Supercharge
From DoomWiki.org
The supercharge powerup (called soul sphere in the manuals) is a powerup first introduced in E1M2: Nuclear Plant of the Knee-Deep in the Dead episode of Doom. In that game and in Doom II it appears as a floating blue sphere with a glassy appearance and a pulsing humanoid face inside. Doom 64 has a very similar design, except the face is now demonic looking. Picking one up increases the player's health by 100 percent, up to a maximum of 200 percent (or 199 in early versions of Doom), and the player receives the message "supercharge!".
At one point in Doom's development, it was intended for the player to have a limited number of lives. The Doom Bible notes that "the soul sphere contains the life energy of a human soul" (hence the appearance and naming) and that collecting it would award an extra life. That behavior would have made it resemble the 1-up (extra life) powerup from Wolfenstein 3D, which is somewhat similar in appearance.
This item is included in the items percentage displayed at the end of each level.
Data[edit]
| Supercharge data | |
|---|---|
| Thing type | 2013 (decimal), 7DD (hex) |
| Enum | MT_MISC12 (55) - Doom MT_ITEM_SOULSPHERE (62) - Doom 64 |
| Appears in | Shareware Doom Doom/Ultimate Doom Doom II/Final Doom Doom 64/Lost Levels |
| Radius | 20 |
| Height | 16 |
| Sprite | SOUL |
| Frames | 6 [ABCDCB] |
| Class | Item Pickup |
| Flags | 8388609 (decimal) 00800001 (hex) |
| Flags list | 0: Can be picked up 23: Affects item % |
Appearance statistics[edit]
In the IWADs the supercharge is first encountered on these maps per skill level:
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The IWADs contain the following numbers of supercharges per skill level:
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Other games[edit]
The soul sphere (now called megahealth, in the vein of Quake series games) makes an appearance in Doom 3, although in multiplayer only. It sets the player's health points to 200. The megahealth looks extremely similar to the classic supercharge, with a prominent baby face not unlike that of a cherub.
In Doom RPG, the soul sphere gives the player maximum health and maximum armor, similar to the megasphere in Doom II.
Soulspheres appear in several levels of Doom Eternal, usually in hidden locations. Similar to the megasphere from Doom II, they boost the player's health and armor to their current maximum values.
Megahealth spheres are generated by the apparatus in D3DM2
A soulsphere from Doom Eternal
Trivia[edit]
- Soul spheres gave 100 health and 100 points of armor at one point in development, as seen during A Visit to id Software. It is assumed this armor is green armor due to the amount.
- The face inside the supercharge bears a close resemblance to the ouch face.
| Items from Doom, Doom II and Doom 64 | |
|---|---|
| Health: | Health bonus • Stimpack • Medikit |
| Armor: | Armor bonus • Armor • Megaarmor |
| Powerups: | Berserk • Computer area map • Invulnerability • Light amplification visor • Megasphere • Partial invisibility • Radiation shielding suit • Supercharge |
| Keys: | Keycard • Skull key • Demon Key |
| Weapons: | Fist • Chainsaw • Pistol • Shotgun • Super shotgun • Chaingun • Rocket launcher • Plasma gun • BFG9000 • Unmaker |
| Ammo: | Backpack • Clip • 4 shotgun shells • Rocket • Energy cell • Box of bullets • Box of shotgun shells • Box of rockets • Energy cell pack |
