History YMMV / DUKENUKEM3D

* NightmareFuel: [[NightmareFuel/DukeNukem3D Has its own page.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: As pointed out in [[WebVideo/LazyGameReviews LGR's]] video, The [[AnAssKickingChristmas Christmas-themed]] expansion ''Duke: Nuclear Winter'' has no new lines for Duke Nukem. This is because Jon St. John was not contacted to record any dialogue for the expansion like he did for ''Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach'', nor was he aware that the expansion was being made. Which is very unfortunate, since the premise could have at the very least yielded a plethora of hilarious Christmas-related one-liners for Duke to say and made the expansion much more entertaining.

* ValuesDissonance:
** One [[MemeticMutation infamous]] [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/if-you-dont-play-duke-nukem-3d-you-like-men advertisement]] for this game uses the slogan "If you don't play ''Duke Nukem 3D'', you like men!" As recognition and acceptance of queer people advanced, using "you like men" as an insult against potential customers (who are implied to be straight males) would become unacceptable.
** Discussed regarding the pig cops in the developer's commentaries in the 20th anniversary edition: the pig cops were created at time when police brutality was in the news, but as time went on, the joke became less funny. But now, with police brutality becoming a hot button issue again, the joke has swung back into relevance.
* ValuesResonance:
** As mentioned under the dissonance category, due to people caring about police brutality again, the pig cops are as relevant as they were back then.

** ''Duke Nukem Total Meltdown'' on Platform/PlayStation has frame rate issues, grainy graphics, and limited control customization options. While there's in-game music, a hyped combination of bespoke and rearranged from the PC original, it drones over you after several minutes becoming repetitive to listen to. Also, unless everyone has their own [=PlayStation=] console with a copy of the game, playing multiplayer is greatly limited because of the lack of split-screen support like in the Nintendo 64 version. Due to these factors, some fans consider the [=PlayStation=] port to be the worst of all the ports together.

** The Tiger UsefulNotes/GameCom version. In fairness, it was actually one of the most advanced handheld games of TheNineties; there was just no way to replicate the ''Duke Nukem 3D'' experience on hardware barely equivalent to a UsefulNotes/GameBoy.
** Less so the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis port. It does have a pretty decent framerate, considering how big the "first-person view" screen is, compared to other [=FPS=] games on that console, not to mention the save system which allows you to backup everywhere. Nothing else makes up for it properly, though: the whole port consists of 9 new levels, very loosely based off the Lunar Apocalypse episode, all done in a ''VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D''-like perspective, all peppered-up with barely audible music and slightly messy controls.[[labelnote:*]]And that's not even for Duke himself: in order to pause the game, you will need to not just press the Start button, [[DamnYouMuscleMemory but also X, Y and Z,]] all at the same time![[/labelnote]] Oh, and it didn't help that shortly after the game was released in Brazil (the only country that received the port), the whole thing got banned. Despite this, it isn't the fault of the Brazilian devs; the game is actually pretty good for what it is and had plenty of effort put into it. The console simply couldn't handle Duke.
** Downplayed in regards to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 version known as ''Duke Nukem 64''; It is still a good port because its great gameplay and controls are intact, it has a fun 4-player multiplayer mode, the blood hasn't been censored due to Nintendo being more lenient with blood than they were in their NES/early SNES days, [[{{Bowdlerise}} the censorship of certain parts from some levels]] that does ''not'' look out of place in a Duke game, a few weapon sprites are redone to make new weapons (like the Ripper replaced with [[GunsAkimbo twin submachine guns]]), and [[VideoGameCaringPotential being able to rescue women trapped in alien pods instead of killing them]] (not that it's possible to kill them in this port) is a welcome change. That being said, it has no in-game music (due to limited storage capacity on the cartridge), there is a minor audio glitch where, sometimes, when a player uses a Jetpack or Plasma Cannon, the item sounds get locked into a permanent loop that cannot be fixed unless you reset the game, and there's also some weird Expander sprite glitches strewn throughout the levels, which could have easily been corrected if anyone were paying attention during the porting process.
** ''Duke Nukem Total Meltdown'' on {{UsefulNotes/PlayStation}} has frame rate issues, grainy graphics, and limited control customization options. While there's in-game music, a hyped combination of bespoke and rearranged from the PC original, it drones over you after several minutes becoming repetitive to listen to. Also, unless everyone has their own [=PlayStation=] console with a copy of the game, playing multiplayer is greatly limited because of the lack of split-screen support like in the Nintendo 64 version. Due to these factors, some fans consider the [=PlayStation=] port to be the worst of all the ports together.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The ''20th Anniversary World Tour'' edition released by Gearbox Software, which replaced the ''Megaton Edition'' on online stores, has been generally seen as inferior: beyond the new episode (which was fairly well-received), it doesn't have any of the expansion episodes, the 20 dollar pricetag is considered too expensive for a largely unchanged 20-year old game, and that Duke's rerecorded lines don't flow as well as the original. Furthermore, the move to Gearbox's own [=SHiFT=] servers also went down poorly with players, especially considering the nefarious track record of going down the servers already have with [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands}} another Gearbox franchise]]. Many people also didn't like the custom sourceport used in "20th Anniversary World Tour", feeling that it messed up the aiming physics and included a number of unnecessary "graphical updates" that looked out of place in Duke Nukem 3D (a matter not helped by the fact that the sourceport was seen as being poorly optimized, and thus, these new effects were quite taxing even on newer computers). However, ''World Tour'' is still well-received with [=PlayStation=] 4, Xbox One, and especially Nintendo Switch owners that just want to be able to play ''Duke Nukem 3D'' on those systems at all.

