4 ms·
Carmack is a great programmer to be sure. Commander Keen, however, was not a better version of Mario. It was worse than Mario in every way -- art, music, and ga
by rogerclark 2y ago
Carmack is a great programmer to be sure. Commander Keen, however, was not a better version of Mario. It was worse than Mario in every way -- art, music, and gameplay are all inferior.
Nobody outside of Gen X PC gamers know what Commander Keen is. Everyone knows what Mario is. While copying may be the way design works, copying only gets you so far.
- bongodongobob 2y agoThe article didn't say it was better. No one thought it was better. It was just the first time anyone was able to smoothly side scroll on a PC. By copying something, he was able to push the boundaries of the perceived constraints of the technology which I believe is what the article is pointing out.
- rogerclark 2y ago"Disappointed, but not defeated, they resolved to build a better version of Mario."
- bongodongobob 2y agoResolved = tried, wished
- robertlagrant 2y agoMillennial here - I played this as a teenager on our ancient-for-the-time family PC.
- bigstrat2003 2y agoDisagree. Commander Keen 4-6 are better than Mario, imo.
- thestepafter 2y agoTo add to this Commander Keen was released on a very limited platform. More people were gaming on Nintendo systems than personal computers. If Commander Keen was released on Nintendo things may have gone differently.
- trentnix 2y agoEven if that were true (and I don't think it is), Commander Keen should be compared to Mario 3 (which still came out over a year earlier than the first Keen), not Mario. And 4-6 are most appropriately compared to Super Mario World, which was released the same year. Keen was/is great, but Mario 3 and Mario World are on the shortlist for best game ever.