DF Retro: MDK - Shiny Entertainment's PC Masterpiece

This week, John returns to examine Shiny Entertainment's PC masterpiece. It's a PC game by console developers designed to push the limits of the platform circa 1997 and it does so with a look all its own. We take a look at the original software rendered versions alongside a couple different 3D accelerated versions before. Then we stack it all up against Neversoft's PlayStation 1 port of the game - one of the studio's first releases before striking gold with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Oh, and we discuss the best way to play MDK on a modern PC. All this and more is packed into this massive episode of DF Retro.
Check out the DF Retro playlist for more episodes! • Digital Foundry Retro

[@nickbruty6210]

What a great video. It was a real struggle to get the game engine to work. Everything we did was a first. Luckily we had 2 great programmers Andy Astor and Martin Brownlow. They kept rising to every challenge. Nice to see the work appreciated.

[@madblank]

Great game, very creative and fun to play! I've been playing your work since the Spectrum days, loved Savage!

[@spinningchurro]

Nick Bruty : Dude holy shit if you can read this please know that I loved this game with all my soul as a child. Thank you for bringing me great joy.

[@700gsteak]

If youre the real Nick Bruty - I loved Giants: Citizen Kabuto back in the day. Its still one my favourite pc games from that era.

[@treefingers1183]

I know I'm a year late but I just want to say thank you for making the first video game I ever played. I still have it on my computer to this day, and go back to it probably once a year just to enjoy the bizarre, surreal, wacky adventure all over again.

[@nemrcomedy]

Oh wow! Sir, I grew up in San Diego but I'm Lebanese and we went back after the war in 92. This game was MASSIVE in Lebanon, EVERYONE was playing it. I must have played it a thousand times! I LOVED MDK! My friend once scratched MDK into his desk and it was during a very ignorant time when heavy metal was considered satanic so they thought he worshipped the devil and MDK meant make devil kill hahaha so I brought the game in and my principal not only laughed it off but her ended up trying the game and then I left him a copy. A few weeks later he came into our class and said he just finished it and loved it! I'm also a stand up comic and I used to have a set where I would reference MDK and it would ALWAYS get an applause break! Thank you and your team for everything!

[@Adamantaimai]

MDK is probably one of the most underrated video games ever

[@treefingers1183]

I want 3 so badly. You can only wonder what that would look like.

[@MTaye7]

@@treefingers1183 Yes, along with a proper remastered version of 1 and 2.

[@DozifJuggles]

for having a 2D prerendered sprite for the controllable character, that is an impressive shadow underneath it

[@Jojje94]

Man MDK was *the shit.* The sound of Kurt's machine gun fire was ingrained into my kid mind

[@danmann861]

Is it just me or is Digital Foundry the only video gaming youtube channel/hell, website putting out content that is actually worth viewing? Seeing how most gaming websites have their heads so far up their own asses now days, it's nice to have Digital Foundry remain as one of the last few beacons of hope. :) Keep up the great work all around...love the retro features every Sunday, and increasingly loving everything this channel puts out.

[@dudemanismadcool]

everything they put out is class, Candyland is a good channel for straight up graphical comparisons but DF is the best

[@my40789]

r

[@ruchirpareek]

check out Ahoy..

[@rkitchen69]

Pure facts and Intelligent analysis. I love all the technical breakdowns.

[@paradoxzee6834]

I think gamexplain does a better job at this

[@lelxrv]

MDK's art direction still blows my mind. Excellence.

[@philscomputerlab]

I'm loving these retro review, they are excellent, thank you!

[@justiny.1773]

PhilsComputerLab aw bur 🐻

[@rdm0108]

Why MDK hasn't been revived is beyond me. Amazing game with amazing music.

[@zabique]

I was skipping school to play MDK at my neighbour house on PC, when he was going to work.

[@jimbo2revengeance]

Wait, so you sneaked in your neighbours house and played MDK on his PC?

[@zabique]

yup literally, my neighbour next door. Good lad, I was skipping school for 1 week. Good old times.

[@toot1231]

you seem like a very trustworthy neighbor if you snuck into my house you'd be getting lead of justice into your skull

[@Eunostos]

@@toot1231 iamverytough

[@Spewa-em8cm]

@@toot1231 So you would shoot a child in the head?

[@AllieRX]

Hopefully we get a remastered version for GOG and Steam in the future.

