Dopefish

 

“	The second dumbest creature in the universe, this creature's thought patterns go "swim, swim, hungry, swim, swim, hungry." They'll eat anything alive and moving near them, though they prefer heroes.	”
—Commander Keen 4 Manual

The Dopefish is a buck-toothed fish found in the Well of Wishes in Commander Keen: Goodbye Galaxy!. The Dopefish is the second dumbest creature in the universe; the first dumbest is mentioned in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal that believes if you can't see it, it can't see you, thus making you safe from it if you throw a towel over your head.

The Dopefish was originally drawn by Tom Hall as a stupid fish, but it became extremely popular with fans of Commander Keen. Apogee Software then started to use it for its tech support staff. It then became a gag among Id Software, Apogee, and their friends to put the Dopefish as a cameo character in their games.

Appearances

It's found in Quake in E2M3: The Crypt of Decay in the "well of wishes" secret area and displays the message "The Dopefish Lives!" when the player encounters it. Another is found in Quake 2 in the Cooling Factory level. In Quake III Arena, a zombified mutant dopefish picture can be found in Q3DM11: Deva Station in a small secret room across a teleporter with the message 'Dopefish lives'.

It isn't present in Quake 64 for unspecified reasons.

It is found in Deus Ex: Human Revolution near the DRB weapon cache in Detroit.

The Dopefish also appears as an easter egg in the video game Rage also by Id Software, and can be activated by shooting 3 lights above a sunken ship during the Shipwreck Cove portion of the Mutant Bash-TV chapter.

It is also found in 2016 Doom in select levels on Chinese takeout boxes, called "Dopechan Noodles". The "Intimacy is Best" rune also strongly resembles the Dopefish.

The Dopefish appears in Doom Eternal in a number of secret locations, usually hiding an extra life in some way. "Dopenuts", a salted nut mix bearing the Dopefish as a logo, also appear scattered throughout the game in vending machines, stores, and the like. The Chainsaw has also now been branded the "Mixom's Bucktooth Dopesaw" and bears the fish as it's logo.

It's also found in the games Amid Evil, Anachronox, Dusk, Rise of the Triad, Rage 2, Black Mesa, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, Ion Fury, Max Payne, Alan Wake, Psychonauts, Nightmare Reaper and Postal: Brain Damaged.

Gallery

The texture around the Dopefish in Quake

The Dopefish texture in Quake

The Dopefish in Quake 2

Dopefish texture in Quake II

Dopefish poster in Alan Wake.