Fire Shark

From Sega Retro

n/a

FireShark MDTitleScreen.png

Fire Shark/Same! Same! Same!
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Mega-Tech
Publisher: DreamWorks (US), Sega (EU), Toaplan (JP)
Developer:
Original system(s): Arcade boards
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP
¥6,5006,500 T-40013
Sega Mega Drive
US
34016
Sega Mega Drive
EU
T-34016
Sega Mega Drive
AU

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Fire Shark, released in Japan as Same! Same! Same! (鮫!鮫!鮫!), is a 1989 arcade shoot-'em-up by Toaplan ported to the Sega Mega Drive in 1990. This is one of the few Mega Drive ports developed by Toaplan themselves.

Like many of the Mega Drive Toaplan ports, each regional release of the game contains multiple regional versions, of which European and US settings "Fire Shark" is slightly easier than Japan setting "鮫!鮫!鮫!". Unusually, the carts released in each region appear to be slightly different; actual differences are currently unknown.

Story

On an alternate Earth, heavy-arms producing nation S Corps starts invading other countries, and the Tiger Shark, a biplane, seems to be the only hope for stopping S Corps. There are three endings, depending on the difficulty level.

Gameplay

A and C shoot; B releases a typical "bomb" weapon. Powerups are a lot like Truxton; you have S icons for speedups (though it never gets as crazy as Truxton does), B icons to increase bomb stock, various #up icons to gain a number of extra lives, and thunderbolt icons to increase score. Finally, you have three different weapons: the cyan spreadshot (wide area), the green laser (focused area), and the red flame thrower (switches between focused and wide).

Most of the scoring in this game is cashing in bombs and thunderbolts at the end of each stage, so some pro dodging is required. After clearing the 10 stages, a harder version of the game will begin, and so on.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as
Language Localised Name English Translation
English Fire Shark Fire Shark
English (US) Fire Shark Fire Shark
Japanese 鮫!鮫!鮫! Same! Same! Same!

Magazine articles

Main article: Fire Shark/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

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Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #2: "October/November 1990" (1990-xx-xx)
also published in:
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Print advert in Mean Machines Sega (UK) #11: "September 1993" (1993-07-30)
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Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-11: "November 1990" (1990-10-XX)
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Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
83 №1990-11, p22[5]
79 №, p83[6]
64 №4, p37[7]
90 №110, p67[3]
78 №113, [1]
88 №40, p139[8]
50 №1990-22_23, p16
68 №5, p92
53 №5, p95
78 №9, p20
59 №1, p81[9]
51 №17, p88[10]
87 №4, p74[11]
60 №23, p54
60 №23, p55
63 №27, p50
83 №2, p67[12]
90 №3, p18[13]
75 №18, p65
75 №18, p65
61 №6, p68/69[14]
74 №33, p38[15]
Sega Mega Drive
71
Based on
22 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
50
[16]
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
80
[17]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
83
[18]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
64
[7]
The Complete Guide to Sega (UK)
59
[19]
Console XS (UK) PAL
83
[20]
Cool Gamer (RU)
30
[21]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
90
[22]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
83
[1]
Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
50
[23]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
78
[24]
FX (UK)
70
[25]
Génération 4 (FR)
88
[8]
Famicom Hisshoubon (JP) NTSC-J
50
[26]
Hobby Consolas (ES)
79
[27]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-U
68
[28]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) NTSC-J
53
[29]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
78
[30]
Mega (UK) PAL
78
[31]
Mega Force (FR) PAL
55
[32]
Mega Play (US) NTSC-U
83
[33]
MegaTech (UK) NTSC-J
59
[9]
Micromanía (segunda época) (ES)
73
[34]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
59
[35]
Player One (FR)
51
[10]
Play Time (DE)
56
[36]
Power Play (DE)
59
[37]
Raze (UK) NTSC
87
[11]
Sega Power (UK) NTSC
50
[38]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
63
[39]
Sega Pro (UK)
83
[12]
Sega Pro (UK)
90
[13]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
75
[40]
Sega Pro (UK) NTSC-J
75
[41]
Sega Force (UK) PAL
61
[14]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
79
[42]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
60
[43]
Zero (UK)
74
[15]
Sega Mega Drive
69
Based on
38 reviews

