Dopefish
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Dopefish-windope.png
The Dopefish is a dimwitted fictional fish that was one of the enemy characters in the fourth Commander Keen computer game, released in 1991. The character has since taken on a life of its own as a PC gaming industry in-joke, making hidden appearances in games from Apogee's 1994 Wacky Wheels down to titles as recent as the 2002 Hitman 2, and has started something of an Internet following.
Physically, the Dopefish is a large green fish, with buckteeth and an idiotic expression on its face. It is described in Keen 4 as "the second-dumbest creature in the universe" (a reference to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, the dumbest) and its thought patterns reportedly go "swim swim hungry, swim swim hungry". Although the Dopefish will eat anything that moves, its favorite diet is heroes like Commander Keen.
id Software's Tom Hall first invented the Dopefish as one of 24 potential characters for Keen 4. In his words, "I just drew this stupid little fish." Apogee webmaster Joe Siegler since became the Dopefish's staunchest fan, starting up the Dopefish.com (http://www.dopefish.com) web site as an archive of all things Dopefish-related.
Games the Dopefish has appeared in
Dopefish.jpg
Not including the Commander Keen games or fan-made add-ons. In rough chronological order.
- Wacky Wheels
- Quake
- Quake II
- Quake III Arena (Joe Siegler denies that this one is a Dopefish, though.)
- Descent III
- Daikatana
- Anachronox
- Max Payne
- Hyperspace Delivery Boy!
- Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
- Red Faction (N-Gage version)
Games with Dopefish references
Although the Dopefish does not actually appear in these games, there is text mentioning him somewhere.
External link
- The Official Dopefish Homepage (http://www.dopefish.com/), a site run by Joe Siegler of Apogee, describing the Dopefish phenomenon and cataloguing its known appearances
- Dopefission (http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/130073), a fanimutation-style flash movie devoted to the Dopefish
- Category at ODP (http://dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Platform/Commander_Keen_Series/Dopefish/)de:Dopefish