WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.480 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Hey there. It's 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:05.400 fantastic to have you sitting right here in the 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:07.379 room with us again. Always a pleasure. We have 00:00:07.379 --> 00:00:09.679 a genuinely fascinating journey lined up for 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:12.300 you today. We're exploring a piece of digital 00:00:12.300 --> 00:00:14.740 history that really changed the landscape of 00:00:14.740 --> 00:00:16.519 game design. We definitely have a lot of ground 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:19.359 to cover. The source material for this one presents 00:00:19.359 --> 00:00:22.120 an incredibly layered story. It really does. 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:25.420 So today we are taking a deep dive into the world 00:00:25.420 --> 00:00:29.120 of the Capcom video game franchise Bionic Commando. 00:00:29.260 --> 00:00:33.079 A classic. Right. And our sources for this exploration, 00:00:33.380 --> 00:00:35.700 they all stem from a comprehensive collection 00:00:35.700 --> 00:00:38.719 of historical summaries, development trivia, 00:00:38.880 --> 00:00:42.079 and deep -cut lore pulled directly from the game's 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:44.340 Wikipedia page. Which is packed with information. 00:00:44.719 --> 00:00:47.759 Packed. And our mission for you today, we are 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:50.500 going to uncover how a single, incredibly restrictive 00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:53.280 game mechanic spawned a decades -long legacy. 00:00:53.619 --> 00:00:55.479 Filled with some of the wildest localization 00:00:55.479 --> 00:00:57.840 changes you'll ever hear about. Yeah, bizarre 00:00:57.840 --> 00:01:00.960 historical pivots and just... Unforgettable gaming 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.840 history. Okay, let's unpack this. To set the 00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:06.439 stage for you, we need to understand the stakes 00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:09.680 of what we are examining here. Right. This isn't 00:01:09.680 --> 00:01:11.859 just a simple trip down memory lane looking at 00:01:11.859 --> 00:01:14.980 some retro game. What we have here is a master 00:01:14.980 --> 00:01:17.840 class in game design risk taking. Absolutely. 00:01:18.219 --> 00:01:20.959 And honestly, a rather bizarre case study in 00:01:20.959 --> 00:01:23.299 cultural translation and international marketing. 00:01:23.689 --> 00:01:25.689 And for you listening, whether you're prepping 00:01:25.689 --> 00:01:27.989 for a meeting on creative problem solving. Or 00:01:27.989 --> 00:01:30.090 trying to understand how massive technical constraints 00:01:30.090 --> 00:01:32.849 can actually breed innovation. Right. Or even 00:01:32.849 --> 00:01:35.549 if you are just curious about the wild west of 00:01:35.549 --> 00:01:37.870 1980s software development, you are going to 00:01:37.870 --> 00:01:41.430 find some major aha moments in this story. The 00:01:41.430 --> 00:01:44.390 central theme here is how imposing a severe limitation 00:01:44.390 --> 00:01:47.530 on a user can create an entirely new paradigm 00:01:47.530 --> 00:01:50.579 for interaction. So, let's jump right into the 00:01:50.579 --> 00:01:52.939 gameplay mechanics. Or rather, let's talk about 00:01:52.939 --> 00:01:55.060 the complete inability to jump. Which is the 00:01:55.060 --> 00:01:57.180 big hook. Exactly. I want you to picture the 00:01:57.180 --> 00:02:00.040 gaming landscape of the late 1980s. Okay. The 00:02:00.040 --> 00:02:02.739 action platformer genre was exploding. And it 00:02:02.739 --> 00:02:04.840 was a genre entirely defined by leaping over 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:06.420 obstacles. That was the whole point of those 00:02:06.420 --> 00:02:09.699 games. Yeah. You had Mario. You had Mega Man. 00:02:10.860 --> 00:02:14.099 Castlevania. Jump, jump, jump. Right. Now... 