Back in the early ’90s, before high-speed internet and massive game downloads, there was one way to install a game on your PC—floppy disks. And when Doom arrived in 1993, it didn’t come on a sleek DVD or as a digital download. Instead, it was spread across three to five floppy disks, depending on the version.
Despite its humble storage format, Doom revolutionized gaming, defining the first-person shooter (FPS) genre and shaping the future of PC gaming. Let’s take a nostalgic look at Doom’s floppy disk origins and why it remains one of the most legendary PC games of all time.
The Floppy Disk Era of Gaming
Before CD-ROMs became common, floppy disks were the standard way to distribute PC games. These 3.5-inch (and earlier, 5.25-inch) disks held anywhere from 360KB to 1.44MB of data—an amount that seems laughably small today.
Doom was first released as shareware in December 1993 by id Software. The idea was simple: gamers could get the first episode, “Knee-Deep in the Dead,” for free, usually on a set of three floppy disks. If they wanted the full game, they had to order it from id Software, which would then ship them additional disks with the full experience.
Installing Doom from Floppy Disks
If you were lucky enough to install Doom from floppy disks in the ’90s, you probably remember the process:
- Insert Disk 1 into your floppy drive.
- Type a command like A:\INSTALL to begin.
- When prompted, swap out disks as needed.
- After all disks were copied to the hard drive, the game was finally ready to play.
It was a slow, clunky process compared to today’s instant downloads, but the anticipation of watching those progress bars inch forward made the reward—blasting demons on Mars—even sweeter.
Why Doom on Floppy Disks Was Revolutionary
Even though it came on floppy disks, Doom was a technological powerhouse at the time. It introduced:
- Fast, fluid 3D gameplay (well, technically 2.5D, but it felt 3D!).
- Multiplayer deathmatches over local networks.
- Modding support, allowing players to create custom levels (WADs).
- Terrifying atmosphere with dynamic lighting and an incredible soundtrack.
Despite its small size, Doom was packed with intense action, tight controls, and some of the most iconic weapons and monsters in gaming history.
The Legacy of Doom’s Floppy Disks
By the mid-’90s, CD-ROMs and digital downloads started replacing floppy disks, making Doom’s floppy-based distribution feel like a relic of the past. Yet, those early floppy disks were instrumental in spreading Doom like wildfire.
Fans copied them, traded them, and installed them on school and office computers—helping Doom become one of the most widely played PC games of all time. Even today, floppy disk copies of Doom are prized collector’s items.
Did you ever install Doom from floppy disks? Let us know in the comments!
