Duke Nukem 64 #8 Aliens want to take over the world

Introduction

Duke Nukem 3D makes its way to the N64 for the first time, with plenty of new additions. Weapons: New weapons include two sub-machine guns (one in each hand), the Expander (the bad guys just go pop!) a plasma cannon (which is chargeable) and a grenade launcher. Sadly, there are a few missing from the original PC version, including the Ripper Chaingun, the Devastator, and the Freeze-Ray.

Presentation: The biggest changes come here, as there are new areas to explore, some improved environments, and the same wise cracks that have made Duke famous. There are also some jokes hidden away based on classic movies (Clockwork Orange, 12 Monkeys, Mars Attacks and Apocalypse Now).

However, there have been plenty of restrictions in this version of Duke 3D. Nintendo have replaced some areas (the porn mag shop has turned into a gun store, the bar is now a burger joint, and the nude women are not nude anymore), and there is an option available to turn the blood off.

A 4 player mode has also been included, where you can take on your mates as well as Duke Bots, and a 2 player co-op mode, so two players can tackle the single player missions.

Romp through the alien infested city of Los Angeles. Duke Nukem returns from a little vacation to save the City of Angels and destroy the aliens in this lead-packing sequel! With powerful weapons, more of the trademark Duke humor, and a soundtrack with bands such as Megadeath, this is one pistol packin' adventure that's high in testosterone and short on charm.

Controls

This is the button setup for the standard setting (Control Stick look / right handed):

• - Look and Aim
• - Activate/Investigate
• - Crouch
• - Strafe Left
• - Strafe Right
• - Move Forward
• - Move Backward
• - Jump
• - (De-)Activate Items
• - Shoot
• - Switch Weapons
• - Switch Items
• - Pause

Weapons

Kick

Every Ego-Shooter has to have a close quarter attack like this and like in any other game of its genre the kick is a mere last resort. At least usually; use the kick against alien eggs and face huggers and use it to break objects and on the hardest difficulty setting also to tear apart corpses of fallen enemies (lizards and single pig cops, mutants and dinos).

Pistol

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 192

The pistol is your first real weapon and it should be treated as such: It is nice to have in the first few levels but later on the enemies would only laugh at you for using it. The pistol is great against lizards and sharks to save ammo and it also is a good choice against small groups of mutants. Furthermore it can be employed to defeat single pig cops if you can strafe behind a corner to hide and even suicidal gliders can be taken out with the pistol if there is only one of them. Still, as long as you are not broken in terms of ammo in general, leave the pistol in your bag. Besides its low damage the pistol also has the disadvantage of reloading after every 12 shots. Pistol ammo cannot only be found the normal way, but lizards also sometimes drop it.

Pistol (Dum Dums)

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 36

This special ammo has the same characteristics of the normal pistol ammo (including reload times) but it is way more powerful making it a great weapon against lizards, pig cops, dinos, mutants and both kinds of gliders. Unfortunately, though, Dum Dums are rare. Note that Duke will always first use up the Dum Dums before feeding his pistol with normal ammo again, unless you pick up normal ammo while holding the pistol in your hand.

Shotgun

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 50

The shotgun is worse than it might seem. Sure, it deals decent damage on close distance and its spread makes it hard to miss with it, but the reloading times in between two shots render the shotgun a rather useless weapon later in the game. Use it against lizards, pig cops, pig gliders and sentry guns and against mutants as long as you are able to dodge their attacks. The most annoying enemies later on, though, are the dinos and they attack to fast for the shotgun to be of any use. Suicidal gliders can also be defeated with the shotgun, but only do so when there is just one of them around and only when it is still rather far away. Another good use of the shotgun is to dispose corpses of weak and medium enemies. Pig cops can drop shotguns when dying.

Shotgun (Explosive Ammo)

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 20

The explosive ammo does not spread like the normal shotgun ammo does, so it is way better on long distances, which is definitely necessary as the explosion it creates has a big radius. Ergo: Stay away from whatever you want to hit or else you get hurt badly. The explosive shells are a great weapon against any enemy except for mini Battlelords and mini Overlords. Also use it to blow up corpses over a long distance. Note that Duke will always first use up the explosive shells before feeding his shotgun with normal ammo again, unless you pick up normal ammo while holding the shotgun in your hands.

Sub Machine Guns

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 400

This is the best weapon in the whole game. A single hit is not very powerful, but luckily the SMGs can pack a crapload of ammo and they have an extremely high lizard of fire. The SMGs can be used at any distance and against any enemy (except for flying pigs, mini Battlelords and mini Overlords), serving better than most other weapons in any situation. Just do not waste the ammo to blow up corpses. Dinos may drop SMG ammo or even SMGs upon dying.

