Bionic Commando (NES)

Bionic Commando

Game Boy - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Capcom Publisher Capcom Published 1988-07-20 Platforms NES Genres Action, Action-adventure, Metroidvania, Platform shooter, Platformer, Shooter Themes Action, Adventure, Human stasis, Science fiction, War, World War II Series Bionic Commando Distribution Commercial

Bionic Commando is an action platform game by Capcom, released on the NES on 1988-07-20. This is the second game in the series, and, while it's based on the arcade game, it was remade to better-fit home console play.

In the Japanese version of the game, neo-Nazis have discovered lost plans for a giant war machine, but only Hitler knows how to build it, so they're trying to resurrect him. Allied forces sent Super Joe to infiltrate them, but he was captured, so you play Captain Rad who must rescue him, and stop the neo-Nazis. The American version was highly censored and all references to Nazism were removed, but Hitler is still quite recognizable.

Personal

Own?	Yes. Two USA copies. One is complete in box and signed by Harumi Fujita, the other is a loose cart.
Won?	Yes. USA, Japanese, and European versions without continues.
Finished	Mid 1990s.

My brother got this game, some time in the late 1980s. I remember being very frustrated with the swing mechanic, and dying and missing swings all the time. It took me a long time to get good enough to actually play the game competently. Both my brother and I had a hard time trying to get past Area 6, but he was able to do it one day, and beat the game. Then, he played through it again to show me the ending, which is fantastic! I was able to beat it myself much later, and it has since become a favorite of mine.

Review

8	6	8	8	7

Best Version: Windows

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• From start to end, the game has a really cool story line with some interesting twists.
• While the bionic arm mechanic has a steep learning curve, once your become good at it, you'll not only love it, but wish for it in other games as well.
• The game has a lot of variety. Each area has new graphics, enemy soldiers, bosses, hazards, and interesting characters to see.
• The graphics are quite impressive. Each area has its own palette which gives it mood, the intro and ending have wonderful large graphics, and there are a lot of large enemy sprites.
• The music for this game is phenomenal. It includes some of Harumi Fujita's original arcade tracks, but several new songs by Junko Tamiya.
• The difficulty level for the game is pretty good. Although the learning curve is steep and requires you to master the swing mechanic, and there are a few difficult spots, you never feel like the game is cheating you.
• The need to determine the proper communicators for each area is a nice side-puzzle.
• The ability to travel semi-freely over the main map takes away from some of the linearity of the game.
• The Commando-esque Meet With Enemy sequences are fun and nostalgic.
• Requiring the player to have to earn continues was a nice addition and doubles as a way to permanently stave off a dreaded game over.

Bad

• Despite loving the swinging mechanic, it takes a lot of time to get used to it. The game could have did a better job at easing you into the more complicated sections.
• The American release was short-changed, not just because it censors out the Nazi plot, but because it's missing several other additions (rock barriers, land mines, shooting star, etc.). The Japanese version also fills out the maps better with more enemies and power-ups and has better dialogue and the interrogation scene.
• The game focuses too much on the swinging mechanic and doesn't give enough play to more traditional run-and-gun mechanics. Although there are a lot of enemies, most of the enemies are very easy to deal with or don't occur enough. This was fixed in the Japanese release.
• The game is ripe with typos and translation errors making certain things hard to understand. The manual is especially bad.
• Both the wide cannon and machine gun are horrible weapons, though, with a little tweaking could have been made good if they acted more like they do in the meet with enemy sections.
• Most of the secondary items aren't very useful to begin with, but are made even less useful because you receive the vastly superior medicine so early in the game.
• Large sections of several maps can be avoided (area 1 inside, area 3 right mountainside, area 2 bottom near the end, area 5 right side, area 8 entirely, etc.). They probably should have required the player to traverse more of it.
• There is no save-game or password system. Although, this is alleviated by the ability to farm extra hit points and continues.
• Taking into account where you usually get it, and how brief it lasts, the POW item is nearly useless.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Media

Box Art

• 

  The original Japanese box art is fantastic. It shows the violence of the game, with a demonic Hitler looming in the background. My favorite art, and Rad looks like how he does in the game.

• 

  The USA box art is very well made, but it's from the arcade release. The NES remake doesn't have giant mechs and Radd doesn't wear a blue 70s uniform.

• 

  The back of the US box has a beta screenshot.

• 

  The European art work is well-painted, if Bionic Commando was a spy game from the 50s. Rad isn't a blond who wears a green jumpsuit with bright yellow boots and gloves.

• 

  I vectorized the logo used on the non-Japanese boxs.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Japan.

• 

  Manual - USA.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1988-06 - blurb.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1988-09 - page 1.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1988-09 - page 2.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1988-09 - page 3.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1988-09 - page 4.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1988-09 - page 5.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1988-09 - page 6.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1988-09 - poster.

• 

  Nintendo Power, 1989-01, Classified Information.

• 

  Worlds of Power Bionic Commando.

Font

See Video game font collection.

Screenshots

• 

  Title screen.

• 

  You must earn continues by defeating larger enemies and collecting eagle badges.

Videos

Review - Hungry Goriya.

Review - NES Works.

Longplay - Japanese.

Longplay - North American.

Play Online

Famicom, NES (Europe), NES (USA)

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no women.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no women.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	As far as I can tell, everyone is supposed to be European.
Queer character?	Fail	Nobody appears queer.

Credits

The game contains credits, but all of the names are aliases. Over time, several of those names have been identified.

Role	Staff
Character Designers	Hotaru B., Terukun, Junchan, Gamereon, Haihoo K.
Programmers	Ichirou Toyoshima, Twilight, Oki‑Chan, Windy
Music & Sound Effects	Junko Tamiya (Gondamin)
Arcade Music	Harumi Fujita
Audio Programmer	Yoshihiro Sakaguchi
Planning	Hatchan
Special Thanks	Mr. FF
US Manual	Paul Biederman

Titles

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Bionic Commando
Japanese	ヒットラーの復活 トップシークレット	Hittora no Fukkatsu: Toppu Shikuretto	Hitler's Resurrection: Top Secret

Links

             

• thealmightyguru.com/Reviews/BionicCommando/Wiki - The Bionic Commando Database.