Video Game / Bionic Commando Rearmed

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After the Albatross plans were recovered long after the fall of an old military regime by the Federal States of America, Generalismo Kilt steals them, defects alongside a group of soldiers and forms an imperial army in order to execute these plans. Super Joe was dispatched by the FSA to stop the imperial army but contact with him was lost with the Bionic Commando Nathan "Rad" Spencer being sent to infiltrate most of the enemy bases in order to find and save Super Joe. Afterwards, Rad will open the path to the imperial headquarters where he must intervene in Kilt's plans, destroy the Albatross, defeat the leader, and make it out alive with Super Joe.

Bionic Commando Rearmed is a remake of Bionic Commando (1988) with newly done 3D models on 2D gameplay that allows you to bring every item you collect with you rather than wait and also arms itself with new bosses and a whole new level. The hacking sequence is now a minigame and you also gain a new multiplayer vs. mode and virtual reality levels. There's also a two-player mode for the main story where James Gapanese joins Rad as a second player in saving Super Joe and stopping the Albatross. The game has been released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Steam.

Bionic Commando Rearmed contains examples of:

• 11th-Hour Superpower: You have Super Joe's machine gun for the final three levels of Rearmed, and the upgraded rocket launcher only for the final boss fight.
• Adaptational Badass: In the original, Master-D, would only shoot you if you miss shooting the cockpit of his helicopter with him dying if you shoot him successfully. Here, where he is just called "the Leader", he takes more punishment from the bazooka attacks before going down and can launch missiles from the copter as well.
• Adaptation Expansion: In both the original NES game and Rearmed, Area 12 features "Master-D" launching the Albatross after killing Generalissimo Killt. In the NES version, the Albatross is just a screen-sized gunship that Ladd has to Colossus Climb to reach the core of. Rearmed has a cutscene showing the launch of a Floating Continent-sized Albatross at the end of the stage, and the Airborne Aircraft Carrier is an almost completely new final level by itself. The final attack on "The Leader"'s helicopter was also expanded into an actual Boss Battle in Rearmed, as well.
• Adapted Out:
  • The spiders, man-eating plants, and moths from the original NES game were removed.
  • The main system computers that function as end-of-level targets have all been removed.
  • The boss fight with the Albatross weapon was removed since the Albatross is now a new final level.
  • The pendant gets replaced with the shin guards.
  • Three of the five platoons who support a commander boss were removed due to a focus on reducing the maximum of times fighting the same boss to two.
  • Two of the "Destroyer bros." were removed, leaving only one man who is now called Desmond Troyer.
• Anime Theme Song: "Bionic Commando" (sometimes called "Go! Go! Bionic Commando" or just "Go! Go! Bionic!") sung by the inimitable Ichiro Mizuki of JAM Project fame. (There's a song on the Bionic Commando Rearmed OST called "Go Go Bionic," but it's nothing but thirty seconds of a Japanese guy saying "Go! Go! Bionic!" with the NES game's Area 1 tune in the background.)
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: If you played the demo version of Rearmed instead of purchasing the game, the first boss will fail to load its attack patterns, saying you need to buy the full version of the game. Your character quips, "Aww, but I really wanted to fight you! Please..?" as well.
• Company Cross-References: There's a challenge run called the "Dragon Run" which is a reference to the Mecha Dragon Boss of Mega Man 2.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Initially, Rearmed gave you the usual finite life stock for each stage, however a later update gives you infinite lives. Which doesn't necessarily translate to an easy win, because you still get tossed back to the last checkpoint after dying.
• Decomposite Character: The bearded imperial commander has his role as a boss split into two unrelated imperial officers.
• Demoted to Extra: The so-called "Bearded Soldier" boss with a shield but no beard is reduced to an NPC who cannot be fought.
• Exploding Barrels: Exploding red barrels are littered all throughout the stages, which you can use to take out enemies, blow objects at a distance to take out enemies, throw to take out enemies, blow up bridges to both take out enemies and gain access to the areas below them, and on occasion activate puzzles and take out enemies and such.
• Hollywood Hacking: Intercepting enemy communications in Rearmed requires you to play a short mini-game before you learn what they were saying.
• Invulnerable Civilians: Played straight in Rearmed; opening fire in a neutral zone FSA camp doesn't trigger anything.
• Marathon Level: The Albatross in Rearmed is three times as long as most stages in the game, which makes it a lot more painful to get back to where you were if you run out of lives late in the level.
• Meaningful Rename: Rearmed changes Hitler/Master-D's name to The Leader, the definition of the man's title of Führer.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Area 5 of Rearmed features safety posters reading ''Warning! Falling Objects! Wear a helmet!" depicting a Met helmet. In the same level, there are background decals of a hanging iron balls on chains, an irritating obstacle in the first game which is no longer implemented in the remake.
  • Rearmed lovingly reminds you of its roots on a regular basis ("Get the heck out of here, you nerd!") Also, the characters strenuously avoid using Hitler's name to the point of (intentional) comedy.
• Named by the Adaptation: Spencer's superior officer went unnamed in the NES game. Here, he's known as Armstrong.
• Outside-the-Box Tactic: All the bosses are defeated by taking advantage of their unexpected weaknesses.
  • The bulldozer robots are impossible to hurt through their armor, but the armor is secured with giant bolts that would be impossible for a human to remove. But you have a bionic arm!
  • The generals commanding the legions are impossible to hurt from the front: they have so many medals that they work as bulletproof armor, and even resist explosions. The usual way to beat them is to move quickly and shoot them in the back before they turn around, or use grenades to blow them up from behind. But the second time they're fought, you have Iron Boots, which makes your swings damaging to any human-sized enemy. Including the generals. The rematch fight can be over in seconds.
• Repeat Cut: At the end of Bionic Commando Rearmed you use a rocket to explode Hitler's head. This moment is shown once at normal speed, a second time in slow motion, then a third time as a still image showing it in great detail.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: The Rearmed shotgun is extremely powerful up close, beaten only by the rocket launcher and a full machine gun clip, but the range is so short, even with the range extending duckbill upgrade, that it's best used to get swinging again than as a weapon.
• "Simon Says" Mini-Game: The Fabricator bosses have a phase where Spencer needs to stand in the center of an arch and block spikes launched in sequence, as indicated by lights around the arch. The Leader's helicopter also has a phase where it launches missiles in sequence, and the player has to anticipate which direction to block from.
• Truer to the Text: The game restores some elements that were removed from the English release such as barricades that need to be removed from your path by the bionic arm and using the arm to beat a captured imperial soldier into talking.
• The Unfought: The so-called "Bearded Soldier" never gets fought anywhere, same for his superior officer.