With some games, you develop a certain bond as a player, making them mean a bit more to you than the average video game. The game in question might have been one of the first you ever played. Something unforgettable happened while playing it, or you were just exceptionally good at it. Whether it’s out of nostalgia or not, every game carries certain memories with it. For me, Captain Commando is one such special game.

Summer holidays in France

My first encounter with this beat ‘em up dates back to a time when video games were still largely a mystery to me. At the time, I only owned a Nintendo Gameboy, and of course, I occasionally played on consoles at my friends’ houses. Yet, it was always a pleasant surprise to see which arcade cabinet would grace the campsite in Southern France during that summer vacation.

During one of these trips, it turned out to be Captain Commando, a game where you could play with up to four players simultaneously. I practiced multiple times that vacation to set a high score. Many quarters, or rather, French francs, disappeared into the machine. And each time I was enchanted by the gameplay of this colorful beat ‘em up.

The moment supreme

At the ‘moment supreme’, I convinced my parents to come to the arcade to show them how good I had become at playing this game. As a blue-clad commando with a bright yellow pompadour, I bulldozed through level after level.

At a certain point, even for this young gamer, the game became too difficult, and I met my end. Fortunately, my score was good enough to appear in the ‘high scores’, and I jumped for joy.

Little French devil

However, to my great surprise, a French boy, who had been watching my swift actions intently the entire time, walked to the back of the cabinet and pressed a button that caused the machine to reset spontaneously. I looked at him with glazed eyes and had to try my hardest to hold back tears. Never in my short childhood had such an unsympathetic act from this budding Frenchman struck me so deeply.

Slightly disillusioned, I looked at my father and mother and could only mutter something like a barely audible, “Yeah, but…” We walked away to enjoy the rest of our vacation, but this moment would stay with me forever.

A few decades later…

Decades later, now that I’ve recently gotten my hands on the game again (Capcom Classics Collection Remixed for the PSP), it turns out what an incredibly cool game Captain Commando is, and that playing it is just as fun as it was over fifteen years ago. I’m still setting one high score after another, and in my mind, I’m back in a stuffy and slightly too warm French arcade.

Until, at an unguarded moment, the PSP suddenly shuts down. I let out a cry that, in pitch and tone, could have easily come from the mouth of a newly kidnapped damsel. The battery of my PSP had been completely drained. And for a moment, I thought I had been robbed once again of the heroic deeds I had performed for hours, with the high scores as proof.

Blue-clad

Just like decades ago, steam practically shot out of my ears, but I quickly breathed a sigh of relief when I realized that the game had neatly saved the high scores on the memory card in Sony’s handheld. The now-grown French boy briefly popped into my mind. But as a tough blue-clad commando, I swiftly banished him back into oblivion with my bright yellow pompadour. Captain Commando saves the day!

This article was featured in Dutch on the Dutch Retro Gaming Website RetroKings