141 · Bionic Commando

• A NEW BREED OF HERO!
• Introductions
  • Is this the sequel to Commando? They are both Capcom Games (SAME SUPER JOE)
  • How do you feel about these games?
• Gameplay
  • OVERVIEW
    • Action-platformer
    • Super Joe is equipped with a mechanical arm featuring a grappling gun, allowing him to pull himself forward or swing from the ceiling.
  • A platform game in which the player cannot jump
    • The game is more notable as an NES title because of this feature
    • Flaws of the claw
      • Platform differences (ala Bubble Bobble)
      • Climb vs Swing
    • It would still be a long/difficult/detailed game without the claw
    • Bonus features? Grab enemies, pulley system, Strength or claw upgrades
  • The importance of exploration/communication/power ups
  • Overworld Tactics
    • Go wherever you want, but enemies advance as well
    • Why are they not numbered?
    • Commando style fight with enemies
  • Our first game fighting Nazis? Usually Russian allegories
    • HITLER EXPLOSION
• Story
  • SUPER JOE
  • There’s a lot of story here. Kind of reminds me Metal Gear. Anyone got the gist?
• Localization
  • All references to Nazism in text and imagery were removed for the English localization. The Empire in the Japanese version was actually a neo-Nazi nation and the Imperial Army's insignia was a Nazi Swastika with a thunderbolt behind it.
• Sequels and Spinoffs
  • A portable adaptation of Bionic Commando was released for the Game Boy in 1992.
    • The Game Boy version is based on the NES game, featuring the same gameplay and stages, as well as a similar plot, but changes the present day setting of the NES version into a futuristic one.
  • Bionic Commando: Elite Forces 1999 GBC
    • Adds teammates and a Sniper Rifle
  • A second remake, titled Bionic Commando Rearmed came out in 2008 for PS3/360
    • Enhanced remake
  • Bionic Commando (2009, PS3/360)
    • Sequel to the NES game, Third Person Shooter
  • This game has so much story that WORLD OF POWER scholastic had to skip most of it
• EGL
• Next week - BLADES OF STEEL

Auto-generated transcript. Each paragraph starts with its timestamp. Speakers are not identified.

00:00 Bionic Commando, a new breed of hero.

00:18 And welcome to NEStalgia, a chronological exploration of every NES game released in North America. I'm Mike. I'm Sean. I'm Joe. And I'm Sam. And we have a full house today for a very important episode, guys. Finally, the long-awaited sequel to Commando. Woo! The reaction.

00:43 Nobody cares, apparently. Did you guys... Is this a sequel? First off, is this a sequel to Commando? They're both Capcom games. It was... I guess... I guess technically it's a sequel, but it feels more like just like another story in the same world. But I mean, it is later in that world. Is it in the same world? Like, I didn't know that. It is. But isn't it like retroactively in the same world?

01:07 Yes. Because the only thing that implies to me that they're in the same world, maybe there is something in the story, but the only thing that implies to me that they're in the same world is that they're the same character. It's that Super Joe guy again. Oh, yes. Super Joe. Not to be confused with our Joe. Right. Well, I'm far from super. He's a pretty good Joe. Yeah, I'm decent Joe.

01:31 I'm actually trying to remember. In Commando, that was a pretty like... It was presenting itself as like, this is the real world, right? Yes. World War II. Okay. So now Bionic Commando is, I guess, the alternate future. Yes, actually, right?

01:46 I mean... Yeah, I guess... No, it is. It's gotta be an alternate future. Let's get right into it because it's like they're not calling them Nazis, right? They are like... They are pretty much Nazis without the word. They were supposed to be though. Yes, they were supposed to be. And I think in the Japanese version, they do just outright call them Nazis. But I guess censorship things don't allow for that here in the States, even though that's weird because we've definitely played World War II games where you fight all the different axis powers. I think that was a Nintendo thing.

02:18 Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. So maybe Nintendo was like, slow down there, buddy. Like, you can't call them Nazis, but you can definitely show Hitler's face exploding at a certain point in this game.

02:31 As long as you don't call him Hitler. Yeah. Hiltr. Yeah. Well, that's right. Right. So Joe, you mentioned they're called the bads, right? That's not very intimidating. I mean, what can be more intimidating than the bads? They're bad. I mean, that's a great point. Thank you. Case closed. You've obviously argued before.

02:51 I'm rather unprepared now to make my statement against the bads, but also like the general's name is weird too, right? Isn't it like General... General Isamo something or other? Yeah. Lisa Moe Kilt. Yeah. So, um... He's Scottish. He's not very intimidating there either. Yeah. He's Scottish. He runs a Nazi-like empire. And it's up to Super Joe, who must be just finishing his story in Commando and then saying like, you know, I'm up to the task. I just took on an entire army. I'll do it again all by myself.

03:23 But I thought that Super Joe was like, captured. I'm not very good at like, reading into this game, but aren't you trying to save Super Joe? Yeah, I think... No, I think you got it. He went in to do this and he fell. He was captured. So now you're sent in now after him. Yeah, our job is just to get Super Joe back. Because you'll remember, Sean, that Super Joe in Commando never had a bionic arm. Well, we don't know how, like, what happens after Commando. Like, you could have gotten to like, a lawnmower accident or something along those lines.

03:57 That's true. We need a Gaiden game. Yeah, yeah. We need to find out what happens in the in-between. That's actually what the anime covers. So you don't have to worry. Great. Yeah. So let's talk a little bit about Bionic Commando here. It's an action platformer.

