SPISPOD: The Game that was Almost Doom | Nostalgia Nerd

IDKFA, IDDQD, IDDT... if these are familiar to you, then IDSPISPOPD should certainly be as well (unless you started at Doom II). But it may interest you to know that IDSPISPOPD or SPISPOPD isn't just a random jumble of characters. It's actually born from a Usenet post which emerged before Doom was even released, back in November 1993. This is a tale of excitement and anticipation amongst Usenet Newsgroup users. A tale of a game which would emerge from this excitement which no one suspected, and before Doom would even arrive. That game was SPISPOPD and it has a very special connection to Doom itself.
Many thanks to Octavius Kitten (v15 year old Eli) and Slopes Game Room (SPISPOPD Diary of Events) for their voice acting skills. Check them out on KZbin, because they are awesome;
Octavius Kitten: / 0ctav1uskitten
Slopes Game Room: / djslopesroom
Both the Seth Cohn FAQ (originally posted on Usenet in 1993) and the actual SPISPOPD game FAQ by Jamul Software can be found at www.dropbox.com/s/hil6olv6npb...
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♜Resources♜
Music (KZbin audio library, unless specified otherwise);
Hollywood High
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If you believe I have forgotten to attribute anything in this video, please let me know, so I can add the source in. It takes time to make these videos and therefore it can be easy to forget things or make a mistake.

[@majora4prez543]

I appreciate that screenshot of early internet users basically saying "There's no way Doom could possibly have a rocket launcher, don't be ridiculous"

[@Deinonuchus]

I got to watch all that unfold in real time. You could cut the tension with a knife. And nice to see my meager contribution to the madness hasn't been completely forgotten.

[@nephilimcrt]

IDSPISPOPD was just too long to pronounce so we took to calling it 'ID pispot' (in Dutch). Pispot translates too 'loo' or, literally, 'piss pot'.

[@UpLateGeek]

In Australian, a "pisspot" is someone who's been "on the piss" for too long. AKA, someone who is highly inebriated.

[@mrburns366]

I called it "id's piss pop d" to remember the code. I guess "piss pop" is some sort of disgusting soda.. i never thought that far into it. Lol

[@shamrice]

As a kid I always pronounced it as "id spiss popped"

[@MrJimmyTide]

My friend would say “ID spees-popped, I pissed in your Dr. Pop” (generic Dr. Pepper they always had in the house).

[@VaterOrlaag]

0:15 "inwumberbility" is a great word, I'm gonna start using it.

[@DieHardjagged]

Nostalgia Nerd lol i dont know if this was meant as a fun response or a literall burn

[@rjnash2610]

Pretty sure it's both :)

[@nikitademian2017]

good idea i will also use it

[@MrTheMasterX]

>Ego Software I see what they did there, and I am very amused.

[@DaVince21]

Ego Software instead of ID Software. Clever.

[@ColasTeam]

dun get it.

[@DaVince21]

ID means identity, and ego means something like it too. :)

[@proCaylak]

well, it is much closer than that. "id"(pronounced like "eed", not "eye-dee") and "ego" are defined as some parts of mind in "id,ego,super-ego" stuff of Sigmund Freud. :D

[@procactus9109]

To me any other way other 'eye dee' is wrong. Especially the 'eed' or 'iid', that just sounds retarded.

[@DaVince21]

ProfesyonelCaylak That's interesting! I know about the pronunciation thing, but I also realize that people from back then probably mostly wouldn't have known that. (I like "I.D." more as a name personally too though, knowing full well it's not the right pronunciation).

[@luckyluckydog123]

any attempt to cull the influx of Doom-related material was ultimately... doomed! (IMP'S GROAN) Genius :)

[@RMCRetro]

Another fine video spawned from the smallest (but highly entertaining) factoid in the annals of computer history. Top!

[@TheVanillatech]

annals ...... lol

[@RMCRetro]

Yes, derived from the latin Annus

[@londongaz2]

As in, annus horribilis

[@SlyPearTree]

I've been into computers and computer games since about 1980 and I love that I still learn new things about that hobby.