* AuthorsSavingThrow: The divisive "20th Anniversary World Tour" has its own Duke3D GRP. And thus, with a little bit of work, it's entirely possible to play the game (including the new episode) in sourceport like Raze, if you don't like World Tour's custom sourceport.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The ''20th Anniversary World Tour'' edition released by Gearbox Software, which replaced the ''Megaton Edition'' on online stores, has been generally seen as inferior: beyond the new episode (which was fairly well-received), it doesn't have any of the expansion episodes, the 20 dollar pricetag is considered too expensive for a largely unchanged 20-year old game, and that Duke's rerecorded lines don't flow as well as the original. Furthermore, the move to Gearbox's own [=SHiFT=] servers also went down poorly with players, especially considering the nefarious track record of going down the servers already have with [[VideoGame/{{Borderlands}} another Gearbox franchise]]. However, ''World Tour'' is still well-received with [=PlayStation=] 4, Xbox One, and especially Nintendo Switch owners that just want to be able to play ''Duke Nukem 3D'' on those systems at all.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** A lot of the things in the game were ''amazing'' for a 3D game when it first came out, most of all the destructible walls and underwater mechanics. Nowadays, however, such features are pretty much standard issue - even ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', originally much more limited than what the Build engine was capable of, can do similar things now through fan-made updates.
** One particular element that would be almost laughable as a selling point nowadays: ''Duke Nukem'' was one of the first shooters to portray environments that looked somewhat like reality. Games like ''Doom'' and ''Quake'' mostly featured nondescript or fantastical locations such as space bases or medieval fortresses. Even their attempts to do realistic environments, like the Earth levels in ''Doom 2'', only superficially resembled their inspirations, with their actual layouts and furnishings not really making sense from an architectural standpoint. ''Duke'' starts you off in a fairly sensible city street, complete with a porno theater that you can enter and screw around in, and it stays this way for the most part, with the majority of levels feeling like locations that could actually exist, spurring on an entire new generation of shooters in the process. Nowadays, saying your game contains realistic environments is about as impressive as saying it can be played with a controller or mouse and keyboard, and anyone looking for realism certainly isn't playing ''Duke Nukem'', of all things.
** When this game first came out, it was unheard of to have an FPS protagonist with any amount of personality, regardless of how [[BondOneLiner flat it is]]. Now, it's pretty standard stuff for your character to already be predetermined in their personality and backstory and not just a blank slate.

