How the resilient Rad Spencer found a way to hack into my central system and then grapple his way into my heart.
If ever there was a game that symbolized all of the themes my younger self feared to explore, it was Bionic Commando.
Really, it never had a chance.
Naturally I was very quick to judge Bionic Commando. After playing around with it for only two or three minutes, I came to conclusion that it was an exceedingly unintuitive video game and certainly not the type to which I should be giving any of my attention. "Everything about this is wrong," I thought to myself as I futilely attempted to traverse the game's opening stage, "and developers should know better than to design games this way!"
It's a shame that it went down that way because in the previous ten minutes, when I was merely an observer, I was continuing to be blown away by what Bionic Commando was showing me.
These events occurred early in December of 1988, when my parents and I were visiting our relatives in New Jersey and engaging in a pre-holiday get-together. Not long after we got there, my cousins, as they were apt to do, ushered me upstairs to their bedroom, where they kept their NES, and proceeded to eagerly introduce me to some of the games they'd picked up in the previous months. Among them were a few recent releases like the intriguingly titled Bionic Command, about which I'd never heard or read. Sensing my interest in the game, they decided to showcase it for me.
And over the course of the next ten minutes, Bionic Commando aroused my interest and did so in a very big way.
It was usually the case that I was skeptical of new or unfamiliar games and thus slow to accept them, yeah, but with Bionic Commando, it didn't go that way. It was quite the opposite, in fact: I couldn't help but immediately open up to it. It was too powerful a game. I couldn't resist its charm. And I was happy to let it capture me.
So yeah--I was fascinated by what Bionic Commando was showing me. I found everything about its opening stages to be highly alluring. And I watched on intently as my cousins grappled their way across its amazing-looking environments.
And all the while, I kept thinking to myself, "This game is something special."
Yet, still, the way these map sequences functioned--the way in which you could command the helicopter's pilot, freely transition your way from point to point, and engage in all kinds of interesting-looking activity--made me feel as though the game I was observing was huge in scope.
That feeling of epicness, which had so captured me, was most palpable in Area 1--my cousins' first destination. I watched on, in total awe, as the game's goggles-wearing hero coolly parachuted his way down to the outskirts of what looked to be a large fortified complex that was formed from stone walls, steel walkways, oil drums, and support towers whose designs struck a chord with me because they were a match for those I'd see on the metallic towers (the ones that supported those large water tanks) that would regularly appear in the distance as we were driving across the state.
I didn't understand how the bionic arm worked, what was going on with the hacking system (which I also perceived to be more complicated than it actually was), or how, exactly, stage-progression was handled, no, but in the moment, it was easy for me to brush such thoughts aside because I was so preoccupied with how Bionic Commando looked, sounded and felt.
Mostly, I was enamored with Bionic Commando's setting or, rather, what I imagined its setting to be. As I was observing the game's environments and its action, I was also putting together a picture in my head. What I saw was a lone hero caught in the middle of a large-scale war. While the opposing armies battle each other out in the open, this bionic-armed hero moves about the shadows, deftly circumventing his way around the surrounding chaos, and stealthily engineers the war's outcome.
He finds temporary refuge in neutral areas (which my cousins told me were "UN bases"), which are occupied by combatants from both sides. While they're within the bases, all combatants must adhere to its rules and thus avoid engagement lest the commanders will signal an alert and order the UN forces to descend from the skies and attack whichever party is the aggressor. (I loved this aspect of the narrative because I was fascinated with the idea of real-life entities--in this case, what was apparently the United Nations--finding representation in video games' fictional, fantastical worlds. Just by being there, they created such interesting connections--the type I enjoyed thinking about.)
And the vast conflict zone is encircled by majestic mountains, which occupy the landscape's distant borders. Their very presence serves to create a glorious open-space atmosphere. And these mountains, with their turquoise/sea-green hue and snowy tips that seem to scrape the sparsely-clouded-but-still-foreboding sky, create a scene that says, "Explore as far as your bionic arm will take you, but at the same time, keep your eye out because danger lurks everywhere!"
"What an amazing world!" I was inspired to think.
Though, there was one thing about Bionic Commando that I found really strange: Its hero, I observed, lacked the ability to jump! To me, that seemed like such an inexplicable deviation from the norm and borderline heretical! "That's not how action games are supposed to work!" I thought to myself while feeling perplexed. "It's supposed to be that you run, you shoot, and you jump!"
