Duke Nukem II
{{Short description|1993 platform video game}}
{{pp-pc|small=yes}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Duke Nukem II
| image = Duke Nukem II Cover.jpg
| image_size =
| developer = Apogee Software
| publisher = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|Apogee Software}}|GT Interactive (GBC)|Interceptor Entertainment (iOS)|Gearbox Entertainment (remaster)}}
| director =
| producer =
| designer = Todd Replogle
George Broussard
Scott Miller
Allen H. Blum III
| programmer =
| artist = Randy Abraham
Stephen A. Hornback
| writer = Tom Hall
| composer = Robert Prince
| series = Duke Nukem
| platforms = DOS, Game Boy Color, iOS, Windows, OS X, Evercade
| released = {{collapsible list|title={{nobold|December 3, 1993}}|DOS|{{vgrelease|NA|December 3, 1993{{cite web|url=http://legacy.3drealms.com/history.html |title=3D Realms Site: History |publisher=3D Realms }}|EU|1993}}|Game Boy Color|{{vgrelease|NA|September 2, 1999{{cite web |url=http://www.3drealms.com/press/gbship.html |title=3D Realms Site: Press Releases: Duke Color Gameboy Ships |website=www.3drealms.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011101183028/http://www.3drealms.com/press/gbship.html |archive-date=1 November 2001 |url-status=dead}}|EU|October 1999{{Cite web |title=Duke Nukem |url=http://www.chipsworld.co.uk/detProd.asp?ProductCode=2425 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010716074455/http://www.chipsworld.co.uk/detProd.asp?ProductCode=2425 |archive-date=July 16, 2001 |access-date=April 22, 2024 |website=Chipsworld}}}}|Windows, OS X||{{vgrelease|WW|December 6, 2012{{cite web |title=Release: Duke Nukem 1+2 |url=https://www.gog.com/news/release_duke_nukem_12 |website=GOG.com |access-date=6 May 2019 |date=6 December 2012}}{{cite web |title=Duke Nukem 1 and 2 now available for Mac on GOG.com |url=https://www.engadget.com/2012/12/06/duke-nukem-1-and-2-now-available-for-mac-on-gog-com/ |website=Engadget |access-date=6 May 2019 |date=6 December 2012}}}}|iOS|{{vgrelease|WW|April 2, 2013{{cite web|url=http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/3/4178924/duke-nukem-2-ios|title=Duke Nukem 2 launches on iOS today|last=McElroy|first=Griffin|date=3 April 2013|work=Polygon|publisher=Vox Media|access-date=6 December 2013}}}}|Linux|{{vgrelease|WW|May 21, 2015{{cite web |title=Changelog post #1 |url=https://www.gog.com/forum/duke_nukem_series/changelog/post1 |website=GOG.com |access-date=6 May 2019}}}}|Remastered|Evercade|{{vgrelease|WW|November 28, 2023}}}}
| genre = Platform
| modes = Single-player
}}
Duke Nukem II is a 1993 platform game developed and published by Apogee Software. The game consists of four episodes (of eight levels each), the first available as shareware. It is the follow-up to 1991's Duke Nukem, and followed by Duke Nukem 3D in 1996. Todd Replogle was the primary designer of all three games.
Gameplay
File:Duke Nukem II Screenshot.png
The player's goal is to proceed through the levels collecting items, destroying enemies to the level exit and at the final level, defeat the super alien boss. In one level of each episode Duke needs to destroy radar dishes to progress.
Duke Nukem can pick up weapons along the way. There are four types of weapons: His regular default gun, the flamethrower (which can shoot through walls and launch him in the air), the laser (which can shoot through anything) and the rocket launcher. Duke can also get a rapid fire powerup. Health items can be collected to heal damage Duke receives or to boost score points at full health. Keycards need to be collected to access past the force fields and keys must be obtained to get past locked doors. A cloaking device makes Duke temporarily invincible and disables the super force fields.
Movement through the levels mainly consists of jumping onto platforms, climbing ladders, operating elevators, using teleporters, hovering over blowing fans and climbing hand-over-hand across pipes or girders. At the end of every level (with the exception of the last level in each episode), the player can receive up to seven 100,000 point bonuses, earned by making certain achievements in the level, such as destroying all cameras.
Plot
In 1998, the evil Rigelatins plan to enslave Earth, and they kidnap Duke Nukem during the Oprah Winfrey Show in the city Neo LA (in GBC Nerola City), to use his brain to plot the attack for their forces.{{cite web |title=Duke Nukem's Biography |url=http://www.3drealms.com/bio/nukem.html |date=28 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130128181839/http://www.3drealms.com/bio/nukem.html |archive-date=28 January 2013 |url-status=dead}} Duke escapes from the cell and fights across the planet's surface and underground, where he first wants to destroy the city's energy reactor and then capture the fighter jet to return to Earth.
Development and release
The game uses VGA and EGA graphics and draws two backgrounds ("dual-parallax scrolling"). The game took almost two years to create.Scott Miller - Bio-Menace Readme text file
Duke Nukem Collection 1, which includes remastered versions of Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II alongside a port of Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, was released for the Evercade retrogaming console in November 2023.{{cite web |url=https://evercade.co.uk/evercade-game-spotlight-duke-nukem-12-remastered/ |title=Evercade Game Spotlight: Duke Nukem 1+2 Remastered |first=Pete |last=Davison |date=November 28, 2023 |website=Evercade |access-date=March 5, 2025}}{{cite web |url=https://evercade.co.uk/cartridges/duke-nukem-collection-1/ |title=Duke Nukem Collection 1 |website=Evercade |access-date=March 5, 2025}}
Reception
Allgame gave Duke Nukem II 3 out of 5 stars for the original DOS version, and 4 out of 5 for the Game Boy Color version.
PC Zone gave the game 4 out of 5 stars.
{{Video game reviews
| GR = GBC: 73%{{cite web |url=https://www.gamerankings.com/gbc/197173-duke-nukem/index.html |title=Duke Nukem for Game Boy Color |website=GameRankings |publisher=CBS Interactive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191209000833/http://www.gamerankings.com/gbc/197173-duke-nukem/index.html |archive-date=December 9, 2019 |url-status=dead |access-date=July 22, 2020}}
| MC = IOS: 50/100{{cite web | title=Duke Nukem 2 | publisher=Metacritic | url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/duke-nukem-2/ | access-date=November 15, 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231130080111/https://www.metacritic.com/game/duke-nukem-2/ | archive-date=November 30, 2023 | url-status=live }}
| PCZone = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Burgess |first=Mark |title=PC Zone Review - Duke Nukem II |url=https://archive.org/details/PC_Zone_12_March_1994/page/n131 |magazine=PC Zone |issue=12 |publisher=Future plc |date=March 1994 |page=130}}
}}
{{Expand section|date=July 2020}}
Notes
{{notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://3drealms.com/catalog/duke-nukem-2_19/ Duke Nukem II website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701063803/https://3drealms.com/catalog/duke-nukem-2_19/ |date=2022-07-01 }}
- {{moby game|id=/duke-nukem-ii}}
- {{moby game|id=/duke-nukem_|name=Duke Nukem (GBC)}}
{{DNgames}}
{{Apogee Games}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duke Nukem 2}}
Category:Fiction set around Rigel
Category:Games commercially released with DOSBox
Category:Science fiction video games
Category:Side-scrolling platformers
Category:Single-player video games
Category:Slipgate Ironworks games
Category:Video games developed in the United States