Romero brought presents

In celebration ofDoom‘s 21st birthday, Brettshareda personal anecdote about how the iconic game came into his life at an early age and refused to leave. He didn’t include Doomguy’smidriffin the article, much to my chagrin, but I suppose it’d be less special if we highlighted it every time.

id Software co-founder John Romero celebrated the anniversary bytweeting up a stormof behind-the-scenespictures and art assets, some of which have never been seen before publicly.

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Archvile model scan, circa 1994.pic.twitter.com/uwExWsstCb

— John Romero (@romero)July 05, 2025

The opening area of the Whisper mission, in a small grove.

BFG version 0.9, circa 1993. It shot out tons of multi-colored plasma balls and slowed down the computer.pic.twitter.com/mUlmukAkwL

— John Romero (@romero)July 10, 2025

The Divide in the Cosmodrome, where the Guardian was resurrected.

For the DOOM community, some original wall textures possibly not used.pic.twitter.com/TLCXYaD2gB

Here’s an unused sky from DOOM…pic.twitter.com/n87Uo9mRNX

A holofoil Ribbontail, as seen in collections.

Can you believe this? The Spiderdemon original had a MAGIC ATTACK along with the gatling gun. Too strange.pic.twitter.com/k6YQQOMcri

Yes, we created even more extreme deaths for DOOMGUY. How about decapitation? Torso removal?pic.twitter.com/hs60pO5XLV

The Phoneutria Fera hand cannon, inspired by the Season of the Haunted armor set. It has a unique, galactic glow.

Not sure what kind of death Pinky was experiencing – something from Scanners?pic.twitter.com/bW7gAVJlVa

Did you know the Pinky demon was drawn over a video scan of a dinosaur toy?? IT IS TRUE.pic.twitter.com/cBlTLZSthZ

Three Fuses appear in a match of Apex Legends' Wild Card mode.

Here are Adrian’s scans from his sketchbook for various screens, pre-pixel edit.pic.twitter.com/MU0mp0O3gR

The Revenant from DOOM II, direct from video scan, 1994.pic.twitter.com/CdwMUasAl9

Mad Maggie opens a supply bin and an item with a symbol indicating infinite ammo appears.

The Icon of Sin, original scan of my head from a Businessweek photo shoot in 1994. Not the exact pic, but from then.pic.twitter.com/fEbkYObyw9

A bigger scan of the Spiderdemon Mastermind, 1993.pic.twitter.com/kE0FaNG3qH

Legends slide through a zipline in King’s Canyon in Apex Legends.

Here’s a photo of the DOOMGUY clay model when Adrian was done making it. The Baron of Hell lurks in the background.pic.twitter.com/Wy4XxHRO4J

Here is a photo of the Cyberdemon when Adrian finished it (1993).pic.twitter.com/qNhnSDrYAq

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Here are photos of the DOOMGUY and Baron of Hell taken just last year. Yes, they still exist in great shape.pic.twitter.com/ul4MyiQh4J

This original DOOM II box cover was painted by Julie Bell. The Cyberdemon didn’t look right so we switched to BROM.pic.twitter.com/u3RjhXZh1O

The Yeartide Apex tex Mechanica SMG with a Holofoil glow.

This pic was taken for an interview in 1994 while making DOOM II. Jay, Adrian, Bobby, Kevin, John, me in front.pic.twitter.com/8e9aAsxLVs