capcom

time-lapse synapse line-snap

  • Reading time:1 mins read

okay okay

okay

after three decades, simple things are starting to make sense to me

(as they will do, eventually)

it differs per move per character, so you really need to spend time getting to know a character’s eccentricities,

but generally normal moves will combo across or up move-strengths, but not down

so, like

light kick to medium kick or light to strong or medium to strong—but not strong back to medium or medium back to light, right

and to link them cleanly, generally the time to hit the button for the next move is after the first move connects but before your animation returns you to neutral

so this clip, it’s just a calm down-the-alphabet of lp, lk, mp, mk, hp, hk, leading into her overpowered antiair move once the final normal move launches the opponent

top-to-bottom, left-to right

light, light, medium, medium, heavy, heavy, special move

light leads to light leads to medium leads to medium leads to heavy leads to heavy leads to whatever special move works and makes sense

using this understanding in context is another kettle of cats, but thus is life

The $10,000,000 Commando

  • Reading time:2 mins read

I keep typing these things off to random people as I sort them out in my head. It seems to make more sense, though, to dump them somewhere I can more easily dig for them later. So here this is.

Of course, Bionic Commando is a spin-off of Commando. We know this much.

It seems that the arcade version of Bionic Commando comes first. I saw it once in a LaVerdiers, years ago. I’m not sure if I ever got to play it, though. It’s super-deformed and action-oriented, but familiar. Apparently, Super Joe (from Commando) is the main character.

(As a note, Super Joe also is in a game I’d never seen before by the name of Speed Rumbler. He’s in a car this time, and someone kidnapped his family. It looks like Commando, only… with cars.)

The second game in the series is Bionic Commando for the NES. The main character is Ladd, and he’s out to defeat Hitler and save Super Joe. It’s an action-adventure sort of in the vein of Blaster Master or Metroid, with occasional overhead-view segments to hark back to the original Commando.

The Gameboy version of Bionic Commando (still the same title, yes) comes third. Super Joe has disappeared again while looking for a secret weapon known as “Albatross”. The main character is now Rad Spencer. It appears to play very similarly to the NES version.

Finally we get the Gameboy Color edition, Bionic Commando: Elite Forces. Super Joe’s gone yet again — only now he’s moved up to the title of Commander Joe. Maybe they figured a desk job would keep him from getting taken hostage all the time. No luck, though. Now there are two main characters — a nameless male and a female Bionic Commando, each of whom gets referred to throughout the game by whatever the player dubs them. The female one, with her purple pony-tail, seems to be the one given more focus. Also, the overhead-view throwbacks to the first Commando seem much more elaborate than before.

So:

[Commando]
[Speed Rumbler (?)]

  1. Bionic Commando (arcade)
  2. Bionic Commando (NES)
  3. Bionic Commando (Gameboy)
  4. Bionic Commando: Elite Forces (GBC)

…

Yes, I’m back from Otakon.