Catacomb 3-D (DOS)

Catacomb 3-D

Platform: DOS Year: 1991 Developer: id Software

Catacomb 3-D (also known as Catacomb 3-D: The Descent, Catacombs 3, and Catacomb 3-D: A New Dimension) is one of the earliest first-person shooters ever made. You play the role of a mage who must descend into the catacombs to find and vanquish an evil lich. You will have to battle with orcs, trolls, and many other monsters in this labyrinth, so find powerful spells to help you defeat your enemies. This is the game that paved the way to the very popular Wolfenstein 3D (DOS) engine.

Note: The sequels of Catacomb 3-D don't play music, but their data files contain the same music file as Catacomb 3-D.

Screenshots

The title screen. The main menu. Busting up an orc. I discovered a secret treasure cache. Trading blows with a troll. The Gamer's Edge release.

Music

Catacomb 3-D contains only a single music track that is replayed over and over again through the entire song. Bobby Prince composed Too Hot to Handle to be only 8 bars in length. It had to be this short to fit on a 360k floppy disk with the game data. The song would later be used in Commander Keen IV: Secret of the Oracle (DOS).

The song was written in Sequencer Plus Gold and then converted to IMF to play on an AdLib board. A reworked full-length MIDI version of Too Hot to Handle can be found in the game's audio rip.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
01	Too Hot to Handle	Bobby Prince	Bobby Prince	0:42		Download

Credits

• Ripper: Adam Biser
• Recorder: Nuke.YKT
• Game Credits:
  • Composer: Bobby Prince credited as Robert Prince
  • Not Credited IMF Designer: Jason Blochowiak

(Sources: Gamer's Edge, Softdisk)

Game Rip

Format	Conversion	Download
		Download (Info)

The audio files were extracted from the Huffman-compressed Audio.C3D file, using Wolf3D Data Compiler. The IMF music was recorded with Nuked OPL3 emulator. A VGM rip has also been made. A re-created MIDI version of the song has been made by Bobby Prince, and is included in the download. The PC Speaker and AdLib sound effects have also been extracted.

Audio Devices

Music
Sound

Releases

USA Title: Catacomb 3-D (Gamer's Edge) Platform: DOS Released: 1991-11-?? Publisher: Softdisk Publishing     USA Title: Catacomb 3-D: The Descent AKA Catacombs 3 Platform: DOS Released: 1992-??-?? Publisher: Softdisk Publishing

Links

• mobygames.com/game/dos/catacomb-3-d - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.com/pc/928996-catacomb-3-d - GameFAQs.
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catacomb_3-D - Wikipedia.