MAP23: Ballistyx (PlayStation Final Doom)

MAP23: Ballistyx is the twenty-third map of PlayStation Final Doom, and the tenth map of the TNT episode. The map is based on the PC version of MAP26: Ballistyx from TNT: Evilution originally designed by Mark Snell and Jim Lowell, with changes to accomodate the PlayStation's memory limitations and add enhancements such as colored lighting. Changes for the PlayStation port were authored by Tim Heydelaar.. It uses the music track "Lamentation" by Aubrey Hodges.

Essentials
Blue key

You start the level facing an altar. Go through the door on your right to enter the chapel. Inside, take the super shotgun and climb up the staircase. Slay the spectres and take the berserk (you can return to kill the alerted imps). Enter the brick passageway and kill a spectre. There will be a lift here going down.

Continue going down and killing any spectres you encounter until you come to a grey corridor with a fork that lets you go either left or right. Go left and open the door on the west wall, behind which is a staircase leading to a cave with a yellow floor. Be cautious here, as there are several shotgun guys lying in ambush. Follow the path until you come to a large cavern with a blood pool; the blue skull key is in the middle of this pool. Eliminate all the enemies in this area, then go to the key and take it. Do not blow up the barrels, as they will be useful later.

Yellow key

Return to the fork corridor mentioned in the previous paragraph. This time, take the path going north. Follow the path and eliminate all enemies you encounter until you come to a rectangular room. You can climb to the ledge via the lift to take a medikit and a box of ammo. Climb the north staircase and go through the door at the top. In the next room there will be two cages; the cage on the left is open and contains imps. When you try to open the door leading inside this cage, the cage on the right will open behind you to reveal imps (plus a Hell knight on Ultra Violence skill level), so be cautious. If you do go inside the left cage, you can find armor and a box of shells within. When you are ready, go through the blue door.

Here, you can go either left or right, but it is advisable to take the path to the left now. Follow the path to a low-ceilinged room with a slime floor. Walk around the stone wall in front of you and press the switch on the east wall between two tall red torches. Return to the room entrance, look at the aforementioned stone wall again and you will see that it has opened to reveal a teleporter. Go in and you will find yourself in a cage, with many enemies outside on red rock columns. You can stay and fight if you wish, but you only need to take the yellow skull key (plus an optional rocket launcher) before opening the door in the north-east corner of the cage and using the teleporter behind it to go back to the previous area.

Back in the low-ceilinged room, you can eliminate enemies that come from the newly opened alcoves and collect some optional items before moving on.

Red key

Return to the cavern with the blood pool where you found the blue key. Go to the south-west corner of this cavern and here you will find some enemies guarding yellow skull bars. Open the bars, take the berserk pack behind them and cross the blood river to enter a brick room. Go forward a bit until you can see a short red torch on the right (all other torches in this room are green). Behind this torch is a narrow passage containing shotgun guys and a box of shells, as well as chaingunners on Hurt Me Plenty or Ultra Violence (HMP/UV). When you go into the passage, a square metal column will lower behind you revealing a Hell knight on I am a Wimp/Not Too Rough (IAAW/NTR), or a chaingunner on HMP/UV - kill this enemy and take the red skull key they were guarding.

Watch out for a chaingunner ambush as you backtrack to the blood pool cavern. When you get back to the cavern, you will see that a room has opened to the east containing a large number of enemies; if any barrels are intact you can lure the enemies into these to destroy them quickly. Follow the path back through the caves, this time using the shortcut in the north wall which was recently opened. Go to the right and climb the stairs to the door leading back to the grey corridor.

Exit

This time, head left. You should come to a small room with the red door, candles and spectres. Enter the red door. In the white cave, go down and follow the tunnel, killing any enemies in your path. At the end you will see a small marble room with a teleport pad and a Hell knight. Enter the room to alert the knight and cause it to teleport away, then step on the white pad to be teleported back to the starting area. Kill the Hell knight, and you will see that the altar is now marked with exit signs. Step onto the altar to end the level.

Secrets

 * 1) Inside the blood pool cavern with the blue skull key open the wall just north of the burning barrel to find a soulsphere and a light amplification visor.
 * 2) Inside the cage with the yellow skull key, open the westernmost part of the wall (on Hurt Me Plenty and lower, it is marked by a candle) to get a megasphere on IAAW/NTR or a soulsphere on HMP/UV.

Bugs

 * In the starting area, an unwanted sky flat (F_SKY09) can just be seen on the ground behind the surrounding fence (sector 227).
 * In the first room, climbing the staircase does not open the grey marble texture in front of you to reveal a pair of enemies, as it should on PC. It is still possible to get into this area by using the hidden teleporter at the bottom of the passage with lifts and spectres; however, the player's radius will cause them to telefrag the enemies inside.
 * In the green-illuminated cave behind the red door, a wall at the south part has an improper Y-offset, causing the texture to stretch (linedef 445).
 * The Hell knight which protects the teleport pad leading to the level exit is blind and deaf until you enter its chamber. This may be intentional to stop the knight being alerted and teleporting away before you see it.
 * In the area beyond the yellow skull key cage (only accessible in deathmatch), standing on the lift with the megaarmor as it rises and looking outwards reveals that the fire sky does not tile vertically.

Removed areas

 * An unreachable room with lost souls and burning barrels near the center of the map is removed. The tall red torches either side of the "entrance" to this room are retained, however.

Room design

 * All switches use a gargoyle face on metal wall texture (SW1GARG).
 * The sky in this level uses the fire texture from other hellish levels on PlayStation Doom, instead of the red sky seen in later TNT levels on the PC.
 * The starting area uses a glowing red rock floor throughout. On PC, the area within the fence has a plain rock floor.
 * The lava pool and river in the blue skull key area are changed to blood.
 * The "outdoor" area with an altar seen at the end of the level (which teleports you back to the start when approached) is replaced with a small marble chamber and a teleport pad.

Monster placement

 * Zombiemen are replaced with shotgun guys.
 * The revenants hiding behind the marble texture in the first room on HMP/UV are replaced with chaingunners. Due to a bug (see above) they are not dangerous to the player.
 * The revenant outside the yellow skull key cage on UV is replaced with a chaingunner.
 * The mancubus guarding the yellow bars on UV is replaced with a Hell knight, and the demon behind it on HMP/UV is removed without replacement.
 * The mancubus guarding the red skull key on HMP/UV is replaced with a chaingunner.
 * The mancubus in the monster-filled room east of the blue skull key area on UV is replaced with a Hell knight.
 * The cacodemons in the monster-filled room east of the blue skull key area are replaced with one chaingunner on IAAW/NTR, two chaingunners on HMP, and two chaingunners plus one Hell knight on UV.
 * The three revenants in the passage leading to the exit are replaced - one is replaced with a Hell knight, one is replaced with a chaingunner, and one is removed without replacement.
 * A Hell knight protects the exit on all skill levels. On PC, a revenant appears instead on HMP and an arch-vile appears on UV.