On Dec. 14, 1990, Apogee Software released Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons. It was the first in a series of PC shareware games that brought

30 Years of Vorticons: How Commander Keen Changed PC Gaming

submited by
Style Pass
2021-08-04 15:00:12

On Dec. 14, 1990, Apogee Software released Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons. It was the first in a series of PC shareware games that brought fluid, Mario-like platforming to the PC. It also launched legendary developer id Software. Here’s why it was special.

The first Commander Keen game, Invasion of the Vorticons, is split into three episodes designed for PCs with MS-DOS. In the first episode, you play as Billy Blaze (aka Commander Keen), a kid who must travel to Mars to repel an invasion of dog-like aliens called Vorticons.

The aliens have dismantled your ship and scattered its parts across the planet. Your job is to retrieve those parts so you can get back home.

Along the way, Commander Keen builds a compelling backstory through special stages. The mini-narrative scenes present items like a pogo stick and an alien language written in glyphs. Keen also picks up whimsical items, like teddy bears and books with the word “KANT” on them. This gives the game a playful feel of a genius boy who loves teddy bears but reads Immanuel Kant.

At the time of its release, Keen’s real achievement was the fluid, Mario-style of platforming gameplay on the IBM PC. Few thought this was even possible, given side-scrolling platformer games were the most popular on home video game consoles at the time.

Leave a Comment