A Look Back at Commander Keen

RCK · 17 February 2002, 04:17

http://www.3drealms.com/keenhistory/

Quote:

10 years ago, a group of programmers and artists working at Softdisk created a piece of software that laid the foundation for just about every popular computer game today. Working for a company that didn't want to make use of the program that they created, these guys instead turned to shareware pioneer Scott Miller to publish their first game. The company is id Software, and the game is Commander Keen!

jmmijo · 17 February 2002, 04:49

Played it years ago when I first got my 486. Still it was kinda lame compared to the current Amiga titles

Twistin'Ghost · 17 February 2002, 06:45

Ugh...I remember when this came out. It was during my IBM vs Amiga trials. I couldn't believe that this game was causing the fuss it was causing. It just made me appreciate my Amiga that much more.

RetroMan · 17 February 2002, 13:35

I remember when the first CK came out and a friend of mine told me : "Have you played it allready, have you ?? It rocks, play it ...." and so I did :kill I wish I never had, cause it was really really bad

Muzkat · 20 February 2002, 01:41

I went over to a friend's house once- he said he had something really cool to show me. He was an Amiga 500 user, BTW. When I get there, what do I see? A PC, with Commander Keen running! FILTHY TRAITOR! But anyway, I kept a smile on my face and said that Keen looked like a good game, which was a blatant lie. Honestly, the game looked just so boring and dull, and my friend seemed so proud of it. To tell you the truth, I wasn't just unimpressed with Keen and its shitty graphics and Adlib sound, but with the entire PC package, which was about a Pentium 1 100. As I said, my friend seemed so proud at owning the PC, but I couldn't see what was so good about it. As Twist said, it made me love my Miggy even more than I had before.

SimonCD32 · 13 October 2017, 14:15

man I LOVED this game. great memories of this.

s2325 · 13 October 2017, 14:27

I liked only these parts with improved sound and graphics, first was too basic.

PortuguesePilot · 13 October 2017, 14:37

Ah, Commander Keen. The game was cute and all but like many other Apogee games at the time I looked at the EGA-like graphics, listened to the PC-Speaker sounds, played for a little bit and used to think: "Yeah, it's cute, but light-years behind what the Amiga can do".

Not many years later, Doom on a 486DX2@66MHz with an S3Trio SVGA, a Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 and a CD-ROM drive would bring forth the eminent death of the Amiga...

The PC won the computer wars. The machine with less soul, less character and more compatibility issues ended up winning. Alas...

B14ck W01f · 19 October 2017, 04:15

I think I actually played CK4 before I played the first 3 games, then it was on with games 5 and 6. I liked the last one better. I was disappointed that "The Universe is Toast" didn't come to fruition. id was interested in Wolf3D instead.

ransom1122 · 19 October 2017, 04:40

Played it. Never finished it. Got bored.. then multiple episodes flooded the market. Lol

drHirudo · 19 October 2017, 08:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by PortuguesePilot

The PC won the computer wars. The machine with less soul, less character and more compatibility issues ended up winning. Alas...

The same on the console markets - the crappier NES won over the Master System. The SNES won over the Mega Drive and the Gameboy won over the more advanced Game Gear and Atari Lynx. Most of the time its not the best that wins, but the one with the best marketing and the best games! Doom was a real killer to the Amiga. I remember a computer club with many Amigas and some PCs, that when young gamers saw Doom, they queued and WANTED to play it, because it was so realistic, compared to the childish Amiga and Sega games.

s2325 · 19 October 2017, 08:42

Lynx had many bad games.

Amiga1992 · 19 October 2017, 21:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by s2325

Lynx had many bad games.

If that's the bar then the Amiga was a shitty system, because it had tons of terrible games.

Thankfully that's not really how systems are measured, and the Lynx had a lot of really brilliant titles, many exclusive to the platform.

And what IMO is the best Shadow Of The Beast version anywhere.

