Duke Nukem, Part 2: Those Alien... Scum

Last week, I talked about the self-titled first entry in the Duke Nukem series. This time around, I’m moving onto the sequel. Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, where I am continuing my series of posts on Duke Nukem, this time focusing on Duke Nukem II, the sequel to the original. This is actually the 99th post on my blog, so I hope I can make the next one extra special. Right, let’s get going.

Now that looks more like the King.
Image Credit: ZOOM Platform

Introduction

The planning process of Duke Nukem II began back in 1991, shortly after the release of the first game in the series. According to Scott Miller, the producer of the original game, in the Bio Menace freeware readme, id Software had offered to license off their latest engine (used in Commander Keen in Goodbye Galaxy!) to Apogee, although it was only used for one game, Bio Menace. Duke Nukem II’s engine is rather an enhanced version of the original game’s engine, with some new features added. Duke Nukem II’s first episode (simply titled “Episode One”, as this game doesn’t have original titles for each one) was released as shareware under the “Apogee model” (see last week’s post), followed by a full release in December 1993 as Duke Nukem II: Escape from Alien Abductors!, later simplified to Duke Nukem II. Gameplay is similar to the original Duke Nukem: side-scrolling platforming and shooting, although there are some changes. Duke is no longer wearing pink; he sports red clothing closer to his appearance in Duke Nukem 3D. The game also has music, something that the original did not, as well as slightly better visuals due to the updated engine. This time around, Duke is fighting the Rigelatins, an evil alien species attempting to win a war against Earth. Each episode ends with a battle against a Rigelatin boss, until the final episode where Duke takes over a Rigelatin Battlenaut.

They didn't shoot up his ride, but they're still going to pay.
Image Credit: GOG

Story

*WARNING* Spoilers for Duke Nukem II. One year has passed since Duke Nukem saved the world from the threat of Dr Proton. In this time, Duke has become famous and even written an autobiography, Why I’m So Great. However, things get messy when a four-mile wide UFO (a ship belonging to the Rigelatins, a feared alien race of conquerors) appears over Los Angeles which kidnaps Duke while he’s promoting his book on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Duke is not happy, and the Rigelatin Emperor explains that he plans to import Duke Nukem’s brain patterns into the X5G Thinkomatic War Computer in order to win a war against Earth. Using his trusty technology, Duke escapes from his imprisonment and begins fighting his way through the Rigelatin ship, eventually finding a teleporter which takes him to Rigel, the Rigelatin home planet. Duke defeats the first of four Rigelatin bosses and makes his way into Rigel’s caves. Duke clears the caves of Rigelatins and fights a second boss, defeating him. Duke enters a live volcano and continues through more of Rigel, defeating all the Rigelatins he meets along the way. Using a Skycar, Duke defeats the third Rigelatin boss and boards an escaping Rigelatin Battlenaut Planet-Threatener Symmetrocruiser Mark IV. Ploughing down the forces on the ship, Duke finally reaches the captain of the Battlenaut and defeats him. Duke enters the bridge of the Battlenaut and traps the undefeated Rigelatins using the ship’s bulkheads. Duke starts making his way back to Earth, content with the fact that he has saved the Earth once again.

The plot thickens.
Image Credit: GOG

Legacy

Duke Nukem II was successful enough to receive a direct sequel, Duke Nukem 3D, in 1996. In September 1999, Torus Games (an Australian company with whom I hope to cover on this blog in the future) released a Game Boy Color port/remake using the name “Duke Nukem” (dropping the “II”). This version is quite different when compared to the original DOS version. The game starts off in Nerola City, where Duke is being interviewed by someone who isn’t Oprah. He is then teleported onto a Zorgonite vessel (rather than Rigelatin) and must fight his way through the Zorgonites to get back to Earth. The game also gives Duke his iconic sunglasses to keep it in continuity with the later games. In December 2012, Duke Nukem II was rereleased on Steam and GOG by Interceptor (see the previous post), though both versions were slightly different. While the GOG version was the raw, original game, the Steam version gave Duke his iconic shades (like the Game Boy Color version), though this was later patched out. For those who are interested, K1n9_Duk3 created a modified version of an earlier fan patch that restores the sunglasses, which can be found here. Rest assured, the patch does not require the Steam version, as it works with retail, ZOOM and GOG versions too. The Steam version (pre-sunglasses removal patch) was ported to iOS using Aemula for the game’s 20th Anniversary. A HD remake of the game had been planned, but the project never came to be. A fan-made re-implementation source port, Rigel Engine, was first released in 2018 and can be found here. I hope I’ve summed up everything about Duke Nukem II, and don’t forget that it is available exclusively at ZOOM Platform. Well, that’s a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

Now with shades.
Image Credit: Steam