I’ve reviewed the other currently available Steam version of Duke Nukem 3D before, and while that one is the release that most people picking up the game here for the first time will be playing, I’d like to presume a base understanding of who and what Duke is, and use this space to draw attention specifically to the unique features of this version, The Megaton Edition.

If you’re only looking to play the original Duke episodes in the most optimised fashion, experience the new dynamic lighting engine for Build, original dev commentary, or to play the game with the better multiplayer support – go with The Twentieth Anniversary / World Tour Edition. The prime selling point of Megaton is the three full-length expansion packs only available herein, and since many people within the Duke fandom haven’t actually played them, I’ll do three brief mini-reviews for them now.

First and foremost is “Duke it Out in DC”. Of all the classic Build Engine games from the 1990’s, Duke Nukem 3D always stood out the most as the one seeking to set its levels largely within contemporary real-world locales, and the game satirised aspects of period American life with stages taking place in and around fast-food joints, postal centres, theatres, office buildings, and the occasional strip club. In this first xpack, Duke takes his tour of all-American sleaze and excess to its logical conclusion: straight to the Bill Clinton era White House.

Duke it Out in DC features a whole new episode worth of levels, each based on real world locations in the USA’s capitol, such as the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and Smithsonian Museum. What really immediately stands out in these new levels is just how the designers have taken great strides to really encapsulate a sense of grand size in each new area, and how highly detailed each section is. DiOiDC doesn’t bring any new weapons or enemies to the game, just a new pack of art resources the devs have really made the most of, but for me, it’s still the standout of the expansions.

If you’d prefer an equally well made, but notably more tongue-in-cheek interpretation of Duke, try the second expansion, “Duke Caribbean: Life’s a Beach”. Each of the new levels in this is modelled on a high-end tropical beach resort, and the wholly revamped sprite sheet and palette emphasise this. The levels themselves are more laid out like in vanilla Duke – open-ended but with a more-or-less linear critical path, however just about every element of in-game art has been wonderfully adapted to the new setting.

The enemies of the original game return - in Hawai’ian flower shirts and lounge suits, a new suite of bikini-clad babes dot the sandy beaches, and each weapon in Duke classic arsenal has received a lovely thematic rework. The trusty pistol now shoots (somehow still deadly) streams of water, the chaingun is a rapid-fire toxic dart blowpipe, the shinkray - a dark magic voodoo ring, and the RPG fires lethal explosive coconuts. The absolute best part for me in Duke Caribbean though, has to be the new music. There’s a whole new soundtrack of fitting steel drum renditions of the classic Lee Jackson tracks, a great new tropical menu theme, and a Grabbag/Hawai’i Five-0 mashup I didn’t realise Duke needed and deserved until now.

Finally, is the most oft-overlooked Duke 3D expansion of them all, “Nuclear Winter”. While NW is admittedly a little less substantial than its siblings, it’s still not to be sneezed at by any means. This finale to Duke extended adventures is actually a surprisingly upbeat holiday special, where, as a animated snowman anxiously informs us at the beginning of the game, Santa himself must call on Duke to help save Christmas from a militant Elf uprising. The few new levels set in idyllic winter wonderlands and holiday-themed retreads of levels from the base game are complimented with a wholly new gang of original enemies to fight against throughout and a delightful soundtrack of Duke-tinged classic Christmas carols.

Nuclear Winter even pulls off arguably the most unique final boss fight of any episode ever made of Duke 3D, and works a much better story beat into its ending than you’d ever expect from the maligned, discontinued, third act, holiday special, second-party produced, expansion pack to a 90’s shooter game known primarily for ripping off action movie dialogue and one frame of pixelated almost-toplessness.

If you can still get a copy of this edition, I’d highly recommend trying it for yourself.