Video Game / Hellfire (1989)

The other Toaplan side-scrolling shmup. The one that doesn't tell you to move ZIG.

Hellfire is a Shoot 'Em Up video game developed by Toaplan for arcades and published by Taito for Japan in April 1989 and by U.S.A. Games for the United States in September of the same year. Unusually for Toaplan, it is a Horizontal Scrolling Shooter, one of only two that they produced alongside Zero Wing, as opposed to a Vertical Scrolling Shooter like most of their output.

The game's plot is relatively minimalist, as is standard of the shmup genre: You play as Captain Lancer in the Hellfire space fighter (or "CNCS1" in Western versions) and fly across 6 stages to defeat the invading Guild Empire (or the forces of Super Mech in Western versions).

This game's main gimmick is the ability to change weapons at any time during gameplay; you have four different weapons, each designed for different angles of attack: a forward shot, a rear shot, a two-way vertical shot, and a four-way diagonal shot. Knowing which weapon to use is key to completing each stage, as often you will encounter scenarios where a specific weapon is preferred or outright required to hit your targets.

There are two arcade versions of the game. The original one is the "2P" build of the game, which allows for two-player Co-Op Multiplayer and which respawns the player in place upon dying. Then there is a "1P" version of the game that instead only allows one player at a time, with a 2-player game having each player take turns; getting shot down in this game will rewind the player back to a checkpoint.

This game has been ported to home platforms several times:

• Hellfire for Sega Genesis (1990 in Japan and North America, 1992 in Europe), developed by Toaplan^Publishers NCS in Japan, Seismic Software in the U.S., Sega in Europe: This version of the game is based on the 1P variant and exclusively features a "Hyper Cannon" Smart Bomb and an Attack Drone item that can ram into enemies by itself. The U.S. version exclusively features a hidden "Yea Right" difficulty.
• Hellfire S: The Another Story for PC Engine CD-ROM² (1991 in Japan), developed by Toaplan^Publisher NEC Avenue: Based on the 2P version, this version features a remixed soundtrack by T's Music and a different, expanded story told in between-stage cutscenes. Furthermore, Captain Lancer isn't in this version as the main protagonists for this game are two female space pilots named Kaoru (Player 1) and Yuu (Player 2).
• Hellfire for SEGA Genesis Mini 2 (2022 in North America), developed by M2^Publisher Sega: An emulation of the Genesis version. Unusually, despite the original game getting a tri-regional release, and the fact that this was ported by a Japanese team, this version was released only for the North American version of the Genesis Mini 2, not its other-region counterparts.
• Toaplan Arcade 2 for Evercade (2023 in Europe and North America), developed and published by Blaze Evercade: A Compilation Re-release of emulated arcade Toaplan games that includes Hellfire (alongside Demon's World, Fire Shark, Rally Bike, Twin Cobra, Twin Hawk, and Wardner).
• Zero Fire for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 (2023 in Japan), developed and published by M2: The third volume in the Toaplan Arcade Garage series, itself a subsidiary of the M2 ShotTriggers lineup, this is a Compilation Re-release with Zero Wing, with Demon's World as the bonus non-shmup title. The base digital game features the arcade versions of this game, as well as Super Easy and customizable builds of the 2P version, while purchasing the add-on DLC with the digital version or purchasing the physical edition also provides both the Japanese and North American Genesis versions and the PC Engine CD-ROM² version. Each purchase of this compilation comes with a complimentary download code for Teki Paki, like with the other Toaplan Arcade Garage releases.
• Hellfire for Windows PC via Steam and GOG.com (2023 worldwide), developed and published by Bitwave Games: A PC port based on the arcade versions.

Has nothing to do with the Hellfire trope. Or Hell-Fire (1956) by Isaac Asimov. And this game has not been covered by Hellfire Commentaries.

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Hellfire provides examples of the following:

• 1-Up:
  • There's the traditional "extend at X points and every Y points thereafter" way of getting extra lives; by default, X = 70,000 and Y = 200,000. In Super Easy mode in the Zero Fire release, you get an extra life every 20,000 points.
  • There's a more obscure method that spawns 1-up tokens in the arcade version. Each time you uncover any item, a hidden counter decreases by one. When this counter is at 1, the next item uncovered will be a 1-up if and only if your ship is at the extreme left or right side of the screen and is set to either the front or back shot. If these conditions are not met when the counter is decremented to 0, it starts over. This can only be performed twice per game.
• Anti-Frustration Features: The arcade versions of the game have a quirk regarding the Change button. As expected, pressing it will change your weapon to the next one in the sequence. Not expected is that if you have this button held down and then press the Shot button, that will also change your weapon. This can cause problems if one is using externally-provided autofire (such as an autofire circuit on a cabinet or an emulation port of the game). Most ports of the game have a solution for this:
  • Hellfire S and the Genesis version (including the Mini 2 port thereof, and both versions' Zero Fire ports): Weapon change only occurs each time you press the Change button.
  • Zero Fire has multiple options for Change button behavior in the versions of the game based on the 2P build, but only the type A ("Arcade") and B ("Safety"; disables the Change button while using the "Shot (30 Hz synchro)" button) configurations allow registering both to the "Arcade" and "Arcade Allmix" ranking, while the others can only qualify for the "Arcade Allmix" ranking.
• Arrange Mode: The 1P build of the game swaps out Co-Op Multiplayer and instant-respawn in favor of take-turns multiplayer and being sent back to a checkpoint when respawning after death. It also allows two volleys of diagonal and vertical shot to be on-screen at the same time instead of one. The Sega Genesis port of Hellfire is based on this variant.
• Attack Drone: The Genesis version exclusively features an item that, when collected, spawns an AI-controlled drone that meanders about the screen, ramming into enemies and blocking their bullets.
• Bittersweet Ending: At the end of Hellfire S, the Guild Empire has finally been defeated and the galaxy is now free from the evil threat, but it came at the price of Kaoru losing her life via a Heroic Sacrifice.
• Bubblegloop Swamp: Stage 4 is set in a swampy forest, punctuated by a lake halfway through the game where the player must fight against fish enemies that emerge from the water and from volcano-like structures.
• Build Like an Egyptian: Stage 2 is set in a strange world that resembles ancient Egypt, with pyramids in the background, pharaoh heads for enemies, and a pharaoh's sarcophagus for an endboss.
• Color-Coded Multiplayer: In 2-player editions of the game, player 1's ship has blue trim on its wings, while player 2's ship has pink trim. This is different from how their trims are colored in 1-player editions, where they are dependent on the weapon currently in use.
• Company Cross References: In Zero Fire, the type F Change button behavior, "Galvanic Gamma Array 3rd", references GG Aleste 3 Last Messiah, another game worked on by M2 (plus, M2 are the current rights holders to the Aleste series overall). This behavior simulates the type A subweapon from GG Aleste 3, by making the player's ship fire in the opposite direction of their movement (for diagonal and vertical, this will also shoot in additional directions based on the weapon), and reset to forward shot when directional movement is in neutral.
• Creator Cameo: The brief cutscene in the ending features a close-up of the Hellfire ship. The hull has a sticker that reads "Uemura Racing"; this is in reference to Tatsuya Uemura, who composed the soundtrack for the game.
• Easier Than Easy: Like past M2 ShotTriggers releases, the Zero Fire version of this game has Super Easy mode. In addition to setting the difficulty dipswitches to the lowest, enemy rank is further reduced, dying does not take away powerups (although it will still reset your speed, in case you got too many speed power-ups), and you get extra lives every 20,000 points^note With the default extend setting in the standard edition of the game being "70,000 points, then every 200,000 points thereafter". This is quite likely an alternative to auto-bomb like what Super Easy modes in past M2STG releases have provided, since the version of Hellfire it's based on does not have bombs. Subverted should you amass 9 or more spare lives, as the game's Dynamic Difficulty will start to spike and result in absurdly fast enemy bullets; once the game's rank reaches a certain amount, you will start earning points per frame. Fall to 8 or fewer lives and the game becomes genuinely easy again. The game ends after one loop instead of looping endlessly and defeating the final boss results in a bonus proportional to your remaining lives.
• Endless Game: Like many other Toaplan games, beating the game starts it over at a higher difficulty, and this keeps going until you run out of lives.
