History YMMV / Doom

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: Note that no-one has denied it was made on drugs. [[http://www.doomworld.com/10years/doomcomic/ Doomworld (presumed joking) describes its creation]]:
-->''Some time in 1996 a couple of guys got together and smoked what was apparently a large amount of crack and then injected pure heroin into their eyes and then proceeded to create what is now known only as 'the Doom comic'.''

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: The third book already started getting ''weird'' with the revelation of the Freds, but the fourth goes straight to bizarre territory as it juggles existentialism alongside a plot that dives headfirst into a ''double'' GainaxEnding territory without much reason behind anything.

** During the release of the 2019 Unity ''DOOM Classic'' ports, many believed that the first two ''Doom'' games were entirely remade on Unity. In actuality, these ports use the Unity engine as a shell for the original id Tech 1 engine's code, allowing the engine to be easily ported across multiple platforms. Similarly, when the PC version of these ports came to Steam as a free update, there was outcry from detractors claiming that a Bethesda.net account was required to play the games due to the dire state these ports were released, ignoring the fact that these ports are optional and the mandatory Bethesda.net login issue was long since resolved by the time the ports arrived on PC.

** The game released at a time when control schemes, especially for the still-fledgling FPS genre, were still being standardized, and as a result defaults to rather clunky control schemes that make use of ''just'' the mouse or keyboard rather than both where, for instance, you can only strafe by using a modifier key to temporarily change the "turn left and right" buttons into "strafe left and right". While it is possible to set the controls into something close to a modern combined keyboard-and-mouse setup, and the manual even suggests trying it, the game wasn't actually designed with it in mind; the result is that modern releases of the game utilizing modern FPS control schemes are noticeably easier, as combining [[LightningBruiser the Doomguy's natural speed and durability with the finesse of modern controls]] lets him easily mop the floor with entire armies that would have been nigh-insurmountable challenges with the original controls. There's a quick and noticeable shift from the original two games' horror atmosphere towards the fast-paced action the series is now famous for as modders and then the developers took notice of this and increased the difficulty of their maps to compensate - a modern player can see it as easily as playing ''The Ultimate Doom'', where Episode 3 ends with a piss-easy fight against the Spider Mastermind and then Episode 4, which was created the year after ''Doom II''[='=]s release, [[DifficultySpike suddenly pits you against]] a ton of shotgun guys and even a Baron in its first map.

** Ultra-Violence is largely treated as the "standard" difficulty despite it originally being designed as the original game's hardest difficulty, and so many players will just refuse to play any other difficulty. While this works fine for ''Ultimate Doom'' and ''Doom II'' since they're not hard games even on UV difficulty (especially with modern control schemes like using both the keyboard and mouse, which they weren't designed around), it does become an issue when one ventures into [=WADs=], where many players end up frustrated when they're unable to beat [=WADs=] designed to be much harder than the original games because they won't try a lower difficulty. This isn't helped by many map makers only making a token effort at implementing the lower difficulties or literally changing nothing at all for them in their [=WADs=]. It's so bad that some map makers like Ribbiks actually withheld the UV version of their maps until players proved they could handle the HMP difficulty on them, so that they didn't have to deal with people complaining their maps were too hard after only playing on UV. There is a vocal contingent in the community though pushing back against the "UV or bust" mentality, encouraging map makers to take advantage of the lower difficulty settings so their [=WADs=] can be enjoyed by a greater variety of skill levels, while chiding players that complain a WAD is too hard after only playing on UV.

* EndingFatigue: One of the bigger critiques of the original three episodes is that they run out of steam faster than you would think. The original episode introduces you to six weapons, seven enemies, and one boss. The second episode introduces you to one weapon, one enemy, and one boss. The third introduces you to one weapon (which can be missed) and one boss. Add in the fact that a lot of ''Doom'''s enemies function similarly, and it doesn't take long for the game to start running out of tricks. It really doesn't help that the second episode ends on what most would consider a suitably climactic FinalBoss, only for the game to keep going for another nine maps.

