Side by Side: Doom (32X vs. Saturn)

[Melf]

Sometimes, you really want to like a game, but it does everything in its power to keep that from happening. Case in point: Doom, a game released on about a million systems, arrived on two different Sega consoles in as many years. The problem is that both of them were well... less than what was expected. In fact, we don't know which one is worse, so we shackled staff writer Nick Gibson to a desk and made him play them both extensively. After much suffering and even more caffeine, he's given us his results. Read our Side by Side comparison and see which Doom is the less potent of two poisons.

[evildragon]

while the comparision is great, this is not the Saturn screenshot.. That's a PC/Mac screenshot with the DoomsDay engine, with loaded polygonal models (as seen by the shotgun, and the fireball with the halo effect).. (i got that one on all my comps)..

[Joe Redifer]

I've always hated the primitive music in Doom games. It is awful. Some of the worst ever, and that includes the PC versions and the others that imitate its music. It's more primitive-sounding than NES music. I can't believe people actually like it. Perhaps only the mentally handicapped enjoy it? Even though Doom is one of the worst games made for any platform, I'd take it with ambient sounds over amateur-MIDI anyday.

[Rusty Venture]

I've come to dislike Doom on any platform anymore.

PC/MAC/32X/SNES/whatever....ugh. Vague levels are boring. I'm on a Marine base/facility....why aren't I fighting through a hanger or the crew living quarters?

Best early-FPS level I ever played was a fan-made Duke3D level that took place on a moonbase (called Moonbase2 I believe). Hallways, crew quarters, labs...actual locations.

[Mr Smith]

Sega-16 comparing two 32-bit games, whatever next?

[GeckoYamori]

I was playing the 32X Doom a few days ago, then I switched over to the zDoom sourceport with modern mouse support and a bunch of other things. The feeling of relief was pretty much the equivalent of taking a shit after holding it in for 6 hours.

[djtwok]

I like the Original Midi Music, but do more like the Saturn/Psx Version Music.

[Melf]

while the comparision is great, this is not the Saturn screenshot.. That's a PC/Mac screenshot with the DoomsDay engine, with loaded polygonal models (as seen by the shotgun, and the fireball with the halo effect).. (i got that one on all my comps)..

Shit, I thought it was a Saturn shot. This game really pissed me off, since neither the iso or the original CD is compatible with any of the Saturn emulators out there. Getting screen shots was a major pain in the ass.

I'm just going to take one off a scan of the box and to hell with it.

[Zebbe]

Melf: But you can't trust box screens either! Just look at Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers .

Genesis Knight: It was a nice read, but wouldn't a comparison with the SNES version have been more appropiate? It has a Super FX-chip to do it, the Genny has the 32X to do it, both are cartridges and released close to each other.

The 32X music track is a rip-off of Metallica's Master of Puppets by the way. (I hope everyone already knew that)

[108 Stars]

Melf: But you can't trust box screens either! Just look at Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers .

Or Samurai Shodown CD...there´s a screenshot of Earthquake on the back. Unfortunately, Earthquake was cut out of the Sega-versions.

[kevinski]

I agree that it would've made more sense to compare the 32X and SNES versions. As for purchasing the Japanese version of Saturn DOOM, though, I've been looking for it for a long time on eBay, and I've never once seen it listed. It's a shame, too, because I'd really like to own it.

[Genesis Knight]

There were two main reasons I did a 32X vs. Saturn matchup.

- I own actual copies of both games, and I don't like doing reviews/articles on stuff I've never physically played.
- There is very little information other than reviews on the Saturn port, so I thought I'd help fill in that hole.

And a third would be that I simply wanted to do it this way. In the end I think they both had the necessary advantages and disadvantages that made a comparison interesting.

BTW, Gecko, where do you get the Doom.wad for zDoom? I can find custom-made ones, yeah, but how can you call it playing Doom unless you have the official WAD?

[capi1010]

I like the 32x vs Saturn matchup, especially seeing that the 32X won. I never played the Saturn version. The 32X version kept me busy when I first bought it, I was just pissed when I beat it and there was no ending (just credits), I thought I did something wrong.

[16-bit pwnage]

Great article, I really like these console comparisons between games. Next you should do one on the Saturn and 32x versions of Mortal Kombat II.

[Arjak]

Personally, I love Doom. I just thought I would get that out of the way. Wow. That article was hilarious! The idea, the humor, everything was great. Good job, Melf!