Clones & Ports of Commando
This article is concerned with clones and ports of Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985 that have appeared on Western home computer game machines. Commando-likes are defined by me as shoot 'em ups that feature 4-way or 8-way one-man movement, aiming and firing on 1-8-way scrolling playfields.
The original Commando coinop was designed by Tokuro Fujiwara and composed by Tamayo Kawamoto.
This article is only concerned with Commando clones and ports that appeared on Western home computer game machines. The clones and ports are presented chronologically.
Scrolling Commando games are not the same Berzerk-likes (maze) or Robotron-likes (open-slather). However, all three come under Run and Gun games.
Commando-likes include the likes of Commando, Rambo and Contra.
Commando Commodore 64 1985
Japan Capsule Computers of the U.K. ported Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985 to Commodore 64 in 1985. Published by Elite Systems, C64 Commando was programmed by Chris Butler, composed by Rob Hubbard and drawn by Rory Green and Chris Harvey.
In assuming the role of Super Joe (a commando), players fire their M60 machine gun and throw grenades at constant streams of enemies while rescuing P.O.Ws, collecting grenades and dodging bullets, grenades and rockets. Cover and avenue of approach can be employed by both player and enemies. As well, some static objects are destructible. The object of Commando is to fight through enemy forces and destroy the enemy H.Q. fortress. En route to that objective players kill about 200 men in around 4 minutes.
C64 Commando consists of three stages whereas coinop Commando consists of eight. Commando stages scroll vertically upwards only. You cannot backtrack or scroll the screen downwards in Commando. C64 Commando sprites and statics are drop-shadowed and move around and fire in four directions. Grenades can only be thrown straight-upwards.
In C64 Commado enemy soldiers yield 300 points, killing enemy officers yields 2,000 points, collecting grenades yields 1,000 points and freeing P.O.Ws yields 2,000 points. Some on-screen bonus points are displayed over the playfield. Bullet impact-points are shown and sprites are drop-shadowed.
C64 Commando scrolling and sprite-shifting are super-smooth. In C64 Commando there are often one dozen moving objects on-screen at the same time. C64 Commando features height-mapping and image-masking (sprites can move in front of or behind objects, such as trees). The SID composition by Rob Hubbard is apex-level.
Who Dares Wins Commodore 64 1985
Alligata Software released Who Dares Wins for the Commodore 64 in 1985. Who Dares Wins was programmed, drawn and composed by Steve Evans.
Unlike C64 Commando of 1985, Who Dares Wins features eight stages of guerilla warfare. Who Dares Wins employs the cover and avenue of approach concepts of Commando, but also adds hazards such as holes, water and quicksand. However, no on-screen point bonuses or bullet impact-points are displayed, and sprites are not drop-shadowed. Commando also plays much faster than Who Dares Wins.
In Who Dares Wins killing enemy soldiers yield 70 points, killing enemy officers yield 1,250 points and freeing P.O.Ws yields 800 points.
Who Dares Wins 2 1985
Alligata Software subsequently released Who Dares Wins 2 for the Commodore 64 in 1985. Who Dares Wins 2 was programmed by Tommy Atkins.
Who Dares Wins 2 modified the stage layouts and graphics of the original WDW and added enemy soldiers jumping down from rooftops, bomber aircraft, gunner aircraft, tanks, trains, gunboats, bullet impact-points and on-screen point bonus displays.
Commando IBM PC 1986
David Steffen of Quicksilver Software Inc. ported Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985 to IBM PC Booter in 1986. PC Commando displays in CGA 320x200 and features a 224x128 active drawspace.
Rambo Commodore 64 1986
Platinum Productions released Rambo: First Blood Part II on the Commodore 64 in 1986. In Rambo players control John J. Rambo as he conducts a reconnaissance mission in a Vietnamese jungle. The object of Rambo is to free the P.O.Ws. At points a helicopter is flown by Rambo.
Rambo weapons include knife, arrow, explosive arrow, grenade, rocket launcher and machine gun. Over Commando, Rambo introduced objectives and an energy bar.