** With ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'', due to both franchises being set in grim and gritty sci-fi universes where HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace and RatedMForManly {{Space Marine}}s slaughter TheLegionsOfHell as a matter of course. Some 40k players even consider the Doomguy/Doom Slayer an honorary Astartes and claim ''Doom'' is a prequel to ''40k''.

** A lot of people not closely familiar with the series mistakenly believe that the first game takes place on Mars. While Doomguy is stationed on Mars in the backstory, the actual game takes on place Mars' moons, Phobos and Deimos, as well as Hell and Earth but never Mars itself.

** The official UsefulNotes/MicrosoftWindows port, [=Doom95=], introduced many problems that weren't in the original DOS version, such as the demo recording feature does not work when launching an IWAD directly from the launcher, running the port in any resolution above 320x240 causes severe rendering bugs in the automap (e.g. using map markers causes the automap to freak out and don't display in the correct coordinates), the player's weapon sprites are misaligned and appear shorter than in the original version, the intermission screen for the Thy Flesh Consumed episode in ''The Ultimate Doom'' somehow reuses the one from Knee-Deep in the Dead, sky textures never changes in ''Doom II'' unless you warp straight to a level with a different sky or save and restart the game[[labelnote:*]](although they did ''try'' to fixing this issue with the ''id Anthology'' re-release, their fix [[NiceJobBreakingItHero also causes the game to crash]] when looking the Read This! screen)[[/labelnote]], broken partial invisibility effects on certain video cards and versions of [=DirectX=] (see SpecialEffectsFailure below), and the screen is slightly stretched horizontally, making the game's enemies looking shorter and explosion effects appearing as an oval shape instead. Mouse controls when running [=Doom95=] on newer versions of Windows were also rendered useless due to the port using a driver file type that became obsolete on Windows 2000 and later. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Doom95 also misspells E1M1: Hangar in as "Hanger" (the name for a TNT: Evilution map).]] It's no wonder why many players on PC would rather play the game through [=DOSBox=] or one of its many source ports.

** Doom Guy dying and going to hell at the end of Episode 1 was meant to be an unexpected twist at the time, with even the episode's ending text lampshading how it "wasn't supposed to end this way". Like with the above example though it quickly got out how the episode ends, even moreso given the sheer magnitude of people that played the shareware version that consisted of just the first episode.
** The demons making it to Earth at the end and killing Doom Guy's pet rabbit. The scene of Doom Guy's impaled decapitated rabbit is probably the most shocking image from the classic games, and the sequel's title outright gives away that it's supposed to take place on Earth, so one would have to be extremely isolated and somehow completely unaware of the sequel to not know how the original game was going to end.

*** [=ZDoom=]'s features in and of themselves have fallen to this in a lot of mods made around when they were added, because a lot of mapmakers did what anyone does with a new toy and played with them to the point of overindulgence, resulting in a lot of older [=ZDoom=]-specific mods being a chore to play at best and at worst being actively unable to be completed depending on how your source port of choice has been updated and/or what other mods you run alongside it. ''[[Franchise/JamesBond 007]]: Licence to Spell [=DooM=]'' is another good example from 2002: when it released, it was so highly-regarded that it made it onto the "Top 100 [=WADs=] of All Time" list, but with twenty years of hindsight it's readily apparent that it was made less as a full map set than it was an experiment in messing around with as many of [=ZDoom=]'s features as possible, even when they actively hinder the gameplay by making navigation a chore or increasing the difficulty [[FakeDifficulty in ways that are simply not fair]]. Nowadays, many people prefer (and are even suggested) to start off mapping with either classic or Boom format before tackling [=ZDoom=]'s features.