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:17.180 Imagine a developer pitching an action platformer 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:20.439 where the player absolutely unequivocally cannot 00:02:20.439 --> 00:02:23.979 jump. It is a massive design risk. Huge. You 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:26.939 are taking away the primary verb of the entire 00:02:26.939 --> 00:02:29.840 genre. I mean if a player cannot jump over an 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:32.719 enemy or a pit, you have to fundamentally change 00:02:32.719 --> 00:02:34.740 how they survive in that digital environment. 00:02:35.159 --> 00:02:37.460 Instead of hitting a button to vault over a hazard, 00:02:37.580 --> 00:02:39.759 you play as the protagonist, Nathan Radd Spencer. 00:02:40.180 --> 00:02:43.060 Great name. Classic 80s name. And you rely entirely 00:02:43.060 --> 00:02:45.479 on his bionic arm. Which changes everything. 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:48.719 It really does. This arm functions as a grappling 00:02:48.719 --> 00:02:51.219 gun and a hook. You fire it out to latch onto 00:02:51.219 --> 00:02:54.039 ceilings or platforms. You swing across massive 00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:56.680 gaps. Yes, you hoist yourself up to higher ledges 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:59.219 and you carefully lower yourself down. And it's 00:02:59.219 --> 00:03:01.319 deeply integrated into the combat, too. Exactly. 00:03:01.379 --> 00:03:03.680 You can use the arm to pull yourself rapidly 00:03:03.680 --> 00:03:06.780 toward enemies. or violently push them away to 00:03:06.780 --> 00:03:08.879 clear a path. What's fascinating here is the 00:03:08.879 --> 00:03:11.719 underlying physics and programming required to 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:14.159 make that work on an 8 -bit console. It's mind 00:03:14.159 --> 00:03:16.960 -boggling. By intentionally removing the fundamental 00:03:16.960 --> 00:03:20.800 jump mechanic, the creator, Tokuro Fujiwara, 00:03:20.979 --> 00:03:24.039 forced players to completely rewire how they 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:27.360 navigate a two -dimensional space. Right. According 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:29.759 to the source material, Fujiwara actually based 00:03:29.759 --> 00:03:33.090 this wire action gameplay on an earlier 1983 00:03:33.090 --> 00:03:36.129 arcade game he designed called Roke and Rope. 00:03:36.150 --> 00:03:38.710 Oh, Roke and Rope, yeah. But adapting that concept 00:03:38.710 --> 00:03:42.069 into a fast -paced military action game demanded 00:03:42.069 --> 00:03:44.750 that players calculate momentum on the fly. It's 00:03:44.750 --> 00:03:47.699 like asking a player to... learn how to walk 00:03:47.699 --> 00:03:50.020 all over again, but while suspended in midair. 00:03:50.120 --> 00:03:52.280 That is a great way to put it. Because the source 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:54.680 text points out that you aren't just firing a 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:57.319 static grappling hook. No, not at all. You are 00:03:57.319 --> 00:04:00.280 managing a dynamic pendulum. Right. In addition 00:04:00.280 --> 00:04:03.419 to anticipating the arc of Spencer's swing, you 00:04:03.419 --> 00:04:05.520 have to use the directional pad to control the 00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:07.879 left and right sway of his body mid -swing. Just 00:04:07.879 --> 00:04:09.819 to adjust for landing targets or dodging enemy 00:04:09.819 --> 00:04:12.500 fire. Exactly. Which means the development team 00:04:12.500 --> 00:04:15.259 had to program complex momentum physics collision 00:04:15.259 --> 00:04:17.970 detection. and enemy artificial intelligence. 00:04:18.009 --> 00:04:19.990 Because the enemies couldn't just walk back and 00:04:19.990 --> 00:04:22.990 forth. No, they had to react to a player swinging 00:04:22.990 --> 00:04:25.649 overhead rather than simply jumping past them. 00:04:25.730 --> 00:04:28.829 Right. They had to be placed specifically to 00:04:28.829 --> 00:04:31.990 challenge a player whose primary movement was 00:04:31.990 --> 00:04:35.399 a parabolic arc. Mastering that physics engine 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.100 became the defining signature of the franchise. 