History YMMV / DukeNukem3d

** The [[{{UsefulNotes/Nintendo64}} Nintendo 64]] version ''Duke Nukem 64'' has no in-game music, it was removed due to limited storage capacity on the cartridge. 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. There's also some weird Expander sprite glitches strewn throughout the levels, this bug in particular could have easily been corrected, but was [[CreatorsApathy overlooked by the developers]].

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

* HilariousInHindsight: The ''Megaton Edition'' was published by Devolver Digital - before ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami'', best known for publishing the ''VideoGame/SeriousSam'' games, a series that reveled in taking the piss out of ''Duke'', particularly the long development time of ''Forever''.

** 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 realistic. 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 realistic 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 comes in a box.

* 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.

* MostWonderfulSound: The weird humming noise of the monolith in ''Dark Side'' (the penultimate level of the second episode) is both creepy and strangely pleasant to listen to at the same time.

** 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.

** Sentry Drones. They explode on contact, they often hide right behind doors or around corners, they can take a lot of damage, they make [[MostAnnoyingSound irritating noises]], and they're ''everywhere''.

* SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}: The ending of ''Duke: Nuclear Winter'', with a happy snowman thanking the player for SavingChristmas and a poetic parody of ''Literature/TwasTheNightBeforeChristmas''. All set to the tune of "Christmas Eve Sarajevo 12/24" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra playing in the background.

* EarWorm: "[=GrabBag=]", the title music of ''[=DN3D=]''. An [=MP3=] of it is available for download from the composer's site, and the MIDI files of it [[http://leejacksonaudio.lbjackson.com/ are available as well.]]

* ToughActToFollow: One of the major factors contributing to ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' entering DevelopmentHell was that 3D Realms was determined to make it as groundbreaking as a product as ''Duke Nukem 3D'' had been, which combined with the rapid evolution of first-person shooters in TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium caused relentless feature creep and even prompted the developers to completely restart development several times.

** 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''.
** Other criticized elements 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, so a bit of gloating didn't feel undeserved. ''DNF'', however, tried to deliver Take Thats to games that it was 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. In terms of pop culture, ''3D's'' jokes were either very topical or referencing sources [[WeirdAlEffect obscure enough that people thought they were original jokes]]. On the other hand, ''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]]'').

** In [=v1.3D=], you could select the Mighty Foot as a weapon and then kick with the melee button, at the same time. Result: Duke somehow manages to run around while both of his feet are on screen, whacking enemies, apparently doing ThatRussianSquatDance and/or [[Franchise/MortalKombat Liu Kang's flying bicycle kick]]. Unfortunately, fixed in later versions.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: A lot of the things in the game were ''amazing'' for a 3d game when it first came out, most of all the destructable walls and underwater mechanics. Nowadays, however, such features are pretty much standard issue.

** Might be HarsherInHindsight now that Gearbox got the Megaton Edition pulled from Steam and replaced it with their World Tour Edition, which includes a [[TakeThat piss take]] on SeriousSam. Makes you wonder if that was put in just as a middle finger to Devolver Digital.

* PortingDisaster: The Tiger Game.com 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.

* ThatOneBoss: 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.

* ThatOneLevel: Episode 4 in its entirety in the [=PS1=] version, especially on [[IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels Come Get Some]], due to the shortage of ammo throughout the levels.

* ToughActToFollow: One of the major factors contributing to ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' entering DevelopmentHell was that 3D Realms was determined to make it as groundbreaking as a product as ''Duke Nukem 3D'' had been, which combined with the rapid evolution of first-person shooters in TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillennium caused relentless feature creep and even prompted the developers to completely restart development several times.

* PortingDisaster: The Tiger Game.com 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 GameBoy.

** The Build engine is notorious for its flaws that allows mapmakers to come up with interesting map ideas. [[http://dukerepository.com/maps/Bizarre Bizarre]] takes this fact and drives it straight into MindScrew territory.

** ToughActToFollow: One of the major factors contributing to ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever'' entering DevelopmentHell was that 3D Realms was determined to make it as groundbreaking as a product as ''Duke Nukem 3D'' had been, which combined with the rapid evolution of first-person shooters in TheNineties and the TurnOfTheMillenium caused relentless feature creep and even prompted the developers to completely restart development several times.

** 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.