Captain Commando (character)

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For the MLJ Comics character Captain Commando, see Pep Comics.
Captain Commando
Capcom character
Captain Commando in Namco × Capcom
First appearance"Captain Commando Challenge Series" (1986)
First gameCaptain Commando (1991)
Designed byAkira "Akiman" Yasuda (Captain Commando)[1]
Voiced byRyōtarō Okiayu (Namco × Capcom, Project X Zone 2)[2]
In-universe information
OriginAmerica

Captain Commando (Japanese: キャプテンコマンドー, Hepburn: Kyaputen Komandōz) is a mascot character created by Capcom's North American branch to advertise their Nintendo Entertainment System games.

Appearances

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Developed by Capcom's North American branch in 1986, Captain Commando as a character was designed as a marketing tool for the company's Nintendo Entertainment System library, unifying the titles as the "Captain Commando Challenge Series". Used on the back of the boxes and in instruction manuals for the games thanking the player for their purchase, the character was depicted as a white haired man with a ray gun in each hand, wearing a high collar coat and sporting two large gold medallions with a "C" imprinted on them on his neck. The character's name was a play on the company's, with the first three letters of each part spelling "Cap Com".[3]

Home releases of titles such as Mega Man, 1942, Commando, and Section Z utilized the character, with the manual of the last stating that Captain Commando was the game's protagonist. Captain Commando was redesigned in 1986, now appearing as a brown haired astronaut wearing a silver spacesuit with his name printed on it, and featuring a monkey on his shoulder. This incarnation of the character was included on home releases of Mega Man 2 and other titles from that year. However, due to the rising popularity of characters such as Mega Man and Street Fighter series protagonist Ryu, the character was seen as no longer necessary and the campaign was discontinued.[3]

In video games

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When looking for source material for what would be Capcom's first four-player game, they rediscovered the Captain Commando character. Junichi Ohno however felt that the character's contemporary astronaut concept would not be viable in a beat 'em up game, and instead wanted to reimagine him as an "ultimate astronaut".[4] Commando was redesigned by artist Akira "Akiman" Yasuda, who himself felt the original design was "bad" and redesigned him based off an American comic book aesthetic.[1] The game was intended to be a "life-size space opera", and Yasuda was influenced by sources such as the American science fiction series Lensman and pulp fiction hero Captain Future. With the addition of their own original characters for the title, according to Ohno the only thing "American" about the game by the end was Captain Commando himself.[4]

Standing 6 ft (182 cm) tall, Captain Commando is a blonde American man with short hair slicked back and a visor over his eyes. His outfit consists of a blue jumpsuit with a white breastplate that has a gold star on the right pectoral, matching boots with orange highlights on his feet, and gauntlets on his arms that have emphasized knuckles and cables extending between the forearm and bicep parts.[5] Parts of his design were also inspired by a space sheriff character in the manga Battle Royal High School. The character in question featured large round shoulders; Yasuda, hoping to start a trend, used large square shoulders for his character designs in the title instead. This later inspired the developers of the fighting game Galaxy Fight to use similar in their own title.[6]

Captain Commando would later appear in Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, a crossover title between Capcom and the Marvel Comics franchise, with Yasuda assisting by providing reference art and clay models of the character for the animation team.[7] While the character is voiced, no voice actor is credited. He has also appeared in other games, including Namco × Capcom and Project X Zone 2, where he is voiced by Ryōtarō Okiayu,[2] and in the SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash series.[8][9] In print media, he appeared in a self-titled manga series released in 2012, published by UDON Entertainment.[10]

Critical reception

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The character received mixed reception since his debut, and has been cited as an example of a failed mascot.[11][12] Vice President of Research and Design for Capcom's arcade titles Noritaka Funamizu stated in 1996 that Commando was no longer a mascot for the company, and that "If we had to pick a mascot, just put any Street Fighter character on there and it's Capcom!"[13] Despite that, the character has seen continued usage in advertising and merchandise.[14][15][16] In 2025, Street Fighter series director Takayuki Nakamura declared the Captain Commando game as part of the Street Fighter shared universe on social media website Twitter.[17]

Matthew Byrd of Den of Geek stated that while Captain Commando was designed to be the "Nick Fury-like character" that served as a uniting pillar for their streak of great games, he felt putting the character in his own game backfired due to overhyping the character. Calling it a mass-market conglomeration of vaguely cool concepts, though he acknowledged the game was good he felt it was in no way going to surpass the cultural impact of titles such as Mega Man, and while Commando was later incorporated into Marvel vs. Capcom in his eyes the damage was already done.[11] Luke McKinney of Retro magazine was far more aggressive, describing the character as "when corporate trademark replaces creative inspriation", particularly voicing disdain for how the character felt overpowered compared to his opponents. In this manner, combined with his lore, he came across as more "bored bully than a hero".[18]