00:04:38.560 --> 00:04:40.699 Oh, absolutely. It was notoriously difficult, 00:04:40.860 --> 00:04:43.540 but incredibly rewarding once your brain clicked 00:04:43.540 --> 00:04:45.980 into that swinging rhythm. And the developers 00:04:45.980 --> 00:04:48.399 held firmly onto that no jumping restriction 00:04:48.399 --> 00:04:51.860 for a staggering amount of time. Decades. They 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:54.800 maintained that core design philosophy for over 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:57.899 20 years across multiple hardware generations. 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:01.420 Which is practically unheard of in game development. 00:05:01.579 --> 00:05:04.240 It really wasn't until the 2000s. Bionic Commando 00:05:04.240 --> 00:05:06.620 release, that thing shifted drastically. Right, 00:05:06.680 --> 00:05:08.759 the big reboot. Yeah, that game moved the series 00:05:08.759 --> 00:05:11.399 into a full 3D, over -the -shoulder perspective. 00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:14.540 And then finally, in 2011's Bionic Commando Rearm 00:05:14.540 --> 00:05:17.500 2, they relented. The developers gave Spencer 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:19.639 a simple jump mechanic to work in conjunction 00:05:19.639 --> 00:05:22.560 with the bionic arm. Translating that 2D pendulum 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:25.660 swing into a 3D environment in 2009 presented 00:05:25.660 --> 00:05:27.959 a whole new set of immense technical challenges. 00:05:28.480 --> 00:05:31.060 Because in a 2D space, you only worry about the 00:05:31.060 --> 00:05:34.560 X and Y axis. Exactly. In 3D, you suddenly have 00:05:34.560 --> 00:05:37.519 to account for depth, camera angles, and giving 00:05:37.519 --> 00:05:39.779 the player the ability to target an attachment 00:05:39.779 --> 00:05:42.720 point while moving at high speeds. The 3D adaptation 00:05:42.720 --> 00:05:46.420 was incredibly ambitious. But returning to the 00:05:46.420 --> 00:05:49.060 roots of the franchise, as revolutionary as the 00:05:49.060 --> 00:05:51.980 swinging mechanics were in the 1980s, the narrative 00:05:51.980 --> 00:05:54.199 wrapper surrounding this game is where the historical 00:05:54.199 --> 00:05:57.459 record takes a very unexpected turn. Before we 00:05:57.459 --> 00:05:58.920 get into that, I need to emphasize something 00:05:58.920 --> 00:06:01.540 for you listening. The lore of Bionic Commando 00:06:01.540 --> 00:06:04.560 is deeply rooted in alternate history. Right. 00:06:04.639 --> 00:06:07.139 And looking at this purely as an unfiltered historical 00:06:07.139 --> 00:06:11.160 time capsule of 1980s game design, we're examining 00:06:11.160 --> 00:06:13.199 these narrative choices strictly to understand 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:15.529 the creative environment of the era. We are, 00:06:15.589 --> 00:06:17.889 of course, not endorsing any of the ideologies 00:06:17.889 --> 00:06:20.209 or historical movements depicted in the source 00:06:20.209 --> 00:06:22.810 material. Absolutely not. We are simply reporting 00:06:22.810 --> 00:06:24.970 on the facts of the game's controversial localization 00:06:24.970 --> 00:06:27.629 as presented in the source text. That context 00:06:27.629 --> 00:06:30.209 is vital because the universe of Bionic Commando 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:33.149 takes place in an alternate timeline where Nazism 00:06:33.149 --> 00:06:36.290 was not eradicated following World War II. The 00:06:36.290 --> 00:06:38.529 source notes that while there were some vague 00:06:38.529 --> 00:06:41.829 fascist undertones present in the original 1987 00:06:41.829 --> 00:06:45.620 arcade game, it was the 1988 home console version 00:06:45.620 --> 00:06:48.819 where this alternate history became the explicit 00:06:48.819 --> 00:06:51.560 foundation of the plot. The raw details of that 00:06:51.560 --> 00:06:54.639 1988 Japanese Famicom version are startling when 00:06:54.639 --> 00:06:56.240 you look back at them today. They really are. 00:06:56.339 --> 00:06:59.379 In Japan, the game was not called Bionic Commando. 