DOSBox

I made a discovery about playing Commander Keen in modern times that seemed like such a game changer that I wanted to share it. Despite Keen not working on modern windows because they're 64-bit, there's a program that allows it to still be played; it's called DOSBox.

What I love about DOSBox, is that it's easy to use. Once it's installed, simple click the .exe file (such as keen1.exe) and drag it onto the DOSBox.exe file and it will automatically open. Alternatively, if you know a few CMD commands, you can click use it manually by clicking DOSBOX.exe. Once it opens, it's automatically the Z drive. Then you have to mount the drive that Keen is located on. For instance, what I would have to do is type in mount P C:\users\amandap\desktop\keen\. Then I type in P:\ and it brings you to the address that you just mounted. From there, you need to type in cd keen1 (sometimes cd keen1~1). Then you can type keen1.exe to open up the application. The 'P' directly after the 'mount' can be any letter, just whatever you put there, it's just what you'd have to navigate to in the next step. I hope you found this useful and Happy Thanksgiving.

Commander Keen 1 Level 1 Mod

I uploaded a new Keen 1 level.

Keen 1 Mod Map Tour

I don't know if anyone here follows my Youtube, where I post Keen related videos, but if you're interested, I just did a new post.

Blogs

I blog about Commander Keen. My friends blog about a few other things. Those things can range from Horror movies, to food, to dancing to basically everything else. If you happen to like any of those things I just listed, you can click the links and view my friends blogs on those. The owners of the mentioned blogs are Dale, Adam, Chloe and Lisa. They do more blogging than I do. I try and get a few posts out about Keen and so far I've posted only a few, but my friends post more often than that. Dale posts (sometimes) posts these thick reviews on these horror movies he has seen, and even made some posts about a few he hasn't. Adam's posts often are what he ate during the day, along with other things that he has eaten at some point. Chloe posts about the parties she has attended (I've gone to a few of those with her) and the songs she likes to hear and dance to at those parties. Lisa posts about basically anything. She has posted about being in a bathtub and bathing. She has talked about skiing. She has even talked about music a few times. Her favorite artist and all the songs associated with him. (My favorite music is Christmas music so I like this time of year).

Commander Keen 3 (Keen Must Die!)

In my last post, I mentioned that Keen 3 starts with Keen going to planet to end this once and for all. The name of the planet is Vorticon IV. The city Commander Keen lands in is called Vortiville. As a hint, Commander Keen can run faster then a Vorticon Woman's fireball, but barely right off the bat. So if you stop suddenly it could still hit you. Although if you can get far enough away from it, you can neutralize it with a shot from your pistol. Below is a picture from the first level of Keen 3, otherwise known as Vortiville.

Commander Keen 1 is the shareware version and is therefor free as I mentioned in my first post. However, Commander Keen 2 (The Earth Explodes) and Commander Keen 3 (Keen Must Die) are not free. They have to be bought for like $15 a piece. Well, they did cost something at some point, but that was when they were on something that was used for electronic storage on computers before they had CD's. By now, you probably could go onto some website and download all three of them in one package. But for me, I just load it onto my computer with what I have. At least it removes the chances of downloading a virus. I have known a few people that have done that. Half of them have downloaded a virus onto their computer more than once. What I have the Keens stored on is called a 5 1/4 floppy disc. By now they are obsolete, heck, they were obsolete before I was born. I still have them lying around somewhere, but it is easier to use the other place I keep them. I have all three of the first three keens on a CD which I can easily throw in any computer and load one of them.The 5 1/4 floppy discs probably were bought by my parents as they were commonly used in their lifetime. But anyways, back to Commander Keen 3. As you you can see at the center bottom of the top picture, is a Foob. (The small yellow guy). I like to call them yellow fluff balls. Just as with the Yorps in Keen 1, I love these little guys and hate to see them get killed. At least with the Yorps you

A Vortikid.

could bump them and they bumped you back. These other guys, one touch and they 
explode. It doesn't even take a shot. The guy to the right, a Vortikid, is what I consider one of the most dangerous creatures in Keen 3. They never seemed so difficult in Keen 2... Anyways, if they touch you they don't kill you, they just knock you over for a few seconds. They most dangerous part about them, is it seems that there is often something more dangerous coming when they knock me over. Actually, quite often it is a Vorticon Woman that is near by and fires a fireball at me, which I'm knocked over so I can't get out of the way of it. You can see one below the Vortikid. Just like Keen 1, there is a secret level, but

A Vorticon Woman.

