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Commander Keen Level Maps

commander-keen.com

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Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#31

Post by jandrese »

puddintane wrote: post #26
georgehdd wrote: post #19

What's up with the swastika in Keen 5 Level 4 (lower right corner)?

As thekaleb mentioned the creator seems to reference this symbol a lot in his games. Here is more of a back story (after some google-fu of course as I'm not very familiar with the games) Seems like Keen 5 has it as an easter egg to reference Wolfenstein [1]. And Wolfenstein uses it since the game has a "Nazi Party" within it (if you fight them or fight with them I'm not aware of) [2]. Interesting quote from [2] "The…

For reference the plot of Wolfenstein is that you are a captured soldier trying to escape from a Nazi controlled castle. You are fighting against the Nazis.

Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#32

Post by chungy »

puddintane wrote: post #26
georgehdd wrote: post #19

What's up with the swastika in Keen 5 Level 4 (lower right corner)?

As thekaleb mentioned the creator seems to reference this symbol a lot in his games. Here is more of a back story (after some google-fu of course as I'm not very familiar with the games) Seems like Keen 5 has it as an easter egg to reference Wolfenstein [1]. And Wolfenstein uses it since the game has a "Nazi Party" within it (if you fight them or fight with them I'm not aware of) [2]. Interesting quote from [2] "The…

While probably a mistake on John Romero's part, Keen uses 卍 in its easter egg while the nazis used 卐 instead.

Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#33

Post by kronos29296 »

I remember playing Commander Keen 4 demo a lot (I finished all the demo levels) then searching for a free version full download in google. (I used to do that a lot when I was younger.) somehow they never yielded any free versions or downloads.

The game was a blast. Then I played and completed Keen 1 when it was released as freeware. They felt like completely different games (Keen 4 is a lot bigger game than Keen 1 which is like Duke 1 compared to Nukem 2).

I still have all 6 of them (Older me now knows how to get full versions without the stupid google search terms) but I no longer play them though they still as good as they used to be.

Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#34

Post by UweSchmidt »

lanaius wrote: post #21
jameskegel wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I got it for free, along with Jill of the Jungle, and Wolfenstein 3D, with a Gravis PC Gamepad back in the day. They all came on two floppies, I was amazed that so much content could go on two discs that I could carry with me. Revelation: Today, it's amazing to me to have a 128GB ssd on my keychain.

Commander Keen 4 and Duke Nukem 2 with a Gravis joystick of some description.

This one maybe?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravis_PC_GamePad

Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#36

Post by bananabill »

chungy wrote: post #32
puddintane wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As thekaleb mentioned the creator seems to reference this symbol a lot in his games. Here is more of a back story (after some google-fu of course as I'm not very familiar with the games) Seems like Keen 5 has it as an easter egg to reference Wolfenstein [1]. And Wolfenstein uses it since the game has a "Nazi Party" within it (if you fight them or fight with them I'm not aware of) [2]. Interesting quote from [2] "The…

While probably a mistake on John Romero's part, Keen uses 卍 in its easter egg while the nazis used 卐 instead.

True but regardless of which one is technically correct, both pretty much share the same negative connotations now. I used to always hear people talking about how the swastika is really a sign of peace, but regardless of what it originally meant, it doesn't mean that anymore.

Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#37

Post by dlevine »

Narishma wrote: post #23
moovacha wrote: post #7

Very fond memories indeed of playing this DOS game on old Celeron and Pentium II. The game is honestly much better than the Marios and Sonics that it was trying to mimic (at least part 5 and 6 were IMO)

If those CPUs are old, what does that make the 286s the game was made for.

I originally ran Commander Keen 4 on a 286 using a 5.25" floppy I got from some kiosk that was selling shareware disks.

Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#38

Post by tibbon »

mrob wrote: post #10

The entire top half of Keen 3 map 8 is inaccessible because of incorrectly placed blocks: http://www.commander-keen.com/levelmaps/3/008.gif It's not necessary to complete the level, and it's harder to notice when your screen doesn't have the resolution to see the whole thing at once, but it's interesting that it was released like this.

Some of those inaccessible parts of older game maps drove me up a wall as a kid. I'd see a hint of them, and then... how?!?!?

Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#39

Post by AaronMT »

kronos29296 wrote: post #33

I remember playing Commander Keen 4 demo a lot (I finished all the demo levels) then searching for a free version full download in google. (I used to do that a lot when I was younger.) somehow they never yielded any free versions or downloads. The game was a blast. Then I played and completed Keen 1 when it was released as freeware. They felt like completely different games (Keen 4 is a lot bigger game than Keen 1 wh…

The old 'index apache warez keen4.zip'search engine trick. I was that kid.

Re: Commander Keen Level Maps

#40

Post by khedoros1 »

kronos29296 wrote: post #33

I remember playing Commander Keen 4 demo a lot (I finished all the demo levels) then searching for a free version full download in google. (I used to do that a lot when I was younger.) somehow they never yielded any free versions or downloads. The game was a blast. Then I played and completed Keen 1 when it was released as freeware. They felt like completely different games (Keen 4 is a lot bigger game than Keen 1 wh…

I played most of the way through the 1st one recently, and some of the 4th. In the mid-90s, my friend gave me a pirated copy of one of them. Maybe Keen 5? Or Keen Dreams? It had one of the piracy-protection things where you have to name the enemy to get past, and I only knew the names of 2 enemies. I'd keep exiting and re-starting the game until I found one that I knew.

Captain Comic and Commander Keen were my Super Marios until about 1995, because we had a PC but no game consoles.

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