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Post by Discoalucard on May 6, 2010 22:04:53 GMT -5
www.hardcoregaming101.net/mercforce/mercforce.htmThis is a very odd but very cool shoot-em-up for the original Gameboy, that I remember reading about in Nintendo Power. Instead of taking place in outer space, though, you control a group of warriors on foot, in medieval Japan. Your squadron is made up of five different character classes, each with different skills. You can also change their marching formation with a press of a button.
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Post by ReyVGM on May 6, 2010 23:39:08 GMT -5
Can whoever wrote this give any insight as to what are the conditions to get all the endings? The youtube videos show them, but don't say how to get them.
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Post by Strider on May 7, 2010 7:21:29 GMT -5
Wow, really detailed!
I've gotta say, the section on the sequel is really pretty thin. Is there no more information available on it? Do we have any Japanese speakers who'd be willing to give it a try and put together a not-quite-so-brief writeup?
Was this based on anything else? It seems like the nonexistent plot of a shmup wouldn't really support a visual novel...
- HC
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Post by Shellshock on May 7, 2010 10:12:09 GMT -5
Can whoever wrote this give any insight as to what are the conditions to get all the endings? The youtube videos show them, but don't say how to get them. Here's my theory: Best one: Princess has to be in the party and you can't warp stages. Good one: Princess is not in the party and you can't warp stages. Bad one: Warp stages. -------------------------- Well I'm glad whoever wrote this article found a reference to the game's manual. I'll add it to my article as well. Technical deficiencies aside, I found the game's pace tediously slow for my taste, and overall boring. Using a proper formation you can blast everything that comes your way as soon as it enters the screen, making the game really boring and in turn making you miss all the coins because they disappear too quickly. This would indicate that the only way to enjoy the games is to kill enemies when they are closer to you, gaining more coins but taking more damage. So there's really just one way to play through it, so I don't know why they would allow it to be played any other way. Also, a GameBoy game on HG101!!! |
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Post by Sketcz-1000 on May 8, 2010 6:28:34 GMT -5
Can whoever wrote this give any insight as to what are the conditions to get all the endings? The youtube videos show them, but don't say how to get them. Here's my theory: Best one: Princess has to be in the party and you can't warp stages. Good one: Princess is not in the party and you can't warp stages. Bad one: Warp stages. That's what I got too. As for the visual novel and the game's origins, there's the Japanese wikipedia page, which might yield more info. It was pretty difficult getting even those screens - the result of random button mashing. I had a vague hope there might be an action game hidden beneath them, but after reaching chapter 2 I realised there probably wasn't And also, here's the kanji for googling: 天神怪戦 I've always liked the idea of including the kanji for Japanese games, to get more google hits and to help anyone wanting to search, but I recall Kurt saying there was major difficulty in getting them to appear correctly in the Kagiri Tatakai article. |
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Post by Trickless on May 8, 2010 10:10:58 GMT -5
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Post by Shellshock on May 8, 2010 12:03:57 GMT -5
Here's my theory: Best one: Princess has to be in the party and you can't warp stages. Good one: Princess is not in the party and you can't warp stages. Bad one: Warp stages. That's what I got too. As for the visual novel and the game's origins, there's the Japanese wikipedia page, which might yield more info. It was pretty difficult getting even those screens - the result of random button mashing. I had a vague hope there might be an action game hidden beneath them, but after reaching chapter 2 I realised there probably wasn't And also, here's the kanji for googling: 天神怪戦 I've always liked the idea of including the kanji for Japanese games, to get more google hits and to help anyone wanting to search, but I recall Kurt saying there was major difficulty in getting them to appear correctly in the Kagiri Tatakai article. I couldn't find much about the second game when I wrote the article for my site either. It reminds me of when I discovered Undercover Cops Gaiden. |
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Post by jorpho on May 8, 2010 20:17:34 GMT -5
So what's the final-stage-special-character mentioned in the manual? (I seem to recall that whatshisname on Youtube couldn't figure out the purpose of the reading in the Shrine at all.)
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Post by Shellshock on May 8, 2010 23:03:38 GMT -5
So what's the final-stage-special-character mentioned in the manual? (I seem to recall that whatshisname on Youtube couldn't figure out the purpose of the reading in the Shrine at all.) Didn't someone said something about a tanooki? The shooting and pace are so bland and slow I could never get the patience to find out myself. |
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Post by Sketcz-1000 on May 9, 2010 3:56:58 GMT -5
If you use a Monk as main character you're more likely to get an excellent reading in stage 2, which should result in tanooki appearing in stage 6. But this apparently doesn't happen if you use the money/stage cheat. I've only reached stage 5 without cheats so far, but level-skipped to reach stage 6, so I can't verify it.
I put a fair few hours into it so far (my high score is probably higher than what I put), but my interest to 1cc it is waning. Still, for $3 it was one of the best bargains I've snapped up.
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Post by Shellshock on May 9, 2010 8:13:31 GMT -5
If you use a Monk as main character you're more likely to get an excellent reading in stage 2, which should result in tanooki appearing in stage 6. But this apparently doesn't happen if you use the money/stage cheat. I've only reached stage 5 without cheats so far, but level-skipped to reach stage 6, so I can't verify it. I put a fair few hours into it so far (my high score is probably higher than what I put), but my interest to 1cc it is waning. Still, for $3 it was one of the best bargains I've snapped up. Isn't it the princess instead of the monk? Like I said before, I think the two contradicting ways the game is played are very off putting. Why do I have to let enemies into the screen and let them damage my party to collect coins? Why is the game incredibly mindless and boring if I use my shoot'em-up experience and annihilate everything in an effective manner? |
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Post by absalom526 on Jul 28, 2016 12:42:26 GMT -5
I hate to be "that guy" who necro's a 6 year old thread, but I feel it's merited in this situation. I found this page through my search to remember an old schmup I played on the Sega Master System that is nearly identical to Mercenary Force, only vertical and with colors (And on a different system, ofc.) To me, it resembles a port to a handheld.
Everything else, the four characters in a square formation, each character being different with their own projectile, etc, is exactly the same. However, despite my best efforts, I have yet to find a single iota of information on it, other than this page. As the article in question brings up the uniqueness of the title, as well as difficulties in categorizing it etc I thought a post would be called for.
Unfortunately, other than the system I played it on and the aforementioned game mechanics, I don't remember anything else about it. I *THINK* it had a distinctive case, and it may have been a master card? My dad DID have unlicensed games for other consoles, and picked up odds and ends through travel, so its possible that is was a foreign knock off etc.
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Post by Discoalucard on Jul 28, 2016 13:36:00 GMT -5
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Post by derboo on Jul 28, 2016 13:38:58 GMT -5
The closest game I've ever seen is Final Zone Wolf, which is a home computer game, but MSX to Master System bootleg ports are a thing that exists. I'd be surprised if this game was among them, but... maybe? |
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Post by absalom526 on Sept 7, 2016 20:52:52 GMT -5
That's close, but the graphical style and gameplay doesn't match what I can remember The closest game I've ever seen is Final Zone Wolf, which is a home computer game, but MSX to Master System bootleg ports are a thing that exists. I'd be surprised if this game was among them, but... maybe? Already checked that, but at this point I suspect what I'm looking for IS am unofficial bootleg of some sort. Thanks for the replies |
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