Fans of the classic first-person-shooter Doom might be in for a big surprise as Doom 64 could finally make its debut on the PC.
Eagle-eyed gamers noticed last Friday that a new rating on the Pan European Game Information (PEGI) website listed Doom 64 as an upcoming title for the PC and PlayStation 4. The entry was said to be made in addition to ratings for Doom and Doom II.
While PEGI has since taken down the rating, Japanese video game news website Gematsu was able to get a screengrab of it and shared it on Twitter.
A 22-Year Absence
PEGI has rated DOOM 64 for PS4 and PC. This was in addition to ratings of DOOM (1993) and DOOM II (Classic). There's no DOOM 3 rating. pic.twitter.com/5CtEBtV61X — Gematsu (@gematsucom) July 26, 2019
The image shows that Doom 64 for the PC and PlayStation 4 was supposed to be released on July 26. However, gamers received new releases of Doom, Doom II, and Doom III instead of a port of the 1997 console shooter.
It's possible that PEGI may have simply made a mistake in putting the new rating. Some game journalists pointed out that the description for Doom 64 did not match any of those found in previous advertising or box art. It did resemble a line on the video game's manual.
Doom fanatics have been clamoring for a port of Doom 64 for the PC since it was first released for the Nintendo 64 some 22 years ago.
Attempts at releasing an official PC release of the game may have been stifled because of licensing issues, especially since it was published by Midway and not id Software. Players over the years have noticed that Doom 64 had its own set of unique demons and that the game practically played differently from earlier iterations.
Doom 64's Classic Appeal
It's still unclear whether the recent PEGI rating was just a posting gaffe on the part of the website, but the news about a potential Doom 64 port was enough to send people over the internet to get excited. Many gamers still consider the N64 game one of the best versions of the title ever to be released on any console.
In December, game tech and hardware reviewer Digital Foundry took a crack at some of the Doom titles published for different platforms over the years to find out which game still holds out in today's gaming climate.
John Linneman, a staff writer for Digital Foundry, called Doom 64 "one of the finest technological achievements" for the Nintendo 64.
He pointed to the fluidity of the Doom port on N64, tapping into the console's signature technology. The N64 was able to provide bilinear texture filtering and even added special effects to the game such as moving skies, higher color depth, fog, and advanced lighting.
Linneman also noted that the game featured newer and better-looking maps that were specially created for the N64 port.
Overall, Linneman said Doom 64 stands out from other ports of the game as a "full-on hardware-accelerated sequel to Doom II", and a must-buy for fans of the title.
A PC-version of Doom 64 might not have panned out this month as many gamers had hoped, but there's still plenty of demon-hunting goodness to be played. Bethesda has just released the first three Doom games for different platforms, and there's also the upcoming Doom Eternal is just on the horizon.
