Hellfire (Arcade) - Full Run 1-ALL Clear [2-3] 1,205,950 Pts
35Full run of Hellfire (ヘルファイヤ), the 6th arcade shmup developed by Toaplan.
Stage Listing:
00:00 - Intro / Stage 1
05:27 - Stage 2
10:58 - Stage 3
16:14 - Stage 4
21:22 - Stage 5
28:18 - Stage 6
32:50 - Final Boss + Ending
33:20 - Loop 2-1
40:02 - 2-2
45:07 - 2-3
Hellfire is the first attempt by Toaplan to create a horizontal shmup, and in this case they have created a methodical, strategic shooter perhaps in the vein of R-Type. It's somewhat of a departure from the previous games like KyuKyoKu Tiger and Tatsujin, which had much more frantic and fast paced gameplay.
Here you are given a ship that can fire in different directions based on which weapon you have selected, of which there are 4 that you can cycle through: Forward firing, backwards firing, top and bottom firing, and finally a 4 way diagonal shot. Each of these weapons are useful and most of the game revolves around deciphering which weapon you need to use for a given situation. Each weapon can be upgraded multiple times until you have a massive laser at your disposal.
Like previous Toaplan titles, when you die you are sent back to a checkpoint, and while all of them are recoverable, some are very difficult to pull off because you lose all of your powerups. There are no bombs and the only other items besides the weapon powerups are speed ups and point bonuses.
Personally I find Hellfire to be one of the lesser Toaplan titles, as the gameplay is just a bit too slow paced for my tastes. It's especially apparent when you are forced to scroll through several sections of the game where absolutely nothing happens. Also some of the stage designs/themes just seem completely out of place, such as the Egyptian level.
It should be noted that there are actually 2 versions of this game, the 1 Player version (the original version and the one I'm playing) and the 2 Player version which allows for simultaneous play. The 2 player version removes the checkpoints and also lowers the on screen shot count similarly to what was done in KyuKyoKu tiger, so you have less firepower. I find the 2 Player versions to be much harder (and also worse) as result, and I would not recommend it at all, as it further exacerbates a lot of the game's issues.
Overall Hellfire is still decent, it just doesn't quite live up to the high Toaplan standard that we've grown accustomed to with the previous games.
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