Capcom‘s classic scrolling shoot ’em up, Commando, was converted to the Atari 7800 by Dwain Skinner of Sculptured Software and first published by Atari Corporation in 1989.

You play as “Super Joe“, a commando fighting against the forces of “The Evil Empire Army“, and must shoot your way through four different vertically-scrolling stages, each with an attack against an enemy base at the end.

You have a gun, with unlimited ammunition, and a limited supply of grenades, and must avoid contact with enemies, and their bullets, in order to prevail.

Commando on the Atari 7800 is a reasonably authentic port of the famous arcade game. The game can be played at four different difficulty levels (Novice, Standard, Advanced and Expert), and when you complete the first four levels the subsequent stages are different because they have deadly pools of water all over them, which at least adds some variety if you’re good enough to get that far. It is weird, though, that Super Joe cannot wade into water, but the enemies can.

Note that Atari 7800 Commando requires a two-button joystick (like the ProLine) to play properly. If you’re playing in an emulator, make sure to select a controller type that works (otherwise you won’t be able to fire your gun). I recommend playing the game in Bizhawk, over other emulators, as it’s the easiest to get set up and running with the right controller.

More: Commando on Wikipedia