Bionic Commando (1988 video game)
Bionic Commando, originally released as Hitler's Resurrection: Top Secret in Japan, is an action-platformer video game released by Capcom for the Family Computer and Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988. It is based on the 1987 arcade game of the same title.
As Ladd Spencer, a member of the FF Battalion, the player has to explore each stage and obtain the necessary equipment to progress. Spencer is equipped with a mechanical arm featuring a grappling gun, allowing him to pull himself forward or swing from the ceiling. As such, the series is one of few instances of a platform game in which the player cannot jump. To cross gaps or climb ledges, Spencer must use his bionic arm.
Gameplay
Bionic Commando is a platformer in which the player controls Ladd Spencer, whose mission is to rescue Super Joe and to stop the Albatros project. Players begin the game on an overworld map, where, Starting at Area 0, players can move Spencer's helicopter to any connected Area on the map in a nonlinear fashion. However, once Spencer's helicopter moves, the enemy ground vehicles will also move. Once the helicopter reaches its destination without crossing over the path of an enemy vehicle, the player can choose to "descend" and play that area or to "transfer" to a different Area. However, if the helicopter is intercepted by an enemy vehicle, then Spencer must engage the enemy in an overhead shooter level similar to Capcom's own Commando. Spencer, armed with a weapon and his grappling hook that he can swing around in a circle to deflect bullets and enemies, must defeat the enemy soldiers and reach the end of the stage to continue on. These stages are the only stages where the player can earn a continue.When Spencer descends into an Area, the player must choose which equipment to take with him, And is then dropped into a sidescrolling platformer level, where the player must first find one or multiple Communications Rooms - where the player can communicate with allies or wiretap enemy conversations - and then proceed each Area's Computer Room, where a boss will be guarding the computer core the player must destroy to clear the Area. Spencer cannot jump, so the player must use Spencer's weapons and his bionic arm to defeat enemies and navigate platforms and obstacles. Players can extend his bionic arm overhead, directly in front, and above at a 45-degree angle, and can grapple to higher platforms, swing across chasms, and pick up items. Additional equipment such as weapons, protective gear, and communications devices can be found by clearing Areas or finding them in levels, some of which are vital to progressing further in the game. In addition to the regular "combat areas", there are also safe "neutral areas"; non-hostile zones where Spencer can gain additional information from allied and enemy soldiers and find items. If Spencer fires his weapon in any neutral area, an alarm sounds, and all soldiers will become hostile to Spencer.
Plot
Bionic Commando takes place sometime in the 1980s and centers on two warring states: the Federation and the Empire. One day, Federation Forces discover top secret documents about "Albatros", an unfinished project developed by the Empire's predecessor, the "Badds". Imperial leader Generalissimo Killt decides to complete the project himself. Upon learning the Empire's plot, the Federation sends in their national hero, Super Joe to infiltrate the Empire, but he is captured. The Federation then sends in a second operative named Ladd Spencer to rescue him and to uncover the secret behind the Albatros project. Spencer is a member of the FF Battalion, a team of commandos specially trained to use wired guns to infiltrate enemy bases.Spencer starts in Area 1, in which he is told that the first several areas, already infiltrated by Federation troops, have communication devices and rooms that can be used to stay in contact with the Federation and for wiretapping to gain intelligence from the Empire. Upon reaching Area 3, Spencer finds through enemy intelligence that Super Joe has been transported to the Imperial "disposal area", which a Federation spy later confirms. However, upon reaching the disposal area, an Imperial commander tells Spencer that Super Joe has been transported elsewhere. Eventually, Spencer rescues Super Joe, who informs Spencer that the Albatros project is a powerful laser cannon the Badds were unable to complete. However, the one person vital to the project's completion, Master-D, is dead, and Generalissimo Killt has been unsuccessfully trying to resurrect him. Super Joe tells Spencer that they must stop Killt before he succeeds, and he asks Spencer to accompany him to the Imperial base located in Area 12.
