Hellfire
From Sega Retro
- For the 2020 re-release by Retro-bit, see Hellfire Collector's Edition.
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| Hellfire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| System(s): Sega Mega Drive | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publisher: Masaya (Japan), Seismic Software (US), Sega (Europe) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer: NCS | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Licensor: Toaplan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Original system(s): Arcade boards | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer(s) of original games: Toaplan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Genre: Shooting[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of players: 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hellfire (ヘルファイアー) is a Sega Mega Drive horizontal shoot-'em-up developed by NCS. It is a port of the titular 1989 Toaplan arcade game Hellfire, originally published by Taito. The Mega Drive version was first published in Japan by Masaya in September 1990, was brought to the United States the following November by Seismic Software, and eventually published in Europe by Sega in May 1992. Sometime later, Hellfire made its way to Brazil, South Korea, and Australia.
One of the first Toaplan games to grace the Sega Mega Drive, Hellfire has been seen as typifying the style and design of the system's early library of shoot-'em-ups, and is one of the more fondly remembered examples of the genre on Sega's 16-bit hardware.
Contents
Story
In the year 2998, a space matter known as Black Nebula, created by the robot dictator Super Mech, spreads and threatens to engulf the human-controlled galaxies. Space Federation member Captain Lancer takes control of the CNCS1 space fighter craft in a surprise attack to overthrow the enemies with the fighter craft's "Hellfire" weapon.
Gameplay
The game is a horizontally scrolling shoot-'em-up with a science fiction theme. Players assume the role of Captain Lancer taking control of the CNCS1 space fighter craft. The CNCS1 moves in any direction with the D-Pad and shoots with 
. Rapid-fire can be enabled in the options before starting the game. The ship can fire in multiple different directions, switching between each modes with 
, and the color of the ship and the bullets changes to indicate the firing direction. It can fire straight to the right (pink), straight to the left (yellow), straight up and down (green), or diagonally in four directions (blue). Enemies and bosses are designed to encourage switching between the directions frequently. The CNCS1 can shoot the Hellfire weapon with 
, which is a powerful beam that penetrates through multiple enemies and neutralizes all projectiles on the screen. The Hellfire is always fired to the right, and its uses are limited (but more uses can be collected as items). The CNCS1 can collect items to upgrade its weapon and its speed.
The CNCS1 is destroyed if it takes damage from enemy fire or contact. It respawns at predetermined checkpoints in the stages, reverting to its base weapon power and movement speed. The game ends if the player runs out of lives, but it can be continued as long as there are continues remaining. The player earns an extra life for every 70,000 points gained.
The game has two difficulty levels (Easy and Hard). Upon completing the last stage, the game starts over at a higher difficulty: Easy progresses to Hard, and Hard progresses to the hidden "Yea Right" difficulty.
Items
| Power Up | |
|---|---|
| Powers up the CNCS1's main weapon, up to 5 times. | |
| Speed Up | |
| Increases the CNCS1's speed. | |
| Bonus Points | |
| Awards bonus points. The first Bonus Points collected is worth 40, then each subsequent pickup doubles the previous number, up to a maximum of 10,000 points. This amount resets to 40 points if the player loses a life. | |
| 1 Up | |
| Awards an extra life. | |
| Shield | |
| Protects the CNCS1 against one hit. | |
| Seeker | |
| A search-and-destroy robot that destroys enemies on contact. | |
| HELLFIRE | |
| Increases the player's Hellfire stock by one. |
Stages
| Hoggr, the Frozen Star | |
|---|---|
| Qat, the Desert | |
| Syrinx, the Tropics | |
| Lodur, the Forest | |
| Urd, the Factory | |
| Pholus, the Giant | |
History
Development
The music in the game runs too slow on Mega Drive 2 consoles with the VA4 motherboard.[9] These models integrate the sound chip with other system components (including the CPUs and VDP) onto a custom ASIC. Earlier board revisions with a discrete Yamaha YM2612 sound chip are unaffected. This is caused by differences in timing between the discrete and the integrated versions of the chip. Earthworm Jim is similarly affected.
Legacy
The game was re-released worldwide as Hellfire Collector's Edition by Retro-Bit as part of Toaplan Shooters Collector's Edition in October 2020.[10]
The game was included on the North American and European editions of the Mega Drive Mini 2 in October 2022.
