MAP26: Aztec (PlayStation Final Doom)

MAP26: Aztec is the twenty-sixth level of PlayStation Final Doom, and the second level of the Plutonia episode. It is based on the PC version of MAP03: Aztec from The Plutonia Experiment, with modifications to accommodate the PlayStation's framerate and memory limitations and add enhancements such as colored lighting. It uses the music track "In The Grip Of Madness".

The author of the original level was Milo Casali. Changes for the PlayStation port were authored by Tim Heydelaar.

Essentials
Walk forward and go left up the staircase, where you will find a shotgun, medikit, box of shells and megaarmor. Go down the staircase to an outdoor area with vines on the walls. Walk forward (east) into the corridor ahead of you and follow it to the end. As you leave the corridor, a platform will rise with a Hell knight. Kill it and step on the platform it was waiting on to open the door. Go up the stairs, watching out for chaingunners and go through the north door, climbing the curved staircase to the end.

You will see a large pit with a bridge running east to west. There are four platforms overlooking the pit with arachnotrons and pain elementals. Across the bridge are some chaingunners, two Hell knights, and a blue keycard on a small platform. Kill the arachnotrons and elementals, then cross the bridge until a platform raises the knights. Kill them along with the chaingunners, hit the switch on the eastern side of the room, get on the lift that lowers and press the switch to the east; when the lift rises again, jump to the blue key. Cross the bridge back to the western side of the room and enter the teleporter that has been revealed. You will be on the south-eastern platform overlooking the pit. Go south into the hallway until you see a switch; walk backwards into the switch, kill the chaingunners that try to ambush you, and press the switch. Go back to the western side of the room, and use the teleporter to exit.

Go back to the outdoor room with vines, enter the north door and make your way down the corridor. In the hallway, you will go down a lift to a room with two chaingunners, a chainsaw, a box of shells and some health bonuses. Kill the enemies, grab the goodies and press the switch on the south wall so you can get back into the hallway. Further down the hallway it will divide into two paths; go down the path on your left to a room with the red keycard, guarded by a chaingunner. When you approach the key, two more chaingunners and two Hell knights will teleport in around you. Kill the enemies, grab the medikit if required, then exit, resuming the path through the hallway.

You will come to a large pit with a bridge in the middle of it, overlooked by two arachnotrons. Kill them, go halfway across the bridge, then back up and kill the knights and chaingunners which ambush you. Cross the bridge again, and you will come across two more knights. Kill them, go through the hallway, and you will see a red and blue teleporter. (If you need supplies, ignore the teleporters for now and keep going through the hallway until you reach the platforms the arachnotrons were on.) Go through the red teleporter, and you will be in a room with a door and a barred wall separating you from another room. Go through the north door to the end of the hallway, hit the switch, go back through the hallway, and into the teleporter. Now go through the blue teleporter, across the room from the red teleporter you just used. Go through the north door, through the hallway, hit the switch on the south wall, and step on the exit teleporter.

Secrets

 * 1) From the start of the level, cross over and follow the spiral stairs downward to the right. In the outdoor area, take the door to the left. Follow the corridor until you reach the second red torch. On the opposite wall is a wall with a lamp. Open it to reveal a secret area containing a soulsphere. (sector 14)

Bugs
In the penultimate area where the blue and red teleporters are located, there is a small balk (linedefs 699, 701, 702 and 703) between two lamps in the previous room which appears distorted, due to having an improperly configured Y-offset.

Several monsters are flagged to only appear in deathmatch, but will never appear as that mode disables monsters:
 * A pain elemental (thing 92) at the bottom of the stairs by the starting point.
 * A pain elemental (thing 169) in the non-damaging magma in the room after the end of the east sludge tunnel.
 * Four arachnotrons (things 191-194) standing on the long bridge in the blue skull key area.
 * In the same area, there are four upper alcoves with arachnotrons and pain elementals, two of which (things 90 and 91) do not spawn.
 * Six chaingunners (things 93-98) in the two arachnotron alcoves in the penultimate area in the north-east.

Room design

 * All switches use a red/green light on metal texture (SW1MET2).
 * Narrow tunnels and staircases throughout the level are widened to accommodate the player's increased radius.
 * The rocket launcher in the supply room just east of the starting room is replaced with a shotgun.
 * Ledges are added around the red rock pit to allow that sector to be taller than 256 units.
 * The invisible bridge leading to the blue keycard and the platform holding this card are now visible, as PlayStation Doom does not handle self-referencing sectors. There are fewer pillars with torches around the bridge.
 * The height of the pit before the blue keycard has been reduced. Ledges are added around the pit to allow it to be taller than 256 units.
 * The scrolling rock texture west of the large bridge is replaced with a vine wall that does not scroll.
 * When following the north tunnel from the starting area, the room you drop into has six pillars instead of eight.
 * Teleporters are added to the sludge pit in the north of the level, either side of the bridge leading to the teleporters to the exit room.
 * The sludge pit around the exit teleporter is removed, and flashing exit signs are added to the north and east walls.

Monster placement

 * Shotgun guys and imps are replaced with chaingunners.
 * Arch-viles and revenants are replaced with Hell knights.
 * The level's only baron of Hell, which teleports in to the room with the red keycard, is replaced with a Hell knight.
 * The level's only demon, found in a room south-east of the starting area, is replaced with two chaingunners on all skill levels, plus one imp on Hurt Me Plenty or Ultra Violence (HMP/UV).
 * The level's only spectre, found in the red rock pit past the southern sludge tunnel, is removed without replacement.
 * The mancubus in the hidden cavern in the northern sludge tunnel is replaced with two chaingunners on HMP/UV.
 * The mancubi guarding the bridge leading to the teleport pads that take you to the exit room are replaced with arachnotrons.
 * The pain elementals revealed when approaching the teleporters to the exit room are replaced with Hell knights.

Player spawns
This level contains eight spawn points:
 * 1) facing west. (thing 138)
 * 2) facing south. (thing 139)
 * 3) facing south. (thing 140)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 141)
 * 5) facing south. (thing 142)
 * 6) facing north. (thing 143)
 * 7) facing south-west. (thing 144)
 * 8) facing south. (thing 145)

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level: