Mercenary (video game)

Mercenary
Developer(s)	Novagen
Designer(s)	Paul Woakes Bruce Jordan
Artist(s)	Peter Gudynas
Platform(s)	Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga, Commodore 16/116/Plus/4
Release	1985
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Mercenary is a 3D action-adventure game written for the Atari 8-bit family and published by Novagen Software in 1985. It was converted to the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Amiga and Commodore 16/116/Plus/4 platforms. The game uses vector graphics renderings of vast, sparse environments and has open-ended gameplay. It was also released as Mercenary: Escape from Targ and Mercenary: A Flight Simulator Adventure.

Mercenary was favourably reviewed and followed by two sequels: Damocles and Mercenary III: The Dion Crisis.

Having crash-landed on the planet Targ (en route to the Gamma System of Damocles), the player's main objective is to find a means of escape.^[1] There are several ways to achieve this end. A civil war between two factions, the Palyars (indigenous "good guys") and the Mechanoids (invading "bad guys"), affords the player an opportunity to earn money to buy their escape from Targ.

The player is accompanied and advised by Benson, a "9th generation PC". This interaction is handled via a scrolling news ticker at the bottom of the display. As well as providing assistance to the player, much of the humour within the games comes from the occasional sarcastic remarks made by Benson.^[2]

thumb|left|Bosher stadium (Atari ST) The player explores a world rendered in realtime 3D graphics, completing a number of non-linear tasks in order to achieve a single main objective. The title of the series derives from the player's role in carrying out tasks as a "hired gun". The player is able to play the warring factions off against one another to the player's own advantage. For instance, each faction seeks the destruction of installations belonging to its rival, and the capture of material or other resources to support their cause. There are other routes to escape, and it is possible to combine strategies to both leave Targ and keep the wealth accrued there.

thumb|Scenery from The Second City (Atari 8-bit) Mercenary: The Second City, released in 1986, is an expansion pack. Initially its major distinction is the new colour scheme, representing the other side of the planet. The ground is now red rather than the original green, and the sky is no longer blue. Instead, it is pink in the Amiga and Atari (8-bit and ST) versions,^[3][4] dark blue on the Commodore 8-bit platforms (C64 and Plus/4)^[5][6] and yellow on the ZX Spectrum.^[7]

However, after a similar objective, the substantive differences reveal themselves subtly: there is a different city layout, a more intricate underground complex, a new set of puzzles to overcome and several significant changes with game objects.

Mercenary received strong positive reviews from gaming magazines across all platforms, with the original Mercenary receiving a Gold Medal from Zzap!64 magazine.^[9][12] RUN reviewer Bob Sodaro noted the replay value of Mercenary for the Commodore 64, writing: "Prior to marking up the maps [included with the game], you should make a number of photocopies so you'll have clean copies when playing subsequent adventures".^[10] Antic also advised making copies of the map and taking notes. It described the game's size and Atari 8-bit version's graphics as "awesome", but warned that a color display was required. The magazine concluded that "Mercenary's video effects make it a good game overall. But if you aren't in the right place to pick up the clues, you'll get nowhere".^[13]

The ZX Spectrum version of Mercenary was voted number 15 in the Your Sinclair Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time.^[14] In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the Commodore 64 version 33rd on their "Top 100 Games of All Time".^[15]

Damocles (also advertised as Mercenary II) is the second game in the series. It was released on the Atari ST and Amiga platforms in 1990. Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum versions were in development but cancelled. Damocles represents the game environment using filled polygon graphics. Two mission disks were released.

Mercenary III (also known as Mercenary III: The Dion Crisis or Damocles II) is the third game in the series. It was released on the Atari ST and Amiga in 1992. This time the roads of the various cities are populated by vehicles such as taxis and buses. Observation and attack spacecraft are present in the skies. Interaction with other characters is possible to a limited degree.

Mercenary and The Second City were later combined into the Mercenary Compendium.^[4]

In the 2000s, the three games were ported to Microsoft Windows. It was distributed with the agreement of the former Novagen team.^[16] The program, called MDDClone (Mercenary, Damocles, Dion crisis Clone) is freeware, includes all three games, selectable through a drop-down list. The graphics and gameplay are identical to the Atari ST version, with the additional option to fix some bugs that were originally present.

Another port, focusing on the first game, was released in 2010. Called MDDClone-SDL, this offers support for higher resolutions and texture mapping. Versions for Windows, OSX, Linux and FreeBSD are available.^[17]

In 2018, an open source port of Damocles and Mercenary III was released. Called Mercenary Reloaded, this port offers support for higher resolutions, a higher frame rate with smoother movements, virtual reality as per the specifications of the Oculus Rift head-mounted display, and a separate side-by-side stereoscopic mode.^[18]

• MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.^[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".^[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.^[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.^[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.^[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.^[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.^[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.^[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.^[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.^[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).^[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,^[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.^[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.^[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.^[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.^[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.^[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.^[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.^[17]

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

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