007: License to Spell DooM (007LTSD.WAD)

Stephen Clark was something of a self-appointed vanilla advocate, a dude believed that OG Doom and Doom II were capable of great things that could close some of the gap between them and Quake and subsequent FPS games. He made Operation: Lightning, a Doom II episode that deliberately evoked Quake II with its dropships and had carefully arranged vanilla sector machinery to create effects like exploding reactors, flooding vessels, and collapsing bases. Then he took his lessons learned and authored Fragport, a 2001 "21st Century Doom 2 Episode" that was actually a megaWAD and which toned down some of OP-LITE2's worst excesses. Then he pushed Heretic into uncomfortably ingenious places with the Shadowcaster episode in 2002. This is also the year where he learned to stop worrying and love the ZDoom. Enter 007: License to Spell DooM, an E4 replacement for The Ultimate Doom.

Shadowcaster (SHADOW.WAD)

From 2000 to 2002, Stephen Clark (aka The Ultimate DooMer) had created an episode for the original Doom and then converted it to Doom II (Operation: Lightning) and crafted his epic, 21st-century Doom II megaWAD (Fragport). His next target for his own brand of experimentation and modernization was everyone's favorite Doom clone, Heretic. Shadowcaster is an episode 5 replacement for Shadows of the Serpent Riders, released in September of 2002. I'm not up on my Raven Software lore but I don't think that there were any major engine changes between the original release and the free expansion that would have necessitated using the E5 slot. Presumably, this was more of an aesthetic decision where the author could avoid having to contend with a clashing intermission screen.

Operation: Lightning (OP-LITE2.WAD)

Stephen Clark, aka The Ultimate Doomer, made his debut splash in 2001 with his solo megaWAD, Fragport, but he had previously made an eight-map Doom episode called Operation: Lightning. Somewhere down the line he converted it to Doom II and added three more levels. While it was finished mid-2000, Clark didn't publish it until early 2002, once he saw some positive feedback for Fragport. OP-LITE2 replaces MAP01-MAP12 with the final map merely being an episode bumper to keep you from coasting into the regular Doom II campaign. It is as far as I know vanilla-compatible and should function correctly in the source port of your choice.

Fragport (FRAGPORT.WAD)

Stephen Clark. Newstuff reviewer, ZDoom guru, The Ultimate Doomer. All of Clark's critical successes - 007: License to Spell Doom, Super Sonic Doom, and Serpent: Resurrection - were ZDoom releases. Fragport, his debut, is a little different. Conceived for vanilla Doom II, Stephen tried to leverage as many tricks as he could think of in order to show just how hard the original executable could cook. Sure, some suspension of disbelief is required, but that is generally the nature of the beast when it comes to doing anything complex in DOOM2.EXE. Fragport was originally released in 2001 and it is a full game replacement. I've seen it passed around the internet as BOOMSKY, much to my confusion. In the absence of any clarifying information I would stick to the official version found on /idgames.

ASDOOM (ASDOOM.WAD)

Andy Sheppard crafted two episodes, one for Doom and the other for Doom II, back in 1994 and '95, respectively. This is ASDOOM, an E1 replacement, consisting of nine levels. Sheppard places the level's story immediately following the original Doom, before the plot of Doom II was known. You emerge from the teleporter at the end of Inferno and arrive on Earth, with your superiors debriefing you for all the information you have on your encounters, because while the demons never made it to Earth, the UAC did lose contact with their Io base, which was executing the same kind of gateway experiments. As was the case with Ripley, you're sent as an adviser as you're the only human to have encountered the forces of Hell and survive. Of course, when you arrive, the forces of Hell wreck your dropship and you're forced to fend for yourself, fighting your way from the deepest level of the base to the top.

Herian 2 (HERIAN2.WAD)

Ian Wilson published Herian in 1998; about a year or so later in 1999, we saw the release of Herian2, its sequel, and to date the last entry in the series. Like the original, H2 is a thirty-two map replacement for Doom II that features a number of sprite replacements for Doom II enemies culled from Heretic. There are some differences, though. Herian2 actually features a story, first of all. It makes more sense if you use Wilson's TC package (this download bundled by the late, great Jive), which replaces all inappropriate enemies and the weapons with stuff from Heretic and Hexen. Essentially, it takes place pre-pre-pre-Doom, and post-Herian. It turns out Herian was the player character's war against infernal powers, back when the forces of Hell and the Serpent Riders were united. He thought he had won, but when he prepares to settle down, there's another assault that he must fight off.

