History YMMV / Doom

* 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, five enemies, and one boss. The second episode introduces you to one weapon, two enemies, 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 to one another (there are three each of melee-only enemies and ones with both melee and a ranged projectile, for instance), 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.

** ''Doom'' wouldn't be the only [[Franchise/TheElderScrolls first-person computer game series]] to come out of TheNineties that had [[OurDemonsAreDifferent interdimensional demonic beings]] and various other supernatural aspects in it. Even better, the 2016 reboot was published by Bethesda Softworks, the creators of that other series, and both developers belong to the same company: [=ZeniMax=] Media. For extra hilarity, both the original and the 2016 reboot would end up getting published to [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Nintendo]] [[UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch systems]].

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The finale for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance edition of ''Doom'' shows the ending picture from ''Ultimate Doom's'' fourth episode, with the marine carrying the severed head of his unfortunate pet bunny, but it doesn't show the cutscene from episode three that gives the picture its context, leaving new players wondering why the hell Doomguy is just holding some rabbit's head.

* {{Narm}}: In the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} port of the game, the limited memory means that many sound effects get reused, leading to amusing curiosities like the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind using the Baron of Hell's death report, and their death animations being sped up tremendously.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Everyone knows that the BSP tree was pioneered in ''Doom'' to allow for faster rendering, right? Well, not quite: ignoring computer applications for BSP trees outside of video games, ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D'' on the UsefulNotes/{{SNES}} was actually it. John Carmack needed a way to get ''Wolfenstein'' running on the SNES' hardware faster, and when BSP worked for ''Wolfenstein'' it was ported forwards to ''Doom''.

** The UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance version has the technical issues of running in a handheld device (less buttons, lower framerate, low-res visuals, altered levels) and some {{bowdlerization}} of the blood and gore, and yet ended up as remarkably well-done port considering the GBA's limitations and impressive additions to the system's library of first-person shooters.

** The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and UsefulNotes/Sega32X versions are considered the worst of these: The SNES version gets props for being made in the first place, and sported a few pros such as an awesome soundtrack, the full enemy roster, the least amount of cut or simplified maps, all power-ups, a [[UrExample proto]]-SniperRifle (the shotgun still fired multiple pellets but they had no spread whatsoever), and a spiffy red cartridge, but also had the graphical problems mentioned above in addition to [[FakeDifficulty no circle-strafing]], the second and third episodes [[EasyModeMockery only being playable on harder difficulties]], and no ability to save the game. The 32X version, however, despite appearing on an allegedly more advanced system, was even worse: terrible music[[note]]This is thoroughly unforgivable considering the Genesis uses a sound chip that is a very close relative to the synthesizer found on Sound Blaster cards, which were the most popular sound cards at the time the PC version came out, and the music sounded great on those. It should have been a total cinch to accomplish the same on the 32X.[[/note]], and losing more levels than any other port (only the first two episodes are ported, and it only has both of their secret levels on the technicality that the second episode's secret level replaces "Tower of Babel" as the end of its episode), and both the Cyberdemon ''and'' the Spider Mastermind are gone. The remaining levels were also haphazardly gutted, sometimes making it impossible to get a 100% score since items and enemies had been left in removed areas of the maps - including [[DummiedOut every instance of the BFG]].
** The UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn version of the game, despite being on a more advanced system than the 32X, is an absolute mess. It suffers from horrible frame-rate issues and jerky and unresponsive controls with a questionable control scheme that makes it almost unplayable. This was due to ExecutiveMeddling from Creator/JohnCarmack, who absolutely refused to let the Saturn version use hardware rendering since, while the Saturn's specs would have allowed the game to run at 60 FPS, it resulted in texture warping, which was a deal-breaker as far as he was concerned; the quick-fix to this was to hastily reprogram the 32X port's renderer, with disastrous results. The American (but not the European and Japanese) version also axes the multiplayer. And some of the sound effects are lower quality than the other versions.
** 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, he 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 everyone can agree on.
** The UsefulNotes/AtariJaguar version is pretty decent for a console port at the time (Romero, Carmack, and id Software developed the Jaguar version themselves, and many of the console ports are based on this version), but it contains no in-game music because the sheer computing load on the console's co-processor precluded it from playing the music. It's additionally missing some maps, and does not have the Cyberdemon nor Spider Mastermind.
** 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, 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.
** While many leagues better than the aforementioned ports from the '90s, the 2019 ports of ''Doom'' and ''Doom II'' for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, and mobile Android systems were, on launch, inexplicably inferior to the Xbox 360, [=PlayStation=] 3, and even original Xbox versions. For one, they required a mandatory login with a Bethesda account to even be played, which tended to cause problems when using the respective console's sleep mode (which required one to reboot the game to fix). Lacking any kind of online features at launch, with even the multiplayer being split-screen only, people were baffled at the requirement -- turns out, it existed solely to activate an OldSaveBonus in the then-upcoming ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'', a feature which was probably not worth the hassle. In addition to this, the game was improperly scaled to a 16:10 aspect ratio (as opposed to increasing the field of view or a similar solution), resulting in a stretched, warped picture. The ports also emulated shadows incorrectly, leading to some areas (such as the dark room in [=E1M3=]) appearing much brighter than intended. To top it all off, the sounds appeared to be recorded from the MIDI files and played back incorrectly (as opposed to simply emulating them), leading to slowed-down music and sound effects.[[note]][[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSsfjHCFosw Here]] is an example of the MIDI music, and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtfzZuHZoqs here]] is that same track on the pre-patch Switch version[[/note]] Fortunately, Nerve Software eventually patched out most of the problems with the port -- removing the mandatory login in one update, fixing the lighting and repairing the sounds and music in another, and finally fixing the aspect ratio and adding a whole lot more -- ultimately putting these versions into [[PolishedPort the opposite trope]].