Versions
The Japanese version has louder shot sound effects than the NTSC-U and PAL releases.
Production credits
- Director: C.Suzuki (NCS), T.Jingu (NCS), T.Ota (Toaplan)
- Programmer: T.Uemura, H.Matsumura
- Designer: S.Nakaoka, K.Iwabuchi, Y.Tataka
- Sound Creator: T.Uemura, M.Yuge
- Special Thanks: Zero One, Ponce 90k, Ram Chan, Jiorama Kun, S.Hiratsuka, M.Murai, Kichi Nanpei, Kansai Boy, Otsuka Hen
Digital manuals
Mega Drive Mini 2 US manual
Mega Drive Mini 2 EU manual
Magazine articles
- Main article: Hellfire/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
- Main article: Hellfire/Promotional material.
Physical scans
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| Based on 41 reviews | |
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   Cart  Manual |
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| Mega Drive, SE rental (HENT black) |
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| Mega Drive, AU |
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| Mega Drive, BR |
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| Mega Drive, KR |
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 Cart |
Technical information
- Main article: Hellfire/Technical information.
References
 NEC Retro has more information related to Hellfire S
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/megadrive/software_l.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-07-02 23:21)
- ↑ File:Hellfire MD JP Box.jpg
- ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "November 1990" (JP; 1990-10-XX), page 12
- ↑ https://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.video/c/aBaGQlt1rXg/m/NEWpMfkSg3cJ
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "November 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 72
- ↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1992-04-06), page 31
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Sega Power, "June 1992" (UK; 1992-05-07), page 28
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 MegaTech, "May 1992" (UK; 1992-04-20), page 24
- ↑ https://www.sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?27955-Hellfire-sounds-slow-on-my-Model-2
- ↑ https://retro-bit.com/toaplan-shooters/ (Wayback Machine: 2021-05-15 18:27)
- ↑ File:Hellfire MD credits.pdf
- ↑ 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 95
- ↑ ACE, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-xx), page 101
- ↑ Complete Guide to Consoles, "Volume IV" (UK; 1990-11-xx), page 31
- ↑ The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 47
- ↑ Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 100
- ↑ Computer & Video Games, "December 1990" (UK; 1990-11-16), page 148
- ↑ Computer & Video Games, "June 1994" (UK; 1994-05-15), page 106
- ↑ Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 18
- ↑ Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 57
- ↑ Famitsu, "" (JP; 1990-xx-xx), page 1
- ↑ Game Mania, "May 1993" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 80
- ↑ GamePro, "December 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 132
- ↑ Games-X, "14th-20th June 1991" (UK; 1991-06-14), page 35
- ↑ Games-X, "26th March-1st April 1992" (UK; 1992-03-26), page 24
- ↑ Famicom Hisshoubon, "1990-18, 19 (1990-09-21, 10-05)" (JP; 1990-09-14), page 17
- ↑ Hobby Consolas, "Abril 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 56
- ↑ Joypad, "Avril 1992" (FR; 1992-03-1x), page 140
- ↑ Joystick, "Novembre 1990" (FR; 1990-1x-xx), page 134
- ↑ Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 92
- ↑ Mega Drive Fan, "December 1990" (JP; 1990-11-08), page 79
- ↑ MegaTech, "Xmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-06), page 78
- ↑ MegaTech, "February 1992" (UK; 1992-01-20), page 23
- ↑ Micromanía (segunda época), "Mayo 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 67
- ↑ Mean Machines, "December 1990" (UK; 1990-12-xx), page 74
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 139
- ↑ Player One, "Avril 1992" (FR; 1992-04-10), page 62
- ↑ Play Time, "5/92" (DE; 1992-04-08), page 93
- ↑ Power Up!, "Saturday, April 18, 1992" (UK; 1992-04-18), page 1
- ↑ Power Play, "12/90" (DE; 1990-11-16), page 154
- ↑ Raze, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-11-29), page 71
- ↑ Score, "Březen 1994" (CZ; 1994-03-14), page 47
- ↑ Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 53
- ↑ Sega Pro, "July 1992" (UK; 1992-06-18), page 28
- ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 66
- ↑ Sega Force, "4/93" (SE; 1993-07-08), page 19
- ↑ Sega Force, "May 1992" (UK; 1992-04-16), page 56
- ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 86
- ↑ Supergame, "Setembro 1992" (BR; 1992-09-xx), page 42
- ↑ Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 16
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