History VideoGame / HardEdge

* CatSmile: Rachel has one if you can get a good look at of her character model.

Also known as ''[[MarketBasedTitle T.R.A.G. - Mission of Mercy]]'' in North America, ''Hard Edge'' is an action-adventure game developed by Creator/{{Sunsoft}}, and was released for the UsefulNotes/{{PlayStation}} on December 3, 1998, March 31, 1999 in North America, and May 20 the same year in Europe.

* BoobsOfSteel: Michelle has an ample bosom and is specialized in melee attacks.

* CameraScrew: Just as bad as in the early ''Resident Evil'' games due to the cinematic camera angles.

* MsFanservice: Michelle's outfit consist of a skin-tight bodysuit worn under a high-leg leotard that shows off her assets. Cassandra is no slouch either who shows off her cleavage from her blouse, wears a mini-skirt [[LegFocus that shows off her legs]], and has a SexyWalk to boot; [[spoiler:later she reveals her true form as a half-naked demon lady]].

* MsFanservice: Michelle's outfit consist of a skin-tight bodysuit worn under a high-leg leotard that shows off her assets. Cassandra is no slouch either who shows off her cleavage from her blouse, wears a mini-skirt [[ShesGotLegs that shows off her legs]], and has a SexyWalk to boot; [[spoiler:later she reveals her true form as a half-naked demon lady]].

* ActionGirl: Michelle and Rachel. The former is a capable fighter who's skilled with a [[CoolSword high-freuqency blade]], and the latter is a CuteBruiser who fights with a pair of DualTonfas.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: [[AlliterativeName Burns Byford]].

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Cassandra has blue hair [[spoiler:until she goes into her demon form, which changes her hair red]].

* MsFanservice: Michelle's outfit consist of a skin-tight bodysuit worn under a high-leg leotard that shows off her assets. Cassandra is no slouch either who shows off her cleavage from her blouse, wears [[DangerouslyShortSkirt a mini-skirt]] [[ShesGotLegs that shows off her legs]], and has a SexyWalk to boot; [[spoiler:later she reveals her true form as a half-naked demon lady]].

The year is [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2046 A.D.]], a terrorist organization has seized the Togusa Building, a research facility that is owned by its military supplier Machinery Gear, Inc., and has taken Professor Kevin Howard hostage along with a few other researchers. The government has sent in the Special Forces to apprehend the terrorists, but fell pray to their traps and sustained severe causalities. Only two of members of the Special Forces survived: Alex Barrat, who carries a personalized pistol for longed combat and wears a pair of night vision goggles, and Michelle Stevenson, Alex's partner in the Special Forces who fights using a high-frequency blade, and it's up to them to foil the terrorists' scheme. Along the way, they meet up with two other people within the Togusa Building whom lend a hand in helping Alex's and Michelle's mission: Rachel Howard, the Professor's kidnapped daughter who fights with pair of tonfas, and Burns Byford, a local detective investigating Togusa Building and Rachel's kidnapping who has incredible human strength and fights with his bare hands.

The gameplay is heavily inspired by ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', featuring 3D characters with pre-rendered backgrounds as players explore a massive building, search for clues, solve various puzzles, and fight enemies lurking around every corner. However, this game's combat is more akin to a [[BeatEmUp beat 'em up]] game as your characters have various attacks and special moves they can perform. Similarly to arcade beat 'em up games, each character also has his or her own unique strengths and weaknesses along with different fighting styles. This game was subjected to a WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}} "Wrongpurae" in 2014.

* CounterAttack: Rachel can perform one by pressing Back, Forward+Attack. She'll assumes a stance for a very brief period of time, but if an enemy's attack contacts, she'll perform a powerful combo attack.

The gameplay is heavily inspired by ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', featuring 3D characters with pre-rendered backgrounds as players explore a massive building, search for clues, solve various puzzles, and fight enemies lurking around every corner. However, this game's combat is more akin to a [[BeatEmUp beat 'em up]] game as your characters have various attacks and special moves they can perform. Similarly to arcade beat 'em up games, each character also has his or her own unique strengths and weaknesses along with different fighting styles.

* AssKicksYou: Rachel's Forward, Forward+Attack, Down mid-combo move, and her downed enemy attack has her using her rear end to pummel her opponents.
* AwesomeMcCoolname: The two male protagonists, Alex Barrat and [[AlliterativeName Burns Byford]].

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The game's English localization has some grammatical errors or subtitles using words that aren't being spoken by the character. An early scene with Cassandra interrogating and then killing an innocent researcher, she says "People who lie get on my nerves!" but the subtitle says "People who lie ''get up my nose''!"
* BlockingStopsAllDamage: The two heroines, Michelle and Rachel, are the only characters with the ability to block attacks. A successful block can stop the attacker from doing any damage to you, although some attacks can't be blocked at all.