04:11 That's what I'm going to call it. I'm going to say platformer because you're definitely dealing with platforms here, even if you don't jump. Nobody said jumping was part of a platformer. I mean, I'm sure people have said it, but we haven't explicitly said it before. Got it. I don't think Shigeru Miyamoto, the guy who created platformers, would argue that Bionic Commando is not a platformer. And since I'm speaking for him, I speak with complete authority. Yeah. So say we all. And Super Joe, not Super Joe, sorry. You play this guy named Spencer, I think, right?

04:43 Spencer. Or maybe you go unnamed. Maybe you go unnamed. I thought he had a name, but it was something. I forgot. It was like Rad something. Maybe it's Spencer in the arcade game, which is slightly different. So we're not counting that here. Anyway, the player you are is equipped with a Bionic Arm that has like a, it's like a grapple of sorts. And it allows him to pull himself forward or, you know, diagonally. So this way he can swing from the platforms. So there's no jumping whatsoever. Everything is done through this arm.

05:13 And then also, in the other hand, I guess you have your gun, which allows you to shoot at enemies and use other various power ups. But, you know, to say that that's the game is kind of unfair, right? I mean, there's so much to this game. I mean, just being, just focusing on that, though. Like that being the mechanic of like, you don't jump. You have this arm with the grappling and that's how you get around.

05:42 And it, it, the programming of the game allows you to take advantage of that fact in a lot of different situations. Like it's probably the most innovative game mechanic in platforming that we've seen since Super Mario Brothers. Absolutely. I mean, nobody's going to argue here that, you know, the game is more notable today because of this feature of like not being able to jump. Because you have to use the arm for everything. That's what makes it a more notable NES title. And, and yeah, there's some flaws to the claw, but. Flaws to the claws.

06:22 But for the most part, like that's what makes the game interesting. So let's talk about that. A platform game in which you cannot jump. You know, Sean, you, you kind of started us already. So Joe, what were you, what were your immediate takes on that?

06:34 Well, right away, I was very excited about it. I thought it was a really cool idea. And it's really, I don't know, just interesting to, to have a game that's kind of built like any other platformer we've, we've, you know, we've played with this claw in mind. But yeah, it has a different main mechanic than jumping to the platforms. And, you know, swinging in games is always fun. So it's an, it's an interesting thing where it, I feel like it had potential to be a little puzzly and potential to be a little, I don't know, like the, the action element of it being very cool.

07:08 Um, and it delivered that to me for the most part. There definitely had things that it didn't deliver that I was hoping for. Um, but it, it definitely, you know, it scratched that itch for something new and something a little different. And Sam, what about you? I thought it was great. I thought that the, the, the feel of it holds up and that the, like, I could tell when I started that when I was bad off, you know, at the very beginning, first time playing, it was just me not used to the controls yet, but that the controls themselves were very responsive. And I, you know, I looked up speed runs of this and people are just flying all over the place and it's something that you can get a lot better, uh, with, with time.

07:51 And so I think that that's a sign of a really good mechanic. Now we, we argued on the bubble bobble episode that, uh, in that game, there were too many differences on platforms of like, it's hard to know which ones you can just like jump right through and clip and which ones you're locked out of and which ones you can, um, you know, escape from. Did you guys have that same problem here in Bionic Commando of like platform differences of which ones you can, uh, just shoot upwards and climb up over? Or for the most part, that was pretty clear. It wasn't clear immediately, but it like, you learn pretty, pretty quickly that, uh, and the textures for these platforms are different enough that you, you get it.

08:34 Yeah. I think I remember like a couple of, a couple of instances where I was like, wait, I can't jump on this platform or what? But like, for the most part, they were few enough and far enough between that, uh, it didn't really stand out as a major flaw to me. I was going to say the springs kind of stand out a little bit too, not stand out and that they don't, they stand out and that they don't stand out and you jump, uh, when you hit them, which kind of surprises me every now and then when I step on them by accident.

08:59 I think the game also benefits a lot from being more open than Bubble Bobble was allowed to be, but also just from the fact that like you can, you can take the time to think about, you know, like what you want to, where you want to explore in this world and, uh, what you want to do in each level. There's no, uh, there's no instantly respawning enemies that you have to constantly deal with. If you stay there too long, there's no, um, you know, there's no platforms that aren't communicated in a way where it's like, well, I can't reach that. And I don't really know what to do next. You know, it's, you figure it out as you go along and it's not, it's not so puzzly in a way that's, um, obtuse.

09:36 Uh, there's, there are some times in this game where depending on how you venture, uh, throughout the overworld in the different areas, you might be confused on what you're supposed to do next, but there, there is a solve for that that I think we'll get to. Did anybody have any problems though with using the hook? I, I, I would just like to, uh, stop you real quick. Um, I would just like some clarification. This is not a challenge.

10:00 Um, but where did we get to like the comparison for this game is bubble bobble. Is it because it's sort of like, it's, it's kind of physics based. Is that what we're talking about here? We're talking just about the platforming and you know, sometimes in, um, sometimes in Bionic Commando, there are platforms that you can reach up to, but you can't climb up on top of like they're, they're just solid walls.

10:25 Okay. And that was a thing in bubble bobble that we like, sometimes we couldn't escape walls or we couldn't go through those walls. Like we had to, uh, find creative solutions. And I was just wondering if people had that same problem here because that's a, you know, that's just a platformer thing is like you have to be able to explore the area freely.