Luke Plunkett for Kotaku called the character his favorite Capcom hero, describing him as "made entirely of blonde hair, sunglasses and 100% pure awesome". He further called him the greatest male video game character of all time despite not actually appearing in a video game for some time, comparing him to mashups of other pulp culture icons in the same vein as Apogee Entertainment's Duke Nukem. Plunkett acknowledged at the same time others did not share his sentiment, and stated that while the character was quietly shelved he was not missed due to the large roster of figurehead characters the modern Capcom company had at its disposal. Regardless, he was thankful to see the character still returning in later titles, adding "you can’t keep a good character down—especially when it belongs to Capcom".[19]

Spanner Spencer writing for The Escapist discussed the character in an examination of the "Jet-Pack Hero Trilogy", a unofficial name for Capcom's early titles consisting of Section-Z, Hyper Dyne Side Arms, and Forgotten Worlds. Stating that while he saw the character as a shallow attempt to compete with Nintendo protagonist Mario, Commando helped drive a particular landmark for the company due to being cast as the North American protagonist of Section Z. Praising how Capcom recognized the need for a mascot character, he felt they could be forgiven for relying on the "action-man cliche", adding that Commando helped established a foundation for many of the company's coin-op titles through advertisements and instruction manuals thanking players for buying a Capcom game. He further stated that while the character had faded from popularity by the time of the Captain Commando game release, the company continued to use him and alongside the other "Jet-Pack Hero" protagonists helped establish Capcom's personality as a company, and of the "unsung heroes of videogame history, few have yielded such rich and diverse benefits for their creators".[20]

References

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  1. ^ a b Yasuda, Akira [@akiman7] (August 24, 2018). キャプテンコマンドーは CAPTAIN COMMANDO ↓　　　　　↓ CAP　 COM　　　↓ CAPCOM という感じでカプコンUSAが展開した 広告用のキャラクターだが 俺はかっこ悪いと思ったのでデザインし直した しかも今もって更に直したい (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 2, 2018 – via Twitter.
  2. ^ a b "Captain Commando voices". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved June 23, 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Retro.UCG: Captain Commando". Ultra Console Game 游戏机 实用技术 (in Chinese). No. 433. January 2018. p. 127. ISSN 1008-0600.
  4. ^ a b "Capcom and the CPS-1 – Developer Interviews". shmuplations. Retrieved June 24, 2025.
  5. ^ Loe, Casey (October 2013). Capcom 30th Anniversary Character Encyclopedia. p. 36. ISBN 978-1465414588.
  6. ^ Yasuda, Akira [@akiman7] (September 17, 2020). 俺的もなんかトレンドを作ってやりたいという気持ちがあって 魔神伝という漫画に肩のアーマーがやたら丸くて大きい宇宙刑事が出てきたので その丸を四角にしたらあまり見たこと無いだろうと思ってキャプテンコマンドーに入れ込んだりしてました ギャラクシーファイトぐらいしかフォロワー無かったが (Tweet) (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 5, 2022. Retrieved June 25, 2025 – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Marvel Vs. Capcom: Official Complete Works. UDON Entertainment. January 1, 2012. pp. 155, 172. ISBN 9781926778495.
  8. ^ SNK (November 21, 1999). SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters' Clash (NeoGeo Pocket Color). Scene: Card Gallery.
  9. ^ Now Production (April 24, 2007). SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS (Nintendo DS). SNK Playmore. Scene: Card Gallery.
  10. ^ Hoffman, Chris (March 2012). "Going Commando". Nintendo Power. No. 276. p. 10.
  11. ^ a b Byrd, Matthew (July 4, 2024). "The Failed Video Game Mascots of the 1990s". Den of Geek. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  12. ^ Miller, Matt (June 2013). "The Forgotten Capcom Brawlers". Game Informer. No. 242. p. 99.
  13. ^ "A Fighter Speaks". Game On! USA. Vol. 1, no. 2. February 1996. p. 6. ISSN 1087-8505.
  14. ^ 『カプコン ベルトアクション コレクション』パッケージ版発売。キャプテンコマンドーがゲームの魅力を紹介. Dengeki Online. December 6, 2018. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  15. ^ McFerran, Damien (September 13, 2024). "Check Out These Amazing Captain Commando Figures". Time Extension. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  16. ^ Donaldson, Alex (March 16, 2018). "Capcom's Captain Commando returns today as a limited time Street Fighter 5 unlock". VG247. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  17. ^ Nakayama, Takayuki [@takaNakayama] (April 15, 2025). "Rival Schools Saturday Night Slam Masters CAPTAIN COMMANDO Strider" (Tweet). Archived from the original on June 24, 2025 – via Twitter.
  18. ^ "High 5: The Worst Heroes Created for Video Games". Retro. No. 8. June 2015. p. 12.
  19. ^ Plunkett, Luke (April 13, 2011). "Captain Commando, Capcom's Greatest Hero". Kotaku. Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  20. ^ Spencer, Spanner (May 8, 2007). "Hero Worship". The Escapist. Retrieved June 25, 2025.