WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.640 Welcome to today's deep dive. We are pulling 00:00:03.640 --> 00:00:06.019 our source material straight from the archives 00:00:06.019 --> 00:00:08.740 of video game history today. We're utilizing 00:00:08.740 --> 00:00:12.099 a really comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing 00:00:12.099 --> 00:00:16.059 the classic Capcom franchise, Bionic Commando. 00:00:16.140 --> 00:00:18.899 Yeah, a true classic. It really is. And our mission 00:00:18.899 --> 00:00:22.399 today is to explore how a quirky 1980s action 00:00:22.399 --> 00:00:25.300 title challenged, you know, the fundamental gaming 00:00:25.300 --> 00:00:28.160 norms of its era by completely stripping away 00:00:28.160 --> 00:00:30.699 a core ability. We're also looking at how its 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:33.000 bizarre lo - localization history serves as a 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:35.280 fascinating case study in cross -cultural media 00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:37.880 adaptation. Right. The localization story alone 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:40.020 is just wild. Oh, it is. And I want to point 00:00:40.020 --> 00:00:41.979 out to you listening right now, even if you aren't 00:00:41.979 --> 00:00:44.460 deeply entrenched in retro gaming, this deep 00:00:44.460 --> 00:00:47.140 dive is an absolute masterclass in how design 00:00:47.140 --> 00:00:49.719 limitations force creative breakthroughs. Absolutely. 00:00:49.939 --> 00:00:51.640 We will also be examining the ways companies 00:00:51.640 --> 00:00:53.979 alter content when moving a product across borders. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:55.880 We're talking everything from heavily altered 00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.140 political imagery to some incredibly fluid marketing 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:01.890 strategies. Okay. Let's unpack this. We should 00:01:01.890 --> 00:01:03.869 probably start by looking closely at the core 00:01:03.869 --> 00:01:07.489 traversal mechanics. Because that is really where 00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:10.170 the entire identity of this franchise is anchored. 00:01:10.310 --> 00:01:12.189 Yeah, you have to start there. Right, because 00:01:12.189 --> 00:01:14.310 in an era where games like Super Mario Bros. 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:17.510 sort of defined the whole genre through the simple, 00:01:17.569 --> 00:01:20.769 intuitive act of jumping, Capcom introduced a 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:23.750 protagonist named Nathan Radd Spencer. And they 00:01:23.750 --> 00:01:25.709 just completely removed the jump button. They 00:01:25.709 --> 00:01:28.189 took it right out. Taking away the absolute core 00:01:28.189 --> 00:01:31.250 verb of the genre meant players had to completely 00:01:31.250 --> 00:01:33.909 rethink their relationship with the digital environment. 00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:36.609 Which is a massive risk for a developer to take. 00:01:36.670 --> 00:01:38.450 I mean, you are taking the one mechanic that 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:40.989 constitutes pure muscle memory for anyone with 00:01:40.989 --> 00:01:43.230 a controller and just throwing it out the window. 00:01:43.409 --> 00:01:46.849 Exactly. In its place, they gave Spencer a bionic 00:01:46.849 --> 00:01:49.790 arm that functions as a grappling hook. So instead 00:01:49.790 --> 00:01:52.010 of just leaping over a pit, you have to shoot 00:01:52.010 --> 00:01:54.390 your bionic arm into the ceiling, swing across 00:01:54.390 --> 00:01:56.870 the chasm, and launch yourself to the other side. 00:01:57.030 --> 00:01:59.469 It's all about physics. Right, you use it to 00:01:59.469 --> 00:02:01.950 pull yourself up to higher ledges, rappel down 00:02:01.950 --> 00:02:04.629 safely, and you can even grab enemies to pull 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:06.650 them into striking distance or knock them away? 00:02:06.909 --> 00:02:08.969 What's fascinating here is the psychological 00:02:08.969 --> 00:02:12.990 shift this demands from you as a player. Removing 00:02:12.990 --> 00:02:15.150 the jump button isn't just a quirky gimmick. 