Captain Commando

""I am... CAPTAIN COMMANDO""

Captain Commando is an arcade Beat'Em Up created by Capcom in 1991, based on its at-the-time Series Mascot, the titular captain. It was one of many spiritual successors of Capcom's first Beat'Em Up Final Fight. Among its unique features (back then) were the option for 4 simultaneous co-op play and the ability to control mecha suits scattered on the stages (similar to Mega Man X's Rider armors). The arcade game received a SNES port in '95 and a PlayStation one in '98.

The game deals with the Commando Team, a four-man group formed by the Captain himself, Sho (Ginzu the Ninja), Jennety (Mack the Knife) and Hoover (Baby Head). Together, they stand up against a futuristic world filled up with crime with the intent of cleaning it out, and are faced against a group of Super Criminals terrorizing Earth, commanded by an alien Evil Overlord known as Genocide (Scumocide).

And that was it. Good ol' Captain would fall into obscurity for a good couple years, until he was picked up to join the roster of Marvel vs. Capcom 1, which led to subsequent appearances in other Crossover games like Namco X Capcom and the Card Fighters series with SNK. Though unlike Capcom's other forgotten character Strider Hiryu, he'd not receive any sequel out of this.

"CAPTAIN KICK!!!, CAPTAIN FIRE!!!, CAPTAIN COLLIDER CORRIDOR!!!, CAPTAIN SWORD!!!"
 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Sho's katana Lightning Light said to cut things at an atomic level.
 * All There in the Manual/Expanded Universe: The 2-volume manga gives further background to the Captain Commando characters, such as the backgrounds of the enemies and commandos alike. It also introduces a few characters who never appeared in the game like Sarah Kisaragi.
 * Amazonian Beauty: Carol and Brenda. There's also the dubious example of Mardia. This official artwork is somewhat Ambiguous Gender (as it obscures her face), but the enemy is shown to have a feminine figure, not to mention the dress and high heels.
 * Art Evolution: The '86 Commando (when he appeared on NES manuals as Capcom's mascot), '89 Commando (ditto SNES manuals) and final Anime-styled game Commando look completely different from each other.
 * Artificial Limbs: Sorta. Blood got his two arms replaced with those of a black man. Oddly enough, he's almost exclusively a kicking boss.
 * Automatic Crossbows: The Weapon of Choice of Shtrom Jr., Shtrom and Druk.
 * Bald of Evil: Genocide.
 * Bank Robbery: The Commandos step in their first Boss Fight just as the boss (Dolg) was robbing a bank.
 * Bare Your Midriff: Carol and Brenda.
 * Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Carol and Brenda, the smaller female enemies, cannot be sliced in half or melted in to goo like everyone else.
 * Although subverted with the "burning to a pile of ashes" animation.
 * Also possibly subverted in Mardia, who appears to be female (albeit a large and muscular female) but has all the same death animations as the male enemies.
 * Blade on a Stick: Yamato uses a long naginata.
 * Bottomless Magazines: Hoover's robot has a missile production FACILITY on one of its legs, that's constantly supplying ammo for the robot's attacks.
 * Bowdlerise: For the SNES port, as usual: the special kill animation for bladed hits (which sliced foes in half) and Jennety's poisoned daggers (melted foes) were removed, the boss Blood was renamed Boots, the Mardia enemy "acid puke" attack was replaced by bomb tossing, and the female mook graphics were touched up a little to cover more.
 * Breath Weapon: The Marbin enemy.
 * The Brute: Among the bosses, there's Dolg. In the Mook variety, we have Organo and Samson, who dress like cavemen.
 * Calling Your Attacks: Not in the arcade game, but done in the Vs. Series to the point it has become a trademark of his.


