Bionic Commando: Down Goes Hitler

Even by the late-1980s, most of the action game fundamentals were set in stone. We knew that every level would advance in order and you could always jump from platform to platform. Bionic Commando bucked that trend, forcing gamers to mix up the levels and use a grappling hook. The gimmick worked and Capcom's Bionic Commando became a personal favorite for many NES owning gamers. Check out this explosive ending on the ninth day of the 32 Game Endings of Christmas!

Previously On Flashback: It's the 1980s and Super Joe (the no-nonsense hero of Commando) has been kidnapped. Only one man can rescue him -- Nathan "Rad" Spencer. Nathan used to be a regular soldier, but one day he fell out of a building and lost the use of his arm. Thankfully doctors had the technology to make him whole again. With a brand new robotic arm (and an extremely useful grappling hook), Nathan is ready to rescue Super Joe from the evil BADD organization.

This proves to be a difficult project, as these mysterious terrorists seem to be building a weapon that could significantly shift the balance of power in their favor. Now it's up to Rad Spencer to swing his way through enemy bases, forests and caves. By the time he reaches the Hitler lookalike he will have fought a squid, salted his pizza and met a really annoying kid who doesn't take the hint that you work better alone. Actually, I'm not sure any of that actually happens in the game, ever since finishing Cyril Reads Bionic Commando I have had a hard time keeping the fictions straight.

How It Ended: So it turns out BADD was being run by this guy that looks exactly like Adolf Hitler. Only instead of dying in World War II, this version of Hitler gets his head blown up by one well-placed bullet. And if that's not enough, his experimental airship crashes as well. But I suspect he doesn't care about that, what with his head being blown up and all. But there's no time to celebrate, because our hero needs to get out of BADD's base before the structure completely collapses.

With only a minute to spare, Rad Spencer runs as fast as he can through the enemy base. When he finally gets to the top he's met with the horrible thought that he left somebody behind. Nathan wouldn't be able to live with himself if he left Super Joe to die, so he runs back into the crumbling base to save him. We cut to the horrifying image of the island base exploding into a million little pieces. Just as we start to lose hope in Rad Spencer, we see a helicopter flying from the burning buildings. It's Nathan, using his metal claw to hang on to the bottom of the escaping chopper. He's alive ... but just barely. The bionic commando has won the day. He saved Super Joe, destroyed BADD's base and fought a squid. On second thought, he might not have battled a squid in the NES game.

After the credits roll we are left with a perplexing letter from Super Joe. It's August of 2010 and Joe is writing done his thoughts about the BADD mission. He says that now that he's old he can freely talk about what happened, though signs off before actually saying anything impactful. Does this suggest that Bionic Commando is nothing more than one long flashback? Not so fast, because much of his involvement was spent sitting in a prison cell. Perhaps this is a set-up for Bionic Commando 2, an 8-bit game that never came.

How It Should Have Ended: As Nathan begins to go about his regular civilian life, he's dogged with the memories of killing Adolf Hitler. It's not often that somebody gets to personally kill the most hated man in the world. Restless, our hero can't seem to shake the high he got from finally avenging this evil human being. He decides that there's only one thing left to do. From here on out, Rad Spencer will swing around the world killing lookalikes of every internationally reviled criminal he can find. So look out Joseph Stalin, Osama bin Laden, Vladimir Lenin and Rupert Murdoch, because Nathan "Rad" Spencer is coming to get you!