[@AmanojakuPenguin]

Someone contact Nightdive Studios!

[@brunocar02]

they are too busy making the system shock remake though

[@toot1231]

They still have Turok 2 to work on

[@bigt4135]

Mdk 2 please. I had it on dreamcast.

[@CaptainSixBySix]

Crazy coincidence! I was watching LGR last night and saw the MDK box on his shelf. Classic.

[@Oversoulse7en]

Coincidence ? I dont think so.

[@AwkwardFishGuy]

I remember having a game demo of this when I was a little child, and I was playing it on my dad's computer with a joystick. I still have vivid memories being only 3 years old, learning how to bob and weave to dodge tank shots, and every day I slowly and surely got further into the demo level. Thinking back on it, I kinda have to credit this game for being part of igniting a passion in me that I still do to this day; gaming. Being a 3 year old Norwegian kid, I never really knew that the game was called "MDK", in my genius I called it "He Who Runs." I kept on pestering my dad with; "I wanna play He Who Runs!" What a weird nostalgia trip it is to reignite these memories 23 years later :')

[@onlywithbuts1781]

To this day i am convinced that Shiny was a team full of Artists who also happen to like developing games. The amount of variety in MDK was spectacular and every level felt fresh, unique and highly artistic in its style. To a point where it almost seems each level was designed by a completely different person, which would in result be even more fitting for their work.

[@8bitDNA]

holy shit, never knew the PlayStation version was so bad compared to the PC version. I loved the PS1 version, but never knew what I was missing!!!

[@killermoon635]

PS1 was always shit specially when 3dfx voodoo 1 came out in 1996 Most games on PS1 ran 320x240 while voodoo 1 was able to run many of those games at its time at 640x480 and sometime with other improvement beside the resolution.

[@Rokabur]

@@killermoon635 Once fast playing 3D games were possible on the PC, it was pretty much ahead of consoles since those had to be affordable by average consumers and so games had to run at lower rez with less graphics options.

[@UGOTNUKED]

Didn't expect this nostalgia bomb. MDK was a masterpiece.

[@VexAcer]

I'll be honest I was pretty shocked to see the PS1 port go to such lows in the fps department. That said it's still a very much impressive port given the large open worlds (something the PS1 struggled with), along with the action and minimal texture warping that goes on screen. I do believe that if they used an LOD technique like in the Spyro games, the framerate would've been far more stable however it might've caused problems with the sniping along with other things. Another great DF Retro episode as usual, I really do love these things as taking a technical look back into these older games is interesting.

[@AngelEarth2011]

One of the greatest games ever created. I still have the PS One version. I'd love to see a fully remastered version for PC / PS4 / Xbox One.

[@RockBottomRiser21]

Resident Evil 2 please, I'm fascinated by the N64 version.

[@8bitDNA]

YES THIS

[@filipmartinez1162]

Dreamcast version had the best graphics (even less screen screen tearing than the PC version). Even beats the Gamecube version in Component.

[@8bitDNA]

The n64 version through Marshall's Ultra HDMI mod is the absolute best. razor sharp pixels, ultra clarity

[@filipmartinez1162]

Dreamcast through VGA still beats it, and you can go even more by getting an HDMI throughput on it which unlocks the DC's actually full VGA output of 720x480, plus the DC ver has the smoothest animations of any ver. with textures actually IMPROVED over the base PC ver. only version better is the 2007 japan only PC -DVD ver. that has the raw 480p cutscene files. DC has them too but plebes dont know about it. N64 ver has 480p with the old textures, same PS1 speed animations and sub 240p cutscenes...

[@dark1x]

I need to figure this one out. I'm facing an issue with the N64 version. Basically, the game constantly changes resolution (literally between EVERY screen) during play which doesn't play nicely with the Framemeister (which I rely on for capture). It makes the game 100% unplayable. I suspect this could be fixed with the Ultra HDMI mod but I'd rather not drop that cash on the mod right now. Until then, there's nothing I can do for the N64 version - it's just not possible in my current setup. The other versions would be simple, though.

[@DarioRuellan]

excellent as always. I agree that MDK is one of those games that uses tech limitations so well, that even the blocky textures add to the atmosphere. I'm also old enough to remember the firsts Perry/Bruty games for the 8bits, and I can say that the love and fun they show on each development was always there.

