Super Nintendo Entertainment System Wolfenstein 3D (USA)
2Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, the game was inspired by the 1980s Muse Software video games Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. A promotional version of Wolfenstein 3D was released as shareware, which allowed it to be copied widely. The game was originally released on the PC and later ported to a wide range of computer systems and video game consoles.
The shareware release contains one episode, consisting of ten levels. The commercial release consists of three episodes, which includes the shareware episode and its two subsequent episodes. Later releases also included a three-episode mission pack titled The Nocturnal Missions. The player assumes the role of a World War II Allied spy, William "B.J." Blazkowicz, attempting to escape from the Nazi German prison of Castle Wolfenstein. After the initial escape episode, Blazkowicz carries on a series of missions against the Nazis.
Wolfenstein 3D was a critical and commercial success. It is widely regarded as having helped popularize the genre on the PC, and having established the basic run-and-gun archetype for many subsequent first-person shooter games.
The following section describes aspects of the original MS-DOS versions. The various ports often implemented changes.
Each episode features nine levels (or "maps") which have to be finished sequentially. Levels are completed by reaching an elevator which leads to the next level. The player must combat numerous guards and other enemies while maintaining ammunition and health supplies. If the player's health is reduced to zero, one of the player's lives as well as all guns and ammo (except a pistol with 8 rounds) are lost. The other two weapons are a submachine gun and a rapid-firing chain gun, all using the same ammo type. The player begins each episode with three lives, and more lives can be acquired by finding extra-life tokens or earning 40,000 points. The original version of the game allows saves at any point, while most console versions only allow saves at the completion of each level. In addition to completing levels, the players can collect various treasures scattered in the levels to boost their score; the player can also search for secret push walls which lead to caches of treasure, ammunition, and/or health refills. Percentages for treasures collected, enemies eliminated and secrets discovered are displayed at the end of every level. Earning a 100% kill, secret, or treasure ratio, or completing the level in below-par time results in additional bonus points.
Each episode has a different boss who has to be killed in the final mission to complete the episode. Unlike normal enemies, boss enemies are drawn from one angle instead of eight, so the player cannot sneak up on them or take them by surprise; when first encountered they are always facing the player. Bosses are initially stationary, and do not become active until they see the player. When most bosses are killed, a replay (called a "deathcam") of the boss's death is shown; the episode then ends. In other levels, behind the boss is an exit from the stronghold; entering it causes the camera to rotate around to face Blazkowicz and show him running out and jumping in elation (complete with a freeze frame of him in mid-air). There is also one "secret" level per episode that can only be accessed by the player uncovering a hidden elevator. The secret level of the third episode recreated one of the original Pac-Man levels, complete with ghosts, seen by the player from Pac-Man's perspective.[1]
The first three episodes of the game focus on William "B.J." Blazkowicz's efforts to destroy the Nazi regime. In the first episode, "Escape from Castle Wolfenstein", B.J. Blazkowicz, an American spy of Polish descent, has been captured while trying to find the plans for Operation Eisenfaust (Iron Fist) and imprisoned by the SS in Castle Wolfenstein. Initially armed only with a knife and a Luger P08, obtained by overpowering the guard in his cell, B.J. tries to escape the castle prison. Taking on the guards, he eventually finds himself face to face with prison guard head Hans Grosse. In the second episode, "Operation: Eisenfaust", B.J. finds out that the operation is real, and that Nazis are creating an army of undead mutants in Castle Hollehammer. B.J. enters the castle and confronts the mad scientist Dr. Schabbs, creator of the mutants. His defeat signals the end of this biological war. "Die, Führer, Die!" is, chronologically, the final episode. Fighting through Nazi soldiers, and attacking the bunker under the Reichstag, he finds himself up against Adolf Hitler, who is equipped with a robotic suit and four chainguns.