Mercenary box and manual

With the former Novagen team agreement, here are some box scans and manuals for Mercenary.

1- Mercenary 1 - Escape From Targ
2- The Second City
3- Mercenary 1 - Compendium Edition

About Mercenary, Bruce Jordan said: "a product life extending to four years with various format and language conversions consolidated with the 'Second City' dataset and the Targ Survival Kit 'add-on goodie' enabling various issues and re-packagings to a total of 44 individual product releases".

Products will be described by: game name - computer - medium - language - year of release - editor. Mind you, some of the games have been re-released several times. This is just a try, there are so many various releases that it might have to be organized differently. See the games versions page to have an idea of how complicated it will be.

Only a few and random versions are showed here. There are scans are from The Mercenary Site, some sent by fans, and some (shame on me) stolen here or there over the years on the Internet (Ebay and other). Please send yours if different, or send me a mail for credit if you recognize one of your pictures!
Note: some ad-blockers plugins will prevent you from seeing some pictures with the name "ad" in them. If you see empty pictures, try to de-activate the anti-ads plugins!

MERCENARY 1 - ESCAPE FROM TARG

Escape From Targ - Atari 8 bits - tape - English - 1985 - Novagen. Picture (click to see)

Overview. This is probably one of the very first versions, as 8-bits Atari was the first one released in November 1985.

Inlay, scanned at 120dpi.

Tape, scanned at 120dpi.

Manual cover.

Manual pages 1-2.

Manual pages 3-4.

Manual pages 5-6.

Advert for the Targ Survival Kit.

Advert for Encounter and the Targ Survival Kit.

Advert for the disk version.

Escape From Targ - Commodore 64 - tape - English - 1986 - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard) Picture (click to see)

Inlay for the Commodore 64 only version. Though copyrighted 1985, according to Bruce Jordan (and reviews), the game was released in March 1986 for C64.

Overview.

Instructions side 1.

Instructions side 2.

Tape.

Escape From Targ - Commodore Plus4 - tape - English - 1986 - Novagen. (thanks to Allan U.) Picture (click to see)

Inlay and manual.

Tape.

Escape From Targ - Commodore 64 and Plus 4 - tape - English - 1986 - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard) Picture (click to see)

Inlay for the Commodore 64 and Plus 4 version.

Tape, both sides.

Instructions for Plus 4.

Instructions part 1.

Instructions part 2.

Instructions part 3.

Instructions part 4.

Escape From Targ - all comptuers - all mediums - instructions in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish; game in English or French - 1992 - EDOS. Picture (click to see)

Inlay, scanned at 120dpi. Note that this is an EDOS version, standing for Electronic Distribution Of Software. It was a distribution system around 1991-93, with a PC comptuer that could write all medias (tapes, 3", 3.5" or 5.25" disks), from a CD-ROM. This allowed sellers to have less stocks since they used a standard disk or tape to copy the program. They just had to store inlays and boxes (that were big enough to hold any media from tape to 5"25 disk)
So the game was availalbe for 8-bits Atari, Commodore, Spectrum, Amstrad, as well as Amiga or Atari ST, on disk or tape, in English or French (the catalogue didn't show the German version). This instructions were translated in 5 languages, though the game wasn't.

Disk, scanned at 120dpi. The EDOS disk was unlabelled, I wrote "Mercenary" myself on it.
Funny thing: I bought this EDOS French Atari ST version of Escape From Targ, and noticed The Second City was on the disk, simply erased. A little file restoring and both games were there!

Multilingual manual, page 1.

Multilingual manual, page 2.

Multilingual manual, page 3.

Presentation in French, of the EDOS system (from the 1993 French catalogue)
Wonderful 386 computer that read a CD-ROM and copied programs to tapes or 3", 3.5" or 5.25" disks.

Mercenary 1 entry, from the 1993 French catalogue.

Escape From Targ - Atari ST - disk - English - 1986 - Datasoft. Picture (click to see)

Box of the Datasoft version - front and back (from Ebay).

