What were the earliest (original) custom Doom monsters?

[MrFlibble]

Here's something I wanted to ask for a long while (and I hope that WAD discussion is more appropriate than Doom General discussion for this): while there have been created many professional-quality custom sprite sheets for new monsters/characters over the past decades, it seems that the story goes back to the 90s, even though back then it was less widespread.

 

I'm generally talking about completely custom sprites created from scratch (drawn, pre-rendered, digitized, whatever), not frankensprites or edits of sprites from other games.

 

I guess that the monster replacements from Hell 2 Pay (1996) definitely count among the earliest such creations, although their quality and design aren't that great. But they are legit pre-rendered sprites and they work sorta well in that WAD.

 

I also vaguely remember a PWAD that replaced all Doom 1 characters with pre-rendered sprites, including toy dinosaurs (?) for the zombies and a yogi on a flying carpet for the caco. I don't think it included any custom textures or levels, and also do not remember the year of its release, but I'm pretty sure it was sometime in the mid-90s.

 

The Army of Darkness TC (1996) includes three custom monster sprite sheets: Skeleton, Skeleton Captain and Evil Ash, the former two having ended up in Freed∞m's attic (and the regular Skeleton was at a time edited into the Arch-Vile placeholder).

 

There is, of course, HacX (1997), but it's a commercial release, and the quality of the sprites is, of course, above average. Same goes for Chex Quest (1996).

 

Bugs Doom (1996) from the creator of X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse replaces some of the low-tier monster with characters from the Bugs Bunny cartoons.

 

I know there are other TCs and partial conversions (Batman Doom, Simpsons Doom, Aliens TC, Ghostbusters TC), but not a lot beyond that.

[Walter confetti]

This is the earliest example of custom monsters i know: https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/graphics/knight

is just a demon with a new coat of MS Paint that changes the pinky with a cartoon dark knight.

 

For a proper new monsters with brand new mechanics, maybe the xenomorphs from Aliens TC? I don't know if exist a older type....

[MrFlibble]

6 hours ago, Walter confetti said:

is just a demon with a new coat of MS Paint that changes the pinky with a cartoon dark knight.

Actually, that's very cool in its own way! And it's from 1994! Thanks! ^_^

 

Also I'm dumb, I should have remembered that there is an idgames sub-folder for graphics replacements.

[kalensar]

One of the earliest i know of for PWAD was Hell 2 Pay. Its ancient by Doom standards around 1995 I think.

[MrFlibble]

Just now, kalensar said:

Hell 2 Pay. Its ancient by Doom standards around 1995 I think

According to my notes, it's 1996. And I mentioned it in my first post.

[MrFlibble]

Does anyone remember that toy dinosaur wad I mentioned above?

[MrFlibble]

On 6/13/2024 at 3:19 PM, MrFlibble said:

Does anyone remember that toy dinosaur wad I mentioned above?

NVM, found it on my own and it was POVDoom by Ikka Keränen:

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/graphics/povdoom

 

The date stamps on the files are from 1995-1996, and the sprites are very nicely done, albeit in a rather distinct style.

[ClumsyCryptid]

I don't know if it's on /idgames or not, but I'm looking at the moment.

 

I have this vivid memory of when I was 2-3, and my father just discovered a usenet that was related to Doom and got a wad that changed one of the zombies into the Energizer Bunny.

Given my age at the time, I'd say it is at least 1994 is when I formed this memory.

[galileo31dos01]

There is All Hell is Breaking Loose publicly released in 1996. I think some of the custom stuff is entirely from scratch, if you don't count edits of original monsters or those that were morphed into one new thing, and it's also one of the earliest experiments with dehacked when it was a novelty. Of course there's STRAIN as well.

 

I can think of System Vices also from the same year, though less known I believe. This one I did play, everything custom in it was made by the same person. This includes graphic replacements for a handful monsters, and if you scroll down in the page linked you'll see a gif that showcases them. My favourite is the demon replacement, which kind of reminds of the stalker in Hexen in that it roams underwater and becomes visible once it's upclose when it tries to bite you. The mapper made sure you encounter this thing only in its natural habitat.

[MrFlibble]

8 hours ago, ClumsyCryptid said:

I have this vivid memory of when I was 2-3, and my father just discovered a usenet that was related to Doom and got a wad that changed one of the zombies into the Energizer Bunny.

This one?

https://www.doomworld.com/idgames/graphics/bny3dwad

 

It's indeed from 1994, you have a very good memory!

 

@galileo31dos01, that's some pretty cool stuff, thanks! System Vices indeed looks like very mid-90-ish custom art.