Now, what would normally have happened was that my unadventurous side would have shown itself right at that moment, and I'd have quickly soured on the game. "An action game without an essential action-game ability? I'm out!" I'd have immediately said. But that didn't happen with Bionic Commando, no. Rather, my unadventurous impulse barely registered because I was too busy being so utterly enraptured with the game's every other aspect.
Also, I thought, Bionic Commando was making a strong case for why its deviation made sense: It had a cool-looking, highly versatile grappling mechanic! I was in awe of how slick and kinetic it was--particularly so when my cousin Steve grappled onto that one spotlight and breathtakingly swung across the large gap that separated the opening area's two halves! That was just one of the many moments from that minutes-long showcase (during which I saw only two action stages and one neutral zone) that convinced me that Bionic Commando was definitely a game that I needed to add to my Christmas list!
I knew that I was finally getting an NES that year, so I thought, "Why not have a great new game to go along with it?!"
Bionic Commando was that game.
And much like it was with Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, to which I was introduced in the exact same way, Bionic Commando and its strongly imprinted, wondrous imagery were at the forefront of my mind for days in following. Whenever I'd think about the game and its world, my imagination would go into overdrive, and I'd excitedly attempt to fill in the gaps and thus wonder about what lied beyond the opening stages. I could visualize the inner and exterior portions of vast enemy fortresses and sprawling compounds, all of which had grapple-able balconies, spires, lights, hooks and rings extending out from their metallic and tattered-stone surfaces and therein working to forge convenient-but-perilous pathways to sky-high destinations.
"It's all going to be grand!" I thought.
But soon after, unfortunately, something terrible happened.
So about a week or so later, I got a chance to actually play Bionic Commando. I don't remember where I was at the time (my friend Dominick was always renting new games from the corner video store, so I'd guess that I was over at his house), no, but I certainly recall how my first session with the game went: It was a complete bust. To start, I couldn't get any kind of grasp on the controls because they were absolutely inexplicable! Really--they were some of the most unintuitive- and impenetrable-feeling controls I'd ever used!
I spent the first few minutes spastically extending the grapple arm in every which direction and trying desperately to successfully latch onto platforms and objects. The majority of the time, though, the hook would limply disconnect, and I'd have no idea why (the person who was with me at the time probably had no idea, either, lest he'd have explained to me how the grappling mechanic worked). Sometimes, when I was actually able to form a connection, the game would allow me to repeatedly swing back and forth and do so without interruption, but other times it'd force me to detach after a single swing! And usually I'd miss targets entirely and fall to my death!
Also, most of the hero's motions felt totally out of my control. After propelling myself with a swing, for example, I'd feel as though there was nothing I could do while aerial expect fall helplessly (it was similar to how I'd feel as I was hanging in the air after launching myself off our school gymnasium's springboard); the controls were simply too stiff and too rigid to allow for any kind of improvisation. So all I'd do was just throw myself into pits.
"What the hell were they thinking with these controls?" I said while shaking my head in puzzlement.
And if I was actually making progress, it was surely by accident, since I had no clue what I was doing. But then I'd promptly meet my demise. I'd manage to grapple my way over the first obstacle, a lone oil drum, but then the soldier on the other side would immediately shoot me. And I'd die because, apparently, you couldn't survive a single hit. And it'd never be long before I earned a Game Over.
Soon I reached a point where I had to take a step back and wonder, "If the controls don't make any sense to me, and the hero is so fragile as to die in one hit (at the time, I was unaware that you could level up), then what chance do I have of successfully traversing future action stages, which are bound to be far more complex?"
It was hard not to notice, also, that Bionic Commando's localization (if you could call it that) was head-shakingly bad. I had no idea what anyone was talking about or who they were talking to. "Now we have you!" a mean-looking grunt would announce over the computer. And all I'd be thinkin' was "Who? Me or that red-helmeted fella who was babbling about the broken elevator?" And I wasn't likely to discover the answer because the way things were going, there was no way that I was ever going to make it past the first stage.
And really, after what I'd experienced in the previous 10-15 minutes, I had no desire to even attempt to clear the first stage. No--by that point time, I was done with Bionic Commando, a game that just days earlier was dominating my thoughts and supercharging my desire to own an NES. But now it was obvious that Bionic Commando just wasn't for me; it was for "super-experts" who liked games with complicated controls and mechanics, and I wasn't one of those.
