Released in 1994

Available in

Genre: First Person Shooter

The PC version of Doom was released in 1993 and quickly became one of the most popular and most influential games of all time. The 32X version of Doom was released the following year, and was one of the console's launch games. The game is a first person shooter, where you play as a marine taking on the forces of Hell, who have taken over your base. Using a variety of weapons -including shotguns, plasma rifles and chainsaws -you must progress through 17 levels, by finding keys, locating items and ammo and taking down zombie soldiers, imps and other monsters.

The 32X version is often regarded as the worst console version of Doom. The port was sadly rushed out to make the 32X launch date, which led to several levels being cut (the 32X version has less levels than the Super Nintendo version!) and many of the levels were simplified when compared to the PC version (although the other console ports had this problem). The music is also awful, enemies have several frames of animation missing (preventing monster infighting), there is no multi-player option and the game window isn't full screen. Whilst the 32X version was a disappointment, I'd still argue that it's better than the 3DO and SNES versions.

When you start a game of Doom, you will have only two weapons: your fists, and a pistol. Explore each level and find new weapons to aid you along with extra items (more health, more armor) and ammo. Whenever you take damage your health will decrease, once it reaches zero percent you will die and will have to restart the level. A restart will cost you all of your collected weapons and items.

Many of the levels in the game require you to find keys to open locked doors. The doors and keys are all color-coded, with keys for blue, red and yellow doors. The keys can often be well guarded, with monsters appearing out of secret doors or walls when you collect one. Certain levels, such as level 8, feature boss battles, with tougher enemies to take down. Before you start a game you can select almost any level you want, and there are five different difficulty settings to choose from.

If you want a first person shooter for the 32X, this game really is your only option. But with all the problems listed above, I can't recommend it. The game was rushed out, and it really shows. The 32X could have had a really good version of Doom, and it was certainly capable of it, but the powers who be ruined any chance of that happening.

These cheats require a six button controller. They also seem to be pretty difficult to use, so keep trying.

God mode
Pause the game and press Mode, up, X and Z together. When the game unpauses, the Doom guy's face should have gold eyes. You will no longer take damage.

Unlock all weapons and access all keys
Pause the game and press Mode, up, A and C together. When the game unpauses you should have all the keys in your inventory, along with every gun. This includes the all-powerful BFG 9000 -the only way you can get this gun is by using this cheat.

Level 16
Start on level 1 and play through the game without using either of the cheat codes above. When you complete level 15, you will move on to level 16.

Level 17
There is a secret level in this version that can be accessed in level 3. Check this video from jakesteven1980 to see how to access it. Once you beat the secret level, you will head back to level 4.

There are sixteen prototypes available for this game, read about them here.

-If you start the game on any other level than the 1st one, the game will not properly end upon finishing level 15. After the credits sequences ends, a message will pop up stating "C:/DOOM>". This will also appear if you beat the game after using a cheat code.

-The instruction manual states that if you start the game on a later level, you will be taken back to do the levels you didn't do after beating level 15. So if you started on level 2, after beating level 15, you'd go back to do level 1. This doesn't actually happen in the game however, further showing the 32X version was rushed.

-The manual also mentions that it is possible to get monsters to fight each other -whilst monsters can kill each other, it is only because of friendly fire. They will never turn on each other like you can make them do in the PC version.

-The BFG 9000 is also mentioned in the manual, despite the fact the only way you can access it is by using a cheat code.

-In an interview about the 32X for Retro Gamer, Scot Bayless (a senior producer at SEGA of America) had the following to say about the game's development and the 32X itself:
"I spent weeks working with Id Software’s John Carmack, who literally camped out at the Sega of America building in Redwood City trying to get Doom ported. That guy worked his ass off and he still had to cut a third of the levels to get it done in time. What amazes me now is that with all that going on, nobody at Sega was willing to say "Wait a minute, what are we doing? Why don’t we just stop?" Sega should have killed the 32X in the spring of 1994, but we didn't. We stormed the hill, and when we got to the top we realized it was the wrong damn hill."