00:06:59.480 --> 00:07:02.379 It was originally titled Top Secret, Hitler's 00:07:02.379 --> 00:07:04.720 Resurrection. A title that immediately sets a 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:07.660 very specific, historically charged tone. for 00:07:07.660 --> 00:07:10.040 an 8 -bit action game the villains of the game 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:13.120 were an explicit neo -nazi nation their imperial 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:16.420 army insignia was a literal nazi swastika with 00:07:16.420 --> 00:07:18.720 a thunderbolt placed behind it the leader of 00:07:18.720 --> 00:07:20.579 these villains was a character named wiseman 00:07:20.579 --> 00:07:23.279 and the ultimate antagonist of the entire game 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:26.899 was a revived adolf hitler which is just wow 00:07:26.899 --> 00:07:29.379 this raises an important question How does a 00:07:29.379 --> 00:07:32.480 corporate entity localize such intense, politically 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:35.160 volatile themes for a Western audience? Especially 00:07:35.160 --> 00:07:38.259 considering Nintendo of America's famously strict 00:07:38.259 --> 00:07:41.160 censorship guidelines in the late 1980s. Right. 00:07:41.220 --> 00:07:43.600 They usually prohibited any religious, political, 00:07:43.800 --> 00:07:46.959 or overtly violent imagery on a family -friendly 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:49.920 console. The English localization for the Nintendo 00:07:49.920 --> 00:07:52.660 Entertainment System provides a fascinating window 00:07:52.660 --> 00:07:55.759 into industry panic and rushed deadlines. You 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:57.800 can almost feel the stress of the translation 00:07:57.800 --> 00:08:00.740 team. The localization team scrambled to scrub 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:03.740 the direct historical references, but the seams 00:08:03.740 --> 00:08:06.720 were incredibly visible. Very visible. The neo 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:10.459 -Nazi faction was hastily renamed the Bads, spelled 00:08:10.459 --> 00:08:13.629 with two Ds. Yet in a bizarre oversight. The 00:08:13.629 --> 00:08:16.129 game's official English instruction manual referred 00:08:16.129 --> 00:08:18.970 to them as the NAS. Which is barely a change 00:08:18.970 --> 00:08:21.250 at all. The discrepancy between the in -game 00:08:21.250 --> 00:08:23.629 text and the printed manual suggests that the 00:08:23.629 --> 00:08:26.269 localization teams were likely siloed. Yeah, 00:08:26.310 --> 00:08:28.649 working quickly and without much cross -communication 00:08:28.649 --> 00:08:30.829 just to sanitize the product for store shelves. 00:08:31.089 --> 00:08:33.190 You can see that rushed sanitization everywhere 00:08:33.190 --> 00:08:35.889 in the game. The Imperial Army's swastika insignia 00:08:35.889 --> 00:08:39.110 was graphically altered into a new symbol resembling 00:08:39.110 --> 00:08:42.450 an eagle. The villain Weissman was renamed Kilt. 00:08:43.129 --> 00:08:45.830 And the ultimate antagonist, the revived Adolf 00:08:45.830 --> 00:08:49.029 Hitler, was completely renamed to Master D. However, 00:08:49.090 --> 00:08:51.070 while they changed the text string for his name, 00:08:51.570 --> 00:08:54.149 Master D's visual appearance in the English version 00:08:54.149 --> 00:08:56.909 remained entirely unaltered. They didn't redraw 00:08:56.909 --> 00:08:58.769 the character sprite at all. He still looked 00:08:58.769 --> 00:09:01.080 exactly like the historical dictator. Which leads 00:09:01.080 --> 00:09:03.639 to arguably the most shocking holdover in the 00:09:03.639 --> 00:09:06.980 history of localized gaming. It's infamous. Despite 00:09:06.980 --> 00:09:09.379 all those name changes and symbol censorship 00:09:09.379 --> 00:09:12.299 designed to appease Nintendo of America and protect 00:09:12.299 --> 00:09:15.179 Western audiences. Right. The English version 00:09:15.179 --> 00:09:18.039 kept the game's ending sequence completely intact. 00:09:18.419 --> 00:09:20.740 This isn't just a simple game over screen either. 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:24.730 No. When you defeat Master D, the player is treated 00:09:24.730 --> 00:09:27.690 to an incredibly gory frame by frame sequence 00:09:27.690 --> 00:09:30.330 where the dictator's face literally explodes. 