Job #34: New Series
Capcom Series - Bionic Commando
Bionic Commando is an action platformer video game series, which was designed by
Tokuro Fujiwara (known as the creator of Ghosts n' Goblins and producer of Mega Man & Resident Evil) for
the arcades and Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom in 1987, created as a successor to his earlier Konami game
Roc'n Rope in 1983 by building on its grappling hook mechanic, known for being one of few instances in a platform game where the player cannot traditionally jump (except in Rearmed 2). The series focuses on
Nathan "Rad" Spencer, a soldier who was given his trademark bionic arm, which he uses both as a weapon and a grappling hook to pull himself or swing from ceilings. It's success has achieved a few sequels like
Elite Forces on Game Boy Color, a
Rearmed duology and the
2009 reboot, with Spencer himself appearing as a fighter in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds and Infinite.
The series started as a sequel to Tokuro Fujiwara's earlier run-and-gun classic,
Commando, which was released for the arcades in April 2nd, 1985, which starred Spencer's supporting ally and commander,
Joseph "Super Joe" Gibson, as he fights through enemy soldiers in a battlefield while armed with an assault rifle and a limted supply of grenades. The game itself became a high-grossing success, spawned numerous clones and
popularized the run-and-gun shooter genre following its release, having been followed with two sequels, 1990's
Mercs (in which Super Joe can upgrade his weapon, detonate Megacrush Bombs and pilot enemy vehicles like tanks; has
a kick-ass soundtrack) and 2008's
Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, alongside a 1986 spin-off,
The Speed Rumbler.
While it may seem like only Nathan Spencer can be seen as a playable fighter from this series, I have just explained about Commando and it's sequels itself
being part of the canon, with Joseph "Super Joe" Gibson himself as a second potential character to pick up for his games' influential impact and fitting well with Konami's library of military-themed games and shoot 'em ups/run-and-guns overall, like Metal Gear & Contra themselves.
Konami Series - Rocket Knight Adventures
Rocket Knight Adventures is a side-scrolling platformer/shoot 'em up video game series, which was created by
Nobuya Nakazato for the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive in 1993, who was known for designing many Contra games such as III: The Alien Wars, Hard Corps and Shattered Soldier. It's setting is a mixture between medieval, fantasy and steampunk elements, starring an anthropomorphic opossum called
Sparkster, who occassionally has to stop various armies consisting of pigs, robots, wolves, etc. to protect the peaceful Kingdom of Zephyrus and avenge his deceased adoptive father killed by his rival,
Axel Gear.
The first game itself is praised for it's graphics, high-speed action gameplay and
soundtrack (
very awesome to
listen out, such as a
first stage theme which
was remixed for the 2010 reboot, a
iconic boss theme and
Lakeside from the SNES game) composed by
Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill/Contra fame, becoming successful enough to get a few sequels on Genesis, SNES and PS3/Xbox 360/Steam (latter was
given for free in Xbox One last year), cameo appearances (
Ganbare Goemon 2,
Snatcher's SEGA CD version, a RPG/dating-sim
Mitsumete Knight,
Contra: Shattered Soldier and
New International Track & Field) and even
a comic book story arc in Fleetway's Sonic the Comic (with a planned sequel by fan demand, though they no longer had the license from Konami). It also inspired numerous indie games like
Freedom Planet,
Shovel Knight, etc.
For potential characters to bring up:
- Sparkster - The main protagonist/hero and a eponymous Rocket Knight himself. Armed with his signature blue armor, jetpack that allows for good air mobility and a sword that can shoot energy projectiles when charging them up, he can bounce off walls in a drilling motion while using his sword for quick spinning attacks and float in the air for a limited time. He can even perform a fiery attack with Flame Orb, transform into a Super Sonic-like Golden Sparkster with seven legendary swords, Keys to the Sealm and summon his giant mecha modeled after himself, the Sparkrobo.
- Axel Gear - The rogue, evil Black Knight and Sparkster's long-time rival who appeared in almsot every game alongside him, who killed his adoptive father/teacher Mifune Sanjulo. He has most of Sparkster's abilities, but also his own such as missiles, seeking bombs, gas/lightning attacks, sweeping energy beams and a giant boxing mech from the SNES game that can also shoot energy blasts. Would otherwise work as one of Sparkster's alternate costumes that changes his model.
- Devligus Devotindos - Emperor of the Devotindos Empire, who is the main antagonist of the original 1993 SEGA Genesis game and seeks to unseal an ancient doomsday weapon called The Pig Star, to which he downloaded his consciousness into it's core after being defeated by Sparkster (potential Level 3 super). Able to perform slashing attacks with his sword, send out blue enregy waves, command his Pig Infantry minions for back-up, who either attacks by rushing straight while swinging their weapons or using vehicles, and turn into his robotic form to attack the opponent by stretching limbs & hovering around.
- King Gedol - The main villain of Sparkster: Rocket Knight Adventures 2 and a Sparkster story in Sonic the Comic. A powerful sorcerer and ruler of the Gedol Empire, who specializes in magical powers like conjuring lightning bolts, summoning meteors, sucking the opponent into a vortex, switching bodies, creating illusions, levitate in the air and turning into a gigantic head that shoots out laser beams from his eyes.
strawpoll.com
Infinity Sorcerer
and
tonygameman
for getting their stages in. Character submissions will be open for another day, so I'm gonna throw my choices into the ring.
Northsouthmap
)
PuyoWitch
)
robopon.fandom.com
HyperSomari64
)
Flyboy
)
