Andy O’Flaherty reviews Mercs on the Sega Mega Drive…
Back in the mid 80’s the arcade scene was beginning to develop some momentum, rapidly moving on from relatively simple titles like Space Invaders, Defender and Pac-Man. As the technology improved games were beginning to develop a more cinematic and bombastic edge, obviously taking influence from the macho action films of the time, evidenced in games like Operation Wolf and After Burner. In 1985 Capcom released Commando (nothing to do with the Schwarzenegger movie of the same name, honest!), a top down run and gun title which had the player travel up the screen dodging attacks and shooting anything that moved. It was a huge hit, sparking many clones and influencing many shooters that would follow in later years.
So why am I talking about Commando? Well Mercs is the sequel to that classic arcade title (Commando is called Wolf of the Battlefield in Japan, and Mercs is Wolf of the Battlefield 2) and follows the exploits of 3 Mercenaries as they are given the task of rescuing the former president by doing not much more than blowing up everything in sight. The no nonsense and uncomplicated but entertaining gameplay was typical of arcade games at the time, and this particular title allowed 3 players to take on the waves of soldiers, tanks, helicopters and planes together. It was (and still is) great fun, and Mercs was ported to many home systems after its initial arcade release in 1990. Today we shall be looking at the port that made it onto Sega’s Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991.
Despite the original game being produced by Capcom, Sega themselves handled programming and publishing duties of the versions appearing on their home systems. This was quite common at the time, with Sega also bringing Strider, Forgotten Worlds, and Ghouls ‘n Ghosts to the Mega Drive and Master System. The Mega Drive version of Mercs is by far the best home port of the game, retaining a faithful look and feel of the arcade title whilst barely sacrificing any content.
The plot is the same as the arcade game. You are a Mercenary who has been tasked with rescuing the former president after he was taken hostage by a group of revolutionaries in the African region of ‘Zutura’. In practice this means 7 levels of vertical shooting action, going up against soldiers, tanks, boats, planes… everything the rebels can throw at you across various terrain such as forests, swamps, jungles, towns and harbours. Occasionally your character can drive vehicles for a limited time, and there is a nice selection of weapons to use against your relentless foes.
Graphically the game is excellent – appearing nigh-on identical to the arcade machine on which it was based. The characters are chunky and well animated, the gameworld is bright and colourful, and there is a nice variety of distinct locations to blast your way through. There can be a bit of slowdown if the screen gets busy, but not enough to hinder the gameplay.
This port has pretty much an identical soundtrack to the arcade original, with the Mega Drive’s iconic synth guitar sound being put to great use. The memorable tunes fit the action perfectly, and the sound effects and death screams are punchy and add a satisfying weight to proceedings.
In terms of gameplay Mercs is pretty straightforward. You gradually guide your soldier up the screen, shooting enemies and avoiding the barrage of incoming projectiles. Sometimes scenery needs to be destroyed to progress, and at the end of each relatively short stage is a boss encounter. Littered around the battlefield are power-ups to make your weapons stronger, along with health items and ‘megacrush’ bombs – a screen-clearing super attack. Sadly this Mega Drive port has lost the multiplayer aspect of the arcade version, but Sega made up for this rather unfortunate omission with some extra content….
What is interesting about this particular version of Mercs is the inclusion of an ‘Original Mode’. At first glance this appears to be a remix of the arcade game, but on closer inspection reveals itself to be practically a whole new game! Instead of having lives and collecting weapons as in the Arcade mode, here your soldier just has the one weapon and a single life, and you collect medals. Upon arriving at stage 2 you find a tent which acts as a shop, allowing you to spend any collected medals on upgrading your weapons, increasing maximum health, increasing your speed and so on. Some of these tents also feature mercs, each with their own weapons and stats, and upon finding them they join your party. As you progress more and more soldiers join you on your quest, and you can instantly switch between them on the pause menu. This effectively makes the experience more like an RPG, choosing when and how to distribute upgrades amongst your party of soldiers becoming an essential strategy in your survival. The enemies are noticeably more numerous and aggressive in this mode, and this part of the game is much more challenging than the standard game.
All in all the Mega Drive port of Mercs is an excellent game that despite losing its multiplayer mode has gained practically double the content of the arcade version. As far as run and gun games go, this is just as fun to play now as it was in 1991 and I recommend you go check it out!
Pros
+ Faithful arcade port
+ Catchy music
+ Port specific additional content
Cons
– Occasional slowdown
– Original mode is overly tough
– Only single player
Score – 8/10
Mercs was originally released for the Sega Mega Drive in 1991. It can be purchased today on the Wii’s Virtual Console.
Andy O’Flaherty – follow me on Twitter @Mambatabac
Originally published November 10, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
