Where would games be today if Doom hadn't happened? 21 years ago it was a real milestone - the establishment of a first-person shooter genre we see so much of, and take for granted, today.

And the people who made Doom, the id Software team - notably John Romero and all his hair - were like living legends. Gaming rock stars. Such were the times.

It's different now of course, but it's nice to take a trip down memory lane and remember. And when better than on the game's 21st birthday? In celebration, Romero has released a splurge of previously unseen art from the game as well some photographs from the time.

There are captions on his Twitter feed for most of the art. I'm only including a handful of his posts here and a gallery of the art below.

Meanwhile, in 2014, id Software is hard at work on a Doom reboot for the current crop of machinery. Only a smattering of details have been released so far and it sounds old-school in design, fast and furious.

This pic was taken for an interview in 1994 while making DOOM II. Jay, Adrian, Bobby, Kevin, John, me in front. pic.twitter.com/8e9aAsxLVs — ???? ?????? (@romero) December 11, 2014

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This original DOOM II box cover was painted by Julie Bell. The Cyberdemon didn't look right so we switched to BROM. pic.twitter.com/u3RjhXZh1O — ???? ?????? (@romero) December 11, 2014

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Evidently, DOOMGUY was projected on a building in Sarajevo years ago. Very cool. pic.twitter.com/sPq3vacW4a — ???? ?????? (@romero) December 11, 2014

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Here are photos of the DOOMGUY and Baron of Hell taken just last year. Yes, they still exist in great shape. pic.twitter.com/ul4MyiQh4J — ???? ?????? (@romero) December 11, 2014

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The Icon of Sin, original scan of my head from a Businessweek photo shoot in 1994. Not the exact pic, but from then. pic.twitter.com/fEbkYObyw9 — ???? ?????? (@romero) December 11, 2014

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