Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter developed by 3D Realms and published by FormGen for MS-DOS. The shareware version came out on 29 January 1996 and the full version on 19 April 1996. The game runs on the Build engine; Allen H. Blum III and Richard Gray designed the levels, Lee Jackson and Robert Prince composed the music, and Jon St. John voiced Duke.
The Atomic Edition of December 1996 added a fourth episode, The Birth. Ports followed for Mac, Saturn, Nintendo 64 (Duke Nukem 64), PlayStation (Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown) and, in Brazil only, the Mega Drive. The game also ran into trouble with censors: Australia at first refused it classification, Germany's BPjM put it on List B, which banned public advertising, and Brazil banned it in 1999 together with Doom and other shooters.
The source code of the v1.5 executable was released under the GPL on 1 April 2003. The 2013 Megaton Edition disappeared from digital stores at the end of 2015 because of a licensing deal with Gearbox Software, which released the 20th Anniversary World Tour in 2016.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Duke Nukem 3DShareware version. | MS-DOS | Jan 29, 1996 | FormGen | 1 |
| NA | Duke Nukem 3DFull version; in Europe 17 May 1996, published by U.S. Gold. | MS-DOS | Apr 19, 1996 | FormGen | 1 |
| NA | Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic EditionAdds an eleven-level fourth episode; the Plutonium PAK add-on came out on 21 October 1996. | MS-DOS | Dec 11, 1996 | — | 1 |
| NA | Duke Nukem 3DPort by Lion Entertainment. | Mac | Jun 6, 1997 | — | 1 |
| NA | Duke Nukem 3DPort by Lobotomy Software; Europe 30 October 1997. | Saturn | Oct 29, 1997 | Sega | 1 |
| NA | Duke Nukem: Total MeltdownPort by Aardvark Software; Europe December 1997; published in Japan by King Records. | PlayStation | Dec 2, 1997 | GT Interactive | 1 |
| WW | Duke Nukem 64Port by Eurocom. | Nintendo 64 | Nov 14, 1997 | GT Interactive | 1 |
| BR | Duke Nukem 3DReleased only in Brazil; a worldwide cartridge release by Piko Interactive followed on 16 October 2015. | Genesis | 1998 | Tec Toy | 1 |
| JP | デューク ニューケム トータル メルトダウンDyūku Nyūkemu Tōtaru MerutodaunJapanese release of Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown. | PlayStation | 1999 | King Records | 2 |
| WW | Duke Nukem 3D | Xbox 360 | Sep 24, 2008 | — | 1 |
| WW | Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton EditionBy General Arcade, on Steam for Windows and OS X; Linux 4 September 2013. Removed from digital stores at the end of 2015. | Windows | Mar 20, 2013 | — | 1 |
| WW | Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World TourSame day on PS4 and Xbox One. | Windows | Oct 11, 2016 | Gearbox Publishing | 1 |
| WW | Duke Nukem 3D | Switch | Jun 23, 2020 | — | 1 |
Also known as: Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition WW1Duke Nukem 64 WW1Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown WW1Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition WW1Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour WW1デューク ニューケム トータル メルトダウン JP2デューク ニューケム3D JP2
Box art by region
NA Duke Nukem 3D
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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ContentAtomic Edition
The Atomic Edition (1996) adds a fourth episode, The Birth, with eleven new levels, and allows multiplayer sessions against computer-controlled bots.1
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ContentSaturn
The Saturn port by Lobotomy Software uses its own SlaveDriver engine, supports two players over Sega NetLink, and adds the bonus level Urea 51 and the hidden game Death Tank Zwei.1
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ContentPlayStation (Total Meltdown)
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown on PlayStation adds a fourth episode, Plug 'n' Pray, with six new levels plus a secret one, and a new final boss, CyberKeef.1
Where to play legally today
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Steam Purchase
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour
2016 Windows edition with five episodes
Checked: 2026-10-133store.steampowered.com
How to run it today
The current official PC edition is the 20th Anniversary World Tour on Steam for Windows; the Megaton Edition was removed from digital stores at the end of 2015. Because the source code of the v1.5 executable was released under the GPL on 1 April 2003, community source ports such as JFDuke3D and EDuke32 exist, while the game content itself remains proprietary.1
Reception
Duke Nukem 3D was a commercial hit, selling about 3.5 million copies. In the United States it sold 950,000 units and was the 12th best-selling computer game of 1993–1999. The MS-DOS version holds 89/100 on Metacritic, the Nintendo 64 version 73/100 and the Xbox 360 version 80/100.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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