| Hellfire | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Toaplan |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Designer(s) | Yuko Tataka |
| Artist(s) | Kōetsu Iwabuchi |
| Composer(s) | Tatsuya Uemura |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, PC Engine CD-ROM², Genesis |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, co-op |
Hellfire[a] is a 1989 horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan and published in Japan by Taito and North America by U.S.A. Games.[1] The first horizontal shoot 'em up title to be created by Toaplan, the game takes place in the year 2998 where a space matter known as Black Nebula created by robot dictator Super Mech spreads and threatens to engulf human-controlled galaxies, as players assume the role of Space Federation member Captain Lancer taking control of the CNCS1 space fighter craft in a surprise attack to overthrow the enemies with the fighter craft's titular weapon.
Conceived by Tatsuya Uemura during his time working at Toaplan and developed in conjunction with Truxton, Hellfire served as an experiment to translate the company's shoot 'em up gameplay style in a horizontal format but faced a problematic development cycle and went through various changes before its eventual launch to the market. Initially launched for the arcades, the game was then ported to the Sega Genesis by NCS Corporation and published worldwide by Masaya, Seismic, Tectoy and Sega between 1990 and 1992, while a PC Engine CD-ROM² conversion by NEC Avenue was also published exclusively in Japan on 12 April 1991. Each version of the title features various additions and changes compared with the original release.
Hellfire was met with positive reception from video game magazines since its release in arcades, though some critics drew comparison with Irem's R-Type due to its gameplay style. The Genesis port was also met with positive response from reviewers, while the PC Engine CD-ROM² was received with similar response. Its engine would later be repurposed into Zero Wing. As of 2019, the rights to the title is owned by Tatsujin, a company founded in 2017 by former Toaplan member Masahiro Yuge and now-affiliate of Japanese arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia alongside many other Toaplan IPs.
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