Commander Keen

AngelGraves13 · 12-14-04, 03:55 PM

Anyone remember Commander Keen: The Defender of the Universe? It was a 7 game series by Id Software before they moved on to Wolfenstein 3-D. Games 4 to 6 include a built-in game of Pong in the main menu, just in case you get bored.

Billy Blaze, better known as Commander Keen was Id Software's PC magic at a time when consoles were the latest and greatest, and since the introduction of Nintendo and Super Mario Bros., the PC game market was yet to come out with a game that used the full potential of the 286.

Commander Keen began with the "Invasion of the Vorticons" triliogy which includes, Keen 1: Marooned on Mars, Keen 2: The Earth Explodes, and Keen 3: Keen Must Die! Some of these games were created by Id Software on their spare time, and after its release they quickly began working on their new technology for Keen 4 to 7.

The next big release in the Commander Keen series was the "Goodbye Galaxy" set, which includes Keen 4: The Secret of the Oracle, and Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine. These games had smooth side scrolling graphics and were some of the first games to fully use EGA and the potential of the 386.

Id software released Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! before Keen 5, because they were made in the order of 4, 6, 5. By hitting F1 in Keen 4 or 5, you can see the dated order form for Keen 6 and it mentioning "if you are sucessful in Keen 5," which you'd have to be to keep playing on.

And last but not least is Commander Keen in "Keen Dreams," also known as "the lost game" and I'm sure probably a lot of different names. I'm still unsure if "Keen Dreams" was crafted before the "Goodbye Galaxy" set, but it's worth checking out since it was released as freeware.

The latest versions of all the Commander Keen games are as follows:

Commander Keen: "Invasion of the Vorticons"
+Keen 1: Marooned on Mars 1.31
+Keen 2: The Earth Explodes 1.31
+Keen 3: Keen Must Die! 1.31

Commander Keen: "Goodbye Galaxy"
+Keen 4: The Secret of the Oracle 1.4
+Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine 1.4
+Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! 1.5

+Keen 7: Keen Dreams 1.13

NOTE: All patches, and shareware (Keen 1, 4, 7) games, except for Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! version 1.5 can be uptained from Beyond the Pogo.

Enjoy!

|JuiceZ| · 12-14-04, 04:03 PM

Great find man, thx!

Vagrant Zero · 12-14-04, 04:07 PM

I loved Commander Keen, along with Duke Nuken [pre FPS], and Cosmo.

AngelGraves13 · 12-14-04, 04:08 PM

It was my favorite game as a kid. I drew a lot of pictures of Commander Keen. Back then I only had a PC Speaker. Since then, I've been a die hard id software fan all the way. They've never let me down with a single game.

If you guys are looking to run Wolf3D in OpenGL, you might want to give NewWolf a go. You can find that at the NewWolf website. Only problem with this port is that the source code for it was released and is no longer being worked on. The current version is 0.72. I'd like to see someone pick this up and actually finish it, but oh well.

I wonder when the source code to the Commander Keen games will be released, so we can all enjoy a nice Windows/Mac/Linux port of it.

einstein_314 · 12-14-04, 06:43 PM

awesome. I was trying to play keen a few weeks ago but it just wouldn't work properly. Now it's awesome. Thanks man.

Skrot · 12-14-04, 06:59 PM

There should be a Welcome to Ages Ago smilie, or something equally lame...

AngelGraves13 · 12-14-04, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Skrot

There should be a Welcome to Ages Ago smilie, or something equally lame...

Quoting your sig, what's the point? What was last week and what's equally lame. I'm lost.

EciDemon · 12-14-04, 08:03 PM

While we'r on the subject of old news....

You who are interested in this might want to try Vdmsound. Another dos sound emulator to play old games, it's easier to use then DosBox, and where one fail the other might work.

-=DVS=- · 12-14-04, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zeero1978

i wanna play DEATHRALLY again...

I miss that game it owned , to bad noone made a remake of it

AngelGraves13 · 12-14-04, 08:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EciDemon

While we'r on the subject of old news....

You who are interested in this might want to try Vdmsound. Another dos sound emulator to play old games, it's easier to use then DosBox, and where one fail the other might work.

Does VDMsound ONLY emulate sound? Or is it something similar to DosBox? To go into more detail, is it just an add-on to Windows' Dos or a seperate program? I might give it a go.

EciDemon · 12-14-04, 08:28 PM

I actually emulate lots of things, vesa, mscdex etc etc

It's easier to use then DosBox.

Its not a separate dos emulation as DosBox as it will intergrate with your windows in a better manner, You right click on an old exe file and run with Vdms
I like it more then dosbox, but I still use both

AngelGraves13 · 12-14-04, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by EciDemon

I actually emulate lots of things, vesa, mscdex etc etc

It's easier to use then DosBox.

Its not a separate dos emulation as DosBox as it will intergrate with your windows in a better manner, You right click on an old exe file and run with Vdms
I like it more then dosbox, but I still use both

Back on topic, which is better to emulate Commander Keen? Windows does a terrible job at running Commander Keen. As soon as something moves on the screen, there is excessive tearing.

