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The Sega Dreamcast has started to gain some love by their homebrew community this year, with games like Doom 64 and Sonic Mania receiving unofficial ports to the last main Sega console.

Today, another beloved classic title has joined the ranks of games being ported unofficially to the console, with the latest one being Duke Nukem 3D. This port of the Build Engine classic was developed by Dreamcast Talk's forum user Ivan Guber, and has support for the Atomic Edition 1.5 release of the game, which offers a 4th episode with a new wepon and new enemies. For the Dreamcast port, Guber offers the following features:

• Fixed out of memory.
• Improved game performance.
• Added saving to IDE and SD.
• Reworked controls for Dreamcast controller.
• Configured controls for XBOX360 controller.
• Added mouse controls (you need to mapped the mouse buttons).
• Keyboard support.

Even George Broussard, one of the original developers of the game, was surprised by this achievements and commented on a post that showcased this very Dreamcast port of Duke Nukem 3D:

"Those alien bastards are gonna pay for porting me to the Dreamcast."

I'll be damned. Kinda cool.#dreamcast #duke3d #dukenukem3d https://t.co/gjmxR671bL

— George Broussard (@georgebsocial) September 6, 2024

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The Dreamcast port was released on September 5th, 2024, with an update released just today fixing some bugs, and is now available on the Dreamcast Talk forums for those willing to give it a try in a real Dreamcast console, or with a mouse and keyboard for those that have the means.

Source

 

[Exnor]

I really admire the talent and dedication of the homebrew community.

 

[chrisrlink]

wonder if HRP (high-res pack) can be applied in the future (I assume it's based on eduke32) though an GDEmu is probably required due to the complete cdi/gdii probably being bigger than a cd-r)

 

[SeventhSon7]

I've come here to play Dreamcast and chew bubble gum, and I'm all out of gum.

 

[Scarlet]

The way I read the title I think there's a slim chance that there may in fact be an official Dreamcast port, and that the unofficial clarification must be stated lol.

Always fantastic to see these projects though, great effort from the team behind it.

 

[Robert Newbie]

More cool stuff for the Dreamcast! Kudos to the devs. On top of all this, one of the original developers commented on the port. Good stuff all around.

Points to the OP for mentioning the Sonic Mania and Doom64 ports. Among other interesting projects, Frogbull is working on a GTA3 port to the Dreamcast that is making good progress.

 

[ASSASSIN-Z]

Yeah, but does it have online multiplayer like the Saturn version? (just being sarcastic)

Nice Dreamcast port!

 

[gbadl]

When did the dreamcast allow Xbox 360 controllers? And how do you do it?

 

[Robert Newbie]

When did the dreamcast allow Xbox 360 controllers? And how do you do it?

I got you covered:

EDIT: I wanted to add more context. The game uses Dreamcast button images, though the colors seem similar to the 360 controller. Y is green for the DC controller, but on the 360 gamepad, Y is yellow. In practice, you could use a 360 controller through emulation, but I don't know if an adapter exists.

You know, even GameCube buttons in-game could be mistaken for the 360, since B is red and A is green in both cases.

 

[gbadl]

I got you covered:

EDIT: I wanted to add more context. The game uses Dreamcast button images, though the colors seem similar to the 360 controller. Y is green for the DC controller, but on the 360 gamepad, Y is yellow. In practice, you could use a 360 controller through emulation, but I don't know if an adapter exists.

You know, even GameCube buttons in-game could be mistaken for the 360, since B is red and A is green in both cases.

Ok that makes sense, I was thinking of real hardware and forgot about emulation. It is basically like Zelda BOTW running on emulator with the Xbox control GUI mod.

 

[Latiodile]

it's so goofy that the dreamcast is getting more support in the last 3 years than it did 20 years ago

 

[raxadian]

wonder if HRP (high-res pack) can be applied in the future (I assume it's based on eduke32) though an GDEmu is probably required due to the complete cdi/gdii probably being bigger than a cd-r)

The Dreamcast is not that powerful maybe for a Switch port...

 

[SDA]

Sonic Mania on the Dreamcast will have to wait...

 

[raxadian]

Sonic Mania on the Dreamcast will have to wait...

Sonic Mania on the Dreamcast will have to wait...

Technically possible based on the fact you can run Sonic Mania in a 3DS, but forget any videos and the code optimisation would be a nightmare. Also the game would have to tun from a hd or sd card

 

[SDA]

@raxadian... did you really quote my above post twice?

 

[urbanman2004]

I swear Duke Nukem as a franchise should be at the status where Doom 2016 is at, but due to financial mismanagement of the upper brass at 3D Realms (Apogee), it got sold off (as part of a liquidation sale to avoid bankruptcy) and is now a dead franchise (from a pop culture standpoint) w/ little to no relevancy nowadays and became a shell of its former self. Although, 3D Realms has made a comeback since then, losing Duke Nukem has to be a tough pill to swallow.

