Duke Nukem (video game)

Infobox VG| title = Duke Nukem


developer = Apogee Software
(Todd Replogle
Jim Norwood
Allen H. Blum III
George Broussard
Scott Miller)
publisher = Apogee Software
engine =
designer =
released = July 1, 1991 (PC)
genre = side-scrolling platform game
modes = single player
ratings = OFLC: G
platforms = PC Compatible/DOS
media = floppy disks
requirements =
input = keyboard, joystick

"Duke Nukem" is a platform video game developed and published by Apogee Software (now 3D Realms), featuring the adventures of Duke Nukem. The game was released on July 1, 1991.

Story

The game is set in the year 1997 (which was the "near future" at the time of game release). "Dr. Proton" is a madman, determined to take over the world with his army of Techbots. Duke Nukem, the eponymous hero, is hired by the CIA to stop him. The first episode takes place in the devastated city of Los Angeles. In the second episode, Duke follows Dr. Proton to his secret moonbase. In the third episode, Dr. Proton escapes into the future, and Duke pursues him through time, to put a permanent end to his mad schemes.

Gameplay

The main objective of the game is to get to the exit of each level, while destroying enemies and collecting points. The game was notable in its time because of its smart level design which allows very fast gameplay.Fact|date=February 2007 Additionally, it allows many objects onscreen to be shot: obstacles, as well as enemies, can be destroyed by gunfire. Besides points, some collectibles include health powerups, gun powerups, and some inventory items with special abilities.

At the end of every level (with the exception of the last level in each episode), the player can receive up to seven 10,000 point bonuses, earned by making certain achievements in the level, such as destroying all cameras. At least two other Apogee titles, the game's sequel "Duke Nukem II" and "Rise of the Triad", have similar end-of-level bonuses.

Technical implementation

The game's play control suffers from all objects only moving in 8x8 "blocks" rather than individual pixels like most other shooters,fact|date=March 2007. However, for its time, its implementation was still considered cutting-edge for the PC,fact|date=June 2008 especially in terms of its parallax scrolling. This problem also appears in "Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure" and "Duke Nukem II".fact|date=March 2007

The graphics borrowed heavily from other games, such as "Turrican" [cite web|url = http://www.nemmelheim.de/turrican/news/duke/ |title = Duke Nukem stole graphics from Turrican! |accessdate = 2008-06-21] and the PC version of "Mega Man" [cite web|url = http://www.student.tue.nl/p/f.a.m.smeijers/sfp/games/duke1.htm#copied_art |title = S&F Prod. - Duke Nukum |accessdate = 2008-06-21] .

Name controversy

After the game's release, Apogee became aware of a "Captain Planet" villain called "Duke Nukem" [cite web|url = http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread.php?p=414899#post414899 |title = Duke On Holiday Getting sunburnt - 3D Realms Forums |accessdate = 2008-06-21] , and to avoid a lawsuit Apogee's game was renamed "Duke Nukum" in its version 2.0. It later turned out that "Duke Nukem" was not a registered name, so Apogee registered it and used the original Duke Nukem name in the sequels. [cite web|url = http://www.3drealms.com/duke1/index.html |title = 3D Realms Site: Duke Nukem I |accessdate = 2008-06-21]

Sequels

"Duke Nukem" was followed by "Duke Nukem II" in 1993, also featuring the same hero still without the dark shades, and later "Duke Nukem 3D" in 1996. Duke Nukem 3D was an outstanding success, and a strong competitor to Quake. As of 2008, a third sequel, announced in 1997—"Duke Nukem Forever"—is still in development. Several other sequels were developed for consoles only, such as the PlayStation titles ' and '.

In 2002, a new special title was released to conmemorate the 10th anniversary since the first "Duke Nukem". This title was "", done with a 3D engine and elements from "Duke Nukem 3D", but with the arcade style of the first two titles.

References

* [http://www.3drealms.com/duke1/ Official Duke Nukem website]
* [http://dosclassics.com/duke/1other.php Duke Nukem - Megaman graphics comparison]

External links

* [http://www.spatang.com/nukem/ Duke Nukem Central] - Informative fansite on Duke Nukem I and II
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