SimonCD32 · 19 October 2017, 22:12

someone needs to make a commander keen ISO for the cd32! ;o)

Gzegzolka · 19 October 2017, 22:32

You are right Simon

illegalquantity · 11 April 2023, 17:02

Too bad, you must use the pogo stick. I hate it. It would've been much better without this "feature". It's so silly thing that you have to jump with a pogo in a sci-fi game for example on the Mars! Please someone make a pogo-stick-less-version for the Amiga! (or at least a hack version for PC)

gimbal · 11 April 2023, 17:26

The pogo stick is what differentiates Keen from any other generic platformer at the time. It is not mandatory to like every game out there you know. Apparently you don't like Keen. Not a problem.

desiv · 11 April 2023, 17:26

Yeah, great game for the PC...
Yes, the graphics weren't Amiga quality.
Yes, the sound wasn't much of anything.
Yes, compared to the Amiga... I get that...
I had both systems back then. My Amiga was my main system, and I loved it.
But I would frequently help people upgrade their PCs (sometimes paid, other times not) and I almost always got to keep the parts that had been replaced.
So it didn't take long for me to be able to piece together a PC. Started with an XT.
Then I got a 286 (I think) "Inboard" (or something like that)... Had an amber monochrome monitor, and eventually got a cheap VGA one, etc...

And while Keen would have been a fun shareware/PD game on the Amiga, it was amazing on the PC... ;-)

I was always able to appreciate it in it's system...
Another thing that I think helped was that it was (at least to me) easier than most Amiga platformers...
So while lots of people called it boring, I found it "able for me to make progress."

There are a few games on the PC that I remember.
Of course, Wolf3D and Doom.
Jazz Jackrabbit...
And Commander Keen...

fryguy · 11 April 2023, 18:35

Crappy games like Keen made me happy I owned an Amiga.

alexh · 11 April 2023, 18:54

The link in the first post (2002) is now dead but thanks to Archive.org (love those guys) it has been preserved.

https://web.archive.org/web/20130303...m/keenhistory/

I don't know if this is of interest to anyone but John Carmack has started his own company doing AGI (General AI) and what has he called the company??

Keen Technologies

https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/st...28042959507457

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17 February 2002, 04:49	#2
jmmijo Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: PDX Age: 62 Posts: 2,396	Played it years ago when I first got my 486. Still it was kinda lame compared to the current Amiga titles

17 February 2002, 06:45	#3
Twistin'Ghost Give up the ghost Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: U$A Age: 33 Posts: 4,662	Ugh...I remember when this came out. It was during my IBM vs Amiga trials. I couldn't believe that this game was causing the fuss it was causing. It just made me appreciate my Amiga that much more.

17 February 2002, 13:35	#4
RetroMan Registered User Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: Germany Age: 51 Posts: 3,704	I remember when the first CK came out and a friend of mine told me : "Have you played it allready, have you ?? It rocks, play it ...." and so I did :kill I wish I never had, cause it was really really bad

20 February 2002, 01:41	#5
Muzkat Into the Wonderful Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Earthrealm Age: 42 Posts: 1,429	I went over to a friend's house once- he said he had something really cool to show me. He was an Amiga 500 user, BTW. When I get there, what do I see? A PC, with Commander Keen running! FILTHY TRAITOR! But anyway, I kept a smile on my face and said that Keen looked like a good game, which was a blatant lie. Honestly, the game looked just so boring and dull, and my friend seemed so proud of it. To tell you the truth, I wasn't just unimpressed with Keen and its shitty graphics and Adlib sound, but with the entire PC package, which was about a Pentium 1 100. As I said, my friend seemed so proud at owning the PC, but I couldn't see what was so good about it. As Twist said, it made me love my Miggy even more than I had before.

13 October 2017, 14:15	#6
SimonCD32 Amiga Diva Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Portsmouth, UK Posts: 94	man I LOVED this game. great memories of this.

13 October 2017, 14:27	#7
s2325 Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Gargore Age: 43 Posts: 17,789	I liked only these parts with improved sound and graphics, first was too basic.