** The Spider Mastermind has always been infamous for this. Sandy Petersen admitted it was a mistake to have it as the final boss in the original Doom. The main reason is if you have the [=BFG9000=] you can just BFG rush it and win every time; sure it'll rack up damage very fast at point-blank range with its Super Chaingun but it won't instant kill you like the Cyberdemon's rockets will, while its huge body will easily soak up all the BFG tracers and die in a guaranteed two hits. It's even possible to get a OneHitKill at near point blank range, as the BFG blast plus all the tracers can deal out over 3000 damage and the Mastermind's huge body will make it soak up all the tracers easily, though this requires getting quite lucky in the original Doom due to the blockmap bug causing tracers to be blocked, but in source ports that fix the bug it's a lot more common. Even without the BFG it's simple to beat, as you can either stand far away and unload onto it with the Plasma Rifle, where the Mastermind's surprisingly high pain chance will stun lock it enough for you to kill it before it kills you, or as long as you have a piece of cover you can simply pop out, hit it, and then get back behind the cover, repeating until it dies without you ever getting hurt, as the Mastermind has quite a bit of startup to its attack. With how huge and unwieldy the Mastermind is it can even get stuck sometimes, where it's then completely helpless. And having more than one at a time can't make a challenging fight, when since they have a hitscan attack Masterminds [[ArtificialStupidity will still infight with each other]], allowing you to get them to destroy each other. The only way for the Mastermind to be a challenging fight is to have it an open area with no cover and without giving the player a BFG or Plasma Rifle, where it then becomes a blatantly unfair fight as the player can't dodge its hitscan attack, so mappers can't use it in that capacity either.

** A lot of fans refer to the pair of Barons of Hell that serve as the [=E1M8=] boss fight as the Bruiser Brothers, which was also id's internal name for the pair.

*** ''Knee-Deep in [=ZDoom=]'' was groundbreaking when it released in 2007, being a remake of the first episode of ''Doom'' that showed off a number of [=ZDoom's=] new features like skyboxes, custom monsters, and scripted events; nowadays, it's considered to be average at best, between its new monsters being [[DemonicSpiders unbalanced]], its levels being [[MarathonLevel huge, sprawling mazes]] that are ease to get lost in and often overdetailed to the point that it's hard to see any resemblance to the original level, and following on from a legitimate battle against new and improved versions of the Barons of Hell that ended the original first episode with a new FinalBoss that [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere comes right out of left field]]. Even the writer of [[https://www.doomworld.com/14years/best2.php the 2007 Cacowards]], where ''[=KDiZD=]'' won, admits as much when returning to the mod [[https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/2022/best3/ 15 years later]] in the form of ''Knee-Deep in Knee-Deep in [=ZDoom=]'', a wholly-vanilla-compatible joke re/demake presented InTheStyleOf a Creator/TheHistoryChannel-style [[TakeThat loose retelling]] of the original episode, which won more for its technical wizardry than the gameplay of the maps.

** With ''Manga/ChainsawMan'', thanks to Denji tearing apart just like Doomguy does.

** Doom's RNG is disliked by a lot of players, especially speedrunners. Damage dealt both by the player and the enemies is heavily randomized, for example, Revenant's missile can do between 10 and 80 damage or, on the player's side, Berserk Fist can do between ''20 and 200'' damage. This, along with random bullet spread, can make the game feel widly inconsistent in some scenarios. Some speedrun categories like UV Max skew towards LuckBasedMission as a result.

*** ''Memento Mori'' was one of the very first full 32-level megawads ever released, releasing back in December 1995, a good seven months before ''Final Doom'', and at its time was considered one of the absolute best [=WADs=]. It was so revered that not only was it at the top spot for 1996[[note]]despite releasing in 1995; '96 was when its final version released[[/note]] in Doomworld's "[[https://www.doomworld.com/10years/bestwads/ Top 100 WADs of All Time]]" list that preceded the now-annual Cacowards, it was one of the very few [=WADs=] (and the first) that Compet-N ran speedrun leaderboards for. In the modern day however, it reeks of many mid-90s design philosophies that have long since fallen out of favor, with its maps looking drab or outright ugly, using mapping exploits to the detriment of gameplay.
*** ''Eternal Doom'' had message boards chatting when it was released in 1996 and there are levels that stand out visually even by today's standards (impressive, considering that the [=WAD=] had to be compatible with the barebones [=Doom II=] engine in the days before limit-removing source ports existed). However, its switch-hunt gameplay feels dated and is especially puzzling due to how complex the maps tend to be, to the point that even in 1996, there were frequent messages [[GuideDangIt asking for help]]. The level styling is also all over the board, with the first 12 levels being perhaps the most visually refined and consistent, compared with the ''Eternal Doom 2'' mapset that was added to fill out the remaining map slots in an update.