00:09:30.669 --> 00:09:32.649 It is a staggering contradiction in corporate 00:09:32.649 --> 00:09:35.009 censors. It makes no sense. On one hand, you 00:09:35.009 --> 00:09:37.529 have a concentrated effort to mask the ideological 00:09:37.529 --> 00:09:40.070 impact by changing text files. Renaming wise 00:09:40.070 --> 00:09:43.049 men to kill. Right. And altering background tiles 00:09:43.049 --> 00:09:45.149 to remove the swastika. Yeah. On the other hand. 00:09:45.480 --> 00:09:48.940 a highly graphic exploding face slips right through 00:09:48.940 --> 00:09:51.440 quality assurance. Was the localization team 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.340 just completely unable to alter the ending sequence? 00:09:54.919 --> 00:09:57.059 It often came down to the technical realities 00:09:57.059 --> 00:10:00.639 of 1980s game coding. Oh, interesting. Changing 00:10:00.639 --> 00:10:03.679 a line of text or a static background tile was 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:06.580 a relatively simple memory swap that a small 00:10:06.580 --> 00:10:08.639 translation team could handle. That makes sense. 00:10:08.919 --> 00:10:11.860 But a full -screen, multi -frame graphical animation 00:10:11.860 --> 00:10:15.120 of a boss exploding was likely hard -coded deeply 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:17.620 into the game's sequence logic. So it wasn't 00:10:17.620 --> 00:10:20.240 an easy fix. Not at all. Altering or removing 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:23.059 that would require sending the code back to the 00:10:23.059 --> 00:10:26.070 core programming team in Japan. Which costs time 00:10:26.070 --> 00:10:28.590 and money that localization budgets rarely had 00:10:28.590 --> 00:10:31.409 back then. Exactly. So they changed the text 00:10:31.409 --> 00:10:33.450 to comply with the rules and essentially hope 00:10:33.450 --> 00:10:35.610 no one at the censorship board played all the 00:10:35.610 --> 00:10:37.990 way to the final boss. They changed the names 00:10:37.990 --> 00:10:40.490 to protect the innocent, but left the exploding 00:10:40.490 --> 00:10:42.870 head for the kids who managed to actually beat 00:10:42.870 --> 00:10:46.029 the incredibly hard game. It perfectly encapsulates 00:10:46.029 --> 00:10:49.470 the chaotic nature of 1980s video game publishing. 00:10:49.929 --> 00:10:52.929 It really does. And that behind the scenes chaos 00:10:52.929 --> 00:10:56.490 wasn't limited to just censorship. The franchise 00:10:56.490 --> 00:10:59.549 also suffered from a severe identity crisis early 00:10:59.549 --> 00:11:02.190 on. Specifically regarding how it was marketed 00:11:02.190 --> 00:11:05.509 to Western arcade owners. If we look at the broader 00:11:05.509 --> 00:11:08.590 picture of Capcom's arcade library at the time, 00:11:08.669 --> 00:11:11.409 their marketing strategy was heavily reliant 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:14.370 on brand recognition. In the United States, a 00:11:14.370 --> 00:11:16.750 promotional brochure actually advertised the 00:11:16.750 --> 00:11:19.830 original Bionic Commando arcade game as a direct 00:11:19.830 --> 00:11:22.950 sequel to another massive Capcom hit, Commando. 00:11:23.320 --> 00:11:25.419 The marketing brochure even went so far as to 00:11:25.419 --> 00:11:27.659 claim the game's main character was Super Joe, 00:11:27.820 --> 00:11:30.759 the famous protagonist of Commando. But the source 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:33.700 material clarifies that in the original Japanese 00:11:33.700 --> 00:11:36.500 and world versions of the arcade game, the main 00:11:36.500 --> 00:11:39.039 character was just an unnamed member of a special 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:41.659 Commando unit. There was no canonical connection 00:11:41.659 --> 00:11:43.840 to Commando at all during development. None. 00:11:44.379 --> 00:11:46.019 The American marketing team just slapped the 00:11:46.019 --> 00:11:48.019 name Super Joe on the brochure. Because arcade 00:11:48.019 --> 00:11:50.240 operators were more likely to spend thousands 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.340 of dollars on a cabinet if they thought it was 