Duke Nukem, Part 5: Expanding the Third Dimension

So far, I’ve talked about Duke Nukem, its sequel, its FPS sequel, and the FPS sequel’s console ports. Now, I’m going to move onto probably one of the biggest parts of Duke Nukem 3D: its expansions. Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, where today’s topic is the expansions of Duke Nukem 3D. I’m going to cover all of the official ones, so that means no unauthorised addons. I also won’t talk too much about the shovelware expansions; after all, they’re mainly just garbage map packs. Right, let’s start digging.

WizardWorks really was in the zone.
Image Credit: Me

The first expansion pack for Duke Nukem 3D was Duke!ZONE, a map pack released in September, 1996. Technically, the Plutonium PAK was the first expansion, but I’ve already talked about it (see Part 3 of this series). The Duke Nukem 3D Level Design Handbook was also released before this, containing 50 user maps, although it was more of a guidebook than expansion. Duke!ZONE contains over 500 user maps, collected into one collection by WizardWorks, a company previously known for publishing other !ZONE expansions (albeit illegal, unofficial ones), such as D!ZONE for Doom, S!ZONE for SimCity and W!ZONE for Warcraft II. The levels in Duke!ZONE are poor, many are simple rooms with nothing to do an no exits. The pack was condensed into a 150-map pack, titled Duke!ZONE 150, which contains some of the better levels, although the pack as a whole is a waste. WizardWorks, alongside GT Interactive, later published an expansion pack, Duke Assault, containing a whopping 1500 LEVELS! However, this pack, like the previous two, was filled to the brim with unfinished or unplayable maps, which detracted from the experience. In February 1997, WizardWorks published their fourth authorised Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack, titled Duke!ZONE II. Unlike the original Duke!ZONE or its condensed version, Duke!ZONE II has only 15 levels (21 if you include secret levels) split into three all-new episodes, Artic Assault (spelt like that in-game), Alien Abby, and Monkey Shines. Some of the maps are actually quite fun, and less shovelware-like. There are still many bad moments, though, so it doesn’t end up really being a good expansion. Duke!ZONE II was previously available in the Steam version of Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition before delisting, and is available in the ZOOM Platform version here.

Expect this quality of mapmaking in Duke!Zone.
Image Credit: Me

On February 20, 1997, a mere 6 days after the release of Duke Assault, WizardWorks published their fifth Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack, Duke Xtreme. Duke Xtreme contains 50 maps: 25 single-player maps and 25 Dukematch maps. Some of Xtreme’s maps were developed by Sunstorm Interactive, an important company in the grand scheme of Duke, while the rest of the maps were taken from online sites, like the Duke!ZONE series and Duke Assault. Duke Xtreme was the first expansion pack to bring some new things to the table: Duke’s Mighty Foot was replaced by a bloody knife, his pistol was replaced by a silenced Uzi, the Devastator was given an upgraded look, and two new enemies (the Gorilla Captain and King Cobra) were added, as well as other smaller changes. Duke Xtreme’s single-player maps were not divided into episodes, although there is a script available here that splits the maps into three episodes. The maps are made more, uh, xtreme than usual Duke3D maps due to the presence of the two new enemies, who can be very overpowered a lot of the time. A 1997 WizardWorks compilation release, Duke: The Apocalypse, included Duke!ZONE II and Duke Xtreme. Duke Xtreme was also included in another 1997 compilation release, Duke Nukem 3D: Kill-A-Ton Collection, alongside Duke Nukem 3D, the Plutonium PAK, Duke Nukem 1 and 2, Duke!ZONE II and Duke It Out in D.C., the next expansion pack.

These guys gave me PTSD.
Image Credit: Me

Duke It Out in D.C. is the first of what are known as the three major Duke Nukem 3D expansion packs. D.C. includes 9 new levels and 1 secret level, all bundled as one new episode. The episode centres on Duke Nukem travelling to D.C. in order to save the area from the aliens, who have managed to kidnap the president of the United States of America. Developed by Sunstorm, creators of Duke Xtreme, D.C. was the first Duke3D expansion pack to receive some positive reviews. The levels are mostly fun and very much like the original Duke3D levels. There are some bad parts, though, such as the Smithsonian Terror map, which is an absolute slog to play through. D.C. was included alongside the original 500-level Duke!ZONE in the 1998 Duke: The Apocalypse 2 compilation, as well as the Duke Nukem 3D: Kill-A-Ton Collection, the delisted Steam Atomic Edition, the delisted 2015 Kill-A-Ton Collection and also the popular Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition (more about it in a later post) before it too was delisted in 2015. It is currently available in the Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition on ZOOM Platform. Before going onto the next expansion, May 1997 saw the release of Duke Nukem’s Penthouse Paradise, a single-level expansion developed by Intersphere Communications that was a joint venture between GT Interactive and good old Penthouse Magazine. New content included renders of 13 fully-nude Penthouse Pets, a new beach-themed map, and a readme.txt explaining that the map takes place between Duke3D and the Plutonium PAK, during Duke’s R&R. Looks like Duke’s a naughty boy. The Penthouse Paradise map is available in the ZOOM Platform version. Back on track, it seems that Sunstorm learnt from their mistakes and made a great expansion after D.C.: Duke Caribbean – Life’s a Beach.