13 October 2017, 14:37	#8
PortuguesePilot Global Moderator Join Date: May 2013 Location: Setúbal, Portugal Posts: 609	Ah, Commander Keen. The game was cute and all but like many other Apogee games at the time I looked at the EGA-like graphics, listened to the PC-Speaker sounds, played for a little bit and used to think: "Yeah, it's cute, but light-years behind what the Amiga can do". Not many years later, Doom on a 486DX2@66MHz with an S3Trio SVGA, a Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 and a CD-ROM drive would bring forth the eminent death of the Amiga... The PC won the computer wars. The machine with less soul, less character and more compatibility issues ended up winning. Alas...

19 October 2017, 04:15	#9
B14ck W01f m68k all the way Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Koalaland Posts: 523	I think I actually played CK4 before I played the first 3 games, then it was on with games 5 and 6. I liked the last one better. I was disappointed that "The Universe is Toast" didn't come to fruition. id was interested in Wolf3D instead.

19 October 2017, 04:40	#10
ransom1122 Registered User Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Omnicorp Age: 45 Posts: 5,818	Played it. Never finished it. Got bored.. then multiple episodes flooded the market. Lol

19 October 2017, 08:42	#12
s2325 Zone Friend Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Gargore Age: 43 Posts: 17,789	Lynx had many bad games.

19 October 2017, 22:12	#14
SimonCD32 Amiga Diva Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Portsmouth, UK Posts: 94	someone needs to make a commander keen ISO for the cd32! ;o)

19 October 2017, 22:32	#15
Gzegzolka Registered User Join Date: Feb 2014 Location: Warszawa / Polska Posts: 1,858	You are right Simon

11 April 2023, 17:02	#16
illegalquantity Registered User Join Date: Aug 2020 Location: Düsseldorf / Germany Posts: 3	Too bad, you must use the pogo stick. I hate it. It would've been much better without this "feature". It's so silly thing that you have to jump with a pogo in a sci-fi game for example on the Mars! Please someone make a pogo-stick-less-version for the Amiga! (or at least a hack version for PC)

11 April 2023, 17:26	#17
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 42 Posts: 6,917	The pogo stick is what differentiates Keen from any other generic platformer at the time. It is not mandatory to like every game out there you know. Apparently you don't like Keen. Not a problem.

11 April 2023, 17:26	#18
desiv Registered User Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Salem, OR Posts: 1,770	Yeah, great game for the PC... Yes, the graphics weren't Amiga quality. Yes, the sound wasn't much of anything. Yes, compared to the Amiga... I get that... I had both systems back then. My Amiga was my main system, and I loved it. But I would frequently help people upgrade their PCs (sometimes paid, other times not) and I almost always got to keep the parts that had been replaced. So it didn't take long for me to be able to piece together a PC. Started with an XT. Then I got a 286 (I think) "Inboard" (or something like that)... Had an amber monochrome monitor, and eventually got a cheap VGA one, etc... And while Keen would have been a fun shareware/PD game on the Amiga, it was amazing on the PC... ;-) I was always able to appreciate it in it's system... Another thing that I think helped was that it was (at least to me) easier than most Amiga platformers... So while lots of people called it boring, I found it "able for me to make progress." There are a few games on the PC that I remember. Of course, Wolf3D and Doom. Jazz Jackrabbit... And Commander Keen...

11 April 2023, 18:35	#19
fryguy Registered User Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Skarabörg, Sweden Age: 44 Posts: 1,020	Crappy games like Keen made me happy I owned an Amiga.

11 April 2023, 18:54	#20
alexh Thalion Webshrine Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Oxford Posts: 14,354	The link in the first post (2002) is now dead but thanks to Archive.org (love those guys) it has been preserved. https://web.archive.org/web/20130303...m/keenhistory/ I don't know if this is of interest to anyone but John Carmack has started his own company doing AGI (General AI) and what has he called the company?? Keen Technologies https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/st...28042959507457

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