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:54.519 a sequel to a guaranteed moneymaker. It was a 00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:57.039 pure sales tactic. But here's where it gets really 00:11:57.039 --> 00:12:00.009 interesting. Amidst all this marketing confusion, 00:12:00.450 --> 00:12:03.250 siloed localization, and heavy -handed censorship, 00:12:03.669 --> 00:12:07.190 the series was quietly building an absolute powerhouse 00:12:07.190 --> 00:12:10.730 of an audio legacy. The musical score is a massive 00:12:10.730 --> 00:12:13.850 component of why this franchise maintains such 00:12:13.850 --> 00:12:16.009 an enduring cultural footprint. The brilliant 00:12:16.009 --> 00:12:17.889 work behind the scenes was driven by the all 00:12:17.889 --> 00:12:20.409 -female Capcom sound team. Which is a fantastic 00:12:20.409 --> 00:12:22.889 piece of gaming history on its own. Absolutely. 00:12:23.230 --> 00:12:25.750 Harumi Fujita developed the music for the original 00:12:25.750 --> 00:12:28.759 arcade game. Then... Fellow composer Junko Tamiya 00:12:28.759 --> 00:12:31.100 took the reins to adapt the score for the home 00:12:31.100 --> 00:12:33.860 console versions. Tamiya adapted two of Fujita's 00:12:33.860 --> 00:12:36.480 original arcade tracks, but then she expanded 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:38.879 the soundtrack entirely for the Japanese Famicom 00:12:38.879 --> 00:12:42.299 and the NES ports. Creating robust music on the 00:12:42.299 --> 00:12:45.720 NES was an incredible technical challenge. Because 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:48.240 of the hardware limits? Exactly. The console's 00:12:48.240 --> 00:12:50.340 audio processing unit only had five channels. 00:12:50.539 --> 00:12:53.120 Five. Yeah, two square waves, a triangle wave, 00:12:53.220 --> 00:12:55.799 a noise channel, and a low -quality sample channel. 00:12:56.269 --> 00:12:58.649 Composers had to use rapid arpeggios to simulate 00:12:58.649 --> 00:13:01.009 the sound of full chords. And working within 00:13:01.009 --> 00:13:04.370 those strict hardware limitations, Tamiya delivered 00:13:04.370 --> 00:13:07.669 iconic, driving, military -style tracks like 00:13:07.669 --> 00:13:10.629 the Bionic Commando theme and the legendary track 00:13:10.629 --> 00:13:13.309 The Power Plant. She created a sense of tension 00:13:13.309 --> 00:13:15.750 and momentum that perfectly matched the physics 00:13:15.750 --> 00:13:17.970 of swinging through the air. It really elevated 00:13:17.970 --> 00:13:20.090 the whole experience. The industry footprint 00:13:20.090 --> 00:13:22.809 of that all -female sound team is undeniable. 00:13:23.230 --> 00:13:26.350 In November 2015, Capcom actually released a 00:13:26.350 --> 00:13:29.450 massive five -disc original sound collection. 00:13:29.610 --> 00:13:31.429 That preserved the soundtracks from both the 00:13:31.429 --> 00:13:33.610 Commando and Bionic Commando series. And the 00:13:33.610 --> 00:13:35.710 liner notes for that monumental collection were 00:13:35.710 --> 00:13:38.309 written by Manami Matsume, another legendary 00:13:38.309 --> 00:13:41.070 composer from that era. It highlights how vital 00:13:41.070 --> 00:13:43.370 those specific composers were to establishing 00:13:43.370 --> 00:13:46.169 the atmosphere and the emotional resonance of 00:13:46.169 --> 00:13:48.870 these games. It gave the game its soul. It really 00:13:48.870 --> 00:13:51.029 did. And the universe of the franchise just kept 00:13:51.029 --> 00:13:53.409 expanding and experimenting from there. Looking 00:13:53.409 --> 00:13:56.210 at the later entries, you see developers constantly 00:13:56.210 --> 00:13:58.490 trying to reinvent that core swinging mechanic 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:02.289 for new hardware. Like in 1999, Nintendo published 00:14:02.289 --> 00:14:05.110 Bionic Commando, elite forces for the Game Boy 00:14:05.110 --> 00:14:07.409 Color. That one is really interesting. It featured 00:14:07.409 --> 00:14:09.250 a completely different plot from the rest of 00:14:09.250 --> 00:14:11.750 the series. And it allowed you to play as either 00:14:11.750 --> 00:14:15.289 an unnamed male or female Commando. Which demonstrates 00:14:15.289 --> 00:14:17.590 a willingness to iterate on the formula. Yeah. 00:14:17.950 --> 00:14:19.950 They used the portable hardware to introduce 00:14:19.950 --> 00:14:22.690 new gameplay wrinkles, like the ability to climb 00:14:22.690 --> 00:14:24.789 down from platforms. Which you couldn't do before. 