Retro Arena: Doom: Super NES vs Genesis 32X · 3:37pm Jan 30th, 2019
A new edition of Retro Arena just went live as the fight gets heated between two Doom ports. Like many have said for nearly three decades, Doom revolutionized the industry and created a new genre. So what happens when something gets popular? It gets milked and ported to death by the third parties wishing to cash in on the success. Just as it happened to Mortal Kombat, Doom was no stranger to porting either during the 90s. The game would appear on PS1, Saturn, 3DO and even Atari's Jaguar and on the GBA later in 2001. However, we will focus instead on the 16-bit ports as I am still surprised for them to appear on those systems, despite the limited tech. When designers set their minds to something they sure can get the desired results as seen from Randy Linden and John Carmack.
The first game saw its development get handled by Randy Linden and his team for the Super NES. As mentioned many times, he would develop the Reality Engine solely to make the game work on the system. With the help of the Super FX2 Chip would make the impossible a reality (no pun intended). On the 32X, Carmack handled the port's direction with Sega's team to help bring the game to the Genesis' new add-on. The new technology as many of us have said was the Genesis on life support because the console was on its last two legs. Many still question the dumb move on Sega's part months before they would release the Saturn. The 32X version did push out better graphics but we all know it takes more than great visuals to make a good game. However, will Doom Slayer thrive on the Super NES with its custom engine? Or is the 32X's extra power for Sega enough to become the true slayer? Let's find out...
