Commander Keen · Protagonist · Debut: 1990 · PC / MS-DOS · Created by Tom Hall (with John Carmack, John Romero and Adrian Carmack)
Billy Blaze, an eight-year-old genius in his brother's football helmet, whose 1990 shareware adventures proved PCs could scroll like a console — and funded the founding of id Software.
Commander Keen is the secret identity of Billy Blaze, an eight-year-old genius who defends the galaxy wearing his older brother's football helmet. He first appeared in Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons, released for MS-DOS on 14 December 1990 in three episodes: Marooned on Mars, The Earth Explodes and Keen Must Die!. It was made by Tom Hall, John Carmack, John Romero and Adrian Carmack, working as Ideas from the Deep, and published by Apogee as shareware, with the first episode free and the other two sold. The game's key innovation was technical. John Carmack's adaptive tile refresh let IBM-compatible PCs scroll smoothly, something associated with consoles such as the NES rather than with PCs. The game was an immediate success: by June 1991 it was earning more than $60,000 a month, and after the team received its first royalty cheque from Apogee it founded id Software in February 1991. Keen Dreams (1991), Goodbye, Galaxy! (December 1991) and Aliens Ate My Babysitter followed, before id moved on to Wolfenstein 3D. Goodbye, Galaxy! also introduced the Dopefish, which became one of the games industry's longest-running in-jokes.
Commander Keen is where id Software began. The team made the first trilogy as Ideas from the Deep, and its shareware income let them found their own company — the company that would go on to make Wolfenstein 3D and Doom.