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!

Life Hits Back, Part 1

Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM! Before I start, I don’t intend to make a series about this topic, it’s just that I expect something like this to happen again, so I’ve made it the first part. Currently, life’s busy. It happens sometimes. I had my blog posts all planned out, and boom, something comes up that demands more attention. I always seem to forget these moments – I’m sure that, if you’re one of the people that has ventured into the den that is my old blog posts, you will most likely notice that this sort of thing tends to happen to me a lot. I just forget.

Well, fear not, this isn’t anything too major. In a few weeks (hopefully), I’ll be back on my normal track, posting once a week every Sunday or Saturday. During this busy time, I’m certainly not going to stop blogging, just don’t expect posts to be as frequent. Just to be on the safe side, I’ve decided to put together a little roadmap of some of the upcoming content:

Duke Nukem 3D’s console ports
Duke Nukem 3D’s expansions
Duke Nukem “Duke Raider” games
Handheld/mobile Duke Nukem games
Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project
That one 2011 Duke Nukem game
Some more of the Duke

I do have more stuff planned after this, but let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. I’m currently writing up the console post, but due to my current busy-ness I’m not sure how long it’ll take before I can post. As I said before, I’m not stopping the blog, just going to be a bit infrequent for a few weeks. I almost forgot: I have a little Doom WAD that I’m making (I found some great tutorials that I’ll link sometime) which I also hope to unveil soon. Well, that’s a wrap on  THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

Rush: The Height of Arcade Racing, Part 1

Back on March the 20th, I made a post about Cruis’n, an arcade racing game series that made its way from the Nintendo 64 all the way to the Nintendo Switch, with (most) of the entries being in good, while some were... less so. At the end of the post, I mentioned that I planned to make a series on arcade racing, and fear not, those plans have not been canned. This is a birthday post for a recent viewer of the blog, who happens to love this game series, but next week I’ll be back in with the Duke. Today’s blog post is all about Midway’s Rush series, which, at least in my opinion, is the height of arcade racing. This post will be split (I don’t have the time right now to do the whole Rush series justice), though I will post the second part sometime soon. Right, let’s get into it.

RUSH-rush-rush-rush...
Image Credit: GameSpot

It's Rush, baby.
Image Credit: Game Developer

Is it real? Or is it RUSH? This was the slogan of the first game in the series, San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing. Only months after the original Quake game, Rush was released into arcades in December, 1996, running on a modified version of 3dfx’s Voodoo Graphics chipset with some modifications. The game plays across San Francisco, although this rendition is not true to its real counterpart, as the locations were changed to be more fun in-game. The original arcade version includes eight vehicles, playable across three maps based off of San Francisco. In October of 1997, San Francisco Rush was updated to San Francisco Rush: The Rock, including four new tracks (one of which is the Alcatraz track, originally intended for the N64 version) and four new cars. This led to the release of a Nintendo 64 port, which included all the content from the original arcade version, as well as three new tracks and all of the cars (other than some from The Rock). Early 1998 saw the release of a more barebones PlayStation port, including only three tracks (plus a new bonus one), a different soundtrack, a modified announcer and some gameplay changes, such as fiddling with the gravity. The PlayStation port was followed by a Windows version, San Francisco Rush: The Rock – Alcatraz Edition. This version took advantage of the Quantum3D graphics card (a spin-off of the 3dfx hardware powering the original arcade release), so much so that until a fan fixed it, the game was blocked from running on anything other than Quantum3D. Soon after, San Francisco Rush: The Rock – Wave Net was released, which is an updated version of the arcade release with online multiplayer capabilities. Rush is a very fun game, all about speeding through the tracks and getting in the air. It’s certainly one of my favourite arcade racing games, and it was great enough to receive a sequel.

The PlayStation port is a bit... lackluster in the graphics department.
Image Credit: ArmadilloZero / YouTube

Now with stunts.
Image Credit: Viperr818 / YouTube

Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA, released in November, 1998 onto the Nintendo 64, is to San Francisco Rush what Cruis’n World was to Cruis’n USA: a massive expansion of the boundaries of the predecessor. Sure, Rush didn’t expand to the whole world like Cruis’n did, but no longer are you stuck in the Golden City. Rush 2 includes tracks based off of Las Vegas, New York, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Seattle, and more. The car selection was also upgraded to 16. Strangely, Rush 2 was only released for N64, unlike the first game, which was released for arcade and then ported to home consoles. There were, however, apparently plans for a PlayStation version and a Windows 95 version, but there is no significant evidence to prove it. Because of this, Rush 2 has never received any modern rereleases, such as in the Midway Arcade Treasures collections, but we’ll get to that later. In my opinion, Rush 2 is certainly a worthy sequel to Rush, and in some ways, I enjoyed it more. Like its predecessor, Rush 2 received a sequel in 1999, the game that truly put Rush on the map.