• Hard Mode Perks: The "Yea Right" difficulty in the Genesis version gives you 99 continues instead of the usual 10.
• Harder Than Hard: The Genesis version has Easy and Hard difficulties, and then the US variant exclusively has "Yea Right" difficulty. Yea Right is unlocked by going to the options menu, setting the difficulty to Hard, and then waiting about a minute. The difficulty will abruptly change to Yea Right with a chime, the screen will Smash to Black, and the game will immediately begin. The main differences are that enemies have faster bullets and bosses have more HP.
• Heroic Sacrifice: The ending of Hellfire S has Kaoru sacrificing her life via a kamikaze attack towards the final enemy that completely destroys it, thus ensuring that her partner Yuu and the entire galaxy is finally safe from the evil threat of the Guild Empire.
• High-Speed Battle: In the Genesis version, when fighting a boss other than Stationary Bosses, the background inexplicably scrolls much faster.
• Invincible Minor Minion: In Stage 4, there are walker mechs that crawl along the bottom of the screen and fire from their heads and backs. The guns can be destroyed, but the mechs themselves cannot, except in the Genesis versions.
• Modesty Bedsheet: The intro cutscene of Hellfire S opens up with Kaoru, one of the protagonists, sleeping in bed with only a bedsheet to cover her up. Good thing too, as she gets a distress video call that she has to answer from her bed.
• Ms. Fanservice: Kaoru in Hellfire S. As already mentioned above, the intro cutscene has her sleeping in bed with only a bedsheet to cover her up, with said cutscene also briefly showing off her shapely legs. Furthermore, Kaoru wears Sensual Spandex alongside her partner Yuu, which is not only seen during the intro cutscene, but also on the game's front cover art as well.
• Real-Time Weapon Change: You can change your current weapon at any time by pressing the "Change" button. Masterful use of this mechanic is key due to the odd angles from which enemies will try to attack you. The Zero Fire release offers alternate control schemes with different ways of changing weapons, such as moving in a specific direction to change weapons.
• Regional Bonus: The American release of the Genesis version has a "Yea Right" difficulty not available in other versions of the game. The official social media posts by M2 promoting the Zero Fire compilation advertised this difficulty outright, as that compilation marks the first time Japanese players can officially play on that difficulty.
• Screen Crunch: The Sega Genesis version of the game doesn't fit the entire height of each stage on the screen; you have to move up or down to scroll the edges of the screen into view. This can make it harder to keep track of hazardous enemies and more likely that they'll snipe you from offscreen.
• Shout-Out: The alternate control types in the Zero Fire rerelease (other than types A-C) are all subtlely named after other shmups that have similar control schemes:
  • Type D, "Gladiator's Victory": Gradius V. This control scheme allows the player to change shot type by holding down Change and pressing a direction, similar to the Directional Options in Gradius V.
  • Type E, "Supreme Ares": Super Aleste. In this control scheme, moving your ship will change your shot type to match the direction of your movement, and the forward shot when your direction input is neutral, similar to the All-Way / Multi-Direction Shot in Super Aleste.
  • Type F, "Galvanic Gamma Array 3rd": GG Aleste 3: Last Messiah.^note "GG" refers to the Game Gear, but in-universe it stands for "Galvanic Gunner" Similar to type E but the shot type corresponds to the opposite direction of the player's movement, similar to the All-Way subweapon in GGA3.
  • Type G, "Imagined Future": Image Fight. As in Type F, but returning to neutral movement will retain the last weapon you switched to. This is similar to the directional-fire pods in Image Fight.
  • Type H, "Tidal Force Vector": Thunder Force V. As in Type G, but holding down the 30 Hz synchronized Shot button will lock your current shot type while still shooting, similar to the Free Range weapon in Thunder Force V where holding down shot will fire the weapon and freeze its aim.
• Single-Use Shield: The Genesis version has a shield powerup that can protect the player's ship from a single hit. Hellfire S buffs it to a 2-hit shield.
• Smart Bomb: The Genesis version uniquely has a Hyper Cannon weapon that, when fired, cancels all on-screen bullets and fires a large laser burst ahead of the player.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The stage 1 Mini-Boss has four weak points; one can be shot with the forward shot, but two of them are in pockets that extend veritcally and so require the vertical shot, while the last one requires use of the back shot. The player can't afford to be careless either, as each of these cores will shoot bullets at the player, and the boss moves around the screen. Anyone who hasn't bothered to learn the non-forward shot types will meet the continue screen here.

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STAGE 1 CLEARED
TRY TO SET NEXT COLONY FREE
GOOD LUCK !!

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