Over the last few weekends I have been porting the Commander Keen interpreter Commander Genius to the Nintendo Switch. I am quite happy with the current state of the port, which supports plenty of features. Most notably:
- Multiplayer co-op with up to four players
- Touch screen support
- Integrated game downloader (Requires WiFi)
- Native resolution (+ scaling options)
Installation
Just download the ZIP and extract the whole “CommanderGenius” folder into the “switch” folder on the SD card. Then start the application from hbmenu. (Preferably NOT in applet mode)
Download:CommanderGenius_2.4.5.2_NSW.zip (07/12/2020)
Update 01/10/2021:
Automated builds can be found here.
The default controls: (Can be remapped)
| Action | Button |
| Walking directions (Left, Right, Up, Down) | Directional buttons (On left Joycon) |
| Jump | A |
| Run | B |
| Pogo | X |
| Shoot | Y |
| Back/Menu | Plus + |
| Status | Minus – |
| Camlead (Multiplayer) | R |
| Help | L |
Adding the games
To use the integrated downloader just select “+ More” after starting Commander Genius. Depending on the mirror the download sometimes takes up to ~30 seconds. If it still fails, just try again or download the games manually.
If the integrated downloader causes issues, or if one just wants to keep the Switch offline, the shareware titles can also be downloaded here and extracted to /switch/CommanderGenius/games/ on the SD card.
Note: Besides the shareware episodes, Commander Genius also supports the commercial Commander Keen titles.
Source Code
My patches to the Switch port can be found on GitHub and were built using devkitPro. Big thanks to Gerhard Stein for Commander Genius and his support that made this port possible. We will also be working to upstream the changes so the Switch port can keep up with the latest development.
This is totally sick!!!! Lovin it.
Now we need that ported to the psvita aswell.!!!
Sadly I only own a PSP-1000, which likely would hit hardware limitations with only 32 MB of RAM. Otherwise I’d give it a shot.
https://vita3k.org/
Theres an emulator out in the wild….i guess it can handle keen 😉
Thanks for all your effort 😀
Awesome! Those sound effects take me back. Any chance you’d follow up with Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure??
I don’t think I will, since I actually never played that game. Also one of the reasons I chose Commander Genius was that I felt the multiplayer support really matched the Switch particularly well.
Hello I’m not really sure how to do this could someone walk me through this like I’m 6yrs old lol.
You may want to start here and check if the Switch is supported: https://switch.homebrew.guide/gettingstarted/beforestarting.html
Thanks big help
Keen 6 doesn’t work…it returns to hbmenu
Which version of Keen 6 are you using?
The one that contains the following files (complete edition, non demo):
AUDIO.CK6
CONFIG.CK6
EGAGRAPH.CK6
GAMEMAPS.CK6
KEEN6.EXE
Can you pinpoint which version number it is?
It should be one of these: http://www.shikadi.net/keenwiki/Keen_6_Versions
If you have v1.0 EGA, please patch it so it becomes v1.4
You can download it here: https://pckf.com/viewtopic.php?t=21
Thanksssssssssss a lot! With the 1.4 works like a charm.
The v1.0 freezes at startup.
Ps. Your download link has no working links…for who search the keen6 1.4 patch this is the correct link:
http://files.keenmodding.org/
Hey Elias!
Thank you a lot! This release was one of my child’s dreams 🙂
I have a few questions left:
1. when i download and start the .nso from the zip archive “CommanderGenius_2.4.5.2_NSW.zip (07/12/2020)” thats not the actual one, right? Do i have to replace the latest version of the .nso with these from this list “Automated builds can be found here.”? Hope you understand what i mean….
2. is it possible to use the joysticks of the switch controller to move, as well?
3. for the multiplayer part: is it possible to coop-play at one screen? so for couch coop i mean.. Can players controll keen with different joycons?
Thanks a lot for the hard work!
Greets, Tim
Yes you may start with the zip for the folder structure and then replace the .nso. The joycons can be used to control the game. For coop scrolling will be locked to one of the players, so you have to stay reasonably close. But choosing a higher resolution helps with this, as it expands the visible area of the level.
I downloaded the file and unzipped it but can’t get it to open up on my switch. What am I doing wrong?
As long as the switch runs Atmosphere-NX it should work like any other homebrew. The game should be in the switch folder on the SD card.