[@GamingPicks]

Another great Retro video by John. Thank you! I really enjoy this videos, specially with games I loved long time ago, like MDK. Can't wait to see next one.

[@InFlamesor12]

Oh my fucking god this game, such a great fond memories playing this with my dad ! I remember playing the demo over and over again like a lunatic and when I got the full game I spend litterally hundred of hours in it hah !

[@LovezHD]

holy fuck I'm so happy you made this video. I played MDK when I was a small child and the fondest thing I remember was the incredible soundtrack, I was on Playstation so I was especially blown away by the audial fidelity. it's crazy to think I was okay with playing games at those framerates when I was a kid, but then again I think the beautiful thing about playing games as a kid is letting your imagination take over the shitty textures and framerates.

[@ruekurei88]

These DF Retros are great. I was hoping this would get into MDK2 and the DC port tho :(. Poor Shiny, I always liked their games, though never played too much of them. That Matrix game did them in iirc, or were they bought out first? It would be pretty sweet if we could get some HD versions of their back catalogue though, but that'll probably never happen.

[@ThEMarD]

Heyyo, heh yeah hopefully MDK2 in the future... gotta save Edmonton, Alberta from those aliens! :P

[@superbikeaborad]

It's Sunday baby! You know what that means!!!

[@violetshft]

Tomorrow will be Monday? =/

[@uptonothin]

Time to pray in the house of our Lord Harambe?

[@neocaron87]

DF RETROOOOO ^^

[@MariusUrucu]

I remember playing MDK2 a long time ago at someone, when I was just a todler. Man, I was blown away, but never actually remembered it was called MDK2 until I saw this video, then everything came back. It even starts the same as the first MDK, skydiving down to the level and you even get to play as his six-armed robot dog and the proffesor. I really need to play the game now.

[@Bigdaddymittens]

Do a look at the elder scrolls games

[@Klarden]

Some early LithTech stuff from Monolith might be interesting to explore, I think. The engine has a very interesting history and it has tons of amazing games built on it:)

[@pariah_3076]

Excellent video, this bring me back to one of my first PC games running on my Pentium 133. A game that felt console-like gameplay and using cpu rendering by software in a time when the 3d on PC began to use hadware acceleration. In 1999 happened something similar with Outcast but in this game used a voxel graphic engine. Sorry for my bad english. Greets and thanks for bing me back good old memories.

[@sersou]

Digital Foundy ... where even the intro is a flawless 60 fps.

[@laithmanleo]

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time next please

[@russmawson6744]

good shout. love that game. would also be interested to see if Xbox version was better than ps2 version as definitely was for the sequels

[@Gehab]

Would be awesome!

[@498fun]

Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. One of my favourite games of all time. For my childhood, PoP was the perfect adventure game, Halo the perfect shooter, PGR the perfect driving game, and Crimson Skies the perfect arcade/flying game. Just my nostalgic opinion since my first console was an Xbox.

[@symol30872]

I think it's time to do DF retro on the Unreal/Quake series :)

[@thenostalgicslav7386]

They already did!

[@symol30872]

Szymon Kusiak They did for Unreal engine on consoles and Quake on Saturn but the PC versions would be nice as they were revolutionary for the time

[@winj3r]

I still remember playing this game at a friends house, on a Pentium 166. It was a lot of fun. Later on I got my first PC, and I got to play MDK2. This is still one my favorite games of all time.

[@AbdallahAberouchA]

That was a great video, you really know your stuff :) I played the MDK demo for many months when I was a kid

[@Spyder1246]

I played MDK on PlayStation so many times. The nostalgia...

[@BlockABoots]

Surprised no modders have done a full HD texture pack for this game.

[@lettmons]

I'm afraid it would ruin the atmosphere and the authentic feel of the game.

[@191desperado]

I love how detailed these get. keep em' coming!

[@BmikroB]

One of my very first PC games (alongside Warcraft 2, Doom 2 and Desert Strike which came preinstalled on HDD). Ah, nostalgia is really strong with this one. Thank you guys for a detailed analysis!

[@producerevan88]

I played this as a kid back on psone, the nostalgia! Great video per usual!!

[@justiny.1773]

Producer Evan play on 3DFX noob!

[@justanerd86]

Love DF Retro you are doing an amazing job!keep it coming!