Grenade Launcher

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 48

Besides the SMGs the grenade launcher is my weapon of choice. The grenades bounce off walls and such to either blow up after a few seconds or upon hitting an enemy or the Duke. Its only two downsides are the danger for yourself (the blast radius is quite large) and that the grenades bounce off of inactivated enemies. The grenade launcher is great against big groups of enemies, it is perfect for completely blowing up far-off enemies, it is strong enough for every enemy except for mini Overlords and mini Battlelords and it can be used to fire around corners or at enemies down below. This is a really cool weapon, but conserve your ammo as grenades are rare to find. Also only use it rarely to blow up corpses as the grenades bounce off of them.

Pipe Bombs

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 50

Pipe bombs are a lot stronger than grenades but they require being close to the target, so their main use is to blow up corpses of big enemies (like mini Battlelords) or big clusters of corpses and to hit enemies down below, but they also work well when a big enemy is stuck behind a wall nearby and you can drop a bomb past the wall or when there are enemies around a corner. Also note that pipe bombs can deal damage through force fields. Watch out for the explosion as it has a wide radius and it can damage you badly. Dropped pipe bombs can be picked up again. Pipe bombs lying around (no matter whether you dropped them or if they simply have been there from the start) can be shot to create an explosion, but picking them up and placing them yourself is usually better.

Shrinker / Expander (Shrinker Crystals)

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 66

The shrinker is another great weapon. A single hit will shrink any of these enemies (read on for a list) so they are left with no actions available, except for moving. Lizards, Pig Cops, Dinos, Alien Eggs, Mutants, and even Flying Pigs.

All you have to do to defeat them is step onto them and do not worry. The effect wears off after a few seconds so do not let your prey get away. Use the shrinker against flying pigs and against big groups of dinos in narrow places. Against the latter one you should shrink one, strafe around a corner, strafe back and fire again, as this gun has a bit of delay due to reloading.

Unfortunately the shrinker ammo does not deal any damage against any enemy not present in my list, but at least this should guarantee that you do not use the shrinker all too often, which is good, since its ammo is quite rare.

Shrinker / Expander (Expander Crystals)

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 99

The expander on the other hand works against every enemy (except for the three bosses). Its fire slowly enlarges an enemy until it blows up. When it does, any enemy close to it will also blow up, but the expander is completely safe for you to use. Also note that the expander does a little amount of damage with every hit, so you do not have to rely on its blow-up effect solely. Its damage is nearly non-existing and the blow up effect takes to long to work, especially against bigger enemies.

Missile Launcher

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 50

The Missile Launcher fires off a rocket going in a straight line and dealing way more damage than the grenade launcher, also with a bigger explosion. This makes the missile launcher the ideal weapon against mini Overlords and mini Battlelords on medium or long distance and it can also be used against big groups of enemies or to shoot into an opening at a far distance. Also employ it to blow up corpses on a big distance unless you have explosive shotgun ammo.

Missile Launcher (Heat-Seeking Missiles)

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 25

These rare goodies deal the same amount of damage as the normal missiles and they basically have the same characteristics overall, but (as the name shows) they home in on enemies. This can be pretty useful sometimes, but then again sometimes you want to hit a certain enemy, yet the missile has its plans. Just use them as if they were normal missiles; make no difference between them.

Note that Duke will always first use up the heat-seeking missiles before feeding his weapon with normal ammo again, unless you pick up normal missiles while holding the missile launcher in your hands.

Tripbombs

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 10

After planting these on a wall a laser beam pops out a few seconds later. If anything crosses the laser, the bomb blows up, creating a neat explosion. Another useless weapon: They do not deal as much damage as you might expect, they only work in narrow places as otherwise the enemy can be quite far away from the bomb itself when interrupting the laser beam and the tripbombs are also dangerous for you.

Plasma Cannon

Maximum Ammo Capacity: 99

The plasma cannon is quite powerful. It can be charged to fire off either small energy balls that barely deal any damage or bigger plasma balls that can dematerialize most enemies in a single strike. Of course, the bigger the charge, the more ammo is used up. Also note that the plasma cannon does not leave any corpses behind, making it a great choice e.g. against demons.

