Commander Keen 1: Marooned on Mars is a landmark 1990 DOS action-platformer developed by id Software. Playing as 8-year-old genius Billy Blaze, you must explore the Martian surface to recover four stolen parts of your spaceship. The game is highly regarded for bringing smooth, console-style side-scrolling to the PC and kicking off one of the era’s most popular shareware series.
How to Play
Navigate the overhead world map to enter different levels, where your goal is to survive hazards, find keycards, and locate the exit. Move using the arrow keys, press Ctrl to jump, and use Space to fire your raygun. Once you find the pogo stick, you can press Alt to activate it for much higher jumps. For full-screen mode, press Right Alt + Enter.
Tips
- Prioritize finding the pogo stick, as it is required to reach high platforms and safely traverse many levels.
- Raygun charges are limited. Instead of shooting the harmless one-eyed Yorps, try to jump over them, and save your ammo for the deadly Gargs.
- You can pan the camera to look up or down by holding the up or down arrow keys, which is useful for checking what is below before making a blind jump.
Leave a Comment / Review: