Hey I'm Derek, it's me Derek, and welcome to Stop Skeletons From Fighting! 2019... was supposed to be a huge year for Doom. And I was excited! Who wouldn't be excited, Doom's the greatest thing ever made! It's the Brooklyn Bridge, sliced bread... uh, the pyramids, Doom. That's it. Those a- that's the four things. But then Doom Eternal got delayed, and with it the Doom 64 remaster got delayed as well, and then the Classic Doom ports released to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Doom II... had a ton of issues. Bethesda hasn't exactly had the best track record the last few years, and I was worried they were mismanaging another classic franchise, but you know what, I should've had more faith in Doom! Welcome again to Punching Weight, where we celebrate the weird, ambitious and unnecessary, and it's time again to return to the topic that basically birthed this whole show: Doom console ports! But first, this video is brought to you in part by Honey! Honey lets you make sure you get the best deals while you're shopping from home! It's an online shopping tool that helps you find promo codes and apply them to your cart. So wait a few seconds... Boom, lookit that! Lookit that price drop, that's a spicy pizza pie! [SPLAT!]
Boom, lookit that! Lookit that price drop, that's a spicy pizza pie! I'm a fiend for deals, I love bargains, I love saving money, built the whole channel around it, okay, check this out, hold on... This is Doom for the 32X. I love this game, I bought this game as a kid, but I didn't buy it because it was the best option! It's not! It was cheap, and that was all that was available, and I still put like a hundred hours into this game! If I had something like Honey back then, maybe I could've found a better deal, I didn't have to live like that, and with Honey you don't have to live like that anymore. Honey has saved its 17 million members over $2 billion, and it doesn't cost anything to use, and installs in just two clicks! Get Honey at joinhoney.com/ssff, that's joinhoney.com/ssff, start savin' some money right now! Thanks to Honey for sponsoring this part of the video! Doom 64 was an anomaly even in its time! It was 1997. The world didn't need another console port of Doom, so instead we got a reimagining, but like, an N64-exclusive reimagining! That's just wildly unnecessary, and would be enough to earn it the Punching Weight seal of approval on its own, but on top of that though, Doom 64 is a masterpiece! I even made a video about it years ago, in another life. Doom 64 featured a fancier engine that gave way to more complex level design than traditional Doom, completely redesigned enemies that were mostly pretty amazing, one of the most amazing and unsettling soundtracks of all time... [ creepy, droning ambience ] It was a brand new campaign that was extremely atmospheric, dark, moody, and these things combined to make an incredible and strikingly unique Doom experience, one that was much more of a horror game! - There they are! - In that way, the Quake inspiration is obvious. It's the closest Doom had ever gotten to Quake's horroriness, though unfortunately, because it wasn't Quake, it was left underappreciated in its time, and some people were pretty harsh, like damn Jeff Gerstmann, ya killin' me here! Maybe Doom fatigue was setting in and people were ready to move on. Still, it's interesting considering that Doom 3, the next mainline Doom game, went full-on atmospheric horror instead of sticking with the classic style fast-paced run-and-gun Doom. Not to mention, based on the story in Doom '16, Doom 64 is technically more canon than Doom 3... I think? - So the story of Doom 64 is I don't... care. - I ain't here for the story, man! I want the atmosphere and I want blowin' stuff up with guns! It's simple! Kind of a problem I have with Doom Eternal? ... but still, seeing this re-release alongside Doom Eternal is just so amazing, I mean, it took a while, but Doom 64 finally got its due, and I personally couldn't be happier! Listen. I love dumb stuff, but even I cannot believe that in the year 2020, there's a game sitting on my Sony PlayStation 4 called Doom 64. I mean, it's fun to snark at the GameCube copy of Resident Evil 4 because it says "Only on GameCube", or the recent announcement that Horizon Zero Dawn is no longer only on PlayStation, but that a game called Doom 64 is now available on multiple systems, it's like if Smash Bros. for the 3DS was suddenly ported to the Xbox One! According to a developer at Night Dive who visited one of my livestreams of Doom 64, they did consider changing the name for this remaster, but thankfully bad taste prevailed! As a dev on my stream also pointed out, you can't copyright a number! I mean, you can try! People copyright **** all the time! I feel like Nintendo absolutely would've tried to copyright the number 64, A- and a judge was like "Get out of my office. Get outta here, no." And because of that, now sitting on my Sony PlayStation 4 is a game called Doom 64. Here's hoping the next game is called Now available on your Xbox! Doom 64 remaster uses the same KEX Engine that powered Nightdive's Turok and Turok 2 remasters, and it shows! The lead developer of the KEX Engine and this remaster was Samuel Villarreal, (I'm probably saying that