MAP18: Pandemonium (Console Doom)

MAP18: Pandemonium is the eighteenth level of console versions of Doom, based on the E3M3: Pandemonium with modifications made to adapt limitations. It was converted by American McGee and originally designed by Sandy Petersen. The map first appeared in Atari Jaguar version, and is additionally used in the 3DO, Game Boy Advance, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn versions.

This is the second level taking place in Inferno rather than third unlike in the PC counterpart.

Essentials
Main route

You start in one of the alcove tunnels in a dark room. Head out of your place and enter the second alcove tunnel to the west of you to get a shotgun. Walk up the stairs to an open area which is full of hellspawn. To the north you see a skull switch and stairs up. Not pushing the switch (as it is optional) head up the stairs and turn right, then left. There is a lava room below, so drop on the safe dry land into the north room (this lava room is actually optional and has four medikits, a supercharge and a BFG9000 if you find them there). Once you dropped on the safe land, not dropping on the next floor below the ledge, turn left and take the blue keycard.

Alternative route

There is another route for finding the blue key. At the start, take the shotgun in the alcove to the west of you and head to the east room with four red torches around. Run through the long corridor to the extreme north killing enemies on your way (you can also find secret#1, secret#2 and secret#3 if you want). You should end up in a room with two scrolling skull pillars. Take the lift up and open the wooden door. To get the blue key walk through the metal structure, head straight and turn left. Take the staircase to the left (the right staircase is optional and will lead you to a supercharge powerup) and turn to a ledge where there is the key. Take it.

Exit

When you have the blue key, drop down from the blue key ledge to the wooden floor and go through the metal structure to a wooden door but do not open it. Head up the staircase to an open area. Here, there is a blue door to the right. Before you enter prepare a powerful weapon against imps inside. The second door inside conceals the exit portal.

Secrets

 * 1) From the start head east and go through the long gargoyle corridor to the north. At the end of the gargoyle corridor there is a dark alcove to the east. Go there to find a watery area with lost souls and two alcoves leading to the second secret.
 * 2) From secret#1 visit either east alcove and turn left into a corridor to find a lava room. A berserk item can be observable from here but taking it from here is unsafe. Kill the cacodemon and lost souls (high difficulty only) in the lava room and cross the bridge to enter a dark room. Turn right and go to the north to find a stash room with a rocket launcher and other items. The berserk item mentioned earlier can be taken here safely.
 * 3) Return to the long gargoyle corridor and turn left to a nukage room. Quickly (the nukage damages badly) step on the nukage and head right to find a chaingun (it can be seen from a narrow window of an upper room).
 * 4) Head into the blue keycard room as described in the first two paragraphs of the walkthrough. The five sectors (including three steps of the staircase leading to the key) before the key ledge are counted as secret wholly as you walk on them. So, better go up via that stairs to be sure you register all the five.
 * 5) See secret#4
 * 6) See secret#4
 * 7) See secret#4
 * 8) See secret#4
 * 9) Through the metal structure go up the stairs to the north open area with the blue door. The dark marble wall in the south east of the area lowers if you touch it. Behind, take two stimpacks and a box of ammo but beware of one or two demons.
 * 10) In the same area, the similar wall in the south west can also be open but with the other way. Go to the back of the "altar" in this area and step on it to make the mentioned wall sink down. You can now take two medikits, 4 shotgun shells and a computer map.

Comparison of versions
The numerous changes compared to the PC version are in this map:

Geometry simplification

 * The west of the map (which includes the corridor, nukage room and scrolling walls room) connecting the north west room and the starting room was deleted entirely.
 * The two rooms in the start observable through the small windows (both rooms kept optional items but the east had the required blue key) were removed.
 * West and east mazes (center of the map) presenting in the original version were used to lead the player into the above mentioned rooms, into the lava room still being in the console versions and served as a puzzle for the player to find optional items and lost souls within the mazes. On the console versions based on the Jaguar port the east labyrinth was deleted leaving only a sealing wall in the place of the entrance, while the west maze was intensely simplified: it only serves as a transition between lava room and the central area and only has one dead-end with a lost soul and a medikit.
 * There are only two alcoves in the starting area, instead of four (likely because Jaguar port featured only a two player multiplayer; so, every alcove is for each of the players).
 * The lava room with a bridge (connecting secret#1 and secret#2) is a convex rectangle, instead of being a concave shape.
 * Woooden room serving as a connection between the penultimate room and the scrolling skulls/guts pillars is accessed by use of a new lift instead of several stairs.

New design
Some rooms in the level were redesigned:
 * The central area no longer has a shotgun on a pillar, as well as the pillar itself. Instead, it has two walls on either side of the room which will lower when the player pushes the skull to reveal at least one shotgun guy and imps. Two medikits are also inside.
 * The two alcoves to the south of the same room, which were used to display scrolling snakes texture, are retextured into metal, made taller and slightly deeper and were added an imp into each one serving as an ambush alcoves.
 * Watery room (secret#1) has water pools only differing by 16 units of height lower than the adjacent floor allowing the player to either walking over the bridge or over any of the pools without falling. The pools also do not hurt.

Other

 * Blue key has been put into the penultimate room from the deleted silver room and is now a keycard rather than a skull key.
 * The invulnerability sphere accessed by the staircase in the same penultimate room was replaced with a supercharge. The water also does not hurt there.

PlayStation
Some additional changes are present in the PlayStation port:
 * Three hell knights from Doom II are featured on Ultra-Violence skill, making the map one of the few ones to include both Hell knights and barons of Hell. One Hell knight is in the central open area and the other two are in the north open area (where the blue key-coded door is found). By manipulating the two species into meeting, it is possible to observe that they will in fact infight.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks: