For a lot of people, buying DOOM Eternal this month will also be their first chance to experience DOOM 64. The DOOM 64 port is a pre-order bonus for Eternal, but there’s an extra bonus: the game has a whole extra chapter that wasn’t part of the original game.
The level is an inclusion by Nightdive Studios, the porting house that’s worked on the remasters of Turok and System Shock, as well as the upcoming System Shock remake. In an interview with USGamer, Nightdive’s lead engine developer Samuel Villarreal and senior developer James Haley explained the new chapter would take place immediately after the original Doom 64 campaign.
“The Mother Demon you defeated in that outing had a sister, and since you’ve been messing up Hell non-stop, she tries to get rid of you by sending you away,” Nightdive’s Haley said. “If you can make your way back and take revenge, you’ll be rewarded with a bit of lore that fans of both series, new and classic, should enjoy.”
Apart from making the controls work on console and PC, the main change from the original N64 version include a “distinct reduction of input lag” to make the game fairer, a change in overall brightness to make the game less dark, support for frame and refresh rates higher than 60Hz, motion control support for the PS4 and Switch, and fixes to the game’s collision system. Villarreal even implemented a suggestion from John Carmack that was left in the original notes of the DOOM source code:
Additionally, the way sprites are rendered is now more true to how the original game rendered them, so no more seeing the bottom of sprites being clipped by the floor or explosion sprites being partially clipped by walls. I’ve even employed a technique that was suggested by John Carmack in his release notes when the source code to Doom was released back in 1997. These things are pretty subtle but I am definitely proud of it.
DOOM 64 will launch alongside DOOM Eternal on March 20 for PC, PS4, Xbox One and Switch, with the game unlocking on Steam on March 21.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/06/doom-64-is-the-most-underrated-doom-game/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/i2yeeoqrwauukevkmtk2.jpg” title=”Doom 64 Is The Most Underrated Doom Game” excerpt=”Though credits have rolled on the new Doom, I wanted to keep blowing up imps and pinkies. It seemed like the right time to revisit Doom 64.”]
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