Enemies

Lizards

These little guys appear throughout the whole game. They have a jetpack and they can teleport away, only reappearing in your back when you approach their old position, but still they do not mean much of a threat as they cannot take much damage, deal few damage and as their shots are fairly slow and can be dodged. Furthermore their corpses can easily be destroyed by kicking them. Sometimes they drop pistol ammo when dying.

1. Pistol (when there are only lizards around)
2. Shotgun (a single hit is all it takes)
3. Grenade Launcher (against big groups of lizards)

Pig Cops

These mutated LA police men wield a shotgun and wear armor, making them somewhat tough in the first few levels and still later on if they get close to you. Luckily they cannot take that much damage even with their armor on. Strafe behind corners to avoid their shotgun blows and use anything stronger than the pistol against them. Moving around makes them miss sometimes, but it is just a matter of luck. Kick their corpses when there are only one or two of the around, otherwise use the shotgun Pig cops can drop shotguns and used armor when being defeated. In the space episode you will only face one of these, but on earth they are quite common.

1. Shotgun (when there are only pig cops and maybe some lizards around)
2. SMGs
3. Grenade Launcher (against big groups of pig cops)

Pig Gliders

These hover gliders resembling a shark are steered by a pig cop. They fly around wildly, following a patrol way, making it a bit hard to hit them. Luckily they do not deal a lot of damage and their fire can be dodged. After destroying them a pig cop climbs out of the rubble. Pig gliders do not appear in space levels at all.

1. Shotgun (two well placed blows will do)
2. SMGs (they work well against the pig gliders, but do not waste their ammo; the shotgun is just fine against them)
3. Grenade Launcher

Mutants

These floating tentacle-monsters mostly appear in or near water, shooting some strange energy beam at their prey. They deal quite some damage and they can also withstand relatively much, but fortunately their attack can be easily dodged and underwater mutants will stay underwater almost always so they do not mean big danger. If you see a water basin you can almost be sure of it to contain some mutants. Jump into the water so you dive down a little bit and instantly surface and leave the water. This activates the mutants (see the general hints section for more info on this subject) allowing you to drop down one or two pipe bombs or grenades to clear the basin. A single mutant's corpse can be kicked, but if there's more than that you should use the shotgun or pipe bombs.

1. Grenade Launcher (two of these are all it takes and it also takes care of their corpses; furthermore grenades are perfect against mutants in water basins.
2. Pipe Bombs (against underwater mutants when you are not in the water)
3. Shotgun (saves other, better ammo)

Alien Eggs

Destroy these before they can open up, releasing a face hugger, but do not waste any ammo on them. Just close in on them and kick them.

1. Kick
2. Grenade Launcher (if you quickly want to blast bigger groups of eggs)
3. Pistol (against eggs on long distances)

Face Huggers

The face huggers slowly crawl toward you, alternating between the floor and the ceiling. Once they have reached you, they climb up your face, blocking your vision and constantly depleting your health. When you see a hugger on your face, quickly fire no matter what weapon you have currently equipped (of course you should still watch out not to fire an explosive while being close to some object). The best way to deal with them is to run around while constantly kicking. This way you will get rid of them quickly and they cannot hurt you (except for the puddle of acid they sometimes leave behind when dying). If other enemies are around as well just use the grenade launcher on the bigger enemies and the huggers will get caught in the blast eventually.

1. Kick
2. Grenade Launcher
3. Pistol

Dinos

These guys look like a Tyrannosaurus Rex, but they pack way more fire power than those lovely little creatures that reached fame in Jurassic Park. The dinos wield Sub Machine Guns and they can jump pretty high and far. They aim extremely well, so strafing around might save a few health points, but it is never near as useful as against lizards and pig cops for example. Still unless you use a weapon with a high rate of fire you better strafe around as they also have a second attack: Rarely these enemies spit some acid at you which deals lots of damage and blurs your vision for a while. Generally you should dispose the dinos as quickly as possible. They might not deal that much damage on their own, but as they nearly always appear in groups and as their quick weapons are precise and deal the same amount of damage at every distance, they can get a pesky threat. You can destroy a dino's corpse by kicking it, but if there are more than one of them you better use the shotgun, the SMGs or a pipe bomb. Dinos can drop SMGs and SMG ammo when being defeated.

