If we say Senjõ no Õkami Most likely, most people don’t know what we’re talking about or think it’s about the precious Okami. But no. If instead we say Wolf of the Battlefield something similar will happen, ironically. But in both cases it is the same, despite not being a name used here by the Capcom saga until the sad end with its third chapter in digital format.
We refer to the mythical 1985 commando and what was his unforgettable sequel in 1990, that MERCS that enhanced its formula 100% arcade and with the possibility of sharing shots with up to two other people in your arcade. And since last month it is possible to buy it separately within the Capcom Arcade Stadium collection, it is a good time to remember this classic in depth.
From Commando to MERCS, the perfection of war
The eighties were a golden age for arcades and Capcom was one of the most important by contributing not only a greater number of games in terms of quantity / quality, but also by creating several icons that last today. , like Ghosts’ n Goblins or Street Fighter.
Obviously, action games predominated in recreational games, partly to blame for the boom in games. run & gun with scroll vertical following two classics released in 1985: Commando and Gun.Smoke. The second, incredible as it may seem, was the precursor of Red Dead Redemption today, this time in charge of RockStar. While the first gave rise to the Wolf of the Battlefield saga, where we control the soldier Super Joe in Schwarzenegger plan.
In reality, despite sharing a name and release year with the famous actor’s film, it had nothing to do with it. Of course, it was a war game, obviously, where you had to massacre enemy soldiers while occasionally rescuing a POW (Prisoner of War). The latter disappeared in MERCS, its sequel from 1990, but everything else was enhanced in a big way.
To begin with, the design was more stylish and colorful. Not surprisingly, both games were separated by five years and this evolution had to be noticed thanks to the first model of the CP System board. Although probably what attracted the most attention was the fact that multiplayer for three people in recreational.
The latter was a shame on their domestic conversions, losing that number. In fact, in Mega Drive it was only possible alone, while in Amiga 500 it was only two players. Be that as it may, the jump was palpable, both graphically, with animations of the soldiers burning because of the flamethrower, and when it came to piloting a series of vehicles for brief moments.
MERCS was completely linear and it didn’t matter. We went from the bottom of the screen to the top, avoiding obstacles and enemies while still releasing the fire button. What mattered least was its history, where there was a coup against country “R”. And all to rescue the US president.
Will the Wolf of the Battlefield saga ever return?
It was also a simple game in development, in the sense of having an easy-to-understand and distraction-free control: we had the normal fire and then a button for the bomb (here called “Mega Crash”). Later, yes, we had various power-ups typical of the genre as a POW to boost normal shots. Or the most striking: a revitalizer for raise the limit of our life.
And of course it was necessary to increase this bar, because the game got harder and harder as we passed phases. It was not a hell of bullets, but neither did the enemy give us respite and our mobility could not be compared to that of the typical Martian killer. Now, it was a matter of getting the hang of it, having patience and not going crazy. Apart from seeing which weapon best suited our tastes and / or situation. That an assault rifle with a linear firing is not the same as a grenade launcher with a radius of action per impact. Or, of course, the versatile shotgun with its three-way shot, the most helpful, perhaps.
That it was hard was to compensate for its short duration, Secondly. The usual in all original arcade games. But at least the phases were varied, from jungle environments to other urban ones, unleashing a whole festival of shots and explosions against helicopters, tanks or large warships.
It is no longer surprising as before but the type continues to hold up to a point, which is a merit for a game with more than 30 years behind it. It is worth remembering the long period of time that existed between this sequel (known as Senjõ no Õkami II in Japan) regarding its third and last installment, the uninspired Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 from PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in full 2008. At least we always have alternatives of the time like SNK’s Shock Troopers or Renegade Ops like something more modern …