Drive the future!
Image Credit: GameSpot

And now with rockets too.
Image Credit: LeopardYiu's Storage Wiki 

Remember how Rush 2 went country-wide? This time, we’re going sci-fi. San Francisco Rush 2049, released in June, 1999, is what happens when you take a reasonably grounded racing game (albeit with some silly bits here and there) and make it futuristic. Rush 2049 doesn’t have the large amount of cars like Rush 2 did, but what it lost in quantity, it made up for in quality. Rush 2049 features customisation for handling type, engine type, tire type, frame type, wing size, tire rim style and car colours. The game also has only a few tracks, less than the previous game. This could be seen as a bad thing, but this game really makes up for it with its soundtrack. The 2049 soundtrack is awesome; you should be listening to it while reading this post. The game was ported to Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 in 2000, with some changes such as the addition of stunt wings. The arcade version of Rush 2049 was upgraded, also in 2000, to the Tournament Edition, with some added tracks/cars and online multiplayer. A 2003 version, San Francisco Rush 2049: Special Edition, is a rerelease of the Tournament Edition, minus the online multiplayer, as Midway’s servers had shut down. San Francisco Rush 2049 is one hell of an excellent game, and is definitely one of my favourite arcade experiences.

Fun.
Image Credit: GameFabrique

That’s not the end of Rush. When I next talk about Rush, I’ll talk about the handheld games, the Midway Arcade Treasures collections, and that time that Rush went to Los Angeles. I hope you’ve enjoyed the post, and to the birthday boy, happy birthday. Another little thing I forgot to post last time was that I got shout-outed (probably not a word but who cares) in a YouTube video. Check out CD-ROM Fossil’s video on Knights of the Temple here for a bit of info on my amazing creation that I, ahem, created for him. Next week, I’ll be discussing something Duke3D-related, but I’m not sure entirely what yet. 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**

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

Duke Nukem, Part 1: Explosive Beginnings

A few days ago, I posted about ZOOM Platform’s Duke Nukem Classics Collection. To finish what I’ve started, I’ve decided to blog about the Duke Nukem series’ complete history. Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, where today, I will be talking about Duke Nukem and the first game in its series, well, Duke Nukem. I’m hoping that by the time that I’ve finished this series, I’ll have covered at least the most important parts of Duke Nukem’s history, in-universe and out, and yes, that does mean I will have to play Duke Nukem Forever again. Bugger. I’m also hoping that by that time my main laptop will be fixed so that I can get back into my PSP ramblings. Now, onto the Duke.

Hail to... the King?
Image Credit: ZOOM Platform

Introduction
Apogee Software, known at the time for publishing Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons (developed by what would become id Software, creators of Wolfenstein, DOOM and Quake), published the first episode of Duke Nukem under their “Apogee model”. In simple terms, the “Apogee model” involved releasing the first episode of a game for free (as shareware), to generate interest for the next two or more episodes. Duke Nukem’s first episode, Shrapnel City, was released as shareware under this model in July 1991, running on the same engine as one of Apogee's previous games, Crystal Caves. After the shareware’s release, November 1991 saw the release of the full game, now also including the second episode, Mission: Moonbase, and the third, Trapped in the Future! Duke Nukem’s gameplay is very simple, similar to Commander Keen. You play as Duke Nukem from a side-scrolling perspective, armed with a gun to shoot down the enemies (called TechBots). The main villain is Dr Proton, who you will fight at the end of every episode. Each episode starts and ends with dialogue between Duke Nukem and Dr Proton, until Dr Proton is defeated at the end of the third episode.

