when ZDoom was developed. Along with its direct descendents Skulltag and Zandronum, ZDoom added modern FPS elements to the game, such as bots, better multiplayer functionality, and (in the case of Skulltag) more game-types. Skulltag also added new weapons and enemies, most of which are variants on the original content. To this day, the game is modded, added to, and expanded.

Doom spawned a sequel, which itself is considered the standard for fans of the series. Doom II features additional types of enemies, a double-barreled shotgun, and 32 new levels. Doom II was used to make Final Doom, two more 32-level installments that ramp up the challenge for hardened marines ready to test themselves. There was also The Master Levels; I’ll admit that I never played them, but by all accounts, they are insanely difficult. The original Doom was re-released in 1995 with an extra episode, “Thy Flesh Consumed.” The game engine was used to make many other titles, which I will not attempt to list at length. Notable among them are Heretic and Hexen, dark fantasy spins on the FPS experience. In 2004, Doom 3 hit the shelves, and while it was considered a very good game, hardcore fans (including yours truly) felt like it wasn’t really a Doom game. It just lacked the distinctive feel.

The dim lighting in certain areas made this a lot scarier than it probably seems to us now. I can’t tell you how many times I muttered “oh, shit” playing through all three episodes.

A new reboot looms on the horizon, and if you’re into gaming, you’ve seen the trailer, the E3 gameplay, and everything else. I, for one, can’t wait to dive into Hell again. Doom was a world-shaker back in 1993, and I have no doubt it will shake 2016 just as violently. That said, nothing can beat that initial rush when I ran into the hangar on Phobos and fought my first zombie soldiers. The original Doom can be outdone with more modern technology, but it can never be truly eclipsed in terms of impact or quality.

Every time I try making a bulleted list on here, it refuses to show the bullets. Below is a “bulleted list” of neat stuff for you to check out if you’d like.

• Designer Tom Hall had a far more grandiose vision for the game, and outlined it in a document. Conflicts over the direction of the game led to Hall resigning.
• The name of the game was inspired by a scene from the film The Color of Money.
• Some of the weapons are scans of toy guns. The plasma rifle’s barrel is actually part of an M-60 machine gun toy that come apart, turned backwards.
• I didn’t go into a lot of detail about the game’s engine this time, but if you’re interested in the technological bits, here’s another big chunk of what made the game work like it did.
• Level 4 in the first episode originally contained a structure that lowered to display a swastika symbol on the floor. This was later removed.
• Someone created isometric views of every map. Enjoy.

Thanks for reading, RetroManiacs!

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