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Crucial Classics - Bionic Commando

Posted by Zonk on from the swinging-is-fun dept.

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."

2 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. What about the arcade version? by sharopolis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  2. Umihara Kawase by Chemical · · Score: 4, Interesting
    For anyone who liked Bionic Commando and it's grappling hook swinging action, you need to check out Umihara Kawase, a quirky Japanese SNES game about a young girl out to save humanity from an invasion of Darwinian Nightmare Fish.

    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.