Why does Hellfire get so little love?

[tehkao]

Maybe I'm just strange, but I love this quirky shmup to death, even though I have nowhere near the skills to actually beat it.

I remember falling love with it the first time I played it. It had cool, bright colors, weird enemy designs and bosses, funky music, and the gameplay was just unlike any I've experienced. It just felt so unique and refreshing. And I thought the direction-changing shot was so cool...like hey how come no one ever thought of this before?

It's actually my favorite Toaplan shmup now that I think about it...everything about it is just so cool in a quirky weird way...the music, the gameplay, the design...and the music doesn't get enough credit, it's incredibly catchy.

[Andi]

The only way to win is through memorization - right down to the first level.

Blah.

[alpha5099]

It's certainly Toaplan's best side-scrolling, but that's not saying much.

The weapons system doesn't quite do it for me. I appreciate their trying to do something a little different, but it just doesn't work as well as it could. I'd like to see something more like their other work, with lots of screen-filling shots that get powered up slowly. Horis rarely have the level of fire-power I'd like them to.

[Nei First]

Horis rarely have the level of fire-power I'd like them to.

I second that.

[CecilMcW00t]

Which is why I love Darius Gaiden so much... Your shots can become so freakin pumped up in that game... I remember seeing screenshots in an old Tips and Tricks mag and I saw the fully powered shot and was like... O_O;

[gameoverDude]

As Ed Semrad said about the Genesis version in EGM- if you lose all your powerups, it's too hard to recover (AC Gradius III Syndrome).

[FRO]

The Genesis version less punishing than the arcade version - way too many of the times I've died playing the game I felt they were cheap deaths. I also agree w/ Alpha5099 on this one - it was a unique approach to a weapon system, but ended up being so much work to be constantly switching weapons all the time that you end up getting toasted. A decent game that could have been great.

[nullstar]

Yeah -- even for a Gradius nut, Hellfire had an intolerable level of die-once-it's-over frustration. The power-up system was somewhat novel, but unlike TFIII, you really did get knocked back to square one when you died. At least with TF you could try to fall back on a guaranteed weapon on dicey spots vs lose it all no matter what.

I think if Hellfire had had the TFIII-style recovery...and 2 p simul (which IIRC the arcade had)...it would still be a hit in the minds of many more.

[raiden]

when I played Hellfire for the first time about 7 years ago, I considered it to be a better version of Radiant Silvergun immediately. There are less weapons, but the level design actually forces you to change between them all the time, a lot more often than in Radiant Silvergun. For a horizontal game, Hellfire is incredibly hectic. My only gripe is the fact you have to change between weapons via one button, instead of having one button reserved for each weapon like it is in Radiant Silvergun.
I also like Hellfire´s music very much, however, I´d never say it´s Toaplan´s best game. I like it more than the Thunderforce, R-Type or Gradius series, but not as much as Twin Hawk or Fire Shark.

[iatneH]

When I played this game for the first time, I absolutely hated it.

But somehow I kept coming back every few weeks, and began to appreciate it a little more each time, until one time I finally clicked with how tightly interleaved the weapon system and stage layouts were.

This game kicks my ass, I've only gotten past stage 1 twice :oops:
But this game, along with Truxton, I can easily see myself playing in 10 years (assuming television & electricity standards don't change drastically in that time)

[ST Dragon]

Because it relies heavily on memorization & those check points! Especially having to power up your weapons all over again.

It's a very good Arcade conversion though.

I prefer Zero Wing.

[Diabollokus]

I love hellfire it was my first shmup back in 1992.



fukkin love that last stage with the king ghidora head ships. Heavy memorization required though! and the giant pholus at the end was a cool boss.

Did anyone ever get into the secret room under the boss in the factory level? heard 10 years ago you could destroy half the boss and get in it.

[DEL]

"Why does Hellfire get so little love?" - I suppose 'cause its old. Most people here would have missed it first time around.

Its definitely in my all time Top 5.

I'm talking about the Arcade PCBs only, not Genesis or even the PCE Ver.

There were 2 Arcade Versions; the 1 Player Version with 'die & go back'
and the 2 Player Simultaneous Version with 'instant re-spawn'.

The Arcade 1 Player Version had 1 Loop.
The Arcade 2 Player Version had 2 Loops with a 900,000 bonus for 2nd Loop Final Boss destruction.

The 1 Player version was much harder to 1CC due to the 'die & go back to last checkpoint'. I found it much easier to 1CC both loops of the 2 Player Version than to do the single loop of the 1 P Ver.
The manager of Oxford Street Arcade knew I was good at it, so he upped his 1 Player Ver to 'Hard' skill level, but I was stubborn and still did it a couple of times (it was real nasty on hard though - I still think to this day that 1CCing the 1 P Ver on Hard was one of my most difficult accomplishments....ever).

