"The voice of the laughing skull is R.J. Mical, the lead developer of the 3DO game system and the Commodore 64 computer." He had nothing to do with the Commodore 64. He was however one of the lead designers of the Commodore Amiga, and the Atari Lynx. He was also the President of one of my companies (www.Prolific.com) in 1996.
When pausing the game, an advertisement for the U.S. Army is displayed urging viewers to "do it for real" and call the recruitment 800 number.
The 3DO version of Return Fire appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Following the release of the game on the 3DO and PlayStation systems, a version was planned for release on the Sega Saturn. Developer Prolific ported the code over and in fact even completed the game. However at that time, a version of the Sega Saturn system named the "Hi-Saturn" and manufactured by Hitachi was released. The system wasn't always compatible with existing games and so Prolific was asked to make sure the upcoming Return Fire would be compatible with this variant of the system. While making the necessary changes for the Hi-Saturn, the Sega Saturn's future as a profitable platform came under doubt and Return Fire, already finished, was canceled. In 2003, SEGA-Saturn.net began to do research on unreleased games and contacted Prolific about the title. They were sent a fully functional Sega Saturn CD version of the game to test.