[@olzhas1one755]

I might make SPISPOPD into a Doom mod if you guys want

[@voidofspaceandtime4684]

thumb

[@krimsonphantom8958]

Sure. There may already be one though.

[@marbyyy7810]

Yes pls

[@czarnakoza9697]

Y!!

[@Bob_Beaky]

Cool video. It's nice to hear another aspect of Doom and its impact. Nice to hear Octavius Kitten too. I hope she's doing well. :)

[@Mace2.0]

Never realize that SPISPOPD (or Bouapha) was connected to doom. Use to play the shit outta Spooky Castle, throwing bouncing hammers in all directions.

[@quezbeme]

Damn I love learning about random stuff like this! thanks!

[@Debbiebabe69]

I remember 2-3 years ago, I went to a friends house for a few drinks and games of poker. His 8 year old son was with us playing on a laptop, and he booted up Minecraft. Now those who have never played Minecraft, when you boot it up, one of hundreds of computing-related phrases or words pop up on the loading screen - one of which was is idspispopd (google minecraft idspispopd if you dont believe me!). As he was sat next to me I saw it, and just looked at the screen and pronounced it. The kid looked at me puzzled, saying 'what, is that an actual word?'. I replied 'no, it stands for ID smashing pumpkins into small piles of putrid debris'. He then asked how I knew that, and I completely forgot where the phrase had come from!

[@smts0243]

I had the game SPISPOPD quite a while before i got doom, and i happily played it without knowing anything about the whole Doom reference. When i finally got doom some time later, and a friend from school gave me the cheat codes, i thought that the doom creators must also have been fans of the SPISPOPD game, or that perhaps SPISPOPD was a real english word that i just hadnt learned yet. Oh the bliss of being 8. It wasnt until i was roughly 25 that i learned about the true origin of the whole SPISPOPD saga.

[@intosly]

Tonight i actually learnt a part of gaming history i never knew the origin to, this was super interesting !!!

[@UpLateGeek]

That's so awesome! I totally remember using IDSPISPOPD back in the day, and The Smashing Pumpkins was totally one of my favourite bands back in the '90s (and still are)!

[@hanselmanryanjames]

"Where Boys Fear to Tread" is a fantastic early 90's grunge/metal song. Give it a listen if youve never heard it, good stuff!

[@JamesPotts]

I fondly remember playing both games. And I sadly remember when AOL invaded usenet.

[@mapesdhs597]

Indeed, suddenly there were bat shit crazy 10 year olds everywhere.

[@plaguis1391]

That was a bad day for Usenet

[@horrorkesh]

I wonder sometimes if people know children are not the only people who play video games

[@Scautura]

Nobody noticed the follow up game, Garroting Innocent Gourds Artistically Near The Illinois Capitol After Critically Reviewing Orwellian Novels Yesterday Morning? Or to give it a shorter title, GIGANTIC ACRONYM? I always remembered IDKFA to be Kick Frackin' Ass (same as BFG is Big Frackin' Gun)

[@GraveUypo]

if idkfa is kick fcking ass, then what is idfa? it actually stands for keys and full ammo

[@Scautura]

I never said that's what it stood for, but what I remembered it as (and what many people at the time I initially started playing DOOM called it). IDFA didn't exist until 1.666, almost a full year after 1.0 was released, so I didn't know about it when I started playing, therefore it doesn't stand for anything. It's also known as "Killer Fracking Arsenal" and "Keys Firearms Armour" (I'm inclined to believe this is closer to the original idea, as it includes the armour that is given using the cheat). There's also "idchoppers" (chainsaw), "idbehold" plus a letter for a specific item power, "idclev" and level code to change levels, and "idmus" with level code to use the music from that level.

[@mugwump7049]

This is the internet, not an american TV show. You're allowed to say "fucking".