[Diabollokus]

Thats a cool story DEL, I wish arcade owners saw me walk in and quickly ran over to the cabinets and upped the difficulty to the max as knew I'd 1CC them outta business, no credit feeding from me.

ah well still have dreams.

[ST Dragon]

There was even a PCE version?
PCE DUO CD-Rom version I suppose?

[SPACE HARRIER]

I spend about 20 hrs playing this game at the ARCADE..I just love it..
Bought the game for the MEGADRIVE...Good but not as good as the ARCADE version..
The best way to see the game in action is...Download it for your MAME

[ST Dragon]

Iplayed Zero Wing on MAME & I noticed that the screen flashes red when ever you shoot something?!
Is this an emulation bug? It looks bad & very irritating effect.
The Genesis version doesn't do this.

[chtimi-CLA]

There were 2 Arcade Versions; the 1 Player Version with 'die & go back'
and the 2 Player Simultaneous Version with 'instant re-spawn'.

The Arcade 1 Player Version had 1 Loop.
The Arcade 2 Player Version had 2 Loops with a 900,000 bonus for 2nd Loop Final Boss destruction.

i never knew there was a checkpoint PCB version, and i love hellfire (i have the PCB,MD and NEC versions). is the 1P version rarer? (is rarer a word, it doesn't sound good)
you really find the checkpoint version harder? you are the first person i hear saying this, i'm screwed each time if i die in the wrong place in the respawn version, while the checkpoints are well placed in the 1P version and you always have a chance to come back (except in stage 6 which i never could beat).
also, how do you deal with stage 6, i'm always overwhelmed by all those mid ships (i think the farthest i got was after the "columns").

about the original topic, i don't know why hellfire isn't more appreciated here, i find it extremely toaplanesque if you see what i mean (like outzone).
DEL, out of curiosity what do you think of heavy unit? it's another of those shmups that i think are misunderstood here.

[Diabollokus]

How do you deal with stage 6?

The answer is continous dedication, persistance and to milk those 99 continues in the genesis version!

The columns, you sure you don't mean missiles? after a fleet of big green ships?

If your able to beat the 3 ghidora head ships at the start of the level with standard ship I have faith you'll get to pholus the giant.

[The Bullet Dodger]

Hellfire was my very first shmup for the Genesis, and I loved it to death. In fact, I still have the complete copy I bought back in the day. It will always have a special place in my heart.

[DEL]

chtimi - Yes the Checkpoint PCB is harder, dying on the later stages on the checkpoint version requires a lot of recovery skills. Luckily I enjoyed the game enough to put in the 'recovery practice' on the later levels. It took a while and some credit feeding in the arcade to learn the necessary routes
I don't know if the checkpoint PCB is rarer? I have it anyway.

(Heavy Unit is ok, all we did when it came out was complete it and move on. I'm not sure if it deserves a lot of attention )

[LoneSage]

Got this game the other day, I like it a lot! It's kinda weird (first stage has robots and stuff, second stage has Egyptian crap..not really linked together) and it sucks ass if you get hit once, because you lose all your power-ups. Back to square one with a pea shooter.

I don't think it's too hard, just requires some practice. I could definitely 1CC this baby, I knows it.

[jp]

Stupid orb mini-boss.


That just annoyed me to the point of which I quit playing. Despite the fact that I did get to level 6 a couple of times. (1 life... as you're just fucked if you die, fucking retarded bullshit, why even give me extends?)

[gigadrive32]

I like Hellfire. fun shmup.


Heavy Unit... I've played the PC-Engine and Megadrive versions - nothing great. but I am waiting for the arcade version to be working in MAME, seems I have to wait longer...

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

This is one of the games I really wanted as a kid but never ever found anywhere.

[CIT]

Hellfire is actually nicely designed, the weapons and the level design are well connected, and the technical aspects are good. If you're a big R-Type fan, you'll probably like it a lot.

If you're not an R-Type fan (like me) you'll probably have these criticisms:

1) The game is slooooooow

2) It's prohibitively difficult, and requires exact memorization to progress.

3) Switching between weapons with one button isn't practical and costs time that you should use to dodge stuff. The should have mapped a weapon to every firebutton.

There was even a PCE version?
PCE DUO CD-Rom version I suppose?

Yeah, a CD-Rom game.

The music is better and you get cut scenes with Anime chicks, graphics are a step down from the Megadrive though.