00:02:15.349 --> 00:02:19.030 It forces a complete rewiring of how you process 00:02:19.030 --> 00:02:21.430 on -screen information. Because you can't just 00:02:21.430 --> 00:02:24.849 react anymore. No, you can't. In a standard side 00:02:24.849 --> 00:02:27.189 -scroller, traversal is largely a test of timing. 00:02:27.580 --> 00:02:29.740 You run, and you press a button at the exact 00:02:29.740 --> 00:02:32.620 right millisecond to clear a gap. But with the 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:34.960 bionic arm, traversal turns into this complex 00:02:34.960 --> 00:02:38.379 puzzle based on pendulum physics, momentum, and 00:02:38.379 --> 00:02:40.379 spatial awareness. Yeah, you have to actively 00:02:40.379 --> 00:02:43.099 calculate the arc of your swing. And you have 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:45.180 to understand how the elasticity of the line 00:02:45.180 --> 00:02:47.180 affects your trajectory. You essentially have 00:02:47.180 --> 00:02:49.240 to read the architecture of the level differently. 00:02:49.580 --> 00:02:52.000 A ceiling is no longer just the upper boundary 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:54.479 of the screen. It becomes your primary mode of 00:02:54.479 --> 00:02:56.539 transportation. A completely different lens to 00:02:56.539 --> 00:02:58.599 view the level design through. Exactly. An overhead 00:02:58.599 --> 00:03:01.060 platform isn't an obstacle anymore. It's an anchor 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:03.699 point. That fundamental shift in environmental 00:03:03.699 --> 00:03:06.080 interaction is exactly why the game has such 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:09.000 a lasting legacy. And we can actually trace this 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:11.939 design lineage back a few years earlier. The 00:03:11.939 --> 00:03:14.639 creator of this wire action system was Tokuro 00:03:14.639 --> 00:03:17.900 Fujiwara. Oh, right, the arcade days. Yeah, he 00:03:17.900 --> 00:03:20.000 originally developed the foundation of this movement 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:23.120 system for a 1983 arcade game called Roke and 00:03:23.120 --> 00:03:26.039 Rope. Rokey Rope. In that game, you fired a rope 00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:28.759 at higher platforms to climb up and evade dinosaurs. 00:03:29.319 --> 00:03:31.360 But the physics in Roke and Rope were incredibly 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:33.819 rigid compared to what Bionic Commando did later. 00:03:33.979 --> 00:03:36.599 It was more about creating a static zipline than 00:03:36.599 --> 00:03:39.900 any sort of dynamic swinging. Precisely. Fujiwara 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:42.340 originally intended Bionic Commando to be just 00:03:42.340 --> 00:03:44.800 an expanded, polished version of Roke and Rope. 00:03:44.879 --> 00:03:47.639 Just a small iteration. Right. But by adding 00:03:47.639 --> 00:03:50.020 the pendulum momentum, the ability to attach 00:03:50.020 --> 00:03:52.900 mid -swing and carry your velocity forward, he 00:03:52.900 --> 00:03:55.400 created something entirely new. It really illustrates 00:03:55.400 --> 00:03:58.280 how massive innovations in game design are frequently 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:01.319 born from iterative tweaks to older, sometimes 00:04:01.319 --> 00:04:03.520 forgotten concepts. You take a rigid mechanic, 00:04:03.860 --> 00:04:06.840 you inject physics -based momentum, and suddenly 00:04:06.840 --> 00:04:08.939 you lay the groundwork for grappling mechanics 00:04:08.939 --> 00:04:11.259 that would eventually influence massive modern 00:04:11.259 --> 00:04:14.139 titles. Exactly. When you play a modern game 00:04:14.139 --> 00:04:16.740 that relies on fluid grappling traversal, you're 00:04:16.740 --> 00:04:19.480 experiencing the downstream effects of Fujiwara's 00:04:19.480 --> 00:04:21.709 bionic arm. And the developers did have to figure 00:04:21.709 --> 00:04:24.769 out how to preserve that very specific 2D physics 00:04:24.769 --> 00:04:28.370 puzzle as gaming hardware evolved into 3D environments. 