[@thegamingchef3304]

My brother use to get these PC magazines and I remember a demo of this was on one of the CDs. We couldn't play it on our pc but my grandparents pc could. It was amazing to look at and play back then.

[@BlondeMcGuinn]

Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2 were some of my favorite games of the time. Just fantastic, fun, surreal experiences, both of them. MDK just blew me away. I had some kind of demo of it, from a game I bought or a magazine, and I was hooked. MDK IS excellent. It’s crazy to think about but there was a time when Shiny was on top of the world. What a great studio!

[@TuttixD]

mdk was soo good, thank for you for this episode !

[@SirCaco]

I remember this! It was awesome. This game and Panzer Dragoon blew my mind back in the day and actually played a role in me getting into PC gaming.

[@EposVox]

Great episode!

[@davidtobin1]

Thanks for another great episode! Have you though about tackling Outcast? It's voxel-based like NMS and has a remake coming next year.

[@wojciechbem8661]

Brilliant game!!! I have finished MDK about eight times. And when i managed to configure mouse and keybord WASD modern way it's surprisingly easy :-)

[@donovansan]

Oh wow, I had no idea that Tommy Tallarico from Reviews on the Run did the soundtrack for this game!

[@HAZARDOUS88]

He did plenty. Man's a genius.

[@DGP406]

That guy is a genius, he's everywhere, literally a Bernoulli of video game soundtracks

[@Opposeddrummer]

It`s amazing , i still have it on cd.

[@Ahmedivx]

This brings back a lot of memories 😍 ... love the retro idea by the way 👍

[@LordLOC]

I absolutely loved this game when it first came out for PC back in 97 (got it on release day from a Gamestop) but I recently played it again, and it has not aged well sadly. Or I'm just old now and my nostalgia glasses are foggy. Still, its a fun ass game.

[@InfernoPhoenixFX]

Retro is one my favorite series in this channel. It's crazy to see how fast hardware advance. i remember having a Pentium 4 PC and playing games back in the mid to late 2000's.. Keep up the good work Digital foundry.

[@Macho_Fantastico]

No DF Retro next week :( Still, I'm loving looking back at the technologies and techniques behind these classics. Great work John.

[@retrom8442]

Please make more of these retro videos, they are awesome. I love the technical detail in them, as a 50 year gamer I remember them all. What about some Amiga classics like Xenon, Ruff n' Tumble, but to name just two out the dozens if not hundreds of great games. Commodore 64 and the 8 bit Atari had many excellent games.

[@Wladislav]

Nice work, DF! Made me remember Wild 9 too!

[@Final_Fantasy_7]

Oh man thanks DF retro for the nostalgicness...I played the hell out of this game on PS1 when most of us couldn't afford a PC and what an amazing port it was on the Playstation...my most memorable part about the game was its soundtrack especially the James Bond tune lol lol...I would love to see a Remake or Remaster either way I'd be tremendously grateful.

[@ucupumar]

Rayman 2 has many interesting ports!

[@RedGameRedemption]

Give this man a like!

[@retroboy-fh1ji]

Yusuf Umar dreamcast port is the best! even than the ps2 port

[@JamesEmirzianWaldementer]

10:38 Big Guns prototype footage Archive back in 1996 between 1997

[@Dagestr]

MDK has one of the best music in video game history. Good that you can hear it throughout this video.

[@Toaster05]

Giants: Citizen Kabuto would be an excellent choice to deep dive on. I have VERY fond memories of helping Baz and his crew get to Planet Majorca.

[@TheOttomatic91]

Woo Love me some MDK great work as always DF

[@Red3Tube]

Thank you for this awesome vid about one of the greatest and most overlooked PC games of all time. Back in 1997, it was ahead of everything else. MDK2 is also great but MDK1 is leagues ahead.

[@Krzysiufpp]

MDK. This music. Colour palette was perfect, inspiring.

[@sash-oo5183]

I love MDK! I still have my original copy from back in the day on PSone. Great review DF! :)

[@OmegaEnvych]

Great job! As always informative and interesting. I would actually be interested in either Oddworld series or, let's say, GIANTS Citizen Kabuto, that game really needs some cover, you got that right!

[@woeffi7471]

I love these so much

[@Kiryutka22]

This game is AMAZING! And Shiny was such a talented studio! Their games were always fun and original. My favorite game from Shiny was Messiah. I still play that game to this day. It's that awesome! Dark, full of atmosphere but funny as hell at the same time!