Rambo features 8-way scrolling, movement and firing as well as weapon selections, good music and 2-stage destructibility of trees and buildings. You can basically just flatten everything. And that's fun.
C64 Rambo was one of the first C64 arcade-action games to be developed by what amounts to a small army. In 1985 it was almost unheard of for a C64 game to be programmed by four coders and drawn by three graphicians.
C64 Rambo was programmed by Tony Pomfret, David Collier, Bill Barna and Martin Galway. C64 Rambo was drawn by Stephen Wahid, Tony Pomfret and David Collier. C64 Rambo was composed by Martin Galway.
Ikari Warriors Commodore 64 1986
Quicksilver Software ported SNK's Ikari Warriors coinop to Commodore 64 in 1986. No programmer, graphician or composer is credited in the manual, on the gamebox or in-game. (cf. 1988 C64 IW, below).
1986 C64 Ikari Warriors consists of eight guerilla warfare stages that scroll vertically upwards only; that is, there is no reverse scrolling. 1986 C64 Ikari Warriors scrolling and sprite-shifting are not smooth.
Players control a warrior that can move around and fire in eight directions. The warrior can also throw grenades and drive and fire tanks.
1986 C64 Ikari Warriors weapons include super bullets, double-range bullets, RoF increase, super grenades and screen-wide nuke. Stores of 40x ammo, grenades and tank energy can be collected.
1986 C64 Ikari Warriors enemies include soldiers (100-200 points), Bunkers (600 points), Helicopter (600 points), Tank (800 points), Gate (1,000 points) and Level Advance (5,000 points).
Ikari Warriors IBM PC 1986
Quicksilver Software ported SNK's Ikari Warriors coinop to IBM PC self-booter in 1986. PC Ikari Warriors runs in 16-color EGA 320x200, but its vertically-scrolling playing field is only 208x132px, and its audio consists of naught but bleeps and blurps.
That said, this is a great port of the Ikari Warriors coinop in that it employs screen-draw tricks and compression techniques in order to maintain a colorful scrolling viewport, 8-way firing and two firing modes (gun / grenade) on a mere i808x with 256K of RAM.
The port features keyboard control or 2-button joystick input.
Ikari Warriors Commodore 64 1988
Elite Systems ported SNK's Ikari Warriors coinop to Commodore 64 in 1988 (C16, C64 and C128).
1988 C64 Ikari Warriors consists of eight vertically-scrolling stages with limited reverse scrolling. 1988 C64 Ikari Warriors scrolling and sprite-shifting are smooth. In addition, 1988 C64 Ikari Warriors supports 2-player simultaneous play. Note that 1986 C64 IW (see 1986 section, above) does not feature smooth graphics, reverse scrolling or dual-play.
1988 C64 Ikari Warriors power-ups include armor-piercing rounds, double-range bullets, increased grenade AoE and screen-wide nuke. Stores of 50x ammo, grenades and tank energy can be collected. As well, grenades can be thrown and tanks can be driven and fired.
1988 C64 Ikari Warriors often displays a dozen on-screen soldiers and several projectiles simultaneously, clogging the playfield with action.
1988 C64 Ikari Warriors was programmed by John Twiddy, composed by Jason Brooke (Jas C. Brooke) and drawn by Paul Walker, Rory Green, Karen Trueman and John Harrison.
Rambo 3 Commodore 64 1988
Ocean Software released Rambo 3 for the Commodore 64 in 1988. Rambo 3 is a three-stage top-down flip-screen run and gun game that features a separate inventory screen and one dozen items and four different weapons. Movement and firing is 8-way. There is also a sprite-scaling level.
C64 Rambo 3 was programmed by Zach Townsend and David Jolliff, drawn by Andrew Sleigh, and composed by Jonathan Dunn.
Contra IBM PC 1988
John Siegesmund of Banana Development ported Konami's Contra coinop of 1986 to IBM PC in 1988. Contra is displayed in 4-color CGA or 16-color CGA+ 320x200. Choppy scrolling. The in-game setup menu is displayed in 640x400.
