Dopefish

Dopefish
Dopefish
Series	Commander Keen
First game	Commander Keen IV
Created by	Tom Hall
Designed by	Tom Hall

The Dopefish is a fictional fish that originated in the fourth Commander Keen video game, Secret of the Oracle, released in 1991. The character has since evolved into a PC game industry in-joke, making appearances in games from Apogee's 1994 Wacky Wheels as well as titles as recent as the 2006 SiN Episodes: Emergence and 2007 Chili Con Carnage and more recently including 2011's Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Physically, the Dopefish is a large green fish, with buck teeth. It is described in Keen 4 as "the second-dumbest creature in the universe" (a reference to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the dumbest) with thought patterns that go "swim swim hungry, swim swim hungry". The game also mentioned that they would "eat anything alive and moving near them, though they prefer heroes". Whenever it does eat something, it turns to face the viewer and belches. id Software's Tom Hall later gave it its fake scientific name: Pisces swimeatus.

In October 1995, Joe Siegler of 3D Realms launched the Dopefish.com^[1] web site as an archive of all things Dopefish-related. Siegler reportedly maintained dopefish.com on company time while working for 3DRealms. Since launching, the site has inspired a variety of artwork and merchandise based on the character.,^[2] including ASCII art, stuffed toys, and mugs.

Tom Hall first conceived of the Dopefish as one of 24 potential characters for Keen 4. In his words, "I just drew this stupid little fish". In the game, the Dopefish appears in one level, The Well of Wishes. In this level, the player must avoid being eaten by the Dopefish, along with other hazards, in an attempt to rescue a Council Member. The music for the level, titled Eat Your Veggies and originally composed by Bobby Prince for use in Keen Dreams, is also commonly associated with the Dopefish and has inspired some spin-offs compositions including Fish Polka^[3] and Dope Jaws by former 3D Realms Music and Sound Director Lee Jackson.

The Dopefish in video games

Appearances

Appearances are given in chronological order, and do not include fan-made add-ons. The Dopefish takes various forms from images to actual fish. It is often hidden and hard to find, and accompanied by the words "Dopefish lives!"^[1]

• Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle (1991), original appearance
• Wacky Wheels (1994), at the start line after a special maneuver
• Quake (1996), appears as a texture on a wall
• Quake II (1997), partly disemboweled, hanging on a hook
• Battlezone (1998), typing "DOPEFISH" in a success screen in the Red Odyssey expansion pack reveals a little introductory text about the Dopefish
• SiN (1998), an alternately skinned "tropical fish" ^[4]
• Descent 3 (1999), creating a new pilot with the name "Dopefish" reveals a photo of a fan in a Dopefish Halloween costume
• Quake III Arena (1999), on a wall texture of a "zombified" Dopefish
• Daikatana (2000)
• Commander Keen (2001), Game Boy Color version
• Anachronox (2001), in one of the fish tanks on Rictus' ship
• Max Payne (2001), as a poster
• Hyperspace Delivery Boy! (2001), as a statue
• Warcraft 3 (2002), shrine
• Eternal Daughter (2002), the only^{[citation needed]} fish in the game are called Dopefish
• Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002), as a little desktop toy
• SuperTux (2003), frozen in a wall of ice
• Congo Cube (2003)
• Red Faction (2003), N-Gage version
• Psychonauts (2005), a round, green fish very similar in appearance to the Dopefish appears stuffed at a dock^{[citation needed]}
• SiN Episodes: Emergence (2006), numerous instances in secret areas
• Chili Con Carnage (2007), the marble fountain halfway through "Nice Biceps" is shaped like four Dopefish
• TAGAP: The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins (2007), miniature versions of the fish can be found swimming in Antarctic waters
• Sven Co-op (1999–2011), appears in a locker in the level "Extended", and in a fish-tank in the level "Incoming"
• Dystopia (2007), appears in the Silo level
• Fortress Forever (2007), appearing very briefly in a trailer
• Voxelstein 3D (2008), appears in the center of a toilet bowl
• Jailbreak Source (2008), appears in two of the levels, Metropolis and Woodneck.
• Escaped From The Underdark: Archipelago (2009) appears in a new fishing implementation.
• Flash-DooM 2D (2009) appears in the secret level together with Tom Hall and all the other ID employees from 1993.
• Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe (2009) (TV show) appears as graffiti in an unnamed game where the aim is to push Myleene Klass in a canal.
• Killing Floor (2009) can be found in a room near a Trader location on the map Mountain Pass.
• Warsow (2005–2009) can be found inside quad damage power-up.
• Rocketbirds (2009) appears on the wall outside Keen, Inc in Subway level.
• Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (2008), can be found in the lower left rock wall on the Troll Country Scenario map. (upside down disguised as a rock)
• Alan Wake (2010), as a fishing guide poster inside a book-shop.
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution (2011), appears as graffiti in a Detroit alleyway.
• RAGE (2011), easter egg, appears in the Re-Run of Mutant Bash TV.
• Death Rally (2011), as a poster in the garage in the iOS version. NOTE: The poster is exactly the same one as in Max Payne & Alan Wake.

Although for a short period of time a rumor^{[citation needed]} circulated the fish-shaped object^[5] found in a Doom 3 pentagram was intended to be a Dopefish, in fact, when asked by a fan, id Software confirmed this was not the case.^[6]

Mentions

Although the Dopefish does not actually appear in these games, there is text mentioning him somewhere.^[1]

• Rise of the Triad (1994)
• Terminal Velocity (1995), mentioned in the technical help as a command line parameter that "doesn't do anything"
• Duke Nukem 3D (1996), a hidden "Dopefish lives" graffiti in episode 1's last level
• Shadow Warrior (1997), mentioned by Lo Wang in some audio recordings not used in the game
• Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (1998), a message "Spaz ate the Dopefish" appears in a secret area in Carrotus
• Devastation (2003), contains a cheat code named after the Dopefish. It gives the player all weapons, activates god mode, and gives money.^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} The Official Dopefish Home Page
2. ^ http://www.rinkworks.com/apogee/s/2.2.shtml
3. ^ Fish Polka from Rise of the Triad, http://rott.classicgaming.gamespy.com/hell/
4. ^ TropicalFish Dope1 on Ritualistic.com
5. ^ Fish-shaped object in Doom 3
6. ^ Joe Siegler's post on Doom 3 Dopefish
7. ^ Devastation Cheats ActionTrip

External links

• The Official Dopefish Home Page, a site run by Joe Siegler (a former employee of 3D Realms), describing the Dopefish phenomenon and cataloging its known appearances.
• Dopefish.com Forum, the official forum