** One of the biggest criticisms of ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' was the character of Duke himself, who many reviewers described as a [[JerkAss repulsively unlikable person]]. Back in the days of ''Duke Nukem 3D'', though, Duke had still been a pretty unlikeable person, but he was lauded for the fact that he had a personality ''at all'', compared to [[HeroicMime non]]-[[FlatCharacter characters]] like the [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doomguy]] or [[VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D BJ Blazkowicz]]. Furthermore, Duke was intended as a parody of the HollywoodActionHero archetype; his one-liners were taken from popular action films of TheEighties, and his character flaws were blown up to comical proportions. In the following [[DevelopmentHell fifteen years]], however, many shooter games had been released featuring extremely fleshed-out and likable protagonists, and Duke hadn't evolved at all. If anything, he'd become more unlikable, with the elements that had been played for parody in ''Duke Nukem 3D'' played straight in ''Forever''.

* TheScrappy: Due to their [[GoddamnedBats infamous]] [[InterfaceScrew reputation]], the Protozoid Slimers have become this.

* SequelDisplacement: Anybody remember ''VideoGame/DukeNukemI'' or ''[[VideoGame/DukeNukemII II]]''? It's a shame really, since they were decent platformers and ''II'' was an EvenBetterSequel to ''I''. You'd think using ThirdIs3D would have ensured people remember, but you'd be wrong. It certainly doesn't help that ''3D'' is also the game that really nailed down Duke's personality and appearance -- Duke Nukem without sunglasses just looks ''weird''. Due to this, the second game was even re-released with Duke's sunglasses [[RetCanon edited into]] [[GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion his old sprite and pixel art.]] Ironically, it could've averted this as original DOS copies of ''3D'' also had the original two games on the same disc, but there's the issue, it wasn't kept up for console ports, Steam, GOG, etc.

* MemeticMutation: "[[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/if-you-dont-play-duke-nukem-3d-you-like-men If you don't play Duke Nukem 3D, you like men!]]"[[labelnote:Explanation]]A 1996 advertisement for ''Duke Nukem 3D'' which gained infamy in May of 2022 due to the severe ValuesDissonance of using a homophobic insult against those who don't play the game. Many parodies of the ad were made, often inverting the original message of the ad into something supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y_xFig_6vk This voiced compilation]] by Gianni Matragano helping to further spread the meme.[[/labelnote]]

* ValuesDissonance: One [[MemeticMutation infamous]] [[https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/if-you-dont-play-duke-nukem-3d-you-like-men advertisement]] for this game uses the slogan "If you don't play ''Duke Nukem 3D'', you like men!" As recognition and acceptance of queer people advanced, using "you like men" as an insult against potential customers (who are implied to be straight males) would become unacceptable.

* AcceptableProfessionalTargets: All the police officers you meet have been mutated by the alien invaders, are hostile, and must be killed. And they all are portrayed as [[PigMan pig men]] (alluding to the old slang term "pigs").

* MemeticMutation: "[[https://youtube.com/watch?v=UWIRozQRAzw CUM IS STORED IN THE BRAIN]]...'''''AND I'VE GOT A HEADACHE'''''"

** One particular element that would be almost laughable as a selling point nowadays: ''Duke Nukem'' was one of the first shooters to portray environments that looked somewhat like reality. Games like ''Doom'' and ''Quake'' mostly featured nondescript or fantastical locations, like sci-fi bases or medieval fortresses, and even their attempts to do realistic environments, like the earth levels in ''Doom 2'', didn't really look like anything. ''Duke'' starts you off in a fairly sensible city street, complete with a porno theater that you can enter and screw around in, and pretty much stays that way, spurring on an entire new generation of shooters in the process. Nowadays, saying your game contains realistic environments is about as impressive as saying it can be played with a controller or mouse and keyboard, and anyone looking for realism certainly isn't playing ''Duke Nukem'', of all things.