It was a heartbreaking moment because I was leaving behind a game about which there was so much to love. I was, like I said, enraptured with its amazing visuals and its wondrous settings, and I was fascinated with the ideas it presented. Also, it had such awesome music and sound design. The Area 1 theme--with its intense opening drum beats and stirring, heroic-sounding strains--was one of the best pieces of 8-bit music I'd ever heard as was the neutral-zone theme, which was welcoming and vivifying in the most profound way. And the sound effects--all of those unique- and cool-sounding blasts, explosions and bionic-arm noises--were fun to listen to and helped to bolster the game's already-powerfully-alluring personality.
But, sadly, the controls just ruined it. I just couldn't grasp them. "There's no way I'll ever be able to competently play this game," I had to admit. So I had to walk away from Bionic Commando.
Save for one or two quickly aborted attempts to get back into the game and gain an understanding of its controls, I avoided exposure to Bionic Commando for about 16 years in following. I didn't play it, read about it, or watch any videos that highlighted it.
During that time, though, I never forgot about the game and all of the positive ways in which it impacted me; I never stopped being enamored with its world and the intoxicating vibe it gave off and the way it inspired me to imagine. And when those still-active feelings of fondness suddenly began to mingle with my distaste for leaving things unfinished, there developed within me a deep regret that I never made a truly sincere effort to understand Bionic Commando's control scheme and thus give the game a fair shot.
And eventually I came to feel that yes--I really wanted to give Bionic Commando that shot. Though, there was a big problem: I had no access to the game. See: I'd recently decided to shy away from emulation, for a variety of reasons, and play only officially released products, and, unfortunately, Bionic Commando wasn't available for purchase on current consoles. And it didn't look like it was ever going to be.
So I just had to learn to accept that Bionic Commando and I would probably never meet again.
Though, it just wasn't happening. Month after month, there was no sign of Bionic Commando nor were there any hints that it was on its way to service. Rather, the only thing we were hearing was an angering rumor that Nintendo was refusing to add Bionic Commando to the Virtual Console because its executives were mad at Capcom for not bringing 2008's Bionic Commando Rearmed to the Wii. (Nintendo was probably thinking, "How can you do this to us?! We helped make this series what it is, so you owe it to us to bring its games to our platforms!)
"So I guess I'll have to wait a bit longer," I thought to myself. Little did I know that I was anticipating an event that was destined to never happen.
But there was another event--one that turned out to be very significant: In November of 2011, Nintendo announced that the Game Boy version of Bionic Commando was coming to the 3DS Virtual Console. The company even put up an official trailer for the game on its Youtube channel.
I could tell from watching the trailer that it wasn't exactly the same game, no, but it was close enough, and it was the only option I had if emulation was still out of the question. "So let's do it!" I said.
I couldn't deny that I was a little hesitant to take the plunge because I still wasn't confident in my ability to get a firm grasp on Bionic Commando controls, no, but, really, such a fear wasn't going to hold me back. Not at this point, when I had an intense, unrelenting urge to finally experience Bionic Commando in full!
This was clearly a highly realized version of Bionic Commando, and I was surprised by this because, well, it was a Game Boy game! By saying as much, I wasn't intending to slight the Game Boy and infer that it was a lesser platform (like I was apt to do when I was younger), no. Rather, I was acknowledging the fact that Game Boy versions rarely, if ever, sought to improve upon original NES works; at best they were merely faithful. But Game Boy Bionic Commando? This one was something more: It was a complete refinement!
The grappling mechanic was greatly improved; bionic arm movements were quicker in execution and more controllable and thus much more intuitive-feeling. There was greater fluidity to the action. There was a higher level of polish (the communicator-room menus were easier to navigate, and the communicator room's computers, thankfully, now had a function that allowed you to switch weapons). And there was quality localization (objectives were clearly expressed and dialogue was easily understandable)!
As an aside: I wish that this version had kept the NES stage-clear theme. I like that one more because it reminds me of the Mickey Mouse March's joyful intro. Every time I hear it, I lyricize and sing ♪ Who's the leader of the group that swings from to to fro? B-I-O. N-I-C. C-O-M-M-aerr-err-oerh-um...♪
Well, there might be a slight syllabic incompatibility. I'm still workin' on it.
Bionic Commando, much like all of Capcom's other top-tier Game Boy works, looked and sounded spectacular. For the team that developed the game, the platform's hardware limitations were apparently no real obstacle, and somehow they were able to create a product that was in many ways superior to the NES original.
