Penny Arcade Forums› Games and Technology
The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.

The Death and Return of Apogee

SkutSkutSkutSkut Registered User regular
edited July 2008 in Games and Technology
Apogee (at least the name sake) is back! If you don't remember Apogee you missed the golden age of PC side scrollers. Apogee published Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, and a couple of FPS slaughtered before their time, such as Blake Stone.

Article

The Dopefish Lives!

Blake Stone-

blkstone.gif

Old school Duke Nukem

duke_nukem1.jpg

And of course, Commander Keen

3413-keen1.jpg

I welcome our side scrolling overlords back.

steam_sig.png
Handmade Jewelry by me on EtsyGames for sale
Me on Twitch!
SkutSkut on

Posts

  • W2W2 Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Oh my god Commander Keen.


    If ever there was a franchise that deserves another go, it's Keen. Filled with such cheesy 90's attitude.

    W2 on
  • korodullinkorodullin What. SCRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Does this mean we may be seeing a new Rise of the Triad? Or Raptor? I sure as hell hope so, since those two games alone were better than 90% of Apogee's stuff.

    korodullin on
    ZvOMJnu.png
    - The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (2017, colorized)
  • MonstyMonsty Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I shall now re-enact Rise of the Triad for the viewing public.

    "Infidel!"
    "They'll bury you in a lunch box."
    "Wheeee! Oooooh! A-oooooh! A-wheeee!"
    "Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! AWOOOOOOO!"
    Guts everywhere.

    Fuck! God mode, dog mode, shrooms mode, EKG mode....so many amazing modes. Yes, we need another Rise of the Triad. Don't forget the first known case of the "rocket jump". And actually...wasn't it the first game you could play a Black main character? To Wikipedia!

    EDIT:
    I swear I read that in an interview. Must have been related to PC games unless Moonwalker had nothing to do with Michael Jackson. Heh

    Monsty on
  • NickTheNewbieNickTheNewbie Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    If i don't get a sequel to cosmo's cosmic adventures, I am going to kill somebody.

    NickTheNewbie on
    MAGFest, the Music And Gaming Festival.
    eW7bOmh.png
  • Nite-ManNite-Man Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Apogee means action!

    Anyone remember Bio Menace & Hocus Pocus?

    Nite-Man on
    The first significant thing living here taught me is conformity costs money, and everybody pays.
  • reVersereVerse Attack and Dethrone God Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Man, Rise of the Triad. That was such an awesome game.

    What was that one gun, drunken rocket launcher or something? It'd launch several rockets and they'd all fly whichever way, as if they were drunk? Such a great weapon.

    reVerse on
  • Bouncing_SoulBouncing_Soul Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Commander Keen and Duke Nukem were the first two games I ever bought for my IBM PS/2. It was from some mail-order catalog, I have no idea what it was called though.

    Those were the two best things I ever bought.

    Bouncing_Soul on
    Umlauf.gif
    Buy some useless stuff at my Cafepress site!
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Commander Keen needs to be revamped for a new generation of platform games. Although these days he'd have a lot of competition.

    subedii on
  • NickTheNewbieNickTheNewbie Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Nite-Man wrote: »
    Apogee means action!

    Anyone remember Bio Menace & Hocus Pocus?

    Biomenace was fucking awesome. A mullet and a machinegun.

    NickTheNewbie on
    MAGFest, the Music And Gaming Festival.
    eW7bOmh.png
  • MonstyMonsty Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Drunk missiles, son. That WAS a great weapon.

    I still recall a match ages ago. I opened an elevator to be greeted by a dog-moded friend mauling me. I couldn't stop laughing seeing the door fly open and this two-foot little werewolf bastard pop out.

    Pure fun.

    Monsty on
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Monsty wrote: »
    "Arf! Arf! Arf! Arf! AWOOOOOOO!"

    The following needs to happen:

    1) Sequel to RotT

    2) [Game on] Thread

    3) That becomes the thread title.

    subedii on
  • ChanceChance Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Ludicrous gibs!

    Chance on
    'Chance, you are the best kind of whore.' -Henroid
  • GeodGeod swim, swim, hungryRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    subedii wrote: »
    Commander Keen needs to be revamped for a new generation of platform games. Although these days he'd have a lot of competition.

    He was "revamped." ID released a Keen game for the GBC, but it absolutely sucked. Realize that the Keen license doesn't belong to Apogee, it belongs to ID, Apogee just published it. Various other Apogee published games are similar, so just cause Apogee is back doesn't mean the franchises are ;)

    But man, what I wouldn't give for another GOOD Keen, Cosmo, Crystal Caves, Hocus Pocus, etc. I still play the oldies on my PC every now and then.

    Geod on
  • subediisubedii Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Geod wrote: »
    Keen, Cosmo, Crystal Caves, Hocus Pocus, etc.

    Gosh, I played each and every one of those.

    The number of games I could roll off, there was even a Mario Kart clone wasn't there? With zoo animals?

    subedii on
  • GeodGeod swim, swim, hungryRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    subedii wrote: »
    Geod wrote: »
    Keen, Cosmo, Crystal Caves, Hocus Pocus, etc.

