In the ensuing years since this was first published, this page has become the top search result for "Doom WADs". Seems only fair to provide an updated list of top WADs for people searching for best Doom WADs, good Doom WADs, etc etc SEO.
One of the major, major things that has kept Doom alive and kicking all these years are you folks, the fans. While the original levels of Doom were good fun and all, there's no way Doom would be this popular now if it weren't for user made levels. User levels have changed quite a lot over the years, and in fact the very first wad was made with a hex editor. It's pretty amazing to think how far things have come in ten years. We've gone from making tiny levels in hex editors to editors with 3D previews of maps and the ability to do almost anything to a wad file.
Of course, there would be absolutely no market for WAD editing software if there were no WAD editors. WAD editors, the people I mean, are something of a dying breed, though more seem to surface every day, few stick around, and even fewer actually complete a satisfactory project. These are the people that fuel the single-player Doom community, with their tireless efforts all for really nothing aside from love of the game (and perhaps a little local recognition among Doomers).
While the majority of wads are pretty simple, single level wads with no new graphics or sounds or anything, a lot greater efforts have been embarked upon. Some aim to replace an episode of Doom, some to replace all the maps in Doom 2. Further still some aim to alter the behavior of the monsters and weapons, and some will even go as far as to alter Doom's feel so that when you play their WAD you don't even feel like you're playing Doom.
That's not to say smaller wads don't deserve any recognition, on the contrary, what we strive for is quality, not quantity. If the quality happens to come in large quantities, then that's all the better of course.
So now myself and Linguica (along with a few random guest reviewers) present you folks what we and a few helpers think are the top 100 wads ever made. For simplicity we decided to break it down to ten maps per year, and we think the results turned out pretty good. Enjoy!
