duke nukum (1991)
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no, i didn't spell the name wrong.
'duke nukum' is a 1991 game made by apogee, the team that capstone wishes they were, starring the titular hero, duke nukum. or duke nukem. there isn't any cloning going on until DNF, so what's the deal with duke and duke 2? it turns out that apogee was watching 'captain planet' and decided that the name of the villain of the week, 'duke nukem,' kicked ass. and they were right! (੭•̀ω•́)੭
apogee was worried that captain planet would bust their door down and steal all their duke money, so they implemented a lawsuit-prevention U, causing 'duke nukum' to be born. this didn't last long, thankfully, and they were soon allowed to use the name again. now, aside from this boring legal stuff, what's the game about?
the year is 1997. the evil 'dr. proton' is bent on world domination, using his techbots to wreak havoc. but one man steps up to stop him...
this game is a 2-D action platformer, much like 'commander keen' or 'metroid,' but while those games have different weapons, duke only needs his atomic pistol. although it is your only weapon, you can pick up powerups that let you shoot a maximum of 5 bolts at a time, which is absolutely necessary due to the musket-speed fire rate of the unpowered pistol.
there are other powerups, like the jump boots that let you jump higher and the grappling hook that lets you climb on ceilings. these are sometimes necessary for completing the level. most of these are found within white boxes, which have a much higher chance of exploding you rather than doing anything useful. half of all of these stupid white boxes try to kill me!!!! ( ˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ )
most levels consist of destroying techbots and finding keys. most techbots are single-shot kills, but some are a little tougher like the fire wheel or foot techbot. none of the enemies you'll encounter will take more than 10 shots to kill, but that doesn't mean they're easy. the foot techbots jump around, the fire wheels go faster than you, and the flying techbots are assholes.
you have 8 bars of health, and if you're like me, you'll need it. i often found myself hovering above half health, if not 3 bars. of course, all of the levels come with copious amounts of health in the forms of soda cans, chicken drumsticks, and nuclear molecules, the last of which refilling duke's health fully. (o´▽`o)