Overview of the Datasoft version

Box of the Datasoft version - front at 300dpi

Box of the Datasoft version - back at 300dpi

Box of the Datasoft version - top at 300dpi

Box of the Datasoft version - bottom at 300dpi

Box of the Datasoft version - side 1 at 300dpi

Box of the Datasoft version - side 2 at 300dpi

Box of the Datasoft version - disk at 300dpi

Small poster of the Datasoft version at 300dpi: Central City

Small posters of the Datasoft version at 300dpi: Orbital Complex, Subterranean Complex

Manual of the Datasoft version - page 1 at 300dpi

Manual of the Datasoft version - pages 2-3 at 300dpi

Manual of the Datasoft version - pages 4-5 at 300dpi

Manual of the Datasoft version - pages 6-7 at 300dpi

Manual of the Datasoft version - page 8 at 300dpi

Instuction page of the Datasoft version - both sides at 300dpi

The Second City order form of the Datasoft version - at 300dpi
Apparently in the US, 2nd City was sold separately for ST!

Datasoft ads of the Datasoft version - overview both sides

Escape From Targ - Spectrum - tape - 1991 - English - Novagen. Picture (click to see)

Overview of this 1991 budget re-release. Note the double inlay.

First inlay, side 1 and side 2.

Second inlay, side 1 and side 2.

Cover picture with detail of the box sticker.

Tape, side 1 and side 2.

Escape From Targ - Atari 8-bits - disk - 1985 - English - Novagen. With letters from Novagen! (thanks to Stephen Stuttard) Picture (click to see)

Inlay.

Disk.

Instructions part 1 and 2.

Instructions part 3 and 4.

Ad for Encounter! and the Targ Survival Kit.

Letter from Bruce Jordan, after a competition in Zzap!64 magazine, to a Mercenary T-shirt winner. (never saw any!)
Scanned at 600dpi as this is pretty unique.

Second letter from Bruce Jordan, apparently sent with the T-shirt.
Scanned at 600dpi as this is pretty unique.

Escape From Targ - Atari and Commodore 8-bits - disk or tape? - year? - English - Datasoft. Picture (click to see)

Unknown box of the Datasoft version - apparently for 8-bits Commodore and Atari.

Escape From Targ - Atari 800 - disk - year? - English - Novagen, seen on Ebay. Picture (click to see)

Overview of this version sold on Ebay. What is this strange map, is it taken from a magazine?

Escape From Targ - Commodore 64 - disk - year? - English - Novagen, seen on Ebay. Picture (click to see)

Overview of this version sold on Ebay. Anybody seen that huge poster? Was it sold with disk versions?

THE SECOND CITY

The Second City - Amstrad CPC - tape - 1987 - English - Novagen. Picture (click to see)

Overview.

Inlay, scanned at 300dpi.

Tape both sides, scanned at 300dpi.

Manual page 1, scanned at 300dpi.

Manual page 2, scanned at 300dpi.

The Second City - Atari 8 bits - tape - 1986 - English - Novagen. Picture (click to see)

Overview.

Inlay, scanned at 120dpi.

Tape, scanned at 120dpi.

Second City manual, page 1.

Second City manual, page 2.

The Second City - Commodore 64 and Plus4 - tape - 198? - English / Danish ?? - Novagen. (thanks to Jacob de Meza) Picture (click to see)

Overview of the box, with a sticker saying "instructions in Danish". Really?

The Second City - Commodore 64 and Plus4 - tape - 1986 - English - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard) Picture (click to see)

Inlay, at 300 DPI.

Tape side 1, at 300 DPI.

Instructions, side 1 and 2, at 300 DPI.

The Second City - Commodore Plus4 - tape - 1986 - English - Novagen. (thanks to Allan U.) Picture (click to see)

Inlay and manual.

Tape.

The Second City - Atari ST - disk - 1986 - English - Datasoft. (thanks to Rhod's Collection Blog.) Picture (click to see)

Box front.

Box back and overview.

MERCENARY 1 - COMPENDIUM EDITION

Mercenary compendium - Atari ST - disk - 1986 - French - Novagen. Picture (click to see)

Overviews.
Note, on the 4th and 5th pictures, the Targ Survival Kit envelope, which is missing in the scans below. Translated into French by: "Equipement de survie sur Targ - A n'ouvrir qu'en cas d'urgence".