Kicking ass and not chewing bubblegum.
Image Credit: GOG

Story
*WARNING* Spoilers for Duke Nukem. The year is 1997, and Duke Nukem (sporting pink clothing that changed drastically in the later games) has been hired by the CIA to take down Dr Proton, an evil man who was formerly Dr Blunderwitz, a nuclear physicist, until a deadly nuclear accident damaged his brain. Dr Proton went underground, enhanced himself with cybernetic parts and began building an army of robots to take over the world (called TechBots). He also managed to build a base on the Moon, known as the Lunar Fortress, and a time machine, known as the Time Warp Device (TWP). After completing his initial plans, Proton attacked Shrapnel City (a place located somewhere near or in Los Angeles) and took over, attracting the attention of the CIA. Duke is dropped by plane onto a skyscraper and begins attacking the TechBots. Duke defeats all the TechBots in Shrapnel City and attacks Dr Proton, who manages to escape to his Lunar Fortress on the Moon. Using a rocket, Duke follows Proton to the Moon and destroys the TechBot army there, fighting Proton again. This time, Proton uses the TWP to escape to the future in order to have time (literally) to rebuild his army. Duke manages to use the time machine and destroys the final TechBot army and seemingly kills Dr Proton in the process. After returning back to the correct time period, Duke is handed the key to Shrapnel City due to his efforts in saving it and becomes a famous hero in the process.

Dr Proton in all his EGA glory.
Image Credit: BADX / Duke Nukem Wiki

Legacy
Apogee became concerned legally after hearing about the animated series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, which includes a villain named Duke Nukem. Due to this, Apogee updated the game to version 2.0 and renamed it “Duke Nukum” to avoid any possible legal action, but later learned that the “Duke Nukem” name was not registered and instead registered it themselves for future games. Duke Nukem received a sequel, Duke Nukem II, in 1993, which uses the same basic gameplay on an enhanced and updated engine. In December 2012, Interceptor Entertainment (now known as Slipgate Ironworks), the developers of the cancelled Duke Nukem 3D remake, Bombshell and the Rise of the Triad remake, rereleased Duke Nukem I and II on Steam and GOG, also including them in the Duke Nukem Platformer Pack alongside Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project on Steam. A Mac version followed in July 2013 alongside the second game, as well as a Linux version in 2015. However, all versions of Duke Nukem / Duke Nukum were delisted in 2015, other than the ZOOM Platform version, which can be found here. A level editor was released, which can be found here, as well as a reverse-engineered source port, ReDuke, which can be found here. Duke Nukem spawned a legend, which will carry on into the next posts in this series, although that legend wasn’t always known for good things. Well, that’s a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

No, not that Duke Nukem.
Image Credit: Plunderer01 / Captain Planet Wiki

Duke Nukem Classics Collection on ZOOM Platform

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!

What's Happening Now

Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM! Today is just a short post so that people know exactly what's going on right now:

• The LCD panel in my main laptop is fried
  
• My one USB is broken
  
• I can't use my normal browser anymore (but my new one is better, thankfully)
• I'm on a Duke Nukem marathon
• I finished watching the Die Hard franchise
• There's more stuff but whatever
  

That's basically what's been happening. Thanks to me not being able to use my "gaming" laptop, I've had to resort to my old Windows 7 laptop, which means that a lot of my content that I had planned for the blog is going to have to wait. I do have some posts planned to do with some recently leaked content, though, which I'm quite looking forward to. Well, that's a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

Charity Shop Hunt #2 (30/03/2022) Recap

So, this post is a little different. Usually I’ve got a proper constructed post that I plan over a few days, but my LCD panel is apparently fried, so my laptop is awful to look at, and my internet’s been funny (not in the ha ha way) recently, so I haven’t been able to post anything on my blog. Currently I’m using my good old Windows 7 laptop, but that’s not the topic of today’s post. Just to clarify a couple of things, 1) this is not an April Fools post. Sure, it is April the 1st, but this stuff right here is fact. Also, I “went hunting” Wednesday (March 30), which isn’t a joke. 2) When I talk about a Charity Shop Hunt, it’s basically when I go around to all of my local charity shops to support them and find some cool and rare games along the way. 3) This is my first time blogging about it, but I have been Charity Shop Hunting before, so I’ll be referring to this as Hunt #2. Right, let’s get into it.