[@geoserenity]

I remember before doom 2, there was some radio play where the monsters were sending a message to doom guy. I saw the script for it once, wish I could find it again...

[@DrJakesVeryBritishReviews]

I met you yesterday at the book signing in Norwich! I wish I'd found your channel sooner - I'm hooked now :)

[@gentuxable]

2:15 seeing a mail that's decades older than than the UI showing it makes me scratch my head.

[@uppishcub1617]

i never knew memes were so ancient , none of the major schools of memeology teach of this

[@freedustin]

uppishcub1 I think your schools are BSing you because it's actually called memetics.

[@uppishcub1617]

no , you clearly have no idea what you're talking about. memetics is meme science , memeology is the study of memes in society and history.

[@analanus3131]

Sorry dude, but these normie schools stop at either Dancing Baby or early epin 4chan.

[@BruceChastain]

I remember the first time playing doom at a friends house, he had the demo version that was on either a 5.25 or 3.5" floppy, anyway it totally blew my mind at the time.

[@DieHardjagged]

Bruce Chastain I remember those 2 times when i came in contact with Doom..one was when i was watching someone else play and another when my Father visited a Friend and i played doom with his son. The most exciting part was waiting until all those floppy disks were done loading..took like 45 mins if i recall correct.

[@whoseclipsaretheyanyway8637]

This proves that you can absolutely force a meme

[@Fortuna1]

Talking about doom, is always a must watch

[@weeman1357]

Fascinating stuff, great video.

[@TheXorph64]

Tfw I still have my physical copy of Dr. Lunatic sitting front-and-center in my games collection.

[@paulnash9851]

It wasn't where boys fear to tread by The Smashing Pumpkins, it was the song Love on that album that had the doom samples (used as a percussion loop).

[@giantm2323]

I somewhat miraculously managed to talk to Corigan from the Pumpkins around the time they had sampled Doom. It turned out they had just put a microphone on a television where someone was playing the SNES version of Doom. It was then recorded using a Kurzweil K2000 sampler.

[@kloakovalimonada]

Amazing historical work.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Many thanks

[@kjetilv]

Lovely story, it's amazing how you manage to dig up such things. What about a video about the joke RFC's?

[@WhiteZerox]

I'd love to see a video revolving around the leadup and release reactions to DOOM.

[@mapesdhs597]

The really fun part was the early buggy networking code which brought edu and corporate networks to a crawl. :D

[@Bluehawk2008]

It's an older meme sir, but it checks out.

[@WhatHoSnorkers]

I learned, I laughed, I grew as a person! Cracking job!

[@kingstonlj]

A very interesting, funny tale. I really enjoyed watching this.

[@Foebane72]

I didn't know about any of this. Heck, how COULD I know about any of this, I was still using my Amiga A1200 at the time and I'd never even HEARD of the internet!

[@charlesballiet7074]

5:58 I just realised that the forked bayonet shotgun thats being added in the new DOOM Eternal actually harkens back to this very demo

[@IgorGiganskiANtiatom]

Excellent documentary of one of Doom aspects and the early internet

[@kkndcf]

That was so interesting and satisfying and has actually cured my hangover :)

[@mydasmurray]

you should do a video on the 1997 release of 'Blood' by monolith software. This was a doom/duke nukem clone but it was great! would love to see some history on it

[@brianhartman2960]

I bought Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness when it first came out and as i was listing to bullet with butterfly wings for the thousandth time, reading through the CD book, I noticed that they credited ID software and DooM. I never knew what song it was on and I JUST FOUND OUT!!!

[@epicpotatofiend]

The third game was on, I think it was called Galaxy of WinGames, a late 90s/early 2000s shovelware compilation type disc my cousins had when I was little, under a different name, something generic like “Haunted House”or “Spooky Mansion” or whatever.

[@HamumuGames]

Spooky Castle. Available for free at www.hamumu.com!

[@fffUUUUUU]

What a sweet nostalgia...