Inlay

Disk, both sides. Fun: the front is in French but the back in English.

Box, front and back

Box, side 1

Box, side 2

Manual (in French), pages 1 and 2

Manual (in French), pages 3 and 4

Manual (in French), pages 5 and 6

Central City poster, high resolution in 4 parts (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit, which had the envloppe missing here (at least).
Note the poster wasn't translated.

Underground and orbital complexes (in French), high resolution (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit.
(I tried to make a "clean" version, so it's PNG with less colours)

Vehicles (in French), high resolution (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit.
(I tried to make a "clean" version, so it's PNG with less colours)

Mercenary compendium - Amiga - disk - 1991 - English - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard) Picture (click to see)

Box, front and back. 300 DPI.
Apparently the Targ Survival Kit was not included, as it could be bought from the ads (see below).

Disk, 300 DPI.

Box, side 1, 300 DPI.

Box, side 2, 300 DPI.

Box, side 3, 300 DPI.

Box, side 4, 300 DPI.

Manual side 1, 300 DPI.

Manual side 2, 300 DPI.

Ad, side 1 and 2.
See "Damocles 2" is anticipated for May 1991 ;)

Mercenary compendium - C64 - tape - year? - English - Novagen. Picture (click to see)

Overview, with novella Interlude On Targ and the Targ Survival Kit.

Mercenary compendium - Spectrum +3 - disk - year? - English - Novagen. Picture (click to see)

Overview, apparently without any extras (Interlude On Targ or Targ Survival Kit). Labelled only "+3", was this the only Spectrum model with 3" disks?

Mercenary compendium - Amstrad CPC - disk - 1987 - German - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard) Picture (click to see)

Box front, back and "sub-box", Amstrad CPC German version. 300 DPI. Apparently the inlay is missing.
Note that Amstrad CPC was called Schneider CPC in Germany?

Box side 1. 300 DPI.

Box side 2. 300 DPI.

Disk front, back and side. 300 DPI

Instructions side 1. 300 DPI

Instructions side 2. 300 DPI

Underground and orbital complexes (in German), high resolution (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit.

Vehicles (in German), high resolution (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit.

Central City poster, high resolution in 4 parts (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit, which had the envloppe missing here (at least).
Note the poster wasn't translated, and is exactly the same than other releases, so here is actually a copy of the one from the Atari ST box.

Mercenary compendium - Amstrad CPC - disk - year? - French - Novagen. Picture (click to see)

Box front, Amstrad CPC French version.

