Platformer games, you make the rocket world go round.
Platformer games have been a staple for all gaming systems since the beginning. Names like Mario, Contra, Castlevania, Sonic, Megaman are names known worldwide, because of how accessible gaming consoles were to everyone. But what about PC platformers? It's a little unfair the way I see it. Growing up I was a PC player (I had no consoles between the Atari 2600 and N64), I knew all of the console games, even without playing them. Their PC counterparts, however, slipped the cracks for most people. Here's some of the most well known ones.
COMMANDER KEEN
Commander Keen dominated a very large part of PC platformer history, with 7 primary games produced. Mundanely known as William Joseph "Billy Blaze" Blazkowicz II, after building a rocket from old cans, and donning an old Packers helmet, he becomes Commander Keen, on a mission to Mars to fight the Vorticons.
With a game engine made by id (You have heard of Doom, right?), and produced main by Apogee (can't even begin to list the amount of games they made in the late 80s and 90s), Commander Keen made cameos in so many games: Crystal Caves, Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein, Monuments of Mars, Paganitzu, Secret Agent, and even the alphabet used in the game is seen in Minecraft.
Commander Keen is sure to give you many hours of gaming goodness. Only four of the episodes are available as freeware/shareware downloads. Not sure why the rest are still protected. Download them below, and load them into D-Fend.
Episode One: Marooned on Mars
Episode Four: Secret of the Oracle
Episode Six: Aliens Ate My Babysitter
Episode Seven: Keen Dreams
DUKE NUKEM
Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum. Even with only 2 platform games, and a couple 3D sequels, I feel Duke Nukem is the most well-known franchise here. It had a Playstation version and an N64 game, and became a 14 year running joke about Duke Nukem Forever, which eventually was released in 2011.
Duke Nukem took out all the happy go lucky candy gathering of Commander Keen, and replaced it with gritty, robot fighting action. The Duke is a very Schwarzenegger-like character, with many action-hero one liners. He's on a solo mission to find and stop Dr. Proton from taking over the world. GOG.com has cheap deals on the more updated Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, and Duke Nukem 1&2 Full Versions!
Below are the free shareware versions that include the first parts of each game. Load them into D-Fend.
Duke Nukem 1
Duke Nukem 2
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
Episode One: Marooned on Mars
Episode Four: Secret of the Oracle
Episode Six: Aliens Ate My Babysitter
Episode Seven: Keen Dreams
DUKE NUKEM
Time to kick ass and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum. Even with only 2 platform games, and a couple 3D sequels, I feel Duke Nukem is the most well-known franchise here. It had a Playstation version and an N64 game, and became a 14 year running joke about Duke Nukem Forever, which eventually was released in 2011.
Duke Nukem took out all the happy go lucky candy gathering of Commander Keen, and replaced it with gritty, robot fighting action. The Duke is a very Schwarzenegger-like character, with many action-hero one liners. He's on a solo mission to find and stop Dr. Proton from taking over the world. GOG.com has cheap deals on the more updated Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition, and Duke Nukem 1&2 Full Versions!
Below are the free shareware versions that include the first parts of each game. Load them into D-Fend.
Duke Nukem 1
Duke Nukem 2
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
CCA is a lot more light-hearted than the Duke, but it's great fun. Cosmo is a suction cup-handed alien on a mission to find his lost parents after crash landing on a strange planet on their way to Disneyland. I feel CCA was a lot more innovative in it's level design, giving you a fresh look and gameplay elements just about every time. Like the other platformers here, the main goal in the game is to score points and get to the exit each level. Cosmo scores points by collecting fruit, hidden stars, and health (which look strangely like Jujufruit), earning extra lives and access to bonus boards.
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure is also shareware, so only the first parts are available for free play. Download below and load into D-Fend.
Bio Menace
I'm a little disappointed in myself for missing this one when it first came out. As soon as I loaded it up, I could tell it was a vast improvement over any other platformer of it's time. The graphics and movement are much more fluid, the action is better designed, and it's chock full of weapon powerups that make it even more fun to blow stuff up. It also added the greatly needed feature of a continue beacon, that let you come alive part of the way through the level if you died.
Snake Logan is your Dirk-Diggler-In-His-Mustache-Days looking hero on a mission to save the city from deadly mutants who have invaded. The game is delightfully gory and rarely gets too "puzzle annoying". If you only choose to play one game here, play this one.
Apogee (yet again!) release Bio Menace as freeware as a Christmas present one year as the result of a fan survey. Download the freeware, registered version straight from the developers site and load it into D-Fend.