[@Wildmutationblu]

Is this anything to do with the band "The Smashing Pumpkins"? Oh, I added my comment too soon before 10:40

[@slipknotboy555]

wildmutationblu Heh, it was cool they got in on the joke. They're what first came to my mind when I heard what the acronym stood for

[@UpLateGeek]

Siamese Dream came out in July 1993, debuting at number 10 on the Billboard 200, so by the kid's post in October it would've been well on its way to being a hit album. By Doom's release in December, The Smashing Pumpkins had been on tour for almost 6 months straight, and would continue until September 1994, a total of almost 15 months! So yeah, I'd say the kid was definitely referring to the band!

[@slipknotboy555]

The Up Late Geek That's cool, thanks for that; yeah, seems pretty likely they inspired it, then

[@BaronVonQuiply]

In a similar sort of irony, the first time I ever heard of the Smashing Pumpkins was in a school newspaper where I first thought I was reading an article on Halloween vandalism.

[@slipknotboy555]

Baron von Quiply Heh, that's great

[@tHiNk413]

Now the NETRICSA-joke about the chainsawpumpkin makes even more sense!

[@artcrime2999]

Spooky castle by Hamumu is amazing.

[@ChrisGower]

You do a bloody good Slopes impression, NN

[@Nostalgianerd]

Much obliged. I practiced for weeks.

[@nigelcraft6002]

Really? That was you?! I assumed it was a cameo. Was going to skip back through the credits to see lol

[@feedle]

Wow, fun to see kaiwan mentioned at 08:00. I remember that day, and everybody logging in to get the file from /tmp. (I was Kaiwan Internet's first employee, heady days those ...)

[@cerisskies]

1:55 "Despite the ridicule of others in this thread, I'd have to agree exposing it to small children would be questionable" Born in 1992; one of my earliest memories is watching my dad play Doom Oh well

[@mellowmike1101]

Your description has the wrong cheat code. IDFA (Full Ammo) and IDKFA (Keys, Full Ammo) exist, but not IDKA.

[@geckoo9190]

Well, you have to admit that smashing pumpkins sounds like a good idea for a game, they made something like that on bully. I think that it would have been pretty funny if the spider demon was replaced by a pumpkin on halloween, although that may have been ahead of the times.

[@Elkott]

That lass near the start sounded like Violet Berlin

[@coyoteartist]

It would have been funnier if they'd been from Cal Tech where they have a tradition of throwing liquid nitrogen frozen pumpkins off the roof.

[@gassnake2004]

Early Internet was comforting? I mostly remember my sister yelling at me for trying to play RuneScape while she was on the phone with her boyfriend...

[@baccy81]

I always wondered why they chose such a silly code... I also recognised the rocket launcher FX in the Smashing Pumpkins song but never knew why it was there. you just enlightened a dark pocket of my teenage. Thank you! no really, I feel like one of the Illuminati now 😎

[@KowboyUSA]

Prior to 1996 my exposure to computers and the Internet was sporadic and mostly confusing.

[@sakelaine2953]

Now I want pumpkin pie

[@predcon1]

All of Hamumu's stuff (save the "Robot Wants" series) is now freeware, on itch.io/search?q=hamumu Including SPISPOPD!

[@Transfixed]

Wow all those times i used that cheat and never knew its origin

[@askingstuff]

Something tells me the first cheat stood for "I Don't Know Fuck All."

[@newfleshrecords]

I lost it at "The Gourdslayer" :)

[@nottoofast]

*IT'S THE DANKPODS SONG AT THE END*

[@DaVince21]

Dr Lunatic? Holy crap, I remember _that_ game. Well, a sequel of it anyway, called Dr Lunatic: Supreme With Cheese...

[@ncc74656m]

I actually read the DOOM novels. Dafydd ab Hugh is still the most unusually spelled name I've ever come across.

[@cmelton6796]

Huh, this came in an old shareware CD I had as a kid, but I never made the connection until now

[@lapytop]

I can't believe I still remember these cheats because your description has a typo, it's "IDKFA" you missed out the F. These are the only cheats I remember and the cheats to Aladdin on Mega Drive ABBA ABBA (level skip I think).