Back to main Mercenary page

MERCENARY 1 - ESCAPE FROM TARG
Escape From Targ - Atari 8 bits - tape - English - 1985 - Novagen.	Picture (click to see)
Overview. This is probably one of the very first versions, as 8-bits Atari was the first one released in November 1985.
Inlay, scanned at 120dpi.
Tape, scanned at 120dpi.
Manual cover.
Manual pages 1-2.
Manual pages 3-4.
Manual pages 5-6.
Advert for the Targ Survival Kit.
Advert for Encounter and the Targ Survival Kit.
Advert for the disk version.
Escape From Targ - Commodore 64 - tape - English - 1986 - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard)	Picture (click to see)
Inlay for the Commodore 64 only version. Though copyrighted 1985, according to Bruce Jordan (and reviews), the game was released in March 1986 for C64.
Overview.
Instructions side 1.
Instructions side 2.
Tape.
Escape From Targ - Commodore Plus4 - tape - English - 1986 - Novagen. (thanks to Allan U.)	Picture (click to see)
Inlay and manual.
Tape.
*Escape From Targ - Commodore 64 and* Plus 4 - tape - English - 1986 - Novagen.** (thanks to Stephen Stuttard)	Picture (click to see)
Inlay for the Commodore 64 and Plus 4 version.
Tape, both sides.
Instructions for Plus 4.
Instructions part 1.
Instructions part 2.
Instructions part 3.
Instructions part 4.
Escape From Targ - all comptuers - all mediums - instructions in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish; game in English or French - 1992 - EDOS.	Picture (click to see)
Inlay, scanned at 120dpi. Note that this is an EDOS version, standing for Electronic Distribution Of Software. It was a distribution system around 1991-93, with a PC comptuer that could write all medias (tapes, 3", 3.5" or 5.25" disks), from a CD-ROM. This allowed sellers to have less stocks since they used a standard disk or tape to copy the program. They just had to store inlays and boxes (that were big enough to hold any media from tape to 5"25 disk) So the game was availalbe for 8-bits Atari, Commodore, Spectrum, Amstrad, as well as Amiga or Atari ST, on disk or tape, in English or French (the catalogue didn't show the German version). This instructions were translated in 5 languages, though the game wasn't.
Disk, scanned at 120dpi. The EDOS disk was unlabelled, I wrote "Mercenary" myself on it. Funny thing: I bought this EDOS French Atari ST version of Escape From Targ, and noticed The Second City was on the disk, simply erased. A little file restoring and both games were there!
Multilingual manual, page 1.
Multilingual manual, page 2.
Multilingual manual, page 3.
Presentation in French, of the EDOS system (from the 1993 French catalogue) Wonderful 386 computer that read a CD-ROM and copied programs to tapes or 3", 3.5" or 5.25" disks.
Mercenary 1 entry, from the 1993 French catalogue.
Escape From Targ - Atari ST - disk - English - 1986 - Datasoft.	Picture (click to see)
Box of the Datasoft version - front and back (from Ebay).
Overview of the Datasoft version
Box of the Datasoft version - front at 300dpi
Box of the Datasoft version - back at 300dpi
Box of the Datasoft version - top at 300dpi
Box of the Datasoft version - bottom at 300dpi
Box of the Datasoft version - side 1 at 300dpi
Box of the Datasoft version - side 2 at 300dpi
Box of the Datasoft version - disk at 300dpi
Small poster of the Datasoft version at 300dpi: Central City
Small posters of the Datasoft version at 300dpi: Orbital Complex, Subterranean Complex
Manual of the Datasoft version - page 1 at 300dpi
Manual of the Datasoft version - pages 2-3 at 300dpi
Manual of the Datasoft version - pages 4-5 at 300dpi
Manual of the Datasoft version - pages 6-7 at 300dpi
Manual of the Datasoft version - page 8 at 300dpi
Instuction page of the Datasoft version - both sides at 300dpi
The Second City order form of the Datasoft version - at 300dpi Apparently in the US, 2nd City was sold separately for ST!
Datasoft ads of the Datasoft version - overview both sides
Escape From Targ - Spectrum - tape - 1991 - English - Novagen.	Picture (click to see)
Overview of this 1991 budget re-release. Note the double inlay.
First inlay, side 1 and side 2.
Second inlay, side 1 and side 2.
Cover picture with detail of the box sticker.
Tape, side 1 and side 2.
Escape From Targ - Atari 8-bits - disk - 1985 - English - Novagen. With letters from Novagen! (thanks to Stephen Stuttard)	Picture (click to see)
Inlay.
Disk.
Instructions part 1 and 2.
Instructions part 3 and 4.
Ad for Encounter! and the Targ Survival Kit.
Letter from Bruce Jordan, after a competition in Zzap!64 magazine, to a Mercenary T-shirt winner. (never saw any!) Scanned at 600dpi as this is pretty unique.
Second letter from Bruce Jordan, apparently sent with the T-shirt. Scanned at 600dpi as this is pretty unique.
