| In Zzap!64, a Commodore 64 magazine, the readers' Top 30 chart had Elite's Commando at number 4 in March 1986, with 5% of the votes, up from 23 the month before, and at number 10 in April 1986, with 3%. | p. 53 (image 52), readers' Top 30p. 4 (contents) | Magazine |
| Readers of both magazines voted for Commando in their awards for 1985, printed in April 1986. Readers of Crash, a Spectrum magazine, made Elite's Commando their Best Shoot 'Em Up, ahead of Incentive's Moon Cresta, second. Readers of Zzap!64, a Commodore 64 magazine, put it third for best shoot 'em up, with 9%, behind Dropzone (31%) and Paradroid (19%), and third again among wargames, with 4%. | p. 4 (contents)p. 62 (image 61), Best Shoot Em Upp. 62 (image 61), Best Shoot Em Upp. 62 (image 61), Best Shoot Em Upp. 62 (image 61), Best Shoot Em Upp. 63 (image 62), wargamesp. 63 (image 62), wargames | Magazine |
| The Commodore 64 version was 27th in the readers' Top 30 of Zzap!64 in March and in April 1986, where the chart gives Zzap!'s own rating of it as 80%. | p. 52, Readers' Top 30 chartp. 52, Readers' Top 30 chart | Magazine |
| Crash called the Spectrum version a "mammoth 'Panic' style game", and Zzap!64's ratings for the Commodore 64 version noted its "Strong Space Panic roots". | p. 86, Zzapback, Lode Runner | Magazine |
| Zzap!64's April 1986 look back at its issue 2 reviews recalled the Commodore 64 version's reviewers praising its playability and screen designer; one 1986 comment called it one of the best platform derivatives ever and said that it didn't sell at all. | p. 4, contentsp. 86, Zzapback, Lode Runnerp. 86, Zzapback, Lode Runner | Magazine |
| In Zzap!64's readers' chart of its Christmas 1985 issue, Winter Games entered at number 4 with 6% of the vote. In the readers' awards of April 1986 it came second for best sports game, with 26%, behind Summer Games II. | p. 62, readers' awards, Best Sportsp. 62, readers' awards, Best Sports | Magazine |
| The arcade original is Konami's; Imagine's ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions are conversions of it. | p. 24 (scan p. 23) | Magazine |
| In the Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions, as Crash and Zzap!64 describe them, the player is Oolong, who must honor his family by becoming a kung fu master; beating the last opponent makes him a Grand Master, and he then fights the same opponents again, meaner and faster. | p. 24 (scan p. 23)p. 24 (scan p. 23) | Magazine |
| Crash counted nine opponents in the Spectrum version, and Zzap!64 ten in the Commodore 64 version, which it said kept the arcade game's opponents, controls, and backdrops. Crash said the Spectrum version had the arcade game's opponents and controls and two of its backdrops. The Famicom manual lists five opponents. | p. 24 (scan p. 23) | Magazine |
| In the Spectrum and Commodore 64 versions Oolong has 16 special moves, among them the roundhouse, flying kick, and leg sweep, and the flying punch and ground kick, made with the joystick and fire button (Zzap!64) or, on the Spectrum, the joystick or nine keys (Crash). Crash describes walking, punching, and kicking modes. | p. 24 (scan p. 23)p. 24 (scan p. 23)p. 24 (scan p. 23) | Magazine |
| In both computer versions the player has five lives. On the Spectrum a bonus life comes at 20,000 points, and on the Commodore 64 a new life every 20,000 points. Each fighter has an energy bar; on the Commodore 64 a hit takes an eighth of it, and losing the bar costs Oolong a life and a rematch with the same opponent. | p. 24 (scan p. 23)p. 24 (scan p. 23) | Magazine |
| Imagine's Commodore 64 version came out after many months of delay, on cassette at £8.95, joystick only, and was reviewed in Zzap!64's April 1986 issue. | p. 24 (scan p. 23)p. 24 (scan p. 23)p. 24 (scan p. 23) | Magazine |
| Zzap!64 rated the Commodore 64 version 68% overall in April 1986: presentation 86%, graphics 64%, sound 84%, hookability 72%, lastability 70%, and value for money 65%, advising readers to play a couple of games before buying. | p. 24 (scan p. 23), ratingsp. 24 (scan p. 23), ratingsp. 24 (scan p. 23), ratingsp. 24 (scan p. 23), ratingsp. 24 (scan p. 23), ratingsp. 24 (scan p. 23), ratingsp. 24 (scan p. 23), ratings | Magazine |
| Zzap!64's three reviewers were cool on the Commodore 64 version. One said it didn't play as well as the arcade original. Another found the Amstrad version superior and didn't enjoy this one at all, faulting its small sprites, which slide across the screen, but liked the backdrops and Galway's soundtrack. The third called it as dull as the other beat 'em ups, said its title music took a chunk of Jarre's Magnetic Fields, and expected fans of Way of the Exploding Fist to love it. The ratings praise the title-screen music. | p. 24 (scan p. 23), review commentp. 24 (scan p. 23), review commentp. 24 (scan p. 23), review commentp. 24 (scan p. 23), review commentp. 24 (scan p. 23), review commentp. 24 (scan p. 23), review commentp. 24 (scan p. 23), review commentp. 24 (scan p. 23), review commentp. 24 (scan p. 23), ratings | Magazine |