Commander Keen: Marooned On Mars

Commander Keen Episode 1: Marooned On Mars (or simply Keen 1) was developed by iD Software and published by Apogee Software. It is the first in the "Invasions of the Vorticons" trilogy of games and was distributed as shareware. In this leading adventure, Keen finds himself stranded on the planet of Mars after the dog-like species of Vorticons steals vital component of his Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket. In order to leave, he must find the pieces that have been scattered across the alien world. Like other games from the Vorticon series, the any% is primarily execution and an excellent helping of luck, although one major glitch is used to save a fair bit of time.

Overview

In order to win the game, Keen must find and collect the four necessary components stolen from his ship: a joystick, a car battery, a vacuum cleaner, and a bottle of Everclear. These are found in various levels across the overworld map, with each item found at the end of a level guarded by a Vorticon enemy. Other than leveling involving the items, there are two gateway levels required to reach them: thus there are six levels in total to complete. Primarily, as there are very few glitches capable of breaking the game, the speedrun focuses on playing as optimally as possible: taking the fewest jumps, using slide shots wherever possible, and relying on some luck to avoid the Vorticons without wasting time killing them.

Categories

Generally, this game is played using version 1.32 shareware. There are no known variations in gameplay due to version differences that would cause the game to play faster, and version 1.32 is the version available from Steam. All in all, it shouldn't matter which version is used, so long as it's noted in some way.

The any% run is the six levels only.

The 100% run of this game is defined as having completed all levels, regardless of order, in addition to completing the game according to its intended objective. This includes completing the secret level, which is only known to be accessible through a secret exit from another level: note that finishing said level through its secret exit does NOT complete it, and has to be entered a second time.