1. SMGs
2. Grenade Launcher
3. Shrinker

Suicidal Gliders

These flying, mechanical drones can be heard over long distances already as they have some sort of roaring and summing to them. They do not have any weapons, but they try to home in on you to detonate on contact. They can be outrun and circle-strafed relatively easily in large areas, but when there are multiple gliders in a narrow spot you should definitely equip the SMGs and keep firing. Hitting a glider makes it stop for a brief moment, so the faster your fire rate, the harder it is for a glider to come close. The SMGs even allow for a complete halt. Destroying them also makes them blow up, possibly damaging other enemies. Sometimes the gliders will detonate themselves when you stand on the other side of a closed door, gate or hatch, but try not to rely on this too often as they sometimes open the gate themselves or somehow manage to pass through the gate instead.

1. SMGs
2. Shotgun (against single gliders or when you have enough space to run away)
3. Pistol (against single gliders)

Flying Pigs

You will encounter these big bad guys in space for the first time, but they also come down to earth with you. They either slash in close combat or shoot missiles. So stay away from them and you should be able to dodge their slow attacks.

1. Shrinker
2. Grenade Launcher
3. Missile Launcher

Demons

They run fast so they can quickly reach and slash you. This is not what you have to fear the most. Sometimes they emit a shrinker beam, rendering you an easy piece of prey. Run away from them backward and keep shooting good weapons. As long as you stay far away from them you should be able to dodge any shrinker beams, but if you do not feel comfortable on this, strafe around as well. Demons are highly lethal, which means you better dispose them first.

1. Grenade Launcher
2. SMGs
3. Shotgun

Sentry Guns

These are automatic guns, waiting on ceilings and floors for the Duke to come into sight. They employ the same ammo as the lizards, making them quite harmless, but still they can get pesky, especially when there are multiple sentry guns around. Hitting a sentry gun makes it unable to attack, pretty similar to the suicidal gliders.

1. Shotgun
2. Missile Launcher
3. Pistol

Sharks

You will meet these creatures extremely rarely and when you do, you are in no danger. Sharks sometimes ignore you and when they do not they swim toward you, trying to get a bite out of you. Simply stay away a bit and keep firing at them.

1. Pistol
2. Shotgun
3. SMGs

Mini Battlelords

This is smaller (yet still huge) version of the first boss. You will meet these guys in space for the first time and you might be shocked the fist time you meet one, but there are way more of them after that and pretty often you will even find multiple mini Battlelords. They have the same attacks as the boss (a mortar and a gatling gun), but luckily they deal a bit less damage and they withstand less damage. Still, these are the hardest enemies in the whole game. Stay away from them and strafe behind a corner to hide, strafe to face the mini Battlelord and to fire of a missile, and quickly hide again.

You might have to retreat to new corners various times during a single battle, but it is way better than coming close to him: A few seconds of gatling gun fire always rips you apart. Also note that the gatling gun fire always hits its target when you are in the enemy's sight. Use a pipe bomb or the missile launcher to get rid of their corpses.

1. Missile Launcher (this is the only weapon you should use against them as long as you have some ammo left for it)
2. Grenade Launcher (a weak second place; this takes a lot longer to end the battle)
3. Pipe Bombs (when a mini Battlelord gets stuck somewhere)

Mini Overlords

This is the rarest enemy you encounter: The smaller version of the second boss only appears twice in the game and while their rocket launchers deal a lot of damage and they can pack loads of damage themselves. Their attacks are easy to dodge and they do not appear in multiples. Just get rid of any guards and then concentrate on the mini Overlord. It really is not that hard. Use a pipe bomb or the missile launcher to get rid of their corpses.

1. Missile Launcher
2. Grenade Launcher (not as bad as against mini Battlelords)
3. Pipe Bombs

Levels

• 1. Earth 1
  • 1. Level 1: Hollywood Holocaust
  • 2. Level 2: Gun Crazy
  • 3. Secret Level: Duke Burger
  • 4. Level 3: Death Row
  • 5. Level 4: Toxic Dump
  • 6. Level 5: Launch Facility
  • 7. Level 6: The Abyss
  • 8. Boss 1: Battlelord
• 2. Space
  • 1. Level 1: Spaceport
  • 2. Level 2: Incubator
  • 3. Level 3: Warp Factor
  • 4. Level 4: Fusion Station
  • 5. Level 5: Occupied Territory
  • 6. Level 6: Tiberius Station
  • 7. Level 7: Lunar Reactor
  • 8. Level 8: Dark Side
  • 9. Secret Level: Lunatic Fringe
  • 10. Level 9: Dreadnought
  • 11. Boss 2: Overlord
• 3. Earth 2
  • 1. Level 1: Raw Meat
  • 2. Level 2: Bank Roll
  • 3. Level 3: Flood Zone
  • 4. Level 4: L.A. Rumble
  • 5. Level 5: Movie Set
  • 6. Secret Level 1: Area 51
  • 7. Level 6: Rabid Transit
  • 8. Level 7: Fahrenheit
  • 9. Level 8: Hotel Hell
  • 10. Secret Level 2: Freeway
  • 11. Boss 3: Stadium