*** ''Knee-Deep in [=ZDoom=]'' was groundbreaking when it released in 2007, being a remake of the first episode of ''Doom'' that showed off a number of [=ZDoom's=] new features like skyboxes, custom monsters, and scripted events; nowadays, it's considered to be average at best, between its new monsters being [[DemonicSpiders unbalanced]], its levels being [[MarathonLevel huge, sprawling mazes]] that are ease to get lost in and often overdetailed to the point that it's hard to see any resemblance to the original level, and following on from a legitimate battle against new and improved versions of the Barons of Hell that ended the original first episode with a new FinalBoss that [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere comes right out of left field]]. Even the writer of [[https://www.doomworld.com/14years/best2.php the 2007 Cacowards]], where ''[=KDiZD=]'' won, admits as much when returning to the mod [[https://www.doomworld.com/cacowards/2022/best3/ 15 years later]] in the form of ''Knee-Deep in Knee-Deep in [=ZDoom=]'', a wholly-vanilla-compatible joke re/demake presented InTheStyleOf a Creator/TheHistoryChannel-style [[TakeThat loose retelling]] of the original episode.

*** UV Solo-Net - Beat the map/episode/WAD with co-op thing placement enabled; this typically features extra enemies and even extra boss enemies (Masterminds and Cyberdemons) that weren't there even on UV in normal solo play, though no ''Ultimate Doom'' map is really affected by this and only a handful of ''Doom II'' maps are, making it more relevant for ''Final Doom'' and fanmade [=WADs=] that take much greater advantage of co-op thing placement. This challenge would go on to be [[AscendedFanon officially incorporated]] in the 2019 Unity ports with its Ultra-Violence+ difficulty.

** The (in)famous FIREBLU texture which is essentially an animated red-fire over an ultramarine-like blue wall in a vaguely web-like pattern. It's such an out of place texture yet appears surprisingly frequently in some levels, particularly maps designed by Creator/SandyPetersen, perhaps most infamously "[=E3M6=]: Mt. Erebus". The vividness clashes so badly with overall quality of most textures that the texture has memetic status as having a charm of its own, to the point some have bemoaned that it didn't return for ''Doom II''; you can even find merchandise with the texture printed on it!

** At one point, Doom was installed on more computers than Microsoft Windows, the game was heavily promoted by Microsoft, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN0K58EfJSg Bill gates himself appeared inside the game to promote Windows 95 and DirectX]] and there were even rumors of a buy-out. In September 2020, Microsoft actually acquired Creator/{{Bethesda}} and by extension, Doom.
** One of the Compet-n speedrun categories added was the Solonet category (playing coop-mode alone, effectively). When Creator/{{Bethesda}} made an UpdatedReRelease of Doom in 2019, this mode was added as "Ultra-Violence+" but with "fast monsters" enabled like in Nightmare! mode. Imagine the difficulty fighting through a horde of monsters meant to be fought by a team of players but they're [[NintendoHard hyper-aggressive]] like on Nightmare! mode.

* VindicatedByHistory: While the comic is still largely seen as a meme, fans have taken on a new appreciation for it as it heavily informs the tone and characterization in ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' and ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'', with several memetic lines becoming recurring catchphrases and the Doomslayer acting like a silent version of the comic protagonist.

** Al Weaver's role as The Kid predates a handful of things to his role as [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 Rex]] 12 years later, which would be the ParentalAbandonment, showing goodwill here and there, and [[spoiler:ultimately dying for defying orders,]] except [[spoiler:Rex's death is at the beginning of the game and is revived soon after, and his parents are revealed to have died when he was very young.]] A few fans have joked about how [[spoiler:The Rock kills Rex]] upon making the connections.

