brrzzz ... giggg ... oment of great triumph ... frzzt ... ast the Milky Way will be ... huzzzzz ... terly destroyed ... pyuneeeeeeg ... can stop us now. We will remake the galaxy in the name of the Gannalech. Power to our race! power to the Shikadi!
Eight-year-old Billy Blaze, aka Commander Keen has recently completed his latest invention; the Photachyon Tranceiver. The device is able to pick up radio signals across the galaxy and Keen promptly uncovers the sinister message above. Knocking out both his parents with his trusty stun gun, he races to the The Bean-with-Bacon Megarocket (a previous invention from various household objects) and sets a course for Gnosticus IV to seek the help of the Oracle.
Arriving at Gnosticus IV Keen discovers the Shikadi have kidnapped all members of the Oracle council, it's now up to him to set them free in time to save the universe...again!
Trivia
- This game was released under the Shareware model, and was part of the Goodbye, Galaxy! series. The sequel was Commander Keen Episode V: The Armageddon Machine.
- The opening sequence (with the words floating by each other) is a parody of the opening sequence of the movie "The Terminator". When you select "Return to Demo" from the options screen, the story that's shown is an obvious parody of the "Star Wars" scrolling text opening sequence.1
- This game famously takes you to an overly difficult secret level. After struggling through the sheer madness the council member at the end reveals he is in fact "just a janitor" and that a mistake was made kidnapping him. Keen was not impressed, neither were most players.