    Gosh, I played each and every one of those.

    The number of games I could roll off, there was even a Mario Kart clone wasn't there? With zoo animals?

    That would be Wacky Wheels... I never played it personally. You can download a shareware copy at 3drealms, as well as most of the games we're talking about here. Might need DOSBox to run them though.

    http://www.3drealms.com/wacky/

    Geod on
  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    I loved Apogee games. A friend of mine made up lyrics that went with the little Apogee tune at the beginning of the game over their logo.

    "Oh come on down and you will see why everyone likes Apogee!"

    There was this one side scrolling horror game they released that was quite gory...Johnny something? I don't remember. That one was awesome. Along with everything the OP mentioned.

    brynstar on
    Xbox Live: Xander51
    PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
  • W2W2 Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    brynstar wrote: »
    I loved Apogee games. A friend of mine made up lyrics that went with the little Apogee tune at the beginning of the game over their logo.

    "Oh come on down and you will see why everyone likes Apogee!"

    There was this one side scrolling horror game they released that was quite gory...Johnny something? I don't remember. That one was awesome. Along with everything the OP mentioned.

    Ahh, Monster Bash.

    The main character was a kid called Johnny Dash.

    W2 on
  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    W2 wrote: »
    brynstar wrote: »
    I loved Apogee games. A friend of mine made up lyrics that went with the little Apogee tune at the beginning of the game over their logo.

    "Oh come on down and you will see why everyone likes Apogee!"

    There was this one side scrolling horror game they released that was quite gory...Johnny something? I don't remember. That one was awesome. Along with everything the OP mentioned.

    Ahh, Monster Bash.

    The main character was a kid called Johnny Dash.

    Aha yes! Monster Bash starring Johnny Dash. Thanks. That's the one. :)

    brynstar on
    Xbox Live: Xander51
    PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
  • theSquidtheSquid Sydney, AustraliaRegistered User regular
    edited July 2008
    This brings back childhood memories.

    My fave was Commander Keen 4. Except occasionally I got frustrated and cheated.
    A 2 ENTER
    G F10
    J F10

    theSquid on
  • PeewiPeewi Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Nite-Man wrote: »
    Apogee means action!

    Anyone remember Bio Menace & Hocus Pocus?

    I don't know Hocus Pocus, but I actually played the first level of Bio Menace just yesterday.

    Peewi on
    Switch: SW-6132-4331-5349 | Steam profile | I made a small video game. It's free on itch.io
    0hK3V5P.png
  • RichardTauberRichardTauber Kvlt Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Monsty wrote: »
    And actually...wasn't it the first game you could play a Black main character? To Wikipedia!

    Maniac Mansion had a black main character as well and that was 87, so yeah ...

    Wacky Wheels was great. A sequel would be awesome.

    RichardTauber on
  • SkutSkutSkutSkut Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Bio Menace sounds familiar. To the internets!

    Hehe it is what I remember, yay nostalgia.

    SkutSkut on
    steam_sig.png
    Handmade Jewelry by me on EtsyGames for sale
    Me on Twitch!
  • MonstyMonsty Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Definitely must've been something to do with being on PC then. Maybe I've been had!

    Still seems late for such a thing... hmmm. Meh. I may never know where my mind came up with this.

    Monsty on
  • DanHibikiDanHibiki Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    brynstar wrote: »
    I loved Apogee games. A friend of mine made up lyrics that went with the little Apogee tune at the beginning of the game over their logo.

    "Oh come on down and you will see why everyone likes Apogee!"

    There was this one side scrolling horror game they released that was quite gory...Johnny something? I don't remember. That one was awesome. Along with everything the OP mentioned.

    Halloween Harry?
    (aka Alien Carnage)

    DanHibiki on
  • brynstarbrynstar Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    DanHibiki wrote: »
    brynstar wrote: »
    I loved Apogee games. A friend of mine made up lyrics that went with the little Apogee tune at the beginning of the game over their logo.

    "Oh come on down and you will see why everyone likes Apogee!"

    There was this one side scrolling horror game they released that was quite gory...Johnny something? I don't remember. That one was awesome. Along with everything the OP mentioned.

    Halloween Harry?
    (aka Alien Carnage)

    That one's not bad either, but it's Monster Bash as W2 mentioned above. Thanks for the input though!

    brynstar on
    Xbox Live: Xander51
    PSN ID : Xander51 Steam ID : Xander51
  • TechBoyTechBoy Registered User regular
    edited July 2008
    Apogee never died. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apogee_Software.
    Wikipedia Article on Apogee Software wrote:
    While the company is now known as "3D Realms", the legal name of the company is still Apogee Software, Ltd.

    Yeah, that's right. The same company that made Commander Keen and Rise of the Triad and all those gems of the 90s, has been making Duke Nukem Forever for the last 11 years.

    MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Where is your nostalgia now?!
    :cry: I loved Apogee games as a child

    TechBoy on
    tf2_sig.png
Sign In or Register to comment.
Penny Arcade Forums› Games and Technology