Line of Fire

From Sega Retro

For the redesigned Sega Master System port, see Line of Fire (Master System).

n/a

  • X Board
  • X Board (JP)
  • Amiga
  • Amstrad CPC
  • Atari ST
  • Commodore 64
  • ZX Spectrum

LineofFire title.png

LineofFire XBoard JP Title.png

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LineofFire CPC Title.png

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Notavailable.svg

LineofFire Spectrum Title.png

Line of Fire
System(s): Sega X Board, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum
Publisher:
Arcade (X Board)
Sega
Amiga
Amstrad CPC
Atari ST
Commodore 64
ZX Spectrum
U.S. Gold
Developer:
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Arcade (X Board)
JP		 ¥? ?
Arcade (X Board)
US		 $? ?
Arcade (X Board)
AU		 $? ?


























Amiga
UK 		£24.9924.99[2]
Atari ST
UK 		£24.9924.99[2]
Amstrad CPC
ES
(Cassette)
Amstrad CPC
ES
(Disk)
Amstrad CPC
UK
(Cassette) 		£10.9910.99[3]
Amstrad CPC
UK
(Disk) 		£14.9914.99[3]
Commodore 64
UK
(Cassette) 		£10.9910.99[3]
ZX Spectrum
ES
(Cassette)
ZX Spectrum
UK
(Cassette) 		£10.9910.99[3]

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Line of Fire (ライン・オブ・ファイヤー), or sometimes called Line of Fire: Bakudan Yarou (ライン・オブ・ファイヤー 爆弾野郎) in Japan , is a Sega X Board arcade light gun game developed by Sega R&D 1 and manufactured by Sega. First released to Japanese and American arcades in December 1989[1], the game notably uses sprite scaling to simulate three-dimensional scenery, and saw contemporary ports to a number of personal computers.

One year later, Line of Fire was significantly redesigned and ported to the Sega Master System as the titular Line of Fire.

Story

In the game, you play as two escaping POWs who were captured after seizing a "secret machine gun unit" from the enemy.

Versions

Unlike most other Sega arcade conversions of the time, the Amiga and Atari ST versions feature some degree of software-based sprite scaling, although sprite limits meant this could not be implemented for the background of the first stage[4]. To compensate, the number of on-screen enemies is reduced over the arcade, and several enemy types had to be removed entirely[4].

The plan had originally been to use Vidi-ST to screenshot (or "digitise") graphics from the arcade board in monochrome, which would then be edited and coloured by hand, but this proved too slow. The team then purchased a different digitising solution - the Coloupic by JCL, but this was incompatible with the arcade machine's NTSC output[5]. JCL offered to resolve it, but while the backgrounds came out okay, sprites did not[5]. The team eventually built a custom Amiga expansion board that could interface with the arcade ROMs, converted Sega's graphics into Amiga IFF files, and edited through PIXmate[5].

Production credits

X Board version

Source:
In-game high score table
Source:
Internal ROM text[8]
Source:
Developer mentions

Amiga version

The production credits are found in a rant located in the file s/startup-sequence, which explains that Sega would not allow them to put their names in the game.

  • Programming: Richard Aplin
  • Music: Uncle Art
  • Graphics:
    • extracting bitmaps from the original arcade game's video output: Andy Heike, Nick Vincent
    • extracting sprites from the original arcade game ROM: Richard Aplin
    • color reduction for the Amiga: Andy Heike, Nick Vincent, "and some students in Manchester"
  • PCM sample extraction: Richard Aplin
  • Copy protection: Tiertex
  • Management: Steve Fitton (US Gold), Tony Porter (US Gold)


Atari ST version

The rant mentioned above notes that Richard Aplin is also the programmer for that version, but unlike most Sega Amiga ports, this version was developed later.