Herian (HERIAN.WAD)

Ian Wilson has but two entries in his Doom legacy, but both are full Doom II megaWADs. Herian is the first, to be played in limit-removing ports (followed by Herian2 for a very early release of ZDoom). At the very least, Wilson recommends against using it in vanilla Doom due to visplane errors (though only one instance is specifically mentioned). Herian has no given story; Wilson just rattles of a list of influences, including the entire Doom family of games - Doom, Doom II, Heretic, Hexen, Strife - in addition to Apogee's Rise of the Triad and Duke Nukem 3D. It draws its main aesthetic from Heretic and Hexen as it uses a number of their resources and pulls a few monster replacements (in sprites, not mechanics).

Crusades (CRUSADES.WAD)

Richard Wiles thought he was done with Doom after releasing Nessy. You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave, and his natural tendencies led to him continuing his abandoned SPOOKY series until he decided to collect the done levels as a set of its own and throw in four more, creating the now-immortal Crusades, an episode 4 replacement for OG Doom. Of course, Wiles thought he was done with Doom then, but we all know the truth, as history proved out. As usual for Wiles, there is no given story to go along with his level set, not that it really matters with an aesthetic theme as strong as this.

Nessy (NESSY.WAD)

NESSY
by Richard Wiles

Richard Wiles made a lot of maps in 1998. The DICKIE series was his most lauded work from this period, but before things rolled over to 1999 he had a go at another style of level for Doom II, using the Plutonia IWAD. It was supposed to be a mini-episode but he declared himself done with Doom and released this two-level minisode, named Nessy in tribute to his then girlfriend (and future wife). Nessy isn't consistent in and of itself - its two entries vary wildly in style - but that doesn't make them any less enjoyable.

Surge (SURGE.WAD)

Authors have been pretty good about releasing their unfinished projects as of late. Joshy's Surge was intended to be a full-fledged Scythe-like megaWAD but he found himself weary of mapping and elected to publish the seventeen levels as-is (and an unfinished MAP18 as a teaser), much like skillsaw did with Vanguard (or more recently Pawel Zarczynski's Stomper). Surge was made for Doom II, to be played in Boom-compatible engines. It doesn't muck about with a story, with its maps being the main showcase, much like Joshy and Darkwave0000's Speed of Doom. It's all about action.

The Plutonia Experiment (PLUTONIA.WAD)

Dario and Milo Casali were already part of TNT's Evilution, sold to id for them to publish as their own. The Casalis sent American McGee a project of theirs and the maps so much impressed the overlords that they contracted them to make another megaWAD, which was to be sold alongside Evilution as the Final Doom package. The rest, as they say, is history. Plutonia has enjoyed a more positive legacy than its sister WAD, being the beneficiary of two unofficial full-replacement sequels and countless imitators. It's thirty-two more maps of Doom II action, but as anyone can tell you, Plutonia is a beast unto itself.

Cygnus IV (CYGNUSIV.WAD)

UK Doomer John Bye published a few Doom WADs before gliding over to Quake, himself having some claim to fame as a reviewer of levels for various id games. His most famous work is The Talosian Incident, a megaWAD produced as part of Black Star Coven (most of the work done by Bye and compatriot Malcolm Sailor). Before TALOSIAN, though, there was Cygnus IV, published for Doom II, I believe in 1996 (with a 1997 update). Bye originally released some of these maps serially; CYGNUSIV collects the scraps and fleshes the concept out to a fourteen-map episode (right on the cusp of the idgames definition of a megaWAD).

DICKIE10 (DICKIE10.WAD)

DICKIE10
by Richard Wiles

Richard Wiles released the first nine maps of his DICKIE Doom series individually during the first half of '98. After a nice vacation, he returned to cap the set off with DICKIE10, rather than continue along with the rest of the DICKIE episodes. In DICKIE01, you (some kind of benevolent whizzing through the cosmos) happen upon a planet beset upon by demons. After slaying the leader, you spend the rest of the maps scouring the world for the rest of the forces. Here, at the finale, you arrive at their netherworld. The core that powers their now disorganized invasion lies deep in an austere, marble palace. Its destruction will finally free the world you've fought to save.

