Captain Red Spencer

Appearances:
Bionic Commando (NES) - Release date 1988
Bionic Commando: Elite Forces (Gameboy Color) - Release date January 24, 2000

The Bionic Commando, Captain Red Spencer, was first introduced in the NES version of “Bionic Commando”. The premise of the story focused on the discovery of secret documents from the long disbanded political regime called the "Badds". The content of said secret documents is so earth shattering that if it were to fall in to the wrong hands the world would surely be doomed. Naturally the documents do fall into the wrong hands, the hands of the Imperial Forces and all out warfare soon begins. The good guys, known as the Federation, had sent the brave hero Super Joe to take care of business and save the day, after all “Super” is his first name he doesn’t need anybody to back him up. Needless to say Super Joe didn’t live up to his name and all contact with him was shortly lost…

Enter the number 2 hero of the Federation, Captain Red Spencer, Bionic Commando! Cap’n Red is given the daunting task of rescuing the more than likely captured, Super Joe. Apparently the higher ups in the Federation felt the Captain Spencer, with a technological marvel for an arm, just wasn’t up to the task of stopping the Imperial Forces menace, he didn’t even have Super in his name! Super Joe was much more important.

Despite playing the second rate hero, Bionic Commando turned out to be a truly classic NES game. I think it provided a different game play mechanic than what most Nintendo players were used to at the time, instead of jumping players had to use his mechanical arm to navigate various obstacles. Using a helicopter, players selected levels on a map that looked a little like a board game. Before starting a level you had the ability to choose the kind of gear you would bring with you. As you progressed through the game you found various weapons and items to aid you in your mission, this would add to the strategy of the game, as certain levels required you to have a certain weapon or the right object. On top of this you would also have to choose the right communicator for the level in order to make contact with spies to figure out which level to go to next.

The game play for the majority of the game is a side-scroller in which you shoot anything and sight and use your bionic arm to swing to new areas or over obstacles. However on the stage select map there are enemy icons and if you collide with them you enter a top-down shooter, although much shorter levels. As you progress through the game you more than likely begin to recognize the similarities between the Federation and the Nazis, even more so when you face the final boss who acts exactly like Adolph Hitler. This is because “Bionic Commando” was released as “Top Secret: Hitler Revived” in Japan, when it was released in America the name was changed and all the Nazi references were taken out.

Although another Bionic Commando game came out for the GameBoy Color, it seems that after the good Captain Spencer heroically rescued Super Joe and saved the day he just didn’t seem to have that certain something, possibly the surname of Super. For me Bionic Commando will always stand out to me as one of the best NES games… featuring a red headed hero…