Retro Oddities 32: 'Dangerous Dave' (PC, DOS) - 5 August 2024

Tonight, I check out a cult platformer known as "Dangerous Dave" for MS-DOS. This game was made by Softdisk, whose employees would later go on to form Id Software and set the gaming world alight with FPS games such as "Hovertank 1", "Wolfenstein 3D", "Doom" and eventually go full 3D with "Quake", in addition to classic platform games in the form of the "Commander Keen" series.

I am using a cheat for this game, specifically a trainer (an app which alters in-game variables and/or memory addresses to produce certain effects such as infinite health or time) giving the player both a gun with infinite ammunition and a jetpack with infinite fuel (the latter of which is nullified if the player picks up a jetpack in-game). Sometimes, the icons and the gauge for the jetpack fuel don't show up, requiring a brief screen refresh. This game is composed of ten (10) levels in which the player must collect a trophy on each level before finding the exit to the next stage.

A good start for what would ultimately lay the foundations for PC gaming from the early 1990s onwards, and also the genesis of what would eventually become Id Software, one of the most revered names in first-person shooter (FPS) games. Gameplay itself is a nice balance of fun and frustrating, with hidden secrets to be found.

Recorded on 5 August 2024