** The new episode for the ''20th Anniversary World Tour, Alien World Order'', takes the difficulty and skyrockets it back to the Moon. This episode has a new weapon and a new enemy who used that weapon (a flamethrower, which can rapid-burn both an enemy and Duke), with the last boss of the episode using said weapon. This also applies the DegradedBoss trope 3 times over; in addition to the mini-Battlelords, mini-Overlords and mini-Cycloid Emperors have been added to the enemy roster just to make your life a living hell (one level [[spoiler:ends with a confrontation with a standard-sized Cycloid Emperor and another ends with a standard-sized Battlelord, but they're not full boss fights.]] This episode can and will be cruel to a player.

** Downplayed in regards to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 version known as ''Duke Nukem 64''; It is still a good port because its great gameplay and controls are intact, it has a fun 4-player multiplayer mode, the blood hasn't been censored due to Nintendo being more lenient with blood than they were in their NES/early SNES days, a few weapon sprites are redone to make new weapons (like the Ripper replaced with [[GunsAkimbo twin submachine guns]]), and [[VideoGameCaringPotential being able to rescue women trapped in alien pods instead of killing them]] (not that it's possible to kill them in this port) is a welcome change. That being said, it has no in-game music (due to limited storage capacity on the cartridge), there is a minor audio glitch where, sometimes, when a player uses a Jetpack or Plasma Cannon, the item sounds get locked into a permanent loop that cannot be fixed unless you reset the game, and there's also some weird Expander sprite glitches strewn throughout the levels, which could have easily been corrected if anyone were paying attention during the porting process.

*** The Playstation version did have a few upsides. It received praise for the much upgraded music and sounds in general. It also updated the cinematics and added unique ones on each stage's completion which were not in the original game (although some cutscenes were shorter). The console exclusive Plug N' Pray episode was also highly praised and eventually received a complete conversion to PC by dedicated fans. It also had a quicksave feature which was unique for consoles since you could do it at any time.

** The Battlelord in the first episode, mainly due to you [[EarlyBirdBoss lacking half your arsenal]], most of all the devastator. While you do have the RPG he takes about 25 hits to kill, and is shooting mortars and his {{Hitscan}} chaingun at you the whole time.

** The "Smithsonian Madness" level, from the ''Duke it Out in D.C.'' official expansion. Takes place in a gigantic museum complex with lots of floors, sprawling mazelike exhibits and tons of backstage tunnels. It's not a badly designed level by any measure, but its sheer length is enough to make it off-putting. To give you an idea, most levels' Par Times are in the 3-6 minute range, with a select few breaching 10 minutes. This one's Par Time is a whopping 23 minutes.

** The hive level in particular, where Duke ventures through a dark alien hive filled with traumatized women who have been [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong raped and impregnated with alien larvae]], attracted widespread criticism for being tasteless and tonally out of place from the rest of the game's goofy action. There was a very similar level in ''3D'', sobbing violated women and all. It was less accepted the second time around for a few reasons: for one, ''Forever'' was working with much more impressive graphical technology (''3D'' is on the Build engine, a [[TwoAndAHalfD fake-3D]] engine which was still in active development and released at a time when 480x360 was considered high-resolution; ''Forever'' runs on a version of the VideoGame/{{Unreal}} engine given a decade's worth of graphical updates), giving a better idea of just how horrifying and messed-up the situation was, coupled with the level's dark color palette. The bigger problem, however, was that ''Forever'' made the unwise decision to keep pushing raunchy sex jokes and pop-culture references [[MoodWhiplash in an environment that did not call for them]] - you can tell the game probably isn't treating the situation with the weight it warrants when Duke is opening doors by fingering them, slapping disembodied boobs on walls for an ego boost, and proceeding past the corpse of [[VideoGame/DeadSpace Isaac Clarke]] to find a rape victim who stops crying long enough to make a joke that she thought it was safe to swallow. And most importantly, ''3D'' didn't also have a scene where Duke, whose one humanizing trait is supposed to be his love for women, finds two women who he personally knows and, when it's apparent they're about to die, [[NoSympathy nonchalantly tells them]] "Looks like you're... ''fucked''."