* KillSat: Part of the terrorists' M.O. is to take control of the Garland Satellite, a satellite armed with a powerful laser cannon, so they can rule the world under their power.

* MegatonPunch: Burns' Dynamite Punch (Back+Attack). It has a slow wind-up, but if he his punch connects, it can deal massive to enemies.

* MsFanservice: Michelle's outfit consist of a skin-tight bodysuit worn under a high-leg leotard that shows off her assets. Cassandra is no slouch either who shows off her cleavage from her blouse, wears [[DangerouslyShortSkirt a mini-skirt]] [[ShesGotLegs that shows off her legs]], and has a SexyWalk to boot; [[spoiler:later she reveals her {{Stripperiffic}} true form as a half-naked demon lady]].

* TitleScream: Only in the Japanese and European version, which has a voice announcing "Hard Edge" at the title screen.

* VocalDissonance: It happens to Michelle when she was redubbed for the Western releases of the game except the developers left a glaring oversight during the redubbing. In the game's opening cutscene, she appears and sounds like a young woman at least around her early 20's, but after the cutscene, Michelle's voice suddenly sounds like as if she is in her mid-30's.

* BlindIdiotTranslation: The game's English localization has some grammatical errors or subtitles using words that aren't being spoken by the character. An early scene with Cassandra interrogating and then killing an innocent research, she says "People who lie get on my nerves!" but the subtitle says "People who lie ''get up my nose''!"

** Alex/Michelle and Burns encounters Gusshu, who sics a mechanical scorpion for them to deal with. It appears as uncommon enemy in a smaller scale in certain rooms.

* DesperationAttack: Pressing Attack+Run together will cause your character to perform their desperation attack to attack enemies surrounding them similarly to other beat 'em up games, though it drains a small portion of their HP when doing so.

* FlunkyBoss: [[spoiler:Cassandra can summon mutants to drag out the battle.]]

* MechaMooks: The Togusa Building has some security robots that will attack the player on sight. There are also some other rogue robots and mechanical scorpions for the player to deal with.

* OneWingedAngel: [[spoiler:Miguel]] pulls one off before the final battle, by turning [[spoiler:himself]] into giant winged and dragon-like robot.
* PaletteSwap: Beating the game unlocks a second color palette for each character, with a third color palette plus a bonus weapon that can also be unlocked if one of the character defeats a certain boss.

* RobotGirl: [[spoiler:Two years prior, Rachel fell victim to a fatal accident that nearly killed her, however, her father Professor Howard created a cyborg body for her and uploaded her brain inside it. Her second costume makes some of her body parts more robotic.]]

* SpikyHair: Alex certainly has it as his hair spikes upwards.

* BadassNormal: Burns Byford, despite not having the military train that Alex or Michelle or have cybernetic augmentations like Gasshu [[spoiler:or Rachel]], he's able to stand against mechanized and superpowered foes by his sheer strength alone.

The year is [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2046 A.D.]], a terrorist organization has seized the Togusa Building, a research facility that is owned by its military supplier Machinery Gear, Inc., and has taken Professor Kevin Howard hostage along with a few other researchers. The government has sent in the Special Forces to apprehend the terrorists, but fell pray to their traps and sustained severe causalities. Only two of members of the Special Forces survived: Alex Bullet, who carries a personalized pistol for longed combat and wears a pair of night vision goggles, and Michelle Stevenson, Alex's partner in the Special Forces who fights using a high-frequency blade, and it's up to them to foil the terrorists' scheme. Along the way, they meet up with two other people within the Togusa Building whom lend a hand in helping Alex's and Michelle's mission: Rachel Howard, the Professor's kidnapped daughter who fights with pair of tonfas, and Burns Byford, a local detective investigating Togusa Building and Rachel's kidnapping who has incredible human strength and fights with his bare hands.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: The two male protagonists, Alex Bullet and [[AlliterativeName Burns Byford]].

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Should you fail to stop Vault Maverick and let Rachel die before the end of the game after releasing her energy, Vault will take over the Garland Satellite and proceeds to wipe out Togusa Building along with everything else in its wake of destruction.]]

* RobotGirl: [[spoiler:Two years prior, Rachel fell victim to a fatal accident that nearly killed her, however, her father Professor Howard created a cyborg body for her and uploaded her brain inside it.]]

* SensualSpandex: Michelle wears a skin-tight bodysuit under her [[LeotardOfPower high-cut leotard]]. There are also some knife-wielding goons wearing a green unitard.