#1 Rayman 2: The Great Escape
Genre: 3D Platformer
Series: Rayman
Version: N/A
Release date: November 5, 1999
# of stores on: 2

#2 Project I.G.I
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Series: I.G.I
Version: N/A
Release date: December 8, 2000
# of stores on: 0

#3 Shellshock: Nam ‘67
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
Series: Shellshock
Version: N/A
Release date: September 3, 2004
# of stores on: 0

#4 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Lockdown
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Series: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
Version: Ubisoft Exclusive
Release date: February 16, 2006
# of stores on: 3

#5 The Club
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
Series: The Club
Version: N/A
Release date: February 7, 2008
# of stores on: 2

#6 Sniper: Art of Victory
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Series: Sniper
Version: Premiere
Release date: June 13, 2008
# of stores on: 4

#7 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
Genre: 3D Platformer
Series: Madagascar
Version: N/A
Release date: November 4, 2008
# of stores on: 0

#8 X-Men Origins: Wolverine – Uncaged Edition
Genre: Third-Person Hack & Slash
Series: X-Men Origins
Version: Super Hits
Release date: May 1, 2009
# of stores on: 0

#9 Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
Genre: 3D Platformer
Series: Epic Mickey
Version: N/A
Release date: October 6, 2014
# of stores on: 1

Well, there we have it. Charity Shop Hunt #2 was certainly a success. Hey, I even managed to snatch a copy of the E.T. film’s Special Edition DVD. Don’t worry, I’m not talking about the Atari game. It may not seem like a lot but my physical PC games collection is now at 25, with a little help from my Dad’s old bits and bobs. Well, that’s a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

Cruis'n: Arcade Racing ft. Doom and Fast & Furious

What's this? An arcade racing series that made its way to handhelds using the DOOM Engine? Welcome back to THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM, and today's topic is Cruis'n, a good old arcade racing series consisting of six games and a whole lot of fun. This post will span the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Wii, Switch and of course, arcade, all in the lead up to another special arcade racing post in the future. Without further ado, let's get cruis'n.

Cruiiiiiisiiiiin, yeah, Cruis'n USAAAAAA
Image credit: Arcade History

Cruis'n started back in September 1994, first appearing on Midway's V Unit arcade system, an arcade system consisting of only four games. Cruis'n USA, the first title in the series, is quite a simple game: pick a car, pick a track, drive. The game takes place across the USA, with you starting off in San Francisco and finishing the game in Washington, D.C. Cruis'n USA was one of two games, alongside Killer Instinct's original arcade version, to be part of Nintendo's "Ultra 64" lineup of arcade systems. Ultra 64 was eventually renamed "Nintendo 64" (the console we know today), and Nintendo ceased development for arcades. In December of 1996, Cruis'n USA was ported to Nintendo 64, albeit in a slightly different form, with a few differences: the woman who awards a trophy at the end of a race is wearing more clothes, some billboards were removed, killable animals were removed and Bill Clinton is no longer bathing with bikini girls in the back of a car. In March, 2008, Cruis'n USA was rereleased for the Nintendo Wii's Virtual Console, but before this comes the second installment in the original arcade trilogy.

Bye bye, Bill.
Image credit: Atlas Obscura

Cruis'n WOOO-OOOO-OOOOOOOOORLD!
Image credit: GameFabrique

November 1996's Cruis'n World is a vast improvement when compared to USA. While keeping the same overall style of gameplay, World is, as the title suggests, not just based in the USA. You get to race in 14 different countries (you even get to race on the Moon in the N64 version!), you have more cars to race in, up to four players can play in multiplayer and this game introduced stunts. World's June 1998 Nintendo 64 port was also more successful when compared to Cruis'n USA, and is widely regarded as the best of the N64 ports. World was the third of four games to run on Midway's V Unit system, after Cruis'n USA and War Gods, with the fourth and final title on the system being Off Road Challenge, the fourth title in Midway's Off Road series. Cruis'n World is the second game in the original trilogy of Cruis'n games, so let's talk about the third one.

War Gods has a playable character called Kabuki Jo. Awesome.
Image credit: VicioJuegos / YouTube

Just look at this flyer.
Image credit: Jtalledo / Wikimedia Commons

Cruis'n Exotica, released for arcades in 1999, is a strange game. As you can imagine, Exotica is an exotic game, and certainly changed the tone from relatively normal to all-out funky. No longer are you playing as an unseen driver hidden behind a black window in a 1963 Chevrolette Corvette, because you are now a Martian driving in some strange car with rocket boosters! Is driving on the Moon too silly for you? Well, you can drive in Atlantis, the dinosaur-infested Amazon and Mars! This third entry ran on Midway's Zeus II hardware, which was only use in one other game: The Grid, a 2000 arcade third-person shooter featuring some characters from the Mortal Kombat franchise. Exotica was also Cruis'n's debut title on handhelds, receiving a Game Boy Color on November 6, 2000. Developed by Crawfish Interactive, creators of some of my favourite Game Boy games (Street Fighter Alpha 3, Ecks vs. Sever and Ballistic: Ecks. vs Sever), Exotica on the GBC offers a similar experience to its N64 and arcade counterparts, albeit in a much more simplified and slightly less enjoyable way. Cruis'n Exotica marked the end of the Cruis'n series on Nintendo 64, but not the series as a whole.

