layout, a more intricate underground complex, a new set of puzzles to overcome and several significant changes with game objects. Reception Mercenary received strong positive reviews from gaming magazines across all platforms, with the original Mercenary receiving a Gold Medal from Zzap!64 magazine. 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". 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 "Mercenarys 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". The ZX Spectrum version of Mercenary was voted number 15 in the Your Sinclair Readers' Top 100 Games of All Time. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the Commodore 64 version 33rd on their "Top 100 Games of All Time." Legacy Damocles 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 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. Re-releases Mercenary and The Second City were later combined into the Mercenary Compendium. In the 2000s, the three games were ported to Microsoft Windows. It was distributed with the agreement of the former Novagen team. 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