Hellfire

Hellfire

Title screen

Developer:	Toaplan
Publisher:	Taito
Music:	Masahiro Yuge, Tatsuya Uemura
Program:	Tatsuya Uemura, H. Matsumura
Art:	Shintarō Nakaoka, Kouetsu Iwabuchi, Yuko Tataka
Release date:	1989
Previous game:	Tatsujin
Next game:	Daisenpuu (Twin Hawk)

Hellfire is a horizontally scrolling shoot-em-up developed by Toaplan and published by Taito in 1989. It is notable for being one of the only two horizontal shooters ever developed by the company, and unlike most of Toaplan's other shooters, doesn't use bombs. Despite the game's struggled development, it was still well-received by critics, enough so that it received localization and home console ports.

Gameplay Overview

Hellfire is only 6 stages long, but features various different types of stages, with enemies coming from all directions. To counter this, the ship has the unique ability to change it's firing direction with the press of a button. The power-up variety is limited, only featuring pickups that either power-up the main shot, increase speed, or just give a point bonus. The end of each stage has a boss, which requires the player to utilize their shot direction in order to destroy their weak spot. Death results in the loss of all power-ups and being sent back to the nearest checkpoint.

Controls

All four shot directions in order.

• A: Fire shot
• B: Cycle shot direction.

Starting from the first, pressing button B cycles the shot direction in the following order: Forward, Backward, Vertical, Diagonal. Pressing button A while holding down B will also change shot direction, which can cause problems if using an autofire mechanism (e.g. an autofire circuit on an arcade cabinet, or the Rapid Fire feature in the Toaplan Arcade Garage version); be careful when changing shot direction with autofire!

When firing bullets, up to 4 shots or pairs of shots can be on screen at a time, with lasers, it is reduced to 2.

Items

Item	Desciption
Power-Up	Increases shot power. The second pickup upgrades the weapon to a laser. Maxes out at 6 pickups, afterwards, all power-ups are replaced with bonuses.
Speed-Up	Speeds up the ship, with maximum speed being reached after 3 pickups. After which all speed-ups are replaced with bonuses.
Bonus	Awards 2000 points.

Loops

Hellfire loops indefinitely. After completing the final stage, the game restarts back to the first stage with increased difficulty.

Revisional Differences

When the game was localized, a new, 2-player version was created. This new version makes several changes to the gameplay:

• The ship's color no longer represents the direction they're shooting, only what player they are.
• The shot limit is altered. When firing vertically or diagonally with lasers, only 1 pair is allowed on screen.
• Checkpoints are replaced with respawns. This in turn makes the game much harder than normal, making it possible to chain-death in specific sections.

Ports

Hellfire saw ports on fourth-generation consoles after the arcade release, with both making their own unique changes.

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive

Released in 1990, this version is based on the original singleplayer version of the game. It introduces a one-hit shield, a helper ship that rams into enemies, and a special weapon that fires a large shot. Regular shooting functions differently, in that they travel faster and allow more shots on screen when upgraded. Bonus pickups are worth more the more are collected, up to 10,000 points. The difficulty is similar to the arcade original, but is slightly toned down. Certain sections of Stage 6 were cut from the game, and replaced with a unique high-speed section.

The Japanese version features a hidden Test menu that allows the player to jump into any stage and checkpoint, while the American version has a hidden "YEA, RIGHT" difficulty.

PC Engine CD

Came out after the Genesis/Mega Drive version a year later in 1991, it is based on the 2-player version. Being a PC Engine CD title, it includes cutscenes and an arranged soundtrack by T's Music. Gameplay-wise, the port acts more faithfully to the Arcade original, only including a shield power-up that lasts 2 hits. The difficulty is far easier compared to the Arcade, with all bosses having little HP and overall low enemy count in most sections.

PC

A Windows, Mac, and Linux version of the game is available on Steam by Bitwave games, which is a direct port of the original arcade version, featuring various additional features such as savestates, rewind, and other gadgets. Both the singleplayer and two-player revisions are available.

Zero Fire

A compilation package for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 released by M2 on July 20, 2023 in Japan. It serves as volume 3 of the Toaplan Arcade Garage series, itself a subset of the M2 ShotTriggers lineup. This package includes, in addition to Zero Wing, Horror Story (Demon's World), and various ports thereof, these versions of Hellfire:

• Arcade 2P version -- Default version. The following versions use this version as a base:
  • Super Easy mode -- Introduces drastically reduced rank and more frequent extends. Fulfilling certain conditions will active a hidden "expert" mode.
  • Custom mode -- Allows various parameters of the game to be adjusted to the player's liking.
  • Arcade Challenge -- Practice mode with automatic rewinds.
• Arcade 1P version
• Genesis / Mega Drive version -- JP and US variants
• PC Engine CD-ROM^2 version

The arcade versions come with both the digital and physical editions of this software. The consumer versions are available on the physical editions (requiring a code redeem for the PS4 version) and as DLC for the digital version.

All games in the collection include savestates (30 slots per game), remappable controls with autofire options (10, 12, 15, 20, and 30 Hz available), and screen options. The arcade 2P version and its variants additionally have online leaderboards, M2 Gadgets, and settings to modify Change button behavior (but will change leaderboard eligibility for Arcade mode).

Every purchase of this title also comes with a complimentary download code for Teki-Paki, a puzzle game by Toaplan.

Change button behaviors

Exclusive to the 2P versions of Hellfire in this edition of the game, there are multiple configurations for how the Change button works.

Types A and B qualify for ARCADE and ARCADE ALLMIX rankings, while the rest only qualify for ARCADE ALLMIX ranking.

Although alternate behavior types can be used in Arcade 2P, Super Easy, Custom, and Arcade Challenge modes, if you wish to change type you will need to load up the Arcade 2P version first and change from there. These settings are not available in the 1P or console editions.

Type	Name	Descrption
A	ARCADE	Default behavior, as described above.
B	SAFETY	As in type A, but the Change button is disabled while using the Shot (30 Hz Synchro) button. This only applies to the Shot Synchro button. If using a regular Shot button with the standard rapid-fire options (10/12/15/20/30 Hz) applied, the Change button will still behave as in type A. Additionally, holding down Change and then pressing Shot Synchro button will still change your weapon once.
C	ENHANCED	As in type A, however the Change button will change weapon only once when pressing it down (i.e. holding both Change and a rapid-fire Shot button will not rapid-cycle your weapons), similar to the console versions.
D	Gladiator's Victory	Hold down Change and then perform a directional input to change weapon: Right for Forward shot, Left for Backward shot, Up or Down for Vertical shot, any diagonal direction for Diagonal Shot. Note that while holding down Change, your ship will remain stationary and unaffected by directional input.
E	Supreme Ares	Weapon will change in accordance with directional input: Right for Forward shot, Left for Backward shot, Up or Down for Vertical shot, any diagonal direction for Diagonal Shot. Returning to neutral directional input will change back to Forward. Hold the Change button to lock your current weapon, keeping the same weapon regardless of any further directional input until you release the Change button.
F	Galvanic Gamma Array 3rd	As in type E, but the inputs for Forward and Backard shots are reversed: Left for Forward and Right for Backard. This can be thought of as a reverse variant of type E.
G	Imagined Future	As in type F, but returning to neutral directional input will retain the weapon you last switched to.
H	Tidal Force Vector	As in type G, but holding down the Shot (30 Hz Synchro) button will also lock your current weapon.