Game Boy Bionic Commando adhered to an existing framework, yeah, but it took so much liberty with the level design and was so ambitious in its risk-taking that it wound up feeling like a genuinely new series entry--a uniquely crafted remake rather than a port (though, at the time, admittedly, I wasn't really qualified to make such a determination because I didn't remember much about the NES version's stages despite having seen a number of them in Let's Play videos; the only thing I knew for sure was that the two games were structurally similar).
And though I wasn't happy that Game Boy Bionic Commando swapped out some of my favorite stage themes, I still had to admit that its soundtrack, which was composed of a combination of returning and newly created tunes, was still pretty outstanding. It was clear from the start that the composer put a lot of love into the soundtrack's development and that he or she put great effort into creating music that was oozing with the same type of invigoration-infusing energy and heroic spirit that pervaded NES Bionic Commando's stirring tunes.
(Trust me when I say that Bionic Commando's soundtrack represents some of the company's best work on Game Boy. You should definitely take some time to listen to the game's music on Youtube or a music-hosting site.)
From the time I finished the first stage to the moment I delivered the killing shot to the game's final boss, I felt the same way: Bionic Commando was a top-tier action game. It was more than just one of the best portable games I'd ever played; it was one of the best games I'd played on any platform. I enjoyed (almost) every second of my time with it.
It spoke of just how great a job the development team did when I came away with a gushingly positive impression of the game despite its subjecting me to two of the most near-infuriating platforming segments I'd ever encountered. One of them challenged me to grapple my way across the uneven ceilings of a ridiculously long cavern that, frighteningly, had no floor. And the other demanded that I grapple along the underside of a spaceship and thus deftly work my way around multiple fire-spewing thrusters whose discharges ceased for only two seconds; and because each thruster had its own unique sequencing, it seemed impossible to successfully grapple across series of tightly grouped thrusters and do so without relying on luck (it didn't help that there was so much sprite-flickering that sometimes it'd appear as though flames weren't present when they actually were).
Though, for however much I disliked these segments, they didn't serve to dampen the experience in any way, no. They were nothing more than minor annoyances in a game that was otherwise brimming with positive aspects.
I just have to use this opportunity to say that Bionic Commando's development team deserves a lot of credit for how it eschewed the idea of simply recreating the NES version's stages and calling it a day and instead went great lengths to make this game their own. And it went even further than that: It broke the mold by adding in a lot of unique, cleverly designed stage areas and platforming segments. And the good news is that all of the additions are true to the spirit of the original.
All of the newly drawn backgrounds are fantastic, too. I like, in particular, Area 10's highly detailed, wonderfully rendered city backdrop. It's a dominating visual that lends the stage such a grand sense of scale, and it's one that never fails to stir my imagination and make me wonder about what's going on in the outer portions of Bionic Commando's world.
Oh, and this same stage also contains an exclusive segment in which the hero, Rad Spencer (who, for the longest time, I simply referred to as "Bionic Commando"), is captured and stripped of his gear and thereafter has to negotiate his way around the enemy stronghold using only his bionic arm! It's a cool idea, and one that puts a nice little spin on the action. Think of this segment as "Bionic Commando meets Metal Gear"!
I also approve of the designers' replacing the NES version's top-down action scenes with side-scrolling action scenes. They're not as distinct-feeling as the top-down scenes, no, but they feel more connected to the map environments, and there's a lot more substance to them.
And I have to mention one of the cute little touches seen in Area 6: Many of the platforms are comprised of sets of horizontally positioned Game Boys! It's such a nice little tribute to the host platform!
And all of these additions and alterations help to make Game Boy Bionic Commando a strong standalone product and, I'd argue, the best overall version of Bionic Commando. It's an addictively fun game, and it deserves to get more attention. Hopefully its appearance on the 3DS Virtual Console will help to boost its profile.
So yeah--this is a fantastic game. It's an absolute joy to play. And, like I said, it's addictive as hell. I simply can't stop playing it! I haven't been able to since I purchased it. Ever since then, I've been returning to it very frequently. And I'm sure that I'm going to continue to do so in the future! In fact, I think I'm going to take a break from writing this piece and go play through it again right now!
In my Commando piece, I spoke of a long period in which I ignorantly believed that Commando, the video game, was an adaptation of the Schwarzenegger film Commando. Also, I mentioned that even after I learned of the game's true nature, I remained unware that it had any connection to Bionic Commando and that I wouldn't have guessed that it had a connection because its technologically-advanced-looking setting was just so far removed from Commando's premodern-looking setting. (You'd think that the existence of Bionic Commando's referential top-down scenes would have been my first hint that the two games were related, but that's just not where my head was at. Rather, I was always too busy wondering about which of scene's blue soldiers was "Bennet" and when I'd get to throw a pipe through his torso.)
