It's strange to think that first-person shooters—and arguably the PC's arrival as a major gaming platform—emerged from an attempt to create the PC's equivalent of Super Mario Bros 3. John Carmack's reproduction of the smooth scrolling effect seen in Nintendo's platformer ultimately led to the founding of id Software and the creation of Commander Keen. In turn this led to Wolfenstein 3D, and ultimately to Doom.
Yet as id Software prepared to revolutionise PC gaming, its publisher, Apogee, took the tech id had developed for Commander Keen and made its own take on the 2D platformer. The result was Bio Menace, a platform shooter in which you battle through a city infested with mutants as all-American action hero Snake Logan. Bio Menace was created almost entirely by programmer Jim Norwood, who worked on the Duke Nukem Trilogy and, later, the original Shadow Warrior and its 2013 reboot.
Apogee released Bio Menace as freeware in 2005, and it can be played online in various places. But the original has, understandably, aged quite a bit. Fortunately, a remaster just released on Steam, sprucing up this classic blaster for modern players.
Developed by Rigel Gameworks, BioMenace Remastered brings a complete visual overhaul to Snake Logan's adventure, introducing more detailed pixel graphics, a modernised HUD and UI, and parallax backgrounds to lend the picture a greater sense of depth. It also adds both controller support and full Steam Deck support, a logical step given Bio Menace seems ideally positioned for handheld play.
BioMenace Remastered isn't just a visual overhaul, though. It implements a full difficulty rebalance, and adds several new features like infinite lives and a killstreak system. It also introduces mid-level saves and quicksaving, which in our overabundant gaming future feels like a necessity for seeing these older games to their full extent.
The remaster even gives you a bit more Bio Menace to play. Alongside the original three episodes, the overhaul introduces a new, fourth episode, composed of 15 levels with new artwork, additional boss fights, and several additional mechanics, including two that were cut from the 1993 version.
There's a free demo available to try over on Bio Menace's Steam page, which I took for a quick spin earlier this morning. It runs brilliantly, and splatting those cartoon mutant dinosaurs retains some retro charm. I must say, however, that the music is not Bobby Prince's finest hour.
The full version's currently available at a 20% launch discount, bringing the price down to $12 (£10.23). That discount ends on Christmas Day.