* WhatAnIdiot: The level ''Red Light District'' ends with Duke being captured by pig cops who say "we're gonna fry your ass". The next level takes place in Death Row, with Duke [[NoGearLevel having all his weapons taken away]] and sitting in an electric chair with only 20 hp left. The problem? The chair only does about 1 damage a second and Duke isn't restrained at all, meaning he can just walk out of it. The low damage could be HandWaved by saying they set it to low voltage to [[CruelAndUnusualDeath slowly kill Duke]], but there's no excuse for not restraining him in any way.

** Another heavily-criticized element of ''DNF's'' humor, the {{Take That}}s to other franchises and the pop culture references, also hail from ''3D''. The Take Thats worked back then because ''3D'' was a genuinely innovative game that improved on ''Doom's'' formula and managed to become a similar inspiration for many later games, so a bit of gloating didn't feel undeserved. ''DNF'', however, tried to deliver Take Thats [[HypocriticalHumor to games that it]] was [[IndecisiveParody outright copying]], while bringing very little to the table gameplay-wise. For example, there is a gag involving Duke insulting the [[Franchise/{{Halo}} Master Chief]], proudly proclaiming that "power armor is for pussies". This joke probably would have been a lot funnier if ''Forever'' didn't also use the RegeneratingHealth and LimitedLoadout systems that Halo popularised, much less have that joke lead into a level that's only a splash or two of orange and one vehicle section away from looking and playing exactly like ''VideoGame/Halo2''[='=]s New Mombasa levels. Another joke makes fun of keycard hunting (something that was already incredibly dated when the game was ''supposed'' to come out around 2001) before Duke then pulls the door open manually in a QuickTimeEvent (something which had become an even ''bigger'' cliché than keycards ever were by the time it actually came out a decade later - keycards at least had the decency to restrict themselves to one or two genres and not branch out to the entire medium of video games). In terms of pop culture, ''3D's'' jokes were either very topical or referencing sources [[ParodyDisplacement obscure enough that people thought they were original jokes]], while ''DNF's'' infamously long development cycle meant that many of its jokes or references had already become {{Discredited Meme}}s (most infamously a lengthy LeeroyJenkins joke in ''[[WereStillRelevantDammit 2011]]'').

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler:Saving the President in ''Duke It Out in D.C'' becomes this when he undergoes a FaceHeelTurn in ''Videogame/DukeNukemForever''. UngratefulBastard much?]]

* MemeticMutation: "[[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UWIRozQRAzw CUM IS STORED IN THE BRAIN]]...'''''AND I'VE GOT A HEADACHE'''''"

** Less so the UsefulNotes/MegaDrive port. It does have a pretty decent framerate, considering how big the "first-person view" screen is, compared to other [=FPS=] games on that console, not to mention the save system which allows you to backup everywhere. Nothing else makes up for it properly, though: the whole port consists of 9 new levels, very loosely based off the Lunar Apocalypse episode, all done in a [[VideoGame/Wolfenstein3D Wolf3D]]-like perspective, all peppered-up with barely audible music and slightly messy controls. [[labelnote:*]]And that's not even for Duke himself: in order to pause the game, you will need to not just press the Start button, [[DamnYouMuscleMemory but also X, Y and Z,]] all at the same time![[/labelnote]] Oh, and it didn't help that shortly after the game was released in Brazil (the only country that received a Mega Drive port), the whole thing got banned. Despite this, it isn't the fault of the Brazilian devs; the game is actually pretty good for what it is and had plenty of effort put into it. The console simply couldn't handle Duke.
** Downplayed in regards to the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 version known as ''Duke Nukem 64''; It is still a good port because its great gameplay and controls are intact, it has a fun 4-player multiplayer mode, the blood hasn't been censored due to Nintendo being more lenient with blood than they were in their NES/Early SNES days, [[VideoGameCaringPotential and being able to rescue women trapped in alien pods instead of killing them (not that it's possible to kill them in this port) is a welcome change]]. That being said, it has no in-game music (due to limited storage capacity on the cartridge), there is a minor audio glitch where, sometimes, when a player uses a Jetpack or Plasma Cannon, the item sounds get locked into a permanent loop that cannot be fixed unless you reset the game, and there's also some weird Expander sprite glitches strewn throughout the levels, which could have easily been corrected if anyone were paying attention during the porting process.
** ''Duke Nukem Total Meltdown'' on {{UsefulNotes/PlayStation}} has frame rate issues encountered during the game, grainy graphics, and limited control customization options. While there's in-game music, a hyped combination of bespoke and rearranged from the PC original it drones over you after several minutes becoming repetitive to listen to. Also, unless everyone has their own [=PlayStation=] console with a copy of the game, playing multiplayer is greatly limited because of the lack of split-screen support like in the Nintendo 64 version. Due to these factors, some fans consider the [=PlayStation=] port to be the worst of all the ports together.
*** The Playstation version did have a few upsides. It received praise for the much upgraded music and sounds in general. It also updated the cinematics and added unique ones on each stage's completion which were not in the original game (although some cutscenes were shorter). The console exclusive Plug N' Pray episode was also highly praised and eventually received a complete conversion to PC (something that takes a lot of effort to do perfectly and was done by dedicated fans). It also had a quicksave feature which was unique for consoles at the time since you coud do it at any time. There was a Sega Saturn and Sega Genesis port which weren't able to handle the effects of Duke 3d well at all, understandably so for the Sega Genesis version. The Saturn port did have unique lighting effects with it's engine though.