10:44 No, for sure. But to answer your actual question regarding if I had any problems with the grapple, um, there's definitely a learning curve, uh, where, in the beginning you, you really aren't sure how it works at all. Uh, that lasts about like a minute and a half. And then there's like, you kind of get the whole swinging mechanic and that lasts a couple hours. And then you get to a point where you can start to like string these swings together and like get to places that you otherwise didn't think you could. And, but no, I mean there, there's dart. It's not a perfect system, but I, and I did have some issues with it throughout, but I otherwise thought that it's a pretty, uh, well polished system.

11:32 Yeah. I can, I can add to that a little bit too, because I agree that I don't think it's, it's a perfect system. Um, and I, I, I agree that you can, that you learn, um, that you learn as you go and it does, you know, you, you do get a lot better at it. But I don't think that necessarily means that it's a good, that it's a well executed mechanic. I think that there are, to me, I mean, personally, I thought there were some, some significant flaws in like the way it controlled.

11:59 Like one just being like, it's very counterintuitive that like the button to let go is like sometimes down and then, or to the left, whereas the button to grab on is a, and I feel like it sounds like, like a little thing. But I feel like sometimes that, that makes like the, the fluidness of like the way you want to control, like a little more, a little more annoying. And granted, yeah, you get the hang of that after a while.

12:21 But then there are other things to me where if you swing and you're like just a little too close, just like a couple pixels too close to a wall, you'll bump into the wall and just fall straight down. It'll, it'll stop all your momentum. Yeah. That's definitely one of the frustrations I meant. Yeah. And it's, and there are a couple other things like that, that made this thing that I was really excited about at first.

12:42 That should have felt very fluid and very fun and like kind of the motion should have, it should have been very momentum based to use a term we've used in the past. And I feel like there was a lot of like stiffness to it.

12:57 I'm just playing the devil's advocate a little bit here because I did still really like the mechanic, but I thought I would like to see it vastly improved. I think part of that is there's no like aftertouch. Like we're used to in midair being able to adjust our trajectory a la Super Mario. But once you let go of that grapple or whatever the grapple was holding on to, you have committed to an arc. Like, and that, like just that not being able to like make those little corrections definitely contributes to making that mechanic feel a bit stiff.

13:39 And the other, other aspects to it also contribute to that, that I guess I can't really articulate right now. But I agree that there is a stiffness to it. But I do think that it, I was, I never really had trouble letting go.

13:55 Or those, those binary things I didn't have as much issue with. Yeah, I mean, I don't think I was ever like looked at one of those things and was like, yeah, this is exactly what's giving me a problem. But it was all the things compounded, which just made it feel not as fluid as it. Like, I'm not asking for like Insomniac Spider-Man or anything. But, you know, I just feel like the game being as action based as it is. Yeah. I feel like it should either have gone with keeping, with changing, making the controls a little more fluid to accommodate some of the action or keeping the controls the way they are. But then making like the traversal a little more like of a cerebral puzzle.

14:31 But it kind of combined the wrong ends of both of those things together. Because these, these constant, you know, like movements with the claw or arm, whatever grapple clip, whatever you want to call it.

14:44 Those constant decisions you have to make with it do slow down the pace of the game. And I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing because I don't think this is a game that you're supposed to beat very quickly. It's a very long, difficult, detailed game. But all that said, and this is going to sound crazy to suggest for a game as notable as Bionic Commando. But if you remove the grappling hook, I mean, this is, you know, and you were able to jump. Like, this is still a long, difficult, detailed game that would be enjoyable to play if you did have full control over your body.

15:20 That's an interesting way to phrase it. If you had full control over your body. Instead of being forced to climb onto things and swing. I understand. I think that if it was jumping in addition to the grapple, I guess I wouldn't, I wouldn't really know how they'd map that. But I think that it would definitely contribute to a little bit of a better, like, game feel. But I also just think that that is kind of, that is kind of like sacrilege to say the Bionic Commando, like, without the Bionic Arm.

15:55 I guess I really don't have anything to say beyond that. Just those musings. When I'm taking what you're saying, the way I'm taking what you're saying, Mike, is that, like, it has a lot of the features that we praise in other games that don't have this cool, interesting, new way of playing it. Like, there are multiple, you know, there's a little bit of freedom in where you choose to go. And there's, like, a lot of different items and power-ups you can use. There's a lot of other things that you can, it's a very immersive game regardless of that mechanic.

16:24 Yeah, and I think that the arm, while being, like, restrictive, is used appropriately and makes the game more interesting. Like, you would definitely have to change some design decisions if you incorporated jumping. I'm just not so certain that I would hate the version of this game where you are able to jump. You know, like, I feel like I would feel, and, you know, maybe this is just me not willing to put up with the slow pace of this game because of the claw. But I feel like I would enjoy this game more if I was able to jump and freely explore in that manner.

16:55 Now, Sean, you mentioned that, like, maybe there's a way where you still have the claw but are able to jump. And that's where I kind of thought that the grappling hook missed some features. There should have been an ability to maybe, like, grab enemies and pull them towards you with the grappling hook. Or maybe, like, a pulley system where you are, you know, your arm is so much stronger than you so it plays up on the strength of it. And you're able to, like, grab onto things and change platform heights and weights or things like that with this bionic arm.

17:26 Maybe the claw itself gets some, like, powerful upgrades that then expand on areas you've already visited. Now, that changes the game a little more than that. But you get the idea. Like, I felt like other than swinging and climbing up on platforms, which is a huge part of this game, if you incorporated the jumping, the claw could still find some uses.