00:04:28.649 --> 00:04:31.649 We saw a brilliant solution to this with the 00:04:31.649 --> 00:04:34.970 2008 enhanced remake, Bionic Commando Rearmed, 00:04:35.029 --> 00:04:37.170 which was developed by Grin. The Rearmed approach 00:04:37.170 --> 00:04:39.290 is a perfect example of elegant preservation. 00:04:39.769 --> 00:04:42.670 They transitioned the series into what is commonly 00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:46.350 called 2 .5D. Which is such a great aesthetic. 00:04:46.730 --> 00:04:48.870 It really is. The environments and character 00:04:48.870 --> 00:04:50.870 models are fully rendered in beautiful modern 00:04:50.870 --> 00:04:54.250 3D graphics, but the gameplay itself remains 00:04:54.250 --> 00:04:57.129 directly locked to a 2D plane. Which means the 00:04:57.129 --> 00:04:59.230 physics calculations you have to make as a player, 00:04:59.329 --> 00:05:01.629 the arc, the momentum, the timing of the release, 00:05:01.750 --> 00:05:04.689 they remain mathematically identical to the 1980s 00:05:04.689 --> 00:05:06.910 original, just with a modern aesthetic sheen 00:05:06.910 --> 00:05:09.310 over the top. It proves that a great mechanic 00:05:09.310 --> 00:05:12.250 doesn't need to be fundamentally altered just 00:05:12.250 --> 00:05:14.189 because the processing power of the console has 00:05:14.189 --> 00:05:16.730 increased. Though Grin did eventually tackle 00:05:16.730 --> 00:05:20.970 full 3D traversal with the 2009 reboot, introducing 00:05:20.970 --> 00:05:23.790 an over -the -shoulder perspective. Oh man, that 00:05:23.790 --> 00:05:26.769 was a huge leap. Taking a pendulum swing into 00:05:26.769 --> 00:05:29.329 a 3D space meant they had to introduce left and 00:05:29.329 --> 00:05:32.110 right sway controls, adding an entirely new Z 00:05:32.110 --> 00:05:34.990 -axis to the momentum puzzles. Yeah, navigating 00:05:34.990 --> 00:05:38.170 a ruined cityscape in full 3D required you to 00:05:38.170 --> 00:05:40.670 constantly adjust your lateral trajectory mid 00:05:40.670 --> 00:05:43.389 -swing just to line up with the next skyscraper 00:05:43.389 --> 00:05:45.750 or monorail track. It was a massive evolution 00:05:45.750 --> 00:05:48.430 of the core idea. That structural evolution is 00:05:48.430 --> 00:05:50.910 definitely fascinating, but the mechanical innovations 00:05:50.910 --> 00:05:53.829 are only half of the Bionic Commando story. They 00:05:53.829 --> 00:05:56.279 really are. The narrative and localization history 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.319 is where things take a severe detour. Now, before 00:05:59.319 --> 00:06:01.019 we get into this next section, I need to offer 00:06:01.019 --> 00:06:03.920 a clear caveat for you listening. The story of 00:06:03.920 --> 00:06:06.480 this game involves alternate history and very 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:09.300 dark wartime politics. It's quite heavy for an 00:06:09.300 --> 00:06:11.959 80s arcade game. It is. So please note, we are 00:06:11.959 --> 00:06:14.240 strictly reporting the historical themes and 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:16.339 visual elements exactly as they are detailed 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:19.329 in our source material. We are maintaining absolute 00:06:19.329 --> 00:06:22.069 impartiality to explain the lore of this franchise. 00:06:22.389 --> 00:06:25.290 We are not endorsing any of the imagery or viewpoints 00:06:25.290 --> 00:06:27.829 we're about to discuss. It is a vital context 00:06:27.829 --> 00:06:30.629 to establish because the original premise is 00:06:30.629 --> 00:06:33.889 incredibly explicit for an action platformer 00:06:33.889 --> 00:06:37.189 of that era. When you look at the 1988 Famicom 00:06:37.189 --> 00:06:40.129 version released in Japan, the title alone sets 00:06:40.129 --> 00:06:42.069 a completely different tone. A completely different 00:06:42.069 --> 00:06:44.689 tone. It translates to top secret. Hitler no 00:06:44.689 --> 00:06:47.160 Fukatsu. which literally means Hitler's resurrection. 