*** ''Community Chest'' and ''Community Chest 2'', released in 2003 and 2004 respectively, were among the earliest high-profile megawads created by a public community collaborative effort and would popularize the trend of community projects, which remain popular with Doom mappers and players to this day. [=CC2=] would even win one of the first Cacowards. However, while they do have a couple maps that are still held up as gems ('''The Mucus Flow''' from [=CC2=] in particular is one of the most revered Doom maps of all time, placing third in 2018's list of the top 100 most memorable maps), they're emblematic of the problems that often afflict community projects; with a lack of proper oversight and quality control, the two megawads are extremely inconsistent in map design, quality, and [[SchizophrenicDifficulty difficulty]] (with the maps ranging in difficulty from as easy as Doom 2 to stuff only the most hardcore players could ever beat saveless), while also containing a lot of blatant filler maps (with some even being old maps reused for the project) and maps so overtly grandiose that were clearly not reigned in by the project leads ('''Citadel At The End Of Eternity''' from [=CC1=] is particularly notorious, with its UV-max speedrun being ''nearly as long as the entirety of Doom 2's''). Naturally, ''Community Chest 3'' and ''4'' would iterate on the community grabbag megawad idea in a more refined manner, a characteristic also present in the ''Nova'' series afterh the first, and most project designers are much more strict on the mapping rules, like forcing a specific theme[[note]]a good example being the various Doomber Boards Project [=WADs=], each of which revolves around one theme and one theme alone -- {{Cyberpunk}}, FilmNoir, WildWest, a recreation of ''VideoGame/Doom3'', you name it[[/note]] or only allowing mappers who don't have a lot of experience.

*** [=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 actively unable to be completed at worst, depending on how your source port of choice has been updated since the mod released 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.

* OvershadowedByControversy: ''Doom'' has ultimately managed to escape this reputation and is now recognized as a classic of the FirstPersonShooter genre, but for a period in the late 1990's/early 2000's, it was inexorably linked to the perpetrators of the Columbine High School massacre, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who were big fans of the game. Over time, it has become increasingly accepted that [[MurderSimulator violent media does not cause real-world violence]] and those who still advocate otherwise are viewed as [[DiscoDan behind the times]], and evidence points to Harris and Klebold already being unstable before the massacre (the FBI concluded that Harris was a psychopath motivated by [[{{Sadist}} a desire to inflict pain for his own enjoyment]], while Klebold was bipolar and motivated by {{Revenge}} against being mistreated in school).
** The 3DO conversion became this over time: the conversion itself was ridiculed for running at a slideshow frame rate, though Rebecca Heineman, the programmer behind this port, was largely spared from the blame as she was basically tasked to [[ChristmasRushed finish the port in ten weeks]] for Black Friday and the subsequent holiday season and, instead of the id Tech source code she actually needed as a starting point, was given a ''retail copy'' of the game and a few jpegs by Art Data, a fly-by-night company founded by Randy Scott, a wannabe video game mogul, who did what amounted to defrauding both Heineman and the gaming press of the time by lying to them that the conversion was mostly finished and was to feature additional content such as new weapons and FullMotionVideo sequences, supposedly to further showcase the 3DO's capabilities, and having a [[IncompetenceInc gross misconception]] on how video games are developed, seemingly under the impression that porting the game was just a matter of a cut-and-paste/recompile job. Randy Scott and his company flew off the radar afterwards, but he resurfaced in 2017 when he was [[https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/music-school-owner-accused-of-molesting-two-young-students/20389/ accused]] of [[PaedoHunt molesting young girls]] at his music school.
* ParanoiaFuel: In [=E2M5=], there's a marble wall with an alien face that damages you, just for standing in front of it. That texture shows up a lot in other levels, and each time you see it from then on, you'll wonder if it's going to damage you, too. [[spoiler:In reality, it's actually a damaging floor in disguise, but still...]]

