Brutal Doom 64
Windows - October 30, 2016
Doom 64 is a not so well known port of Doom for the Nintendo 64. Unlike the ports for other consoles, it's not exactly a port, but a completely new game, featuring completely new levels, textures, sprites, enemies, and a new plot that takes place right after the events of Doom 2, and it's plot strongly suggests to be the prequel to "Doom 2016" as it be considered a reasonable explanation of how the Doom Marine stayed in Hell and became known as the "Doom Slayer" (thus being considered canonical to the series by many fan theories, and being the TRUE Doom 3). In 2003, Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal was able to extract all textures, sprites and sounds from the N64 ROM and faithfully recreate the levels in the Doomsday engine, thus creating the Doom 64 Absolution TC, and later making Doom 64 EX (an emulator for the ROM for PC). The Doomsday engine is today considered obsolete, and a Doomworld user called Nightside successfully ported all maps to work on GZDoom, but has given up the project.
Brutal Doom 64 aims to continue this project of "porting" (actually recreating from scratch) Doom 64 to GZDoom and Zandronum engines. Unlike Doom 64 EX or Doom 64 Absolution the goal of this project is not to make a 1:1 port of Doom 64 for PC, but to enhance it in every possible way, bringing the satisfying gore and gunplay of Brutal Doom, new sounds and special effects that greatly enhances the oppressive atmosphere of D64, and attempting to include all the content cut from the original game due the cartridge space of the N64.
What it includes:
- All weapons revamped to feature new sounds, animations, and have greater feedback.
- Several stuff that were removed from the final game, such as Revenants, Masterminds, a weapon that was shown in an old magazine featuring an interview with the D64 devs that never got added into the final game, and an enemy called Hellhound which was also cut due the N64's cartridge space.
- New gore featuring dismemberments, gibs, new blood splashes, blood decals on the walls, floor, and ceiling.
- Brightmaps (such as monsters eyes glowing in the dark).
- Multiplayer support through the Zandronum sourceport ( up to 64 players, either Co-Op, Survival Co-Op, and Deathmatch).
- Revamped levels featuring new decorations, lightning system, fog, light shafts, etc. Techbase levels were optimised to have better navigation, new ambient sounds, more security cameras to remove the need of "switch hunting", and having some parts of the levels remade to look like a more plausible place. The Hell levels were also upgraded with new ambient sounds, and more disturbing imagery.
- Option to play with the Brutal Doom 64 weapons and enemies on regular Doom 2 levels, or with custom maps. Or play the Brutal Dooom 64 levels with other gameplay mods.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is this a modification of a Rom? Can I play it on the Nintendo 64? Is this Doom 64 Ex?
A: Neither of above. This is a total conversion made for GZDoom/Zandronum for PC. No, you can't play it on the N64 (its hardware couldn't even render the effects being used here to start with). You require GZDoom or Zandronum installed, and you need to own Doom 2 to play it.
Q: Does this support multiplayer?
A: Yes. Up to 64 players on Zandronum 3.0. Co-Op, survival co-op, and deathmatch. Zandronum 2.1 will not be suported.
Q: Can I run with on software mode?
A: This mod is made for OpenGL and makes heavy use of additive translucency and dynamic lights. It is playable on software mode, but it will honestly look terrible.
Q: But I have a potato computer and cant run these new effects because my fps drops too much.
A: I will add a CVAR that allows you to disable the fog and reflection effects.
Q: Will the Revenant, Mastermind, Chaingunguy, and Archvile return?
A: You can already see the Revenant and the Chaingunguy (now Zombie Marine) on this video. The Mastermind still uses a placeholder sprite (just a pallete swap of the Arachnotron) but it will soon get its own sprites.
I am not sure about adding the Archvile, since its a very complex enemy (he forces the player to run away and take cover or would cause extreme damage with its unavoidable attack) and there would be no places designed for an Archvile fight in this game, and it would end up being just a very annoying enemy that adds nothing to the game's experience.
Q: Will there be fatalities and executions?
A: No, unlike the original Brutal Doom, this version is focused on making it as much as disturbing, horror and survival-oriented possible and a much more serious tone, So there won't be such over-the-top stuff.
Q: Will there be weapon reloads, assault rifle, etc?
A: I will make two player classes that can be choosen at the New Game menu. The player will be able to choose the "Classic" class for oldschool gameplay, or the "Tactical" class, that has an assault rifle, and weapons that deals more damage, but needs to be reloaded, and probably sprinting.
I am still not sure if I will include this on the initial release.
