https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2020-retro-extra-doom-64-analysis
Perhaps a little overlooked back in the day, Doom 64 stands as one of my favorite installments in the series. With its reworked art, atmospheric score, solid frame-rate and foreboding environments, it's an N64 game that still holds up beautifully today - 23 years after its initial release. However, for those without retro Nintendo hardware, it's a slice of Doom history inaccessible to many - a situation that changed for the better with the recent release of Doom 64 for all current-gen platforms, developed by Nightdive Studios.
We can't think of any developer better suited to the task. Nightdive specialises in sympathetically restoring classic games for today's hardware and has delivered superb work in the form of Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and its sequel, Forsaken, Blood and other. Lead Engine Developer Sam Villarreal is also responsible Doom 64 EX and Doom 64 Absolution - two earlier attempts at bringing the classic original to PC but this official port goes further, seeking to replicate the game with extreme accuracy.
Doom 64 EX was an attempt to implement N64's extra functionality and bespoke assets into a version of the game playable on modern PCs. The new game sees Doom 64 itself more thoroughly reverse-engineered and then re-coded into Nightdive's own KEX engine (more accurately, a frame-work - it has no renderer) and supports higher resolutions and 60fps. This process brought about near-perfect accuracy and for the first time, the in-game demos would run just as they should - a factor of Doom 64's object motion and collision detection being correctly modelled for the first time.
Available as a pre-order bonus for Doom Eternal, Nightdive Studios' conversion of Doom 64 is also available as a standalone game on all systems. Typically priced at £3.99/$4.99, we'd highly recommend it. For starters, beyond the technological improvements it enjoyed at the time, you're getting different Doom content - in its day, its levels were brand new and this new conversion features an entirely new episode as well. Secondly, you're seeing an evolved version of the game - 3D acceleration, more colours, better sprites, plus Doom tricks and tweaks unseen in the original id games (traversal bridges, for example). But then on top of that, there's the level of care and attention Nightdive has poured into the port. There's no need for later patches or revamped code to correct flaws or improve performance - the studio got everything right out of the gate.
And if you're an Xbox One S user hooked up to a 4K screen? Well, it's the only game we're aware of that'll actually push beyond 1080p rendering - not just icing on the cake for this particular version, but also an example of the kind of across-the-board attention to detail that is the signature of this extremely impressive conversion.