Bionic Commando, 1987 Capcom (20 From 1987 #10)
11Hey all! Welcome to my 2nd 1987 time capsule. And of course, to the 2nd game in Capcom's "Commando" series. This entry totally changed the gameplay format from the first, which was a vertically scrolling military-themed shooter, and made it a platform-hopping (without the "hopping") scrolling adventure. The game is notable for its cool bionic arm given to the protagonist from the first game-- SUPER JOE-- and getting used to the intricacies of using the arm's grappling hook is key to getting very far in the game. Slinging the arm at an angle and grabbing a ledge/tree limb will allow you to swing across, or you can hold the ARM button to pull yourself up to the ledge (then an upward tap on the joystick will scale it). Knowing how to use the arm properly is so important because there is no jumping mechanic in this game! Nope, you must swing across gaps with your bionic arm.. sucks, I know. But try to put that behind you, because the game is pretty fun and the soundtrack is very catchy (though very loud!). Super Joe has 5 stages ahead of him to try to prevent a nuke from being launched by the enemy. Parachuting items will often float down into play, and can give various bonus items (the crosses shouldn't be missed as they are 5,000 or 10,000 points!) or perhaps weapons that make your gun stronger-- key for dealing with the enemies that are really tough to bring down, like the big mechas that can jump up or down floors, or to a lesser extent, the burly guards in the jungle stage. Failure to stop the nuke (a 60-second timer appears when you near the top of it) on stage 5 will send you back to the start of stage 4! If you like the arcade game Bionic Commando, you REALLY owe it to yourself to check out the incredible NES port if you haven't! Just as changing the gameplay from Commando to Bionic Commando was successful, the NES gameplay is very different as well (though the bionic arm concept is intact, albeit with better controls) but still very impressive! You can collect special items, build up a life bar, communicate with allies and wiretap enemies, engage enemies in an overhead manner like in COMMANDO, get newer weapons, etc. I thank you all for joining me for my flashbacks for 1987, and I hope you keep joining me for the rest of this series. Hope you had a great weekend too!