MAP06: The Crusher (Doom II)

MAP06: The Crusher is the sixth map of Doom II. It was designed by American McGee and uses the music track "In The Dark". The par time is 2:30. The monster revenant debuts in this map; also, if the game is played on Hurt Me Plenty skill level or lower, the Hell knight - who debuts in MAP05: The Waste Tunnels on upper skill levels - will also be introduced.

Essentials
From the starting position, work your way straight forward through the forest of pillars to the lift on the far side, fighting enemies along the way. The lift will lower to a large room with a blue keycard. (Note: The key appears in different locations, depending on your skill level. When you have acquired the blue key, you can return to the starting room.) Once at the bottom of the lift, flip the switch to crush whatever enemy is under the huge crusher to make things easier for yourself. Once the monster is dead, you can pick up the plasma gun and, on I'm Too Young To Die and Hey Not Too Rough, also a blue key under the crusher. Now ride the lift you came from back to the top. This time, run through the opening in the bars in front of you and you'll land on a small platform with a switch on it (and, on Hurt Me Plenty, a blue key). Flip this switch to lower a lift at the far end of this room with a blue key on it (on Ultra-Violence and Nightmare). Run over, and ride the lift up. Follow the hallway around to a supercharge. Drop down and ride the lift back up to the starting room. You can enter secret #2 before you return if you wish.

Be careful in the starting room, as a closet has opened releasing many enemies that may be lurking among the pillars. Open the blue key door at the north end of the room and flip the switch to lower the lift. The lowered lift exposes a small hidden room with some armor bonuses you can pick up if you wish. Ride this lift up, and follow the hallway past the red key door to the end. Open the door here, flip the switch to lower the floor, and continue through a second door. In the next room, continue up the stairs, fighting the enemies released by the opening walls as you ascend. As you near the top of the spiral staircase, be cautious not to fall into the lava as it is inescapable. At the top of the stairs, hop onto the next platform and grab the red keycard. Before returning to the red key door, you may want to enter secret #3.

On your way back to the red key door, beware of some recently released imps. Once outside, continue along the path under the Stonehenge-like structures to the next door. Again, the lava here is inescapable, so be careful. Once through the last door you'll arrive in a large, dark, square room. Before you do anything else you may want to kill the spectres in the nukage moat to keep from getting in your way later on. Make your way to the opposite corner of this room and flip the switch next to the yellow keycard to lower it. When you pick it up, the central structure in the room opens, causing several enemies to teleport in from all directions. Once they're dealt with, enter any of the teleporters along the perimeter of the room to be taken to the inside of the central structure. Flip the switch to raise a bridge to the yellow door on the west side of the large room. Open it and kill the demon to reach the exit switch.

Secrets

 * 1) In the starting room with several pillars, locate the pillar with the lightning bolt symbol on it in the southeast corner of the room. This pillar can be lowered manually to reveal a megasphere. (sector 98)
 * 2) In the room containing the crusher, drop down into the river of nukage in the center and follow to its southeast end, where a secret room holding a teleporter can be found. (sector 124)
 * 3) While ascending the spiraling staircase leading to the red keycard, two alcoves will open, revealing enemies. The first one contains chaingunners, while the second one houses revenants. From the top of the staircase, drop down into the alcove the chaingunners were in. Open the wall with the lightning bolt symbol to reveal a secret area. (sector 146)

Bugs
Using either one-sided door track of the red key door will crash the game. This is because the lines were mistakenly given manual push-activation door actions. The 2019-2020 releases of Doom Classic have a slightly edited version of this map which fixes this.

Design oddities
Two of the six deathmatch starts (Things 238 and 239) have no flags set for any of the three difficulty classes, but as they are handled differently by the engine, they function normally in the level. This was also corrected to have flags set in the Doom Classic Unity port.

In the outside area just after the red door the sky is set too low, the buildings on both sides are clearly bigger on the inside than outside and there is not enough room for the red door.

Routes and tricks
It is possible to pick up the yellow keycard by moving very slowly towards it and still not trigger the linedef that opens up the door to the central area full of monsters.

In the final hall, the player can straferun over the slime moat onto the floor just in front of the exit. The yellow keycard in the far corner of the hall is still necessary.

Current Compet-n records
The Compet-n records for the map are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on July 5, 2020.

Current DSDA records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on November 22, 2022.

Player spawns
This level contains six spawn points:
 * 1) facing west. (thing 3)
 * 2) facing east. (thing 4)
 * 3) facing west. (thing 5)
 * 4) facing west. (thing 238)
 * 5) facing west. (thing 239)
 * 6) facing west. (thing 240)

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