Best 90s WADs?

[BigBoy91]

I'm bored, and I'm sure I've missed some quality WADs that came out before 2000. Fill me in! 

Edited June 9, 2023 by BigBoy91

[Insaneprophet]

I will never miss the oportunity to tell someone to play all 8 or 9 lvls made by Michael Reed. Hoover Dam is his most well known map but I still find all of them to be fun.

[Geniraul]

• Altier 6 & Insanity by Keith Hickman (1997)
• Star Trek - Doom Invasion by Thomas Spaulding & Grant Jacobs (1995)

 

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Personally, I really like this level, but I do understand Dwars' feeling about this WAD 😅

 

• Castle of the Damned by Massimo Ciano (1996; Q1E1M2 conversion)

 

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• Chex Quest by Digital Café (1996)

 

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• Chex Quest 2 by Digital Café (1997)

 

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• The House of Cyberdemon by Massimo Ciano (1996; Q1E1M7 conversion)
• Christmas Doom 2 by Yukio Ide (1997)

 

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• Justec.zip by Thomas J (1994)
• Area 51 by Keith Hickman & Garth Donovan (1997)

 

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• Doom City by Shams Young (1995)

 

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• Hell Revealed by Yonatan Donner and Haggay Niv (1997)

 

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Both Quake levels' remakes are designed from scratch. There is also a need to keep in mind that Star Trek - Doom Invasion and Justec.zip are apparently for an amateur, judging by the rating and comments on idgames. However, these are ones of my favorite custom maps, as for me it feels like something that isn't supposed to be good, but absolutely is.

 

Here is an older thread that also might be useful:

 

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Geniraul

[volleyvalley]

I will always recommend Doomsday Of The UAC until the day I die, as it's a really atmospheric map,  filled to the brim with nifty vanilla Doom tricks, released in June '94, mind you!

 

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Really moody and atmospheric, isn't it?

 

A really nifty looking side-wise car, with the wheels spinning on some of them!

 

These crates have always intrigued me, as I live near a similar formation of crates, which I guess makes my connection to this map stronger. 

 

[roadworx]

ayy, old wads are my forte! this thread is perfect for me :)

 

these are all fairly well-known if you're big into 90s stuff, but hopefully you haven't played at least a few of them

• KILL! Zone from 1997 is a fun 7-map episode that has a lot of fairly large, somewhat exploratory maps. the texture alignment can be somewhat awful at times, but it kinda gives it a certain charm.
• Dark Covenant, made in 1996, is a wad with 12 visually impressive (for the time) and action-packed maps filled with monsters, and while they are a bit too linear at times, it's generally regarded as a pretty fantastic set of maps for its time. fun fact: map07 (i think?) is referenced in scythe's map30 :)
• Insertion is an 11-map wad that features some of the same people who worked on the memento mori series. while i personally don't think it's as good as memento mori 2, it's still typically regarded as somewhat of an extension of the series, fitting into the same slot as requiem, which came out that same year.
• Realm of Shades is a 7-map 1998 wad that, while tame compared to a lot of the stuff released nowadays, is still shockingly difficult for its time. i was finding myself regularly scraping by with barely any health for most of my playthrough. the ending of map04 is especially brutal - goddamn, that one is a motherfucker. however, it's still hard in a fun way as opposed to a frustrating way.
• Operation BIOWAR is a short, easy 18-map wad that's kinda focused more on adventure than anything. there's a lot of neat visuals, doomcute, and it honestly feels like a better looking and more consistently good icarus or tnt.
• Mars War is the perfect wad if you're looking for the most 90s thing possible. released in 1998 and updated in 2009, this full 32-map megawad is full of surreal, quirky, and oftentimes terrible looking maps that are nevertheless incredibly charming and have some decent gameplay to boot. it's a cult classic for a reason :p
• Phobos - Relive the Nightmare is a 9-map 1996 wad made by the late shamus young. it's a fun e1-style episode that feel as if the original e1 maps were designed to also accommodate doom 2 monsters. it's good fun.

i could probably list off more, but, eh...i gotta go to bed

Edited June 9, 2023 by roadworx

[BigBoy91]

Cool! You guys are really delivering. I'm sure this isn't a new type of thread by any means. I just had a buzz on and was craving some nostalgia.

[Sir Hattington]

wow

[joepallai]

https://www.doomworld.com/10years/  start here

[Andrea Rovenski]

Im sure you know some of these, but repping anyway 

https://dsdarchive.com/wads/mm

https://dsdarchive.com/wads/strain10

https://dsdarchive.com/wads/hrb

https://dsdarchive.com/wads/biowar

https://dsdarchive.com/wads/darken

https://dsdarchive.com/wads/cringe6

 

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Andrea Rovenski

[LadyMistDragon]

The Talosian Incident

Jagermorder 1

NoSun 1 2 3 4 5

 

Trecias

Area 666

[ReaperAA]

I am not big into 90s wads, but I would absolutely recommend The Darkening E1 and E2 wads (released in 1998 and 2000 respectively).

 

[DSC]

Personally, I always had a soft spot for the Innocent Crew's work, especially Obituary.

[Kwisior]

You can check out The Top 100 WADs Of All Time list made for Doom's 10th anniversary.

https://www.doomworld.com/10years/bestwads/

Some WADs outside of this list:

• Chord 1 and 2
• Doom City
• Dante's Gate
• Origwad (first Doom map)
• Stones (probably the first decent Doom map)

 

[BigBoy91]

I'm well aware of the 10th anniversary list. Lots of good stuff for sure. I appreciate you all showing me some of the stuff that slipped through the cracks over the years!

[Tempher]

Obituary

Doom City
Fava Beans

I hope you have fun with these recommendations.

[Maximum Matt]

Oracle by Jim Flynn and Scott Harper