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In 1986 Capcom released Commando
as their third title on the NES following 1942 and Ghosts and
Goblins. While this game isn’t
as well known as either of those I think that most people would agree
that it is an overall more enjoyable game than those two. It is a bit more advanced than the
former title and a lot less frustrating than the latter.
 It
is important to note that this game has nothing to do with Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s film of the same title.
In this Commando you
play Super Joe, a one-man wrecking machine who has been dropped off into
an unnamed country with a simple mission: Destroy Everyone. The game is divided into four missions
and there are four areas in each mission.
The game, though, has the same goal on every stage. Travel through the country killing
every enemy you see with your rifle.
Along the way save some hostages that you find and check for
underground passages by throwing grenades. Oftentimes the underground passages
lead to more prisoners or other bonus items. Most bonus items just give you points
but one does give you a machine gun (which you lose as soon as you die)
while another one gives you a bomb that kills everyone on the screen
(except for you, natch). Each of
the four areas of the mission have slightly different terrain and
conclude at a wall where you must destroy an onslaught of enemies before the
gates open for you. Each of the
four missions are identical to each other but just feature more and more
bad guys. That’s right, in essence
you just have to beat the same mission on four different difficulty
levels to see the game’s ending screen.
Clearly this is a bare bones shoot ‘em up but really, there wasn’t
anything on the system better than this at the time. It’s only real competition was Ikari Warriors, which it is
clearly superior to. Unfortunately
for Commando, Contra was released the next year
and caused Commando to become
irrelevant. In 1988 a pseudo
sequel was released by Capcom called Bionic
Commando, which is considered a classic by most gamers. That game plays almost nothing like
this one and is only connected because your first mission is to save
Super Joe, who actually got captured this time.
Positives:
For an early title, the graphics
are pretty nice. Capcom’s third
title for the NES is a genuinely  fun little shoot ‘em up that is strangely
addictive. I think one thing it
has going for it is that it is relatively short and has an actual
ending. I also like that you are
provided with unlimited continues and that there are lots of secret
passages to uncover with your grenades.
The game’s controls are intuitive and Super Joe and can shoot his
rifle pretty much anywhere he wants.
You also have to love the screen after you beat the 2nd
Area where Super Joe takes a quick “smoke break”!
Glaring
Negatives:
I was very disappointed when I
discovered that the layouts for every stage were identical. I also can’t believe how bad the
grammar is in this game. At one
point you find a “mashine gun” and the final congratulations message is
nothing short of hilarious.
Speaking of the ending message, this game has one of the worst
endings in NES history unless you count the unintentionally funny message
as a good ending. The flicker in
the game can cause problems because you’ll swear you weren’t hit but your
dead anyway. You also often die
under a bridge where you can’t even see yourself, this can lead to
frustration. The game is also very
one-dimensional; you just pound on some buttons for a couple hours and
have sore hands when you are done.
Yet for some strange reason you do want to keep playing until you’ve
beaten it.
 Graphics and Sound:
OK
For a 1986 title the graphics are
surprisingly crisp. My main
problem is that the game features a ton of flicker, which causes problems
when bullets disappear off the screen and then kill you. The other
problem is that the theme song is very repetitive; I always end up
turning the volume down.
Gameplay
and Controls: Good
The game handles very well. You can shoot your rifle in lots of
different directions and you walk at a very brisk pace. It is odd that you can’t walk in water
without dying but I guess you can’t get everything from an early shoot
‘em up.
Features:
Unlimited Continues, Cool Codes.
Capcom knew they had a tough
cookie on their hands so they threw the average gamer a bone by providing
unlimited continues. I always
appreciate that because someone who loves the game can then challenge
themselves by beating it without continues while the rest of us can feel
satisfied after we beat it using a few continues. There are also a couple of cool codes,
my favorite being one that allows you to see the entrances to all the
secret underground passages in the game.
Fun?: If
you like shoot ‘em ups
If you dig blasting away
thousands of enemies then you will love this game. If you hate that kind of thing then you
won’t find this game much fun at all.
It loses a little appeal, though, since every stage is identical
to the previous one with just more bad guys.
 Challenge: Medium
Commando
is a very challenging
game to beat without continuing. The
swarms of bad guys get to be overwhelming at times. But this game is very beatable with the
unlimited continues because there is no one stage or spot that is
impossible. You just have to keep
moving forward.
Replay:
Some
If you are one of those people
who has to find every secret tunnel then you will want to keep playing
this game until you’ve found them all.
I don’t care about that kind of stuff so it doesn’t get much
replay with me.
2
Player: Yes
Unfortunately, the two players
have to alternate turns. Commando would be greatly enhanced
by a simultaneous two-player mode.
Online
Manual?: Yes at Nintendo Age
http://www.nintendoage.com/index.cfm?FuseAction=Element.View&egID=520&lgID=224
Bottom
Line: A fun but basic shoot ‘em up
Commando was one of the earliest attempts on the
NES at the shoot ‘em up genre. It
is very basic but is definitely fun.
If you enjoy this genre or early NES games then pick this one up,
otherwise it might not be worth it.
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