** 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 original Xbox version of ''The Ultimate Doom'' and ''Doom II'' included in ''Doom 3: Limited Collector's Edition'' and ''Resurrection of Evil'' (the latter also includes the ''Master Levels of Doom II'') are near-faithful ports of the PC version. Unlike the other console ports, nothing was sacrificed during the transition, they run at a decent frame-rate, and include a new secret level for each game. There are some GameBreakingBug[=s=], however (e.g. potential crashes, being trapped in certain areas of a map or stuck in objects), and due how cheat codes were handled, players may accidentally activate a cheat while holding the sprint button. The HD version on Xbox LIVE Arcade fixes many of issues of the original Xbox version while giving these games a higher native resolution, uses the Gravis Ultrasound music, added online multi-player, and in ''Doom II''[='=]s case, features an all-new "No Rest for the Living" episode. Unfortunately the ''Wolfenstein 3D'' levels were censored, and the red medical crosses were removed. These ports were also included as part of ''Doom 3: BFG Edition'' and the [=PlayStation=] 3-exclusive ''Doom Classic Complete'' compilation; the latter also includes ''Final Doom'' and ''Master Levels for Doom II''.
** While extremely poorly received at launch, the 2019 suite of ports (which encompasses [=PlayStation=] 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, [=iOS=], Android, and eventually PC[[note]]where it is known as ''Doom Enhanced''[[/note]]) eventually became this thanks to a set of patches. For starters, it's the first official version of the game to run at 60 FPS -- every other version prior, including the DOS original, ran at 35 FPS. In addition, the resolution is doubled from 320x200 to 640x400, a quick-saving and quick-loading feature was added, cheats are available (unlike the XBLA/[=PS3=] versions), a radial menu was added to make weapon switching much easier on controllers, and an "Add-Ons" section was added that allowed for players to download a set of curated community [=WADs=] for free -- launching with ''No Rest for the Living'', both halves of ''Final Doom'', and ''VideoGame/{{Sigil}}'', and later adding player-created mods like the two ''Back to Saturn X'' episodes and ''Doom Zero''. In addition, the PC and Android versions support the ability to import custom [=WADs=]. Another patch would go even further to implement 16:9 widescreen presentation with the option for the original 4:3 presentation, variable framerates on supported platforms, gyro motion controller support, revamped deathmatch multiplayer, added a new Ultra Violence+ difficulty, and [=DeHackEd=] support for mods among other improvements. It does have some drawbacks, such as inconsistencies with certain add-ons reverting back to the 4:3 status bar while others lacking 16:9 art assets for the title screen, intermissions, and ending screen (although a user savvy enough with ''Doom'' WAD editing tools can mod them in and more for the PC version at least), the ''Wolfenstein 3D'' levels in ''Doom II'' are censored but not to the extremes of the ''BFG Edition'' versions[[labelnote:*]]the differences are the SS soldiers, level names, and music are retained from the PC version, but the Nazi iconography and Hitler pictures were altered and the "schutzstaffel" voice clip was slightly redubbed to "schutzkämpfer"[[/labelnote]] (which can also be restored via modding), a few bugs from the ''id Anthology'' version of ''Final Doom'' were leftover in the [=WADs=] (such as a scripted ambush at the end of [=MAP31=] in ''TNT: Evilution'' that doesn't work at all), lacks control remapping on consoles and mobile (although averted in the PC version as it supports full keyboard and controller remapping), as well as no online multiplayer unlike the XBLA/[=PS3=] versions, but is more than adequate for casual players and for a handheld experience on the Switch and mobile.