Magazine articles

Main article: Line of Fire/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Line of Fire/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Arcade version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Commodore User (UK)
66
[10]
Arcade (X Board)
 66
Based on
1 review

Line of Fire

X Board, JP

Amiga version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
ACE (UK)
82
[11]
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
50
[12]
CU Amiga (UK)
85
[13]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
85
[14]
The Games Machine (IT)
84
[15]
Joystick (FR)
76
[16]
Power Play (DE)
23
[17]
Raze (UK)
70
[18]
Tilt (FR)
50
[19]
Zzap!64 (UK)
65
[20]
Amiga
 67
Based on
10 reviews

Line of Fire

Amiga, UK

LineOfFire Amiga EU Disk.jpg
Disk

Amstrad CPC version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Joystick (FR)
60
[16]
Zzap! (IT)
38
[21]
Amstrad CPC
 49
Based on
2 reviews

Line of Fire

Amstrad CPC, UK (cassette)

Amstrad CPC, UK (disk)

Amstrad CPC, ES (cassette)

Amstrad CPC, ES (disk)

Amstrad CPC, ES (Especial 8 Bits)
LineofFire CPC ES Box Especial.jpg
Cover

Atari ST version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Aktueller Software Markt (DE)
45
[12]
ST Action (UK)
59
[22]
ST Format (UK)
39
[23]
Atari ST
 48
Based on
3 reviews

Line of Fire

Atari ST, UK

Commodore 64 version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Commodore Format (UK)
40
[24]
Power Play (DE)
11
[25]
Your Commodore (UK)
55
[26]
Zzap!64 (UK)
32
[20]
Zzap! (IT)
32
[21]
Commodore 64
 34
Based on
5 reviews

Line of Fire

Commodore 64, UK

ZX Spectrum version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
Crash (UK)
70
[27]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
85
[14]
Svet Kompjutera (YU)
60
[28]
Sinclair User (UK)
82
[29]
Your Sinclair (UK)
72
[30]
ZX Spectrum
 74
Based on
5 reviews

Line of Fire

ZX Spectrum, UK

LineofFire Spectrum UK Cassette.jpg
Cassette
ZX Spectrum, ES

ZX Spectrum, ES (Especial 8 Bits)
LineofFire Spectrum ES Box Especial.jpg
Cover

Specifications

Dimensions

Sit-Down Upright
1.05 m (41.339")
1.8 m (70.866")
1.8 m (70.866")
720 mm (28.346")
1.88 m (74.016")
1.03 m (40.551")


Mass: 230 kg (506 lbs) Mass: 150 kg (330 lbs)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sega Arcade History, Enterbrain, page 101
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 ACE, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-xx), page 55
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 Computer & Video Games, "December 1990" (UK; 1990-11-16), page 167
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Zero, "December 1990" (UK; 1990-1x-xx), page 19
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Zero, "December 1990" (UK; 1990-1x-xx), page 22
  6. ↑ File:Sega Arcade History JP EnterBrain Book.pdf, page 30
  7. ↑ @fukushimasan on Twitter
  8. ↑ The Cutting Room Floor: Line of Fire (Arcade)
  9. ↑ Hyper Drive
  10. ↑ Commodore User, "February 1990" (UK; 1990-01-26), page 89
  11. ↑ ACE, "February 1991" (UK; 1991-01-08), page 60
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Aktueller Software Markt, "März 1991" (DE; 1991-02-22), page 59
  13. ↑ CU Amiga, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-xx), page 56
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Computer & Video Games, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-15), page 74
  15. ↑ The Games Machine, "Febbraio 1991" (IT; 1991-xx-xx), page 42
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Joystick, "Janvier 1991" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 200
  17. ↑ Power Play, "3/91" (DE; 1991-02-15), page 120
  18. ↑ Raze, "March 1991" (UK; 1991-01-31), page 52
  19. ↑ Tilt, "Février 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 79
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Zzap!64, "March 1991" (UK; 1991-xx-xx), page 69
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Zzap!, "Marzo 1991" (IT; 1991-xx-xx), page 16
  22. ↑ ST Action, "February 1991" (UK; 1991-01-xx), page 82
  23. ↑ ST Format, "February 1991" (UK; 1991-01-10), page 90
  24. ↑ Commodore Format, "March 1991" (UK; 1991-02-21), page 42
  25. ↑ Power Play, "4/91" (DE; 1991-03-15), page 119
  26. ↑ Your Commodore, "March 1991" (UK; 1991-02-22), page 24
  27. ↑ Crash, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-13), page 63
  28. ↑ Svet Kompjutera, "Jun 1991" (YU; 1991-xx-xx), page 75
  29. ↑ Sinclair User, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-18), page 52
  30. ↑ Your Sinclair, "January 1991" (UK; 1990-12-06), page 25
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 File:LineofFire Arcade JP Flyer.pdf


Line of Fire

LineofFire title.png

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