** One of the Compet-n speedrun categories added was the Solonet category (playing coop-mode alone, effectively). When Creator/{{Bethesda}} made an UpdatedReRelease of Doom in 2019, this mode was added as "Ultra-Violence+" but with "fast monsters" enabled like in Nightmare! mode. Imagine the difficulty fighting through a hoard of monsters meant to be fought by a team of players but they're [[NintendoHard hyper-aggressive]] like on Nightmare! mode.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: A recurring complaint about ''VideoGame/Doom2016'' is that the campaign becomes homogenous and unable to provide varied challenges near the end. [[WebVideo/ZeroPunctuation Yahtzee Croshaw]] [[https://youtu.be/HQGxC8HKCD4?t=269 points out how the game eventually gets kind of samey]], and Mark Brown [[https://youtu.be/-Bx5t0baXhc?t=297 comments that the core gameplay starts running out of tricks after some time]]. The original ''Doom'' faced this issue even harder: it only had 7 non-boss monsters compared to ''2016''[='s=] 19, stops introducing new ones early into episode 2,[[note]]On the easiest two difficulties, the Cacodemon is last to appear in level 3; on the other three difficulties, the Lost Soul is the final new basic enemy and appears starting in level 2[[/note]] and many of the monsters fight the exact same way.[[note]]For example, the Imp and Baron both throw basic projectiles occasionally; the Cacodemon does likewise from above; and the Cyberdemon mildly varies this by shooting three at a time[[/note]] But when ''Doom'' was new, the monster variety was actually quite enough; compare its roster to ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'', whose basic enemies are almost entirely grounded {{hitscan}}ners with varying levels of lethality, the melee dogs, and the fireballing fake Hitlers that only appear in ''one'' level. And, even when playing ''Doom'' from a modern perspective, the game has measures to reduce how repetitive its combat can be, such as starting over with the pistol at the start of each episode, to challenge the player to fight tougher enemies with a more limited situation.

** Certain ports have had this happen to them as well, in part because of the game's continued easy availability and the evolution of fan-made source ports have made it easier and more feature-rich to just keep playing on PC, contributing to the idea that ''Doom'' console ports were [[PortingDisaster an epidemic]] in the mid-90s. The [=PlayStation=] version is looked at with a certain amount of disdain nowadays because of features it had to remove, including a handful of maps and the Archvile, but at the time it was probably one of the first console ports to stack up to the PC original, even holding its own in some regards such as introducing colored lighting, replacing the soundtrack with a downright creepy ambient score, and even [[EarlyBirdCameo featuring]] ''Doom II'' monsters in ''Doom 1'' maps if played on the higher difficulties. The Super Nintendo port is likewise seen nowadays as a very shoddy port, but in its day, getting a game of its technological complexity to run ''at all'' on the SNES hardware, even with the addition of the Super FX chip, was seen as an amazing accomplishment, especially considering it only lost a handful of levels, and it also had one of the best renditions of the original soundtrack on any platform.

** With the proliferation of skeleton memes on the internet, the Revenant got newfound popularity for being pretty much just a basic skeleton with rocket launchers attached that punches you out in a comical manner. Being such a threatening enemy that shoots rockets with ridiculously good homing capabilities has also made it particularly infamous among Doom players. When it finally merged with the skeleton trumpet meme it managed to even become an AscendedMeme.

** With ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein}}''. Pretend to be surprised.
*** Specifically, fans of the classic games are often also fans of ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'', and fans of the [[VideoGame/Doom2016 reboot]] tend to get along with fans of the ''[[VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder Wolfenstein]]'' [[VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus reboot]].

*** The all new sound effects in the PSX port and Doom 64 also get this, with some thinking they're more intimidating, impactful, and higher quality, while some others think they're cheesy, too echoey, and that the PC sounds are higher quality. Generally, the preference comes down to if one's first experience with Doom was the PC original or with the PSX port and Doom 64, with people having nostalgia for whichever sounds they first became familiar with. Some may also TakeAThirdOption and think some sounds were done better in PSX Doom/Doom 64 while thinking some other sounds were done better in the PC original.

*** Some go even farther and argue "Thy Flesh Consumed" is a Disappointing Last Chapter, due to the very heavy DifficultySpike and [[FakeDifficulty not always for the right reasons]]. For instance, many levels start you in rooms cram-packed with enemies, something that was never done even on the hardest maps of the first three chapters, and a sudden much greater emphasis is put on platforming in a game that ''doesn't have a jump button''. It also features absolutely nothing new from the first three chapters aside from its skybox, with even the boss being recycled as mentioned above. It does get its defenders from people who enjoy the far greater challenge though.

