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- For other games in the series see Bionic Commando.
Bionic Commando is a platform shooter game where you control a soldier with a bionic grappling-hook for an arm. Since you can't jump, the grappling hook is your only source of vertical movement. The game is meant to be a pseudo-sequel to Commando (NES), and the NES port of Bionic Commando (ARC), however, it is drastically different from the arcade original.
The NES port features a full story and a fair amount of dialogue making it vastly more interesting than the arcade original. A hostile enemy force called the BADDS, is resurrecting the plans of a fallen army to build a giant war machine to take over the world. You must rescue your captured comrade and stop their plans of world domination. To do this, you parachute into enemy areas, blast your way through the enemy soldiers, avoid numerous hazards, and defeat each area boss. Doing this rewards you with various weapons and items which allow you to unlock areas deeper in enemy territory. The game was underrated because the sharp learning curve for the controls, but once you learn them, it is very exciting.
In the original Japanese release, the story has Nazis trying to resurrect Adolf Hitler to build the war machine, but the USA censored the game and removed all mention of the Nazis.
Screenshots
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The title screen.
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The overview map.
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The various weapons to choose from.
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Swinging up to an enemy in Area 1.
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Talking to an enemy soldier in a neutral area.
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The Japanese intro, complete with Swastikas.
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Music
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VGMPF Album Art 
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Junko Tamiya was chosen to score the NES port of Bionic Commando as her second full NES soundtrack. The original arcade game was composed by
Harumi Fujita, and Tamiya included two songs from the original, the
Bionic Commando Theme and
Power Plant, but the majority of the score she composed uniquely for the game.
Composition of the music was done using a musical keyboard attached to an MSX computer. Once Tamiya was happy with the sound, she would convert the sheet music into hex values to be played using Yoshihiro Sakaguchi's NES audio driver.
For inspiration, Tamiya looked to the changes in the tone of the game. The generic arcade story was given more depth and included Nazis trying to resurrect Adolf Hitler and take over the world with a huge war machine. From these themes, Tamiya was able to give her songs a more fitting military sound.
A good portion of the songs from this game have been ported or re-arranged in the various other incarnations of Bionic Commando. Also, some of the sound effects of Bionic Commando would go on to be reused in Code Name: Viper (NES), which also contains a song composed by Junko Tamiya.
Recording
Credits
(Sources: USA, Japan 1, Japan 2. Alias and original composer verified by Capcom staff)
Albums
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2008-06-23
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The official album, released to promote the Bionic Commando remake, features several of the game's audio tracks. However, it is missing most of the shorter songs and fanfares.
Game Rip
Ripping NES music is a very arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site. The NSF files include US, European, and Japanese rips with music and sound effects.
The music of the PAL (European) version of the game is slower then the NTSC (USA/Japanese) version. This slowdown occurs because PAL games play at a different frame rate from NTSC games. Normally, this slowdown is corrected for, but the PAL development team chose to leave it as is.
Releases
 Japan |
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| Title: |
トップシークレット ヒットラーの復活 (The Resurrection of Hitler: Top Secret) |
| Platform: |
Famicom |
| Released: |
1988-07-20 |
| Publisher: |
Capcom Co., Ltd. |
 Australia |
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| Title: |
Bionic Commando |
| Platform: |
NES |
| Released: |
1990-??-?? |
| Publisher: |
Capcom Co., Ltd. |
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