After 11 years Merv is finally free!

[Bloodwych]

I finally did it! I freed the long suffering little troll merv!

What the hell have you been smoking I hear you say; well let me explain for those who don't remember.

After a look through my trusty and dusty Amiga mag collection I started reading Zero issue 1 1989 (still remember the day I bought this).

The memories started flooding back, especially when I realised the fantastic game Merv the Merciless came on the cover disk.

This game had my blood pressure near boiling point over a decade ago, yet I couldn't stop playing it.

The story as I remember it is you are Merv, some kind of troll-type creature, and you've been extremely naughty to the pixies by doing acts such as beating them up and nicking their homework, placing cling film over the toilets and spiking their pixie punch with 90% vodka.

As a punishment for your sins, the wizard Egmy sends you to, and I quote from the game “a land more vile than the weekly crossroads omnibus, a land more terrifying than spending a week in Bognar Regis with Hugh Skully, a land more nauseating than rapido ”. Here you have to roam around and collect food (nosh) and money (dosh).

Sounds simple? Well, it would be, apart from the fact that the screen moves independently in different directions and speeds around the landscape. So what? Well, chainsaws surrounded the edges of the screen and if you touch them it’s bye-bye Merv!

While collecting nosh and dosh, other hazards present themselves too. If you walk over a bottle, drunken music plays and your controls are reversed for a short time. There is also marsh land that slows you down, mines that blow you up, traps that cut you in half and water that spins you in one direction.

If you collect enough dosh within your 3 lives you get the chainsaw, allowing Merv to cut free of the land and get revenge on Egmy. If you don’t get enough nosh, you starve. Plus there is an egg timer. IT’S HARD, but addictive.

A particularly strange feature is the logo of the Australian TV soap opera, Neighbours, which, if walked over, would play a short and badly looped sample of the programme's theme tune! You didn't get any bonuses for doing so, it was just there for coolness (or sadness).

One particularly annoying part of the game was the music it played if you touched the edge of the screen or died: it was like a show tune that got played as clowns or comedians danced off the stage ... a short of "That's all folks: you're dead!" GGRRRRRRRRRR it was so annoying.

I played this damn game for weeks, but no matter what I tried the little git Merv always ended up in troll heaven.

If I managed to turn him into fatso Merv, he'd die.
If I managed to collect enough dosh for the chain saw, he'd die.
If I went over the neighbours theme tune icon, I'd start dancing, forget about the chainsaw screen, and he'd die.
If I tried all of the above, he'd die.

Eventually, after breaking a cruiser multicoloured joystick, I threw the cover disk into the void of my disk box never to be seen again.................until today!

Nostalgia made me read Zero issue 1 all the way through, something I never had the patience for as a kid. I'd sort of buy the mag, rip off the coverdisk play the games and think "why the hell did I buy this POS", read a few reviews if the pictures looked good - you know the drill.

BIG MISTAKE. For if I'd read the part about the cover disk, like I did yesterday, Merv would be free without growing grey and old!

The secret was that you had to get the chainsaw and then LET THE TIMER RUN OUT! I'd get the damn chainsaw then run around scoffing nosh and collecting timers until I died.

But I’ve finally done it - Merv is free!

It took me 5 coffees, 4.5 hours, three "compose yourself before you smash up the monitor" breaks, several hundred renditions of neighbours (this was BAD) and 1 joystick change but that little git is now free.

OMG!!!!! I’ve gotten a little carried away in this post – sorry.

Screen shots will follow……………..

[Bloodwych]

The opening screen, showing our hero and his name spelt in 2 different ways



The start point



The death scene:



Going on the piss and getting drunk:



Anyone got a minesweeper?



OMG, I'm rich!



I'm dead - again:



Avoid the neighbours, or rip out your hi-fi. But I've got the chainsaw

[Frog]

Thanks a lot for the story

[RetroMan]

Yep, that´s really a nice one

[MethodGit]

God, this sounds like a freaky but kinda-original game to me!

Any chance you could upload the coverdisk to the Zone so we can all see just WTF you were experiencing all those years ago?

Also, how long did ZERO last for?

[Bloodwych]

Marz, the game is now in the zone.

I've uploaded 2 versions:

One is my original coverdisk from Zero issue 1. This is the game I finished above. Has problems with WinUAE but is fine on Winfellow and a real Amiga.

The other is a cracked version with trainer that I just found on the net. This works fine with WInUAE and Winfellow. The trainer ensures that you don't have to go through the torture I endured on the non-cracked version. Damn, I wish I'd found this earlier!

Let me know what you all think! :bounce

[Bloodwych]

Guess what, I've found a flash version of the game. Definitely inspired by good old Merv from Zero Issue #1:

http://www.gamerbow.com/game/chivvy-chase/

It reminded me of this thread, from 2001!!!!

So I thought I'd raise it from the dead for . Therefore after 11 years Merv was freed (title of thread), after 10 more years Merv was cloned!!! 21 Years of Merv!

Shame my hosted pics are long gone - they were held on my old NTL ISP account - perhaps I'll replace them some day. For now, we have HOL: http://hol.abime.net/4765

[Galahad/FLT]

Short : HD-Installer for Merv the Merciless - Probe Software
Type : game/patch
Author: Galahad / Fairlight (GLDFLT@AOL.COM)


THIS INSTALL WAS ON WWW.FAIRLIGHT.0CATCH.COM FIRST!

This install applies to "Merv the Merciless" © 1989 Probe Software Ltd.
Slave requires WHDLoad V14+.
Game needs 0.5 MB Of Chipmem & 0.3MB of Fastmem (for preload option)

SUPPORTED VERSIONS
------------------

- WHDLoad site version

Thanks to Bloodwych for supplying the game

FEATURES
--------

- Full Loading from HD
- Multi files converted into single file
- Audio filter switched off
- Spelling mistake fixed
- Quit Option (DEL key)


IMPORTANT
---------

PLEASE DE-ARCHIVE THE MERV GAME FILE FROM THE WHDLOAD SITE INTO RAM: THE INSTALLER WILL HANDLE
THE REST!

EXTRA NOTES
-----------

This game was originally released on the first coverdisc of Zero magazine (sorely missed),
quite playable..... just very annoying music!!!

Kindest Regards, Galahad of Fairlight

END.

[_ThEcRoW]

Bloodwych, is the image you put in the zone still dual format(Amiga & St?.
Thanks!!!

[Bloodwych]

Thanks for the reminder Galahad, that you made a WHDLoad install for this game. Kind of you as I do like to fire it up from time to time.

I think it is a dual format disk EcRoW, but not sure if Merv was provided on the ST or if it was something else. It was a long time ago I placed this image in the zone (nearly 10 years!!!), but I'm sure I'll have it archived or it's on the net somewhere.

EDIT: On the ST, it was Recoil: http://amr.abime.net/issue_369_coverdisks