Bionic Commando (Game Boy)
Bionic Commando | ||||||||||||||||
Game Boy - USA - 1st edition. |
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Bionic Commando is a adventure platform shooter game developed by Minakuchi Engineering and published by Capcom for the Game Boy on 1992-07-24. It is the third game in the Bionic Commando series, and is mostly a remake of the NES version.
The story does away with the Nazi theme from the NES port and sets the game further into the future with more of a science fiction theme. The player controls Rad Spencer, of the FF Corps, and must swing on the grappling hook of his bionic arm to overcome obstacles and defeat enemies. Your mission is to rescue your ally, Super Joe, from the Doraize Army, and destroy the super weapon called Albatross which Director Wiseman is building.
Contents
Personal
Own? | No. |
---|---|
Won? | Yes. |
Finished | Early 2000s. |
While working on my old Bionic Commando web site, I kept seeing glimpses of the less popular Game Boy port. Initially, I just assumed it was a grayscale version of the NES game, and took no interest in it. However, at some point, I decided to play it and found it to be, although clearly based on the NES title, a pretty unique game which I really enjoyed. The developers fixed a lot of the issues of the NES port.
Review
8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
Best Version: Game Boy
— This section contains spoilers! —
Good
- The game's graphics and animations are really good, and the new music composed by Kouji Murata is wonderful.
- Most of the issues I had with the first game have been fixed in this version.
- The bionic arm is a little easier to learn to use. It swings faster, and you can more easily catch yourself if you make a mistake.
- You're given hit points right from the beginning, which makes the early part of the game less intimidating. Also, spikes only do 2 damage instead of 3, which makes mistakes a bit more forgivable.
- The game still gives medicine too soon, but, at least it's after the second level and not the first.
- While it doesn't save your progress, the game at least uses a password system so you don't have to beat it in one sitting.
- Getting caught by the Doraize Army, losing your weapons, and being saved by a comrade, and having to find your weapons again is a nice side-mission.
- The Albatross is a much more epic boss in this game.
Bad
- The guns are still uneven. The wide cannon and machine gun both have really short range making them pretty undesirable while the grenade launcher's power makes it the best by far. At least the Vulcan (3-way) does more damage.
- Defeating a random army isn't nearly as fulfilling as wiping out Nazis.
- I would have much rather this game been a sequel than a remake.
- In the Game Boy version, Albatross is part of the mission objective from the start, but, in the NES game, you only find out about it being near completion halfway through the game. I prefer the NES approach which makes it more of a shock to the player.
Ugly
- Nothing.
Media
Box Art
Documentation
Maps
Videos
Play Online
Game Boy (Europe), Game Boy (Japan), Game Boy (USA)
Representation
Strong female character? | Fail | There is a minor NPC woman. |
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Bechdel test? | Fail | There is only one woman. |
Strong person of color character? | Fail | Everyone appears to be white. |
Queer character? | Fail | There are no queer characters. |
Credits
The game doesn't have credits, but some of the development team has been identified.
Role | Staff |
---|---|
Music and Sound Effects (Uncredited) | Kouji Murata |
Original NES Music (Uncredited) | Junko Tamiya |
Original Arcade Music (Uncredited) | Harumi Fujita |
Titles
Language | Native | Transliteration | Translation |
---|---|---|---|
English | Bionic Commando | ||
Japanese | バイオニック コマンドー | Baionikku Komando | Bionic Commando |
Links
- thealmightyguru.com/Reviews/BionicCommando/Wiki - The Bionic Commando Database.
- Video Games
- 1992 Video Games
- Video games developed by Minakuchi Engineering
- Video games published by Capcom
- Game Boy Games
- Video Game Genre - Action
- Video Game Genre - Action-adventure
- Video Game Genre - Metroidvania
- Video Game Genre - Platform shooter
- Video Game Genre - Platformer
- Video Game Genre - Shooter
- Media Theme - Action
- Media Theme - Adventure
- Media Theme - Science fiction
- Media Theme - War
- Software Distribution Model - Commercial
- Video Games I Don't Own
- Video Games I've Beaten
- Video Game Rating - 8
- Video Game Graphics Rating - 6
- Video Game Sound Rating - 8
- Video games which can be played online
- Video games without a strong female character
- Video games that fail the Bechdel test
- Video games without a strong person of color character
- Video games without a queer character
- Video Game Prime Order - Action, Adventure, Strategy
- Game Mechanic - Boss Trick
- Grayscale Graphics
- Favorite
- Favorite Games