Editing Wolfenstein 3D (section)

==Reception==
The developers had no clear expectations for ''Wolfenstein''{{'}}s commercial reception, but hoped that it would make around US$60,000 in its first month; the first royalty check from Apogee was instead for US$100,000.<ref name="MOD113117"/> The game was selling at a rate of 4,000 copies a month by mail order.<ref name="PrimaGames"/> ''[[PC Zone]]'' quoted a shareware distributor as saying ''Wolfenstein 3D'' was the top shareware seller of 1992.<ref name="PCZ"/> By the end of 1993, sales of the Apogee episodes of ''Wolfenstein 3D'' as well as ''Spear of Destiny'' had reached over 100,000 units each, with the Apogee game still selling strongly by the end of the year as its reach spread without newer retail titles to compete with it for shelf space.<ref name="GamasutraDoom"/> By mid-1994 150,000 shareware copies were registered and id Software had sold another 150,000 retail copies of ''Spear of Destiny''; the company estimated that one million shareware copies were distributed worldwide.<ref name="lombardi199407"/> Over 20 percent of its sales were from outside of the US, despite the lack of any marketing or non-English description and despite the game being [[Strafgesetzbuch section 86a|banned from sale in Germany]] due to its inclusion of Nazi symbols by the [[Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons]] in 1994, and again in 1997 for ''Spear of Destiny''.<ref name="MOD113117"/><ref name="GamasutraDoom"/><ref name="GamasutraBPS"/> Japanese gaming magazine ''[[Famitsu]]'' reviewed the game five months after release, describing it as: "View from the character's point of view: It's a real shooter. The game is easy to play, and it runs well ... This is the only game of its type."<ref name="Famitsu"/> The Apogee episodes' sales vastly exceeded the shareware game sales record set by the developer's earlier ''Commander Keen'' series and provided id with a much higher profit margin than the sales of its retail counterpart; where ''Commander Keen'' games were bringing Apogee around $10,000 a month, ''Wolfenstein 3D'' averaged $200,000 per month for the first year and a half.<ref name="GamasutraDoom"/><ref name="20YearsGameUltra"/> The game sold 250,000 copies by 1995 and grossed $2.5 million in revenue.<ref name="1995Sales"/>

''Wolfenstein 3D'' won the 1992 Best Arcade game award from ''[[Compute!]]'', the 1992 Most Innovative Game and Best Action Game awards from ''[[VideoGames & Computer Entertainment]]'', the 1992 Reader's Choice&nbsp;— Action/Arcade Game award from ''Game Bytes'', the 1993 Best Action/Arcade Game, Best Entertainment Software, and People's Choice awards at the Shareware Industry Awards, the 1993 Best Action Game award from ''[[Computer Gaming World]]'', and a [[Software and Information Industry Association#CODiE Awards|Codie award]] from the [[Software Publishers Association]] for Best Action/Arcade Game.<ref name="3DRlegacy"/><ref name="SIAaward"/><ref name="scarydarkfast11"/><ref name="CGW106"/><ref name="CGW111"/> It was the first shareware title to win a Codie, and id (with six employees) became the smallest company to ever receive the award. ''Wolfenstein 3D'' was noted as one of the top games of the year at the 1993 [[Game Developers Conference]].<ref name="CGW108"/>