** The Cacodemon is the second most recognizable Doom monster after the Cyberdemon and arguably its most popular, with it being a sort of mascot for the series. Fans particularly find its UglyCute design endearing.

** Hell, ''Doom'' was arguably the ''platform'' turning point that established the PC as an equal, if not superior, choice to consoles for gamers thirsting for high-adrenaline action games. Bill Gates made certain that a Windows 95-compatible version of ''Doom'' was available once he found out that [[KillerApp even more PC users had installed it than Windows itself]], and another major goal kept in mind during its development was ensuring ''Doom'' could be launched while Windows 95 was running without any issues. Not for nothing is ''Doom'' considered one of the most-significant PC games of all time.

* HarsherInHindsight: One of the quit messages is "If I were your boss, I'd deathmatch ya in a minute!" A few short years later, the workaholic John Carmack, convinced people weren't working as hard as he was, moved his desk into the hallway of the id Software offices specifically to make sure nobody was wasting company time, not to mention that John Romero was fired from id because he spent too much time slacking off in deathmatches.

** The [=PlayStation=] version is known as the first legitimately good console port during the '90s, combining both ''Ultimate Doom'' and ''Doom II'' into one game, while additionally featuring new lighting effects (including colored lighting), new and improved sound effects for everything, and changed the rockin' soundtrack for [[https://aubreyhodges.bandcamp.com/album/doom-playstation-official-soundtrack-20th-anniversary-extended-edition some dark and ambient music]] that makes it feel like a horror game. While it does have disadvantages due to hardware limitations such as a subpar framerate (though still better than the other '90s ports), simplified and easier maps (as a majority of the maps were derived from the Jaguar port), has some maps removed completely, and other features missing from the PC version such as the lack of Arch-Viles and the Icon of Sin, but the port makes up for it by adding in new visual changes that brings new life to the game's atmosphere, such as skies in the Hell maps being ''an animated wall of flame'', as well as having a few new high quality maps of its own. It also featured ''Doom II'' monsters in the original ''Doom'' when played on Ultra-Violence to mix up the ''Ultimate Doom'' maps. Compared to the technically better console ports, [=PlayStation=] ''Doom'' offered its own unique experience.
*** The port is so beloved, the ''Doom'' community worked together to [[https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/126183/ not only effectively port it to GZDoom with all the modern advantages it would entail]], but also worked to recreate all 72 maps that didn't make the original cut in the [=PlayStation=] version's style, as well as recreating the ''No Rest for the Living'' expansion and John Romero's ''VideoGame/{{Sigil}}'', ''Tech Gone Bad'', and ''Phobos Mission Control'' maps in a similar fashion. After the port's source code was released to the public in 2020, the community also began working on a reverse-engineered port, providing a faithful yet modern way to experience these games on Windows and [=MacOS=].

** The UsefulNotes/ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer version comes dangerously close to being the very worst, thanks to being headed by someone who had no idea how difficult it was to port games between systems (he gave [[https://github.com/Olde-Skuul/doom3do a single programmer ten weeks to make the port]] with nothing more than jpeg images of some assets and a copy of ''Ultimate Doom''). In addition to cutting the same levels and monsters as the Jaguar and GBA versions, it also has serious frame-rate issues. You can either shrink the screen down (making it virtually impossible to see anything without bunching up to the TV), or you could make the window bigger (which caused the frame rate to drop into ''single digits'' at points). The only thing saving it is [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic the awesomely remixed soundtrack]], which is itself brought down by the fact that so many levels were cut that a lot of tracks go unused.
*** Even the soundtrack has an odd backstory. Programmer Rebecca Heineman informed her boss, the owner of Art Data (and the same person who gave her ten weeks to make the port), that the 3DO had a different sound chip which made porting the soundtrack impractical. Luckily the CEO of Art Data happened to be a guitarist with musician friends who performed for their church. So with a cassette tape that Heineman recorded of the original music, they were able to recreate the soundtrack in a garage over a few days, which ended up becoming the only positive point of the [=3DO=] version that just about everyone can agree on.

