3. General analysis
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Genre: run and gun shooter, vertically scrolling, arcade.
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Similar games: Ikari warriors, Gun Smoke, Who Dares Wins.
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Developers & Publisher: Capcom.
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Distributor: Data East.
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Designer: Tokuro Fujiwara.
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Mode: only one player at the same moment.
Capcom logo
Hardware: NES Commando.
CPU: Ricoh 2A03 8-bit processor.
RAM: 2Kb.
Memory: the most normal for NES games is between 128Kb and 384Kb.
Graphic: 256 x 240 pixels.
Controllers: a command with 2 main buttons (A/B), 2 secondary (Start/Select) and 4 directional buttons (8-way).
Commando (Wolf of the Battlefield, the first game from this saga) is a run and shooter released on NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), designed by Capcom (1985). The designer was Tokuro Fujiwara. The game was an inspiration for others games of the same genre.
In 1989 it was published a version for Atari 2600, Intellivision, and Atari 7800. After the good reviews, there were versions released for a lot of platforms like Arcade, BBC Micro, Acorn Electron, Amiga, Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, MSX, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Virtual Console. Also, a newest version of Commando was developed for the newest platforms (PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360), which could get good marketing positions.
Last Commando game (for PS3), on the left; First Commando game (Arcade), on the right
1985 -> Amstrad CPC: published by Elite Systems
1985 -> Commodore 64: developed and published by Elite Systems
1985 -> Sinclair/ZX Spectrum: developed and published by Elite Systems
1986 -> MS-DOS: published by Data East
1986 -> NES & Famicom: developed and published by Capcom
1987 -> Intellivision: ported by Realtime Associates and published by INTV
1987 -> MSX: developed by Capcom and published by ASCII Corporation
1988 -> Atari 2600: published by Activision
1989 -> Commodore Amiga: developed and published by Elite Systems
1989 -> Atari 7800: published by Atari
1990 -> Atari ST: developed and published by Elite Systems
2009 -> Play Station 3/Xbox: published by Capcom and developed by Grin