[Extremely Buzzfeed voice] ‘Feel old?!’
Want to feel old? You’ll never believe which 3D Realms game turns 20 today!
Duke Nukem 3D was released on January 29, 1996, two decades ago. At the time it was not only a great shooter (my favorite by far), but it also sparked a ton of controversy, an element of the gaming world that hasn’t changed all that much to the day. This was due in part to its ingenious map design, which had secrets on top of hidden areas in ways that most shooters simply didn’t match at the time. I’m celebrating, gore and suggestive content in all, by playing the Megaton version later.
One of my favorite Duke memories probably involves the options menu, of all things. My parents used to lock me out of the more mature settings, and since I couldn’t guess the password, I would uninstall the game, reinstall it, and after I was done playing, put in my own code. They would assume the game was mistaken and leave it locked.
Now kids are carded for games! Are you sure you aren’t feeling old yet?