He’s Such a Man’s Man – New Bionic Commando Screens

Bionic Commando is looking like a pretty cool game, and despite sharing the same name as the original, Capcom is stating that it is very much a sequel instead of a remake. Taking place ten years after the original story, and staring the same main character, they wanted the game to attract as broad an audience as possible since it has been 20 years since the original game came out; also, they did not want people to think they had to have played something else in order to enjoy it. The official website for Bionic Commando has numerous FAQs regarding the game, and Capcom is doing their best to give gamers the facts and dispel any myths regarding everyone beloved hero.

One thing that caught my eye was a question regarding why Nathan Spencer looks so different from the original character. While I personally would have come out with some smart-assed remark about better gaming engines and the amazing new strides in graphics that have popped up over the past twenty years – Capcom was much nicer than I would have been:

When the character was being developed, the art team in Capcom Osaka were consulted, and they noted that many of the original character’s elements – such as the green jumpsuit or the sunglasses – were a necessity of the graphical limits of the NES, and that if the character was being designed today, he would look radically different. Not to mention the fact that there are so many different takes on the character, from the in-game sprite to the in-game graphic, to the box art for the NES and then again for the Game Boy version…Nathan Spencer’s looks are constantly changing.

However, we’ve tried to stick to the core elements of the design – green clothes, unusual red hair, a bionic arm and some big weaponry – so that this Spencer looks as you might have imagined him, rather than exactly as you remember him.

The release date for Bionic Commando has yet to be announced, but gamers can expect to see the game launch for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. According to Capcom, they like to bring titles to as many users as possible and if there is enough interest in porting the game to the Wii, anything is possible. Still no sign of Hitler Master-D though, sorry Jonathan.

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