Saturn Doom has long had a rough reputation, mostly because the retail version struggles to keep the action moving smoothly. Homebrew developer Fafling is taking another careful swing at that problem with version 0.3 of his optimization patch.
The new release can make some levels run at a frame rate around two and a half times faster than the original game. For a port often remembered for sluggish play, that is a meaningful jump and a neat bit of Saturn-era repair work.
Fafling posted version 0.3 in the Resources area at SegaXtreme. The ZIP includes Sega Saturn Patcher version 1.95, which is used to apply the patch.
The patch is meant for the Japanese release of Doom. Fafling chose that version because it came after the North American release, giving it a better base for this kind of work.
A YouTube comparison from Fafling shows the original game, last year's version 0.2 patch, and the new version 0.3 patch running Doom's three demos side by side. In that footage, the original often sits near 11 frames per second, while the earlier patch reached about 25 frames per second.
Version 0.3 pushes the results further in the same comparison. Fafling also posted another video focused on fixes to wall rendering, showing that the update is not only about raw speed.
Fafling described the patched Saturn version as better than the Atari Jaguar port and close to the PlayStation port, sometimes a little ahead and sometimes still behind.
There are still limits. Fafling noted that some of the more complex non-Jaguar levels can still dip below 10 frames per second, including Sever the Wicked when viewed from a corner of the big open area. Jaguar-based levels and simpler non-Jaguar levels are now often reaching the 30 frames per second mark.
The work builds on code from Doom's 1997 Saturn port, which Rage Software handled for original developer iD Software. Fafling found another long set of areas to optimize, showing how much performance can still be uncovered in an old console release.
The patch also adds quality-of-life improvements for controls, based on the readme included with the download. That gives the update a more practical feel: it is not just a technical demo, but a nicer way to revisit a famously compromised port.
Z-retro's view: this is the kind of homebrew effort that helps old hardware feel fresh without pretending the original limits never existed.
