What is the best way to play Duke Nukem?

[Karnasis]

Should I just buy the Anniversary Edition from Steam? Or is it better to buy the original version from some other store and then use a custom sourceport?

 

The only Build Engine game I have ever played was Ion Fury and that was literally like 5 weeks ago, so I do not have the full scope on what is the best way to enjoy the funny Dooki Nooki game.

[D4NUK1]

You can buy the atomic edition from zoom, that will give you also the D.C and the Beach expansion.

 

You can play with Raze source port, and if you like it and want more, you can try the Randy version to grab the files and play the World Tour levels, or try they Source port but the feels it's hit or miss in some aspects, like weapons switching and mouse movement.

[Devalaous]

The Anniversary Edition is 90% off right now, it costs less then a budget meat pie at my local store and will give far more entertainment, you really cant go wrong at that price. And even if *everything* about the port feels wrong, you can still load its files with Raze and other ports.

 

Ive played the full first episode of the 20th Anniversary Edition, and its definitely functional and feels okay. Not 'the best' but its literally $2.39 in my country right now; how can anyone complain at that price?

[Berubaretto]

3 hours ago, Karnasis said:

Should I just buy the Anniversary Edition from Steam? 

Since the Anniversary Edition is on discount now at a very low price, it is not a bad idea. Source ports like eduke32 and Raze support the Anniversary Edition as well. And some people made a collection of official addons which the Anniversary Edition lacks in the guide, get it if you have interest in these addons.

 

However, it doesn't mean the Anniversary is the best way. That port has some weird problems and bugs (you can avoid these by using source ports). But it is still okay.

[Professor Hastig]

For the current price you cannot really go wrong on the anniversary edition.

 

Just a few pieces of advice:

 

Don't use its engine to play the game, aside from the dynamic light effects it's awful, and even the lighting often feels overdone.

This edition 'censors' the red crosses on the medikits and contains clean variants of the end-of-episode text screens so it may not be optimal for the existing ports as none is trying to compensate for this.

Since it doesn't contain the old mission packs, it may be worth getting the Zoom version in addition to it, AFAIK this one contains the unaltered graphics from the original release.

 

As for using a source port, my recommendation would be Raze 1.5. The newer versions work mostly fine by now, but the last official release still misses some bugfixes that are available in the git repo but remain unreleased for now.

 

[leejacksonaudio]

What is the best way to play Duke Nukem?

 

With the music turned on. :)

[Midway64]

4 hours ago, Professor Hastig said:

This edition 'censors' the red crosses on the medikits.

 

I can respect this change, in fact I prefer this decision, after all, many games got the medikits wrong (supposed to be white cross on a green background) and it's not respectable to keep the irrelevant Red Cross on your medikit and say "Screw off!" right to them.

 

Now on topic... I don't own DN3D. I would have bought it on GOG, but Randy decided it would be good if they pulled it off store (due to the DN rights acquisition).

[ASD]

Find a copy of the original v1.5. That's Atomic Edition which was the equivalent to the classic dooms' v1.9.

5 hours ago, leejacksonaudio said:

What is the best way to play Duke Nukem?

 

With the music turned on. :)

and make it louder.

[Graf Zahl]

1 hour ago, ASD said:

Find a copy of the original v1.5. That's Atomic Edition which was the equivalent to the classic dooms' v1.9.

and make it louder.

 

 

The Zoom version is the best offer around:

 

https://www.zoom-platform.com/product/duke-nukem-3d-atomic-edition

 

Of couse with the anniversary edition being heavily discounted it may be worth it for the new episode, of course, but not more.

 

[MrFlibble]

You can always take a stab at the original DOS shareware version, which includes the first episode and is free.

 

EDuke32 will give you a fairly accurate vanilla experience with a few non-intrusive QoL improvements. Apart from EDuke32 and Raze, there are other source ports out there, but most of them have not been updated in quite a while.

[spineapple tea]

Not an answer to the question but I would like to thank everyone for mentioning Raze again since I forgot about it. I actually bought the 20th Anniversary Edition last night more as a "well now I legally own it" thing but now that I've tried it using Raze I can confidently say that it is very cool.

[SiFi270]

9 hours ago, leejacksonaudio said:

What is the best way to play Duke Nukem?