** The [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] and UsefulNotes/Sega32X versions are considered the worst of these: The SNES version gets props for being made in the first place, and sported a few pros such as an awesome soundtrack, full enemy roster, the least amount of cut levels, all power-ups, the least simplified maps, a [[UrExample proto]]-SniperRifle (the shotgun still fired multiple pellets but they had no spread whatsoever), and a spiffy red cartridge, but also had the graphical problems mentioned above in addition to [[FakeDifficulty no circle-strafing]], the second and third episodes [[EasyModeMockery only being playable on harder difficulties]], and no ability to save the game. The 32X version, however, despite appearing on an allegedly more advanced system, was even worse: terrible music[[note]]This is thoroughly unforgivable considering the Genesis uses a sound chip that is a very close relative to the synthesizer found on Sound Blaster cards, which were the most popular sound cards at the time the PC version came out, and the music sounded great on those. It should have been a total cinch to accomplish the same on the 32X.[[/note]], and losing more levels than any other port (only the first two episodes are ported, and it only has both of their secret levels on the technicality that the second episode's secret level replaces "Tower of Babel" as the end of its episode), and both the Cyberdemon ''and'' the Spider Mastermind are gone. The remaining levels were also haphazardly gutted, sometimes making it impossible to get a 100% score since items and enemies had been left in removed areas of the maps. The BFG is technically programmed into the game, but [[DummiedOut is impossible to get]] because every location it would have appeared in has been cut and the developers didn't add any pick-ups for it anywhere else.

** 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 everyone can agree on.

** "Shotgunners" and "Chaingunners" for the Former Sergeant/Shotgun Guy and Former Commando/Heavy Weapon Dude respectively, as these names roll off the tongue a little better while also being more descriptive.

* 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 Doom Slayer acting like a silent version of the comic protagonist.

** '''"[=E2M6=]: Halls of the Damned"''' is a drag the first time playing it without a strategy guide. The goal is to obtain all three keys to open the exit near the start, but two of the keys are buried deep in the halls. The major threat is a maze region with a Lovecraftian layout, and some nasty monster ambushes. The night-vision goggles placed through out the level help a lot here. There is also a nasty KaizoTrap deep within the level.

** Each installment generally has its own identity; which one is the best? Largely split between the original games, ''Doom 3'', ''Doom (2016)'' and ''Doom Eternal'' for the most part, with a bit of this showing for the novels, movie, comic and other sources. The original duology are classics with massive modding scenes that could provide an insane amount of replayability, but it's hard to deny that the vanilla experience is [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny showing its age]]. ''Doom 3'' is loved for going into the horror side of the games' action-horror blend and is genuinely scary, intense, and visually appealing, but the combat and general pacing are slow and clunky when compared to the original games. Meanwhile, ''Doom (2016)'' goes for the opposite tone, returning to the fast-paced action and has astonishing visuals, but leaves little room for the player to feel frightened by the game's enemies. ''Doom Eternal'' doubles down on ''2016''[='s=] actionization over horror, incorporating StylishAction game design and frenetic arcadey fights, but is a lot less approachable for its SequelDifficultySpike and increased complexity, in addition to the much higher lore emphasis being either cool explorations of the 'verse or [[PlayTheGameSkipTheStory getting in the way of the gameplay]].\\\

*** The other side of the coin are those that strive for vanilla accuracy and gameplay performance, which itself is split between strictly vanilla like Chocolate Doom, and vanilla-accurate but with limits removed and some other enhancements like [=PrBoom+=]. Favored by purists and challenge runners, they aim to maintain parity with vanilla Doom and can run massive maps containing ludicrous enemy counts without a sweat, at the cost of them being [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny less approachable to younger audiences]] and not as easy to modify.[[note]]For example, if you want to create a new custom enemy, in [=GZDoom=] you're able to just add it on top of what already exists, but in these ports you'll have to utilize [=DeHackEd=] to replace an already existing thing with the new enemy.[[/note]]