17:46 Sure. I still don't really know. I know it sounds very silly, but I still don't know how they'd map that control if you're still going to shoot things. But I do get what you mean.

17:59 I think, though, that just the... And this is... It's not based on the game by itself, but also its legacy. But the legacy of this game would be so much different if, like, we just got rid of the claw. I mean, that sounds very obvious, but... No, totally. It would be a more forgettable game. I think people remember this one because of this distinct mechanic. And so... It feels good to do most of the time. Yeah, totally. I think that it's a conversation worth having, though, of, is the game actually better for having this mechanic on a gameplay fun level, as opposed to just, like, obviously, obviously it makes it stand out.

18:37 But I think it's also cool just because it forces you to think of things in a way... If you could jump, even if you could jump and you had the claw, you would probably jump a lot and not use the claw a lot. And this forces you to kind of learn something new and think of it in a way you wouldn't think of in another game. And that's why, again, to answer your question, Mike, would this still be fun? Maybe. But would it be as fun? I don't think so. I think that the fun... I probably would not be as engaged in the game if I didn't have the swinging claw.

19:11 Sam, anything additional? I was going to say that pretty much the same thing. Like, you know, the claw is what makes the game the game. I think that also... A couple other things. The way that you find each location in the game and you kind of have to discover what's there, and then you need to make sure that you have enough fuel to get to the next location for that long stretch. Um, I think that all of that kind of gives it a puzzle element that it makes those little sections...

19:39 I mean, the fact that, like, enemies go down in a couple hits and that the sections themselves aren't super challenging, but it's all part of this larger picture that you have to figure out and navigate. Almost like a Metroidvania, but not quite because it's still pretty linear. I think that that is, um... That is what makes it a really interesting game as well. Um, and as far as the claw mechanic goes, I was wondering if maybe if you had, like, a little bit of, um... Like, a little bit slower falling speed, if that would help things. So that way you could kind of re-grab if you made a mistake or something. Oh, without losing all progress. Yeah, if you were fast enough. .

20:50 Thank you.

21:18 That's cool. And, you know, I'm really glad that you brought up the larger picture of the game, too, because the way that we're treating the game, you know, it's almost like you complete stage one, you move on to stage two. And even though these stages aren't numbered appropriately, and I'm not quite sure what that's about, when you boot up the game, you're greeted with this, like, what are we going to call these things now? It's like a map grid. Yeah. Like flow chart. I don't know. Yeah, it's like a map flow chart. That's a good way of like you start on one and then you could move to 13, I think, or 14. And then you could move from there to number three.

21:57 It's like, why aren't they just numbered in order? I think I don't know. I think I know why. I think it's because you're not supposed to do them in order, you know? And if they were just numbered one through 14 or whatever, then you would just do it in that order. But this kind of makes you think about which one you should go to. And they'll say there's a weapons depot in sector four or something. And then you're like, all right, where is sector four? And how do I get there? And I have to go through all these. I guess that's right. But there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. Like, I understand that. Like, yes, it's sort of it's trying to train you to not think of them as level one, two, three, four, five.

22:32 But neither the order in which you should play them nor the order in which they are presented are numbered correctly. So, I mean, it just it's still very confusing. And it is one of it is one of the reasons why I had trouble playing this game over like in the overview.

22:53 Moment to moment, I was good. But this whole system here kind of threw me for a loop. I was going to say I was a little confused until I started using the radio or the transmission, whatever it is in the game a little bit more. I did that as well, yeah. And then it kind of gives you directions there and it tells you hints of places to go. And so I just kind of I don't really think too much about where I'm trying to go.

23:17 I just kind of let the game play itself sort of. Yeah, go where the hints guide you because I'd argue that they're not even hints. They're essential to playing the game. Yeah. Like if you if you don't do those transmissions, you won't even understand like why you can't go to area four until you get that like ability to see in the dark. Yeah, that's also part of it, though. Like that whole like, oh, these are hints. These are things that tell you where you should go or where things are.

23:46 But I didn't know why I needed that thing. Like I know I know that like, you know, area four is kind of impossible without that night vision thing. But like there was a point where I was trying to get to area eight and just said, like, you don't have enough power to do that. And I didn't recall any level or any radio station that told you that, like, to get enough power to go to level eight, you need this. I'm sure it exists somewhere.

24:16 And if I played this game long enough, like a kid in 88 that didn't have many other games to play, I might figure that out. But it was still a little obtuse for me. Yeah, I also noticed like a couple of things like that. I don't know how I missed it telling me that I needed the light to go to area four. But I went to area four and then I was just, can you leave the area?

24:41 I mean, you're just stuck in that area. Yeah. So, but then you die, do you, I'm forgetting, do you end up outside of, you end up back in the area when you die? Oh, you're right. You were just respawned. Yeah, you know, it's funny. I don't know what you would do. Yeah, I ended up, I was pretty early on. It was only like the second or third place I went to and I had to start the game over.

25:01 Dang. So that sucked. So I don't know if maybe I missed some very simple solution to that. But if I didn't, that seems like a very major flaw in the game. And, you know, we're talking about being able to explore these areas freely and everything. And on the same map, you can go wherever you want. But the enemies on screen in these trucks also are able to go wherever they want. And there's almost like this, you know, early tactical strategy game going on there where you have to be mindful of where the trucks are so that you don't come into collision with them. Granted, the penalty for coming into collision with them isn't really that bad. It's almost like you get to enter a minigame of Commando.