[@carlharrison6476]

As I mentioned last week, MDK was the first game I played on my new Pentium 166 MMX PC back in 1997. It was fantastic. As for future videos, I'd love to see Syndicate Wars and Blade Runner.

[@killer1one1]

MDK blew my balls off when I first played it only about a year ago! Enough can't be said about how well it holds up, good design is just good design! Thanks for bringing more awareness to it, John!

[@MegamanEXEv2]

MDK was the main reason my dad finally caved and got a 3D accelerator card (Voodoo 3 2000 PCI)! So many memories for this game. I really need to hit up GoG and play through it again!

[@dragonfistX200]

Def get. Keep lookout for it on gog.com when on sale. Its not uncommon for it to be on sale

[@oneeyeonmidgard6801]

I loved both MDKs. They were amazing for the time.

[@tipoomaster]

Oh man, I played this on my '98 bondi blue iMac G3. The mirror levels graphics blew me away at the time.

[@Renusek]

what I want? THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK (2004).

[@ChestinysDialed]

I was lucky enough to have this on PC when i was 15. I played it soooo much.

[@illusive90]

That disguise sequence at 2:58 is so nostalgic for me.

[@porjay]

Amazing video!

[@MichaelRedford]

I was waiting :)

[@LunatiqHigh]

Pretty cool. I think this game would have blown my mind if I had played this back when it first came out.

[@aliveagain09]

liking the DF retro videos. keep it up.

[@mrzazzaable]

Do Messiah, it was an amazing original game for its time.

[@TheJayson8899]

No it wasn’t

[@RetroDeathReviews666]

@@TheJayson8899 yes it was

[@gnarlykoala]

Your videos are the best dude!

[@dynastymusou8906]

Recently started playing this on the PlayStation. Love it! Despite its shortcomings, I am very much enjoying it. :)

[@lvillarroel99]

I've only played MDK 2 on the Dreamcast and it was incredible, amazing game with so many mechanics and so fun

[@tipoomaster]

Video covers what a lot of different PC graphics cards did with it, I wonder what my G3 iMac was doing? Had a ATI Rage Pro Turbo graphics card with 6 MB SGRAM.

[@AllieMoonSailor]

This is a really interesting one for me, I never played MDK. I actually had no idea what it was.

[@K1llConfirmed]

the video at the ending of the game was retrofuturisticawesome - "Non Non Rien N'a Changé"

[@koobert]

I'd love to see a tech breakdown of Messiah. For whatever reason Diehard Gamefan was obsessed with the rendering tech that game used, I never actually saw the final results.

[@bumpndump9643]

DF Retro is definitely one of my favorite things from DigitalFoundry

[@pagb666]

Remember running Giants for the first time on my brand new GF2MX D:

[@chakkra69]

Giant Citizen Kabuto!!! Damn... I really, really, REALLY need a remake of that game.

[@bigginsmcsauce]

Absolute best looking, best playing, funny AF game from my childhood--nothing else like it! Please do *Toon-Struck!*

[@hundjsiegfried]

One of my favorite childhood game. :,) Oh memories. :) :) :) :,)

[@modusaparandi8239]

I want to see magic carpet it was actually the first game I can remember enjoying on Pc

[@Zkillscreen]

oh man, i was 7 years old in my room and didnt know english but i still had a blast playing it

[@MrSammersELsoho]

3:44 That looks incredible.

[@DrevorReal]

Please do MDK2! I'd love to see that!

[@outsideredge]

Would love to see an episode on 2D games in the 32-bit era. We had machines that were far more powerful than the Genesis and SNES, but certain games would really highlight the differences in the machines. Symphony of the Night, and especially Capcom' fighting games are great examples

[@TiagoRocha89]

This game looks awesome, and I didn't knew about it! Added to my steam wishlist. Come on Christmas, come quick :D

[@MrMegatron85]

dude! MDK is amazing! had this when I was a kid.

[@leito1996]

What about another Shiny's masterpiece (and last) - Sacrifice ? At the time it was punishing to every high end PC and looked otherwordly. Gameplay stands up on its own even today assisted by sublime art direction and story. Would love to see DF retro on it !

[@mementomatrix]

great video very well made