The date may have passed too quickly, but yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the official debut of Doom, one of the brightest gems in id Software's catalog, and undoubtedly the game that set the rules for the first-person shooters that followed. Its fans have modded it endlessly, and ports to all kinds of systems and strange devices are inexhaustible, but as a celebration, we invite you to return to the beginning: If you want to know how to play classic Doom and where to get it, keep reading.
December 10, 1993: A Marine Arrives on Mars...
30 years. Part of my brain refuses to believe I'm old enough to remember the release of Doom... but I was there. Its shareware version took the local gaming scene by storm in December 1993, even though many of us struggled to enjoy it at first. That's right: there was a time when Doom was difficult to run, with a recommended configuration of 4 MB of RAM (which cost a kidney in 1993), a 486 processor, and about 12 megabytes of disk space (more during installation).
Today, Doom is the quintessential 'Hello World,' ported to almost anything with a screen and a bit of memory. From calculators powered with rotten potatoes to pregnancy tests, Lego bricks, ultrasound machines and landline phones, the poor marine has had to annihilate demons on every conceivable platform. However, today we're going to focus on celebrating the 30th anniversary of the franchise by explaining how to play classic Doom and where to get it.
How to Play Classic Doom with Chocolate Doom
Chocolate Doom reproduces everything, including bugs.
Chocolate Doom is an old acquaintance here at NeoTeo, and a personal favorite for playing classic Doom. Why? Because unlike other graphics engines, Chocolate Doom's goal is to reproduce the original experience exactly as it was in 1993. That means Chocolate Doom does not fix bugs or other technical quirks. Its priority is preservation, and it works wonders.
Where to Get Classic Doom: The Wiki (Shareware)
The easiest way to get classic Doom is downloading its shareware version, also known as DOOM1.WAD. The Doom wiki has a download link at the bottom, or you can click here to get the file directly. This is version 1.9, the most recent on record, dated February 1995. Doom's shareware only gives us access to the first episode, Knee-Deep in the Dead, but if you play it on Ultra-Violence or higher, you'll definitely have your hands full.
Good Old Games (The Ultimate Doom)
As expected, Good Old Games sells the entire beginning of the franchise, but The Ultimate Doom (that is, classic Doom with the brutal episode Thy Flesh Consumed that you absolutely must play) is worth less than two dollars right now, and it often appears with an extra discount from time to time. Good Old Games editions come preconfigured with DOSBox for immediate execution on Windows, but nothing stops you from extracting the WAD and placing a copy in Chocolate Doom.
Doom 3: BFG Edition
It's true: Doom 3 didn't receive much love from fans, and if we analyze the lore carefully it doesn't even work as a sequel, but it's still an interesting game that also comes with a great gift: The WADs of Doom, Doom II, and its expansion No Rest for the Living. The game is expensive on GOG and Steam, but there are other stores that sell the BFG edition at lower prices. Doom 3 is also popular as a benchmarking tool on retro computers, so it's worth having a copy...
Archive.org
It would be very hypocritical of me not to mention it here: Classic Doom has a very accessible price and I recommend you buy it, but there are dozens of copies on Archive.org uploaded by its fans. On that site you can also find earlier versions of the game, such as alphas 0.2 to 0.5 (quite rare, I might add), in case you want to do a bit of digital archaeology.
How to Play Doom: In Summary
I think with this list you have what you need to play classic Doom and dedicate your entire next weekend to it. The content of this text is similar to the one I published a couple of years ago, but there are two excellent options to improve its graphics: Doomsday Engine and GZDoom. No matter which path you decide to take, the infernal horde awaits you. Enjoy!