* TheScrappy: The Spider Mastermind is rather unpopular with Doom fans, with it being mocked for its boss fights being complete jokes and for its rather silly design that isn't intimidating like the Cyberdemon and Barons nor UglyCute like the Cacodemon and the second game's Arachnotrons. Among custom map makers it's also by far the least-used stock enemy in [=WADs=], not counting the Icon of Sin/Boss Brain, as with it being a huge DamageSpongeBoss hitscan attacker that will get stuck often, it's pretty much impossible to make it into a challenging boss fight without making it outright unfair for the player, and with its qualities it can't really be used well as a normal enemy nor EliteMook, as it can be either easily ignored, just get BFG blasted, or will really slow the gameplay down. It's not an uncommon view among Doom mappers and players that "there's no good way to use the Mastermind", and otherwise it's generally agreed the Mastermind is the hardest Doom enemy to use properly; there are entire megawads that don't use the Mastermind ''even once''. Tellingly, ''Doom II'' [[TakeThatScrappy turned the Mastermind into a joke]], with every level it appears in having some way to easily kill it.

** The chainsaw is iconic, but as a weapon it's pretty damn bad. First being a melee weapon, running in to saw an enemy to death leaves you way more vulnerable than just keeping your distance and shooting them, and if you're trying to stunlock an enemy to death the chaingun has the same rate of fire and pretty much the same DPS as the chainsaw but doesn't require you to get in an enemy's face to hit them. Then you can't really use the chainsaw on anything bigger than Cacodemon; due to buggy hit detection in vanilla Doom the chainsaw fails to properly latch onto wide enemies like Arachnotrons, while Revenants' and Mancubi's pain chance are low enough that you can't reliably stunlock them with the chainsaw without them hitting through, then you have no chance to stunlock Hell Knights, Barons, and Archviles with their especially low pain chances, and trying to chainsaw a Cyberdemon and Mastermind is flat-out suicidal. The only real practical use of the chainsaw is to save you some ammo against Pinkies and maybe the occasional solitary Caco, but as an ammo saver the chainsaw is outclassed by the Berserk Fist, which once you learn how to safely weave in and time your punches with your weaves, you can use it much more safely against those bigger enemies that the chainsaw can't safely stunlock, and kill enemies faster than the Chainsaw can too. It's especially useless on Nightmare mode or with fast monsters enabled, as besides it being a lot more difficult to get close enough to an enemy to melee them when they're constantly firing at you, the Chainsaw loses its one niche of being useful against Pinkies/Spectres, as due to their attack speed being twice as fast and their pain state being reduced to half the duration on Nightmare/with fast monsters, they cannot be reliably stunlocked and will usually bite through the Chainsaw, making it suicidal to try Chainsawing a horde of them like you could on lower difficulties.

** Due to poor usage of the system's audio chips, the 32x port (see PortingDisaster)'s soundtrack, in the words of ''WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd'', "sounds like shit", both figuratively and literally, arguably the worst possible version of the game's music. But regardless, it led to many people mocking the tracks as a [[ToiletHumor Taco Bell orchestra]], one fellow even going the extra mile [[https://youtu.be/qG2HwH1JkAI and creating...this.]][[note]]A high-res cover of the "At Doom's Gate" track with fart sounds. For added irony, some comments point out it actually sounds better than the 32x port's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2oyweqZ7WM own version of this very track]][[/note]]