Commando Amiga 1989
Elite Systems of the U.K. ported Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985 to Amiga in November of 1989. Amiga Commando was programmed by Martin Ward based on Neil Latarche's Atari ST conversion code. ST/Amiga Commando was drawn by Steve Beverley and composed by Mark Cooksey.
ST/Amiga Commando feature the full eight stages of coinop Commando (C64 Commando of 1985 only featured three stages), but only Amiga Commando scrolls smoothly. ST/Amiga Commando stages are 256 pixels in width and ~2,300 pixels in height.
Rambo 3 IBM PC 1989
Banana Development released Rambo 3 for IBM PC in 1989. PC Rambo 3 was programmed by John Siegesmund.
PC Rambo 3 runs in 16-color VGA 320x200 (not 256-color), 16-color 320x200 EGA, 16-color 320x200 TGA or monochrome Hercules 720x350. PC DOS Rambo 3 audio supports IBM, Adlib, CMS and Tandy 3-channel audio.
ST/Amiga Rambo 3 of 1989 was programmed by John Brandwood, drawn by Ivan Horn and Rob Hemphill and composed by Jonathan Dunn.
Super Contra IBM PC 1990
Eric Freytag of Distinctive Software Inc. ported Konami's Super Contra coinop of 1988 to IBM PC in 1990. Super Contra is displayed in 16-color EGA 320x200. Choppy scrolling. Graphics by DSI Art Team.
War Zone Amiga 1991
Core Design released War Zone for the Amiga in 1991. Amiga War Zone is a polished Commando-like that features single-player or 2-player simultaneous play.
Amiga War Zone consists of eight vertically scrolling stages 320 pixels in width and 4,800 pixels in height. Thus, it does not scroll horizontally at all. War Zone sprites are drop-shadowed.
War Zone weapons include single-shot, triple shot, rocket launcher, grenade launcher, flame thrower, plasma and screen-side nuke. Weapons can be powered-up twice by collecting power-ups. Collecting a weapon replaces the previous one; you cannot cycle between weapons. Notably, nukes destroy on-screen power-ups and bonuses, not just enemies.
War Zone bonus pick-ups include ammo, first aid, Stars (1,000 points) and P.O.Ws (800 points).
War Zone features destructible objects such as barrels, trees, buildings. Objects can contain pick-ups.
Amiga War Zone was programmed by John Kirkland, drawn by Terry Lloyd and composed by Matthew Simmonds.
Mercs Amiga 1991
Tiertex ported Capcom's Mercs coinop of 1990 to Amiga in 1991. Mercs is the sequel to Capcom's Commando coinop of 1985.
Amiga Mercs consists of eight stages 768 pixels in width and up to 3,760 pixels in height. Thus, Mercs mostly scrolls vertically.
Amiga Mercs lacks the smooth scrolling and responsive controls of the original coinop, as well as many of its details. However, it does feature 2-player simultaneous play.
Published by U.S. Gold, Amiga Mercs was programmed by Anthony Ball, drawn by David Bland and composed by Mike Davies.
Cannon Fodder Amiga 1993
Sensible Software released Cannon Fodder for the Amiga in 1993. Cannon Fodder is a mouse-driven point-and-click run and gun game originally coded for the Amiga. Cannon Fodder employs a modified Sensible Soccer engine.
As one the highlights of the Amiga-games catalogue Cannon Fodder features smooth scrolling, precise controls, great graphics and excellent music and sound effects.
Amiga Cannon Fodder consists of 24 missions in total. Missions can have up to six phases. In some missions players can pilot helicopters and drive jeeps and tanks.
Cannon Fodder was designed by Jonathan "Jops" Hare, programmed by Jools Jameson, drawn by Stoo Cambridge and composed by Richard Joseph and Allister Brimble.
Cannon Fodder was ported to ST, MS-DOS and Archimedes. Offering more of the same, Cannon Fodder 2 was released in 1994 on Amiga and MS-DOS only.
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