 

With the music turned on. :)

It's only giving me the option to toggle sound in general, and even when it's enabled there's no music. Is there something wrong with my copy?

 

...wait a moment. That's not Duke Nukem, it's Duke Nukum! GOG sold me the wrong game all those years ago! I'll have to track down the real thing. Could this be it?

Spoiler

...uh-oh...

Oh thank gosh.

There we go. Thanks for the advice!

[FecalMystAche]

Once you own the game one way or another and have access to the DUKE3D.GRP and DUKE.RTS files.. If you want a vanilla experience without using DOSBOX, then try the RedNukem source port. It’s basically EDuke32 but with more vanilla accurate additions and demo compatibility. Otherwise try EDuke32. Both support Mapster32.

Edited July 11, 2023 by FecalMystAche

[The Royal We]

The best way to play Duke Nukem is by kicking ass and chewing bubble gum,

especially if you're out of gum.

 

Jokes aside, I like EDuke32. 
I've never tested Raze, but I got curious reading the recommendations.

I would only buy the anniversary edition to use the files in a port. And I'd still feel displeased: if it weren't for new maps and old faces, this version would be just a bad, sad, dad joke.

 

Regardless of how you're going to play, I reinforce @leejacksonaudio words.

Turn up the speakers for real.

[G19Doom]

EDuke32. Do it now!

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

Chocolate-Duke3D if you want the Vanilla Experience^TM without DOSBox, issue is, you have to compile it yourself. Still it's pretty good, I've been using it for a while now and I can definitively recommend it.

[Captain red pants]

On 7/11/2023 at 8:03 AM, D4NUK1 said:

You can buy the atomic edition from zoom, that will give you also the D.C and the Beach expansion.

 

How is zoom anyway? (and how did they manage to scoop atomic edition?)

[Devalaous]

16 hours ago, leejacksonaudio said:

What is the best way to play Duke Nukem?

 

With the music turned on. :)

 

Theres one level in the game I often load up in ports JUST for the amazing music track on it, I think its Lunar Reactor. I had it playing for three hours in a background window once.

[Professor Hastig]

9 hours ago, MrFlibble said:

You can always take a stab at the original DOS shareware version, which includes the first episode and is free.

 

EDuke32 will give you a fairly accurate vanilla experience with a few non-intrusive QoL improvements.

 

Ironically I found that this is the one thing EDuke32 would not give me. If you want vanilla accuracy, better use RedNukem or DukeGDX instead.

 

 

[MrFroz]

I am currently recording a playthrough of Duke Nukem 3D playing with 20th Anniversary Edition, mainly because of the rewind feature which helps me die less. If I was just casually playing the game tho, the Megaton Edition would be just fine any other day.

[famicommander]

 

[MrFlibble]

On 7/12/2023 at 8:52 AM, Professor Hastig said:

 

Ironically I found that this is the one thing EDuke32 would not give me. If you want vanilla accuracy, better use RedNukem or DukeGDX instead.

 

 

Duh, you're right, RedNukem is the way to go for a more accurate thing. I'm so used to EDuke32 nowadays I forgot about that one. Shame on me.

 

EDuke32 is still fairly close to the vanilla thing, unless you're hunting for exact details.

On 7/13/2023 at 4:52 AM, MrFroz said:

Megaton Edition

IIRC, Megaton was based on the old JFDuke port, wasn't it? I used to use that one (I mean JFDuke) a long time ago, I remember it had some minor issues with the minimised HUD for some reason (or was it the other way around?). Back when I still used Win98, those were the times.

Edited July 15, 2023 by MrFlibble

[MrFroz]

38 minutes ago, MrFlibble said:

IIRC, Megaton was based on the old JFDuke port, wasn't it? I used to use that one (I mean JFDuke) a long time ago, I remember it had some minor issues with the minimised HUD for some reason (or was it the other way around?). Back when I still used Win98, those were the times.

 

Don't remember trying any other Duke port besides of eDuke32 before I purchased the game, and I didn't know what Megaton Edition was based on until now. I am glad I got Megaton back when it was still for sale on Steam, it was in fact one of the first games I ever purchased on my account in 2014 along with Shadow Warrior Classic Redux. Also the fact that Megaton featured the other expansions like Duke It Out in D.C. which are absent from 20th Anniversary World Tour is another reason why I prefer Megaton overall.