id Software's first game is 20-years-old

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 15 December, 2010

Commander Keen remembered.

Veteran members of legendary developer id Software last night celebrated the 20th birthday of its first game: Commander Keen.

The side-scrolling Super Mario-esque PC game is the earliest work produced by the id team, predating first-person shooter classics Doom and Quake.

It launched on 14th December 1990, two months before the company was officially founded.

To mark the series' 20th anniversary, developers from id Software and Bethesda shared their memories of the game on the Bethesda Blog.

"My childhood was pretty much made up of Mario games on the console, and Commander Keen on the PC," recounted id Software's Mike Rubits.

"I was only three years old when the game was originally released, but I still must have played the first level in each game hundreds of times, not being talented enough to get much further. I didn't even realise until well after DOOM that the same people were responsible for both games; I just knew that I spent far too much time on both."

id's Shawn Casey offered this: "I remember always being jealous of the NES crowd because they had a cool platformer, and it wasn't until Commander Keen came out that I could finally enjoy my own platformer on the PC. Playing it with the Gravis gamepad was a blast, even with a snapped off stick."

Commander Keen put the player in the shoes of Billy Blaze, an eight-year-old boy who travels through space and assumes the identity "Commander Keen". It was designed by Tom Hall, who went on to co-found Ion Storm with John Romero, and was programmed by John Carmack.

The mysterious Gestalt reviewed the GameBoy Colour version of Commander Keen for Eurogamer way back in 2001, awarding it 8/10.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Mcstrife #1 1 year ago

    Good for him, but I hated Commander Keen.

  • Anciegher #2 1 year ago

    I've been an avid gamer since '85 and I haven't even heard of this game. Must be some obscure low profile PC game back in the day?

  • ryandsimmons #3 1 year ago

    Commander Keen was awesome, as were all the sequels.

    Ah memories.

  • ocmerius #4 1 year ago

    Damn, 20 years? Now I do feel old.

  • sneetch #5 1 year ago

    I loved Commander Keen although I only played the shareware episode. I had no way of buying it back in the day.

    Hmmmm... time to break out the credit card now.

    Edit: played on a 386 25SX with 2 MB of RAM; my current phone could destroy it a million times over.
    Edited by sneetch at 15/12/10 @ 11:09

  • GamesConnoisseur #6 1 year ago

    I didnt really play much Commander Keen games as was into Doom (before then was mostly Amiga scene), but my wife who was a student at an Uni asked me to install all the Keen games on her PC, I think it was a 486dx66 or summat like that!

    Damn me too ... I feel old!

  • thisisatempaccount #7 1 year ago

    I used to play it while listening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo (although it was hard to hear the music over the 80-decibel whirring of a pentium 75mhz fan in chorus with a 1996 cd drive).

    I must have been six years old. Bouncing a young pogo-mounted lad in a bright yellow bike helmet around a vivid 256-colour alien landscape was magical. The very idea of gaming was magical. Fuck, everything was magical! The sound Windows 95 made when it started up was magical. Being eaten by the yeti on Ski Free was a moment of pure holy terror. That was my daleks-behind-the-sofa moment.

    What a wonderful time..

  • Genji #8 1 year ago

    Only ever played Keen 4 and 5, but those were wonderful. Facking hard though.

  • convercide #9 1 year ago

    Random fact:

    B. J. Blascowicz from Wolfenstein is Commander Keen's Grandfather.

    I loved Keen 1 and 4 (only played the shareware versions). I never did manage to get to the secret pyramid on 4. :/

  • LosCapitan #10 1 year ago

    "Sounds like a plan bearded one!"

  • PearOfAnguish #11 1 year ago

    Dopefish lives! The Steam versions of Keen still run on a modern system. Still fun.

    "I've been an avid gamer since '85 and I haven't even heard of this game. Must be some obscure low profile PC game back in the day?"

    Can't have been that avid, then, Keen was a popular series.

  • stepneg #12 1 year ago

    I have just been playing through Doom2 on the 360 and was reminded of Commander Keen when finishing the secret secret exit lvl as you have to execute 4 keens at the end, good times.... Will there ever be a new Doom as I am tempted to install 3 and play through it again after finishing 2?

  • FightingMongoose #13 1 year ago

    I'm only 22 but remember playing Commander Keen, it might even be my earliest gaming memory.

  • Retro_ #14 1 year ago

    I remember buying commander Keen, it was Doom as a platformer with DOS graphics, sort of. It was alright for the time I suppose.

  • teh_MBK #15 1 year ago

    Commander Keen was brilliant. I'm only 22 now, but I still played it when I was 5 or so. Along Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure :o). I think the original Dukes must have come later...

  • SAMagic #16 1 year ago

    convercide @ I was the same with the pyramid, it really bugged me!

    Turns out the answer to get there is based on a terrible pun:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cu_38w1dZM

  • Steroyd #17 1 year ago

    Wow that takes me back, Yo' ID you know there's PSN, XBLA and Wiiware right? You know what to do. ;)

  • jenguin #18 1 year ago

    I played commander keen (shareware) on a 286, 512k machine. It had a turbo switch at the back that toggles between 8mhz and 10mhz. The power.

  • Golgo #19 1 year ago

    The interminable delays between id releases makes it all seem much longer than 20 years.

  • linksdad #20 1 year ago

    Coming from the Amiga, the early PC games where pretty miserable looking with ghastly blockiness that was generally antialiased out for free on tellies on the Amiga. The sound was also terrible on PC, those early soundblaster midi cards couldnt hold a candle to the Paula, the Amiga's custom soundchip.

    Cant comment on the gameplay as I never spent more than a few minutes on it.

    PC gamers really did put up with some utter tosh in those days though.

  • Freakachuu #21 1 year ago

    Oh God I miss my Amiga.

  • SHPanda #22 1 year ago

    I still find myself randomly whistling the music from the opening level of Keen 2 (I think it was the second one, could have been the third) where you start by hopping on you pogo stick past a few grey houses which you could also enter to grab a few choccy bars and bottles of pop and could then go down a nice slanted path underground if you did so choose.

    Love these games, and would happily play them today if I had them, some of the best platforming fun to be had. Though Keen Dreams sucked major ass.
    Edited by SHPanda at 15/12/10 @ 18:52

  • HiredMan #23 1 year ago

    Keen was awesome. Finished all of them back in the early 90's, still remember when the ordered non-shareware episodes arrived in the post on 3.5" floppys :D

    I didn't know they were available on Steam, will grab em tonight!

  • IMD1_Pk #24 1 year ago

    Goodbye Galaxy..... so many fond memories