wrong) a.k.a. Kaiser, who created the Doom 64 EX PC fan port! Now I don't know a damn thing about game development, much less game remastering, but I do know this: Nightdive absolutely killed it here! I'm gonna come right out and say it: Doom 64 remaster is one of the greatest remasters of all time! Apparently you can run this game at, like, 4K with a thousand frames per second! And this is a commercial product!! Just in terms of balancing the respect for the original with updating the game, it's seriously unmatched in my book! They only fixed what they needed to, and... [sigh] don't get it twisted: The original Doom 64 was not a game without flaws. The biggest issue was that it was WAY too dark, like it's supposed to be a dark and moody game, but a black screen is not moody! If you can't see nuthin', there's no mood, right? It features a brightness option, but I've never played the original without maxing that thing all the way to the top, and then even then it's borderline unplayable without adjusting your TV, in my original video I spent HOURS color-correcting the footage, it was a nightmare. In this remaster, this is no longer an issue. Right out of the box, the game is visible without sacrificing any of the atmosphere, but if you still need adjustments, there are now TWO brightness options! Even with them both cranked ALL the way up, the colors do not look washed out and the spooky atmosphere is still intact, to be honest, Nightdive could've wrapped things up right there and I'd still be singing the praises of this remaster, but they didn't stop! The original had complete controller customization, a rare thing for an N64 shooter, and so does this remaster! Now, I think the original Doom 64 controls just fine, and I will defend the N64 controller 'till the day I die! ... to a point! Because even I can't argue that Doom 64 plays way better on a DualShock 4 or a Switch Pro. I actually beat Hectic without cheats, without turtling in the corner by the door! I did it, Mom! I'm a real gamer now! This game just controls like a dream! Autorun is also a welcome addition, my wrist appreciated that, it has rumble support now, for the record, Doom 64 actually predated the Rumble Pak. Fun fact: Apparently all the rumble in this remaster is modeled off of the Switch's HD Rumble! But Nightdive really went the extra mile and included the option for motion controls for PS4 and Switch, something nobody asked for, I'm sure, but... Man, having that little extra precision is really nice! It shows that they really put everything they could into this remaster, and yes, we asked them about Ring Fit support, and they said they needed to get some dang Ring-Cons first, so Bethesda, get them some Ring-Cons! Let's go! I want "Doom Exorcise"! Like [mouthing gun sounds] like I'm... I'm shootin' demons with my rocket launcher, or... just, I'm chainsaw- RRRR! I'm chainsawin' demons and I'm gettin' buff! Bethesda, call me! I know you can make it happen! Your CEO can get like, a billion dollar bonus, but you can't get- you can't get a studio a couple Ring-Cons? I call bull- [♫] Password saves are still here, I tested my old N64 passwords and they worked. Another welcome change are mid-level saves and quicksaves: Doom 64's levels feature their share of evil traps, some literally right before the exit! If you're a stickler for tradition, you don't have to use them, but it's nice to have the option! But there is erring on the side of tradition, for example, Lost Souls are still way OP, making Pain Elementals this game's most dangerous enemy. This is one thing that I would've changed, but it's minor in the grand scheme of things. They didn't change other aspects of the gameplay either, like things that were cut from the original due to cart limitations, so Nightdive added no Chaingunners, no Revenants, no Arch-vile, also no looking, no jumping, and no multiplayer. Doom 64 EX has a co-op mode, and I'm hoping hard that Nightdive will eventually patch that in, I mean, multiplayer is listed as a feature on the PS4 page for some reason... ... stranger things have happened, right? I can dream! Even without multiplayer, Nightdive went above and beyond with the biggest addition of all: An all-new campaign for this release, which also doubles as a little bow that officially ties this game into Doom '16. The Lost Levels is not like, a set of levels that appeared on Doki Doki Doom 64 in Japan, this is a brand-new campaign made for this remaster. Now, when I first heard news about this, I was actually a little worried? Doom 64's levels have a very distinct style: They're cramped and dense, probably due to the limitations of the hardware, but honestly, I'll take an endless barrage of castles over the sprawling levels of Downtown and Factory. That's just my preference, and the Lost Levels really do keep that vibe going! These levels are not just challenging, and yeah, they... they ARE challenging! But they're also balanced and well made, fitting with the style of Doom 64. Unfortunately you have to complete the campaign to unlock them, it's not just available from the start, though level passwords are there if you are impatient. But... it's only six maps! Which I DEVOURED on Watch Me Die. I think it says a lot that I was disappointed that there wasn't more! And