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** The first game was credited with popularizing the entire FPS genre, creating the ASpaceMarineIsYou formula, garnering attention for its shocking violence, and introducing {{game mod}}ding. Naturally, some would draw unfavorable comparisons by modern standards. Many younger shooter fans would consider its gameplay to be simplistic and its story to be lazily shoehorned compared to likes of ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' and ''VideoGame/BioShock''. Likewise, while ''Doom'' garnered much infamy during the 90s for its violence, modern graphics can depict far more realistic and disturbing acts of violence; today, ''Doom''[='=]s low-resolution gore just comes off as quaint.
** At its time, ''Doom'' was considered fairly challenging, but modern players looking back on the game would find it fairly easy and simple. This can generally be attributed to ''Doom'''s controls: it 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". Even among players who have used the provided control scheme of mouse and keyboard, aiming a camera with the mouse was unheard of and thus the muscle memory hadn't formed to do so. These days, mouse and keyboard is widely accepted as the optimal setup for shooters since the mouse enables very fine control over aiming, and gamers have developed their skills using this setup. Thanks to this, playing through the original ''Doom'' from a modern perspective feels rather quaint, at least until the fourth episode released a year and 4 months after the first three -- during which players had time to build up their first-person shooter skills -- and is generally accepted to be as difficult as it was back then.
** 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 while the systems it was officially ported to have fallen out of favor and been replaced with more modern ones, making it easier and more feature-rich to just keep playing on PC and contributing to the idea that ''Doom'' console ports were [[PortingDisaster an epidemic]] in the mid-90s. The [=PlayStation=] version, NostalgiaFilter aside, 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 its modding community having been active for close to 30 years by now, it's only natural that several mods have fallen to this as well. Older mods which were once well-acclaimed can seem downright primitive nowadays, between evolving mapper skill and the introduction of increasingly-user-friendly mod tools which make it easier to add fine detailing, custom textures, and what have you, and as maps get more recent it becomes less common to see maps that don't make use of several custom textures, to the point that seeing heavy use of the default textures usually means it's the wad's primary gimmick.
*** ''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 the first of the very few [=WADs=] 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 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.
*** ''Hell Revealed'', released in May '97, was a landmark megawad, being the first ultra-hard megawad made for those who thought Plutonia was too easy, and would serve as the standard at which the difficulty of hard [=WADs=] was measured against, while like the aforementioned Memento Mori, also being venerated enough to have Compet-N run speedrun leaderboards for it. Aside from its difficulty having since been well exceeded by other [=WADs=], [[FakeDifficulty the means with which it achieved that difficulty]] are scorned by modern players, with its maps relying on having clairvoyance to survive without saves or looking up a guide, a lot of times its difficulty coming down to sheer tedium, as well as traps being so unfair that they can veer into LuckBasedMission for even the best players. Its maps are also considered ugly by today standards, and Hell Revealed offers little else aside from difficulty. Players nowadays looking for an ultra hard mapset are more likely to be recommended more modern megawads which have more restrained difficulty. While ''Hell Revealed'' is still played online by many, most do it only in order to see how far Doom mapping has evolved.
*** ''Community Chest'' and ''Community Chest 2'', released in 2003 and 2004 respectively, were among the earliest high-profile megawads created by a public community collaborative effort and would popularize the trend of community projects, which remain popular with Doom mappers and players to this day. [=CC2=] would even win one of the first Cacowards. However, while they do have a couple maps that are still held up as gems ('''The Mucus Flow''' from [=CC2=] in particular is one of the most revered Doom maps of all time, placing third in 2018's list of the top 100 most memorable maps), they're emblematic of the problems that often afflict community projects; with a lack of proper oversight and quality control, the two megawads are extremely inconsistent in map design, quality, and [[SchizophrenicDifficulty difficulty]] (with the maps ranging in difficulty from as easy as Doom 2 to stuff only the most hardcore players could ever beat saveless), while also containing a lot of blatant filler maps (with some even being old maps reused for the project) and maps so overtly grandiose that were clearly not reigned in by the project leads ('''Citadel At The End Of Eternity''' from [=CC1=] is particularly notorious, with its UV-max speedrun being ''nearly as long as the entirety of Doom 2's''). Naturally, ''Community Chest 3'' and ''4'' would iterate on the community grabbag megawad idea in a more refined manner, a characteristic also present in the ''Nova'' series afterh the first, and most project designers are much more strict on the mapping rules, like forcing a specific theme[[note]]a good example being the various Doomber Boards Project [=WADs=], each of which revolves around one theme and one theme alone -- {{Cyberpunk}}, FilmNoir, WildWest, a recreation of ''VideoGame/Doom3'', you name it[[/note]] or only allowing mappers who don't have a lot of experience.
*** ''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 easy 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.
*** [=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 actively unable to be completed at worst, depending on how your source port of choice has been updated since the mod released 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.

