Mercenary Force

Players start with 5000 yen and must begin by hiring their mercenaries. The team has four slots and can be recruited from five different character types (servant, ninja, monk, samurai and mystic) in any combination (including more than one of any character). Each character differs in price, starting health, weapons (amount of projectiles, speed and direction), and special attack.

The game consists of six levels, seen from an angled top-down/side-view perspective, with the screen scrolling automatically to the right. The mercenaries must shoot hordes of enemies to get to the next level, including several bosses. They can change their formation between four different options: a vertical line, a diamond shape, a square shape and a horizontal arrowhead formation.

The hit points of each team member are counted individually, so if one is killed the remaining ones can fight on. Each character also has a special suicide attack, triggered by pressing both buttons at the same time. These attacks are usually highly devastating but the monk's power allows the group to skip ahead through a large part of the level.

Killed enemies drop coins that disappear after a short while if not picked up. The money reserve is used in various ways: between stages, new recruits can be hired to replace fallen fighters. There are also buildings in the levels that allow spending of money. Cafes offer items that restore or increase health and sometimes change the character class of the team leader.

There is a fortune-reading at a temple which makes it possible to recruit a hidden character, and the possibility to resurrect fallen comrades at a daibutsu. Only temples don't cost money and offer healing for free.