Captain Commando
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the fictional character, see Captain Commando (character).
| Captain Commando | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Capcom |
| Publisher(s) | Capcom |
| Release date(s) | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Up to 4 players simultaneously |
| Platform(s) | Arcade |
| Input | Joystick; 2 buttons |
| Arcade cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system(s) | CPS-1 |
| Arcade display | Horizontal, Raster, standard resolution |
Captain Commando is an arcade game produced by Capcom in 1991, featuring the character of the same name. It is a beat 'em up set in Metro City (the same city as Final Fight) in the year 2026.
The player chooses from the four members of the "Commando Team": Captain Commando, whose costume allows him to shoot electricity through his palms (Which Captain Commando calls "Captain Thunder"); Sho, a ninja (known as Ginzu in American and World versions); Jennety (Mack the Knife), an alien mummy wielding short knives; and Hoover (Baby Head), a super-intelligent baby who rides around in a mech. The Commandos must fight their way through an army of genetically engineered super-criminals, traveling through a bank, a museum, and an aquarium, among other locations. Their quest eventually leads to an interplanetary journey to Callisto, where the evil mastermind "Scumocide" (known in the Japanese version as "Genocide") awaits.
Some main differences that stood out in this game at the time of its release were: the option to play with three players simultaneously, and the ability to run and launch an attack (whether on the ground or an aerial one) for some distinct techniques. The characters can add some variation in their combos by pressing forward during their attacks.
The game never became popular with arcade goers, contributing to Capcom's abandonment of the Captain Commando character. However, modern players may be surprised at the level of cartoon violence in the game, including characters being sliced in half or burned alive.
Despite its relative unpopularity, a scaled down 2-player port for the SNES was made in 1995, late duirng the console's life cycle, with its violence intact (although without the sprites of the characters being sliced in half). A near-perfect port of the game existed with a Japanese-only PlayStation version, which on a visual and audial level were on par with the arcade version, but still it lacked the 4-player option. A perfect arcade port now exists for the Playstation Portable as part of Capcom Classics Collection Remixed & will also appear on Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 for PS2 & Xbox.
[edit] Trivia
- Captain Commando is Capcom's own homage to classic American sci-fi shows and magazines and the works of artists like Frank R. Paul. It was not the only game though; Battle Circuit is an even better example of enthusiasm for the genre.
- Captain Commando re-appeared as a playable character at Capcom's crossover games Marvel vs. Capcom and Namco x Capcom. In his Hyper Combos and Multiple Assaults (respectively), the remaining characters from the original game join him to hit his opponent (although in his Multiple Assaults, Guy from Final Fight also joins in due to being paired with Sho for the entire game.). He also has several special attacks in the former in which the other characters will jump in and attack, each in a unique way.
- Some characters of the game also appear at Ken's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2.
- Captain Commando's name is a play on the company name, Capcom. CAPtain COMmando. [Capcom is in turn a portmanteau of the companies original name 'Japan Capsule Computers']
- Sho is called Ginzu in the U.S., Jennety is called Mack the Knife in the U.S., and Hoover is called Baby Head in the U.S..