Escape From Targ - Atari and Commodore 8-bits - disk or tape? - year? - English - Datasoft.	Picture (click to see)
Unknown box of the Datasoft version - apparently for 8-bits Commodore and Atari.
Escape From Targ - Atari 800 - disk - year? - English - Novagen, seen on Ebay.	Picture (click to see)
Overview of this version sold on Ebay. What is this strange map, is it taken from a magazine?
Escape From Targ - Commodore 64 - disk - year? - English - Novagen, seen on Ebay.	Picture (click to see)
Overview of this version sold on Ebay. Anybody seen that huge poster? Was it sold with disk versions?
THE SECOND CITY
The Second City - Amstrad CPC - tape - 1987 - English - Novagen.	Picture (click to see)
Overview.
Inlay, scanned at 300dpi.
Tape both sides, scanned at 300dpi.
Manual page 1, scanned at 300dpi.
Manual page 2, scanned at 300dpi.
The Second City - Atari 8 bits - tape - 1986 - English - Novagen.	Picture (click to see)
Overview.
Inlay, scanned at 120dpi.
Tape, scanned at 120dpi.
Second City manual, page 1.
Second City manual, page 2.
The Second City - Commodore 64 and Plus4 - tape - 198? - English / Danish ?? - Novagen. (thanks to Jacob de Meza)	Picture (click to see)
Overview of the box, with a sticker saying "instructions in Danish". Really?
The Second City - Commodore 64 and Plus4 - tape - 1986 - English - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard)	Picture (click to see)
Inlay, at 300 DPI.
Tape side 1, at 300 DPI.
Instructions, side 1 and 2, at 300 DPI.
The Second City - Commodore Plus4 - tape - 1986 - English - Novagen. (thanks to Allan U.)	Picture (click to see)
Inlay and manual.
Tape.
The Second City - Atari ST - disk - 1986 - English - Datasoft. (thanks to Rhod's Collection Blog.)	Picture (click to see)
Box front.
Box back and overview.
MERCENARY 1 - COMPENDIUM EDITION
Mercenary compendium - Atari ST - disk - 1986 - French - Novagen.	Picture (click to see)
Overviews. Note, on the 4th and 5th pictures, the Targ Survival Kit envelope, which is missing in the scans below. Translated into French by: "Equipement de survie sur Targ - A n'ouvrir qu'en cas d'urgence".
Inlay
Disk, both sides. Fun: the front is in French but the back in English.
Box, front and back
Box, side 1
Box, side 2
Manual (in French), pages 1 and 2
Manual (in French), pages 3 and 4
Manual (in French), pages 5 and 6
Central City poster, high resolution in 4 parts (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit, which had the envloppe missing here (at least). Note the poster wasn't translated.
Underground and orbital complexes (in French), high resolution (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit. (I tried to make a "clean" version, so it's PNG with less colours)
Vehicles (in French), high resolution (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit. (I tried to make a "clean" version, so it's PNG with less colours)
Mercenary compendium - Amiga - disk - 1991 - English - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard)	Picture (click to see)
Box, front and back. 300 DPI. Apparently the Targ Survival Kit was not included, as it could be bought from the ads (see below).
Disk, 300 DPI.
Box, side 1, 300 DPI.
Box, side 2, 300 DPI.
Box, side 3, 300 DPI.
Box, side 4, 300 DPI.
Manual side 1, 300 DPI.
Manual side 2, 300 DPI.
Ad, side 1 and 2. See "Damocles 2" is anticipated for May 1991 ;)
Mercenary compendium - C64 - tape - year? - English - Novagen.	Picture (click to see)
Overview, with novella Interlude On Targ and the Targ Survival Kit.
Mercenary compendium - Spectrum +3 - disk - year? - English - Novagen.	Picture (click to see)
Overview, apparently without any extras (Interlude On Targ or Targ Survival Kit). Labelled only "+3", was this the only Spectrum model with 3" disks?
Mercenary compendium - Amstrad CPC - disk - 1987 - German - Novagen. (thanks to Stephen Stuttard)	Picture (click to see)
Box front, back and "sub-box", Amstrad CPC German version. 300 DPI. Apparently the inlay is missing. Note that Amstrad CPC was called Schneider CPC in Germany?
Box side 1. 300 DPI.
Box side 2. 300 DPI.
Disk front, back and side. 300 DPI
Instructions side 1. 300 DPI
Instructions side 2. 300 DPI
Underground and orbital complexes (in German), high resolution (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit.
Vehicles (in German), high resolution (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit.
Central City poster, high resolution in 4 parts (300dpi). From the Targ Survival Kit, which had the envloppe missing here (at least). Note the poster wasn't translated, and is exactly the same than other releases, so here is actually a copy of the one from the Atari ST box.
Mercenary compendium - Amstrad CPC - disk - year? - French - Novagen.	Picture (click to see)
Box front, Amstrad CPC French version.