Capcom's Bionic Commando for NES #videogame #gaming
44Nintendo didn’t want straight arcade ports for the Famicom and NES. Capcom took their arcade titles and created expanded home versions based on the concepts introduced in the arcades.
Bionic Commando is a platformer with a twist: you can't jump. Instead, your character has a bionic arm that can be fired at a 45-degree angle to grapple onto platforms, allowing you to climb and traverse the environment. You have this ability to climb and grapple, but there's also the constant risk of falling to your demise. It's fascinating how Capcom took a standard video game mechanic like jumping and completely turned it on its head.
In the Western release, the Albatross Army is just a generic group of fascists bent on world domination. But in the original Japanese version, they're Nazis attempting to clone Hitler. The game ends after you shoot clone Hitler in the face, totally worth the price of admission, right there!
Sadly, we never got a 16-bit Bionic Commando game. There was a 3D entry and some 2.5D games on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that were quite good.
Bionic Commando is an absolutely essential and creative game. The NES version is an all-time classic.