** Episode 1, level 3 features a ridiculously-tricky segment where you have to jump and duck past a bunch of infrared laser sensors. If you hit one of the lasers, bombs go off and kill you instantly. Not to mention that some pig cops are on their way to kill you as well. And if THEY hit the lasers, it also triggers the explosions. Also, this is the ONLY level in any of the episodes, including the expansion packs, where you start with no weapons because the previous level saw Duke get captured by the aliens before he could hit its exit, and just for good measure, you also start in an electric chair that is turned on.

** The hive level in particular, where Duke ventures through a dark alien hive filled with traumatized women who have been [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong raped and impregnated with alien larvae]], attracted widespread criticism for being tasteless and tonally out of place from the rest of the game's goofy action. There was a very similar level in ''3D'', sobbing violated women and all. It was less accepted the second time around for a few reasons: for one, ''Forever'' was working with much more impressive graphical technology (''3D'' was on the Build engine, a [[TwoAndAHalfD fake-3D]] engine still in active development at the time, and released in the days when 480x360 was considered high resolution, while ''Forever'' ran on a version of the VideoGame/{{Unreal}} engine given a decade's worth of graphical updates), giving a better idea of just how horrifying and messed-up the situation was, coupled with the level's dark color palette. The bigger problem, however, was that ''Forever'' made the unwise decision to keep pushing raunchy sex jokes and pop-culture references [[MoodWhiplash in an environment that did not call for them]] - you can tell the game probably isn't treating the situation with the weight it warrants when Duke is opening doors by fingering them, slapping disembodied boobs on walls for an ego boost, and proceeding past the corpse of [[VideoGame/DeadSpace Isaac Clarke]] to find a rape victim who stops crying long enough to make a joke that she thought it was safe to swallow. And most importantly, ''3D'' didn't also have a scene where Duke, whose one humanizing trait is supposed to be his love for women, finds two women who he personally knows and, when it's apparent they're about to die, [[NoSympathy nonchalantly tells them]] "Looks like you're... ''fucked''."

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: As pointed out in [[WebVideo/LazyGameReviews LGR's]] video, The [[AnAssKickingChristmas Christmas-themed]] expansion ''Duke: Nuclear Winter'' has [[AbsenteeActor no new lines for Duke Nukem]]. This is because Jon St. John was not contacted to record any dialogue for the expansion like he did for ''Duke Caribbean: Life's a Beach'', nor was he aware that the expansion was being made. Which is very unfortunate, since the premise could have at the very least yielded a plethora of hilarious Christmas-related one-liners for Duke to say and made the expansion much more entertaining.