[@dfalconerio]

lapytop did you ever try the cheats in heretic or hexen haha

[@mapesdhs597]

Remember the rows on USENET about Doom vs. Heretic, etc.? :D People today have no idea what real flame wars are.

[@Juanguar]

y u no list your outro music ? This song is really awesome

[@willynebula6193]

Haha that was awesome😂😂😂 what a story! Gee back in 93 I was still playing twintris on my amiga 500 no 14.4k modem for me lol

[@DutchmanDavid]

I just noticed that IDSPISPOPD can also be read as "id stack pointer is popped" (this only makes sense if you have some knowledge of any Assembly language). I wonder if that has any relevance or if it's just happenstance.

[@TotemSP2]

I'm glad you had a good day.

[@ellisgl]

Yossman. I haven't seen him in years.

[@shortcat]

when "doomposting" had much more positive meaning

[@esnethen5915]

Anyone else think that the original DOOM automapper looked better than the one in DOOM II?

[@wow23317]

But guys!! Turn on CC and skip to 7:31. @OCTO you get all the brownie points. XD

[@timgoldberg3333]

The internet changes, but memes are eternal. SPISPOPD

[@adamlewellen5081]

Idkfa All guns ammo and keys.

[@LuisHernandez-ss2fc]

Wait a fucking minute. 7:00 In 1993, there was Bouapha the Gourdslayer. In DOOM 2016, there was the DOOM Slayer. This could only mean... Holy shit! DOOM 2016 was secretly a sequel to SPISPOPD!!!

[@leblancexplores]

Is the fact that you collect candles related to “Tonight” by the Smashing Pumpkins?

[@VELVETPERSON]

omg, amazing video!

[@blaster5800]

The moment when you realise you still remember this code since you were 13y old, but you can't remember your credit card code...

[@NoNameJustWords]

Numbers, codes and dates from 30 years ago, no problem... why I walked into the kitchen... no clue.

[@The-Bloke]

Was that a cameo from your wife, reading the Usenet article? We've seen your children several times now, so I had wondered if she was going to feature as well.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Nope. It was the talented Octavius Kitten... Find her at kzbin.info

[@The-Bloke]

Cool, thanks. Always on the lookout for more retro channels.

[@forbiddenera]

@3:06 suggested using the first 128?! No, it suggests using something NOT REPRESENTABLE by the first 128, thus also only representable on 8bit terminals.

[@holiggan2008]

I was gonna comment on the "correct" pronunciation, but then at 9:41 you finally did it right! 😂😂😂

[@frogoffrog3289]

*programming spispopd in the corner intensifies*

[@relic374]

This might be one of the first internet memes.

[@thedungeondelver]

September 1993 = the day the Internet died.

[@racefaceec90]

i think they would have loved cauldron 1 & 2 (i had commodore 64 versions) pumpkins galore in that

[@bobbobson1605]

The early days of Eternal September

[@thedungeondelver]

>1990s >the early internet face, meet palm

[@nightmarezer0507]

11:15 . I mean yeah the IDSPISPOPD cheat is way cooler when you think about it but IDCLIP is just easier to use. Who knows they might have gotten alot of phone calls from people who turned the code on or something and forgot what they entered and couldn't get it back. I dunno I am only guessing at this point but I can see why.

[@SkuldChan42]

If you want a wierd gaming usenet based phenomenon look into BLAZEMONGER - which has similar roots to this.

[@HaydenX]

Ｐ Ｕ Ｍ Ｐ Ｋ Ｉ Ｎ Ｗ Ａ Ｖ Ｅ

[@btarg1]

Sad, I never used the internet until around 2006.

[@magnum333]

Squanching squanch

[@treguard1982]

I thought that was what Mary Poppins said to the kids when they were sulking?

[@parkertalbot6866]

The original gamer meme

[@markofcaine]

lol doom codes!!! ahh memories