Bugs: NES

The following is a list of all known programming errors and technical issues.

Enemies Don't Freeze

When you destroy the main system at the end of each area the game freezes Radd for a nice dramatic effect. Unfortunately, the game does not freeze the enemies, nor does it make you invincible. So, it's quite possible to destroy the main system, and then take a bullet in the head because you can't duck anymore.

Flare Bullet

The game treats the flare bomb as a bullet. Its flag, location, and velocity are all stored in the same memory that is reserved for a player's bullets. Not only does this mean that firing a weapon with three bullets will make the flare immediately disappear, but also the flare has collision detection with enemies. However, a flare doesn't have a damage flag, so if you walk under an enemy and shoot a flare, you will cause an error in the game and reset the area.

This error only occurs in the North American and European versions of the game.

Flare Offset

If you are ducking when using the flare bomb the flare won't shoot from your body, but from your gun.

This error occurs in all versions of Bionic Commando.

Friendly Fire

At the end of a meet with enemy sequence an allied soldier is waiting in front of the helicopter waving you on in. Even though he is an ally if you touch him you take damage. This bug exists because no special code was written for non-hostile sprites in the combat sequence. Everything that isn't Radd uses the code for an enemy.

This bug occurs in the Japanese version of the game.

Hovering

Due to the way the Radd's sprite changes when he throws his bionic arm out, it's possible to make him look like he's hovering in mid air. This is an issue with how collision detection works with the player's sprite and the background. It's not a technical bug, more like an artistic mistake.

This error occurs in all versions of Bionic Commando.

Sprite Mirroring

In order to save space many early videogames mirror their sprite graphics to depict a change in direction. This creates issues for human sprites because they're constantly switching their dominant hand when they're seen holding something. For example, Radd's bionic arm and gun swap hands each time he changes direction. The same is true for all enemy and allied soldiers that hold weapons. This is more of a technical limitation than a programming error.

This error occurs in all versions of Bionic Commando.