Duke Nukem _ Gaming Character Archive #009
Some gaming characters are heroes. Some are anti-heroes.
And then there’s Duke Nukem, who apparently wandered out of a 1980s action movie, found a PC, and decided the entire gaming industry needed more explosions.
For #009 of Gramepa’s Gaming Character Archive, we’re heading back to the 1990s and the outrageous action hero who helped give PC shooters a bit more personality.
Duke started life in 1991 before Duke Nukem 3D transformed him into one of gaming’s most recognisable characters.
Big guns.
Big ego.
Bigger hair.
Subtlety: 2/100.
And somehow that may still be generous.
Duke Nukem is an excellent fit for #009 because his importance isn’t simply that he was a recognisable 1990s gaming character. He began life in the 1991 PC platformer Duke Nukem, appeared again in Duke Nukem II in 1993, and was radically reinvented for Duke Nukem 3D in 1996 as the wise-cracking, hyper-macho action hero who became the character most people remember.
Duke Nukem 3D was particularly significant because it pushed the FPS beyond simply running down corridors and shooting things. Its interactive environments, recognisable real-world-inspired locations, destructible/interactable elements, pop-culture satire and deliberately outrageous protagonist helped distinguish it from the Doom-inspired shooters surrounding it. It also became a major commercial success, selling around 3.5 million copies.
And today marks 30 years since Duke Nukem 3D first arrived in 1996, making him particularly appropriate for the Archive right now.
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