Hey pal, what are you gonna do? Save Mr President all by yourself?
Image Credit: Me

Duke Caribbean is by far the best Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack. It’s got 7 new levels and 1 new secret level (forming the Life’s a Beach episode), four new Dukematch levels (forming the Vacation Dukematch episode), and all the weapons have been redesigned to fit the Caribbean/beach aesthetic, as well as the items and the enemies. In terms of story, Duke is on vacation in the Caribbean when the aliens decide to start laying eggs and attacking the tourists there. This angers Duke, who decides that the alien bastards are gonna pay. Again. The levels are all very fun, the overall style is great, the movement and gameplay feels superb, and overall it’s an awesome expansion. Other than that, I don’t have too much to say, other than: Go play it. Caribbean was included in the delisted Steam Atomic Edition, the delisted 2015 Kill-A-Ton Collection, and the delisted Megaton Edition, but is currently available in the ZOOM Platform Atomic Edition. Now that I’ve covered two of the major expansions, it’s time for the third and final expansion pack: Duke – Nuclear Winter.

Time to crash this party!
Image Credit: Me

Released in late 1997, Duke: Nuclear Winter is a Christmas-themed expansion pack, developed by Simply Silly Software (who previously compiled the Duke!ZONE and Duke!ZONE II packs), that includes 7 “new” levels (forming the Nuclear Winter episode), 1 new Dukematch map and Christmas-redesigned enemies. As far as story is concerned, Santa himself has been captured (and brainwashed) by the aliens, who have teamed up with the Feminist Elven Militia (FEM) to do bad things. Duke goes to the North Pole to stop the aliens and stop Santa, to save Christmas. The expansion received negative reviews for many reasons, including the fact that many of the maps are reskins of Duke Nukem 3D maps with little changes. Nuclear Winter was included in the delisted 2015 Kill-A-Ton Collection, the delisted Steam Atomic Edition, and the delisted Megaton Edition. You can play it (if you are willing to waste your time) using the ZOOM Platform Atomic Edition. This was the last official Duke Nukem 3D expansion pack, and the next year, 1998, saw the release of the first game in a trilogy of Tomb Raider-styled Duke Nukem games, Duke Nukem: Time to Kill, as well as the disastrous Sega Genesis/Mega Drive port of Duke Nukem 3D (remember the last post?).

It might be fun to ride in a one horse open sleigh, but it isn't fun to play this.
Image Credit: Me

That just about sums up the history of Duke Nukem 3D expansion packs. Another expansion, Duke It’s Zero Hour, was rumoured to be in development for publication by WizardWorks as an authorised expansion pack. These rumours have never been confirmed, but either way, It’s Zero Hour was released as freeware in November 1997. It has been announced that it will be added to ZOOM Platform’s Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition soon, so I guess it counts as official. Next time I’ll be talking about the “Duke Raider” trilogy that I briefly mentioned just now, so stay tuned for that. Well, that’s a wrap on THE Sith ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

Duke Nukem, Part 4: Console Wars

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.

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.

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.

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!

Duke Nukem, Part 3: Now in 3D

In last week’s post, I talked about Duke Nukem II, the sequel to the original platformer, and now I’m moving onto the third game, the one that truly made Duke who he is known as today. Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, where my Duke Nukem series continues, now focusing on the first 3D entry in the series, Duke Nukem 3D. I’ve now reached the 100th post on my blog, which is extra special, but I won’t be able to cram all of my Duke Nukem 3D content into one post, so be ready for more. Right, let’s get going.

Damn, he's good.
Image Credit: ZOOM Platform

Introduction: The Build Engine

Ken Silverman first ventured into First-Person gaming with his demo Walken. Walken was an incredibly basic demo, with almost no interactivity, but was further expanded in Ken’s Labyrinth, a game initially sold as one episode directly by Ken, but later published as a full, three-episode game by Epic MegaGames (now Epic Games, known most recently for... Fortnite) in January 1993. Ken’s Labyrinth is a basic First-Person Shooter, similar to Wolfenstein 3D, with (in its final version) 30 levels and boss battles. After the release of Ken’s Labyrinth, Ken began working on a new, more advanced engine, in order to keep up with the Doom engine, itself the product of the Wolfenstein 3D engine. The first game to use the Build Engine was Rock’n’Shaolin: Legend of the Seven Paladins 3D, otherwise known as Legend of the Seven Paladins, released in 1994. This game used an illegal version of the engine due to broken contracts, bad communication, etc., but it is still the first Build engine game. Witchaven was the second game to use the engine (created by the infamous Capstone, the pinnacle of entertainment software, who you’ve hopefully heard of), followed by all-time “classic” and personal favourite of mine, William Shatner’s TekWar, also created by Capstone, both released in 1995. The fourth game released for the Build Engine was today’s topic – Duke Nukem 3D.

