Bionic Commando (1987) - TV Tropes

Capcom swings into action with its first dedicated video game!!!

The very first Bionic Commando game. It involves a member (Super Joe according to American materials) of a special commando unit trying to stop an unnamed general from launching missiles after said unit's nation was surprised by them, all of which was ten years after a devastating world war. In order to meet his objectives, he must infiltrate five levels such as a wasted forest to the exterior and interior of the enemy base, in order to reach the testing grounds where the missiles are.

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Bionic Commando (1987) contains examples of:

• American Kirby Is Hardcore: The Japanese version of the arcade game had characters with wider cartoony eyes.
• Big Bad: The nameless general seeks to make use of nuclear missiles to fulfill his evil plan and the player must stop him.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer: Some versions give player one green colors and player two red colors.
• Difficulty by Region: The International version lets you keep your weapon between levels, rather than reverting you to the default weapon at the start of every level. Additionally, the helicopters in the International version are lesser in number, drop fewer bombs, and will eventually stop chasing you if you avoid them for long enough.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Two-Player games are turn-based and it was not until Rearmed that we get co-op play.
  • The game is lighter in tone and cartoonier compared to later works.
  • None of the characters in the game were named aside from the player being Super Joe in the English localization.
  • None of the characters speak any dialog either.
  • The Japanese version of the game had no ties to Commando (Capcom) and Super Joe being the protagonist was a localization change. Starting with the NES game, Super Joe would be featured as a character on both sides of the pacific with the ties to Commando being strengthened in future titles such as the level music for Commando being used in the overhead levels of Rearmed, Super Joe being identified as Joseph Gibson from Mercs, and Howard Powell appearing in the 2009 game.
  • The first game and the NES game had the Top Secret title in Japan and were retitled Bionic Commando overseas. The Top Secret moniker was dropped starting with the game boy game in Japan.
  • There is no map system where the player navigates the world as they traverse stages, instead the player just heads to the next stage after finishing one until the last level. The NES game starts a series tradition by adding a map system where the player navigates the world and enter and re-enter stages.
• Heroic Mime: The hero never gets any dialog unlike the future games.
• Named by the Dub: The "special commando unit member" was given the name of Super Joe on the American arcade flyer for the original game, in an attempt to market the game as a spinoff to the otherwise unrelated shoot-'em-up Commando (Capcom).
• No Name Given: Aside from the soldier in English releases, none of the characters nor the enemy faction is named.
• Post-Final Boss: After the computer used for the missiles gets destroyed the player must make a dash for the general and kill him.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The music for the first level of the Arcade game is far too upbeat for the setting, especially considering the rest of the soundtrack.
• Timed Mission: The first objective of the last level is to hurry to the computer and destroy it before the missile launch occurs.