Mercs
Promotional arcade flyer
Developer(s)	Capcom, Sega (MD and MS ports)
Publisher(s)	Capcom, Sega (MD and MS ports)
Platform(s)	Arcade, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Master System
Release date(s)	April 1990 Mega Drive/Genesis JP September 27, 1991 NA 1991 EU 1991 Master System EU 1991 Virtual Console NA February 9, 2009 EU February 20, 2009
Genre(s)	Run and gun
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer
Input methods	8-way joystick, 2 buttons
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	CPS-1
Display	Raster, standard resolution horizontal orientation

Mercs (戦場の狼Ⅱ, Senjō no Ōkami Tsū^?, "Wolf of the Battlefield II") is a 1990 top-down run and gun arcade game developed and published by Capcom for the arcades. It is the successor of Commando. It was followed by Commando 3 in 2008, a downloadable game.

[edit] Gameplay

Screenshot of Mercs.

The arcade version of the game had up to three players available for play. The players are members of a covert mercenary team known as the "Wolf Force". The team is comprised of Joseph Gibson (Player 1 in blue), Howard Powell (Player 2 in red), and Thomas Clarke (Player 3 in yellow). Their objective is to rescue the former President from rebels in the fictional African country of Zutula, which bears resemblance to the apartheid regime in South Africa. The game has six levels, plus the final level where the objective is to rescue the president from the Hercules Transport.

The controls consist of an eight-directional joystick and two buttons: a Normal Attack and the Megacrush Attack. The player character has a vitality gauge which will gradually deplete as they take damage from enemies, however First-Aid Kits can be pick up that will restore part of the player's energy, as well as power-ups that increases their maximum vitality. The player can upgrade their default gun into an Assault Rifle, a Shotgun, a Grenade Launcher, or a Flamethrower. The Megacrush button will detonate a bomb that kills all on-screen enemies. However, the Megacrush Attack has limited uses which the player can only replenish by picking more Megacrush bombs. In certain stages, the player can pilot enemy vehicles.

[edit] Ports

[edit] Sega platforms

A Mega Drive/Genesis version of Mercs was released in 1991 by Sega. This version lacks the multiplayer option of the arcade game, but adds an all new "Original Mode", in addition to the standard "Arcade Mode", which includes multiple playable characters, each with their own unique weapon, and all new stages. The Mega Drive version was re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in North America on February 9, 2009 and in Europe on February 20, 2009 at a cost of 800 Wii Points.^[1] Sega also released a version of Mercs for the Master System in Europe and Brazil.

[edit] Home computers

Ports of Mercs were also released for the Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum by U.S. Gold. These conversions of the game were handled by Tiertex.

[edit] Compilations

The original arcade version of Mercs, along with Commando and Gun.Smoke, in the fourth volume of the Capcom Generations compilations released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1998. This compilation was only released in Japan and in the PAL region. The same version of the game would later be emulated as part of Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1, released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2005, and Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for the PlayStation Portable in 2006.

[edit] External links

• Mercs at MobyGames
• Mercs at World of Spectrum
• Mercs @ Game Kommander
• Complete MERCS video (Genesis) on archive.org

[edit] References

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