it's also possible to softlock the game on the second level if you leave this room without grabbing the red key first, there's no way to progress? Maybe I'm the only moron in the world who did this, but it does seem like an oversight. Still, there's tons of room for DLC here, especially with people on-staff who are this good at making new levels! There was a Nintendo Power preview from back in the day that showed off an Egyptian motif! Eh? Eh? Eeh? Hey? Huh? Maybe? ... a fanboy can dream, but even if Bethesda would deem something like this financially viable, I'm sure Nightdive is super busy with Shadowman and other top-secret projects. When we cover Doom ports on Punching Weight, it's usually about how they struggle so hard to be good against all odds, or about how they're just straight up bad. But man, I got almost nothing bad to say about Doom 64 remaster! I played both the PS4 and Switch versions, it's absolutely amazing, double thumbs up, stamp of approval, highest possible recommendation, buy it! It's five bucks, buy it... buy it twice! If you consider yourself a Doom fan, but you have never played Doom 64, there are absolutely no excuses anymore! This is a Game of the Year contender for me, I wish I had more thumbs so I'll give this game four thumbs up! But of course, Doom 64 is not the only classic Doom available right now! Classic Doom and Doom II are amazing, faithful ports of the series, loaded with content and special features! ... or at least now they are. When they launched in 2019, when we talked about them then... uh, not so much! Hoof! ... I mean sure, beyond the Bethesda.net thing, most of these issues were only things hardcore fans would notice, but you know, you kinda invited that on yourself when you surprise-announced it at QuakeCon for the 25th anniversary of Doom II! What'd you expect? There's a part of me that speculates they rushed these ports because Bethesda wanted these out the door before Doom Eternal came out, since you can unlock them in there. But of course, this was less of a factor once Eternal got delayed? I don't know anything... Anyway, I am pleased to announce that almost everything has been fixed! The Bethesda.net requirement was patched out a few weeks after launch, though I feel like they were dragging their feet a bit on that... [sigh] What're you gonna do though, I mean, Bethesda gon' Bethesda. Shortly after our video dropped, they fixed the music and the lighting issues, and they have continued to support the game! There's now a level select and cheats, and they have released LOTS of extra campaigns! John Romero's SIGIL is in Doom I, and Nerve's No Rest For the Living is in Doom II, and both Doom I and II got Final Doom, a.k.a. Plutonia Experiment and TNT Evilution, and other fanmade campaigns like No End in Sight and Double Impact, and that's just as we're filming right now, there's probably more coming! - ... to platforms that need more Doom! DEREK: That means that only the Sewer and Betray levels are still exclusive to the Xbox Doom 3, but that that is all that is currently M.I.A. is kind of incredible! All these extra campaigns are mere megs, which is great for small space on the Switch! But there is one huge problem here: These extra campaigns are not "free". Sure, they don't cost any money, but a Bethesda.net login is required to access the download page, and I think it sucks that you have to exchange your data in order to play these releases, and... Yes, I realize the irony of complaining about this as a Youtuber, please subscribe to appease my Google overlords, et cetera. It's not as bad as requiring login just to play a game you purchased with money, but these extra campaigns are available for free on the mod community! I'll let you decide if that's a deal-breaker. These Doom and Doom II ports are still missing a few things, like online multiplayer and controller customization, though if you're playin' these games on the Switch, every game technically has controller customization now, thanks to a brand new system update! I can't still forgive Bethesda and id for botching these on release, and still forcing Bethesda.net on people is a problem, but here in 2020, they have made good on representing Classic Doom. Having this much portable Doom is a beautiful, beautiful thing, and at this point, I'm just hopin' this fantastic port train keeps chuggin' for that Doom Eternal Switch port! I'm really- I'm really lookin' forward to that. It's gonna be a great port or a terrible port, either way I'm gonna really, really enjoy it. GRACE: Yeah!
DEREK: Lookin' forward to it, yes! Of course, this ain't the last time Punching Weight is gonna talk Doom... ... uh, and it's also not the first time we talk about it either! If you want more Uncle Derek Talkin' About Doom, let me know, or hey, if it's time to jump back into Quake, or Duke, or Half-Life again, let me know in the comments below, Stop Skeletons From Fighting is a Patreon-supported show, and would not be possible without the support of every name you see here! Of course, if you made it this far in the video, you've already done so much, thank you so much for watching and supporting... ... uh, man, tell a friend, hit the bell, hit Subscribe, you know the deal... ... just stay tuned, and we'll see you again real soon.
