Duke Nukem 3D, the topic of the last part’s discussion, was released on computers but was not exclusive. Like many other shooters of its time, Duke Nukem 3D was ported to home consoles so that more people would play the game. Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, where I will be talking about the console ports of Duke Nukem 3D. Just as a note, I won’t be covering the handheld/mobile ports of Duke Nukem 3D (ports like Game.com and mobile) in this post; those are for later. In this post I’ll be talking about things like the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 ports. Right, let’s get going.
Whoa! A whole extra level! For free! Sadly it sucks.
Image Credit: Nach0 / Duke Nukem Wiki
Saturn
Duke Nukem 3D’s first home console port was to the Sega Saturn. The Saturn port was developed by Lobotomy Software, a company previously known for developing the FPS/Metroidvania PowerSlave, a game which ironically was ported to PC using the Build Engine. Duke Nukem 3D’s Saturn port ran on the SlaveDriver engine, a new FPS engine developed by Lobotomy for the PowerSlave game on Saturn. Out of all the original 5th generation ports, the Saturn port is generally regarded the truest to the original DOS release. Only some minor changes, such as no selection of the three episodes or the disappearance of a few secret levels, appeared in this port, and a new secret level, Urea 51, was included as a bonus. Urea 51 has been ported to PC and can be found here. I personally haven’t played the Saturn port, so I’m not sure what it’s like in terms of movement, controls, gunplay, etc. One notable feature of the Saturn port is the inclusion of Death Tank Zwei, a hidden multiplayer artillery game that was a sequel to Death Tank, a minigame featured in PowerSlave. Many say that you should get the port just for Death Tank Zwei. The port seems to be quite good, but as I said before I haven’t played it yet. Onto the second one.
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| Death Tank it out on Saturn. Image Credit: Alchetron |
PlayStation
The second home console port of Duke Nukem 3D, the PlayStation port, was handled by Aardvark Software. Aardvark Software was previously known for Zalaga, a BBC Micro port of Galaga, although there port of Duke Nukem 3D was not exactly popular. Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, as it was titled, included the original three episodes (L.A. Meltdown, Lunar Apocalypse and Shrapnel City), as well as a whole new episode, Plug ‘N’ Pray. PNP is all about the aliens building a robot to try and kill Duke, and it added six new enemies to the roster of aliens. The port was filled with bugs, many more than the Saturn version, and had rather poor graphics. A standout feature, though, was the inclusion of an awesome remixed soundtrack created by Mark “TDK” Knight, composer of soundtracks for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Crysis and The Witcher. The TDK soundtrack is available as an addon for Duke Nukem 3D here, and a total conversion of the port to the PC version (with many of the bugs purposefully intact) can be found here. I personally enjoyed playing through this version, but I’ve only played the fan-made TC so I’m not sure what the original controls and performance are like. Onto the third one.
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| At least these guys are enjoying the party. Image Credit: T-002 / Duke Nukem Wiki |
Nintendo 64
When compared to the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Nintendo 64 had relatively few each, both around 15 in total. One of the Nintendo 64’s titles was The World is Not Enough, a James Bond First-Person Shooter that attempted to continue on from GoldenEye. It was developed by Eurocom, who handled the Nintendo 64 port of Duke Nukem 3D, titled Duke Nukem 64, the “64” being a tagline of many ports and exclusive games on the system. Duke Nukem 64 is easily the most different of the ports. Levels are often changed, graphics are changed, explosions are now full-3D, weapons are different and some are new, some enemies have been remade, the soundtrack has been removed but at least now babes can be saved, something which was brought into later mainstream Duke Nukem games. The port was notorious for its censorship, something prevalent in ports to Nintendo systems (including the SNES port of Wolfenstein 3D), and some its changes to graphics, gameplay and overall style were not well received. In 2020, the Rednukem source port (a port aimed at running the two Redneck Rampage games) added support for Duke Nukem 64 without emulation, meaning that the game is now fully playable with mouse and keyboard in its raw form. The Rednukem source port can be found here. Duke Nukem 64 is a disappointing port, and is almost an entirely different experience in some ways, but is still, at its core, Duke Nukem fun. Now it gets really weird.
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| Cycloid Emperor in threee-deeeee. Image Credit: Tropicon / GameFaqs |
Genesis/Mega Drive
I don’t even know where to start. The Sega Genesis, or Mega Drive depending on your region, was home to a Duke Nukem 3D port. It was the fourth (fifth if you count Star Cruiser) and final First-Person Shooter on Sega’s console, and it sure wasn’t a good way to go. First off, the port is as ugly as it gets. It reminds me of things like The Fortress of Dr. Radiaki. Kind of. Secondly, you only get the second episode. No L.A. Meltdown, no Shrapnel City, no The Birth. Just Lunar Apocalypse, and it is EXTREMELY bastardised. The audio mixing is awful, the graphics are clunky, the music is terrible, and there’s this annoying border around the screen which I guess is for technical reasons. I haven’t even talked about who made it. Duke Nukem 3D’s Genesis port was released by Tec Toy, a Brazilian company who essentially acted as Sega’s distributing company in Brazil. Interestingly enough, it was only available in South America until 2015, when Piko Interactive bought the rights to the game and started distributing it. The thing is, I’m not even sure if the original version was official or not, but if you can find any strict info saying whether it’s official or not, please tell me.
Eugh. It hurts my eyes.
Image Credit: 3D Realms
And Beyond
This isn’t the end of Duke Nukem 3D’s console life. An Xbox 360 port was released which is a lot truer to the original game, with some added features. 2015 saw the release of Abstraction Games’ port to PlayStation 3 and Vita, based on the PC’s Megaton Edition, but I’ll get to that at a later stage, as with the 20th Anniversary World Tour port that was released on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. In other news, it was my birthday on the 23rd (yippee) and I managed to snag Doom 3 and Prey (the original and best version)’s physical copies. Just for fun, I’m also going on a bit of an Uwe Boll marathon. I’ve already got through House of the Dead, Assault on Wall Street and Rampage, and I’ll probably go onto Rampage 2 and 3 next. Well, that’s a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!
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