DICKIE09 (DICKIE09.WAD)

DICKIE09
by Richard Wiles

The DICKIE Doom series was published by Richard Wiles in ten installments in 1998. DICKIE09 is the ninth map in the running, and according to its .TXT, the cap to the first episode of what one can infer was to be several. He finished DICKIE off, however, with DICKIE10, and moved on to a brand new undertaking - the SPOOKY series (later released as part of CRUSADES). DICKIE's story is set up in the first WAD. You're some kind of interstellar traveler who lands on a demon-infested planet and manages to take down the brain of the operation. The other maps have you hitting the rest of the monsters so that the planet is thoroughly cleansed.

DICKIE08 (DICKIE08.WAD)

DICKIE08
by Richard Wiles

Richard Wiles burst into the Doom scene with a series of ten Doom II maps released in 1998, released under the affectation of his first name, DICKIE. The entire collection portrays the story of a warrior landing on a Doomed planet, quickly dispatching the master of the invasion. The rest of the levels depict his further battles vs. the remaining enemies, covering a broad variety of locales. DICKIE08 shares some similarities with the rest of the series, but it also has one major break with previous maps. Wiles explicitly worked some puzzles into this level, in the spirit of "Tricks and Traps", though in practice it feels like a mix of the map layouts of The Innocent Crew and just a dash of the puzzles of Eternal Doom.

DICKIE07 (DICKIE07.WAD)

DICKIE07
by Richard Wiles

The DICKIE series consists of ten maps released for Doom II in 1998 by Richard Wiles. DICKIE07 is the seventh map in the sequence, uploaded to the archives right as April rolled over to May. The beginning of the series, DICKIE01, portrayed some spacefaring entity touching down on a planet inhabited by demons, intending to purify it. After killing the enemy leader right off the bat, you spend the rest of the levels gallivanting around the world, scourging it of all the hangers-on. DICKIE07's theme is a green marble fortress with lots of (non-toxic) blood, with some dark gray brick areas and computer terminals (the last found chiefly in the western area, Wiles's favorite section of the map). With the orange sky, he's kind of got a Thy Flesh Consumed theme going on.

DICKIE06: Hell Henge (DICKIE06.WAD)

DICKIE06
"HELL HENGE"
by Richard Wiles

Richard Wiles released ten Doom II maps in 1998, comprising the DICKIE series. DICKIE06 is, uh, the sixth map in the set, given the title "Hell Henge", which is quite appropriate. Back in DICKIE01, you showed up on an alien planet to find it full of demons. You bust a few heads, find yourself fortunate enough to dispatch the commander, and then spend the rest of the levels traveling the rest of the planet, eliminating the remaining pockets of monsters so that your victory is complete. Hell Henge is quite the departure from previous maps in the series, with a supernatural color scheme worthy of "The Spirit World". Most of the level is cherry red brick and stone, but the rarely-seen yellow-cracked rock is used to great effect.

DICKIE05: Waterworld (DICKIE05.WAD)

DICKIE05
"WATERWORLD"
by Richard Wiles

DICKIE05.WAD, alternatively titled "Waterworld", is the fifth map released in Richard Wiles's DICKIE series, ten maps made for vanilla Doom II back in 1998. The decalogy chronicles the adventures of a benevolent protector of the universe who touches down on a planet overrun by Hell. After dispatching the leader in DICKIE01, the player "finishes" the job by destroying the rest of the Hellspawn so that the planet can be free of the taint of evil. Evidently, this particular outpost of Satanic forces is located in a region that's inundated with water.

DICKIE04 (DICKIE04.WAD)

DICKIE04
by Richard Wiles

Richard Wiles broke into the mapping community in 1998, unveiling his ten-map DICKIE series one installment at a time. DICKIE04 is the fourth outing, running in MAP04 of Doom II. In DICKIE01, you landed on a demon-infested planet and promptly slew the big boss, eliminating the source. The rest of the levels track the player as he (or she) runs around, clearing out the demonic remains. The adventure occurs in a variety of locales, mostly due to Wiles's vow to give each WAD its own distinct theme. For DICKIE04, this means a map split between green-walled outdoors, dark metal interiors, and a ton of lava running through it all.

DICKIE03 (DICKIE03.WAD)

DICKIE03
by Richard Wiles

DICKIE03 is – you guessed it - the third map in Richard Wiles's critically-acclaimed DICKIE series, a collection in ten parts. This particular level occupies the MAP03 slot of Doom II, designed for vanilla. The plot of the maps isn't really touched on between the first and last outings. In DICKIE01, you dropped onto a planet apropos of nothing and managed to eliminate the source of a demonic infestation by killing the boss straightaway. The following levels track your journey across (and through) the planet to oust all the insurgents until it is cleansed.