But Bionic Commando is related to Commando. It's a sequel to it. And for that reason, it remains an object of fascination to me. I like thinking about how the two games are related. I like to engage in mental exercises whose aim is to reconcile their differences and thus figure out how a game in which you rush your way across a World War II-lookin' battlefield and lob grenades at large groups of soldiers that are always in the process of simulating kindergarten fire drills is the direct predecessor to an experimental arcade conversion in which a half man, half-cyborg hero uses a futuristic bionic arm to infiltrate strongholds that look as though they were ripped directly out of a Star Wars movie.
And who knows: Maybe one day I'll come up with a plausible theory!
So please look forward to that 3,000-word piece.
Also on the list of NES Bionic Commando facts to which I long remained oblivious: the nature of its storyline. Before around, say, 2005, I'd never seen beyond the game's first half, so I didn't know that its story had a "Hitler revival" element to it. When I learned of Hitler's inclusion, I was pretty shocked because I couldn't believe that a game like Bionic Commando, whose tone and subject-matter are honestly kinda goofy, would encroach upon such dark territory.
I still feel the same way. I mean, I'd be fine with, say, actual United Nations inclusion because we'd be dealing with an entity that represents an "idea," and thus it wouldn't be controversial to depict the organization in an idealized (read: non-corrupt), fictionalized form. But when it comes to ol' Adolf, it's a much different story. He's a very specific person and one whose murderous activities were very real, and thus his inclusion injects a "very real" reality into Bionic Commando's canon. And, well, it's a reality that's just too heavy for a game like this--for a game that was, like I said, designed to provide players nothing more than some goofy fun. So, I think, it would have been better had the developers created a wholly fictional villain (like Game Boy Bionic Commando's developers did) and thus crafted a game that was free of such baggage.
What's even more puzzling to me is the manner in which Nintendo of America censored the game. It's so inexplicably selective. So the company had a problem with Hitler's name being used but not with his unmistakable mug being displayed? Nazi symbols were objectionable, but a graphic, gruesome animation of a man's head exploding wasn't? Really?
I don't know, man. It sounds to me like Nintendo of America was run by complete clowns.
So, really, it was just like now.
So I'd beaten the Game Boy version of Bionic Commando, yeah, but still I had unfinished business: I hadn't yet played through and beaten the NES version of Bionic Commando!
Right around that time, I was preparing to write this piece, and thus I needed to gain a full understanding of NES Bionic Commando, so I decided that right then was the perfect time to finally play the game to completion. Honestly, I thought it would be easy. "I've become so adept at beating the the Game Boy version and doing so without struggle that I should have no real problem beating the NES version, which is basically the same game!" I thought. "Its grapple controls aren't as polished, no, but even then, there's really not much different about them!"
Well, both of those assumptions were wrong. It wasn't the same game, and the grapple controls were different. Though, the latter was the far more concerning problem. The NES version's grapple controls, in comparison, were underdeveloped and less functional (they were basically beta-phase-level). In particular, I desperately missed the ability to fire the grapple arm after breaking a connection. In NES Bionic Commando, I was quickly reminded, you were screwed if you were hanging idly while positioned over a pit or a bed of spikes; you had no way of saving yourself. That and other such issues forced me to unlearn what I had learned about the controls and basically start over.
Also, NES Bionic Commando's later stages were much different than what I expecting (I thought they'd be somewhat similar to Game Boy Bionic Commando's stages thematically if not structurally). I was surprised by just how stark the differences were. I mean, I never imagined that I'd be traversing a swampland that was filled with quicksand, wall-crawling spiders, flying insects, and piranha plants. "What a far cry from technologically advanced cities and spaceships!" I thought.
And at one point, alarmingly, there was a huge spike in difficulty. Once I made it to Area 6, the game, which had been manageable to that point, suddenly ripped off the training wheels and did so without any in the way of warning. The stage's latter half, specifically, was brutal because it expected me to suddenly exhibit master levels of speed, precision and skill and somehow endure a lengthy, chaotic barrel-rolling segment that could only be described as "Donkey Kong without a net." I struggled mightily to beat this stage. It must have taken me 15-20 attempts.
