Mercenary Force is one of those weird little Game Boy gems that makes you wonder how they crammed so much chaos into a tiny cartridge. You pick a squad of four mercs—samurai, ninjas, gunners, whatever—and then it's basically a scrolling bullet hell where you juggle all of them at once. Sounds messy, but it clicks after a level or two.

The real kicker? Each character moves and shoots differently, so you're constantly shuffling who's in front or hanging back. Boss fights are absolute madness, especially when you're down to your last guy frantically dodging. It's got that classic '90s arcade vibe where everything's just slightly unfair, but you keep coming back anyway.

Also, the music slaps harder than it has any right to. That chiptune title theme still lives in my head rent-free.