History VideoGame / DukeNukem3D

* HealItWithWater: The game allows the mechanic of adding 1% health for drinking water, up to 9%. This is usually done after wrecking a fire hydrant or a toilet, then sipping from the fountain thusly created.

* NoodleIncident: We never learn why the aliens are invading in the first place (other than possibly to [[MarsNeedsWomen use human women as incubators for the protozoid slimers]], although that raises the question of what creatures they used for this purpose before they invaded, and why they ran out.)

* TropeCodifier: Hard as it is to remember now, but {{First Person Shooter}}s prior to this one didn't feature "realistic" real world locations. Things that ''Duke 3d'' did first include: televisions that show different programs; closed circuit security cameras that let you see other areas of the level than the bit you're in; working subway trains that take you across "town"; strip bars/clubs; breakable glass/destroyable furniture/mirrors that you can see your own reflection in; triggered set pieces such as earthquakes that can destroy the architecture around the player; and working toilets that you can use to gain extra health. These things were quite revolutionary at the time, and the level design in later games of the genre (such as ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'', ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', ''SoldierOfFortune'', and even aspects of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'') show signs of its ground breaking influence. It could be argued that this organic approach to level design would have come about anyway as a direct result of increasingly better technology... but nevertheless, ''Duke 3d'' was there first.

* AllThereInTheManual: The strategy guide reveals the aliens' true motivation [[CommonKnowledge which has very little to do with kidnapping and impregnating women like many players think]]. The aliens in question are space miners who attempt to harvest Earth for resources by drilling a hole in the San Andreas fault and then firing their KillSat into that hole, [[EarthShatteringKaboom with predictable consequences]]. The main goal of this is to split Earth into several asteroids for easier retrieval. The starship at the end of the first episode is implied to be the drilling vessel operated by the first Battlelord encountered whereas the orbital station is all but said to be operated by the Overlord.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Duke can kick a Protozoid Slimer off his face. He can also kick with both legs simultaneously if you select kick as your main weapon and use the quick kick move while kicking.

* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: In some levels of Lunar Apocalypse.

* RearrangeTheSong: The BGM for ''High Times'' "Bullet Dam", is (first level of Alien World Order) basically a remix of "The Stalker" (the BGM for the ''Hollywood Holocaust'' the very first level of episode 1.)

* BloodierAndGorier: The original games were bloodless, even though the second game already had stuff like rockets and flamethrowers; Enemies mostly died in [[ChainReactionDestruction a sequence of small explosions]] and colored particles of random colors. ''3D'''s violence is full-blown blood and gore, with blood sprays, pools under bodies, and chunks strewn everywhere when a corpse is gibbed.

* ATasteOfPower: In the very first level of first chapter it si possible to obtain the [[{{BFG}} RPG]] from a secret.

** "Let's Rock"
** "Come Get Some"

Chronologically and canonically followed by ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'', [[DevelopmentHell after 15 years]].

Chronologically and canonically followed by ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever''.

Chronologically and canonically followed by ''VideoGame/DukeNukemManhattanProject''.

* AlienGeometries: The level Lunatic Fringe has a 720 degree hallway, i.e you have to take two laps around it to end
up where you started. As you take one lap the scenery in the middle [[MindScrew completely changes despite it seemingly being the same place you just walked by]].

* AlienGeometries: The level Lunatic Fringe has a 720 degree hallway, i.e you have to take two laps around it to end up where you started. As you take one lap the scenery in the middle [[MindScrew completely changes despite it seemingly being the same place you just walked by]].

** The UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 version removed the nudity, alcohol, drugs, swearing and religious references[[note]] One example is the game's second level; the porn shop and "Gentleman's Club" were replaced with a gun shop and a walk-in Duke Burger restaurant (the layout was the same except for adding a door to the Duke-Burger out near the start of the level), and the level was renamed "Gun Crazy"; it ends the same unless you find the Secret Exit near the main exit (which goes to the Duke-Burger level from [=EP4=], which has been moved up to this point since there's no [=EP4=] on this version). [[/note]], made the weapons have no effect on women; and toned down the gore as well. The {{Stripperific}} attire and LudicrousGibs remained, though.

* SequelDifficultySpike: The new campaign added in the ''20th Anniversary World Tour'', ''Alien World Order'', is noticeably tougher than any of the original Duke 3D campaigns. Notably you'll often be faced with multiple Boss enemies at the same time, ''and'' a number of smaller, DegradedBoss version of the game's 3 Bosses are scattered throughout the levels as well.

* AlienGeometries: The level Lunatic Fringe has a 720 degree hallway, i.e you have to take two laps around it to end up where you started. As you take one lap the scenery in the middle [[MindScrew completely changes despite it seemingly being the same place you just walked by.]].

** In the outdoor levels you will occasionally hear what sounds like distant screaming. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDuwYSK_RDQ&list=RDhSk2y8Vj6HM&index=4 this remix of the theme for the first level]] samples the sound effect.

* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: "Lunatic Fringe" takes place in a circular room. It takes two laps around the perimeter to get back to where you started, with the scenery changing after one lap. A cylindrical room in the middle could be entered by several doors and windows. Alternating entrances looked out on alternate versions of the outer room.

* BloodierAndGorier: The original games were bloodless, even though the second game already had stuff like rockets and flamethrowers.

** Sometimes, Duke will quip after gibbing an enemy with the RPG.

* CrossphaseViewport: Lunatic Fringe does this, with the 720-degree column in the center, where one set of windows peers out into one half of the level, and the other set looks out into the other half, on the same wall. However, with conventional geometry, these two locations both sit in the exact same location and space, but are on opposite sides of the level and oh no I've gone crosseyed...