And the game's challenges only got more unforgiving from there.
Had there been no continue system (you can earn continues in the top-down scenes and do so by destroying certain enemies/vehicles and then picking up the eagle symbols they leave behind), I might have lost my mind.
But along the way, I finally managed to get a firm grasp on the grapple controls, and I became adept at grappling and swinging my way over and around the game's obstacles. And in the end, I was able to beat Bionic Commando.
It was a satisfying victory not just because I'd beaten a difficult game but also because, once again, I'd overcome my past. I'd taken yet another step in my mission to stamp out residual fears and thus move farther away from being the unadventurous, unconfident person that I once was--the person who ran away from the unconventional and the unorthodox. I was now much closer to being the "advanced player" I never thought I'd be good enough to be.
Since then, Bionic Commando has become one of my favorite NES games. I've played through it numerous times, and I'm sure that I'll be returning to it frequently in the future! I simply love playing it. And the more I play it, the more I learn to appreciate its diverging approach to platforming action. Everything it does is brilliant.
I still consider Game Boy Bionic Commando to be the superior version because its controls are more refined and its level design is a bit more creative, though, really, the gap between the games is really small. The truth is that they're both top-tier action games and worthy of the highest praise. And both will have a place in my life going forward.
The only thing that's left for me to do is to give the same kind of attention to the arcade version of Bionic Commando.
I'm ashamed to admit that until the mid-2000s, I wasn't even aware that there was an arcade version of Bionic Commando and that it was the series' true progenitor. I simply assumed, like I did with games like Trojan and Renegade, that the NES version was a wholly original work and something that just had to be born of NES technology. So I was fascinated to discover that there was another Bionic Commando--an "arcade original version." When I saw it in action, my mind was blown. "I can't believe that such a game exists," I thought to myself, "and that more people don't know about it!"
I'm still fascinated with arcade Bionic Commando. I love what it represents. It's another game whose existence serves to illustrate just how rich the medium's history truly is--how it continues to be a near-boundless trove filled with amazing treasures that are just waiting to be discovered. Arcade Bionic Commando is one of its treasures. And I just know that there are hundreds more like it buried in there somewhere.
Since discovering arcade Bionic Commando, I've played through it a couple of times, and I can tell you that it's visually impressive, it has creative level design, it contains wonderfully enchanting settings, and it's packed with finely composed, inspiriting tunes. I can tell you, also, that arcade Bionic Commando is so enormously, unreasonably difficult that you probably won't live long enough to discover any of the aforementioned. Enemies run, fly and drop in from every direction and do so endlessly, and screens are often loaded with hazards that are difficult to negotiate around. Also, there's no level-up system, so you always die in one hit. And it doesn't help that the grapple arm is less functional (you can't fire it after releasing from a swing) and that the grapple-arm is stiff-feeling and slow-moving.
So good luck surviving for more than ten seconds.
I don't even want to think about how crazy-tough the home-computer ports must be. I'm scared to even go near them (though, I've been told that it's worth playing the Commodore 64 version because it has amazing renditions of arcade Bionic Commando's tunes).
I have a lot more to say about arcade Bionic Commando, but I'd like to save such thoughts for a future piece--one that's dedicated to the arcade version and its home ports. Though, I can't help but let it slip that, in arcade Bionic Commando's case, I'm so very thankful for Nintendo's old policy that demanded that arcade ports contain uniquely crafted content; without said policy, there wouldn't have been an NES Bionic Commando, and thus the great Bionic Commando series wouldn't exist! And that would have been a tremendous loss for the medium.
After my experiences with the Game Boy and NES versions of Bionic Commando, I became such a big fan of the series that I eagerly sought out its other games and played through almost all of them: Bionic Commando (the 2009 sequel), Bionic Commando: Rearmed and Bionic Commando: Elite Forces (and I hope to get to Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 in the near future). And I've been occasionally returning to them, too, ever since (admittedly not so much to the 2009 game, with which I have a couple of major issues).
It's been a fun ride, and I can say, loudly and proudly, that getting into the Bionic Commando series is one of the best things I've ever done. It's a great series, and I'm happy to have it in my life.
And I'm holding out hope that there will be many more Bionic Commando games in my future.
It took you a while, Rad Spencer, but eventually you were able to latch onto the bridge of my turned-up nose, claw your way into my interior, and then grapple your way into my heart. And that, my friend, is where you'll forever remain.
And all I can say in closing is "Long live Bionic Commando!"
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