Today, ZOOM Platform celebrates their 8th birthday, and what better way to celebrate it than with Duke Nukem. Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, where I will be discussing a short history of what can be known as the “Duke Nukem Classics Collection”. In case you’re wondering, no, I’m not sponsored by ZOOM Platform, I just really like their site and have already bought quite a collection of games from them. To start things off, let’s go all the way back to 1991, to the release of Duke Nukem / Duke Nukum.
Apogee Software, at the time known for publishing id Software’s Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons, released the first Duke Nukem game, a side-scrolling platformer in July of 1991. The story, set in 1997 (one of the only clear dates in the franchise), centres on Duke Nukem’s quest to take down the evil Dr Proton, who has built an army of Techbots and taken over Shrapnel City in Los Angeles. Over three episodes, Shrapnel City, Mission: Moonbase, and Trapped in the Future!, Duke Nukem defeats Dr Proton and saves the day. The 2.0 release of the game was renamed “Duke Nukum”, as Apogee were afraid of legal concerns due to a character in the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers being named Duke Nukem. However, the name was in fact not registered, so Apogee registered it for future titles. Duke Nukem was originally available on Steam and GOG (in a pack with Duke Nukem II), before being delisted in 2015. It was also included in The Duke Nukem Platformer Pack on Steam.
Duke Nukem was followed by a sequel, Duke Nukem II, in 1993. Taking a place soon after Duke Nukem, Duke has now written a book, Why I’m So Great, but gets captured by aliens (the Rigelatins) while promoting it. Duke defeats the aliens and escapes their base in a Skycar, on his way back to Earth. It contains four unnamed episodes, and sports Duke’s new look, with a red vest and metal clamps, a step up from his former pink clothing. Duke Nukem II released a Game Boy Color port, titled Duke Nukem, in 1999, changing some aspects of the story and gameplay, and a 20th Anniversary iOS remaster in 2013. The game was formerly available on Steam and GOG (in the Duke Nukem I+II Pack) and was included in The Duke Nukem Platformer Pack on Steam, before the Great Delisting of 2015.
Duke Nukem II’s 1996 sequel, Duke Nukem 3D, changed up the formula. While the first two games were side-scrolling platformers, Duke Nukem 3D was the series’ first step into First-Person Shooter territory, which the series is most well-known for today, thanks to Ken Silverman’s Build Engine. In December, 1996, 3D received the Plutonium PAK, an update available to the game that added a fourth episode on top of L.A. Meltdown, Lunar Apocalypse, and Shrapnel City, entitled The Birth. The Birth was also available in the Atomic Edition of Duke Nukem 3D. 3D also received tons of unofficial expansions, like its competitor Doom, as well as official ones. While GOG’s version included only the base game and the Plutonium PAK, the Steam version included GOG’s content, as well as the three major expansions, Duke it Out in D.C., Duke Caribbean: Life’s a Beach, and: Duke Nuclear Winter, along with the shovelware expansion Duke!ZONE II. Both of these were delisted in 2015. The game received many ports of over time, such as a PlayStation port (with content available unofficially for the PC version), a Nintendo 64 port (compatible with the Rednukem source port) and more. Duke Nukem 3D also received two new PC versions, Megaton Edition and 20th Anniversary World Tour.
Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition is an official source port of Duke Nukem 3D, similar to what Shadow Warrior Classic Redux is to Shadow Warrior Classic Complete. It includes the base game, the Plutonium PAK, Duke it Out in D.C., Duke Caribbean: Life’s a Beach and Duke: Nuclear Winter. Megaton Edition was delisted from Steam in 2015, replaced by Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour, a new source port including a new fifth episode, Alien World Order. World Tour is exclusive to Steam, so there is no way to play Duke Nukem 3D on GOG.
In 2002, Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project was released, a spin-off with gameplay closer to the original side-scrolling games, albeit with 3D graphics. Manhattan Project essentially sees the return of Dr Proton, though as a different character named Mech Morphix. Morphix is causing havoc thanks to his radioactive slime, GLOPP, which is making mutant creatures pop up all over the place. The game was available on GOG and on Steam, as well as in Steam’s The Duke Nukem Platformer Pack. It received Xbox 360 port in 2010, and an iOS port in 2013, but the PC versions were delisted from both GOG and Steam during the Great Delisting of 2015.
After this, we got Duke Nukem Forever. Bleugh. However, ZOOM Platform is the only place to get the whole Duke Nukem Classics Collection, along with extra goodies! Duke Nukem I and II are available. Duke Nukem 3D comes with the base game, the Plutonium PAK, Duke it Out in D.C., Duke Caribbean: Life’s a Beach, Duke: Nuclear Winter, Duke!ZONE I/II, and Duke Nukem’s Penthouse Paradise (Duke It’s Zero Hour is in the works too). Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project also comes with the official level editor, and the classic 2001 trailer for what could have been the great Duke Nukem Forever. Plus, all four of the Duke games are on sale (25%) until the 17th! There’s no excuse not to get them. This wasn't one of my normal types of posts, just a quick announcement, but I do have some more stuff planned, most likely Duke-related as I've had to put PSP on hold. Well, keep on Duking and Nuking, that’s a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!
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