article

is a vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up released in 1985. Its influence can be seen in several later games in the genre (Ikari Warriors, Rambo: First Blood Part II, and Green Beret, to name a few).

It was released for several platforms, including Arcade, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Intellivision, Atari, Amiga, Nintendo Entertainment System, Acorn Electron, BBC Micro and PC.

Introduction

The entire introduction, as written in the manual for the Commodore 64 version:

"As the crack shot Commando, your mission is to move forward into enemy territory. You must destroy the enemy and their base by passing through the Iron Walls."

Description

All versions of the game are very similar, with the same graphics (taking into account the various limitations of the platforms). The player (Super Joe) starts by being dropped off in a jungle by a helicopter, and has to fight his way out singlehandedly, killing off a massive assault of enemy soldiers (wearing German WWII-era uniforms).

Super Joe is armed with a sub-machine gun (unlimited ammo) and a limited supply of hand grenades. While Joe can fire his gun in any of the eight directions that he faces, his grenades can only be thrown vertically towards the top of the screen, irrespective of the direction Joe is facing. Unlike his SMG bullets, grenades can be thrown to clear obstacles, and explosions from well placed grenades can kill several enemies at once.

At the end of each level, the screen stops, and the player must fight several soldiers streaming from a gate or fortress. They are ordered out by a cowardly officer, who immediately runs away, although shooting him in the back awards the player bonus points. Along the way, one can attempt to free prisoners of war, who are transported across the screen by the enemy.

As Super Joe has no power ups, there is no variety in the weaponry he can use throughout the game. This is in contrast to similarly themed games of roughly the same period, like Green Beret (in which limited use flame throwers and rocket launchers were available to supplement the main character's trusty Commando Blade), or Ikari Warriors (where Tanks and more powerful red bullets, could be obtained). Commando's popularity is strange, given this dimension of gameplay is missing, and therefore can be attributed to solid classical frenetic Robotron-like game mechanics, and perhaps to a lesser extent, the arcade version's (by far the best) polish and the fact that the game's release coincided (roughly) with the Rambo and Missing in Action (film) movies.

Developers

It is notoriously difficult to find information about developers of early games, so this list is incomplete:

The Amiga version was developed at Elite by:

The Amstrad CPC version was developed at Elite by:

The Commodore 64 version was developed at Elite in a very tight schedule (2 months), by:

The Dos Booter version was developed at Data East usa inc

The ZX Spectrum version was developed at Elite by:

The Intellivision version was developed at Realtime Associates by:

Levels

These are the levels of the arcade version:

  • Mission 1:
    • 1st Area: Jungle Drop Off, Barricade Territory.
    • 2nd Area: The Trench "No Mans Land", Cannon Turret Gauntlet.
    • 3rd Area: The Field Barracks, The Transit Zone.
    • 4th Area: Bridges to Airport, 1st Enemy Airport.

  • Mission 2:
    • 1st Area: 2nd Jungle Territory, The Marsh Lands.
    • 2nd Area: 2nd Cannon Turret Gauntlet, The Trench/Bridge Territory.
    • 3rd Area: The Enemny Main Barracks, "Bazooka Alley" Territory.
    • 4th Area: The Capital Outskirts, The International Airport.

Miscellaneous

List of Commando clones

Bibliography

External links

Amiga games | Amstrad CPC games | Arcade games | Commodore 64 games | Intellivision games | DOS games | ZX Spectrum games | NES games | 1985 arcade games | 1985 computer and video games | Capcom games | BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games | Atari 2600 games | Atari 7800 games | Run and gun computer and video games

Commando (Computerspiel) | Commando (jeu vidéo) | Commando | 戦場の狼 | Commando (datorspel)

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Commando (arcade game)".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world