*** '''Perfect Hatred''', while not lacking in resources like the previous level, is usually considered the most difficult level in ''Ultimate Doom'' on UV difficulty and shows how wicked John Romero can be as a level designer. It's a compact level where you must constantly jump over lava pits while being assaulted from all around you with no cover, with powerful enemies placed in the most inconvenient of places (there are 12 Barons in the level, all fought in either tight spaces or on little ground to maneuver on). The exploitation of two design oversights (grabbing the BFG through the wall it's behind to obtain it significantly earlier, and skipping a large portion of the level by exploiting a jump to access the last area without the blue key) are pretty much required for many normal players to beat the level on Ultra-Violence difficulty, and few can beat the level on Nightmare without utilising those exploits. The AttractMode for the Ultimate Doom version features the demo recorded by Romero himself where the player dies ''less than half a minute'' into the level while showcasing the lack of cover and constant assault from the enemies.
** '''[=E4M6=]: Against Thee Wickedly''' also contends with the aforementioned two levels for most difficult level in Ultimate Doom. The main feature of the level is a teleporter in the central area that the player must use to access different parts of the level. However entering the teleporter from different directions teleports the player to different areas, and the teleporter is located in a large lava pool, while the level in general forces the player to run through lava at frequent points, meaning the player will regularly be taking unavoidable damage trying to figure the level out. The level is additionally large and complex while the teleporter is unintuitive and takes a while to figure out, leading to a ton of unavoidable damage for those who don't know the right path and an effective time limit on figuring the level out. On top of that, resources and radsuits are very limited and spread out, while the opposition is nearly as strong as in the rest of E4 (including a mandatory Cyberdemon fight at the end on a small ledge, though this can be mitigated with a secret BFG and invulnerability that can be used to easily defeat it). Then on Nightmare difficulty this level ratchets it up several more notches to being the outright hardest level in this game and Doom 2, when you have to constantly go back through the large and open central area that gets you continuously harassed by respawnings Cacos there and leaves you wide open to getting sniped at from the respawning Shotgunners and Imps in the upper areas, and if you can't make it to the aformentioned Cyberdemon with the Invulnerability intact (which is no small feat when respawning enemies block a clean path to him), your run is pretty much over, as trying to fight him on a small ledge or in the very small final room while the aformentioned enemies are assaulting you from behind is essentially suicidal, while you won't be able to kill him fast enough by sniping him from afar before the respawning enemies wear you down.

* FountainOfMemes: Pretty much everything "Doomguy" says is a catchphrase in the ''Doom'' community, most notably "RIP AND TEAR YOUR GUTS!"

** The [=PlayStation=] version is known as the first legitimately good console port during the '90s, combining both ''Ultimate Doom'' and ''Doom II'' into one game, while additionally featuring new lighting effects (including colored lighting), new and improved sound effects for everything, and changed the rockin' soundtrack for [[https://aubreyhodges.bandcamp.com/album/doom-playstation-official-soundtrack-20th-anniversary-extended-edition some dark and ambient music]] that makes it feel like a horror game. While it does have disadvantages due to hardware limitations such as a subpar framerate (though still better than the other '90s ports), simplified and easier maps (as a majority of the maps were derived from the Jaguar port), has some maps removed completely, and other features missing from the PC version such as the lack of Arch-Viles and the Icon of Sin, but the port makes up for it by adding in new visual changes that brings new life to the game's atmosphere, such as skies in the Hell maps being ''an animated wall of flame'', as well as having a few new high quality maps of its own. It also featured ''Doom II'' monsters in the original ''Doom'' when played on Ultra-Violence to mix up the ''Ultimate Doom'' maps. Compared to the technically better console ports, [=PlayStation=] ''Doom'' offered its own unique experience. The port is so beloved, the ''Doom'' community worked together to [[https://www.doomworld.com/forum/topic/126183/ not only effectively port it to GZDoom with all the modern advantages it would entail]], but also worked to recreate all 72 maps that didn't make the original cut in the [=PlayStation=] version's style, as well as recreating the ''No Rest for the Living'' expansion and John Romero's ''VideoGame/{{Sigil}}'', ''Tech Gone Bad'', and ''Phobos Mission Control'' maps in a similar fashion. After the port's source code was released to the public in 2020, the community also began working on a reverse-engineered port, providing a faithful yet modern way to experience these games on Windows and [=MacOS=].

** The pistol, after the [[GatlingGood chaingun]] is picked up. You'd expect the chaingun to be less accurate due to being a [[MoreDakka faster-firing minigun]], but repeatedly tapping the fire button lets you fire accurate double shots for sniping, using the pistol's ammo. This is one reason why weapon mods may try to replace the pistol with a viable starting weapon (such as VideoGame/BrutalDoom's assault rifle), or enhance it (like Project Brutality adding both a GunsAkimbo option, as well as a suppressor to make it a stealth weapon).