Doom (SNES)

Doom
Developer: Sculptured Software Publishers: Williams (US), Ocean (EU), Imagineer (JP) Platform: SNES Released in JP: March 1, 1996 Released in US: September 1995 Released in EU: October 26, 1995 This game has uncompiled source code. This game has a hidden developer message. This game has hidden developer credits. This game has unused graphics. This game has regional differences.

To do: Limited Run Games is going to re-release this port in 2025 with extra content, such as Thy Flesh Consumed and circle strafing. Make sure to update article to account more changes that version will receive when it is out. See if there is anything interesting in the source code both from the Github release by the game's programmer and from a complete archive uncovered in 2024. The latter release contains code for the XBAND mode.

The SNES Doom is interesting for a number of reasons - it had a spiffy red cartridge, for one thing, and came with XBAND support for online multiplayer - but most notable is that it doesn't run under the actual Doom engine, instead using a custom "Reality engine" built for the port that relies on the SNES' Super FX 2 chip, making it one of only three games released in the console's lifetime to use the hardware.

As such, it fares quite a bit better than what one might expect, managing to bring over most of the game with more accurate level geometry than most of the 90s console ports and only cutting a few levels along the way. It's also fully uncensored and has a pretty rockin' version of the soundtrack.

That said, the ugly graphics, lousy draw distance, poor framerate, and removal of several important features (including circle-strafing and monster infighting) render it a pretty miserable experience when playing it today, but it's still an impressive technical achievement that pushes the SNES to its absolute limits, plus the programmer released the source code to the public in 2020.

And hey, it's still better than the 3DO version...

Programmer Messages

Present at ROM address 0x80810E:

Rage/Reality Engine written by Randy Linden.
Special thanks to my loving wife, Jodi Harvey.

Also, the Episode 1 sky texture (stored as an uncompressed 8bpp graphic at 0x8000) contains an additional message that is not actually visible in-game without somehow clipping outside the boundaries of the map:

(Source: TheRetroMike)

Unused Mugshots

A set of unused mugshots for Doomguy is present in the ROM. According to the developer, they were used in the XBAND multiplayer mode.

(Source: D1m3)

Uncompiled Code

A small amount of uncompiled source code can be found in the data for several music tracks. This is only visible in SPC RAM after the data has been decompressed from ROM.

mov tempword,A            ; save ID code
mov PlayChan+X,A
mov PlayCurVelocity+

Hidden Credits

After booting the game and letting the game reach the title screen (so that resetting skips the copyright spiel and publisher splash screen), reset the game three times to bring up a hidden credits screen overlaid on the title screen. Another four resets will bring up a second page.

These credits only list the Sculptured Software team (i.e. no id Software or publisher staff) and, curiously, use construction metaphors instead of normal job titles.

John Coffey made a series of edits to the game's levels with the idea of offering a unique experience for the SNES port. These modifications were rejected by id Software, who wanted to keep the game as faithful as possible to the PC original.

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Regional Differences

To do: Add text sequences from US release.

• The hidden credits sequence mentioned above was disabled in the European release. The Japanese version goes a little further and removes the unique soft-reset handling.
• The Japanese version shows the credits when you beat the game.
• In the US and European releases, the difficulty settings restrict what episodes you can play, with the full game only playable on Hurt me Plenty, Ultra-Violence, and Nightmare. In the Japanese version, all episodes are available on all difficulties.
• Enemies appear on the automap to an extent, sort of like the IDDT cheat in the PC version but more intelligent (i.e. only showing living monsters, not any actor).
• Different regions have a different publisher logo splash screen before the title screen:

US	Europe	Japan

• The end screen text in the Japanese version has been completely rewritten in favor of some much simpler English:

Knee-Deep in the Dead	The Shores of Hell	Inferno