I won't say anything else, I'll leave you to figure the rest out on your own. The only other thing I want to mention is about the end level and bad guy. Even though most of him is dangerous, there is a specific place you can stand and not get killed. Also you can't kill the Meeps inside the end bad guy. You have to win the level without killing them. Have fun playing it!

Commander Keen 2 (The Earth Explodes)

A Yorp that Keen brought home from his first adventure.

First, I would just like to say, I was thrilled when I found out Keen took a Yorp home with him. As I mentioned in my last post, the Yorps are my favorite martians that Keen encounters. As a matter of fact, they're my favorite out of all three of the Keens. However, the Scrubs are my favorite out of the aliens in the second episode of Keen. It isn't neccesary to play all the levels to win the game, you only need to win the levels with a certain symbol above the entrance, but I play all the levels anyways. In my time, I have pulled many levers that completely destroyed the Earth. The gray tunnels in two of the pictures, that I put below, remind me of the yellow ones, from Keen 1, that had Gargs hiding in them. I like Keen, so at one point I thought that I was going to get addicted to the different kinds of foods that are in Keen, although that never happened. Take Keen 2 for example, I never found my self wanting a lot of candy bars, cola, hamburgers, or chocolate cake. (I already had a favorite stuffed animal.)

I like how in Keen 2 you can stand on cans.

I like the levels where you need all the keys.

That red guy is a scrub.

The beginning starts where Keen 1 left off. If you played Keen 1, you might recall that when it ends there is a mother ship ready to destroy Earth. Keen lands on the ship and that is where Keen 2 starts. I like how there isn't a gap between the two episodes. Not a minute. Keen 2 ends with the mother ship heading back to the planet it came from which leaves Keen 3, which has Commander Keen going to the planet to end this once and for all. But I won't talk too much about that, that'll be for my next post.

Commander Keen 1 (Marooned on Mars)

I took this shot at the end of the first level.

Hello everybody. This is the first post on my first blog, so I hope it goes well and I go on to do more blogging. I like to play Commander Keen, episodes 1-3. It's a game from the 1990's and is a little out of date. It was originally a DOS game and Keen 1 was the shareware version of it. It is Keen 1, that I'm going to talk about in this post. I don't really remember how I got associated with the Keen's as the first three were made before I was born. My favorite martian of Keen is the Yorp, for obvious reasons coming from someone who plays keen. Yorps are the little one-eyed green guys. One is visible at the bottom of the screen. Another is half on-screen at the bottom left. There may be a third partially on-screen at the top left. I'm not sure, I took this shot a while back. I kick myself every time I accidental shot one of these guys, as one shot kills them, and they're harmless and cute. They are seen on almost every single level. Yorps may be my favorite martian that Keen encounters, but there aren't any that I dislike. Maybe initially I may have disliked the Vorticons, because they're the hardest to kill, but if I did I don't really remember because it was such a long time ago I first played and I don't any more..

That's a statue of a Yorp, and it can give some pretty helpful information.

I love the Teddy Bear on Keen 1. I always go to sleep with my teddy bear every night.

Keen right next to a teddy bear.

I play the first three keens, and of those keens I think the one I play the most is this one. With the amount of times I have played this, I have long remembered where the teleporter to the secret level is and mastered how to get to it. I'll give you a hint, it's in a level that looks like a castle. Keen is a game I would strongly recommend playing, even if it is over 20 years old. Commander Keen Download. If you want to play it, and need the file, you just need to click that link. Here is one more screenshot for the road.

This is inside one of the levels that looks like a castle.

I was on a computer in my college recently, which has Windows 8, and Keen didn't work. So, just so everyone knows, it must not work on the newest hardware and software computers.