00:14:25.090 --> 00:14:27.789 Right. And they integrated a sniper rifle for 00:14:27.789 --> 00:14:30.070 specific segments to take out distant enemies, 00:14:30.269 --> 00:14:32.409 completely changing the pacing of the combat. 00:14:32.779 --> 00:14:35.320 Then you jump forward to 2008, and we received 00:14:35.320 --> 00:14:38.220 Bionic Commando Rearmed, developed by Grin. A 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:42.039 beautiful, enhanced remake of the 1988 NES version. 00:14:42.259 --> 00:14:45.559 It kept the gameplay strictly on a 2D plane to 00:14:45.559 --> 00:14:47.840 preserve that classic physics -based swinging. 00:14:48.039 --> 00:14:50.299 But they rendered all the environments and characters 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:55.179 in gorgeous 3D. Creating that classic 2 .5D platformer 00:14:55.179 --> 00:14:58.460 feel, they even added hacking minigames to modernize 00:14:58.460 --> 00:15:01.059 the flow. It served as the perfect prelude to 00:15:01.059 --> 00:15:03.799 the full 3D reboot that came out in 2009. And 00:15:03.799 --> 00:15:06.460 Nathan Spencer's legacy extends well beyond his 00:15:06.460 --> 00:15:09.379 own standalone adventures, too. Because his movement 00:15:09.379 --> 00:15:12.120 mechanics were so distinctly unique, he became 00:15:12.120 --> 00:15:14.120 a perfect candidate for crossover appearances. 00:15:14.480 --> 00:15:16.899 He shows up as a playable character, sporting 00:15:16.899 --> 00:15:21.320 his modern 2009 visual redesign in massive fighting 00:15:21.320 --> 00:15:24.320 games. Like Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Fate of Two 00:15:24.320 --> 00:15:27.500 Worlds. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. And Marvel 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:31.000 vs. Capcom Infinite. It is genuinely amazing 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:34.259 to see Nathan Rad Spencer, voiced by Damian Clark, 00:15:34.519 --> 00:15:37.500 using his bionic grappling arm to swing around 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:40.480 the screen. Holding his own against literal superheroes 00:15:40.480 --> 00:15:43.159 like Spider -Man and Iron Man. His moveset in 00:15:43.159 --> 00:15:45.580 those fighting games relies heavily on the exact 00:15:45.580 --> 00:15:48.500 same pulling and swinging momentum that defined 00:15:48.500 --> 00:15:51.279 his 8 -bit origins. It proves the lasting power 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:53.639 of a truly distinct mechanical character design. 00:15:54.330 --> 00:15:56.409 When your core ability is that well -defined, 00:15:56.590 --> 00:15:59.210 it translates across genres effortlessly. So 00:15:59.210 --> 00:16:01.490 what does this all mean? That's the big question. 00:16:01.649 --> 00:16:03.129 Well, when we look at everything we've unpacked 00:16:03.129 --> 00:16:04.950 today, the physics of the swinging mechanics, 00:16:05.230 --> 00:16:08.070 the deep alternate history lore, the music, the 00:16:08.070 --> 00:16:10.909 massive 3D reboots Bionic Commando proves to 00:16:10.909 --> 00:16:12.850 be so much more than just a challenging retro 00:16:12.850 --> 00:16:15.950 game. It is a brilliant exercise in subtracting 00:16:15.950 --> 00:16:18.769 a fundamental mechanic to force true innovation. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.100 And on top of that, it serves as an unfiltered 00:16:22.100 --> 00:16:25.580 lens into the Wild West of 1980s video game publishing, 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:29.320 localization and censorship. The core value for 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:31.139 you listening as you take this knowledge forward 00:16:31.139 --> 00:16:34.059 into your own projects is understanding the profound 00:16:34.059 --> 00:16:37.059 power of constraints. That's a huge takeaway. 