- Arcade port or remake? -
- The game known as Mercs, the not well-known sequel of Commando (Senjou no Ookami 1-2 in Japan) was converted from the Arcade CPS1 system to the MegaDrive (Genesis in the US) by SEGA.
The CPS1 (Capcom Play System 1) had a lot better hardware, with a resolution of 384 x 224, 4096 colours on the screen simultaneously, and better sound chips then the MegaDrive. Suprisingly, the conversion was almost perfect.
Of course, there were some places that just had to be changed, like the resolution. Still, the MegaDrive version is better then the Arcade version in my opinion.
The Arcade version had undoubtedly better graphics, but - altough it has better sound hardware - the sound effects were very bad. And the gameplay was very unrealistic.
However, a lot of these problems does not exist in the MegaDrive version. The resolution, and thus, the graphics were toned down, but the musics and the sound effects sound a lot better to me. And the gameplay was heavily changed. The weapons have incredebly wide ranges on higher levels, making the foot soldiers almost non-existant as enemies, especially that they don't throw thousands of granades, like in the Arcade.
Some enemies were toned up, like the tanks are now very hard to kill. A lot of other things were changed in the gameplay too, most of these are the results of the lower hardware capabilities of the MegaDrive.
The MegaDrive can handle less and smaller sprites then the CPS1, this is the most noticable on the Mega Crash Bomb - it's just a pack of small explosions, instead of the giant one in the Arcade. And a few of the obstacles have changed too - like the Turret that you can use against the 3rd levels boss. It was removed.
These changes make the gameplay almost completely different, but still similiar to the arcade. Still, the most important change was the lack of Multiplayer mode. "Why?"- you ask? There are a lot of possible reasons.
  • 1. There was no place on the screen to put your scores/life meter! - This could be easily fixed if they would try hard enough, so we must search for another reason. We don't have to search a lot.
  • 2. The MegaDrive only has 2 controller slots, the Arcade has 3 player mode! - There are 4 player adapters, altough I don't know if they were available or not in 1991. Still they could make at least a 2 player version. This is not the true reason either.
  • 3. The MegaDrive couldn't handle that much sprites! - Bingo. Notice, if there are a lot of enemies on the screen, the game will heavily slow down. Now imagine what would happen if there would be 2 times as many sprites on the screen. The game would be unplayable.
    • If SEGA would've coded a better engine for the game, then it would be possible to get better graphics and more sprites on the screen, they did it when they tuned up the speed in Streets of Rage 3. I saw games with better graphics and more, moving sprites then in Mercs, but it would take long moths to write a better engine. The conversion was done in 1 year after the arcade release - in that time, they couldn't rewrite the whole game, they could only write a port.
    However, the lack of multiplayer is not a fatal blow, because this version has a special mode, named "Original Mode" - in this the, graphics, the levels, the game was toned to the maximum that the engine can handle. The graphics are mostly the ones seen in the Arcade mode, but there are a lot of new ones too. Especially new enemies, like the Missle Trucks. Sadly, some of the better tanks haven't made it to this mode, but 5 different soldiers were added, each with unique weapons (2 of them, are brand new), they join you as the game continues - making it a lot more realistic. Also, you can make your soldier faster, enter shelters and buy them items, there are even items that are not in the Arcade version at all! And this mode is a lot harder. If you can beat the Arcade mode, you have a good chance to get to the 3rd level here...
    In conclusion, the MegaDrive version is better, but you must try the Arcade version if you liked it.