Hellfire

Hellfire

Console: Sega Mega Drive
TV Standard: Region Not Set
Developer(s): Toaplan Co., Ltd.
Publisher(s): Seismic Games
Release Date: 1990-01-01
Players: 1
Co-op: No
ESRB: E - Everyone
Type: Action, Shooter
Hellfire screenshot

In the year 2998, humanity has finally reached the stars, and was able to build a prosperous, peaceful society. However, a space matter known as the Black Nebula began to spread, threatening to engulf the galaxies controlled by humans. It turned out that a robotic dictator named Super Mech was behind this occurrence. The Earth sends Captain Lancer, a skillful pilot navigating the powerful CNCS1 aircraft, equipped with the most powerful weapon: the Hellfire...

This is a horizontal space shooter, with the traditional premise of a lone pilot traversing hostile areas and out-manoeuvring and/or destroying quick and numerous enemies. What sets this shooter apart from many other horizontal space shooters is that you choose the direction of your shots at any time between forward, backward, upward+downward and 4-way diagonal. The 4-way diagonal shot is usually the most effective and makes for some interesting gameplay setups, such as stationary guns you can only reach by passing them (while avoiding their shots) and then placing yourself diagonally above them. There is also a bomb to take out multiple enemies. The game has a standard set of pickups: P icons for powering the weapons, S icons for increasing ship speed, B icons for bombs, and score icons.