Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Released: 1995 Genre: Beat em up
Captain Commando was once the official mascot for Capcom. If you can believe it the goofy American superhero stereotype was used to shill Capcom products in the US before Mega Man came along. Nowadays everyone remembers the good Captain for his appearance in Marvel vs Capcom but he also starred in his own game as well. This late SNES release is a decent port of the arcade game but extremely hard to find.
While the SNES port of Captain Commando saw release in 1995 its arcade debut was in 1991. This was an interesting period for Capcom as they were fresh off the success of Final Fight and keen to follow it up immediately with a variety of arcade beat em ups. While King of Dragons and Knights of the Round used fantasy to differentiate them Captain Commando used American superheroes as its archetype. You can still see the FF DNA in its gameplay but its theme allows it to go places that game never could.
The cast of playable characters is certainly unique. The good captain is the obvious star and you would expect him to be the generic everyman. In reality he is a bit slow with powerful hits and throws. His armored suit grants him some cool abilities like generating electricity for his special move and an awkward burst of flame from his gauntlets. Mack the Knife is an alien who dual wields knives and possesses more technique than everyone else. Ginzu is the fastest and has the longest reach with his sword but is not terribly strong. The strangest is Baby head, a baby controlling a mech of his own design. While a toddler the suit makes him the strongest but slowest characters.
While there are shades of Final Fight in here Captain Commando takes the gameplay a step further. This is a fast paced game in general. All characters can dash and have running attacks as well. There are more moves per character as well which helps keep the game from becoming stale. There are many subtle differences between characters. Ginzu can stab multiple enemies with his dash attack while Mack’s basic attacks hit multiple times. Captain Commando has an overpowered extra move, a flame thrower that can you can use to cheese through the game.
Although it captures most of what made the arcade game great like most 16-bit ports the SNES game suffers in a few ways. The player count is two next to the arcade’s four. There are less enemies on screen at once and the game does not vary them as much. The number of secondary weapons you can pick up from trash has also been paired back. This affects Baby Head the most as he could commandeer enemy mechs for himself. Otherwise this is a pretty good port considering the age of the game and that Capcom clearly did not prioritize its release.
Captain Commando at first seems longer than most brawlers at nine levels. In reality is about the same length as Final Fight. Most levels are incredibly short at just a few screens before meeting its boss. There is something to be said for brisk pacing. But it would have been awesome to see some of the wackier settings explored more in depth. The circus could have been home to all manner of set pieces yet is the shortest level in the game. The game’s short length in some ways is a blessing in disguise. It hides the fact that the enemy variety is lacking and that the gameplay is a little stale.
On its own Captain Commando is good for what it is. But it is still a game from 1991. By the mid-90s the genre had evolved and titles like Streets of Rage 3, Denjin Makai, and the Peacekeepers introduced features like branching paths, deep combat systems, and multiple endings. Even Capcom’s own Final Fight 3, released the same year, would follow suit. In light of that waiting so long to port this one hurts it in the end.
In Closing
That is not to say that Captain Commando is a bad game. The game is solid but at the same time is a second or third tier release behind the games I mentioned prior. While a good game you would need serious nostalgia for the arcade game to pick Captain Commando over its much better competition.