12-14-04, 03:55 PM	#1
AngelGraves13 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,383	Commander Keen Anyone remember Commander Keen: The Defender of the Universe? It was a 7 game series by Id Software before they moved on to Wolfenstein 3-D. Games 4 to 6 include a built-in game of Pong in the main menu, just in case you get bored. Billy Blaze, better known as Commander Keen was Id Software's PC magic at a time when consoles were the latest and greatest, and since the introduction of Nintendo and Super Mario Bros., the PC game market was yet to come out with a game that used the full potential of the 286. Commander Keen began with the "Invasion of the Vorticons" triliogy which includes, Keen 1: Marooned on Mars, Keen 2: The Earth Explodes, and Keen 3: Keen Must Die! Some of these games were created by Id Software on their spare time, and after its release they quickly began working on their new technology for Keen 4 to 7. The next big release in the Commander Keen series was the "Goodbye Galaxy" set, which includes Keen 4: The Secret of the Oracle, and Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine. These games had smooth side scrolling graphics and were some of the first games to fully use EGA and the potential of the 386. Id software released Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! before Keen 5, because they were made in the order of 4, 6, 5. By hitting F1 in Keen 4 or 5, you can see the dated order form for Keen 6 and it mentioning "if you are sucessful in Keen 5," which you'd have to be to keep playing on. And last but not least is Commander Keen in "Keen Dreams," also known as "the lost game" and I'm sure probably a lot of different names. I'm still unsure if "Keen Dreams" was crafted before the "Goodbye Galaxy" set, but it's worth checking out since it was released as freeware. The latest versions of all the Commander Keen games are as follows: Commander Keen: "Invasion of the Vorticons" +Keen 1: Marooned on Mars 1.31 +Keen 2: The Earth Explodes 1.31 +Keen 3: Keen Must Die! 1.31 Commander Keen: "Goodbye Galaxy" +Keen 4: The Secret of the Oracle 1.4 +Keen 5: The Armageddon Machine 1.4 +Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! 1.5 +Keen 7: Keen Dreams 1.13 NOTE: All patches, and shareware (Keen 1, 4, 7) games, except for Keen 6: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter! version 1.5 can be uptained from Beyond the Pogo. Enjoy! Last edited by AngelGraves13; 01-25-05 at 05:28 AM.

12-14-04, 04:03 PM	#2
\|JuiceZ\| Registered User Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: Louisville, KY Posts: 3,285	Re: Commander Keen Great find man, thx! __________________ primary MBP Core i5 2010 \| HR \| OCZ 120GB SSD gaming Core i5-2500K @ 4.1GHz w/ CM Hyper212+ \| MSI N560GTX-Ti TF II/OC \| MSI P67A-GD55 \| Silverstone FT02 \| X360 250GB \| Kinect htpc IONITX-A-U \| 2GB \| M350 \| XBMC Linux \| SABnzbd, sickbeard, couchpotato \| NAS Synology DS411J \| 4TB hometheater KURO PDP-5020 \| HK AVR2600 \| Definitive BP2006TL(2) & CLR2300 \| Polk R50(2) \| Sony S470 \| HarmonyOne

12-14-04, 04:07 PM	#3
Vagrant Zero I'm a Back Door Man Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 1,750	Re: Commander Keen I loved Commander Keen, along with Duke Nuken [pre FPS], and Cosmo.

12-14-04, 04:08 PM	#4
AngelGraves13 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2002 Posts: 2,383	Re: Commander Keen It was my favorite game as a kid. I drew a lot of pictures of Commander Keen. Back then I only had a PC Speaker. Since then, I've been a die hard id software fan all the way. They've never let me down with a single game. If you guys are looking to run Wolf3D in OpenGL, you might want to give NewWolf a go. You can find that at the NewWolf website. Only problem with this port is that the source code for it was released and is no longer being worked on. The current version is 0.72. I'd like to see someone pick this up and actually finish it, but oh well. I wonder when the source code to the Commander Keen games will be released, so we can all enjoy a nice Windows/Mac/Linux port of it. Last edited by AngelGraves13; 12-14-04 at 04:20 PM.

12-14-04, 06:43 PM	#5
einstein_314 w00t!! Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Victoria, BC Posts: 2,905	Re: Commander Keen awesome. I was trying to play keen a few weeks ago but it just wouldn't work properly. Now it's awesome. Thanks man. __________________ Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 3.2GHz (9 x 355) w/ Swiftec APOGEE GTX Waterblock\|\| Asus P5B-Deluxe WiFi Edition eVGA 8800 GTX Superclocked Edition @ 675/1150 w/ DangerDen 8800GTX Waterblock\|\| 4x1GB Mushkin XP2 PC2-8500 X-Fi Fatal1ty 64MB \|\| PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W \|\| Seagate 7200.10 320 GB \|\| Dell 2407WFP Logitech Z-5300 Speakers \|\| Sennheiser HD555's \|\| Logitech G7 \|\| Logitech G15 \|\| Windows Vista Ultimate x64

12-14-04, 06:59 PM	#6
Skrot The 5900XT that could. Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Australia Posts: 402	Re: Commander Keen There should be a Welcome to Ages Ago smilie, or something equally lame...

12-14-04, 08:03 PM	#8
EciDemon Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 1,423	Re: Commander Keen While we'r on the subject of old news.... You who are interested in this might want to try Vdmsound. Another dos sound emulator to play old games, it's easier to use then DosBox, and where one fail the other might work.

12-14-04, 08:28 PM	#11
EciDemon Registered User Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Sweden Posts: 1,423	Re: Commander Keen I actually emulate lots of things, vesa, mscdex etc etc It's easier to use then DosBox. Its not a separate dos emulation as DosBox as it will intergrate with your windows in a better manner, You right click on an old exe file and run with Vdms I like it more then dosbox, but I still use both