Bionic Commando - for NES

Bionic Commando was developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, and while it shares a name with Capcom's arcade game, it is loosely based on it at best: different levels, a different story and a shape of its own. Somewhere in the 1980s the world has become a battlefield between the Federation and the Empire, which casts itself as the successor to the malevolent Badds, also known as the Nazz. When Imperial leader Generalissimo Killt sets out to finish an abandoned Badds project codenamed Albatros, the Federation sends in Super Joe, who is captured, and then Ladd Spencer of the special FF Battalion to bring him back and uncover what the enemy is building.

Spencer cannot jump. What he has instead is a bionic arm that extends and contracts, and that arm is how you move: fire it at a fixed object to swing across a gap, haul yourself up to a higher platform, or catch an opponent and pull them in toward you. Learning to read a room as a series of anchor points is what Bionic Commando is really about. Most levels hand you an item on the way out, and those items are often exactly what a later level requires, so progress loops back on itself. Each area also calls for a different colored communicator before enemy message traffic means anything.

Bionic Commando is still loved because that arm feels like nothing else on the console. Taking the jump button away sounds like a cruelty and turns out to be the best idea in the game, and the swing becomes second nature once it clicks. It is a Capcom NES title held in the same regard as the company's better known series, the groundwork for everything the Bionic Commando name did later, and a cornerstone cart for anyone collecting NES platformers.

• Genre: Action Platformer
• Players: 1
• Region: NTSC
• Release Year: 1988
• Developer: Capcom

Cartridge Only: No Box or Manual
Please note that this listing is for the game cartridge only. The original box, instruction manual, and any other accessories are not included with this purchase unless explicitly stated in the listing. What you receive is exactly what you need to play: the cartridge itself, tested and confirmed working.

Condition & Authenticity
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