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, Arcade 1995, Snes 1998, Playstation |
| Genre(s) | Beat 'em up |
| Mode(s) | Up to 4 players simultaneously |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Super Nintendo, PlayStation |
| Input | Joystick; 2 buttons |
| Arcade cabinet | Upright |
| Arcade system(s) | CPS-1 |
| Arcade display | Horizontal, Raster, resolution 384 x 224 |
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, acid knives that melt anything they touch; and Hoover (Baby Head), a super-intelligent baby who rides around in a fast 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 four players simultaneously, the ability to run and launch an attack (whether on the ground or an aerial one) for some distinct techniques, and mecha that the players can ride. 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.
[edit] Ports
Despite its relative unpopularity, a scaled down 2-player port for the SNES was made in 1995, late during 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 as a Japanese-only PlayStation release, which on a visual and aural level was on par with the arcade version, but still lacked the 4-player option. A perfect arcade port now exists for the PlayStation Portable as part of Capcom Classics Collection Remixed and will also appear on Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 for PS2 and 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 in Capcom's crossover games Marvel vs. Capcom and Namco x Capcom. In the former game, his Hyper Combos include the remaining members of the Commando Team joining him to attack his opponent. He also has several special attacks in MVC where the other characters will jump in and attack, each in a unique way. In NxC, the entire Commando Team is playable, and Sho is paired with Guy from Final Fight. All four members, plus Guy, contribute to the Commando Team's Multiple Assaults.
- Some characters of the game also appear in Ken's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2.
- Sho (Ginzu) possess the ability to cut his enemy in two halves with his ninja sword.
- Jennety (Mack the Knife) has special "acid knives" that melt the enemy.
- The boss of the Circus Camp level (Known as "Monster" in the American version) is a Heedra from Hayao Miyazaki's Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Whether or not this is a "borrowing" or an "homage" is unclear, but the character has unmistakable similarities to the manga monster.
- Sho is probably named after 80´s ninja actor Sho Kosugi