25:43 But I thought that was pretty cool of like a nice touch to, you know, to make the map flowchart thing we were talking about feel more alive than just like picking numbers on a square. No, it definitely felt cooler because of that. But, yeah, honestly, that minigame slash punishment is so, like, trivial because it really is just like the same, like, mini level of Commando over and over that, like, it may as well not have been there. But the feel of it being included did help just like, yeah, exactly what you said, made the map feel a bit more alive.

26:23 Yeah, it helps with immersion, I think. These are actually convoys that are going about their business and you have come upon them. Right. And you can go into one of these levels and literally just run through it and not shoot anyone. Yeah. Just run past everyone and you're done. I also found that I look this game up online a lot to see what people think of it because I know it has a legacy.

26:45 And people like those little mini levels because there's the guy that drops, I think it's the eagle symbol. And those are extra lives. And you can actually farm those guys to get a bunch of extra lives and then kind of set yourself up for later. Yeah, I guess I never really noticed that because your extra lives aren't all that easy to see. Yeah. At least. So I never really noticed that, but it sucks because farming should never really be a mechanic.

27:21 But that's all. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. What about like farming and RPGs? Like that's like a whole element of those games. I think that farming and RPGs. We're getting off topic here. But I think that farming and RPGs is a symptom of like poor game design than it is until it became a mechanic in itself. I think it was a symptom of poor game design before it became a mechanic.

27:44 You know, I agree with that too because there are definitely some RPGs where you don't have to ever stop and think about like I should stay in this area for a long time. Yeah. And just keep battling the same thing over and over. So I agree with that. Yeah, exactly. I retract my statement. You guys are making me think a lot tonight. I think when Sam brought up that thing about the numbers, that was just something I never considered in my whole life that they would number them out of orders. This way you don't think of them as something you must do in order. But that was such a good point. And so shout out to the nostalgia crew for making this nostalgia listener think differently.

28:20 Thanks, man. All right. So, you know what, though? What? You know, we're talking about this game. And obviously, like this is one that we all put a lot of time into. Sometimes we're, you know, we're being honest with listeners and we're like, oh, I didn't really play this one that much or it wasn't that fun after a while. So I just gave up on it. But it sounds like we all really played this one. However, I doubt that any of us beat it. Am I correct? You're correct.

28:42 This is a long game and that shouldn't be a penalty. But I'm starting to notice myself in this trend of NES games. Maybe even, you know, like outside of Legend of Zelda is the only like longish one. And that's not even that long of a game if we're being honest with ourselves. But that one lets you save. That's the only longish game that I actually was able to like tolerate. Any of these longer NES games, it seems like they're fine and they're interesting games and I'd still play them regardless. But I don't actually have an interest in beating them because of their length. Do you guys find that? I mean, I think that I agree as a 29-year-old.

29:23 But I don't think that's an us problem. That is not the game's problem. Because with games like, I don't remember, the ones where it's basically the same thing over and over. There's no real progression. It's just like this game has 200 stages. Like that is too long. Like that is a game that I would not play because it's so long. But this is a relatively like progression-based game. So I don't really see that as a fault in the game. I think that's just our patience as people.

30:03 Of which I have very little. So I agree with that. But I'd be curious to hear Sam and Joe's thoughts on just like completing NES games in general. Like does a longer NES game drive you away from it? Or do you not care about beating them? Like what's the deal? I think that the way that we play video games now is so different than the way people play video games in the 80s. That, you know, we're kind of used to the immediate gratification of getting it. Whereas back then you really had to fully understand the game for a while. And you probably weren't playing too many other games at home. So you had the time to do that too.

30:41 And so, you know, maybe it does take a really long time before you can get to some of those later levels as a kid playing this game. But you put in so much time already because you don't really have that many options. That you have the swinging mechanic down. And you can just breeze through the beginning of it now. And you know exactly where to go. And you can kind of set yourself up. So I can see this like... And for that reason it really grows on you too. So I can forgive it for that. I think that if it came out today, then that would be a different story.

31:14 But... If it came out today, it would have at least like an auto-save feature. Yeah. So I don't think it would have the same problem. Yeah, if there was an auto-save feature, I think that would be fine. But, you know. No, totally. And I think it's just like... It's something that we always think... Something I always think about. I don't want to say we all always think about. But it's something I'm always thinking about with these games. And just video games in general.

31:34 Is my... My lack of care. I don't care of whether I beat games or not anymore. Like I really... Even modern games that are exciting, story-driven games. I'm okay with just like putting them down. When I've had enough. Yeah, I agree. Like I don't mind if I beat it or not. I can always look up the story on Wikipedia.

31:55 I think... The guys on IGN GameScoop brought this up recently. But they were talking about like... That video games are the only medium. That you can't just like... Jump to the end and find out what happens. Like you can rent a movie. And just go on the DVD. And skip to the last chapter. And find out what happens. Or you can turn to the end of a book. And read the last page without like being skipped. In video games you don't have like necessarily... Some games give you chapter selects after the fact. But you don't get the ability to just like be like... I want to replay this moment. Because I really enjoyed it.

32:26 I'm glad you brought that up Mike. Because I listened to that episode too. And I actually have like... It's weird because I have an opinion. That I don't think I really have a good way of defending. But I disagree with them.

32:39 Even though like logically I agree with them. But I think that so much... Depending on the game. So like not every game. But like so much of a lot of like story-driven games. Or games that are for the experience. Like of the story.

