Video Game / Hard Edge

aka: TRAG Tactical Rescue Assault Group Mission Of Mercy

The Disaster Adventure

They Chose To Fight it out Rather than Give Up!

Also known as T.R.A.G. - Mission of Mercy in North America, Hard Edge is an action-adventure game developed by Sunsoft, and was released for the PlayStation on December 3, 1998, March 31, 1999 in North America, and May 20 the same year in Europe.

The year is 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 ranged 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 who 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 the Togusa Building and Rachel's kidnapping who has incredible human strength and fights with his bare hands.

The gameplay is heavily inspired by Resident Evil, 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 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 Retsupurae "Wrongpurae" in 2014.

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Hard Edge features examples of:

• Action Girl: Michelle and Rachel. The former is a capable fighter who's skilled with a high-freuqency blade, and the latter is a Cute Bruiser who fights with a pair of dual tonfas.
• American Kirby Is Hardcore: The Japanese and European versions of the game feature a negative-colored artwork of Alex looking at the player (the year 2000 reprints of the former changes this to a full color artwork of Alex behind the Togusa Building with an artwork of Michelle added on the back), whereas North American feature Alex and Michelle back-to-back with their weapons readied behind a shot of the bomb from the opening cutscene just before detonates.
• Ass Kicks You: Rachel's Forward, Forward+Attack, Down mid-combo move, and her Peach Drop downed enemy attack has her using her rear end to pummel her opponents.
• Auto-Revive: Late in the game, players can find a a piece of Glowing Moss that revives the player upon defeat once.
• Backtracking: Players will encounter rooms that may require finding a key item and/or solving a puzzle to advance to another area within the Togusa Building.
• Badass Normal: Burns Byford, despite not having the military training that Alex or Michelle has or have cybernetic augmentations like Gasshu or Rachel, he's able to stand against mechanized and superpowered foes by his sheer strength alone.
• Big Bad: Miguel, the terrorist leader who instigated the kidnapping and taking over the Togusa Building to get access to the Garland Satellite.
• The Big Guy: Burns, who has a burly stature and the raw strength to back it up.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Brennum is capable of using curved blades to emerge from his hands.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: The game's English localization in the North American version has some grammatical errors and 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!"
• Blocking Stops All Damage: The two heroines, Michelle and Rachel, are the only characters with the ability to block attacks. A successful block can stop the opponent from doing any damage to you, although some attacks can't be blocked at all.
• Bomb Disposal: Roughly half-way into the game, players take control of Burns as he attempts to defuse a time bomb Gasshu set-up in the Togusa Building to level the place. Players must examine the bomb to find the correct order to press buttons and eventually disarm the fuse.
• Boss Rush: The last stretch of the game ends on a sequence of boss battles between Brennum, Gasshu, and Miguel.
• Calling Your Attacks: Subverted. In the game's manual, the playable characters have named special attacks, but their names are not spoken as they perform said attacks.
• Cheerful Child: Rachel is the most cheerful and energetic of the bunch.
• Cool Sword: Michelle can unlock a powerful Falchion for New Game+, and equipping gives her an outfit change.
• Counter-Attack: 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 during that time, she'll perform a powerful combo attack.
• Covers Always Lie: The North American version's cover art features a render of Michelle holding a gun from the opening cutscene, yet she never fights with one in the game proper.
• Cowardly Lion: King, a bartender with a mohawk in a bar area of the Togusa Building, panics at the sight of danger and is paranoid with who he talks to.
• Critical Existence Failure: The robotic enemies will go out in a blaze of glory upon defeat. Miguel has a particularly drawn own death as each of his robot parts explode, ending with his core radiating before leaving with a massive explosion.
• Curse Cut Short: Burns' response to Miguel shooting Professor Howard in the back: "You rotten piece of—!!"
• Cute Little Fang: Rachel sports one in the status screen.
• Cute Bruiser: Rachel, as well as a Little Miss Badass due to the way she accidentally drop kicks Alex early in the game and she can kick as much ass as the others.
• Daddy's Girl: Rachel. She cares for her father very much and intentionally let herself get kidnapped so she can try to rescue him.
• Damsel in Distress: After Michelle and Rachel rejected Vault Maverick's offer to free him in exchange for finding Miguel, Vault uses a giant mechanical arm to kidnap Michelle and holds her life as ransom for his freedom. Rachel wasn't having any of it and uploaded herself to directly fight Vault in cyberspace.
• Degraded Boss:
  • Alex/Michelle and Burns encounters Gasshu, who sics a mechanical scorpion for them to deal with. It appears as uncommon enemy in a smaller scale in certain rooms.
  • Inverted with Brennum; you fight his weaker clones before you get a proper boss battle with him late into the game.
• Desperation Attack:
  • 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.