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:39.220 Whether it's a game designer forcing players 00:16:39.220 --> 00:16:41.440 to navigate a world without a jump button. Or 00:16:41.440 --> 00:16:43.679 a composer trying to create a sweeping military 00:16:43.679 --> 00:16:47.460 anthem on a tiny five channel sound chip. Or 00:16:47.460 --> 00:16:49.519 a localization team trying to navigate strict 00:16:49.519 --> 00:16:52.340 censorship rules with confusing name changes. 00:16:53.000 --> 00:16:55.720 Constraints almost always lead to the most memorable 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:57.980 creative solutions. When you are restricted from 00:16:57.980 --> 00:17:00.919 taking the easy conventional path, you are forced 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:03.019 to invent an entirely new one. And I want to 00:17:03.019 --> 00:17:05.119 leave you with a final thought to mull over today 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:08.940 regarding how we remember media. Okay, let's 00:17:08.940 --> 00:17:11.220 hear it. Think about the legacy of that infamous 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:14.160 exploding face sequence. Nintendo of America 00:17:14.160 --> 00:17:17.160 had strict, sweeping policies designed to heavily 00:17:17.160 --> 00:17:19.180 sanitize their products for a family audience. 00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:22.299 They successfully forced Capcom to change titles, 00:17:22.480 --> 00:17:25.759 redraw swastikas, and rename historical dictators. 00:17:26.329 --> 00:17:28.549 They tried to catch everything. Yet, because 00:17:28.549 --> 00:17:30.849 of a likely technical loophole regarding how 00:17:30.849 --> 00:17:33.049 difficult it was to reprogram ending animation 00:17:33.049 --> 00:17:36.470 graphics, one of the most graphic, shocking moments 00:17:36.470 --> 00:17:38.950 in 8 -bit history slipped right through the cracks. 00:17:39.210 --> 00:17:42.069 Unbelievable. Today, long after the panic over 00:17:42.069 --> 00:17:45.190 the bads in Master D has faded, that localized 00:17:45.190 --> 00:17:47.869 oversight, that glaring flaw in the censorship 00:17:47.869 --> 00:17:50.549 machine, is often the very first thing people 00:17:50.549 --> 00:17:52.309 remember about the game's narrative. It absolutely 00:17:52.309 --> 00:17:55.539 is. It leaves you to wonder. In your own work 00:17:55.539 --> 00:17:58.000 or in the media you consume, how often do the 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:00.380 accidental oversights, the glitches, or the things 00:18:00.380 --> 00:18:02.359 that slip through the corporate cracks become 00:18:02.359 --> 00:18:04.519 the very elements that define a project's cultural 00:18:04.519 --> 00:18:07.240 legacy decades later? Also, think about creator 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:10.099 Tokuro Fujiwara's original intention. Oh, exactly. 00:18:10.380 --> 00:18:12.440 He simply set out to make an expanded version 00:18:12.440 --> 00:18:15.720 of his 1983 wire action game, Roke and Rope. 00:18:15.799 --> 00:18:18.529 Just a simple mechanical upgrade? But that single, 00:18:18.730 --> 00:18:22.309 simple intention eventually mutated into an epic, 00:18:22.509 --> 00:18:25.529 controversial, alternate history universe involving 00:18:25.529 --> 00:18:29.029 bionic warfare, localized dictators, and a decades 00:18:29.029 --> 00:18:31.869 -long franchise. It's wild how things snowball. 00:18:32.190 --> 00:18:35.150 It leaves you to wonder what simple idea, hobby, 00:18:35.289 --> 00:18:37.589 or project are you casually working on today 00:18:37.589 --> 00:18:39.809 that might unexpectedly evolve into something 00:18:39.809 --> 00:18:42.930 boundary -pushing and vastly more complex years 00:18:42.930 --> 00:18:45.029 from now. That's a great perspective to have. 00:18:45.210 --> 00:18:47.299 What a fantastic question to leave off - on the 00:18:47.299 --> 00:18:49.759 mistakes and the simple ideas often become the 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:52.220 legend they really do thank you so much for hanging 00:18:52.220 --> 00:18:54.579 out and joining us on this deep dive today we 00:18:54.579 --> 00:18:56.759 love exploring these complex stories with you 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:59.160 and we cannot wait to dig into the next one together 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:00.400 until then keep exploring