The Bonkers Doom Cutscenes That Never Came To Be
Amid seemingly endless allegations between those who worked on "Doom Eternal," there's an older mystery still haunting the franchise — and it dates back to a port of the original game.
Initially released in 1993 for the MS-DOS, the first "Doom" game was like a revelation to the first-person shooter genre. Even if it wasn't the first of its kind, "Doom" was a massive success and made id Software millions of dollars within its first few months of availability (per International Business Times). Because of the game's enormous impact, "Doom" was ported to various platforms, including the 3DO in 1996.
Unfortunately, the 3DO port for "Doom" was a complete disaster. Published by Art Data Interactive and developed by Logicware, the port suffered from a variety of technical issues ranging from poor graphics to performance. Full motion video (FMV) cutscenes were also ambitiously planned for the game and were even filmed, but they never made it to the final version of the game.
Filming for the FMV sequences began in 1995 at the Art Data offices. However, despite getting elaborate costumes made by a reputable Hollywood special effects company and putting in an honest day's work, the FMV cutscenes were ultimately cut from the project before release. Since then, behind-the-scenes images of the bonkers filming process have surfaced, showing off an impressive monster costume and some of the cheesy aesthetics associated with 90s FMV cutscenes. However, the reason why they weren't used hasn't been discussed until now.
The FMVs filmed for Doom 3DO were later cut
To help with the filming of the FMV sequences that were to be in "Doom 3DO," id Software hired the Hollywood special effects company Global Effects to create the costumes for the project. Upon seeing the setup, Chris Gilman — a prop artist for Global Effects — immediately noticed issues with how the publisher was attempting to film the FMV sequences. "The first thing I said to the people who were working on it [...] was this greenscreen is really too small and I'm worried it's too close," Gilman told Time Extension. However, Gilman was told that everything was fine and that the green screen wouldn't be an issue by the people responsible for filming the sequences.
Eventually, the 3DO port of "Doom" was released. However, the FMV sequences that were filmed for the project were cut entirely. Gilman reached out to id Software to figure out why they were omitted. Funnily enough, his hesitance with the production proved to be warranted as he was told that sequences had to be cut due to the footage being unusable as a result of green spill, an issue brought about by a green screen being too close to the actors.
While fans may never experience FMV cutscenes in "Doom," it has left those involved and gamers in the know with an incredible story.