When Apogee decided to turn Duke Nukem into a first person shooter, they decided that it should set itself apart from the pack by bringing Duke's attitude with it. They made the game irreverent and raunchy which, ironically, gives your character purpose. You're not just a soulless commando fragging for the sake of fragging. You're Duke Nukem, aliens are on your planet, and you'd die before you would surrender. If Duke seems to be enjoying himself, it's because his character demands it. The game is full of voice clips and Duke makes comments at different points throughout the levels. The game had very impressive graphics and sound at the time. A fourth episode was released in an expansion pack called the Plutonium PAK, which upgraded the registered version to v1.4. Version 1.4 and 1.5 included the Plutonium PAK and were sold as Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition. There are 4 episodes in this game, with only the first episode playable in the shareware version.

Episode 1 - L.A. Meltdown
Episode 2 - Lunar Apocalypse
Episode 3 - Shrapnel City
Episode 4 - The Birth

Downloads

Complete version history:

Duke Nukem 3D v1.3d Shareware Episode (5,924,374 bytes)	24 April 1996	DOS	Play online
Duke Nukem 3D v1.1 Shareware Episode (5,451,224 bytes)	20 February 1996	DOS
Duke Nukem 3D v1.0 Shareware Episode (5,465,091 bytes)	29 January 1996	DOS

Source code for Duke Nukem 3D v1.5 Atomic Edition in Watcom C/C++ 10.0 (4,017,201 bytes)

xxxx

Help running DOS games

Availability

Apogee still sells the registered version of this game for $5.99 by download.

It can be downloaded in a Windows XP/Vista/7-compatible format from GOG for $5.99.

Cheat Codes

All Duke Nukem 3D cheat codes are to be used when you are playing the game. These are not command line, menu, or console commands.

Section I: Useful Cheats (these affect gameplay)

DNCORNHOLIO - God Mode (And Unlimited Jetpack).
DNKROZ - Same as Cornholio, just quicker to type.
DNVIEW - Same as the F7 key in the game. (Also prints the message "You're too good to be cheating")
DNHYPER - Puts you in Steroids Mode.
DNITEMS - Gives all inventory items and keys.
DNWEAPONS - Gives all weapons and ammo.
DNKEYS - Gives all the keys.
DNSTUFF - Gives all weapons, keys, inventory items.
DNSCOTTYxyz - Level Warp. x is the Episode Number, yz is the level number. (Ex: dnscotty103 for Episode 1 Level 3, or dnscotty211 for Episode 2 Level 11)
DNSKILLx - Changes the difficulty mode to x. (x can be 0 to 3)
DNUNLOCK - Opens all doors and unlocks all locked doors.
DNMONSTERS - Turns off (or on) the monsters in the game.
DNCLIP - Walk Through Walls

Warning: Being in God Mode can crash the game at certain points, depending on what you are doing. Being in God mode when you are squashed by rotating gears is one example.

Warning 2: The DNCLIP code can be very dangerous. It can cause crashes at any time. If you have a problem, and have used DNCLIP, restart, and do not use DNCLIP, and see if it happens. This was the main reason we didn't have a DNCLIP in v1.0.

Section II: Cute Cheats (they do something, but don't affect the game)

DNSHOWMAP - Shows the entire map.
DNCASHMAN - Spews money everywhere when you press space.
DNCOORDS - Shows extremely detailed map coordinate/level information.
DNDEBUG - Shows some debug information.
DNRATE - Shows your frame rate onscreen. You must be in full screen mode for this to be anywhere near accurate.
DNBETA - Prints the message "Pirates Suck!"
DNALLEN - Prints the message "Buy Major Stryker"
DNTODD - Prints the message "Register Cosmo Today!"

Section III: Useless Cheats

DNXXXXXX - Does Nothing.

Notes

The DNCOSMO cheat was removed in v1.3d, because the keystroke conflicted with a game function. DNTODD in v1.3d is functionally the same as DNCOSMO.
The DNUNLOCK cheat code does *NOT* work in shareware. It only works in the registered version of the game.