Happy 16th Birthday Wolfenstein 3-D!

[GrandAmChandler]

May 5, 1992 ID Software releases Wolfenstein 3-D, the program that paved the way for DOOM. I fondly remember my CompuAdd 286 machine running a game like Wolf3D smoothly. My Sound Blaster 16 pumped cool music and sound effects through my parent's house. Followed by several hacks, a level editor, Spear of Destiny, and Mission pack addons, this is one of my favorite games of all time. I still remember that annoying sound it made when you held down the spacebar searching for secret walls.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/05/dayintech_0505

I+L+M

-GAC-

[pookninja]

happy birthday wolfy!!the only version of the game i have is for my jaguar.guess i will fire up the ole jag and get my wolfenstein on!!

[guitargary75]

I loved that game. I let my fifteen year old cousin play it about a year ago. He said it sucked. Man, the new generation has no respect.

[JunkTheMagicDragon]

wolf3d was the big 'taboo' game when i was a kid. the parental units didn't want kids to play it, so if you had you were the shit.

i had a pirated copy for years, but finally got a legit copy last year when i went to the flea market and found 'id anthology' for $5. all those games now reside on my dedicated win98 gaming machine.

[Greg2600]

Ah yes. Great game, also the first bootleg PC game I had!

[Steven]

I never really played WOLF 3-D on the PC aside from a few moments here and there on my friend's PC. It always carried a certain... oomph to it, one of those games for me that was talked about in hush tones.

Although some blast the SNES port, I freaking love it. One of the best single-player experiences I've had on the ole SNES. I still break it out now and then.

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_277601/Wolf-Halt.JPG

Happy 16th, ole Wolfie you!

[kaedesdisciple]

Yup, I remember having my cracked, compressed version with all 6 episodes on one 3 1/2 way back in the day. Runs just fine in my DOSbox now.

Happy Birthday, Wolf3d

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

I suppose it'll be wanting the keys to the car now. Me and Wolfenstein 3-D have to have a big talk about responsibility before that happens...

[Pantechnicon]

Ah, Wolf3D. Back around March 1994 I was running a 386SX-25 with 3MB (yes...three) of RAM so I was disenfranchised from getting on the emerging DOOM bandwagon. Found a copy of Wolfenstein for something like $9 and played that instead. My 1st hands-on FPS experience. Loads of fun. I've got it for the Jaguar, and I'll probably pick up a copy for GBA one of these days just for the grins of it.

Cyborg Hitler ftw.

[rkotm]

I played this i believe the first time late '93, first bootleg game, from my dads company..
On a Tandy 386, with no sound, hooked up the laptop to the VGA monitor(the Tandy had a black and white crystal lcd that had shadows and trails when viewed alone on it) and played it. Blown away. ALWAYS a favorite. Ive played every port of the game since, and the following year or so Doom came around to me and blew me away all over again.

My parents were fine with me and bro playing it, I was 8 and him, 12..But Mortal Kombat was an issue, :\. Didnt hear the games music for the first time until 1999, and its one of my favorite game soundtracks. Bobby Prince ftw!

[Trevelyan]

My 1st FPS experience too, I had a shareware copy of the 1st level for an Acorn Archimedes. I played it to death! Recently purchased the full version off Steam, a game that truly deserves my birthday wishes! :cheers: & happy birthday! Long live the :king:

[Damaramu]

Ah yes. My very first PC game for my very first computer (a Dell 486DX something or other).

I received the computer as a high school graduation gift from my parents in '94. A buddy of mine, upon hearing of my new computer, promptly came over and gave me a copy of the game and said that I had to play it. I'm not sure where he got it from, but it was a full copy of Wolf 3-D.

Installed it, fired it up, and we proceeded to play the game all day and late into the night. It was quite an experience that I look back on fondly.

[rkotm]

Protip:Blastowitz(sp????)is Commander Keen's grandfather.
Protip:There was a body dragging element, and John Romero tested it and hated it, it ruined the flow of the game, the speed.
Protip:This game made ID tons of money, and put them on the map.

[shoes23]

Wow the game seems so much older than that. I remember a friend describing it to me and be memorized by what they were saying that you could do in the game. "You can peek around corners, aim your gun, and shoot Nazis." Even with the endless raving, I wasn't disappointed when I first played it. As many others my 1st FPS experience. Great game although I doubt I would have the patience or enough Dramamine to quell the intense motion sickness I experience from many of the early FPS.

[kaedesdisciple]

Wow the game seems so much older than that. I remember a friend describing it to me and be memorized by what they were saying that you could do in the game. "You can peek around corners, aim your gun, and shoot Nazis." Even with the endless raving, I wasn't disappointed when I first played it. As many others my 1st FPS experience. Great game although I doubt I would have the patience or enough Dramamine to quell the intense motion sickness I experience from many of the early FPS.