 

[Robert Newbie]

I swear Duke Nukem as a franchise should be at the status where Doom 2016 is at, but due to financial mismanagement of the upper brass at 3D Realms (Apogee), it got sold off (as part of a liquidation sale to avoid bankruptcy) and is now a dead franchise (from a pop culture standpoint) w/ little to no relevancy nowadays and became a shell of its former self. Although, 3D Realms has made a comeback since then, losing Duke Nukem has to be a tough pill to swallow.

I didn't know that's how it all ended up. It does look like 3D Realms is doing decently. They've released four games this year with a handful in development at various studios.

Duke Nukem Forever's development is what I'd like to know more about. That first trailer was genuinely well done, and it got people excited for a meticulously detailed game. I know I was expecting something on the level of Half-Life 1/2 with funny one-liners.

I only really know the official story: They kept changing engines and having to re-do work, and the game kept getting stripped of content as it went along. Then, Gearbox came in a stitched things together.

 

[urbanman2004]

I didn't know that's how it all ended up. It does look like 3D Realms is doing decently. They've released four games this year with a handful in development at various studios.

Duke Nukem Forever's development is what I'd like to know more about. That first trailer was genuinely well done, and it got people excited for a meticulously detailed game. I know I was expecting something on the level of Half-Life 1/2 with funny one-liners.

I only really know the official story: They kept changing engines and having to re-do work, and the game kept getting stripped of content as it went along. Then, Gearbox came in a stitched things together.

As you may already know, Duke Nukem was a long awaited sequel that took 10 years to release since 2001. Due to the original IP owner, 3D Realms and its parent company, Apogee's poor financial management, they were forced to offload the franchise in an asset sale in an attempt to avoid filing bankruptcy. At that time of the game's official launch, due to my curiosity, I intimately researched in depth a/b how everything went down way back when. What I do remember is when the game exchanged hands w/ the new rights holder, Gearbox, the original vision for the sequel had not only diluted in quality, but its content had long been outdated and its concept went stale whenever it finally released. The switching of the game engines during development was more so immaterial to the game overall. There should be a paper trail outlining the sequence of events that lead up to the unfortunate outcome of the game, all you gotta do is Google.

 

[Robert Newbie]

As you may already know, Duke Nukem was a long awaited sequel that took 10 years to release since 2001. Due to the original IP owner, 3D Realms and its parent company, Apogee's poor financial management, they were forced to offload the franchise in an asset sale in an attempt to avoid filing bankruptcy. At that time of the game's official launch, due to my curiosity, I intimately researched in depth a/b how everything went down way back when. What I do remember is when the game exchanged hands w/ the new rights holder, Gearbox, the original vision for the sequel had not only diluted in quality, but its content had long been outdated and its concept went stale whenever it finally released. The switching of the game engines during development was more so immaterial to the game overall. There should be a paper trail outlining the sequence of events that lead up to the unfortunate outcome of the game, all you gotta do is Google.

Hahaha, I have to put that on my to-do list. I wish there was a book or two like Masters of Doom. I'd be down for that.

I remember how there was a batch of Duke Nukem Forever leaks, which detailed the game's storyline. I never took the time to run through them because there was still a chance the game might see the light of day. Besides, FPS games like that are better with "show, don't tell."

Unfortunately, we have the leaked prototype(s), the trailer(s), and the final game (oy) to go on. Some ideas seemed good, and even the leaked enemy animations were smooth and well-done. The mystique will always make "the game that never was" seem more intriguing than it should be.

I'm inclined to believe that there was poor management all around. It's possible very little work went into the game itself during those 10 years. Gearbox may have ended up with less content than we even realize. I remember the game was delayed a few times during the Gearbox arc, which may have been indicative of how much was viable.

I'll always dream of that ideal Half-Life-esque Duke Nukem 3D sequel that had well-executed concepts, a variety of levels and gameplay styles (box the Terminator), and an emotional story between Duke and Bombshell.

 

[urbanman2004]

Hahaha, I have to put that on my to-do list. I wish there was a book or two like Masters of Doom. I'd be down for that.

I remember how there was a batch of Duke Nukem Forever leaks, which detailed the game's storyline. I never took the time to run through them because there was still a chance the game might see the light of day. Besides, FPS games like that are better with "show, don't tell."

Unfortunately, we have the leaked prototype(s), the trailer(s), and the final game (oy) to go on. Some ideas seemed good, and even the leaked enemy animations were smooth and well-done. The mystique will always make "the game that never was" seem more intriguing than it should be.

I'm inclined to believe that there was poor management all around. It's possible very little work went into the game itself during those 10 years. Gearbox may have ended up with less content than we even realize. I remember the game was delayed a few times during the Gearbox arc, which may have been indicative of how much was viable.

I'll always dream of that ideal Half-Life-esque Duke Nukem 3D sequel that had well-executed concepts, a variety of levels and gameplay styles (box the Terminator), and an emotional story between Duke and Bombshell.

Back in 2022, there was an ongoing effort to remaster the unreleased original Duke Nukem Forever from 2001 for modern audiences after it had leaked and it's based on Unreal Engine 1 and DirectX 9. Whenever you get a chance, you should look more into it if you have any interest. MVG released a video describing this project which was almost 2 years ago