Before Unreal, Epic published... this.
Image Credit: Hardcore Gaming 101

Introduction: Duke Nukem 3D

Duke Nukem 3D was first teased at the end of Duke Nukem II and began development around that time. During development, it was became a competitor for the original DOOM game. One of the earliest versions of Duke Nukem 3D is LameDuke, a beta version featuring four episodes, different weapons, very different enemies and a totally different story. Over development time, Duke Nukem 3D became a very different game, until its eventual shareware release (see the “Apogee model” in previous posts) on January 29, 1996, containing the first episode, L.A. Meltdown, under Apogee’s new title, 3D Realms. Duke Nukem 3D was not the first First-Person Shooter to be developed or published by 3D Realms; under their original Apogee name, they had developed and published the awesome Rise of the Triad game on the Wolf3D engine, as well as published Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold and its sequel, Planet Strike!, and even the original Wolfenstein 3D itself! Gameplay is quite basic, but fun: Duke Nukem must shoot down any aliens he sees and pick up red, blue and yellow key cards in order to progress to new areas. Different weapons and powerups can be picked up over the course of the game, and the game could also be played in multiplayer, something that had only started to begin during the “Doom era”. On the 5th of May, 1996 (one day after May the Fourth, and not long before Quake), the full version of Duke Nukem 3D was shipped, including two new episodes, Lunar Apocalypse and Shrapnel City. The first two Duke Nukem games were included as a bonus. Duke Nukem 3D was a commercial success, and as such, an expanded version was released. This version, Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, added in a new, fourth episode, The Birth, as well as two new enemies, a new boss, and a new weapon. All the content was also available as a patch for the original version, as the Plutonium PAK.

This might reignite some old memories.
Image Credit: Abandonware Games

Story

*WARNING* Spoilers for Duke Nukem 3D and Plutonium PAK.  Just after the events of Duke Nukem II, Duke has left the Rigelatin Battlenaut, now in a Skycar, a smaller ship located in the Battlenaut. All seems well, when all of a sudden, the Skycar is shot down by an alien blast, not belonging to the Rigelatins. The Skycar crashes down from the atmosphere at lands on a building in Holllywood, back in good old Los Angeles. In anger, Duke goes on a rampage to make those alien bastards pay for shooting up his ride, encountering. Duke makes his way through an adult cinema and the Red Light District, before being captured by the aliens and taken to Death Row. Duke gets his weapons back and escapes Death Row by submarine, making his way to the toxic dump where he is shrunken for the first time. Duke finally gets to the San Andreas Fault and kills the Alien Battlelord, but that’s not the end of the invasion. Duke escapes to the EDF’s space port and navigates his way to the Moon, visiting what may have been Dr Proton’s Lunar Fortress back in the day. Duke hunts down and kills the Alien Overlord in the mothership, but it turns out that the aliens have already begun a full-scale invasion of Earth. Returning to Shrapnel City, the place once take over by Dr Proton, Duke kicks more alien ass through the bank, a movie set and even a hotel, before arriving at the Shrapnel City Football Stadium and defeating the Cycloid Emperor, leader of the aliens. Duke kicks the eye of the Emperor through the goals and decides to go out for a little R&R.

Don't expect too much story from a 90s shooter.
Image Credit: Marphitimus Blackimus / YouTube

After his brief R&R period (which I’ll cover in a later post), General Philip Graves, a high-ranking member of the EDF, briefs Duke on a new threat: the aliens have kidnapped a woman from Earth and bred her with the aliens, causing the creation of the Alien Queen. Duke must stop the Alien Queen before it’s too late. Duke navigates his way through the Impossible Mission Forces base, his own restaurant the Duke Burger, the Shop-N-Bag supermarket, the Babe Land theme park, an L.A.P.D. police station, the post office, the XXX-Stacy adult film centre, a garage and a boat. Along the way he encounters two new enemies: the Pig Cop Tanks (Pig Cops in tanks) and the Protector Drones, the new-born children  the Alien Queen, on top of his previous enemies: the Assault Captains, Assault Commanders, Assault Troopers, Battlelord Sentries, Enforcers, Octabrains, Protozoid Slimers, Recon Patrol Vehicles, Sentry Drones, and of course, Pig Cops. Duke locates the Alien Queen’s lair and defeats her, saving the planet once again.

It's time to kick ass... again.
Image Credit: Me

Legacy

Duke Nukem 3D certainly has quite the legacy. This includes console ports, source ports (official and unofficial), tons of expansions (both good and bad), spiritual successors, sequels, spin-offs, compilation releases and more. Obviously, as I stated earlier, I won’t be able to cover ALL of this content in one little paragraph at the end of this post, so I’ll be splitting the remainder of the Duke3D content into a few posts, each focused on different aspects of its legacy. Once I’m done with this, I’ll be able to move on to the rest of the series, which means the “Duke Raider” game, portable releases, mobile release, Manhattan Project, and... *sigh*... Duke Nukem Forever. I will, however, briefly interrupt the Duke series with a special 101st post tomorrow based on a series that I’ve been meaning to cover for quite some time now. Well, that’s a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

Yep, there's more.
Image Credit: Steam

**Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition is available on ZOOM Platform**

**Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (a.k.a. Cursed Randy Version) is available on Steam**