** Edge magazine's infamous [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120104155012/http:/www.next-gen.biz/reviews/doom-review "If only you could talk to the demons"]] review of the first ''Doom'' came out only a month after ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', the fourth game [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei in a series]] where you can, as the reviewer wished, talk to the demons and form alliances. However the lack of global internet at the time meaning that very few knew the existence of the game.

* HilariousInHindsight: After learning that Doom was installed on more computers than Windows, Microsoft founder Bill Gates briefly considered buying id Software before deciding to have a team port the game over to Windows 95. In March 2021, Microsoft purchased [=ZeniMax=] Media, the parent company of id, making Microsoft the owners of id and Doom.

** Edge magazine's infamous [[https://web.archive.org/web/20120104155012/http:/www.next-gen.biz/reviews/doom-review "If only you could talk to the demons"]] review of the first ''Doom'' came out only a month after ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiII'', the fourth game [[Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei in a series]] where you can, as the reviewer wished, talk to the demons and form alliances.

** 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.

** "Agitating Skeleton" for the Revenant, thanks to the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJcf0aOwmiA PRO DOOM MONSTER STRATS]].

** 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=].

*** ''Community Chest'' and ''Community Chest 2'', released in 2003 and 2004 respectively, were among the earliest high-profile megawads created by a public community collaborative effort and would popularize the trend of community projects, which remain popular with Doom mappers and players to this day. [=CC2=] would even win one of the first Cacowards. However, while they do have a couple maps that are still held up as gems ('''The Mucus Flow''' from [=CC2=] in particular is one of the most revered Doom maps of all time, placing third in 2018's list of the top 100 most memorable maps), they're emblematic of the problems that often afflict community projects; with a lack of proper oversight and quality control, the two megawads are extremely inconsistent in map design, quality, and [[SchizophrenicDifficulty difficulty]] (with the maps ranging in difficulty from as easy as Doom 2 to stuff only the most hardcore players could ever beat saveless), while also containing a lot of blatant filler maps (with some even being old maps reused for the project) and maps so overtly grandiose that were clearly not reigned in by the project leads ('''Citadel At The End Of Eternity''' from [=CC1=] is particularly notorious, with its UV-max speedrun being ''nearly as long as the entirety of Doom 2's''). Naturally, Community Chest 3 and 4 would iterate on the community grabbag megawad idea in a more refined manner, and in our days most project designers are much more strict on the mapping rules, like forcing a specific theme or only allowing mappers who don't have a lot of experience.

*** Instead of only pistol-starting, players may play in an "ironman" style instead, where they do play continuously, but if they die at any point they're not allowed to reload a save and so must start over on the map they died on from a pistol-start. "Ironman" may also mean to try playing through an entire megawad without dying at all, with it being a popular monthly competition on Doomworld's "[=DWIronman League=]" to see how far players can get through a chosen megawad without dying.

*** [[SpeedRun UV Speed]] - Simply beat the map/episode/WAD as fast as possible on UV difficulty
*** [[HundredPercentCompletion UV Max]] - Same as above, except with the stipulation of also getting 100% kills and secrets (or the maximum obtainable amount in maps with unkillable monsters and broken secrets)
*** [[HarderThanHard NM]] Speed - Beat the map/episode/WAD as fast possible on Nightmare difficulty
*** [=NM100S=] - Same as above, except wth the stipulation of also getting 100% secrets (or the maximum amount in maps with broken secrets)
*** UV -fast - Beat the map/episode/WAD on UV difficulty with fast monsters enabled, while also obtaining 100% kills and secrets
*** UV -respawn - Beat the map/episode/WAD on UV difficulty with respawning monsters enabled, while also obtaining 100% kills or more and 100% secrets). Can additionally be combined with the -fast parameter to simulate Nightmare mode without the double ammo bonus
*** UV [[Creator/MikeTyson Tyson]] - Beat the map/episode/WAD on UV difficulty, with the stipulation that you not only obtain 100% kills, but you also only attack with the fist, berserk fist, chainsaw, and pistol
*** Grandmaster Tyson - Same as above, except fast monsters are also enabled
*** UV [[PacifistRun Pacifist]] - Beat the map/episode/WAD on UV difficulty without attacking any enemies directly (with your weapons) or indirectly (by blowing up barrels). Instigating [[SetAMookToKillAMook infighting]], killing monsters via TeleFrag, and killing monsters via crushers is still permitted (Compet-N had a rule that the latter two couldn't be done "intentionally", but the more modern Doom Speed Demo Archive removed that restriction, due to the ambiguity with determining "intent" and the fact many maps will force you to kill monsters via crushers and telefrags)

** Ultimate Doom's final level, Unto the Cruel, is also generally considered one; while unlike Dis it has an actual level leading up to the boss fight, the fact it's against the Spider Mastermind ''again'', in an arena where it's even easier to fight, left a sour taste in many players' mouths. Unto the Cruel is also a significantly easier level than much of what the player contended with in Episode 4.

