If I say the words "Duke Nukem Forever", everything a company should not do when developing a video game automatically comes to mind… however, there is much more to it. We have a history, a chain of conflicts, a large amount of material, and of course, leaks. In May of this year, an unfinished version of DNF from 2001 was leaked, but the Duke decided to end 2022 with a bit more noise, with the leak of the canceled 2D version. That's right, Duke Nukem Forever had a side-scroller in the '90s, and today we show it to you..
The year was 1996. Duke Nukem 3D had taken the market by storm, quickly separating itself from other FPS games thanks to the interactive/destructive component of its levels, a very potent dose of politically incorrect humor, and a fabulous multiplayer mode (which I greatly enjoyed at the time). The masterminds at 3D Realms, with co-founder George Broussard at the helm, announced their sequel Duke Nukem Forever in April 1997. The original plan was to create this new title on the Quake II engine, and bring it to market for Christmas 1998.
Clearly, that never happened… but among all that chaos some interesting things arose, including a 2D version of Duke Nukem Forever. This is where I go into "Grandpa Simpson mode" and explain to younger readers that the first two Duke Nukem games were side-scrollers, but with the spectacular success of Duke Nukem 3D, continuing in that genre didn't make any sense. Still, in the last few days, a copy of that "Duke Nukem Forever 2D" was leaked, courtesy of a 4chan leaker called "x0r_jmp", the same one who leaked a build (dated 2001) mid-May.
Duke Nukem Forever, In Its 1996 2D Version
Now, the game is not a secret or anything like that. Its images have been circulating on the Web for a good while, but it's the first time a playable build has appeared. Its graphics are the product of rendering Duke3D as two-dimensional sprites. What does that mean? That Forever 2D has a look similar to other '90s classics like Donkey Kong Country. As for the name "Forever", the game's creators explained that it was a reference to Eva, a well-endowed Russian soldier with whom Duke had fallen in love. The expression "Duke Nukem 4 Eva" eventually became Duke Nukem Forever.
Would you like to try Duke Nukem Forever in all its two-dimensional glory? You're in luck: The Internet Archive already has a copy of the original files, the level editor, and adapted versions for running under DOSBox Staging. What are you waiting for?
Download Duke Nukem Forever 2D: Click here
Source: Ars Technica
