Hellfire

JP flyer

**Hellfire** (ヘルファイヤー) is a side-scrolling shooter developed by Toaplan and published by Taito in 1989 for arcades. It was ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1990 and to the PC Engine CD as **Hellfire S: Another Story** in 1991. In 2023 it was released digitally for PC on the Steam and GOG storefronts by Bitwave games.

## Story

Peace has embraced our galaxy for over 1000 years. Now, in the year 2998, we have found ourselves at war with a deadly force! Stars at the galaxy's edge have begun to disappear, being replaced by an ominous dark cloud. With no military technology for defense, our Galactic Federation watches helplessly as the ominous Black Nebula attacks the Sister Star System, and captures all six of her planets!

The Black Nebula fiercely invades with thunderous artillery strikes, and seizes our only weapons power unit, leaving the entire star system close to annihilation! The deadly Super Mech, a force from the darkest regions of space, is the controlling evil behind the rapidly growing Black Nebula.

Close to permanent destruction, our Federation has lost all hope...then suddenly, a man rose to our rescue! Lancer, captain of the aircraft carrier Sylphide, realizes that planning a frontal attack against the Super Mech to retreive our power unit is useless; a surprise attack has got to happen...but how?

Lancer must crash through the enemy's destructive force. Our only hope is one weapon Super Mech isn't counting on - "HELLFIRE". Lancer is now boarding the powerful CNCS1 Fighter, loaded with the ultimate weapon, "HELLFIRE", and he's heading for the dark side...

Can Lancer recapture our power unit and defeat the enemy? We are all in the hands of "HELLFIRE"!

You must help Lancer command HELLFIRE through 6 levels of fast action and loads of deadly enemies! But don't think you can get out alive with blinding firepower alone - you'll need to utilize your four weapons with strategy and great prowess or Super Mech will eliminate you! Escape from death is nearly impossible - but you must survive to save our galaxy!

## Gameplay

*Hellfire* is a horizontally scrolling shooter. The player ship is equipped with four different weapons, each of which fires at different directions and can be alternated by pressing the second button.

### Item

Items appear upon destroying certain enemies or terrain, and have the following effects when acquired:

* P: Powers up the player shot. It changes in the following order: shot (initial state), missile, and laser. Lasers are long, single shots with high attack power, and penetrate enemies with low durability (only the front and rear can fire two shots in a row).
* S: Speeds up the ship's movement; 4 of these will give the ship maximum speed.
* B: Bonus points.
* 1UP: Increases the number of remaining lives by 1.

## Ports

The Mega Drive version is single player only. This version has been rearranged to be easier to play, with the addition of the Hyper Cannon, a long horizontal beam that is used in the same way as bombs, the Shield, which protects the ship from a single hit, and the Option, which supports the ship by hitting enemies and defending against enemy bullets. The graphics of some enemies and backgrounds, as well as enemy attack methods, have been changed from the arcade version.

The PC Engine CD version features two-players simultaneous gameplay, arranged BGM on CD-DA, as well as boss battle tracks that were not included in the arcade and Mega Drive/Genesis versions. The game also features anime-style visual scenes designed by Hiroyuki Kitazume and produced by Artmik, which are played after the software is started, at the beginning of the game, and after the game's stages are cleared. The two heroines, Kaoru Togo and Yu Togitsu, are voiced by Yumi Fuyuma and Eriko Hara respectively. One change to the game is the addition of a "shield" that can prevent enemy attacks and terrain collisions twice. As the subtitle implies, the game takes place in a different setting and story from the arcade and Mega Drive/Genesis versions, though levels and their layouts are more or less the same as the original.

## Stages and Bosses

 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

## Enemies

* Krei
* Rugal
* Tiger
* Adour
* Dolmen
* Ghoul
* Meetia
* Baar
* Sturm
* Tour
* Visaiger
* Nago
* Jaeger
* Damnd
* Ferginand
* Zenb
* Midgard
* Asgard
* Jotunheim

## Gallery

US Mega Drive coverJP Mega Drive coverPC Engine CD cover
## External Links

* GOG store page
* Steam store page
* Bitwave Games