Doom II

Doom II for Game Boy Advance brings the 1994 first-person shooter sequel to Nintendo's handheld in a 2002 port developed by Australia's Torus Games and published by Activision, with id Software serving as executive producer. The lone space marine returns to an Earth overrun by Hell's forces, and the campaign remains a direct run through ruined cities, industrial complexes and infernal strongholds in search of each exit.

The GBA edition preserves the core Doom II structure: explore maze-like maps from a first-person view, collect colored keys, trigger switches and survive ambushes while locating the route forward. Its campaign retains the PC game's full set of regular and secret stages, though a few of the largest maps are divided into sections for the handheld conversion. Four difficulty settings let players decide how aggressive the demon hordes should be.

Combat revolves around a nine-weapon arsenal that ranges from the pistol, chaingun and chainsaw to the rocket launcher, plasma rifle and BFG. Doom II's signature Super Shotgun joins the familiar weapons, rewarding close-range positioning with its powerful double blast. The portable game also includes the sequel's expanded bestiary, including missile-firing Revenants, fireball-spreading Mancubi and Arch-Viles that can revive fallen monsters, alongside threats such as the Cyberdemon and Spider Mastermind.

Torus designed a custom 3D engine for the Game Boy Advance rather than simply reusing the previous handheld Doom technology. It delivers textured environments, changing light levels and a noticeably brisker feel than the earlier GBA Doom, while retaining the game's monster animation, music and spatialized stereo effects. The result is a notably faithful technical recreation of a larger PC shooter on a system with a small screen and limited controls.

The controls can be configured so movement, turning, sidestepping and firing can be combined on the D-pad and face and shoulder buttons; an Always Run option and adjustable turn sensitivity help tailor the pace. Aiming and rapid weapon cycling remain less immediate than with a keyboard and mouse, but the layout makes the essential Doom rhythm of strafing, shooting and backing through a doorway workable on the go.

Multiplayer is built into the cartridge through the Game Boy Advance Game Link cable. Two players can tackle the campaign cooperatively, while up to four players can use the maps for deathmatch. Each participant needs a system, link connection and their own copy of Doom II, turning the self-contained handheld port into both a single-player campaign and a local competitive shooter.

To fit the game on the portable hardware and maintain its Teen rating, the conversion makes selective compromises. Some especially gory death animations and two music tracks were omitted, corpses disappear after a short time, and certain large areas received small structural edits or splits. These changes do not remove the game's weapons, enemies or campaign identity; instead, they show how Torus adapted Doom II's scale and speed to the Game Boy Advance.