June 2021 Shmup Club - Mercenary Force

[MetalFRO]

[img width=640 height=639]https://www.lukiegames.com/assets/images/GB/gb_mercenary_force_p_vy85t3.jpg[/img]

Once in a while, a developer pops up, releases a few quirky, interesting, and innovative games, and then disappears. In the case of Japanese publisher Meldac, they didn't so much disappear, as get out of the video game business. Meldac had been around for a while, publishing music in Japan and abroad, and during the height of the NES and Game Boy days, published a handful of unique games, then quickly exited the gaming market, focusing back on music publishing. In 1990, Japanese firms Live Planning, Lenar, and Meldac coalesced briefly, to bring us a few of these interesting titles. Among them, was the Game Boy exclusive shmup, Mercenary Force, aka Tenjin Kaisen.

Over one hundred years ago during the mighty Shogun era, the Lord of Darkness sent his fearsome army to terrorize the Japanese countryside. Using the Dark Lord’s powerful magic, his evil minions spread famine, plague, and pestilence wherever they went, leaving the peaceful population hopelessly oppressed. All who challenged the wicked Lord were mercilessly slain as a warning to all those who had any further thoughts of rebellion. Then one day while meditating, the great Shogun, Tokugawa, had a divine vision where he saw a small group of mighty warriors rise up to defeat the evil Lord. He immediately set out to recruit the five bravest and most skillful fighters in the land. After months of searching he was finally ready to put his dream into action. It was time to unleash the Mercenary Force. Without the manual the only story you’ll glean is from one of the three endings.

Join the RF Generation Shmup Club in June 2021, as we take on this unique shooting game, Mercenary Force!

Participants:
MetalFRO
Addicted
zoydo
MiniConsoleMan
Cork
Normatron

[MiniConsoleMan]

I'm in!  I love collecting for the Gameboy and having recently gotten into shmups this is definitely a game I want to check out. (I've never heard of this one) Found the Japanese cartridge on e-bay for a very decent price.

[MetalFRO]

I'm in!  I love collecting for the Gameboy and having recently gotten into shmups this is definitely a game I want to check out. (I've never heard of this one) Found the Japanese cartridge on e-bay for a very decent price.

Excellent! Glad to see you jump in, and I hope to hear some good thoughts about the game from everyone

[zoydo]

I did another run today to get the "true ending". It requires to have a mystic in your party as you finish the game (this can be a little annoying because it's a poor shooter).

[img width=500 height=445]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51222393633_f76a6933f3.jpg[/img]

For the most part of the game i stuck with the ninja-only strategy and then hired a mystic and a peasant for the final stage. I used the rest of my yen to buy tea at the final shop in stage 6 (there's only one shop in the final stage) to power up my party.

I couldn't beat my score from yesterdays run, but here's the replay with the true ending:

https://youtu.be/_YFMkBRuWKI


I also wanted to give you some (maybe) useful advice, based on the things i learned (so far) playing the game:

- tea is the most valuable thing at the shop if you already have a few members in your party. If you play solo, go for the medicine (3 HP).

- there are 2 shrines, one in stage 3 and one in stage 5. If you enter them each of your party-members will be healed by 2 HP. If you playing solo you even get 6 HP for your main character. These shrine can help you quite a lot with your yen-management.

- you can play some kind of a lottery-game in stage 4 at the buddah-statue. The more money you give, the higher your chance to win. If you win you get a free member for your party.

- most of the bosses have weak spots: St.1 and St.3 Boss -> the head; St. 5 Boss -> the feet things; St.4 and St.6 Bosses -> the eye.

- all of the characters have diefferent special attacks that can be triggered by pushing A+B simultaneously. Using this will consume your main character, which can effect your attack range and power drastically, so watch out! (always make sure you let go of the A button before you change your formation by pressing B)


Some of this might be obvious or self-explainable in the western version and manual, but i only have the japanese version, so i had to learn trying and dying. Anyway, some of this may be useful if you play the game for the first time and spares you some frustrating deaths (like mine, when i accidentally used my special attack in stage 5 and was playing solo).


