Bionic Commando introduced a completely fresh mechanic into side-scrolling action titles--grappling hooks, which turned out to be much cooler than jumping puzzles. But he looks like... Players who saw Bionic Commando through to its conclusion have all made one common observation--that the evil genius behind the Albatross project, Master-D, was the spitting image of the leader of the Nazi party, Adolf Hitler. This was no coincidence. Bionic Commando was released under a very different title in Japan, where it was called "Top Secret: Hitler's Revival." When it was to be released in the US, however, it was decided by Nintendo of America that killing Nazis wasn't something stateside audiences were quite ready for, so the evil character's name was changed to Master-D, the Nazis in the game had their organization renamed to the Badds, and various sprites were swapped out--for instance, swastikas were replaced by eagles. The differences between the two releases of the game were pretty apparent from the get-go. However, the quick-and-dirty whitewashing of the game's content was far from complete, and Nazi-related bits were apparent here and there; for instance, most of the enemies in the game had a noticeable Third Reich look to them, from uniform to helmet. Also, the choice of an eagle as an enemy symbol can cause just as many totalitarian dictatorship chills as a swastika. The game's US release was touted quietly as being a logical successor to Capcom's previous military action game, Commando, and in Bionic Commando, your mission was to rescue the previous game's hero, Super Joe. No one has translated Top Secret: Hitler's Revival to find out if there are still specific plot connections between the two games, but one thing is for sure: Nazis really do make the best video game villains. One of video gaming's most memorable faces saying one of the most quotable lines.

In the late '80s--the era of 8-bit gaming--there was one given that could be expected from any game: If it played from a side-scrolling perspective, and if you controlled a roughly human character, then you automatically had the ability to jump. No surprises, really; it had been pretty well established by that point that there were plenty of good gameplay experiences to be had by putting obstacles, either barriers or pits, between the player and objective and letting the player harness the power to temporarily leave the bonds of the earth to overcome them. But when Capcom's Bionic Commando hit Western shores in 1988, the designers of that game made it pretty clear that they weren't going to be following that rule in the slightest.

It was simple--the player in Bionic Commando couldn't jump. Well, he might have been able to, but there was no button on the NES controller that would get him to do it. What he had instead was a "bionic arm," which was essentially a grappling hook that he could shoot out at various angles to perform a number of amazing feats. Mostly it was a mobility device. Rad Spencer, the main character in the game, could attach it to any ceiling, as well as to fixed boxes and some walls, and he could then use it to climb, swing, and pull himself under obstacles. He could release it and reattach it in midair, which gave him the ability to cover ground like a postmodern Tarzan. If that weren't enough, he could retrieve items with it, as well as stun his enemies. While Bionic Commando was revolutionary, it was also very addictive--with this new means of moving through a level, many fans of the game found themselves playing a level over and over again, trying to find the most stylish way to traverse each path, sometimes never needing to touch the ground.

While the game was no slouch in either length or difficulty, a seasoned player could expect to hunker down and get to the end in one sitting, albeit a pretty dedicated three- to four-hour sitting. But what kept the game fresh was the dynamic of swinging from obstacle to obstacle. There was a unique grace that compelled you to find the most difficult path through a level, swinging and gunning all the while. Though there was no reward for doing so, there was an undeniable combo mechanic at work. Additionally, the levels were arranged with a wide variety of enemies and obstacles to overcome, keeping the challenge fresh all the way through. Strangely enough, most games tend to have their best material right up front, but Bionic Commando saved its very best levels for the end and offered up some great environments and challenges. The game also had a slightly more mature tone than most games at the time--your enemies seemed more serious about killing you, the mission seemed more grim, and this was probably the first time gamers from this era heard cursing in a game. All told, the unique elements that came together as a whole made Bionic Commando an undeniable addition to the list of greatest games of all time.

As a gamer, I'll admit that I've always been a bit tight with my wallet. It took a lot of exposure to convince me to buy a game--I usually had to rent it first to get a good feel for whether or not it was worth saving up for. When I first saw previews of Bionic Commando, I knew it was something special. I mean, really, who doesn't like grappling hooks? From that time forward I began saving and saving, mowing every lawn that needed mowing to raise cash for the game's release, making Bionic Commando the very first game that I've ever bought sight unseen. I've never regretted it for a moment, either.