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:49.720 Wow. The narrative takes place in an alternate 00:06:49.720 --> 00:06:52.060 timeline where the Nazi regime was not fully 00:06:52.060 --> 00:06:54.439 eradicated after World War II. The enemy faction 00:06:54.439 --> 00:06:57.220 in the Japanese release is overtly a neo -Nazi 00:06:57.220 --> 00:07:00.000 nation. The opposing soldiers are designed with 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.720 distinct Nazi -like uniforms, and the Imperial 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:05.600 Army's insignia prominently features a swastika 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.449 layered with a thunderbolt. There is zero ambiguity 00:07:08.449 --> 00:07:11.009 about who Nathan Spencer is fighting. None at 00:07:11.009 --> 00:07:13.970 all. And to understand how this was handled internationally, 00:07:14.350 --> 00:07:16.509 we have to look at the climate of the North American 00:07:16.509 --> 00:07:19.189 video game market in the late 1980s. Right, post 00:07:19.189 --> 00:07:22.509 -crash. Exactly. Following the industry crash 00:07:22.509 --> 00:07:26.449 of 1983, Nintendo of America had to tread incredibly 00:07:26.449 --> 00:07:29.350 carefully to convince retailers to stock their 00:07:29.350 --> 00:07:32.589 new console. They explicitly marketed the Nintendo 00:07:32.589 --> 00:07:35.870 Entertainment System, the NES, as a family -friendly 00:07:35.870 --> 00:07:38.490 toy. They even bundled it with a literal plastic 00:07:38.490 --> 00:07:41.610 robot, ROB, just to distance it from the stigma 00:07:41.610 --> 00:07:44.509 of video games. They did. Consequently, Nintendo 00:07:44.509 --> 00:07:48.170 instituted uncompromising draconian content guidelines 00:07:48.170 --> 00:07:51.689 regarding any religious sexual or political imagery 00:07:51.689 --> 00:07:53.850 which meant hitler's resurrection was never going 00:07:53.850 --> 00:07:55.990 to make it past the censors in its original form 00:07:55.990 --> 00:07:58.829 no chance the game went through a massive sweeping 00:07:58.829 --> 00:08:02.129 localization process for the west all explicit 00:08:02.129 --> 00:08:04.509 references were scrubbed the neo -nazis were 00:08:04.509 --> 00:08:06.829 renamed the bads and that's spelled with two 00:08:06.829 --> 00:08:09.399 d's Although the localized English instruction 00:08:09.399 --> 00:08:12.120 manual actually refers to the enemy faction as 00:08:12.120 --> 00:08:15.279 the Naz, which is barely a veil over the original 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:18.939 intent. Barely. The localization team also altered 00:08:18.939 --> 00:08:22.660 the central iconography. The swastika and thunderbolt 00:08:22.660 --> 00:08:25.459 insignia was replaced with a new symbol resembling 00:08:25.459 --> 00:08:28.250 an eagle. Furthermore, the leader of the enemy 00:08:28.250 --> 00:08:30.870 forces, originally named Weissman in the Japanese 00:08:30.870 --> 00:08:33.889 script, was renamed Kilt for the English release. 00:08:34.210 --> 00:08:37.570 But the censorship was highly inconsistent. While 00:08:37.570 --> 00:08:39.649 the names and the prominent logos were altered, 00:08:39.809 --> 00:08:43.090 the actual in -game sprites, the visual aesthetic 00:08:43.090 --> 00:08:46.330 of the soldiers' uniforms, remained largely untouched. 00:08:46.409 --> 00:08:48.470 It was just a superficial coat of paint over 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:50.679 the original design. Here's where it gets really 00:08:50.679 --> 00:08:52.799 interesting. We mentioned the Japanese title 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:55.460 was Hitler's Resurrection, culminating in a final 00:08:55.460 --> 00:08:58.120 boss fight against a revived Adolf Hitler. Yep. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:00.279 For the English release, Nintendo of America 00:09:00.279 --> 00:09:03.159 changed the antagonist's name to Master D. However, 00:09:03.559 --> 00:09:05.519 they did not alter his character portrait or 00:09:05.519 --> 00:09:08.659 his in -game sprite. Master D visually remained 00:09:08.659 --> 00:09:11.399 a direct, unmistakable depiction of Adolf Hitler. 