32:56 Part of it is that you're living it. That you're being rewarded. When you're getting whatever. The cutscene or whatever the next part of the story is. And that you're... You feel more immersed in it. Because you're... You know... You're the one with like some agency in it.

33:12 And I totally get that. Like... Well yeah. But why shouldn't the person be able to decide... You know... You can make the same thing about a movie. Like you don't get as much out of it. If you skip to the end. But like yeah. The person who bought it should be allowed to do that. And I agree with that totally logically. But just somehow I don't like the idea of a world. Where all the games... You can just skip to the end if you want to. Yeah. With no real logical way of backing that up. This is a... This is a quagmire that we could step into. And talk for hours about.

33:41 I... But no. I kind of see... I kind of see both camps of this. Where I think that... It's weird that you can't just go and look. But I wouldn't want to. So I've never really thought about that. I haven't listened to that episode. So maybe I should. Just to get a little bit more information on where they're coming from. But I just wouldn't want to. I have a very specific anecdotal counterpoint to this. That... Sure. When I was a kid I got a used copy of Ocarina of Time. And that person had already beaten the game. And so I was curious what it would be like to be in the end of the game. So me... You know. I was still a kid I think. You know. Like still Kid Link.

34:29 And I just decided I'd play this other person's file for a little bit. And see what it would be like to fight Ganon. And it was cool. And I got really good at it. So by the time that I finally got there. I knew exactly what to do. And I don't know if that really like ruined the end of it for me or not. But I thought it was fun that I could go over to my friend's house. Who was having trouble beating Ganon. And I could do it for him. Whereas I'm still like in Jabu Jabu's belly. So. Yeah. I mean that's awesome to hear. I'm kind of surprised that you weren't like. What? Link's an adult? But maybe that was just spoiled. Because that's something that's obvious from like. Like anywhere. Any promotional material for Ocarina of Time.

35:07 However. You know. Just to bring this back to my Ionic Commando. Because I didn't bring this up just to derail us from that. Is that. I was interested in this game. And I was having a good time with it. So I would have liked the ability to just like. You know. Whether it's through a cheat code or something. Like. Be able to just experience. Like. How this game ends. And stuff like that. Instead of having to go to YouTube. So. I don't know. Like. It just made me think of that. Like. It's a bit of a bummer. That I have to. Constantly replay. The. The beginnings of games. That I. You know. That I turned out knowing very well. But. When it comes to like. The end of games. It's something that I rarely experience.

35:42 I think that this can. I mean. Maybe this isn't what you're saying. And I do get that you're talking about. Sort of like a chapter select. To some extent. But. I. I think that. My opinion is just like. Maybe this game should have had a save feature. Or a password feature. And that's. That's just where I would stop. Sure. I love that argument. Yeah. I would argue that. The fact that Nintendo. Introduced the ability to save. With Legend of Zelda. Led to like. No excuse. For all future NES games. Not to just have. A battery put inside them. Yeah. I agree. When people believe me. When people believe me. When people believe me.

36:44 A portable adaptation of Bionic Commando was released for the Game Boy in 1992. Would anyone be down to, you know, grab four to six AA batteries and load up a Bionic Commando Game Boy game and try to beat that before your batteries go out? Are the extra two batteries for the magnifying glass plate that you put over the screen? Thank you, thank you. You're aware. I'm sorry. Just wondering. Well, it's interesting because, you know, people who grew up with the Game Gear would think that you just use all six to power the system because theirs required six AA batteries.

37:20 But four is still a lot, too, for what it's worth. And there were no rechargeable batteries back then. But the Game Boy version is based on the NES game. I think it even has, like, most of the same gameplay and stages, and the plot might be changed a little bit. But it changes the present day, or no longer the present day, but, like, this, you know, World War II or neo-Nazi thing into a futuristic era instead now. It takes place deep in the future to explain his Bionic arm because that's just impossible now.

37:55 I would play it. I mean... Cool. I would have hoped that understanding the fact that it's not plugged into an AC adapter anymore would mean that they would need to develop a password system at the very least. But, no, I would still play. Yeah, and then we have another handheld title here. Bionic Commando Elite Forces. It came out in 1999 for the Game Boy Color.

38:21 And this one adds teammates to the battle. So you have a few other guys other than... I don't know. We call this guy Spencer for some reason. But, you know, you got other people other than your Bionic Commando guy. And now you have a sniper rifle. So it's like a first-person kind of, you know, in Game Boy Color style, like a first-person sniper minigame in there as well. That's weird. The bigger story here, a second remake titled Bionic Commando Rearmed came out in 2008 for the PS3 and 360. Did anyone look this one up? And, Sam, what was your take? I thought it looked weird that it was just, like, you know, 2.5D, kind of 3D side-scroller.

39:07 But people seemed to really like this one. I think it was on the arcade or something? It was on Xbox Arcade? Or was it just its own game? No, so this one was its own game. And it's, you know, I think they were thinking, like, this will be a great way to reboot this franchise and everybody will get on board and we can have, like, Bionic Commando,

39:26 you know, become our... You know, this is 2008, so forgive me here, Sean, but is that around Mass Effect one time? I would say so, I think. I'm almost wondering if this was, like, you know, they're like, well, we could do Bionic Commando Rearmed and introduce this thing and Capcom will have its own sci-fi adventure trilogy. I mean, I wouldn't say that in any way that they were trying to compete with Mass Effect, but it was November 20th, 2007. There you go. So this was their answer.

