Last week, we asked for posts about Bionic Commando, and we got 'em (not as many for Punch-Out!! though, curious).

For the most part, you all agreed: Bionic Commando is great when you're swinging, not so great when you're shooting, very not great when you're dying and having to replay through half a level again. Also: Death by radiation is quite possibly worse than running into invisible walls....

Bionic Commando, in a rare moment of not-drowning.

Matt Gerardi was pretty gung-ho on Commando's later levels, but not so much the earlier ones. From his review, The Flesh is Weak:

Upon finishing the single-player I immediately wanted to dive back in -- the swinging really is that fun -- but having played through the entire campaign and experienced the far more satisfying combat of its latter acts, I just couldn't bring myself to start from the beginning again. I have replayed a few of the campaign's highlights via the level jump option, but the lack of a new game plus-like feature really is disappointing after having so much fun with the tail end of the game.

Thomas Johnson, Christopher Walton, and John Ostermiller also came through with good (in the quality sense, not necessarily positive sense) reviews. John pointed out that if you jump/fall from the top of the FSA building during the boss battle you die via radiation, but after the fight you jump down and land safely. Continuity, people!

Lee Bradley took a different tack in The Nostalgia Business, and talked about the broader issue of remaking classics. He feels that games like Punch-Out!!, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, and Street Fighter HD Remix get it right:

They are the perfect way to address our gaming sentimentality. Developed (or rather, redeveloped) with genuine love for the original, these games are re-presented just the way we remember them...they tidy up the visuals, refine the gameplay and only mess with what was broken in the first place. Think of it as preservation. This is how it should be done.

On the new Bionic Commando:

This current iteration of the series is too much of a departure to be called Bionic Commando. It takes the central premise of the original and distorts it, stretches it so thin it almost snaps...this game isn't Bionic Commando; it's a focus-grouped ‘cool' guy with Inspector Gadget's arm. Call it something else, Capcom, and quit fucking with my memories.

Lee makes a well-argued and well-written point, but I'm going to have to go ahead and disagree that all remakes/reboots should never stray far from the original's gameplay. Just look at Prince of Persia, Ninja Gaiden, hell, Mario 64. I'd argue that if a publisher wants to truly resurrect an old franchise (rather than bring it back for a final, O.G. fans-only hurrah), the only way to do it is to significantly update the gameplay for modern expectations. I could see another downloadable Rearmed sequel coming out, but for Bionic Commando to have a chance at being a triple-A 'tentpole' franchise, only the new, 'rebooted' version could possibly making that happen. I'm not saying I necessarily like it, but I think it's true.