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Crucial Classics - Bionic Commando
1up.com has another entry in its 'Crucial Classics' series, and this one features a truly excellent NES title, Bionic Commando. From the article: "Most of Bionic Commando's innovations came in its hero's bionic arm. While the lead-footed character could not jump, a tap of the A button sent a moderate length of cable zipping out at a 45-degree angle, in hopes of attaching to anything vaguely resembling a platform. From there the player could perform a Tarzan-like swing to cross distances or simply retract the slack, allowing their commando to hang from the ceiling or even climb up to the next tier. The arm could also be sent straight up or horizontally, but Capcom's designers wisely made the useful angled shot the default."
Reminds me of using the Ninja Rope in Worms2 to swing across the length of the underground cavern maps to wreak some shotgun havoc;-) Good times.
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I still wish Capcom had done some better sequels. The GB versions were neat, but never quite as cool as the original.
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I remember this game from back in my younger days. It took me forever to beat, but it was a labor of love! Truly one of the best and most innovative NES games i've ever played.
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I love this Crucial Classics series. It actually made me get out my old NES. Bionic Cammando was one of my favorite titles. I don't think I ever actually beat it though. Time to get it of E-Bay.
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I am often reminded of just how many often my favorite games of all time were produced by Capcom. Bionic Commando, I used to play over and over again, no matter how many times I'd already beaten it. It was a good way to kill half an hour on a Sunday afternoon. It was just so appealing and replayable.
The Mega Man series (especially 2), same thing.
I admit that Ghosts n' Goblins enraged me, but I played it a lot as well.
No comment on Street Fighter, they definitely milked that one dry. Nevertheless, I can probably still get through Champion Edition without losing a round.
Puzzle Fighter - genius.
Played both Devil May Cry games obsessively, Viewtiful Joe is clever, creative, and very replayable (played those obsessively, as well). And I'm sure there are many more games in between that I'm forgetting to mention right now. But I've always wondered, what is it about this particular company that makes them special - the characters, the art, the gameplay, the designers?
They've made some real gold.
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Yeah he needed the grappling arm cause he couldn't jump, what freaking crappy Bionic Man is that?
I love this game. I used to be able to sit down and beat on a whim, although I tried it recently and got my ass kicked. The key was to hang out at the bottom of the first elevator and just rack up points form the endlessly spawning canon fodder until you had a full health bar. It made the rest of the game a lot easier.
What a great, great game.
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Just like any other video game in the 80s, I preferred the arcade version. It was a little too short and a little too easy, though.
Gotta love the gore, of the Hitler boss lookin guy's head exploding in a frame by frame view.
Mastering the multiple swings so you dind't touch the ground was the best. and using the arm to grab the little "bullets" for increasing your life bar.
Surely the original arcade machine that inspired the home console versions is the definitive Bionic Commando? I say 'inspired' because the NES and GB versions were siginificantly different from the original.
Whilst the NES game was fun the original machine was the superior version for me. Obviously the arcade was more technically impressive, but what really stands out is the game play. Frustrating true, more so than on the NES even, but it had that instant playable thrill that was essential in good arcade machines, something that wasnt quite there on the NES.
Frankly I don't even think that the NES game is the definative home version. Several others stuck much more rigidly to the original game and I think that worked in their favour. The ZX Spectrum conversion (admitedly probably not well known in the US) is of this school and it manages to be a better game despite the Speccys limited capabilities, putting it ahead of the Nintendo title in my book.
Too easy, but it was very fun, I remember having done a VHS recording of me beating the game without dying, start to finish. I remember the gore when you killed the boss in the helicopter (was it a helocopter?), you were able to see an eyeball pop out of his head.
I think it's particularly interesting how the shift to 3D has changed which producers make good games. It used to be that all Konami games were awesome. It didn't matter what you bought, as long as it was made by Konami, it ruled. Even the "bad" Konami games were great compared to some of the other stuff.
On the other end, you had companies like THQ which produced crap. All of their games were crap. As far as I can remember, they had not a single good 2D game on any console.
The shift to 3D has changed that. Nowadays, Konami games are hit-or-miss. Most 2D games from Konami are still great, but the 3D games generally suck (see Castlevania...). THQ, on the other hand, has published some really great games. They still make crappy movie adaptions, but even these are generally at least playable and moderately entertaining, unlike their old stuff.
I think it's a pity that Konami isn't what it used to be, I love their 2D games.
Bionic Commando was one of the best on NES - IMO much better than the arcade version. The grapple arm was so much fun and I don't remember any other game using it effectively except for Earthworm Jim on the SNES (which was, frankly, AWESOME).
The GBA game Ninja Five-0 implements a mechanic like this very well. I recommend trying out that game. It's fun.
I never played more the 3-4 levels. I couldn't figure out where I was supposed to be going on the big "world map" thing, so beating levels didn't mean much to me. As a result, I'd play a couple and quit, sometimes turning it back on to play the same few over again.
:(
Got it used, didn't have the manual, no such thing as gamefaqs.com back then
I'll bet you'll be able to download a graphically enhanced version of this game onto your Revolution console.
This was a real classic. I always wondered why they didn't continue the series. Ah well, maybe someday we'll get a more modern update. Regardless, check it out if you have never played.
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This was my favorite NES game and I played it start to finish frequently. The ending where you had to swing over some spikes and fall down about 5 screens to make a Luke Skywalker style, one chance only, shot was tough! The Mega man series (especially 2 and 3) were also outstanding.
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The game plays a little differently than Bionic Commando, and has much more sophisticated physics, but the concept is the same. You use an elastic fishing line to grapple onto objects and swing yourself around. Because the line is made of rubber, it's stretchable and bendable, allowing you to pull off some crazy maneuvers, such as swinging your line underneath a platform, then retracting the line to fling yourself up onto the ledge. The learning curve is sharp, but once you learn how to play it is a tremendously fun game. I highly recommand this quirky little game to any fan of Bionic Commando (or video games in general).
If you wanna see what I'm talking about, you should check out this video of the game being played to its full capacity.
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My favorite game to rent when I was little, I could have a friend over and play coop and finish the game in fairly short order. Man, good times.
The OP forgot to mention you could puch groups of "bad guys" and pull one back to you. Like an 8-bit Scorpion from MK.
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I saw a speedrun (that was using emulators to be perfect) of it, after a few levels the guy would shoot huge bullets that would kill the bosses with one shot. Was that really in the game or did they just use some trick to make it that powerful?
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that whole arm/grapple thing is almost like the one in 'batman forever' on nintendo gameboy...45 deg, vertical and horizontal "deployment" for the grapple. and just hanging or climbing down wasn't an option.
used extensively in the (2nd) level where u're supposed to defuse the bomb at the circus.
Wow... That /is/ a blast from the past. I remember having a lot of difficulty with it when my brother first got it -- he was the game maniac. When it fell to me, after he gave up on the NES, I played it a couple of times, but got nowhere. Yet, several years later, I'd found it to be my favorite game, had mastered flying maneuvers with the hook, and added it as one of the few NES games I've ever beaten (I wish I could say the same of Legacy of the Wizard).
To this day, I remember a few things: 1) The music of the sewers level; 2) Shoot the helicopter cockpit window with the rocket launcher; and 3) The climb out of the shaft at the end is the most royal pain the a--...