Also just found out that HG 101 also has some interesting and useful advice (and trivia) for the game: http://www.hardcoregaming...t/mercforce/mercforce.htm


Here's the replay of my highest scoring run so far:

https://youtu.be/NAvRYPwrcxs

[img width=500 height=449]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51221465082_3662fbf1e1.jpg[/img]

[MetalFRO]

Very in-depth post zoydo, thank you! Being a shorter game, and probably easier to get through than the majority of the games we've played so far, it's nice to see some good strategies and details about the game already. Thanks for contributing so much, so soon

[MiniConsoleMan]

Quick Tip I just wanted to add, There's a level select you can access:  At the title screen, press Up, Select, A and B simultaneously, then hit Start.  After you select your team you can hit right on the D-pad to select the stage.

I've been using this to practice the later stages and boss fights. Hoping the clear will come soon after that.

[MetalFRO]

Quick Tip I just wanted to add, There's a level select you can access:  At the title screen, press Up, Select, A and B simultaneously, then hit Start.  After you select your team you can hit right on the D-pad to select the stage.

I've been using this to practice the later stages and boss fights. Hoping the clear will come soon after that.

Great tip! I might have to use this a bit myself. I've been able to make it to stage 5, so it might be good to practice a stage 5 run, and see if I can learn it a bit better.

[Corkman]

Thanks for the level select heads up!

I'll be playing more this weekend on the Super Gameboy. Always like using a SNES controller when I can.

I think I'll try out that monk and ninja strategy to essentially get a 3-way shot.

Happy shooting this month everyone 

[Corkman]

I did a few runs this weekend. Got to the level 5 boss so far. Maybe I'll be able to finish it with a little more practice. I need to learn the boss patterns more since some of them can really wipe out a lot of your guys.

Sorry for that awful picture. It burns the eyes a little!  

[MetalFRO]

Stage 5 boss is my wall right now, as well, so I'll probably need to use that stage select to do a bit of practice on that level, and try to get more familiar with the enemy positioning and attacks.

[MiniConsoleMan]

I've had a blast with Mercenary Force this month.  I'll probably get a few more playthroughs in the remainder of the month but wanted to share my thoughts thus far.

I've gotten 3 clears of the game with my go-to strategy being the "ninja-only" method as previously mentioned by zoydo.  This made dodging enemy bullets a ton easier as I only had to focus on my one character and I didn't have to worry about shifting my team's formation.  I used the level select to practice stages 5 and 6 which were definitely giving me challenges at the beginning when I first started playing.  Overall I was very impressed with this game, great characters, good music, amazing backgrounds...only downside is that there is no auto-fire so each play session leaves you with a shmup hand cramp.  I think the game has great replay value as well, besides trying to get a higher score, I wanted to go back and try different characters/teams to get the clear.

My latest attempt was to pick both the ninja and the monk for a makeshift "spread shot" to help me defeat more enemies. I got the clear but the monk didn't make it through till the end and I didn't beat my high score...

Needless to say this month's game has made me interested in seeking out more shmups for the Gameboy!









 

[MiniConsoleMan]

High Score

[Normatron]

It's been some time since I played this game (or any at all for that matter) but here is my first high score. I made it to level 6 and don't ever remember getting that far before. It's fun playing this again, I used to play it on trips when I was a kid.(back when I thought you had to pick a full party for some reason)

[zoydo]

Great scores, guys!

I'm a little confused about scoring....did another run a few days back and picked up two servants and a monk before stage 3 to increase firepower. It felt like i shot a lot more enemies than during my solo-ninja runs, but i ended up with a final score of something around 93.000. Haven't played for a few days, but i guess i go back to solo-ninja for my next run.

[Corkman]

I just got a clear on this. Used one ninja and one monk. The monk didn't make it to the end for me either Zoydo. He kind of lags behind the ninja a little too slowly to be able to dodge a lot of bullets.

I noticed my score was also around 93000 also before the last boss. Too bad they don't tell you your score after the ending.

I might try some other combinations of characters before the month is over.

Happy to have played this game more in depth than I have before. This game fits what makes a good Game Boy game. Simple, quick, fun.