Funny you mention motion sickness. I was okay with wolf3d and Doom back in the day. Years later, wolf3d is still okay but doom gives me seasick-like symptoms. If I take regular, frequent breaks I'm okay and I need to be stationary as I'm playing it, so no-go on the DS homebrew for me as I found out the hard way.

[dcescott]

Played it and pirated-it in 92/93 school year in college. Brought it home and my Bro in law HAD to get a sound card and joystick/gamepad just for this game. He is German too (Klaus, how german is that right?) Played that one and X-Wing fighter all during 2nd semester.

[Superman]

This was one of my first PC games. I got it with my Tandy 386, around 1992 or 1993.

I'm not the biggest fan of FPS, but this game was fun! I liked shooting the Nazis, watching the blood splatter, and finding secret areas. There was a lot to this game, even for me.

It was such a good game, I guess that is why it really doesn't seem that long ago to me. Happy Birthday!

[PentiumMMX]

I tried it back in 2004, when I got my own desktop PC (AMD-K5 with 16MB RAM, running Windows 95), along with other FPSes. Didn't care much for Doom or Duke Nukem 3D, but Wolfenstein 3D and Ken's Labyrinth where awesome. It was my first true FPS experience (Outside of the FPS stages in Banjo-Tooie), and I took pleasure in blowing up cyborg Nazis.

I remember trying it's sequel (Return to Castle Wolfenstein) shortly after buying my Xbox last year, and was severely let down (My exact thoughts where "This is supposed to be Wolfenstein?"). Probably the only reason I'd even buy it is just to use a save file on one of my Xbox Magazine demo discs so I can skip the crappy main game so I can play the full original version legitly.

[ssjlance]

I loved the idea of blowing up cyborg-Nazis, but I never could get into the game. I guess I was spoiled by DooM, where I was blowing up cyborg-demons.

[Viraneth]

I <3 W3-D.

First PC game I played, then Doom, then all those education kids games.

They both scared me to death when I was 3-4.

I'm older than you Wolfy! HA!

[InsaneDavid]

Ah yes, I fondly remember the long lines at Fry's to play Wolf3D on the demo computers. LOL An excellent game that I still play every now and then to this day. I'm currently working my way through the superb 3DO conversion / addition. Until I started playing Descent, Wolf3D (and SkyRoads) was my PC game of choice.

[Flack]

I was a big fan of the original series back in the day. Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, with their creepy (and low-tech) voice sampling were common staples on both our Apple II and my Commodore 64. When Wolfenstein 3D rolled around later on the PC, I remember being completely amazed. The 3D view was astounding, and -- my god -- it ran so FAST. Wolfenstein 3D ran fast even on my 386. Coming from a world of dungeon crawlers like Wizardry and Bard's Tale where every step had to be redrawn one at a time, ID's 3D engine was astounding. I also remember there being a lot of controversy over the Nazi symbols and the ability to shoot dogs. Funny, no controversy over shooting people, but dogs ... oh, the humanity! (Er, wait ...)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Wolf 3D created something that's still essentially being copied today. When Spear of Destiny, Blakestone and Rise of the Triad came out I remember thinking, Jesus, how long are companies going to milk the same idea? I don't know what the answer is but, 3D shooters are still going strong. Games like Doom and Quake added bits and pieces to the puzzle, but 16 years later game designers are still putting face lifts on Wolf 3D and re-releasing it today.

Here's to ya, Wolfie.

[rkotm]

i recommend people read Masters Of Doom, a history of ID, especially the Wolf3d part.

[Greg2600]

I remember trying it's sequel (Return to Castle Wolfenstein) shortly after buying my Xbox last year, and was severely let down (My exact thoughts where "This is supposed to be Wolfenstein?"). Probably the only reason I'd even buy it is just to use a save file on one of my Xbox Magazine demo discs so I can skip the crappy main game so I can play the full original version legitly.

Return to CW is pretty good, although the controls stink. Yes, I was pleasantly surprised when I beat the game and it unlocked Wolfenstein 3D!

One question I always had about Wolf3D, what in the world were the characters saying???

[Steven]

One question I always had about Wolf3D, what in the world were the characters saying???


Well, "HALT!" is German for stop. Who could forget the classic "I'M COMIN' TO GIT YA!" from Hans Grosse?

[Push Upstairs]

I thought one of the bosses said "Guten Tag!" when you first see him.

Also, what about those Wolf3D levels in Doom2?

[Pantechnicon]

Also, what about those Wolf3D levels in Doom2?

I've played them and found them to be an amusing surreal interlude from the hellish atmosphere of Doom2. One second you're blasting away at these evil creatures from another dimension, and the next you're shooting at these almost comical (compared to Doom's then top-notch graphics) looking Nazis. Imo it illustrates how much of Doom's success is due to the atmosphere and setting of the game, since the underlying engine appears to be essentially the same thing. id seemed to have hit a technical high point with Wolfenstein and followed it with an aesthetic pinnacle in the successor.

[Haoie]

Great game, that. I think I first played it about 2-3 years after its release. Fond memories. I always cheated too, haha.