INTRO

Some believe it's virtually impossible; some say they can do it but 
can't prove it; some can do it but only with cheat keys. Well, here it 
is, proven by a Doom II demo recording: victory over the Icon of Evil 
in level 30. I used no cheat keys, no supercharge (Soul Spheres), and no 
invulnerability spheres at all--just accurate shooting. And check this 
out: 1:35 completion time, beating the 3:00 par time by half! You must 
have Doom II to view this recording. Uploaded by player Derek Lin, the 
new self-proclaimed King Doom Dork until somebody comes up with a better 
time. Are you up for the challenge?

HOW TO SEE THE RECORDING

Easy. Just make sure DM2WIN.BAT and DM2WIN.LMP are in your Doom II 
subdirectory (usually C:\DOOM2) and type DM2WIN at the command prompt.

I find the demo recording most entertaining when viewed at the full-
screen setting. But sometimes it's helpful to see the stats at the 
bottom of the screen so you can figure out exactly what's happening 
when. This is something you can dynamically change while viewing the 
demo by using the + (actually =) and - keys.

HOW I DID IT

By having no life at all. But seriously...

Doom II takes slightly different command line parameters than the 
original Doom. To record my demo, I typed the following:

DOOM2 -WARP 30 -RECORD DM2WIN -SKILL 2

The recording should make it obvious how to win level 30. Lobbing 
rockets into the demon's exposed brain reminds me of Star Wars. Except 
of course, Luke Skywalker only had to use the Force once. Here you must 
repeat your bombing run with absolute precision at least 3 times.

Before playing this level for real, I studied it with the use of cheat 
keys. They allowed me to roam around at will and protected me from 
damage as I poked around. I saw that the demon's exposed brain was in 
fact a horizontal chute. Going inside it, I discovered star programmer 
John Romero's decapitated head on a spit. I tried shooting it and was 
rewarded with a thunderous scream. I had found my objective.

Perfecting the shot from a distance proved difficult. The trick was to 
fire just before the rising platform came to a complete stop. Each time 
going up, you would be presented with a tiny window of opportunity, 
lasting perhaps a tenth of a second. Shooting a little too soon or too 
late and your rocket explodes harmlessly outside on the demon's facade.

You'll need LOTS of practice. It's not easy, even with cheat keys. Don't 
be surprised if you find yourself going up 20 times or more before 
scoring your first kill.

TRICKS & TIPS

1. Make a habit of jumping off the platform onto the lowermost tier, 
instead of the life-draining slime. When you play without cheat keys, its 
accumulative damage can do you in.

2. You can get on to the demon's altar without cheating. The technique 
is similar to accessing Inferno's secret level. Make sure you have 
plenty of strength, or use an invulnerability sphere. After you try your 
shot going up on the platform, stay on it. Stand with your back to the 
Icon of Evil and wait for an airborne enemy to get close. Wait until 
it's right in front of you, and fire your rocket. The resulting 
explosion will blow you clear across the room and land right where you 
can help yourself to the Magasphere, the Berserker Pack and the two 
radiation suits, all of which are helpful.

A LITTLE HISTORY

I started recording my Doom sessions after viewing an LMP file by 
another player. This fellow bragged about beating the Spiderdemon at 
E3M8 in the "Nightmare" skill setting, so naturally I was curious.

After seeing the recording, I was... underwhelmed. It was not a 
difficult accomplishment at all. Since the game ended immediately upon 
the Spiderdemon's defeat, the monsters' respawning was not a major 
factor. In fact, the same level at "Ultra-Violence" was actually 
tougher, because less items were scattered about.

I set out to prove that this player did not merit the "hero" badge he 
placed upon himself, that his proud feat could be improved upon. I 
played that level many times, each time striving to be more dramatically 
flamoyant than the last, often closing right in to the Spiderdemon's 
behind (while holding my virtual nose from the virtual stench) to 
deliver the coup de grace.

I never got around to sending these demo recordings to anyone. Upon 
reflection, I felt that the whole thing was just too easy and trivial to 
make a big fuss over. But, recording a game proved just as much fun as 
playing it, and a new addiction was formed (as if Doom itself wasn't 
enough).

MISC. NOTES

Feel free to distribute this to whomever you like. I hope you have fun 
with these files. Other than that, I couldn't care less what you do with 
them.

Many thanks to the people at Id for the best action game ever. Doom is 
an awe-inpiring piece of work and so is Doom II! Many thanks also for 
making Doom such an easy program to enhance and expand upon. And thanks 
to Jay Wilbur for his continuous electronic presence. In many ways, 
Jay's dedication to the business is as impressive as his programmers' 
technical wizardry!
