The COMPET-N database (also spelled Compet-N) is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, websites collecting demo recordings for the Doom video game, as well as a select few add-ons (Hell Revealed, Requiem Memento Mori, Memento Mori 2, The Classic Episode and Alien Vendetta); its demos and players are generally considered to be among the best in the world.

COMPET-N was founded by British Doom player Simon Widlake, probably in November 1994, one month after the release of Doom 2; the first demos were contributed by Sven "Dasa" Huth on November 18 1994. It was first hosted on an FTP server at a British university, but soon moved to cdrom.com. Many of the early Doom "gods" started participating during this time, submitting a large number of demos and filling the tables.

In March 1997, when Widlake couldn't spare the time to maintain the site anymore, a temporary alternative was started on an FTP site at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics by Istvan Pataki; it quickly became the main COMPET-N site, and responsibility for it was handed over to Adam Hegyi, who continued to maintain the site, until early 1998 when Pataki lost interest.

Many of the veteran players retired in mid / late 1997, but a wave of new players emerged in 1997 / 1998, obsoleting many of the older records; 1998 also saw the first ever Nightmare! run, done by Thomas "Panter" Pilger and the inclusion of Pacifist and Tyson styles.

The COMPET-N FTP site had to move again twice in 1999; nevertheless, 1999 turned out to be the second most popular COMPET-N year after 1996, with many new tricks being discovered, including rocketjumps, archvile jumps, glides, slides and more. All Doom episodes had Nightmare! runs by this time, and NM100S (Nightmare! with 100% secrets) was introduced as a category in 1999. In 2000, COMPET-N also started accepting cooperative demos.

External links

The COMPET-N archive

The COMPET-N archive FTP