History YMMV / Hellfire1989

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: The way [[HarderThanHard Yea Right difficulty]] is unlocked in the Genesis version. [[spoiler:Set the difficulty to Hard and wait about a minute. Not only will it change to Yea Right, ''[[JumpScare the game will immediately start]]'', as if conscripting you into that difficulty level!]]

* ThatOneBoss: Both midbosses of Stage 3. The first one is an eye monster with FloatingLimbs that it spreads out, and each segment fires bullets at you. So not only do you have to deal with enemy fire, you also have to make sure not to [[CollisionDamage bump into its segments]], which can also block your shots. Then the second one is a trip of eye monsters that can easily corner you with their erratic movements.

* UnderusedGameMechanic: In the ''Zero Fire'' compilation, the gadgets, leaderboards, and alternate control styles are only available for the 2P arcade edition of the game (including the Super Easy and Custom variants), not the 1P arcade edition, much to the disappointment of those who prefer the 1P edition. They're not available for the console adaptations either, but that's to be expected since they run on entirely different hardware (and thus be a whole different ballgame for M2 to disassemble).

* ThatOneBoss: Both midbosses of Stage 3. The first one is an eye monster with FloatingLimbs that it spreads out, and each segment fires bullets at you. So not only do you have to deal with enemy fire, you also have to make sure not to [[CollisionDamage bump into its segments]], which can also block your shots. Then the second one is a trip of eye monsters that can easily corner you with their erratic movements.

* EventObscuringCamera: 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.

* BreatherBoss: After the absolute hell of the Stage 3 midbosses' erratic movements and attacks, it's a relief to many players that the endboss just stays relatively still, fires bullets straight ahead in simple trajectories, and has an easy-to-reach weak point.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler: Kaoru's death at the end of ''Hellfire S''.]]

* SugarWiki/FunnyMoments: The way [[HarderThanHard Yea Right difficulty]] is unlocked in the Genesis version. [[spoiler:Set the difficulty to Hard and wait about a minute. Not only will it change to Yea Right, ''the game will immediately start'', as if conscripting you into that difficulty level!]]

* BreatherBoss: After the absolute hell of the Stage 3 midbosses' erratic movements and attacks, it's a relief many players that the endboss just stays relatively still, fires bullets straight ahead in simple trajectories, and has an easy-to-reach weak point.

* BreatherBoss: After the absolute hell of the Stage 3 midbosses' erratic movements and attacks, it's a relief many players that the endboss just fires bullets straight ahead and has an easy-to-reach weak point.

* BreatherBoss: After the absolute hell of the Stage 3 midbosses' erratic movements and attacks, it's a relief to the player that the endboss just fires bullets straight ahead and has an easy-to-reach weak point.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler: Kaoru's death at the end of ''Hellfire S''.]]

** The Genesis version, developed by Toaplan themselves features a rapid-fire feature that ''doesn't'' break the weapon-changing mechanic and unique SmartBomb and AttackDrone items not found in other versions of the game.
** The ''Zero Fire'' compilation for [=PS4=] and Switch features stellar ports of this game (as well as those of ''VideoGame/ZeroWing'' and ''VideoGame/DemonsWorld''). Like past ''Creator/{{M2}} [=ShotTriggers=]'' releases, it features gadgets that provide additional information, an Arcade Challenge mode that's great for practicing stages, save states, a [[EasierThanEasy Super Easy]] mode, a Custom mode that lets the player adjust the game's difficulty parameters to their liking, and online leaderboards. It also features every known version of the game: both arcade versions (although only the 2P version gets the gadgets, leaderboards, and Arcade Challenge), all of their regional toggles, and both console versions of the game (with both the Japanese and American variants of the Genesis port for good measure). The 2P arcade version additionally has new options that fix up the problems with the Change button or even introduce new weapon-change mechanic types to suit the player's style.

** The Genesis version, developed by Toaplan themselves features a rapid-fire feature that ''doesn't'' break the weapon-changing mechanic and unique SmartBomb and AttackDrone items not found in any version of the game.
** The ''Zero Fire'' compilation for [=PS4=] and Switch features stellar ports of this game (as well as those of ''VideoGame/ZeroWing'' and ''VideoGame/DemonsWorld''). Like past ''Creator/{{M2}} [=ShotTriggers=]'' releases, it features gadgets that provide additional information, an Arcade Challenge mode that's great for practicing stages, save states, a [[EasierThanEasy Super Easy]] mode, a Custom mode that lets the player adjust the game's difficulty parameters to their liking, and online leaderboards. It also features every known version of the game: both arcade versions (although only the 2P version gets the gadgets, leaderboards, and Arcade Challenge), all of their regional toggles, and both console versions of the game (with both the Japanese and American versions of the Genesis port for good measure). The 2P arcade version additionally has new options that fix up the problems with the Change button or even introduce new weapon-change mechanic types to suit the player's style.

** The ''Zero Fire'' compilation features stellar ports of this game (as well as those of ''VideoGame/ZeroWing'' and ''VideoGame/DemonsWorld''). Like past ''Creator/{{M2}} [=ShotTriggers=]'' releases, it features gadgets that provide additional information, an Arcade Challenge mode that's great for practicing stages, save states, a [[EasierThanEasy Super Easy]] mode, a Custom mode that lets the player adjust the game's difficulty parameters to their liking, and online leaderboards. It also features every known version of the game: both arcade versions (although only the 2P version gets the gadgets, leaderboards, and Arcade Challenge), all of their regional toggles, and both console versions of the game (with both the Japanese and American versions of the Genesis port for good measure). The 2P arcade version additionally has new options that fix up the problems with the Change button or even introduce new weapon-change mechanic types to suit the player's style.

* ItsEasySoItSucks: Although the PC Engine CD-ROM[[superscript:2]] version is praised for its excellent arrange soundtrack and expanded story, it gets criticism from players for being noticably easier than the arcade version or even the Genesis version, even when playing on Normal (the harder of the two difficulty levels).

* ItsEasySoItSucks: Although the PC Engine CD-ROM[[superscript:2]] version is praised for its excellent arrange soundtrack and expanded story, it gets critcism for being noticably easier than the arcade version or even the Genesis version, even when playing on Normal (the harder of the two difficulty levels).