Y’all ready to get MERC’D?
Mercs, an action game by our friends at Capcom, was released to arcades in 1990 and adapted by Sega for the Genesis, in October 1991, around the same time the Minnesota Twins were winning the World Series.
What were we talking about? Oh right, Mercs! Mercs is the sequel to the 1985 action game Commando, and it follows the same premise – you have to stop a bunch of terrorists, who have taken over a country where boxes containing guns and medkits are strewn about everywhere. Like its predecessor, Mercs is a run and gun game, meaning you’ll be given plenty of time to both run and gun. Let’s take a look at how well it does both of those things, shall we?
First, the running – especially starting out, this feels more like a light stroll and less like full-on running. There are speed pickups that help with this, but it can be really tough to safely navigate a crowded area or get out of the way of an explosion at times. That said, you can always turn around quickly (which is great, since enemies tend to come from all sides), and it never feels unfair, especially after you’ve had a chance to get used to it.
Second, and perhaps more important than the running, is the gunning – there is so much gunning. There are a bunch of different weapons, ranging from a basic, single-bullet rifle to a spread gun to a big ol’ flamethrower. By and large, they’re all quite powerful and effective at making the bad men go away, so it’s up to you how you want to take care of business. In general, the gunplay is well done – I feel it does a good job of making you feel powerful without being so powerful that the game is a cakewalk (it’s not). As you might expect from an early-ish Genesis game, the frame rate can noticeably suffer when a lot is on the screen, but from my experience it runs fine more often than not.
In addition to having a port of the original arcade version, Mercs also offers up an entirely different mode, which contains its own story, its own level design, and so on. It even has some of its own unique mechanics, including shops for buying upgrades, new characters to play as, and helpful tips you can buy for an in-game dollar.
Thanks, lady! This new mode is really difficult, but it’s a lot of fun.
Mercs does have one big weakness, though, and it’s significant – while the arcade version (and most other games of its ilk) support cooperative play with 2 or more players, this one does not. This is a truly bizarre design choice, and one that will probably make it a less interesting purchase for a lot of people. This is a pretty fun game, but not being able to blast bad guys with your friends is a real bummer.
If you don’t have a Genesis, the arcade version of Mercs is also available via several Capcom compilations, including the excellent Capcom Classics Collection that was released for the Xbox and PS2. A third game in the series, titled Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3, was released a full 17 years after Mercs as a downloadable game for the Xbox 360 and PS3. I’ve heard it’s not great, but can scratch the shoot-em-up itch if you’re prone to that.
The next two Wednesdays are holidays in the US, so the next couple of entries will be releasing on Thursdays. I’m also excited to note that there will be some big changes coming with Retro Roulette #100, which you won’t want to miss. In the meantime, our 99th game is another wacky entry from the much-beloved “everyone was making weird fighting games” era of video game history. I’m very excited for this one. See you then!