Dopefish

Dopefish
'Commander Keen' character
First game	Commander Keen IV
Created by	Tom Hall

The Dopefish is a dimwitted fictional fish that originated in the fourth Commander Keen video game, Secret of the Oracle, released in 1991. The character has since taken on a life of its own as an elaborate PC game industry in-joke, making hidden appearances in games from Apogee's 1994 Wacky Wheels down to titles as recent as the 2006 SiN Episodes: Emergence and 2007 Chili Con Carnage.

Physically, the Dopefish is a large green fish, with buck teeth. It is described in Keen 4 as "the second-dumbest creature in the universe" (a reference to the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the dumbest) and its thought patterns reportedly go "swim swim hungry, swim swim hungry". Whenever it eats something, it turns to the camera and burps, making a silly face when it does. Although the Dopefish will eat anything that moves, its favorite diet is heroes like Commander Keen. id Software's Tom Hall later gave it its fake scientific name: Pisces swimeatus.

Tom Hall first conceived of 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 web site as an archive of all things Dopefish-related. Siegler also supplied the voice, a burp, for the Dopefish in Wacky Wheels, Rise of the Triad, and Anachronox.

The Dopefish in video games

Appearances

Appearances are given in chronological order, and do not include fan-made add-ons. The Dopefish takes various forms from images to actual fish. It is often hidden and hard to find, and accompanied by the words "Dopefish lives!"

• Commander Keen 4: Secret of the Oracle (1991), original appearance
• Wacky Wheels (1994), at the start line after a special maneuver
• Quake (1996), appears as a texture on a wall
• Quake II (1997), partly disemboweled, hanging on a hook
• Battlezone (1998), typing "DOPEFISH" in a success screen in the Red Odyssey expansion pack reveals a little introductory text about the Dopefish
• Jazz Jackrabbit 2 (1998), a sign in one of the levels in Diamondus says 'Spaz ate the Dopefish'. If you select 'easy' difficulty with Spaz, there is a picture of a baby Spaz trying to eat a green fish, which could be the dopefish.
• SiN (1998), an alternately skinned "tropical fish"
• Sven Co-op (1999), in a locker in the level "Extended"
• Descent 3 (1999), creating a new pilot with the name "Dopefish" reveals a photo of a fan in a Dopefish Halloween costume
• Quake III Arena (1999), on a wall texture of a "zombified" Dopefish
• Daikatana (2000)
• Commander Keen (2001), Game Boy Color version
• Anachronox (2001), in one of the fish tanks on Rictus' ship
• Max Payne (2001), as a poster
• Hyperspace Delivery Boy! (2001), as a statue
• Warcraft 3 (2002), shrine
• Eternal Daughter (2002), the only fish in the game are called Dopefish
• Hitman 2: Silent Assassin (2002), as a little desktop toy
• SuperTux (2003), frozen in a wall of ice
• Congo Cube (2003)
• Red Faction (2003), N-Gage version
• Psychonauts (2005), a round, green fish very similar in appearance to the Dopefish appears stuffed at a dock
• SiN Episodes: Emergence (2006), numerous instances in secret areas
• Chili Con Carnage (2007), the marble fountain halfway through "Nice Biceps" is shaped like four Dopefish
• TAGAP: The Apocalyptic Game About Penguins (2007), miniature versions of the fishes can be found swimming in Antarctic waters
• Dystopia (2007), appears in the Silo level
• Fortress Forever (2007), appearing very briefly in a trailer
• Jailbreak Source (2008), appears in two of the levels, Metropolis and Woodneck.
• Sven Co-op (2008), appearing in a fish tank and outside the tank, attacking nearby players in the level "Incoming"
• American Revolutionary War (2008)

Although for a short period of time a rumor circulated the fish-shaped object found in a Doom 3 pentagram was intended to be a Dopefish, in fact, when asked by Joe Siegler, id Software confirmed this was not the case.

Mentions

Although the Dopefish does not actually appear in these games, there is text mentioning him somewhere.

• Rise of the Triad
• Duke Nukem 3D, a hidden "Dopefish lives" graffito in episode 1's last level
• Shadow Warrior, mentioned by Lo Wang in some audio recordings not used in the game
• Jazz Jackrabbit 2, a message "Spaz ate the Dopefish" appears in a secret area in Carrotus

External links

• The Official Dopefish Homepage, a site run by Joe Siegler of Apogee, describing the Dopefish phenomenon and cataloging its known appearances
• Dopefish.com Forum, the official forum