Occupation... Baby

April 19, 2015 12:50 AM

Retrogaming blog VGJunk has just turned 5, and celebrated with a post about the gonzo Capcom beat em up classic Captain Commando. Over the last half-decade, VG Junk has uncovered a hidden Treasure with McDonalds, helped NSync get to their show and imagined what Re-Animator would look like on the NES. He's also investigated the national stereotypes that hide in fighting games, with his probing look at the fighters of Brazil, France, Germany, Russia, and Spain. So put on some Queen, watch out for Jack the Ripper, and enjoy a stroll down memory lane.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants (15 comments total)

I have almost zero nostalgia for these games, but for some reason I clicked on, and enjoyed, the McDonald's Treasure article.

Quite how that journey ended up with me discovering that Ted "Lurch/Ruk" Cassidy playing "Officer Big Mac" in the McDonaldland ads in the 1980s I have no idea.

The internet is Magical.
posted by Mezentian at 1:47 AM on April 19, 2015

Oh man, I'd completely forgotten about this site, and, more to the point, how much I enjoy reading the stuff on this site
posted by DoctorFedora at 2:25 AM on April 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

Why hadn't I seen this site before? Excellent stuff! Poppin' this puppy into RSS right now ...
posted by barnacles at 2:30 AM on April 19, 2015

Baby seems like a pretty good gig if it comes with that robot suit
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 3:16 AM on April 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

I have almost zero nostalgia for these games, but for some reason I clicked on, and enjoyed, the McDonald's Treasure article.


I went even further and beat the game. Spoiler: Treasure are incapable of making a bad game. It's not Gunstar Heroes, but it's a gorgeous little platformer.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 4:29 AM on April 19, 2015

Spoiler: Treasure are incapable of making a bad game.

That's not a spoiler.
It's in the text.

But I applaud your willingness to play.
I assume with a ROM.
posted by Mezentian at 5:34 AM on April 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

Not to be missed from the McDonald's game review:

The plot of this McDonald's game is simply to amass more material wealth. No tacked-on, faux-moralistic ideas like celebrating the power of friendship or protecting the environment - Ronald just gotta get paid, maybe even finding enough treasure to buy his freedom from McDonald's Corp. and spend his retirement doing what he loves best: abducting children and mailing them back to their parents piece-by-piece. Well, he is a clown, after all.

I always knew it!
posted by localroger at 5:45 AM on April 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

VG Junk is great and the guy who runs it is real cool on Twitter.
posted by griphus at 6:16 AM on April 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

Oh my god, those nazi characters are terrible.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:04 AM on April 19, 2015 [1 favorite]

There's a Captain Commando manga that explains the plot. The baby is an adult scientist in a baby's body with a stolen enemy robot.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 7:11 AM on April 19, 2015

Oh my god, those nazi characters are terrible.

Is this a truism, or are there cool Nazis?
posted by Mezentian at 7:11 AM on April 19, 2015

There's a Captain Commando manga that explains the plot. The baby is an adult scientist in a baby's body with a stolen enemy robot.

Well that explains it!
posted by Elementary Penguin at 10:15 AM on April 19, 2015 [2 favorites]

Worth noting that the author is in the UK, so some articles are about games that didn't get released in other parts of the world, and there are not articles on popular NA games.
posted by infinitewindow at 10:43 AM on April 19, 2015

I didn't know "American" was a race, or that American = white. Kapcom's Kaptain Kommando, everybody.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 4:47 PM on April 19, 2015

His is a standard "consumed by revenge" story, but that is not the outfit of a man consumed by revenge. Consumed by a desire to dance, perhaps
posted by yoHighness at 11:19 AM on April 20, 2015 [1 favorite]