  • The security robots have a ramming attack that causes them to explode upon impact, causing them to take damage.
• "Die Hard" on an X: The game's setting revolves around a major futuristic research facility that was taken over by a terrorist group, with Alex and Michelle, the few remaining survivors of the Special Forces, along with the help of Rachel and Burns in the building, as they fight their way through to stop them.
• Doppelgänger Attack: Utilized by Cassandra during the boss battle.
• Downer Ending: 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.
• Dude in Distress: Professor Howard has been held hostage by the terrorist organization, and in a later cutscene, Miguel and Cassandra try to bargain his life in exchange for the Garland Satellite's system disc. They kill of him off anyway.
• Dual Wielding: Rachel, who fights with a pair of tonfas. By meeting certain conditions, she can unlock an alternate costume that gives her laser tonfas.
• Dynamic Entry: Rachel introduces herself to Alex/Michelle by drop kicking him/her from atop a huge crate. Alex falls for her ambush and gets kicked back across the room if he takes the elevator when it happens. Alternatively, if Michelle took the elevator instead and meets Rachel, Michelle dodges out of the way in the nick of time and causes Rachel to fall on her butt.
• Elaborate Underground Base: The B6 level of the Togusa Building, which takes place underground beneath the building and features a lot of machinery.
• Extreme Graphical Representation: Late into the game, Rachel enters a virtual cyberspace in order to take on Vault Maverick, who's using his brain to hijack the Togusa's network system.
• Femme Fatalons: Cassandra's long, razor-sharp finger nails on her right hand.
• Flat Character: The game's characters offer little-to-no character development throughout the story and it does not go beyond the "good guys VS. bad guys" plot.
• Flunky Boss: Cassandra can summon mutants to drag out the battle.
• Fragile Speedster: Rachel. She runs as nimbly as Michelle although her attacks are quicker, but she has lowest HP of the bunch. Michelle has slightly more HP than Rachel yet moves and her attacks are fairly quick.
• Fun with Acronyms: The game's North American title, T.R.A.G., which stands for Tactical Rescue Assault Group.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: The playable characters consist of two men and two women.
• Golden Ending: If you're successful in stopping Vault Maverick and Rachel survives from releasing her energy, then Vault's plans are foiled and the team escapes the Togusa Building using the underground submarine safe and sound as the sun raises on the horizon.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Burns way of dealing with goons.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted. Alex's night vision goggles are not just for looks in this game, as he can use them to see into dark places when the others can't, and it's also required to finish the game.
• Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted between Alex and Michelle. Alex uses a gun and is the only long-range fighter while Michelle uses a blade to fight enemies up close.
• Handgun: Alex's carries a personalized handgun to shoot down enemies from a distance. Michelle is seen with one but only for the opening cutscene.
• Heart Container: The EX Bottles, which comes in four colors. From the weakest to strongest: blue (+20 HP), yellow (+30 HP), red (+50 HP), and black (+100 HP).
• Heroic Sacrifice: Rachel will put her life at risk to give Alex's team to time to stop the remaining terrorist member's plans. Whether Rachel's sacrifice pulls through without her dying depends on how quickly the player can beat the last stretch of the game.
• Idle Animation: When you stand still for a bit, the characters will do the following until the player resumes control of them: Alex; Michelle will go into a fighting stance; Rachel will start dancing in place, sometimes she'll say "This is boring!" and hums to herself; Burns will stomp the ground a few times then impatiently waits for the player.
• Interface Spoiler: You start out with only two playable characters, Alex and Michelle. However, in the menu, you can easily press L1 or R1 to get a sneak peek at the silhouettes and names of the two additional playable characters, Burns and Rachel, long before you actually encounter them in the game.
• Jack of All Stats: Alex is in the middle of Burns and Michelle/Rachel in terms of starting HP, and about average when it comes to damage out and mobility.
• Jiggle Physics: If Michelle is the one to take the stairs early into the game, the cutscene that proceeds afterwards features some of her subtle breast physics.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: One can be performed by pressing Forward, Back+Attack to damage enemies who are knocked down.
• Kill Sat: 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. In the bad ending, Vault hacks the satellite's Garland System for himself and takes control of it, then proceeds to nuke the Togusa Building and everything surrounding it.
• Lazy Backup: If one of the characters are defeated, then it's Game Over, even if the others in the group with some HP leftover.
• Let's Split Up, Gang!: Early in the game, you're given a choice who should Alex or Michelle take the stairs/elevator to the 25th floor, and most of the game revolves around managing between the split teams of Alex and Michelle until they eventually regroup together.
• Level-Map Display: Pressing Start during gameplay will bring up a map of the area the player is in as well as the other floors in the building. On New Game+, a mini-map is added on the upper right corner of the HUD.
• Life Meter: Both you and your enemies have one.
