Weekend Watch: John Romero Reunites id Founders to talk Catacomb 3-D Doc on 35th Anniversary

This weekend marked a crazy milestone: id Software's 35th anniversary since its founding on February 1, 1991. To celebrate, FPS legend John Romero dropped "Making Catacomb 3-D", a heartfelt 20-minute doc reuniting the original four founders: Romero, John Carmack, Tom Hall, and Adrian Carmack. They fire up 1991-era machines to relive building Catacomb 3-D, the groundbreaking shareware title that's the unsung hero of the FPS revolution. While it's not as well known as their later titles, Catacomb 3-D is the first game with texture-mapped walls, mouse look, and it kick-started the fast action gameplay and immersive 3D spaces that paved the way for Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM.

Romero is known for his excellent memory, and he loves to dive into the details of their wild coding sessions, people falling out of their chair in awe, and the game netting just $5K, barely enough to keep them afloat, and not at all an indication of the FPS revolution that laid ahead.

Step Back Into FPS History

This is a perfect video for FPS diehards or history buffs: Witness the garage-genius magic that birthed modern shooters. See Carmack demo his raycasting wizardry, Tom Hall geek out on level design, and Adrian share his art hacks, all while Romero orchestrates the nostalgia trip. It's raw, funny, and a reminder of id's scrappy roots before their games took the world by storm.