The Mercenaries is a minigame in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5 (where there are two versions of it), Resident Evil 6, and functions as the entirety of the spinoff title Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D. The exact gameplay and goal of each iteration differs mostly involve killing as many enemies as the player can in a stage within a time limit to earn a highscore.
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
The first namesakes appearance of the minigame originates from The Mercenaries - Operation: Mad Jackal in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. The titled refereed how the player could play characters from the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (who were essentially mercenaries) and name of their mission. The minigame is unlocked by completing the maingame in initial releases but it is already available in later versions. The gameplay involved traveling through a section of Raccoon City from the maingame while under a time limit. Defeating enemies and saving civilians would earn the player bonus time, points, and items. Each character had their own unique set of starting weapons and items.
Resident Evil 4
The namesake of the game appeared later in Resident Evil 4 simply called The Mercenaries. This minigame is much more arcade like and simple than its previous appearance and is unlocked by completing the maingame. The object of the game is to kill enemies to earn points for a high score before the evacuation chopper arrives in the allotted time (the scenario is made up and gives the impression the player is now a mercenary). Killing a normal enemy earns the player 300 points, while boss enemies unique to each stage can earn several thousand points. Killing enemies quickly in a row results in combos which gives much more points. Players could increase their sessions play time by picking up "Time Extension" bonuses. There are five playable characters all with unique attributes, weapons and items, and melee attacks.
The game was iconic for featuring the Handcannon unlockable, which required the player to get a highscore on every stage with every character, the Giant Chainsaw Man, a unique and deadly enemy that doesn't appear in the maingame, and HUNK as a playable character, which seemed to start the trend of him appearing in many more minigames to follow.
Resident Evil 5
The Mercenaries
The minigame featured in Resident Evil 5 also known simply as The Mercenaries plays very similar to the Resident Evil 4 version but with only a few key differences in gameplay. The goal is still to amass as many points as possible in the limited time period. It is also unlocked by completing the maingame.
This version still features a time limit but time pick ups are now in the form of time crystals which are activated by using the command prompt to preform a melee attack on them. Even more importantly, players are now awarded 5 seconds to the timer when killing an enemy with a melee attack. Using melee attacks is a crucial part of having enough time to defeat the 150 enemy limit and achieve a highscore. Each character also can be played in different outfits and each outfit has a different set of weapons and items but retain the characters' melee attacks and attributes.
There is now local and on-line co-op added. Playing with a partner increases the difficulty of the session to balance out the gameplay. The game also supports leaderboards.
No Mercy
No Mercy is an alternate The Mercenaries mode that is exclusive to the PC version of Resident Evil 5. In this mode, there is a great change in enemies: not only are there 400 enemies instead of 150 (an exception being the Village stage because of the Kipepeo), but also, there can be around 40 enemies in the stage at once, and the game features more parasitic enemies (Cephalo, Kipepeo and Duvalia). The first miniboss spawn will be as normal, but after that, the amount of boss enemies that spawn will be doubled. However, to compensate for the overwhelming number of hostiles on screen, Majini are much weaker than usual. There are also at least 4 Rocket launchers per stage. It is only available when playing alone.
The Mercenaries Reunion
The Mercenaries Reunion is an alternate version and separate version of the The Mercenaries that was later added to Resident Evil 5 via downloadable content. The gamemode features a different set of characters and costumes, notably Rebecca Chambers and Barry Burton. The gameplay and stages are the same however the enemies and spawn patterns have been changed. Characters also have alternate and more powerful melee attacks depending on their partner; for example, if Sheva is paired up with Excella or Josh, her Impale will be replaced by Double Fang which is stronger and hits twice.
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
The popularity of The Mercenaries minigame led to the spinoff title Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D which is the minigame expanded into a full game. The gameplay is most similar to Resident Evil 5 using the same melee prompts and weapons. The enemies and stages are mix of content from Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5. The game is still played in stages but some stages feature certain changes. For example, some require a specific enemy to be killed, and some are played where enemies are fought in waves. While most stages simply require to play the game as you normally would a.k.a. achieve a high score by the time the time ends. All stages are altered and are smaller with areas cut off and unavailable for the player to access. Some stages feature a day and nighttime version of that particular stage. Some enemies appear in stages where they were never seen before. Example: Zealots appearing in Public Assembly.
The game features unlockable & equipable skills and the ability to equip a different characters weapon set via unlocking it by getting an A-rank or higher with the desired character. There is a special weapon set that can only be obtained by unlocking every characters weapon sets.
Resident Evil 6
As seen previously, the main purpose of The Mercenaries again in Resident Evil 6 is to accumulate a high score within a limited time without dying but again, minor changes were made to expand upon the mode. The game is available from the start now and now features downloadable content stages.
Players can still earn bonus time by smashing time crystals and defeating enemies with melee attacks but killing an enemy with a Coup de grâce attack will add 7 seconds. With the new counter mechanic, killing an enemy with a counter-attack will add 10 seconds to the timer instead. Killing multiple enemies with a single melee attack simply adds together the time gained for each kill.
Enemy spawns are much more dynamic now. Rather than the same base enemy and occasional sub-boss spawning, enemies come in specific waves such as first zombies, then zombie dogs, then zombies with helmets, and so on. Enemies also become slightly more intelligent and stronger the closer the player gets to the 150 limit. In Mercenaries, enemies are programmed to spawn at maximum of 8, when player kill off one, one will respawn, but no more than 8.
Most notably, almost every zombie will attempt to leap onto the player towards the end of sessions. Certain enemies can also appear under certain conditions for example, achieving a certain combo number or higher will cause a certain type of enemy to appear, or achieving a certain score, or other factors.
Another important change is the inclusion of an equipable Skill . The player can pick one to either fit their gameplay style or compliment their character choice. For example, "Pharmacist" allows players to heal themselves quicker and "Martial Arts Master" is good for Jake who has a strong set of melee attacks.
The game is also supported by Resident Evil.net. On there, extra costumes can be unlocked.
No Mercy
No Mercy mode appears again on the PC version featuring a 300 enemies limit, more enemies on screen, and most notably, the cast of Left 4 Dead 2 as playable characters. In No Mercy mode, rare ammo drop is available (Pier's Anti-Material Rifle, Grenade Launcher...). The maximum spawn of No Mercy increases to 40 instead of 8.