Game music of the day: Bionic Commando

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GR"s ongoing tribute to the beloved world of videogame music

Welcome to GamesRadar's daily blast of all things pertaining to the ever-growing field of game music. Each post will introduce new sounds, games, composers and fan-made remixes of gaming's greatest aural achievements.

April 21, 2010

Game: Bionic Commando

Song: Main Theme

Composer: Harumi Fujita, Junko Tamiya


Above: Main theme from Bionic Commando

Until very recently, Bionic Commando was one of those long-lost franchises that held a lot of promise but just never made it to the big time. Today, we've got sequels and remakes aplenty, though it all still goes back to the NES original.

The original soundtrack is filled with typical Capcom excellence, though nothing matches the song played during the game's first level. It's something like a military march mixed with the grandest symphony ever constructed, suggesting you're on a serious life-or-death mission behind enemy lines, but oh man, are you in fora high-flyingadventure.


Above: The Rearmed remix

This 8-bit classic saw a fairly shitty follow-up on Game Boy Color in 1999, and after that fell into oblivion it looked like the BC series was gone for good. Then, against all hope, came 2008's Bionic Commando Rearmed, possibly the best retro-remake of all time. It kept the same rock-solid gameplay but added cutting edge graphics and a stunning remixed soundtrack from Simon Viklund. Above is the main theme remixed, and below is another track from Rearmed.


Above: Power Plant from Rearmed, a staggering achievement in sound

On a personal note, I loved Rearmed so much that I hassled Capcom about its fake bionic arm long for months on end. Eventually, in December 2008, they finally let me borrow it and dick around with it in San Francisco.

Just this weekRearmed 2 was announced. Naturally I'm stoked, and with Viklund back at the helm, I'm certain there'll be another soundtrack to floor me in 2011. Until then, check out his work in the recently releasedFinal Fight: Double Impact.


Battle with the Four Fiends by Nobuo Uematsu


Reach out to the Truth by Shoji Meguro


Prologue by Adachi and Kudou

Brett Elston
Brett Elston

A fomer Executive Editor at GamesRadar, Brett also contributed content to many other Future gaming publications including Nintendo Power, PC Gamer and Official Xbox Magazine. Brett has worked at Capcom in several senior roles, is an experienced podcaster, and now works as a Senior Manager of Content Communications at PlayStation SIE.