In case you couldn’t tell by my obsessive comparison of Doom editions last year, I enjoy that game very much. It turned 30 today, so I figured I’d write a follow-up post. You can interpret it as a “how to claim I beat Nightmare Mode in Doom without really trying”, because not all ports treat it equally. Let’s take a look.
What Is Nightmare Mode?
It’s the hardest difficulty in the game. It was absent from early releases, and put in entirely as a joke after some players claimed the PC version was too easy. It’s basically a modification of the next-lower difficulty, but where ammo items give double, enemies attack faster, some enemies move faster, and enemies respawn. Rather, that’s how it’s supposed to be in the PC version, but the console and handheld ports from the game’s first 10 years (ok, it’s really the initial batch of console ports from the first two years plus the GBA port 8 years later) do something different. I managed to get to the third level in the PC version before calling it quits- but speaking of dying, in the PC version when you die and start the level over you get 100 health and 50 bullets for your pistol but that’s it.
Game Boy Advance
Monsters don't respawn, monsters are deaf (meaning that if you fire a shot, they won't hear it, in the PC version most of the time they will hear it and come for you) ammo doesn't give you double, and the monsters don't move fast. When you die, you restart the level with just the pistol, and when you die the level restarts like the PC version- this doesn't matter as much as other ports because you can save the game when you beat a level.
This was the first one I beat on Nightmare. I think this game’s “Nightmare” is just the next-lower difficulty mode. The very one that was not hard enough for some players which led Id Software to create Nightmare mode. Oh, the irony. But this is the easiest way to be able to say you beat Doom on “Nightmare”. The rest of the ports increase the difficulty on you.
SNES
Monsters don't respawn, monsters are deaf, ammo doesn't give you double, individual health/armor pickups don't give double, and monsters move fast. When you die, you restart the level with everything you came in with except your health and armor cap at 100.
This and the GBA version are the only ones I’ve beaten on Nightmare. I like to think of the SNES version as being a nearsightedness simulator. If an enemy is too far away, it’s just a couple of pixels that you can’t discern unlike in other ports. Textures and items similarly are rendered to tiny pixels the farther you are away. Now while this is true on every version of the game, the SNES version’s resolution and level of visible detail is lower even than the Game Boy Advance’s. Plus it runs pretty clunky, there is a noticeable delay between input on the controller and action on the screen, and just a light tap of the button is enough to send you flying in that direction as the framerate chugs along. To me it’s tolerable at lower difficulties because this was the copy of the game I played the most as a teenager, but when the monsters start moving extra fast these issues become very noticeable, even to me. Also, unlike the other console ports, the small health and armor pickups give what the PC version’s give- the other ports here double it.
Sega 32X
Monsters don't respawn, monsters are deaf, ammo doesn't give you double, and the monsters don't move fast (actually they might move fast, but I had a hard time telling because the game couldn't maintain a stable framerate). Monsters become more aggressive and more accurate. When you die, the level restarts like the PC version.
It took like 5 tries but I finally beat it; it was definitely harder than the SNES port because basically if you die you might as well restart the whole 16 level series (or 17 but I skipped the bonus stage). In the SNES port when you die, you restart the level with whatever guns and ammo you had when you entered. On the 32X release you restart with the pistol and 50 bullets, which disappear very quickly at the start of the 7th map. Like in the SNES version, all the monsters face forward all the time because those are the only spirtes- the full 360 degree view was cut for cartridge space- so the only way they attack each other is by getting into each other’s line of fire (the PC release had it so that if a monster shoots another monster they fight).
I noticed something too about this port. The architecture is slightly different than the 3DO and Jaguar ports, in addition to the enemy placement that I mentioned in the bigger comparison post. Aside from lacking the easy trick to end the 4th level that was in the GBA and 3DO versions, they made some doorways tighter. Oh, and last time I mentioned that the teleport sound was missing in this one. That’s not entirely true. Somehow the cue for it gets overwritten easily, but it’s there until you pickup a gun.
Panasonic 3DO
Monsters don't respawn, monsters aren't deaf, only the smallest ammo pickups give you double (ones that weren't dropped by an enemy), and the monsters shoot fast. When you die, the level restarts like the PC version. Transparent enemies are rendered transparent (this and the PlayStation/Saturn ports are the only 90s console/2000s handheld ports that do that).
I got only 9 levels in (skipping the first bonus level) before I was clobbered, like I did on the Jaguar system. For the 3DO, Jaguar, and 32X versions I kept hitting a roadblock at the 7th map (skipping the bonus). Like, many times on each system this was the level that I was stopped at. Something about that map seems to be my make-or-break point- with the 32X port I just could not get past it but when I did I went all the way to the end, while on the Jaguar and 3DO I at least made it to the 9th level, although I know I wouldn’t have been able to get much farther.
