Captain Commando (character)

Captain Commando (Japanese: キャプテンコマンドー, Hepburn: Kyaputen Komandō) is a mascot character created by Capcom's North American branch to advertise their Nintendo Entertainment System games. The character was used from 1986 to 1988, before undergoing a redesign in 1989 with the campaign cancelled shortly after. The character's name is a reference to Capcom itself, with the first three letters of each part spelling out "Cap Com". During this campaign, the North American instruction manual for Section Z stated he was the protagonist of the title. In 1991, when developing their first four-player beat 'em up title, Capcom's developers rediscovered the character and built the game Captain Commando around him, with the character itself reimagined by artist Akira "Akiman" Yasuda and stylized after American comic book heroes. This incarnation of the character would go on to be used in the Marvel vs. Capcom series and several other games, as well as a prequel manga series. In 2025, he was stated to be part of Capcom's Street Fighter franchise. Captain Commando has been considered a failed mascot, with Capcom themselves declaring he was no longer used as such by the company in 1996. Others were critical of his design, feeling it was uninspired and overpowered, and inferior to other Capcom mascot characters such as Mega Man. Despite these criticisms, the character has continued to be used in advertisements and merchandise, and seen praise as both an icon and helping to establish Capcom's corporate personality early on.