39:57 I'm just sticking by that. Okay. You know, however, even though they made this enhanced remake, Bionic Commando Rearmed, the following year they just released Bionic Commando. No Rearmed, same exact title as the NES, and this is the Xbox Arcade one that you were talking about, Sam. And this one, the following year, is a sequel to the NES game

40:20 as, like, a third-person shooter, and it picks up exactly where Bionic Commando left off, wherever that was, because I didn't eat it. Yeah, I remember hearing about this game. I think it has a pretty blah reputation,

40:38 because it was sort of just, it was in that same realm of, like, oh, we're just going to remake a bunch of classic games with kind of middling results. I didn't play it. I don't know if any of you guys did. I didn't, but I looked up a lot of reviews for it, and it seems like the plot is really, really bad. But people really like the... Where could they have gone wrong? Yeah. Yeah, they set it up for them.

41:09 But people really like the grappling hook mechanic in 3D. And they said that it, like, takes a while to get used to, but once you get it, they really, really enjoy it. And they say that people sleep on the game a lot, because of that. The real question, though, is can you jump? Ooh. You know, none of these games mention whether you can or can't jump. I would be shocked if they kept the you can't jump mechanic. But maybe they did. I'd just have a... Into 3D?

41:39 It would just be hard to explain, right? You're in 3D, but I guess, like, Link doesn't jump, so who cares, right? I actually didn't think about it until, Sean, you said it. That, like... I like to think that they probably made the decision to not be able to jump, but also, you can't... There's not enough buttons on the NES controller... Yeah. ...to add a jump. So maybe, like, later on, when you have something with more buttons, you can add a jump.

42:01 Yeah. Well, here's the news on Bionic Commando Rearmed. You can jump, but if you didn't want to jump, you could still beat the game without jumping. Oh, that's cool. So that's nice that they made it that way. I should have mentioned that there are two Bionic Commando Rearmed. There's Bionic Commando Rearmed 1 and 2. So, you know, just further cements this idea that I have that they were trying to compete with Mass Effect.

42:30 I understand. I've thrown out so many baseless claims this episode, Sean, so nothing's stopping me at this point. No, keep going. You know, remember World of Power? The Scholastic series that some NES games get adaptations of, and then you can buy them at your book fairs? We've talked about them a few times in the past. Yeah, sure. Metal Gear got one.

42:54 Oh, the books, yes. The books, World of Power, yeah, yeah. Well, here's the thing. Bionic Commando does get a World of Power book, and you could have bought it at a Scholastic book fair, but you'd be shocked to know that because this game has so much story built into it that the author actually felt like they needed to skip most of it, and they just kind of just do the beginning and end of the story and leave out the whole, like, middle part of the adventure. That's very strange. I love the idea of, like, you know, you're going to write a book about it, and you're like, there's just too much story here. I can't write all this.

43:29 It's already written. All right, well, we've been talking about Bionic Commando for, like, 40 minutes now. I think it's time that we finally decide whether this is on our essential games list.

43:44 All right, you know, I don't know who I'm going to pick first to vote, so instead I'm going to have Joe pick who goes first. I'd like you to go first, Mike. You know, you never go first. Oh, thank you so much. I'm going to go first, and here's what I'm going to say about Bionic Commando. Where I stand with this game right now is that it was wildly, I don't want to say, like, innovative, but wildly different from everything else that we played up until this point, and it does all that without being, like, un... Sorry, it does all that without, like, being tough to play. Like, it's actually fun to play through this game.

44:23 You know, I mentioned the slow pace, but I don't find that to be unrewarding because enemies don't just continue to spawn, and you can, you know, enjoy whatever you're doing for the time being and move on through the stages at your own pleasure. So I had a good time playing this game, and even though I didn't beat it, I would have probably, like, seen myself coming back to this. And when I look at, like, what essential games are right now on this list, I see this up there, so I am going to put it on my essential games list for right now. I don't... I can't say with confidence that it will be there for the long run, but I think if I look at other games that are on there that I don't totally love but think are worthy,

44:59 this one also falls into that category. So I'm going to slide it in there, and I'm not trying to take away from it and say, well, it just barely makes my essential games list. No, it's on there, you know? And I had a good time playing this, and I think at the very least, if you're a huge NES fan and you haven't played Bionic Commando yet,

45:17 chances are you're going to like this one. Because I think, you know, the things that make Bionic Commando struggle a little bit could actually be fun to most fans of NES-style games. Like, this could be the challenge you've been looking for that other platformers didn't quite deliver on. So I'm going to put it on there. Sam, why don't you go next? Thanks, Joe. I think this is a great game. I love how you have to figure out what you're doing in each level and then take that information,

45:48 and like, you might even write it down. You'd say, like, all right, it told me to go here, so I have to do that, but I know that this level is like this from the last time I played it, so I have to figure something out. It's a very thoughtful game in that the whole game is the puzzle.

46:03 I think that the grappling hook, you know, the claw mechanic is really cool, and they do it well. And it kind of has that NES, I'm not going to say jank because it's not jank, just, like, you know, difficulty.

46:23 But that, like you said, that's something that people who are a fan of this kind of NES games and that style of difficulty will really enjoy. And it's the kind of thing where you can get better and better at it. So I think it's essential. It's on my list. Very cool. So that's two, but we need majority. So, Sean, what do you say? So this is definitely a flawed game. We've kind of gone into great detail about all the things that would have made this game feel better,

46:57 improvements that could have been made to the overworld, how, like, the interceptions by the trucks are kind of trivial and don't really matter, and how the claw sometimes doesn't feel quite right.

