Bionic Commando Longplay (Arcade) [60 FPS]

Developed and published by Capcom in 1987.

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So, I was looking through my back catalogue of videos and noticed that video quality of Bionic Commando didn't live up to my own quality standards, so I decided to re-record a new longplay at higher resolution (the original was 640 x 480).

The original arcade version of Bionic Commando remains one of my favourite games ever. I first laid eyes on it in an arcade whilst on holiday with my parents back in the late 1980's and I was hooked. The attract mode looked so amazing seeing the main character swinging from branch to branch using the bionic arm; I'd never seen anything like it before. Platform games were certainly nothing new, but most were limited to a fixed horizontal or vertical scrolling plane; Bionic Commando featured large levels that allowed ultra-smooth eight-way scrolling.

The objective of the game is to fight your way through five action-packed stages to defuse a nuclear warhead and to defeat the evil dictator who intends to launch it. The player must defeat legions of hostile troops whilst also keeping an eye on the equally hostile mutant creatures inhabiting certain levels. Some of the enemy troopers are equipped with grappling hooks that allow them to climb after the player, so take these guys out as soon as possible.

Unlike most platform games that allowed the character to jump, the player is required to use an extending arm with claw to grab on to distant platforms. The arm retracts, pulling the player up on to the platform that it is latched on to. It can also be used to swing left and right from the platform, the momentum from which can be used to leap across gaps in the level. Any enemies in the way will be bowled over, which is a really great touch and very satisfying to boot!

The platforms in each level are arranged in such a way as to present the player with a multitude of routes by which to reach the level exit, so there is certain sense of freedom that other games in the genre simply didn't offer at the time.

In order to aid the player, supply packs will float down from the top of the screen on tiny parachutes. The packs contain medals, rations and hip flasks that can collected for points. Bonus weapons will occasionally appear as well, each of which have their own strengths and weaknesses. Players must either shoot the parachute or hit it with the bionic arm to release the contents, which can then be collected; items can easily float out of reach if you're not careful, so be quick to collect them! Fortunately, the bionic arm can be used to grab these items from distant platforms and also out of the air if timed correctly.

Bionic Commando features some good graphics for the time, with big, chunky sprites and lots of colour. The enemy troopers all look very cool, especially the big stomping mech-robots in the later levels. I did notice that the green monsters on level three that bite through the pipes look remarkably like Gremlins from the 1984 films...

The sound effects are serviceable, but the music is particularly rousing and memorable. Personally, I still prefer the SID renditions produced by Tim Follin for the C64 version of the game, but the arcade version still sounds pretty good.

My only complaint is that the later levels are probably too difficult. Sure, the point of coin-op games were to keep players pumping money into the machine, but the onslaught of choppers, mech-suits and the annoying somersaulting soldiers can make progress almost impossible.

While I really like the arcade version of the game, this was one of the few arcade games that received a great conversion to the Commodore 64, which was the computer I owned at the time (   • Bionic Commando Longplay (C64) [50 FPS]  ). The bionic arm seemed like such a cool feature back in 1987 and it remains fun to play even to this day.
#retrogaming