Duke Nukem Forever

Duke Nukem Forever (often shorted to "DNF" by many) was intended to be the series' fourth main game after Duke Nukem 3D, but ended up spending well over a decade in development hell, going through so many concepts, developers, staff changes, engine swaps, and pushed-back release dates that the game became a punchline... but come out it did, including a "Balls of Steel" collector's edition (containing all sorts of nifty stuff) and an announcement that GameStop would honor pre-orders from past years (which ended up including a customer who had preordered the game in 2001).

The finished game itself, on the other hand...let's just say the wait probably wasn't worth it for most. Especially for a certain gray cat.

Development Info Prototype Info Prerelease Info Notes Unused GraphicsVarious graphics and textures; placeholders, early graphics, all that. Unused TextWelcome to the text-based museum of this game's development. Unused AudioUnused sounds, voice lines, and music not heard at all (or in their entirety). Unused ModelsAll sorts of unused models that had no steel. Unused Animations"What? Did you think I would just stay stuck in a pre-rendered .bik forever?" Unused CodeAll sorts of interesting code left in the game. Internal NamesThe names of assets in the files. There's a few oddly-named ones here! OdditiesAs if being the (former) world record holder for longest development of a AAA release wasn't odd enough. Downloadable ContentUnused stuff in the two DLCs, Hail to the Icons Parody Pack and The Doctor Who Cloned Me.

Unused Enemy#

While technically not completely "unused", the Duke Clones from The Doctor Who Cloned Me are present amongst the base game's objects but understandably don't go used in any of its levels. This is almost certainly a leftover from the cut Area 51/EDF Base levels mentioned in the 2008 World Chart.

Unused Weapons#

There are some unused weapons in the game, some of them are more or less complete sans a few bugs, and others only have asset remanets to show their once-existence.

Nuclear Warhead#

There was going to be the nuclear option for the RPG with an alternative ammo type, acting not so dissimilar to the similarly named weapon from Shadow Warrior. It has a whole set of animations, textures, and a model, but isn't used. The nuke ammo can be gained by using commands in the console. It is not certain which mode(s) the weapon was intended to appear in.

When loading it, Duke will hit the butt of the ammo against the gun and insert it. A voice will then count down from three before the gun can fire.

It is possible this was cut due to balancing concerns.

The multiplayer ammo pickup for it uses an unused model. Pickup text for the Warhead exists but was later removed from the PC version, now displaying an error string.

Flamethrower#

The flamethrower seen in the 2001 builds is referenced in the files but all that seems left of it is just some audio.

Pistol Dual Wielding#

There is code that suggest the player was able to dual wield pistols in the game. Some Pigcops are shown doing this. Duke is also seen doing it in some prerelease media.

Demo and Trailer Leftovers#

Russian VersionThe Russian release of the game has some censorship in its dialogue, though not as much as... Japanese VersionA heavily-censored and quite strange version, released much later than the other regions' versions.

References#