History Trivia / DukeNukemForever

** [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/9002-Extra-Punctuation-Yahtzee-Could-Have-Written-Duke-Nukem-Forever Yahtzee]] of ZeroPunctuation was asked to write the script at one point. The dev team absolutely loved it, but Geroge kept going "Would Duke really do/say this?" and it got scrapped. According to Yahtzee it was basically a whole game of making fun of Duke and everyone around him. It got scrapped in favor of "Duke played straight in a silly world" that we see now. Yahtzee was given a chance to revise the script to go with this tone, but he didn't because that didn't make any sense to him.

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* DetractorNickname:
** "Duke Nukem Whenever", "Duke Nukem [[AWorldwidePunomenon For Never]]", "Duke Nukem Never Ever", "Duke Nukem Will Take Forever" and "[[FunWithAcronyms Did Not Finish]]". That last one's especially notable in that a number of people cited it as evidence that the whole thing was an elaborate prank.
** There is also "Douche Nukem" for the Duke portrayed on what 2K says is the final boxart seen [[http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/bigboxshots/8/448848_53390_front.jpg here]].

** Many of the characters, weapons and setpieces seen in the early trailers were not used for the final version. An ActionGirl DistaffCounterpart of Duke and a character named "The Prospector" were both absent from the final game (and were likely cut long before Gearbox got their hands on the game).
** The DistaffCounterpart of Duke was dropped. She was supposed to be an ActionGirl named Bombshell to balance out Duke's TestosteronePoisoning. There were also plans to introduce a [[AlternateUniverse mirror universe]] "[[EvilCounterpart NegaDuke]]" and reintroduce Doctor Proton, Duke's old nemesis from the very first ''Duke Nukem'' game. As it is, all Proton gets is a casino- [[TakeThat the first to get obliterated by the alien mothership.]]
*** However, a DLC got released for Duke Nukem Forever with the BigBad being Doctor Proton and his army of Duke clones. The DLC also has some cut things from the original Duke Nukem Forever plot, as well.

*** this becomes HilariousInHindsight, with what both his Joke review and his actual review, which [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome pulled no punches]] in showing how bad the game is.

* This game has a trope page about it's (in)famous Development. You can see it here. DevelopmentHistory/DukeNukemForever
* [[BannedInChina Banned In Australia]]: Averted. Incredibly, given Australia's reputation, ''Duke Nukem Forever'' will be arriving on Australian shores completely uncensored and unabridged.

* DetractorNickname: "Duke Nukem Whenever", "Duke Nukem [[AWorldwidePunomenon For Never]]", "Duke Nukem Never Ever", "Duke Nukem Will Take Forever" and "[[FunWithAcronyms Did Not Finish]]". That last one's especially notable in that a number of people cited it as evidence that the whole thing was an elaborate prank.

* HeyItsThatVoice: Besides Jon St. John reprising his role as Duke in English, FumihikoTachiki will provide Duke's Japanese voice for the first time ever in the story of the franchise. This is also considered as HilariousInHindsight, since his most famous role was voicing '''[[NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]]''', and unlike Duke, not only he wants his girl back, [[spoiler: '''he will bring the end of the world along with her!''']]
** And his twin ladies are '''[[EriKitamura Uni]]''' and '''[[YukoGoto Mikuru Asahina]]'''!

* DevelopmentHell / {{Vaporware}}: To put it in perspective, [[strike:the nine year production of ''TeamFortress2'']] '''everything on [[http://duke.a-13.net this list]]''' took less time to make than this. It's finally over.

* PromotedFanboy: Randy Pitchford, who worked on ''DukeNukem3D'' as a junior developer, states he was (and is) Duke Nukem's biggest fan, and made sure that 3D Realms' game wouldn't die.

** ''Forever'' started as a sidescrolling platform game based on the engine of AlienRampage and the sprites of DukeNukem3D. Said project was scrapped, and the title was used to the sequel to DukeNukem3D. An unrelated sidescrolling shooter titled ''DukeNukemManhattanProject'', based on the Prism3D engine, was relesed in 2002.

** And his twin ladies are '''[[KitamuraEri Uni]] and '''[[YukoGoto Mikuru Asahina]]'''!

* LimitedSpecialCollectorsUltimateEdition: [[http://www.gearboxity.com/images/web/dnf_balls_of_steel.jpg BEHOLD!]] The Duke Nukem Forever Balls of Steel Edition! Comes with a bust of Duke himself, an artbook with art through the ages, a limited edition comic book, and other such novelties! All for the heart attack causingly low price of $99.99! If you [[NoExportForYou live in the US]] and are near a Gamestop or have access to Amazon, that is. No actual [[MissedMomentofAwesome Balls of Steel included]], though.

** Start with the fact that a reported 80-90% of the levels designed by 3D Realms were either scrapped or left unfinished and go from there. The fact that Gearbox was able to assemble these disparate elements and form them into a coherent - and playable - game is nothing short of admirable.

** The DistaffCounterpart of Duke was dropped. She was supposed to be an ActionGirl named Bombshell to balance out Duke's TestosteronePoisoning. There were also plans to introduce a [[AlternateUniverse mirror universe]] "[[EvilCounterpart NegaDuke]]" and reintroduce Doctor Proton, Duke's old nemesis from the very first ''Duke Nukem'' game. As it is, all Proton gets is a casino- [[TakeThat the first to get obliterated by the alien mothership.]]

** ''Forever'' started as a sidescrolling platform game. Said project was scrapped and turned into ''DukeNukemManhattanProject'', with ''Forever'' being the title of the sequel to DukeNukem3D.

** Many of the characters, weapons and setpieces seen in the early trailers were not used for the final version. An ActionGirl DistaffCounterpart of Duke and a character named "The Prospector" were both absent from the final game (and were likely cut long before Gearbox got their hands on the game).

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Start with the fact that a reported 80-90% of the levels designed by 3D Realms were either scrapped or left unfinished and go from there. The fact that Gearbox was able to assemble these disparate elements and form them into a coherent - and playable - game is nothing short of admirable.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''Forever'' started as a sidescrolling platform game. Said project was scrapped and turned into ''Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project'', with ''Forever'' being the title of the sequel to DukeNukem3D.
** Then there's the bonus videos in the game, showing what the game was like in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EvUwH-C52w 2003]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CmF_uXQpWQ&feature=related 2006]].

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: ''Forever'' started as a sidescrolling platform game. Said project was scrapped and turned into ''Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project'', with ''Forever'' being the title of the sequel to DukeNukem3D.

** Who ELSE did you expect to voice the man?

* HeyItsThatVoice: Besides Jon St. John reprising his role as Duke in English, FumihikoTachiki will provide Duke's Japanese voice for the first time ever in the story of the franchise. This is also considered as HilariousInHindsight, since his most famous role was voicing '''[[NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]]''', and unlike Duke, not only he wants his girl back, [[spoiler: '''he wants to bring the end of the world along with her!''']]