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:13.539 The irony of that localization choice is just 00:09:13.539 --> 00:09:16.259 staggering. But it actually pales in comparison 00:09:16.259 --> 00:09:18.000 to what happens at the very end of the game. 00:09:18.179 --> 00:09:21.090 Oh, the N -ing. If you manage to defeat Master 00:09:21.090 --> 00:09:23.789 D, the game features an ending cinematic that 00:09:23.789 --> 00:09:26.990 is absolutely notorious among retro gamers. It's 00:09:26.990 --> 00:09:29.370 infamous. It shows a sequence where Master D's 00:09:29.370 --> 00:09:32.509 face rapidly expands and violently explodes in 00:09:32.509 --> 00:09:35.909 graphic anatomical detail. And despite Nintendo's 00:09:35.909 --> 00:09:38.289 famously stripped sensors scrubbing the political 00:09:38.289 --> 00:09:41.070 terminology and symbols, they left this incredibly 00:09:41.070 --> 00:09:45.070 gory, explosive climax completely intact in the 00:09:45.070 --> 00:09:47.649 Western NES release. It makes no sense. Yeah. 00:09:47.690 --> 00:09:49.929 If we step back and analyze this, it perfectly 00:09:49.929 --> 00:09:52.590 encapsulates the strange, contradictory priorities 00:09:52.590 --> 00:09:57.529 of... By modern standards, the logic seems entirely 00:09:57.529 --> 00:09:59.990 backward. Totally backward. Historical terminology 00:09:59.990 --> 00:10:02.470 and political insignias were deemed too damaging 00:10:02.470 --> 00:10:04.750 or sensitive for an audience to process and were 00:10:04.750 --> 00:10:07.629 aggressively censored. Yet a hyper -violent, 00:10:07.769 --> 00:10:10.129 graphically explicit visual of a dictator's face 00:10:10.129 --> 00:10:12.409 detonating was somehow classified as acceptable 00:10:12.409 --> 00:10:14.990 content for children playing a toy console. Right. 00:10:15.090 --> 00:10:17.049 It indicates that the censors viewed historical 00:10:17.049 --> 00:10:19.309 and political reality as a far greater threat 00:10:19.309 --> 00:10:22.049 to their family -friendly image than visual violence. 00:10:22.289 --> 00:10:25.190 That contradiction is a perfect bridge into another 00:10:25.190 --> 00:10:28.860 messy aspect of the bionic commando legacy. I'm 00:10:28.860 --> 00:10:30.899 talking about corporate interference in the game's 00:10:30.899 --> 00:10:34.039 timeline and canon. Just as Nintendo's corporate 00:10:34.039 --> 00:10:36.259 mandates warped the developer's narrative vision, 00:10:36.740 --> 00:10:38.940 Capcom's own marketing department aggressively 00:10:38.940 --> 00:10:42.080 altered the game's identity to drive sales. You're 00:10:42.080 --> 00:10:45.220 referring to the 1987 United States arcade release. 00:10:45.519 --> 00:10:48.840 That is a prime example of how disconnected marketing 00:10:48.840 --> 00:10:51.399 was from development during the arcade boom. 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:53.980 Exactly. When the Bionic Commando arcade cabinet 00:10:53.980 --> 00:10:56.320 launched in the U .S., the marketing materials 00:10:56.320 --> 00:10:58.940 bizarrely positioned the game as a direct sequel 00:10:58.940 --> 00:11:02.059 to an entirely different Capcom arcade hit called 00:11:02.059 --> 00:11:03.740 Commando. Yeah, they just glued them together. 00:11:03.940 --> 00:11:06.759 The promotional brochures explicitly named the 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:09.919 protagonist Super Joe, who was the hero of Commando. 00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:11.960 If we connect this to the bigger picture, it 00:11:11.960 --> 00:11:14.860 highlights how fluid and disposable video game 00:11:14.860 --> 00:11:17.940 lore was during that era. In the original Japanese 00:11:17.940 --> 00:11:20.460 version of Commando, the player character wasn't 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:22.559 even named Super Joe. He was just an anonymous 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:24.799 member of a special forces unit. Just a guy with 00:11:24.799 --> 00:11:28.309 a gun. Right. But arcade games needed recognizable 00:11:28.309 --> 00:11:31.129 hooks to stand out in crowded arcades and eat 00:11:31.129 --> 00:11:33.129 quarters. So the marketing department simply 00:11:33.129 --> 00:11:35.830 fabricated a narrative bridge between two unrelated 00:11:35.830 --> 00:11:39.230 games solely because sharing a brand name might 00:11:39.230 --> 00:11:41.610 convince an arcade owner to purchase the new 00:11:41.610 --> 00:11:45.149 cabinet. They superimposed a false identity onto 00:11:45.149 --> 00:11:47.929 the game. The narrative was entirely subservient 00:11:47.929 --> 00:11:50.919 to the marketing strategy. And this casual relationship 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:53.399 with the franchise's identity continued well 00:11:53.399 --> 00:11:57.460 into the late 90s. In 1999, Capcom released Bionic 00:11:57.460 --> 00:12:00.039 Commando, elite forces for the Game Boy Color, 00:12:00.139 --> 00:12:02.419 and they took a very experimental approach to 00:12:02.419 --> 00:12:05.159 the lore. They completely dropped Nathan Spencer 00:12:05.159 --> 00:12:07.840 as the protagonist. Entirely gone. Instead, Elite 00:12:07.840 --> 00:12:10.120 Forces allowed you to play as an unnamed male 00:12:10.120 --> 00:12:12.460 or female commando. It featured a standalone 00:12:12.460 --> 00:12:15.000 plot that disconnected itself from the main timeline. 00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:17.740 Removing the established protagonist is a fascinating 00:12:17.740 --> 00:12:20.340 test for any franchise. It asks the question, 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:22.899 what is the actual core of the intellectual property? 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:25.679 Is the appeal of Bionic Commando the character 00:12:25.679 --> 00:12:28.200 of Nathan Spencer, or is it strictly the mechanics 00:12:28.200 --> 00:12:30.440 of the grappling hook? And their answer was clearly 00:12:30.440 --> 00:12:33.240 the hook. By removing Spencer, the developers 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:36.259 leaned into the idea that the physics and traversal 00:12:36.259 --> 00:12:39.559 were the true stars of the series. They did attempt 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:42.200 to evolve those mechanics in Elite Forces 2. 00:12:42.379 --> 00:12:45.440 They added the ability to climb down from platforms. 00:12:45.720 --> 00:12:48.259 That sounds like a minor quality of life update, 00:12:48.440 --> 00:12:51.100 but it drastically expanded how you could navigate 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:53.360 vertically. It changes the whole flow. They also 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:55.700 integrated segments requiring the use of a sniper 00:12:55.700 --> 00:12:58.299 rifle to eliminate distant targets, introducing 00:12:58.299 --> 00:13:00.899 a totally different pacing and combat style to 00:13:00.899 --> 00:13:03.259 the swinging formula. While Elite Forces was 00:13:03.259 --> 00:13:05.720 an interesting mechanical detour, the character 00:13:05.720 --> 00:13:08.450 of Nathan Spencer ultimately proved his essential 00:13:08.450 --> 00:13:11.529 to Capcom's broader universe. His design from 00:13:11.529 --> 00:13:14.629 the 2009 reboot, complete with his updated bionic 00:13:14.629 --> 00:13:17.090 arm and dreadlocks, has become his definitive 00:13:17.090 --> 00:13:19.889 modern look. He became a recurring staple in 00:13:19.889 --> 00:13:22.470 Capcom's crossover titles. You can find him trading 00:13:22.470 --> 00:13:25.009 blows with comic book heroes as a playable character 00:13:25.009 --> 00:13:27.950 in modern fighting games like Marvel vs. Capcom 00:13:27.950 --> 00:13:31.210 3, Fate of Two Worlds, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 00:13:31.210 --> 00:13:34.649 3, and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite, where he is 00:13:34.649 --> 00:13:36.669 voiced by Damian Clark. It's amazing he stuck 00:13:36.669 --> 00:13:39.019 around so long. The character has survived long 00:13:39.019 --> 00:13:41.620 past the peak of the platforming genre. But if 00:13:41.620 --> 00:13:43.500 we're discussing what allowed this franchise 00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:46.279 to survive and resonate over the decades, we 00:13:46.279 --> 00:13:49.220 cannot overlook the audio design. The soundtrack 00:13:49.220 --> 00:13:51.919 of this series is an unsung triumph of early 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.659 game development, and it was driven almost entirely 00:13:54.659 --> 00:13:57.580 by pioneering female composers. The music of 00:13:57.580 --> 00:14:00.639 Bionic Commando is undeniably iconic. For the 00:14:00.639 --> 00:14:03.200 original 1987 arcade release, the soundtrack 00:14:03.200 --> 00:14:06.440 was composed by Harumi Fujita. She was a key 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:08.919 member of the Capcom sound team, which is notable 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:11.620 because at that time it was an all -female group 00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:14.179 of composers responsible for defining the auditory 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:16.759 landscape of Capcom's arcade dominance. When 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:18.720 it came time to port the experience to the home 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:22.379 consoles, specifically the Famicom and NES, the 00:14:22.379 --> 00:14:25.159 technical challenges shifted dramatically. Fellow 00:14:25.159 --> 00:14:27.779 female composer Junko Tomiya took over the audio 00:14:27.779 --> 00:14:30.340 duties. And she didn't just compress Fujita's 00:14:30.340 --> 00:14:32.600 arcade tracks, she fundamentally expanded the 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:35.620 musical identity of the franchise. the original 00:14:35.620 --> 00:14:37.779 arcade melodies, but composed several entirely 00:14:37.779 --> 00:14:40.240 new tracks specifically for the console hardware. 00:14:40.460 --> 00:14:43.080 That includes the legendary Bionic Commando theme 00:14:43.080 --> 00:14:45.299 and the track The Power Plant. To appreciate 00:14:45.299 --> 00:14:47.639 Tamiya's work, you really have to understand 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:50.580 the severe technical limitations of the NES sound 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:54.500 chip, the Ricoh 2A03. Composers only had five 00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:56.980 audio channels to work with, and only a couple 00:14:56.980 --> 00:14:59.139 of those could be used for lead melodies. It's 00:14:59.139 --> 00:15:01.259 incredibly restrictive. It's practically nothing. 00:15:01.659 --> 00:15:04.179 To create the illusion of a massive, driving, 00:15:04.340 --> 00:15:07.500 epic soundtrack, Tamiya had to utilize rapid 00:15:07.500 --> 00:15:09.899 arpeggios to simulate chords that the hardware 00:15:09.899 --> 00:15:12.820 couldn't natively produce. She layered those 00:15:12.820 --> 00:15:15.220 over heavy, relentless bass lines to maintain 00:15:15.220 --> 00:15:18.080 the feeling of forward momentum. She extracted 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:21.019 an incredibly complex sound out of highly primitive 00:15:21.019 --> 00:15:23.840 hardware. It is just masterful work. The result 00:15:23.840 --> 00:15:26.019 is a soundtrack that is permanently burned into 00:15:26.019 --> 00:15:28.419 the memory of anyone who played the game. And 00:15:28.419 --> 00:15:30.720 Capcom has taken significant steps to ensure 00:15:30.720 --> 00:15:34.029 that legacy isn't lost to time. In November 2015, 00:15:34.269 --> 00:15:36.289 they released the Senjo no Akami and Top Secret 00:15:36.289 --> 00:15:39.009 original sound collection. Oh, it is a phenomenal 00:15:39.009 --> 00:15:42.009 piece of archival preservation. It is a massive 00:15:42.009 --> 00:15:44.649 five -disc collection that compiles the soundtracks 00:15:44.649 --> 00:15:47.649 from all the in -house developed games in both 00:15:47.649 --> 00:15:50.350 the Commando and Bionic Commando series. The 00:15:50.350 --> 00:15:52.529 fact that it includes detailed liner notes written 00:15:52.529 --> 00:15:55.570 by fellow legendary composer Manami Matsume shows 00:15:55.570 --> 00:15:58.549 a real reverence for the work. I just love seeing 00:15:58.549 --> 00:16:01.129 this stuff preserved. Music is often the emotional 00:16:01.129 --> 00:16:04.289 anchor of a retro game. Preserving these tracks 00:16:04.289 --> 