Classic Game Room - HELLFIRE review for Sega Genesis

Hellfire review. www.ClassicGame...
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Classic Game Room reviews HELLFIRE for Sega Genesis released in 1990 by Toaplan and Seismic! This insanely hard side scrolling space ship shooter (or SHMUP) is for those looking for a serious, SERIOUS challenge! Bump anything and die. Get shot and die. Crash into a shot into a bump into die and die. Hard levels and that chunky Sega Genesis style make this a cool game but really frustrating with R-Type checkpoints and power ups that cause you to speed and die. CGR Hellfire video review for Sega Genesis (aka Sega Mega Drive) has 16-bit horizontally scrolling shooter action in HD! Hellfire space ship shoots in four different directions, two more than the Space Shuttle!

[@Floatillyboats]

This is one of the best Shooters out there for the 16 bit era. . Great music. Hidden gem for sure. Not to many people know about this one!

[@rootykazooty351]

Agreed. Classic.

[@pal-of-pals]

Never got around to beating it, but I really dig the concept of having different weapon patterns and being able to change them on the fly.

[@Neerana]

The secret to this game is knowing when to switch weapons flawlessly. Now, granted that takes a lot of play-throughs, but at one point I could pretty much get through the whole thing now without using any Hell-fire(s). Awesome game with amazing music. Thanks for the review and plunge back into nostalgia land.

[@rocketassistedgoat1079]

I've finished it too, and you're right; it's all-about flawlessly switching to the right weapon on-the-fly.

[@CommanderGalos]

I definitely loved this one back in the day. To reach the end you needed to be insanely good and have all the luck in the whole universe. Just reaching that sarcophagus boss on the third time... well, you could hardly see the background due to all the freakin' shots of the sarcophagus!!! Anyway... great review, and thanks for the memories!

[@northseabrent]

If you use your right thumb on the directional control and rotate it clockwise while you hold down A B buttons and the start button at the same time, that should put you into god mode when your at the start screen but want protect you from crashing into things, I tried this because it's the god mode procedure for altered beast as well.

[@rootykazooty351]

Cool tip. Thanks!

[@Guitarsthatkill]

Discovered something new on this after all these years: If you think hard or easy modes even we difficult... got to options, and switch around the easy/hard option mode a couple of times and just leave it alone....soon game auto starts in the new mode 'Yea right' mode. The bullet speed is double at least from the enemies. Brutal.

[@dexterramey8787]

Beat that mode, has a funny ending too!

[@iraceruk]

I'm a huge shmup fan and spent hours and hours playing Hellfire back in the day. Very difficult game, but the best side-scrolling shmup ever made in my opinion. Amazing music, fantastic graphics and spot-on physics. Well worth going to some effort to play if you're a fan of the genre.

[@rootykazooty351]

Definitely one of the best SMUP's ever made. I love Bio Hazard Battle too.

[@paxhumana2015]

I do not think that it is the best side-scrolling shooter on the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, but it certainly is not only on the top ten, but that it is also perhaps one of the most criminally underrated side-scrolling shooters on that system, I Racer.

[@jrez8225]

LOVE this game's soundtrack!

[@RobertNES816]

Love this game! Super hard but still fun.

[@moxy1701]

Great review! This is a really great shooter for the Genesis! And the music rocks! Here's a challenge: try to beat this game with only the forward firing weapon! 😉

[@Guitarsthatkill]

What a brutal classic this was...! Was waiting for your review of this....nice one!

[@SirKappy]

You need to make a behind-the-scenes episode showing how you manage to make so many quality videos in such a short period of time.

[@deimos2314]

I don't often play old games but me and my dad always love this one. we can never get past stage 3

[@Liquidmetal14]

One of my childhood favorites.

[@zyriuzstorm9971]

I think I've made it to the third level once, but yeah it's a hard game but I like its artstyle. It's easy to seperate background from foreground and the projectiles looks all the same wich is a good thing, unlike thunder force IV where I always crash into stuff and projectiles cuz they all got similar colors as other things x)

[@DonaldMohrMusic]

I had a 3-in-1 cart with this, mystic defender, and columns. Hellfire was my favorite

[@grosbrun17]

Funny i saw this game in a store like 3 hours ago.I was hesitating to buy it because i didn'r know what it was,and OMG!!! I go get this right now!!

[@Ramjet164]

This game is brilliant. The music is as well. The 1st levels music sounds like a megaman tune using megadrive noises to me, it's superb.

[@nervecentral]

I played the crap out of this game as a kid. Thanks for the memories

[@Fasneocroth]

I'm inclined to agree but I do enjoy watching a skilled player at these, those close bullet dodges especially.

[@rocko7x]

sounds and looks exactly like zerowing. I'll hafta add it to my sidescrolling shooter collection, thanks.

[@Renegade666]

same guys :P

[@SylveonTrapito]

I never had the luck to play thunder force 4 until I got on an emulator. Is most the good memories I have with it. I´ll play it now. I did´t know it was so good. Thank you :)

[@Renegade666]

been waiting for this one Mark, I had this as a kid and it really did kick my arse, i think I once got to stage 3 but thats as far as I got

[@bigbeefposter]

finally mark goes back to review sega genesis game, i still remember he used to review a genesis game everyday in 2008, when he did 3 reviews a day

[@opa-age]

When Mark does a Target Earth review my life will be complete.

[@rashawnsmallersr387]

One of my favorite games!!!!!!!!

[@StrawberryDoubleDip]

Still got my original cartridge from '91... still never completed it!

[@deimos2314]

+StrawberryDoubleDip same

[@quadq6598]

Lol - so true - I wasted hundreds of hours to never quite make it - nearly finished on multiple times - LOL fabulous game.

