MAP05: Phobos Lab (Console Doom)

MAP05: Phobos Lab is the fifth level of console versions of Doom, based on the original E1M5: Phobos Lab with modifications made to adapt to consoles' limitations. It was converted by American McGee and originally designed by John Romero. The map first appeared in Atari Jaguar version, and is additionally used in the 3DO, Sega 32X, Game Boy Advance, Sony PlayStation, and Sega Saturn versions.

The PlayStation port of this level introduces the nightmare spectre on Ultra Violence skill level.

Essentials
Yellow key

Run across the nukage pool (quickly, as the nukage is harmful) and turn right down the hall. At the end, walk out onto the platform overlooking another nukage pool; this will raise a walkway on the opposite side of the pool.

Turn around, go west back up the hall, and go up the staircase to your right. Walk along the walkway to the east, turn left into the dark passage, and pick up the yellow keycard at the end

Blue key and exit

Go back down the stairs near the start point, and through the door to the left of the stairs. Follow the walkway around to the right, and you will see a yellow door on your left. Go in, take the lift downward, and turn left down the staircase. As you reach the bottom, two traps will open — one behind you, and one on the corresponding staircase to the north of the lift — revealing four imps (I am a Wimp/Not Too Rough), or eight shotgun guys, four imps, and two spectres (Hurt Me Plenty), or eight sergeants, four imps, and four spectres (Ultra Violence). Continue following this hallway around to the right, until you see a nukage pool on your right with two large columns in it. Run across the nukage, between the columns, and press the switch on the small platform; this opens a door across the nukage pool from the yellow door. As you step onto this platform, the two columns will descend, revealing two zombiemen (IAAW/NTR), or two zombiemen and two imps (HMP), or two zombiemen, two imps, and two shotgun guys (UV).

Backtrack to the yellow door and run straight across the nukage to the newly opened passageway. Go up the stairs, turn left, and follow the passageway to a room with gray and yellow panels. Click the switch in the far right corner of this room, which opens a doorway to a darkened tan corridor. Follow this corridor to a room containing the blue keycard.

Grab the blue key and go down the stairs to the north. At the bottom, you will find a blue door. Open the blue door and enter the dark room behind it - proceed slowly as there are enemies inside who you may struggle to see. Make your way to the north side of this room, where you will see the exit door (N). Go through the exit door and press the switch.

Other points of interest
At the yellow key, some players find it helpful to shoot as many monsters as possible through the window, where their attacks are less effective (demons in particular). The room beyond this window is the first room past the staircase on the way to the computer room.

After you lower the two green columns in the nukage pool, you can make them rise by walking onto one. This allows you to jump to two high platforms at the far corners of the pool, holding a megaarmor and a box of bullets (P). (If you are still on the column when it stops moving, you are not trapped: pressing the button on the east wall lowers both columns again.)

The switch near the blue key opens a hidden door in the small room at the bottom of the nearby staircase, across from the blue door. This provides a shortcut back to the beginning of the level.

The dark room before the exit contains a large horseshoe-shaped wall in the center. The northern-most section of this wall (Q) is a hidden door.

Secrets

 * 1) At the top of the staircase near the start point, before you step onto the walkway you will see a barrel to your right. Behind the barrel is a secret door indicated by a misaligned wall, which conceals a shotgun and a box of shells. (sector 2)
 * 2) After collecting the yellow keycard, go back to the walkway above the nukage pool. Directly ahead, in the southeast corner of the nukage, is a secret door (sector 22) indicated by a bloody mess decoration. Cross the nukage and go through the door to find a rocket launcher, a box of rockets and megaarmor. Leave the room through the corridor to the south-west.
 * 3) Just after you go through the yellow door for the first time and go down the lift, two imps will be shooting at you from high platforms. These platforms will lower if you push on the walls below them (or if you walk to the bottom step of the staircase past either one). Ride up on the northern platform and open the wall to the right (east) to reveal a secret compartment with a box of shells. (sector 23) The back wall of this compartment opens into a room with two medikits, two health bonuses and a star-shaped teleporter which deposits you near the start point. There is also a metal-textured wall to the south-east which opens onto the walkway outside of the yellow door.
 * 4) At the western edge of the map, opposite the nukage pool containing the two large columns, is a small alcove containing a medikit. The back wall is a secret door revealing a radiation shielding suit. (sector 25)
 * 5) The wall to the south of secret #4 is another secret door, revealing a chainsaw. (sector 50)
 * 6) The wall to the south of secret #5 is yet another secret door, leading to an outdoor area with a soulsphere. (sector 56)
 * 7) In the room with gray and yellow panels on the east side of the map, there is a secret door to the west of the switch in the corner (on the other side of the protruding pillar). Go through the secret door to collect a computer area map, a backpack, a chaingun and a box of bullets. (sector 97)
 * 8) After going through the blue door, hug the wall to the left until you have made a U-turn. Ahead of you is a room with a medikit, four shotgun shells and a rocket. (sector 115)
 * 9) A second blue door connects the pentagram teleporter room (see secret #3 above) to the large dark room before the exit. You must walk through the blue door to get credit for the secret. (sector 116)

Comparison of versions
As well as geometry simplification in several rooms, a number of other changes were made to this level compared with the PC version.

Room design

 * All switches use a knife switch on brown wall texture (SW1BRN1). Many switches are recessed into walls to avoid clashing with the surrounding textures.
 * Most staircases have fewer steps, similar to other levels on the console releases.
 * The PlayStation release adds extra sectors around keycards and locked doors, so that matching colored lights can be applied in those areas.
 * Several areas are widened to accommodate the player's increased radius, including:
 * The corridor leading to the yellow keycard.
 * The door to secret #2.
 * The hidden doors leading to the outdoor area on the west side of the level (secrets #4, #5 and #6).
 * The staircase north of the blue keycard and the room at the bottom of the staircase.
 * The narrow passage leading to secret #8.
 * The nukage pit on the west side of the level has a lower ceiling.
 * The pillars in the dark room before the exit are square instead of octagonal. Some of the room's walls were also merged together.

Monster placement

 * On the PlayStation release, the spectre in front of you at the start of the level on Ultra Violence skill level (UV) is replaced with a nightmare spectre. This is the first nightmare spectre encountered on UV; on other skill levels, it is first encountered in MAP06: Central Processing.
 * The PlayStation and Saturn releases added chaingunners to the following locations on UV:
 * One at the top of the staircase north-east of the start point.
 * One in the hallway leading west out of secret #2.
 * Two behind the hidden blue door in secret #3.

Other

 * The light amplification visor pickup is removed from secret #8, making the dark room before the exit harder to navigate.

Music
The map uses the following music tracks:

Player spawns
This level contains eight spawn points:
 * 1) facing east. (thing 193)
 * 2) facing east. (thing 194)
 * 3) facing south. (thing 195)
 * 4) facing north. (thing 196)
 * 5) facing south. (thing 197)
 * 6) facing west. (thing 198)
 * 7) facing east. (thing 199)
 * 8) facing south. (thing 200)

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