 * Capcom vs. Whatever: He appears (with Mack, Ginzu and Baby Head as his Assist Characters) in Marvel vs. Capcom 1 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and the four alone, plus Druk, Shtrom, Shtrom Jr. and Doppel (technically, since he's always in the form of someone else) appear in Namco X Capcom.
 * The Captain: Natch.
 * The Good Captain:
 * Captain Space, Defender of Earth!: Namco X Capcom has pretty much everyone in the "future" recognize him and his team as heroes.
 * Child Prodigy: Hoover, a baby who manufactured his own Mini-Mecha!
 * Competitive Balance:
 * Mack/Jennety: Lightning Bruiser.
 * The Captain: Jack of All Stats.
 * Ginzu/Sho: Fragile Speedster.
 * Baby Head/Hoover: Mighty Glacier.
 * Cool Shades: The Captain.
 * Sunglasses at Night: Not even being in civilian clothes stops him from wearing a pair. And he even transforms by placing one pair over the other!
 * Stat-O-Vision: The glasses are linked to a criminal database, which means that Commando gets criminal data on any baddie he puts his eyes on.
 * Crapsack World: The world in 2025 is overrun with crime, with a criminal syndicate ruling over the galaxy.
 * Critical Existence Failure: A bizarre example with the Dual Boss fight against Shtrom and Druk. Once one goes down, the other dies instantly, regardless of his remaining Hit Points.
 * Dominatrix: Carol and Brenda.
 * The Dragon: Blood.
 * Dub Name Change:
 * Sho to Ginzu (Ninja Commando).
 * Jennety to Mack (Mummy Commando).
 * Hoover to Baby Head (Baby Commando).
 * Genocide to Scumocide (the Big Bad).
 * Dumb Muscle: Both Dolg and Monster (4th boss).
 * Elevator Action Sequence: A very brief one in the last stage.
 * Empathic Weapon: Sho's katana may be this, as it's said to serve no one but him.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: Jennety's special attack and Hoover's dashing attack.
 * Excuse Plot
 * Extra Eyes: Monster has three red eyes.
 * Genius Bruiser: Hoover is a super-intelligent baby piloting his own robot.
 * Hell-Bent for Leather: Carol and Brenda.
 * Henshin Hero: While not mentioned in the actual game, Marvel vs. Capcom gave Commando an introduction sequence where he changes from civilian clothes to his Captain armor, all while screaming "Henshin Commando!!".
 * Highly-Visible Ninja: Among the three ninja Mooks, the worst offender is Kojiro (red), with Sasuke (green) and Hanzo (blue) following behind.
 * Hollywood Acid: Mardia's acid puke and, technically, Jennety's daggers leave enemies Stripped to the Bone.
 * Humanoid Aliens: Jennety is actually an alien resembling a mummy. A crime-fighting alien mummy commando.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Sho.
 * Knife Nut: Jennety, plus the Skip and Sonie Mooks.
 * Mad Scientist: Dr T.W. (Tea Water).
 * Meaningful Name: CAPtain COMmando.
 * And Doppel(ganger).
 * Mini-Mecha: Besides the one Hoover has, there are three that can be hijacked throughout the game: a green mech that punches, an orange mech that shoots fire, and a blue mech that fires blasts of ice.
 * Mirror Boss: 8th boss Doppel, together with Doppelganger Attack when faced in multiplayer (or injured enough in single player).
 * Ninja: Sho and the various ninja Mooks of his own corrupted clan.
 * Samurai: The Musashi mooks.
 * Omniglot through Upgrade Artifact: Hoover's pacifier is actually a device that allows him to speak the 3 million languages of the cosmos...
 * Painful Transformation: The poor experimented guy that becomes the 4th boss Monster.
 * Palette Swap: Most mooks have at least one.
 * Playing with Fire/Shock and Awe: Commando's gauntlets employ both fire and electric attacks. Genocide also makes use of fire attacks, alongside ice powers.
 * Poisoned Weapons: Jennety's daggers have a substance that melts enemies on the killing blow.
 * Powered Armor: The Captain's power suit, aptly named Captain Protector.
 * Power Fist: Commando's Guantlets amplify his strength 48 times.
 * Power Floats: Genocide never walks, he flies.
 * Punny Name: If you haven't been clued in by now "Mack the Knife" is an old-time jazz standard, performed by many artists, including Louis Armstrong.
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Shtrom Jr. and his "parents" Shtrom and Druk are theriantropes with a mostly reptilian appearance.
 * The Rival: Yamato to Sho. He joined Genocide just to confront him.
 * Shared Universe: With Final Fight and therefore Street Fighter.
 * Shout-Out: To Final Fight: Sho is the successor of Bushin-ryu Ninjitsu, the same style Guy practices. The setting of the game is Metro City as well, and there are Haggar busts that can be picked up for points.
 * Hoover/Baby Head can also do a piledriver attack that none of the other three can do, similar to Haggar.
 * The Smart Baby: Hoover/Baby Head.
 * Smoke Out: Sho, obviously. His special attack is a lethal version of it.
 * Stripperiffic: Carol and Brenda. How they got away with them dressing like that we will never know.
 * Superpowered Mooks: Most Mooks are Super Criminals, said to be gifted with a secret evil power (likely Bio Augmentation) which grants them abilities beyond human limits.
 * Time Limit Boss: Dr. T.W.'s boss battle. Failing it just lets the doctor escape, to be never seen again.
 * Twenty Minutes Into the Future
 * Underwater Base
 * The Voiceless: Jennety, at least according to Namco X Capcom.
 * "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Stage 2 boss Shtrom Jr. ups the challenge considerably with his projectile attacks, quick jumping and ability to break combos. For many, he's That One Boss.
 * Wolverine Claws: The Z enemies.
 * Wrestler in All of Us: Hoover/Baby Head has an air piledriver grab and a dropkick.
 * X-Ray Sparks: Commando's electric attacks, as well as those used by the Carol and Brenda Mooks.

"Thank you for playing this game!"