''Duke Nukem II'' is a 1993

platform game A platformer (also called a platform game, and sometimes a jump 'n' run game) is a subgenre of action game in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are characterized by levels wi ...

developed and published by

Apogee Software 3D Realms Entertainment ApS is a video game publisher based in Aalborg, Denmark. Scott Miller founded the company in his parents' home in Garland, Texas, in 1987 as Apogee Software Productions to release his game '' Kingdom of Kroz''. In the ...

. The game consists of four episodes (of eight levels each), the first available as

shareware Shareware is a type of proprietary software that is initially shared by the owner for trial use at little or no cost. Often the software has limited functionality or incomplete documentation until the user sends payment to the software developer. ...

. It is the follow-up to 1991's ''

Duke Nukem ''Duke Nukem'' is a video game series and media franchise created by the company Apogee Software Ltd. (now 3D Realms). The franchise follows the titular Duke Nukem as he battles against a military or extraterrestrial force. Originally a serie ...

'', and followed by ''

Duke Nukem 3D ''Duke Nukem 3D'' is a 1996 first-person shooter, first-person shooter game developed by 3D Realms and published by FormGen for MS-DOS. It is a sequel to the platform games ''Duke Nukem (video game), Duke Nukem'' and ''Duke Nukem II'', published ...

'' in 1996.

Todd Replogle Todd Jason Replogle (born 1969) is an American video game programmer best known as the co-creator of the ''Duke Nukem'' series. He wrote six 2D action games for MS-DOS released as shareware by Apogee Software between 1990 and 1993. This includes ...

was the primary designer of all three games.

Gameplay

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, an evil alien race, the Rigelatins, plan to enslave

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

, and they kidnap

during his appearance on ''

The Oprah Winfrey Show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Oprah Winfrey. The show ran for twenty-five seasons from September 8, 1986, to May 25, 2011, in which it broadcast 4,561 episodes. The show was taped i ...

'' in the city ''Neo LA'' (in GBC ''Nerola City''), to extract his brain and use it to power an

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

that will ensure victory for their forces. Duke escapes from his cell and fights across the planet's surface and underground, successfully destroying the Rigelatins' energy reactor and then their

mothership A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bomber aircraft, bombers converted to carry exp ...

before stealing a 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 ''

'' and ''Duke Nukem II'' alongside a port of '' Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown'', was released for the

Evercade The Evercade is a handheld game console developed and manufactured by British company Blaze Entertainment. It focuses on retrogaming with ROM cartridges that each contain a number of emulated games. The Evercade was released on 22 May 2020, and ...

retrogaming console in November 2023.

Reception

''PC Zone'' gave ''Duke Nukem II'' 4 out of 5 stars. ''Allgame'' gave it 3 out of 5 stars for the original DOS version and 4 out of 5 for the Game Boy Color version.

References

External links

Duke Nukem II website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duke Nukem 2 1993 video games Apogee games DOS games Duke Nukem Fiction set around Rigel Game Boy Color games Games commercially released with DOSBox GT Interactive games IOS games Linux games MacOS games Platformers Science fiction video games Shareware games Side-scrolling platformers Single-player video games Slipgate Ironworks games Torus Games games Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Bobby Prince Windows games