Game Play Hints

When playing on "Damn, I'm good!" dead enemies get back to life after a while as long as their corpse still exists. So on the hardest difficulty setting you should concentrate on enemies that you can reach from where you are and quickly dispose of their bodies with a few kicks (for weak enemies) or with pipe bombs (for strong enemies and / or big groups of enemies). Leave other enemies alone until you close in on them later on in the stage or shoot them with something explosive to blow up their corpse while killing them. The grenade launcher and other explosive weapons can also be very useful against big bunches of enemies whose corpses you could reach, but probably lack the time of blowing them up, because you are amidst a long battle.

Save goodies for later. do not pick up big health packs unless you have 70 health points or less. This goes for other items, like ammo, as well. Keep items spread over the level and backtrack whenever you need anything.

Atomic health is even more special. Save two of these until you see the exit of a level and are ready to use it. Then bring yourself to 100 health (or more) and pick up the two atomic health goodies so you start the next level with 200 health points.

Use different weapons. do not always use the SMGs or any other weapon, but switch every few enemies. This way you rarely run out of a certain kind of ammo which you might desperately need at some later point.

Shoot or blow up a water fountains, fire hydrants, or even a toilets. Then walk over to the water that is squirting up and hold A. You will gradually regain your energy.

Enemies have to be activated before you can defeat them. For example, when you see some part of an enemy such as an arm, leg, and some of the head, without the enemy knowing you are there, your auto-aim will not work and grenades will bounce off them. Even a direct hit does no damage them.

You have to allow the enemy to see you to activate them. Once the enemy has seen you, they can never return to the inactivated state. This is useful to know when you want to lob grenades around corners or when you know that there are mutants in a basin in front of you. Make a brief entrance then return and lob the grenades.

Use friendly fire to your advantage. When you see enemies behind a force field, close in on them and watch them desperately trying to hit you. Eventually they will hit each other instead. This can also be used in other situations. When a suicidal glider bumps into a closed gate directly in front of you, but the force field situation is best for this tactic.

Do not be in a narrow spot when the effect of a shrinker beam ends. This results in an instant death.

Enemies can be crushed when standing in a gate while it shuts down. do not try to make this happen and do not plan for this to happen, just be happy when it does.

Unless you have a scuba gear, be efficient underwater. Move quickly and return to the surface as often as possible.

Cheat Codes

To activate a cheat, press LEFT, LEFT, L, L then enter the follwoing codes within the prompt:

All Items

R, C-RIGHT, RIGHT, L, C-LEFT, LEFT, C-RIGHT, RIGHT

Invulnerability

R, R, R, R, R, R, R, LEFT

Enemies

L, C-LEFT, LEFT, R, C-RIGHT, RIGHT, LEFT, LEFT, RIGHT

Select-A-World

L, L, L, C-RIGHT, RIGHT, LEFT, LEFT, C-LEFT

Fun Variations

Ghost Duke

In dukematch, turn on the all items code and kill yourself with a pipebomb. BEFORE you press open, turn on Invincibility and you will come back to life. now turn off invincibility and you will be invisible to all of the dukebots.

Defeating the Overlord

When fighting the Overlord, stay in the water but do not submerge. As long as you are at the surface, you can hit him but he cannot hit you. WARNING: Do not use explosive weapons. If you do you will die.

Healing Springs

Shoot or blow up a water fountains, fire hydrants, or even a toilets. Then walk over to the water that is squirting up and hold A. You will gradually regain your energy.

Big Duke, Little Duke

There is a way to play big or small in Duke Nukem. This code will work on co-op or deathmatch. To do this code in co-op you need Invincibility and items codes. Turn on friendly fire, then use the weapons code, shoot your buddy with the shrinker, or expander.

Small Duke

Shoot, put on invincibility then turn it off again. The player will not grow back (the drawback: you can't have any weapons).

Big Duke

Get the expander, (with God mode off) and shoot the other Duke until he starts to expand. Just before he explodes put on God mode, stop shooting, then turn off god mode. You now have a giant duke that still can be killed. (Note, you may have to try it a few times to get it right.)

Midget Duke

Execute the Big Duke trick, then turn off God Mode and shrink the big Duke Nukem. He will now be smaller than normal but larger than "Little Duke."