The way I came across it was seeing someone playing it in the dorms and within a couple of weeks everyone with a PC was playing it (someone must’ve copied those floppies).
It may be my memory smearing things together but I remember this and NHL 94 on the genesis just taking over for 6 months or so
From a recent-ish Reddit thread from someone wondering the same, it went through to a credit card company that occasionally does take calls from people wondering if it goes through to id. xD
Oh, they match up the letters still on mobile phone digital keypads today. With this, it would translate to 1-800-4342637. I being 4, D being 3, G being 4 again etc
Just for some additional context for peeps who might not know, this is from the 'shareware' version of DOOM. id distributed the first episode for free online or via shareware suppliers. Then you'd mail away for the rest on disks. Only once it become a phenomenon did it get a retail release.
The sad thing is I'd LOVE to see a throwback game go full oldschool with their demo, and while you can do some of it, moden tech streamlining things to "wishlist/purchases on POPULAR_STOREFRONTS_HERE" Means if you wanted an in game readme or Epic Pinball style text crawl it'd be a bit light.
This was the first game I played in multiplayer, and I think this was the first game I got to work in multiplayer across two modems directly connected to each other between my 486DX and P100. Had to dial +++ AT X3 D, I think. It took awhile to figure out the code sequence.
Aha, yeah, sounds complicated. I was Amiga-ing at the time and didn't have a modem or null modem cable, so I missed out on all that kind of stuff. Link-up cable with a friend's PlayStation was the first experience I can remember having like that.
the comic shop near me has a CIB mail away set! I keep telling him it belongs in a museum and he keeps telling me that if they pay him his $550 asking price it can be in one
I was a weird young child who always read the ordering information because I liked when they'd occasionally include crude drawings of the credit card logos. Or, like id and Apogee games loved to do, extra sassy messages. "Remember, your honesty pays. Us."
I loved those little bits of personality as well :) My favourite one ever is in the Simon the Sorcerer 2 manual, “We hope you enjoy the game, but it doesn’t really matter as we already have your money.”
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It may be my memory smearing things together but I remember this and NHL 94 on the genesis just taking over for 6 months or so
Now games will release GAME_NAME: Prologue online as a free demo, following the digital release that, if successful enough results in goes physical.
But what a game you get for that price!