Wolfenstein 3-D Celebrates 20 Years With Free Browser-Based Version

Dr Herbert West writes "20 years ago today, id software released Wolfenstein 3D, inspired by the classic Apple II game, Castle Wolfenstein. To celebrate, Bethesda Softworks on Wednesday released a free, browser-based version of the iconic first-person shooter. Users can pick which level they wish to play in the browser version, even the secret levels."

Ah, game journalism

[bonch]

The game is a remake of the classic Apple II game, Return to Castle Wolfenstein.

Return to Castle Wolfenstein was a remake made in 2001. The Apple II games by Muse Software were Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein. Wolfenstein 3D was not an official remake of them, but it was inspired by them.

Re:Prequel to ReturnToWolfenstein

[Nerdfest]

Yes, the original Castle Wolfenstein was an Apple }{ game. It was a top down monochrome shooter, with some nifty speaker tricks to emulate speech. Very cool game for the time (1982?)

Re:Prequel to ReturnToWolfenstein

[Anonymous Coward]

That's odd. I remember a 3D type-in tank shooter game in ARM assembler in a 1987 issue of Acorn User. Of course, it was wireframe, and you were "walking" around in a tank, but the principle is the same.

An abbreviated timeline, for those who care

[swordgeek]

* Castle Wolfenstein: 1981 (on the Apple ][. Atari and Commodore shortly thereafter)
* Beyond Castle Wolfenstein: 1984
* Hovertank 3D: 1991 First FPS
* Wolfenstein 3D: 1992
* Return to Castle Wolfenstein: 2001. A very, VERY different game!

Already done in 4KB of Java

[Walking The Walk]

As of this posting, the port linked in the article doesn't work on Opera 11.64 (Win 32). Luckily, Wolfenstein 3D has already been ported to a 4KB Java applet [java4k.com], for the 2011 Java4K competition. Go play it there instead.

Re:Already done in 4KB of Java

[artor3]

That's nothing like the original Wolfenstein 3D. The graphics are crap compared to the real thing (no animations -- bad guys go from living to dead in one frame), and the level layout doesn't even match. It's cool that they got it in 4 KB and all, but I can't imagine anyone preferring that version to Bethesda's.