Mercs

Mercs, known as Senjō no Ōkami II (戦場の狼II, lit. "Wolf of the Battlefield II") in Japan, is the second game in the Commando series. Mercs was also ported to the Sega Genesis and later on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, as part of the Capcom Classics Collection.

Characters

Joseph Gibson
Howard Powell - Howard Powell was a former leader of an anti-terrorist task force. Fed up with government regulations on his unit's practices, he left the military and formed the elite para-military group, M.E.R.C.S. As leader of the M.E.R.C.S., Howard was secretly contacted by the U.S. government when a revolutionary group attempting to take over the central African nation of Zutula kidnapped a former U.S. president on a diplomatic trip. He is being asked to deploy his elite group in Zutula and rescue the former president. Wears red camouflage pants.

Thomas Clarke - A former Air Force officer, he was a talented mechanic and weapons expert while there. He later joined the M.E.R.C.S. Wears blue camouflage pants.

Gameplay

The players are members of a covert counter-terrorist team of mercenaries known as the "Wolf Force". The aim of the game was 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 main levels, plus the final level where your mission is to rescue the former U.S. president from the Hercules Transport. The game's arsenal include real-world machine guns, shot guns, flame throwers, and grenade launchers. Several missions even have pilotable vehicles available.

The Sega Mega Drive port of Mercs featured two modes, an arcade mode, which mirrored the arcade release of the game, where the player had one "Merc" (soldier) who could pick up a variety of different weapons throughout the game; and an "original" mode, which included multiple playable characters, each with their own unique weapon. In both modes, the aim was to fight through the levels, defeating each boss at the end of every level.

The new Bionic Commando sequel identifies the returning character of Super Joe (who was also the player's character in Commando) as Joseph Gibson, essentially tying the two games together.

Credits

Arcade Version

Planner: M.Akahori, N.Saito
Chief Designer: S.Okano, A.Kume, M.Kijima
Character Designer: H.Nishio, T.Hayashi, Y.Kakuta, H.Kisanuki, M.Nonaka, M.Kobayashi, Y.Katayama
Sound: M.Gotoh
Sound Programmer: Y.Sakaguchi
Programmer: M.Akahori, T.Ohta, Y.Matsui
Special Thanks: A.Yasuda, M.Yasuda, S.Yamashita, A.Kurihara, M.Okasaki, A.Nishituji, M.Fukumaru, K.Uchida, S.Ukai, J.Ohno, Y.Ohji, M.Kawamura, K.Kitayama, Y.Kyotani, N.Kojima, C.Kanemitsu, M.Sakurai, T.Nagato, E.Nishihara, S.Matumoto, H.Minobe, K.Yamamoto, K.Yamawaki, K.Yokota, S.Maxwell
Presented by: Capcom

Genesis/Mega Drive Version

Planner: Kyamura
Designers: L C, Rew, Majikko, Majimaji
Programmers: Mt Book, Proto 2, Markun
Sound Arranger: Milpo
Producer: Ossie
Special Thanks: Marusan, Mu, Taka Oh, Ax, Sunset, Otaku, Tsuch, Tomo
Presented by: Sega