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Referenced By / Commander Keen

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  • Despite the Keen series having something of a small footprint, the Dopefish makes a ton of appearances in other games, usually retro or retraux ones. This website contains an (incomplete) list of various Dopefish references.
    • Deus Ex: Human Revolution has hidden Dopefish graffiti in an ammo cache found at Derelict Row.
    • Doom (2016) has the Dopefish appear as a logo/mascot for various items in the game (usually food), and the "Intimacy is Best" rune bears a strong resemblance to the creature's front-facing mugshot. Doom Eternal has some to-scale Dopefish hidden away as secrets in Cultist Base.
    • Quake has "The Dopefish Lives!" as a secret in E2M3: The Crypt of Decay, with a Dopefish picture atop of other textures from the Keen series. The same easter egg is found in the 20th. anniversary chapter "Dimensions of the Past", in a secret area of another level.
    • In Quake II, the poor thing is gored and hidden within a pipe from the level "Cooling Factory". The egg is still present in the 2023 remastered edition, but it's not gored anymore, instead the egg's actual textures were extracted and ported from Quake's version of the egg, with a message saying "The Dopefish Lives Again!" replacing the old "Design is Law" message.
    • In Quake III: Arena, the gutted Dopefish is found in the level q3dm11 "Deva Station". It doesn't appear in Quake Live, being replaced by the turkey from the game within a game "Super Turbo Turkey Puncher III" from Doom³.
    • Rise of the Triad has a Dopefish pillow show up in boss Sebastian Krist's lap in the Enemy Roll Call, with Krist's face edited to have the same kind of buck teeth as the creature. Also, the level Eight Ways To Hell is a map editor doodle reading "Dopefish lives" in Commander Keen's standard galactic alphabet.
    • In the first level of STRAFE's third biome, if you jump across the trapped floor that drops you into the level, you can walk around to see a wall that can't be seen otherwise — it naturally is painted over with a picture of the Dopefish.
    • ULTRAKILL features incidental Dopefish swimming around in the first level of the Wrath layer. A secret level also enables you to catch them in a fishing minigame.
    • AMID EVIL's Secret Level contains a golden statue of the Dopefish that's guarded by The Wee John Clan, a secret Wolfpack Boss that parodies Big John.
    • Wacky Wheels has an Easter Egg that could cause the Dopefish to appear and wave at the player if they did a specific sequence of button inputs before the race started.
    • The Dopefish appears as a once-per-episode Easter Egg in Daikatana.
    • Max Payne has the Dopefish appear on a poster, wielding Guns Akimbo.
    • In Postal 4: No Regerts, graffiti of the Dopefish can be found in various parts of the game world..
  • Other Keen-related items have shown up in other games as well:
    • The teddy bear from episode 1 is a point item (exact same sprite, even) in Secret Agent.
    • Keen's helmet in a couple of slime pools in Crystal Caves. The story mentions "Yorp herding" and the name "B. Blaze" appears in the high scores as well.
    • Keen is mentioned in one level of the original Duke Nukem.
    • "Keen Commander" is a rank in Guild Wars.
    • Several hanged Keens appear at the exit of the super-secret level of Doom II. You have to kill them to exit the level.
    • Keen is a hostage in episode 2 of Bio Menace. A later level features a giant Yorp in the background and has a hidden developer's room with several items from Keen and other Apogee games.
    • A message in Epic's early game Jill of the Jungle states that "B. Blaze" is retiring from computer games because he "can't compete with those cool Epic heros [sic]".
    • Commander Keen's name is in the high score list for Monuments of Mars, which also features a Garg-like enemy.
    • A secret in the second episode of Paganitzu features a Yorp wearing Al's hat. Al is meanwhile talking about a strange dream he had about Commander Keen which sounds suspiciously like an ad for the game...

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