Fire Shark

Mega Drive, US
FireShark MD US Box.jpg
Cover
FireShark MD US Cart.jpg
Cart
Fireshark md us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
FireShark MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
FireShark MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, JP
FireShark MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
FireShark MD JP CartTop.jpg
FireShark MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, AU

Mega-Tech version

Mega-Tech,

FireShark MegaTech Cart.jpg
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 570b5024
MD5 dc1fa82af5d70b5a35e06b7f10f9bbcb
SHA-1 453ca331d15c47171c42312c14585541a3613802
512kB 1990-08 Cartridge (US)
Sega Mega Drive
 ?
CRC32 9c175146
MD5 c00981929f3eca882d123809e81185df
SHA-1 020169eb2a4b3ad63fa2cbaa1927ab7c33b6add4
512kB 1990-08 Cartridge (US) Same as above ROM except 102 bytes blanked. Possibly pirate or hack.
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 2351ce61
MD5 de1cab62facb121904d0cb1da9cc00a8
SHA-1 54b9060699187bf32048c005a3379fda72c0fb96
512kB 1990-08 Cartridge (EU)
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 77bbd841
MD5 9b399dee13e33613a4bed61b76d0233d
SHA-1 b0d2552c5aae75dbe2d63600c0dbd64868c2f2c5
512kB 1990-08 Cartridge (JP)

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 File:EGM US 015.pdf, page 73 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:EGM US 015.pdf_p73" defined multiple times with different content
  2. 2.0 2.1 Sega Power, "January 1992" (UK; 1991-12-05), page 10
  3. 3.0 3.1 File:CVG UK 110.pdf, page 67
  4. Game Players Sega Guide!, "Vol. 1, No. 1: Fall 1990" (US; 1990-10-xx), page 5
  5. File:BeepMD_JP_1990-11.pdf, page 24
  6. File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf, page 85
  7. 7.0 7.1 File:CGtC UK 04.pdf, page 37 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CGtC UK 04.pdf_p37" defined multiple times with different content
  8. 8.0 8.1 File:Generation4 FR 040.pdf, page 139 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Generation4 FR 040.pdf_p139" defined multiple times with different content
  9. 9.0 9.1 File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf, page 81 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf_p81" defined multiple times with different content
  10. 10.0 10.1 File:PlayerOne FR 017.pdf, page 88 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:PlayerOne FR 017.pdf_p88" defined multiple times with different content
  11. 11.0 11.1 File:Raze UK 04.pdf, page 74 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Raze UK 04.pdf_p74" defined multiple times with different content
  12. 12.0 12.1 File:SegaPro UK 02.pdf, page 69 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPro UK 02.pdf_p69" defined multiple times with different content
  13. 13.0 13.1 File:SegaPro UK 03.pdf, page 18 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPro UK 03.pdf_p18" defined multiple times with different content
  14. 14.0 14.1 File:SegaForce UK 06.pdf, page 68 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaForce UK 06.pdf_p68" defined multiple times with different content
  15. 15.0 15.1 File:Zero UK 33.pdf, page 38 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Zero UK 33.pdf_p38" defined multiple times with different content
  16. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 82
  17. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 319
  18. Beep! MegaDrive, "November 1990" (JP; 1990-10-XX), page 24
  19. The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 51
  20. Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 130
  21. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 227
  22. Computer & Video Games, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-15), page 79
  23. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 315
  24. Famitsu, "" (JP; 1990-10-26), page 1
  25. FX (UK) (+0:00)
  26. Famicom Hisshoubon, "1990-22, 23 (1990-11-16, 12-07)" (JP; 1990-11-02), page 16
  27. Hobby Consolas, "Julio 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 88
  28. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 92
  29. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 95
  30. Mega Drive Fan, "January 1991" (JP; 1990-12-08), page 87
  31. Mega, "June 1993" (UK; 1993-05-20), page 20
  32. Mega Force, "Janvier 1992" (FR; 1992-01-15), page 103
  33. Mega Play, "February 1991" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 42
  34. Micromanía (segunda época), "Julio 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 79
  35. Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 138
  36. Play Time, "5/92" (DE; 1992-04-08), page 95
  37. Power Play, "2/91" (DE; 1991-01-18), page 148
  38. Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 54
  39. Sega Power, "February 1992" (UK; 1992-01-02), page 50
  40. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 65
  41. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 68
  42. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
  43. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 14