It's not the worst, but there are certainly better GBC games and ports.
Image credit: GameFabrique

We got this...

...from this.
Image credits: World of Longplays / YouTube
Lee's Outlook / WordPress 

The Game Boy Advance saw the release of Cruis'n Velocity in November, 2001, which has quite an interesting story behind it. Velocity was developed by Graphic State, an English company who started off their business on the Game Boy Color with LEGO Stunt Rally. Their second released game, Cruis'n Velocity, ran on the engine being used for the then-in-development first-person shooter Dark Arena. Dark Arena's engine is a modified version of DOOM's Jaguar engine for GBA, which in itself is a modified version of the id Tech 1 engine. So, Cruis'n Velocity runs on the DOOM engine. Wow. If you've played Dark Arena, or even DOOM II on GBA, you may recognise some of the visual style and texture quality. In terms of gameplay, Velocity is better than Exotica's Game Boy Color port but still not quite as fun as the original N64 games. It's still quite strange why they would use a first-person shooter engine for a racing game when plenty of other racing games had come out perfectly on the GBA (V-Rally 3 is an excellent example), and the limitations of the DOOM engine do sometimes act as a detriment to Velocity as a whole. Well, that's DOOM covered. So how does Fast & Furious fit into the grand scheme of things?

Raw Thrills was formed in 2001 as an arcade game company, consisting of former Midway employees and starting off making gambling games. Raw Thrills' first title was Target: Terror, a 2004 light gun shooter for arcade systems that eventually saw release on the Nintendo Wii, published by Konami. Their second game was The Fast and The Furious, released in July, 2004, that sported oddly similar gameplay to the Cruis'n series. Like the film it is based off of, The Fast and The Furious received many sequels: The Fast and The Furious: Super Bikes, a bike-based game released in 2006; The Fast and The Furious: Drift, a game based off of the third film in the Fast & Furious franchise, released in 2007; and The Fast and The Furious: SuperCars, a spin-off released in 2010. SuperCars received a revision after the Fast & Furious license expired, and Super Bikes received two non-F&F sequels in 2010 and 2019, respectively. However, the original F&F game from 2004 received a Wii port in the form of Cruis'n in November, 2007. Cruis'n is essentially F&F 2004 but it's even worse and it's on the Wii. Well, that's Cruis'n on the Wii in a nutshell. Until 2017, it seemed like the Cruis'n series was over, but one more game was yet to be released.

Spot the difference.
Image credit: The Gaming and Hobby Channel / YouTube

Cruis'n's back.
Image credit: Best Buy

Cruis'n Blast is the latest game in the Cruis'n series, released in 2017 as Raw Thrills' 31st game. Being the first true Cruis'n game since 2001 (name changes don't count), Blast was quite exciting for Cruis'n fans. It added tons of new maps, tons of new cars, looks great graphically, the visual aesthetic is beautiful and it takes the silly factor of Exotica to a whole new level. Blast's 2017 version was good enough to receive a Nintendo Switch port, published by GameMill Entertainment (most well known for Big Rigs: Over the Road Racing) in September, 2021, almost 20 years since Velocity appeared on the GBA. Unlike previous arcade to Nintendo ports of the Cruis'n series, Blast adds in tons of new content, including 24 new maps. Never before have you been able to cruise (pun intended) through the streets of alien-invaded London as a Triceratops alongside a fire engine and a Pegasus. I'm not making that up. Cruis'n is truly at its peak with Blast, and it may be difficult to top it.

So that's the Cruis'n series, the first in a collection of blog posts on arcade racing series. I'm still divided on what I'm going to blog about next (trust me, there's a lot of stuff), but I hope that you enjoyed this blast, or should I say cruise, through the past. Well, that's a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!

**Cruis'n Blast is available on Nintendo eShop**