00:16:07.509 with such meticulous care ensures that the cultural 00:16:07.509 --> 00:16:11.389 footprint of Junko Tomiya and Harumi Fujita endures 00:16:11.389 --> 00:16:13.690 independently of the software itself. I can tell 00:16:13.690 --> 00:16:15.350 you're a fan of that collection. So what does 00:16:15.350 --> 00:16:18.120 this all mean? When we look at the aggregation 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:20.620 of our sources today, the story of Bionic Commando 00:16:20.620 --> 00:16:23.519 is fundamentally a story about constraints. By 00:16:23.519 --> 00:16:25.679 removing a core capability like jumping, the 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:27.519 developers were forced to engineer an entirely 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:30.580 new physics based traversal system, inadvertently 00:16:30.580 --> 00:16:32.340 laying the groundwork for grappling mechanics 00:16:32.340 --> 00:16:34.759 used in games today. They changed the landscape. 00:16:35.070 --> 00:16:37.230 And on the localization front, the constraints 00:16:37.230 --> 00:16:40.169 imposed by Nintendo's strict censorship policies 00:16:40.169 --> 00:16:43.210 resulted in one of the most bizarrely contradictory 00:16:43.210 --> 00:16:46.830 products in gaming history. A game scrubbed of 00:16:46.830 --> 00:16:49.929 political symbols but leaving intact a graphically 00:16:49.929 --> 00:16:52.690 exploding dictator. This raises an important 00:16:52.690 --> 00:16:54.909 question, though, especially regarding that core 00:16:54.909 --> 00:16:57.850 mechanical constraint. We spent this time analyzing 00:16:57.850 --> 00:17:00.350 how the lack of a jump button forced players 00:17:00.350 --> 00:17:02.950 to rewire their brains and define the entire 00:17:02.950 --> 00:17:05.869 soul of the franchise. The bionic arm only meant 00:17:05.869 --> 00:17:07.450 something because you had no other way to get 00:17:07.450 --> 00:17:10.349 off the ground. Precisely. But as hardware evolved, 00:17:10.589 --> 00:17:12.710 developers eventually relented. When the franchise 00:17:12.710 --> 00:17:16.069 moved to 3D with the 2009 reboot, and subsequently 00:17:16.069 --> 00:17:19.369 in the 2 .5D follow -up Bionic Commando Rarearm 00:17:19.369 --> 00:17:21.910 2 in 2011, the developers finally gave Nathan 00:17:21.910 --> 00:17:24.309 Spencer a dedicated jump mechanic. They gave 00:17:24.309 --> 00:17:26.650 the player the one thing the series had stubbornly 00:17:26.650 --> 00:17:29.250 withheld for over two decades. Which brings us 00:17:29.250 --> 00:17:31.269 to a philosophical design question you have to 00:17:31.269 --> 00:17:33.950 consider. When an intellectual property builds 00:17:33.950 --> 00:17:36.089 its entire identity and cult following around 00:17:36.089 --> 00:17:40.029 a severe, uncompromising limitation, what happens 00:17:40.029 --> 00:17:42.549 when a modern sequel finally removes that limitation? 00:17:43.210 --> 00:17:45.529 In the pursuit of making a game more accessible 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:47.730 or bringing it in line with modern genre standards, 00:17:48.190 --> 00:17:50.789 does giving the player the freedom to jump actually 00:17:50.789 --> 00:17:54.180 rob the world of its unique identity? Does removing 00:17:54.180 --> 00:17:56.559 the constraint kill the very magic that made 00:17:56.559 --> 00:17:58.799 the game memorable in the first place? That is 00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.299 a phenomenal contradiction to end on. Does giving 00:18:01.299 --> 00:18:03.119 the player more freedom actually diminish the 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:05.319 experience? We will leave you to mull that over 00:18:05.319 --> 00:18:07.059 as you look at the mechanics of the games you 00:18:07.059 --> 00:18:09.220 play today. Thank you for joining us for this 00:18:09.220 --> 00:18:11.720 deep dive into the archives, the physics of grappling 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:14.720 hooks, and the strange history of 1980s localization. 00:18:15.019 --> 00:18:17.519 Until next time, keep questioning the media you 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:17.819 consume.