''Wolfenstein 3D'' was well received by reviewers upon its release. Chris Lombardi of ''[[Computer Gaming World]]'' praised the "sparse [but] gorgeous", "frighteningly realistic", and "extremely violent" graphics, as well as the immersive sound and music. Noting the violence, he warned "those sensitive to such things to stay home". Lombardi concluded that ''Wolfenstein 3D'', alongside ''Ultima Underworld'' released two months prior, was "the first game technologically capable of creating a sufficient element of disbelief–suspension to emotionally immerse the player in a threatening environment", stating that they knew of no other game that could "evoke such intense psychological responses from its players".<ref name="CGW98"/> ''Wolfenstein'' twice received 5 out of 5 stars in ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' in 1993; Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser termed it "definitely one of the best arcade games ever created for PC", highly praised the graphics and sound, and said that the "fast-paced action" could keep players enthralled for weeks if they were not concerned about the violence.<ref name="Dragon192"/> [[Sandy Petersen]], in the first "Eye of the Monitor" column, claimed that "there is nothing else quite like ''Wolfenstein''" and that it had "evolved almost beyond recognition" from the original 1981 game. He enthusiastically praised the speed and gameplay, calling it "a fun game with lots of action" and "a fun, fairly mindless romp", though he did note that at higher difficulty settings or later levels it became extremely hard.<ref name="Dragon197"/> The ''Spear of Destiny'' retail episode was also rated highly by ''Computer Gaming World''{{'}}s Bryan A. Walker, who praised the added enemy types, though he noted that it was essentially the same game as the shareware episodes.<ref name="CGW102"/> Formgen's ''Spear of Destiny'' mission packs "Return to Danger" and "Ultimate Challenge" were reviewed by Paul Hyman of ''Computer Gaming World'', who praised the updated graphical details and sound, as well as the smooth gameplay, but noted its overall dated graphics and lack of gameplay changes from the original game.<ref name="SODPack-CGWreview"/>

The early ports of the game also received high reviews, though their sales have been described as "dismal".<ref name="NGen11"/> The four reviewers of ''[[Electronic Gaming Monthly]]'' called the Super NES version a good conversion that retained the good music, huge levels, and overall fun of the original game and dismissed the censoring in the version as inconsequential.<ref name="EGMSNESreview"/> In 1995, ''[[Total!]]'' ranked the game 84th on their "Top 100 SNES Games" list.<ref name="Total"/> ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' rated the Jaguar version similarly to the Super NES version, commenting that the graphics and audio were superior to other versions of the game, but criticizing the faster movement of the player character as making it less fun to play.<ref name="EGMJAGreview"/> A ''[[GamePro]]'' review of the Jaguar port was highly complimentary, saying ''Wolfenstein 3D'' "set a new standard for PC gaming" and that the Jaguar version was the best to date, and better than the original due to its increased graphics and sound capabilities.<ref name="GPJAGreview"/> A ''[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]'' review of the Jaguar version was less enthusiastic, terming it good but not up to the standards of newer games.<ref name="NGjag"/> Its review of the Macintosh version of the game was also mild, stating that "there isn't a staggering amount of freshness here, but the action is fast, deadly, and (surprise) addictive".<ref name="NGmac"/>

Major Mike of ''GamePro'' commended the 3DO version's complete absence of [[pixelation]], fast scaling, "rousing" music, and high quality sound effects, but criticized the controls as overly sensitive. He concluded that the game, then over three years old, "still packs a punch as a first-person shooter".<ref name="GP3DOreview"/> ''Wolfenstein 3D'' won ''GamePro''{{'}}s Best 3DO Game of 1995 award, beating the acclaimed ''[[The Need for Speed]]'' and ''[[D (video game)|D]]''.<ref name="3DOaward"/> ''Maximum'', on the other hand, while stating that the 3DO port was better than the original and as good as the Jaguar version, felt that it was so aged compared to recent releases like ''[[Hexen: Beyond Heretic]]'' and the PlayStation version of ''Doom'' that a new port was pointless, with the game now "somewhat tiresome and very, very repetitive".<ref name="MAX3DOreview"/> A reviewer for ''[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]'' asserted that ''Wolfenstein 3D'' was "still as [[video game addiction|addictive]] as it ever was" but essentially agreed with ''Maximum'', contending that anyone interested in first-person shooters would have either already played it on another platform or "moved on" to more advanced games in the genre.<ref name="NGen12"/> More modern reviews include one for the [[Xbox 360]] port in 2009 by Ryan McCaffrey of ''[[Official Xbox Magazine]]'', who heavily criticized it for non-existent enemy AI and bad level design and found it notably inferior to ''Doom'', and one that same year by Daemon Hatfield of [[IGN]], who gave the PlayStation Network release of the game a warm reception, saying that while it was "dated and flawed", it was "required playing for any first-person shooter fan".<ref name="XboxMag99"/><ref name="IGNPSNreview"/>