Wolfenstein 3D, released in May 1992, was the game that put the first-person shooter on the map. Players fought through a Nazi castle as B.J. Blazkowicz, blasting soldiers and guard dogs with pistols, machine guns, and a chain gun. John Carmack's raycasting engine rendered a fast, smooth 3D environment on hardware that had no business running anything this impressive. The game was distributed as shareware and spread like wildfire, introducing millions of players to the concept of looking through a character's eyes and shooting things. It was not the first FPS, but it was the first one that felt right.