* 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 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.

** If you pick up a weapon that's not in your inventory, your current weapon always switches on what you just picked up. In the heated firefight this almost certainly means a death sentence on higher difficulties due to a whole second delay between the switching. Thankfully, modern ports allow the "always switch on pickup" option to be turned off and not bother with it.

** '''"[=E3M5=]: Unholy Cathedral"''', mostly because even the most efficient path through the level still requires you to go through almost every room, slowly slogging your way through several Pinkies and Cacos. Not helping matters is trying to find that efficient path, since it requires figuring out which of the several teleporters in the central courtyard takes you where you need to go. Thankfully, the teleporter puzzle can be made easier if you know which one takes you where you absolutely need to go[[note]]it's highlighted with pulsing glow.[[/note]], but [[GuideDangIt the only way to figure it out is by testing them]]. It can even be skipped entirely, but requires a lot of backtracking, including a room with lava floor.

** In Episode Four of ''Ultimate Doom'', '''"[=E4M1=]: Hell Beneath" and "[=E4M2=]: Perfect Hatred"''' are infamous for their difficulty:

** In an even odder example, people are shipping Doomguy with Isabelle from the ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossing'' series since ''VideoGame/AnimalCrossingNewHorizons'' and ''VideoGame/DoomEternal'' were set to release on the exact same day.[[note]]Incidentally, both have technically appeared together in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'', Isabelle as a fighter and Doom Slayer's armor as an option for the Mii Gunner.[[/note]] This can go hand-in-hand with the Charlie/Doomguy ship, with all of them being friends.

** With its modding community having been active for close to 30 years by now, it's only natural that several [=WADs=] and mods have fallen to this as well. Older [=WADs=] and mods which were once well-acclaimed can seem downright primitive nowadays, between evolving mapper skill and the introduction of increasingly-user-friendly mod tools which make it easier to add fine detailing, custom textures, and what have you - modern players are much less forgiving of mazelike layouts and confusing puzzles and switch hunts which [[GuideDangIt give no immediate indication of what the switch you just hit does]], and as maps get more recent it becomes less common to see maps that don't make use of several custom textures, to the point that seeing heavy use of the default textures usually means it's the wad's primary gimmick.

** With ''WebAnimation/HazbinHotel'', of all things. The most likely explanation is that both involve dealing with a glut of corrupt demons, albeit through comically different methods. Either way, there's a lot of fanart that shows Doomguy and Charlie getting along.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Technically, to ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' (since it was originally meant to be based on the film), with [[https://mobile.twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1169223207695654913 a good amount]] of the ''Film/EvilDead'' trilogy thrown in.

* SoBadItsGood: Unless you think the comic was intentionally funny. Considering it has a shout out to the most famous scene of Film/EvilDead2, it's not an unreasonable assumption.

** The Nightmare! skill level is broadly disliked for its modifications (monsters move and attack faster, and have a chance to respawn after dying) falling into FakeDifficulty that makes speedruns and 100% completion much more down to chance. It's telling that among the hardcore playerbase of ''Doom'', Ultra-Violence is heavily preferred as the default difficulty for completing maps, with Nightmare generally relegated to niche challenge categories.

** 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, made worse with the consoles themselves falling out of favor and being replaced with modern ones. The [=PlayStation=] version, NostalgiaFilter aside, 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.

* 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, two enemies, 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.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The Kid is played by Al Weaver, who would go on to actually play [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles2 a video game character 12 years later.]]

** Another one with ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTensei'', another dark and violent video game series about fighting demons, with special focus on ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiStrangeJourney'', whose protagonist is often referred to as 'Doomguy' due to their similarities.[[note]]Gun-wielding HeroicMime in PoweredArmor who fights demons in an EldritchLocation, except ''Strange Journey'''s protagonist can recruit the demons too.[[/note]]