The Ultimate Doom

Developer commentary

• According to John Carmack, The Ultimate DOOM "was never a real focus at id", which is why there wasn't a new end boss, among other things.

[Source: John Carmack Interview (Doomworld.com)]* When asked "who's the guy responsible for Ultimate Doom (...) in fact why did they make an ultimate Doom", John Romero had this to say:

*"Actually the decision to create Ultimate DOOM was brought up by me but it was going to happen eventually.

You see, every id Software game was released as shareware, then at some point down the line, we would release the registered version into retail stores (where previously you could only purchase the full registered version over the phone).

Ultimate DOOM was the retail version of DOOM, but with an extra episode. I thought that we should create an extra episode and give the buyers more value, so Episode 4 was born. I had several people creating maps for the episode, which is why the consistency isn't there like Episode 1.

And the 4th episode was supposed to be VERY tough, which is why we had lots of outrageous names for the levels. We were putting together the 4th episode as early work on Quake was happening and I was busy doing executive producer work on Hexen."*

(source: rome.ro)

Easter eggs

• In the first level of the fourth episode, it is possible to lower a platform, and as such uncover the logo of the band Nine Inch Nails: "NIИ". It's interesting that the music of the next id Software hit, Quake, was written by the band's frontman Trent Reznor.
• The revised version of the map E1M1 in The Ultimate DOOM contains 666 sidedefs. A sidedef contains the wall texture data for each linedef, while the linedefs themselves are what make up the "shape" (for lack of a better word) of a map. 666 is, of course, the Number of the Beast.

Episode 4 as update for registered Doom

id Software released a free patch to upgrade registered Doom v1.9 to Ultimate Doom.

References

All level names of Episode 4 (with the exception of the secret level) were taken from the following passages in the King James Version of the Bible:

• Thy Flesh Consumed

Proverbs 5:11 - And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed

• E4M1: Hell Beneath

Proverbs 15:24 - The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from Hell beneath.

• E4M2: Perfect Hatred

Psalm 139:22 - I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

• E4M3: Sever The Wicked

Matthew 13:49 - So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just

• E4M4: Unruly Evil

James 3:8 - But the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

• E4M5: They Will Repent

Luke 16:30 - And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

• E4M6: Against Thee Wickedly

Psalm 139:20 - For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.

• E4M7: And Hell Followed

Revelation 6:8 - And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

• E4M8: Unto The Cruel

Proverbs 5:9 - Lest thou give thine honour unto others, and thy years unto the cruel

Steam version

The Steam download version of the game is listed as Windows 2000/XP/Vista platform because the executables are modified to use a DOSBox variant (v 0.70); additionally the traditional setup.exe is missing.

Is confirmed that neither Valve or id Software contacted the DOSBox project staff and initially the game didn´t includes the TXT´s that must be present under the GPL license (so they failed to fulfill 2 points of the GPL license).

2 days after the launch, there was an update that includes COPYING, AUTHORS and THANKS .txt of the DOSBox 0.71

Xbox port

In April 2005 a full port of this game was brought to Xbox as part of the Doom 3 special edition.

Xbox 360 version

The game's Xbox LIVE Arcade version is notable for being one of the (if not the) only game on the service to get delisted and then added again later. What happened is that, in October 2010, the game was delisted from the Xbox Marketplace at the request of Bethesda Softworks due to Activision (the port's publisher) no longer being able to maintain the game on there, due to id Software's acquisition by ZeniMax, who also own Bethesda (the Xbox 360 port of id's previous Wolfenstein 3D, also published by Activision, was not removed, strangely). Then, on January 2012, the game was finally put back on the service, under the publishing of Bethesda.

In the Xbox 360 port of the game, the stimpack and medikit sprites were edited so that, instead of a red cross, they depict a red-and-white pill. This is likely because the rights to the red cross symbol are owned by the International Committee of the Red Cross (who have expressed concern that usage of the symbol in video games cheapens its special significance), and its usage in video games technically violates the Geneva Conventions.

Information also contributed by DarkDante, JudgeDeadd, Medicine Man, MegaMegaMan, and Rola