When Spencer reaches the Imperial base, Super Joe tells him to break the power system in order to release two power barriers that are guarding the incomplete project. After doing so, Super Joe tells Spencer to defeat Killt and escape while he goes to destroy the base's power source. When Spencer reaches Killt's chamber, Killt boasts that the Albatros project has been completed without Master-D's help, turning off the device that would have resurrected him. As Killt is about to kill Spencer, electric shocks begin to occur around the holding tank containing Master-D's body, reviving Master-D and instantly killing Killt. Master-D then exits the tank and approaches Spencer, saying that he will use the Federation's forces to take over the world. Spencer vows to fight against Master-D, who calls Spencer a "damn fool" and unveils the Albatros. After destroying the Albatros, Spencer encounters a dying comrade named Hal, who gives Spencer a bazooka and tells him that Master-D is escaping and that he needs to shoot the bazooka into the cockpit of Master-D's escape chopper. Spencer uses his bionic arm to swing himself towards Master-D's escape chopper and fires the bazooka into the cockpit; upon doing so, Spencer screams: "Your number's up! Monster!" Then, in a series of slow-motion frames, the game shows Master-D's head explode.
The alarm inside the Imperial base then sounds off, saying: "This base will explod in 60 seconds." Spencer manages to escape the base when he realizes that Super Joe is still inside, and he runs back in to rescue him. The Federation's commander then orders the full evacuation of the base, but then, as the base explodes, a chopper appears with Spencer holding on to Super Joe while hooked on the chopper with his bionic arm. Spencer then informs the commander that he has Joe and that they are returning to the Federation base. The game's ending then shows Federation troops around Spencer and Super Joe as they celebrate their victory. Super Joe then says how the Federation has a new hero in Spencer Spencer while saying how different he feels from the praise given by his comrades. Then, after showing the ending credits, the game forwards to August 2, 2010, which an old Super Joe recalls the entire story and hope that it will live on.
Development
Localization
For the release of the international version of the game, several changes were made. All references to Nazism in text and imagery were removed for the English localization. The Empire in the Japanese version was actually a neo-Nazi nation and the Imperial Army's insignia was a Nazi Swastika with a thunderbolt behind it. In the English version, the Nazis were referred as the "Badds". The Imperial Army's Swastika insignia was changed into a new one resembling an eagle, and the leader of the villains, originally called Weizmann in the Japanese version, was renamed Killt.One of the most prominent differences involves the ultimate antagonist of the game, who is meant to be a revived Adolf Hitler in the Japanese version. For the English version, the character was renamed "Master-D". There is a notably gory ending sequence in which Hitler's face explodes, which was kept intact in the English version. Additionally, the word "damn" was left in an end-game dialog sequence of the North American release, which was a rare amount of profanity for an American NES release.
In addition to the graphical changes, the difficulty of the game was rebalanced and some of the areas were made less difficult.
Music
The music for the game was created by videogame music composer Junko Tamiya, who was credited under the pseudonym "Gondamin". Two songs from the Arcade versions are used in some areas. The music for the original arcade game was developed by Harumi Fujita. Tamiya adapted two of the original arcade tracks and expanded the soundtrack by adding several more new songs in the console versions for the Japanese Famicom and the NES ports of the game.Reception
According to Capcom employee Ben Judd, the game did not sell well in Japan.In 1997 Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked it the 32nd best console video game of all time, assessing that the fact that the player could not jump and had to instead swing around with his bionic arm added an unexpected level of depth to the platform genre. Nintendo Power ranked it as the 17th best Nintendo Entertainment System video game, describing it as one of the console's most original action games due to the ability to swing. GamesRadar ranked it the fourth best NES game ever made. The staff called it a classic and praised its grappling mechanic. The Japanese magazine Famitsu gave it 26 out of 40.
Remakes and re-releases
A portable adaptation of Bionic Commando was released for the Game Boy in 1992. The Game Boy version is based on the NES game, featuring the same gameplay and stages, as well as a similar plot, but changes the present day setting of the NES version into a futuristic one. A second remake, titled Bionic Commando Rearmed, was developed by GRIN and released in 2008 as a downloadable title for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.The original NES version of Bionic Commando is one of three NES games featured in the Game Boy Advance compilation Capcom Classics Mini-Mix, the other two games being Strider and Mighty Final Fight.