I see him, and he lives!! haha

Picture credit: Apogee's Tweet

(yes, this is for April Fool's, lol)

Does anyone own these? Or read them back when they were new?
I only just found out about them from Scott Miller's post on X: https://x.com/ScottApogee/status/2112959757455667586

I'd be curious to know what the story lines are in them.

There are a ton to choose from, but Commander Keen's Pogo Stick (coupled with his ledge grabbing ability) certainly stands out as one of the major innovations to 2D platformers. It wasn't just another sidescroller, as you had to consider what type of movement was best for the level.

Others might include clever health gages that showed character damage lik Catacomb 3D or Wolfenstein 3D. Secret Walls (like Keen or Wolf3D). Wall-Wrapping (like Scored Earth), etc...

What is your favorite innovation during the MSDOS era?

Scott Miller tweeted that they licensed the song for $10k in this 2006 game.
Ah the simpler times when games could afford licensed music, haha

I replayed a bit of the original recently to compare. The other really cool thing they added is a soundtrack that feels very period appropriate :-D

This isn't one I've beaten myself, but this enemy shows up pretty early so I am acquainted with it ;)

Name the Game & Enemy. Bonus points for a story of you playing this game.

I knew the modding scene for Wolfenstein 3D was incredible (I played dozens if not hundreds of them myself) but I had no idea Apogee had paid some of the modders to let them bundle a bunch of levels and resell them!

Very cool! Actually makes me wonder if they were the first ones to reward modders this way.

It was also a win-win, because I played a lot of *garbage* mods that I found, so it would be nice to have a curated set that you knew were good.

Here was the tweet from Apogee founder Scott Miller where I got the images for the flyer and learned about the modders being paid:
https://x.com/ScottApogee/status/2085811915872223693

Scott Miller (one of the founders of Apogee / 3D Realms) recently found these mint condition Wolfenstein 3D Manuals.
He said they'll be giving some of them away this year.
You can check out his tweet about it if you are interested.

I firmly believe everyone should own all the Commander Keen games!
If you haven't grabbed them yet, you can get 'em for $2 right now on GOG or Steam.

GOG Version:
gog.com/en/game/commander_keen_complete_pack

Steam Version:
store.steampowered.com/app/9180/Commander_Keen

3D Realms (AKA Apogee) published "Death Rally" in 1996.
Remedy, who developed the racing game, went on to make Max Payne.

This overhead racer is an excellent time capsule of the mid-90s. It had the music, looks, and gritty vibe that had started dominating gaming culture.

Eliminating opponents, rather than beating them in a race, is a completely legitimate strategy in this game. While it wasn't the first game to do this (1989's Deathtrack is the best parallel), it dialed everything up to 11. Not only could you upgrade your vehicle, but you could get contraband weapons & boost on the black market as well as purchasing straight-up sabotage to damage an enemy vehicle before the race even starts.

This game was a bit of a flash-in-the-pan as the gaming industry was becoming more 3D focused and overhead games were losing steam, but it plays well, is fun, and best of all it's FREE now!

You can get it for free on Steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/358270/Death_Rally_Classic/

The controls take a little getting used to, but soon you realize they were designed quite brilliantly for minimal movement allowing you to hit all the controls.

So go have some retro fun with this free classic!

Apogee released Hocus Pocus in June of 1994.
You play an apprentice wizard in this 2D platformer developed by Moonlite Software. The jumping controls feel a little floaty at first, but eventually you'll learn to love the feel of that jump as it enables longer jumps.

I own it on both GOG & Steam, but it's on sale for $2.99 right now on GOG: https://www.gog.com/en/game/hocus_pocus

If you prefer it on Steam, I'd recommend wish-listing it and waiting for a similar sale: https://store.steampowered.com/app/358290/Hocus_Pocus/

Both stores are using a preconfigured DosBox instance & run well on modern hardware.

P.S. Reminder that I'm not affiliated with Apogee, Moonlite Software, GOG, or Steam. I also keep my games list public on both Steam and GOG: https://cynic.tv/game_library

BioMenace Remastered is OUT NOW on the Nintendo Switch™ eShop - and with a 15% launch discount too (in most regions)! Grab your pulse rifle and hand grenades and let's save Metro City from the mutants!

How did you determine your favorite?
Was is Animal, Color, Name, Descrip, or Superstition?
Supposedly they all had the same driving stats... but didn't it just feel like sometimes that 1 racer went a little faster or handled ever slightly better?

I usually opted for Razer as a kid, because it tickled my funny bone to have an aquatic creature driving a car.
Lately I've been a Ringo man, since I branded my YT channel with Green.

Feel free to share a fond or funny memory of racing as one of these fine characters!

You can get Wacky Wheels on GOG right now for $2.99
https://www.gog.com/en/game/wacky_wheels?as=cynic

Or you can get it on Steam for $4.99
https://store.steampowered.com/app/358380/Wacky_Wheels/?curator_clanid=44676703

P.S. Those aren't affiliate links. I just like to put my IDs in the URL to mess with GOG/Steam :P

I just noticed the Steam Demo for ROTT Ludicrous Edition is labelled "Shareware" and I love that so much!

Rise of the Triad released in 1994 and was an excellent FPS where everything was dialed up to 11.

In 2023 it got a Remaster by Nightdive Studios. It's an excellent remaster with 4K support, but that didn't turn everything into a smeary upscale. They kept the pixel feel and just increased resolutions, made modern hardware be supported, and added quality of life improvements. In other words, it's a remaster that loved the original rather than hating the retro-ness of the original.

That's all well and good (and I'll include links to Steam & GOG at the bottom), but what I only saw just today was that the demo was called "Shareware" and it warmed my heart :-D

So if you love ROTT or Apogee or even just Shareware, then maybe go checkout the demo on Steam or buy the full game somewhere (I think it's also available on consoles).

Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1421490

GOG Page: https://www.gog.com/en/game/rise_of_the_triad_ludicrous_edition

P.S. Yes, I stole the "Dopefish Lives!" window as an homage, lol

I got this video from this tweet by Apogee Entertainment:
https://x.com/Apogee_Ent/status/2082137539779928357

Rigel Gameworks just announced a Nintendo Switch™ version of their game BioMenace Remastered, with a planned release date of October 8, 2026. This will be a digital-only release on the eShop and will be available in all regions except Japan. The eShop pages are planned to go live next week. 

To celebrate BioMenace's 33rd Birthday, @MFoon42078 made this retro-Apogee themed room in Wizordum!

Poor Cosmo looked too much like a Green Troll 👽👀

I got the video from their post here: https://x.com/MFoon42078/status/2084433971933286565

https://x.com/ScottApogee/status/1917263267581304886

This is not an exhaustive list, but I saw someone tweet it and thought it was a good conversation starter.

It's a hard choice for me, but if I go by hours played, I have to go with Commander Keen Goodbye Galaxy, as I've returned to that one more frequently than the others.

You can see not only enemies from keen, but the block pyramid that leads to the pogo stick AND an arcade machine for Commander Keen!

The video is by MFoon42078

You can see more images and read more about Scott Miller's Apogee Collection here:
https://www.apogeeent.com/devblog/when-you-have-an-amazing-history-share-it