• Male Gaze: The cut-scene where Michelle tosses the steal wire to climb up to the 27th floor gives the viewer a nice of view of her derrière.
• Market-Based Title: Zigged-zagged. The game is initially titled Hard Edge in Japan, then it was changed to T.R.A.G. - Mission of Mercy in North America, then it goes back to Hard Edge when it was later released in Europe.
• Marathon Boss: The game's final boss not only has no less than three massive life bars, but its weakpoint is protected by a barrier that only goes down after multiple attacks that prolongs the fight.
• Mecha-Mooks: 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. The primary members of the terrorist organization are also cyborgs.
• Megaton Punch: Burns' Justice Hammer (Back+Attack) attack. It has a slow wind-up, but it can deal massive to enemies if the attack lands.
• Mighty Glacier: Burns. He starts with the highest HP of the four, moves like a tortoise, and has the strength of a beast.
• Ms. Fanservice: 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 that shows off her legs, and walks with a Supermodel Strut to boot; later she reveals her true form as a half-naked demon lady.
• Multiple Life Bars: The bosses will sometimes have two or more life meters.
• Multiple Endings: Depending on the outcome of a certain event in the game will be a deciding factor of whether you'll receive the good or bad ending.
• New Game Plus: Beating the game allows you to replay the game with your items carried over, however, if you defeat certain boss characters with a specific character, you'll also unlock an alternate costume and a bonus weapon to go with it.
• Night-Vision Goggles: Alex wears one to help him see into dark places.
• One-Wheeled Wonder: every now and then, you'll be fighting gigantic enemy robots moving around on a single large sphere.
• One-Winged Angel:
  • Cassandra does this before fighting the good guys, turning herself into a half-naked leather-clad dominatrix succubus.
  • Miguel pulls one off before the final battle, by turning himself into giant winged and dragon-like robot.
• Palette Swap: 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 certain bosses.
• Perma-Stubble: Burns is somewhat scruff and you can see his facial hairs in the status screen.
• Perpetual Frowner: Burns' in-game model as he always have a scowled expression, but in his character artwork and portrait, he's seen with a huge grin on his face.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: Cassandra normally has blue hair, but going into her demon form changes it to red.
• Pre-Rendered Graphics: The game uses pre-rendered rendered background graphics as well as CGI high-quality cinematics often used for the Item Get! sequences and key story moments.
• Punched Across the Room: Alex gets drop kicked by Rachel when she spotted him in the warehouse area, sending him tumbling into a large crate.
• Robot Girl:
  • 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.
  • Cassandra is also revealed to be one after she is defeated, showing parts of her endoskeleton as she explodes.
• Schrödinger's Gun: Michelle is seen wielding a gun like Alex in the opening cinematic of the game, but after said cutscene, she inexplicably loses it and instead fights with a blade.
• Sensual Spandex: Michelle wears a skin-tight bodysuit under her high-cut leotard. There are also some knife-wielding goons wearing a unitard, as does Brennum and his clones.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Alex can unlock a powerful anti-tank shotgun for New Game+.
• Sound Test: The jukebox in the bar room can play music that the player has encountered throughout the game.
• Spiky Hair: Alex certainly has it as his hair spikes upwards. Brennum and his clones also have spiky hair that are pointing upwards, and Professor Vault also has huge villainous spiky hair.
• Tag Along Kid: Rachel, who's the youngest of the main characters. She also doubles as the Token Mini-Moe for Alex & Co..
• Tank Controls: À la Resident Evil despite being released at a time when the DualShock became the standard for PlayStation games, and your characters' takes about a second longer to start walking backwards. They do, however, have an evasive maneuver that can be performed by tapping back twice and a dashing maneuver by pressing forward twice.
• Timed Mission: Near the end of the game, you'll have 1 hour to finish the game before the Garland Satellite fire its cannon at the Togusa Building. You also have to finish the final bosses of the quickly after Rachel releases her energy, otherwise she'll die and you'll get the bad ending.
• Title Scream: Only in the Japanese and European versions, which has a voice announcing "Hard Edge" at the title screen.
• Unsound Effect: Words like "CRASH!" can be seen when performing Burns' power attack.
• Video Game Dashing: Michelle and Burns can perform a quick lunge by tapping forward twice.
• Vocal Dissonance: It happens to Michelle when she was redubbed for the Western releases of the game, except the developers left an oversight during the game's 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.
• We Can Rule Together: Vault tries to pull this on heroes after he was betrayed by Miguel who trapped his mind inside a supercomputer with a virus, and Burns almost considered the offer if it meant stopping Miguel, but Rachel and Michelle argued that Vault is a bigger threat than Miguel. Vault then attempts to persuaded them by taking Michelle hostage.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: When Miguel got the system disc to control the satellite, Cassandra hands Professor Howard to Alex then Miguel immediately shoots the Professor in the back.

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