Anyway, the basic zombie enemy that fires one shot became a little dangerous, with a blast that can do some damage and a little more rapidity thanks to this being in Nightmare. It’s not that the monsters are more accurate (though it seems that way, so maybe they are), rather there are usually enough of them firing at once that somebody’s bound to hit or catch you in a crossfire. I also think your accuracy is a little off and the auto-aim isn’t as generous as in other ports. Good luck surprising the monsters too- I think there is exactly one instance where you can sneak up behind an enemy, at least in the first 7 stages. There seems to be a much smaller window for sneaking up on them than on the PC version, it’s so bad that I actually thought for a while that the backsides of the monsters weren’t even included! Also I’ve mentioned it with the 32X and will say it again with the Jaguar, but often (especially in larger rooms) the pink demons are moving fast but you can’t tell because the game slows down.
Oh by the way, it runs smoother than the SNES version contrary to stereotypes., and the controls are more responsive than on the Jaguar port
Atari Jaguar
Monsters don't respawn, monsters aren't deaf, only the smallest ammo pickups give you double (ones that weren't dropped by an enemy), and the monsters shoot fast. When you die, the level restarts like the PC version.
The input lag I was having issues with last time was still here this time, even more pronounced when the framerate dropped. The framerate is not as bad as the 3DO or SNES, but it was such that I couldn’t tell if one of the monsters was going at double its normal speed. As it turns out, the pink demons do run fast like in other versions but because often when you see them the framerate drops you don’t notice. This makes the rare times where there is enough processing power to render them at full speed even more jarring. It also means you might not be expecting them to bite through your chainsaw (at regular speed, using a chainsaw on the pink demons interrupts their attack pattern, but at twice the speed the attack so fast that this isn’t reliable).
I did find this version more difficult than other versions, and only made it to the 9th level (skipping the first bonus stage) before getting clobbered (I got pinned trying get the plasma gun). Believe it or not, that is a huge improvement over many attempts over the previous few months where I only got to level 7, and even still over a few months prior where I only made it to the third level, and at the onset it had taken me three tries to get through the first level.
I will also add that this version looks nicer somehow than the 32X or 3DO versions, like it looks like you see more details in the textures and sprites. Maybe the 3DO port looks better when you aren’t running it in a small screen so that you get a good framerate? The lighting effects and levels also seem to differ among home ports.
Sega Saturn And PlayStation (And Final Doom on the PlayStation)
There is no Nightmare mode, not even a fake one like in the GBA port.
Ultra-Violence seemed way easier than Nightmare on the other systems, except the GBA, but the Saturn/PlayStation version of Doom is actually a continuous playthrough of Doom and Doom 2 (with Final Doom being a grab-bag of misc levels), so I didn’t care to try my hand at all those maps on Ultra-Violence. When you die, you restart the stage with the usual 100 health and 50 pistol rounds but hey at least all the small health and armor pickups give you double. Oh, and they move some Doom 2 enemies into Doom 1 stages.
Ultra-Violence+
I only recently found this mode because I didn’t know to look for it. When I got Doom 2016 on the Nintendo Switch, it was the copy that came with Doom, Doom 2, Doom 3, and Doom 64. In this release, there is a mode for Doom called “Ultra-Violence+” that can be accessed from the Level Select menu. If you don’t have any of the above consoles or copies of Doom, this is pretty close to the experience. Ammo and health don’t give you double, and because there is no slowdown from the console trying to process the advanced graphics and engine the pink demons are faster than they mostly are in the console releases (except maybe the SNES version), but the monsters attack at the same increased rate. It’s a more difficult experience because in the other ports levels are either removed or cut down and monsters are removed or in different spots or are in fewer numbers. So it’s a good thing that it comes with a save feature. I think the most notable change ended up being to E2M6 (Halls of the Damned), which was pretty easy on Nightmare on the other systems but is a real struggle for me on Ultra-Violence+ (I did impose the limit on myself that I’d only save at the start of levels like the GBA and effectively the SNES versions so that I could make this a more accurate comparison, so that is not letting me game the Switch port to its full potential). Even the SNES port of the game, which was largely faithful to the original, was somehow easier.
My Opinion
The GBA port was hands down the easiest to beat on Nightmare, followed by the SNES port and then the 32X port. Since I didn’t beat the 3DO and Jaguar ports (despite the fact that in the 3DO port on the 4th map you can skip the yellow key and run right across to the exit, a quirk that was still in the GBA version. Of the Jaguar and 3DO ports, I think 3DO is easiest… right up until the 6th map.
And for my money, E2M7 is the map that had the most changes from port to port, whether being excluded entirely or reworked significantly from a brutal ride in the PC version to a 3 second speedrun on home ports that included it (the 90s console/2000s handheld, naturally starting with the mid-2000s console ports everything was included).
C-Gaymer 