Archer Maclean's Mercury

Archer Maclean's Mercury
North American box art
Developer(s)	Awesome Studios
Publisher(s)	Ignition Entertainment
Director(s)	Archer Maclean
Designer(s)	Archer Maclean Rich Hancock Neil Wigfield
Platform(s)	PlayStation Portable
Release	NA: April 6, 2005 EU: September 1, 2005 AU: September 21, 2005[1]
Genre(s)	Puzzle-platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Archer Maclean's Mercury is a 2005 puzzle-platform game for the PlayStation Portable developed by the eponymous British game programmer, Archer Maclean and Awesome Studios. In Mercury, the goal is to guide a drop of mercury to its appointed destination by tilting the stage, in a similar fashion to Super Monkey Ball. Levels come in different varieties that prioritize different methods of completing each level. The game was conceived when Archer Maclean used a previous minigame from Jimmy White's Cueball World and added a liquid metal physics. It was originally designed to have motion controls by using a tilt sensor peripheral for the PSP, but this version was never released due to technical constraints.

The game had received positive reception for its original concept and level designs but had received mixed reception for its difficulty. The game's success led to receiving two sequels. The first, titled Mercury Meltdown, was released for PSP, then revised and ported onto PlayStation 2 and Wii. The second sequel, titled Mercury Hg, was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.