The later areas are a little less interesting, being that they’re the more typical sci-fi styled bases (though since one of them is underwater, you do get to see domed cities below the ocean in the background). The level themes seem cool in theory, but the stages are so short that they end up feeling inconsequential – in the museum stage, you see a prehistoric display, then are dropped into a basement for the boss fight, then it’s onto the next area. The hero, in particular, looks a little weird – since he’s supposed to be wearing a super suit, his head ends up being a bit tiny in comparison. The strange character designs aren’t really charming so much as bizarre. This also means more boss fights, one of the reasons why this ends up as being one of Capcom’s more difficult beat-em-ups.Ĭaptain Commando is a darn good game (pretty much all Capcom beat-em-ups have some baseline level of quality), but certain aspects just seem…off. This includes a sort of bonus level that takes place on a surfboard, which are similar to levels seen in Konami’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesarcade games. There are nine in total, but they’re pretty short, so the game length is still about the same as other Capcom beat-em-ups. The stages are more diverse than Final Fight, offering a bunch of entertainment-styled stages, including a museum, a circus, a ninja house, and an aquarium. (The American SNES ads use the catch copy “Commit Scumocide”.) Near the end of the game, you fight a shapeshifter who mimics your character, named Doppel the final boss is a flying robot-like creature named Scumocide (Genocide in the Japanese version). The main characters still have their crowd-clearing health draining super moves, though Captain Commando has an extra (non health-consuming) move that shoots flames from his wrists, though this is only done as an awkwardly executed jump attack.Įnemies include the usual array of braindead mooks (with names like Wooky and Dick), but there’s also Marvin, the short fire-breather (who has an unfortunate propensity to attack from the sides in formation and accidentally burn his fellow villains) Carol and Brenda, this game’s version of Poison and Roxy, the sexy women who attack with electric tuning forks (and whose pony tail hairstyle seems to have been reused for Maki in Final Fight 2) and Z, who wear suits like an H.
There are a few varieties of these, which can punch, shoot flames, or freeze enemies. Certain enemies also pilot mechas, which you can mount yourself once you knock their pilot off. The weapons with ammunition disappear after a few uses, though unlike Final Fight, they can be carried between scenes (though not levels). Since the main characters are meant to be superheroes (and two of them have their own blades), the arsenal of secondary weapons has been expanded to include missile launchers, hand guns, rifles, laser guns, hammers, and a paralyzing ray. It does play a bit faster, owing to the fact that you move forward when performing combos (instead of being forced to stand still), and you can run by hitting forward twice, which allows for strong dashing attacks. As a result, it doesn’t quite feel the same, despite mechanically being almost identical.
However, the game now allows for up to four simultaneous players, which meant that the character sprites size is scaled back drastically.
The action, as with most Capcom beat-em-ups, feels pretty close to Final Fight. An alien who fights to defend Earth, Mummy Commando is named Mack the Knife, a reference to a Bobby Darin song (and renamed Jennety in the Japanese version), and dual wields daggers.