47:16 But I think that those are all just on the periphery, and the core of the game is very fun. And I will sort of go against sort of what Mike said in that he didn't go so far as to say that it was innovative. I will say, and I already have said that it is innovative, this mechanic of, like, every other platformer is just jumping, either jump and jump or jump and shoot. This is shoot and claw.

47:45 So I will say that it is innovative, I will say that it is fun, and I will say that it's essential. All right. So that puts it on the list, but, Joe, you can still have a say. As powerless as you feel right now, you still have something. I don't feel like super Joe right now. I feel like powerless Joe, but I'll give my opinion anyways. So I grappled with this, no pun intended, I grappled with this for a long time with this one.

48:13 This one is, it gave me some trouble because I loved this game. I thought it was great. From beginning to end, I really do think that the claw thing is a very cool, interesting mechanic that makes you think differently, and I really want to make sure that we praise them for kind of branching out and trying something else. And there are a lot of things that made me question whether or not I wanted to put on the essential games list. Most of what we talked about, like the grappling hook, being their major main mechanic, not feeling quite good enough, feeling like it could really be improved on. And I would really love to see just like a direct sequel on the NES that improves on it.

49:00 But then there's also some things like enemy placement, enemies respawn almost immediately. It's the same issue we've had with other things, maybe not as big of an offense, but where the enemies are just kind of spawning randomly all over the place. They don't really give you a lot of time to plan what you're going to do with the claw or how you're going to traverse around. You just kind of have to go. You know, you just have to kind of figure it out. So the grappling hook is what, for me, is what hurts it, but it's also kind of what saves it. Because as flawed as it is, I do think that it's worth playing it because there's really not been another experience like it.

49:39 And now I am kind of saying the opposite again of what you said, Mike, where I am sort of saying this just barely makes my essential games list. And I do sort of suspect that in the future I might vote to take it off or suggest we take it off. But right now I do think that with what's on there right now, I think it deserves to be on there, but I'd like to reassess after we've played a lot more games and when we get to later ones, and we'll see where it is then. But this was maybe the hardest decision that I've made on the essential games list. So I'll put it on there for now, but we'll see.

50:17 It's on there anyway. Yeah, no, I love it. It's four very interesting votes here. You know, this was definitely, even though it became unanimous on the essential games list, it's not the same as Super Mario Brothers when that became unanimous or The Legend of Zelda.

50:33 Sorry, I know I've already taken up so much time. Can I speak to that too? Part of me, I don't know how you guys feel about this, but after you three had all voted essential, I almost wanted to change my vote to not essential because I felt like I'm so on the edge that I feel like, how can we now have this unanimous essential game? But I feel like we're going to, we'll go with the individual votes and not try to influence the overall thing. For sure, for sure. And there's a lot to be said about the essential games list right now. It's been a long year.

51:02 1988 has been our longest year of gaming yet, and we haven't had a chance to really look at the essential games list. Honestly, I think it's at 16 or 17 games now, and that's not really that large, but to me that feels large. It feels large to be recommending 17 games for people to play. That's a solid collection of games. Like, yeah. So it does need a look, and we will do that in our Best of 88 episode.

51:28 But, you know, everything that's made it on the list so far are also games that I was happy to see on there. You know, I think now that I'm saying that sentence, I'm remembering one that I was a little surprised at, but for the most part, I was happy to see those games on the essential games list. Shut your mouth. Anyway, that's been this episode of Nostalgia. We hope everybody enjoyed it. Bionic Commando, definitely a game that probably most of our listeners are familiar with, so hopefully you guys made it all the way through the episode and argued with us the entire time. We love people who argue with us. Write on Twitter and tell us how crazy wrong we are, and that, actually, you idiots, it's easy to save in this game.

52:14 and you save. Like, just say that to us. It's fine. I think it was one episode, Sean, you and me agreed that Ninja Gaiden, or Gaiden, however you want to call it, is a one-hit KO game, and that's just not true. But I said to the person who wrote back to us on Twitter, I was like, thank you for letting us know that, but also, like, that proves our point that we are fresh on these games. We never played these games beforehand, so you know when you dive into these episodes, you're playing with people who have no idea what they're talking about except for the minute that they start speaking. Yeah, and I'll just say that. Like, don't speak for me ever again. I stand by the fact that it is a one-hit KO game, whether or not I've played it or not. So, yeah.

52:58 Wow. You're going to have to get on Twitter with controversial opinions like that. Anyway. Slide into those DMs. This has been NostalgiaCast. Remember, you can always find us on Twitter at NostalgiaCast. Next week, we have Blades of Steel coming up. No, it is not a Ninja Gaiden game. It is a hockey game. There are no swords in this one, but, you know, Blades of Steel. Sean, is that something? Like, is that a hockey term for sticks? I think at the very least it's the skates. I would love to see a game of hockey played with steel sticks.

53:34 Like bladed steel sticks. Yes, with sights. Right, exactly. The Castlevania port over. You know, to be fair to everybody involved, Blades of Steel is going to get just as fair a shot next week as Bionic Commando got today. So please tune into that episode. I'm sure you'll love it. I'm sure you'll love the other 140 episodes we've produced so far, and I'm sure you'll love the next 600 as well. I'm Mike Esposito. You can find me at Esposito Film on Twitter, and I'll talk to you soon. Bye. Thank you.