[@dexterramey8787]

I actually beat this game and stillnhave it. Dont ask me how...😂

[@andrewnorris5415]

@@dexterramey8787 :O

[@slyguythreeonetwonine3172]

I looked at the title twice and rewind the clip twice to make sure this was a Genesis game thanks to that opening! lol!

[@JamieBainbridge]

Yes, that's his whole point. The early models had a different implementation of the Yamaha YM2612 sound chip than later models did. Search for "Sega genesis audio comparison" here on KZbin. There is a thread on sega-16 forums on how to properly identify your Genesis and tell whether it has the good motherboard or not.

[@SpiralPegasus]

...and then comes Thunder Force 4 and uses any other horizontal shoot em up to mop the floor with. Including TF 3. I mean, seriously, TFIV is the best horizontal scrolling spaceship based Genesis game. Which, believe it or not, is saying quite a lot. Mark is 100% right about Hellfire being the most merciless shooting game in the same category, by the way. And he sounded really inspired throughout the review. I like that.

[@GameplayandTalk]

Great looking port!

[@gaeljehnno]

One of the best game of the megadrive.

[@ShassaMMO]

This is one of those games that I beat back when I was in high school, but my skills have seriously eroded since then (I turn 40 next year). The key is to avoid the speed powerups like the plague after getting one or two. After beating the game they make you start over on hard mode and I couldn't even last thirty seconds. Enemy bullets travel way too fast.

[@rocketassistedgoat1079]

I remember that too. Flawlessly switching to the right weapon at the right time, and keeping your speed manageable: are both key.

[@rootykazooty351]

@Shassa. I guess you're almost 45 now. It's not because of your age that your skills have eroded. It's just because you don't spend as much time playing the game. When we were kids there weren't as many "distractions" and we played our games to death. I'm well into my 40's and still setting world records on console racing games because i get obsessed just like when i was a kid. TBH i'm just pretending to be a grown up.

[@adammaurice4801]

I beat this game on yea right 2 days ago, I was so pumped. My kids were also pumped lol

[@rocketassistedgoat1079]

I remember playing this in the arcade when it came out in '89, same as UN Squadron. I don't personally think it's aged as well as UN Squadron-which still feels modern; the way all enemies instantly explode with one hit when you're fully powered up makes this feel old; but it's still a classic. And yes, I finished it; wo hoo!! Not on the arcade though [UN Squadron remains one of only two arcade SHMUPS I can complete on one credit-which shows you how much I played it]. As a side note, never continue an arcade game; that's how they take all your money.

[@super8robotg6]

Looks pretty cool, I like the stage designs.

[@zillzultraboy]

You made the game look kinda easy until the end of the vid...then I saw the truth. lol Great video!

[@R0n8urgundy]

Took me 4 years to complete this on easy. You know that skit where the coyote finally caught the road runner and his life had no meaning. Well that happened.

[@dexterramey8787]

There are 2 endings.

[@vintagegamer695]

@@dexterramey8787 Actually, there are technically 3. While the 3rd ending has the same graphics as the 2nd, the text is different as the game calls you out for cheating.

[@dexterramey8787]

@@vintagegamer695 I remember now..the last ending accuses you of using a slow motion controller, which I did! 😆

[@vintagegamer695]

@@dexterramey8787 And I also recently found out that it can go beyond 3 rounds. Using the invincibility cheat I figured that out. I'm thinking it either loops endlessly, or stops/crashes after round 256. At about round 20, the small fireballs that certain enemies shoot go crazy fast.

[@dexterramey8787]

@@vintagegamer695 the one cheat I found is I would tap my cartridge while game was on, it would stop. Hit reset and you would have 99 lives or sometimes it would give you more.

[@PolygonGTC]

Man, if Mark thinks it's impossible I probably shouldn't even bother. But I'm going to buy this anyways.

[@backupsdfdf]

A Cerebral Side Scroling Shooter... You have to study the paterns of behavior and moving of the bosses and all the combination of enemies along the game... I memorized the sequence of shooting types: Pink (front), Yellow (back), Green (side) and Blue (diagonal) until today.

[@FireFoxBancroft]

Welcome to the game that gave me PTSD nightmares that I still have to this day.

[@Isuzu96Hombre]

Actually Mark, your WERE better than me! I never got to see half of these levels when I played it. You're welcome Lol!

[@Renegade666]

not sure about the Genesis, but you can buy this locally for the Megadrive.

[@Battleganz]

Mark admits to being flawed. SIgn of a great man imho.

[@JesusCristo2002]

Mark, you say you're "not good enough to play this game" - yet you're kicking ass in the review. Why is that?

[@SpiralPegasus]

You're welcome, glad you found my post useful!

[@1simo93521]

This game is balls hard. I have it. The arcade was two player and didnt have checkpoints by the way.

[@KevinStriker]

Now Mark needs to review Toaplan's Zero Wing.

[@LDGextra]

Yes, of course!. 5:53

[@PixelOutlaw]

I have Hellfire, good little game.

[@nasculehakoo]

I beat the areo Flash on hard with out ever dying. Sadly I remberd every ship in every spot and every single turn and still do to some exstent I love these side scrollers my faviort game type next to rpg's Sega MADE GREAT GAMES sadly so few games have this kind of game play.

[@MrRetrogamingBard]

Awesome game I never heard of. Thanks for that review!

[@zydian_]

keep this up!! Man i love this channel, you have no idea!

[@Barla90]

I've been playing the arcade port recently, and it's hard as hell as well!

[@Browler64]

another great review!

[@ThePageofCups]

Hm. UI looks very similar to Toaplan's own Zero Wing. Game itself looks similar too, although it plays WAY differently.

[@steamsoldier]

Great review, thanks for sharing!

[@DanielTaylorReis]

of corse we ned HD on CGR xDi love to see HD 16 bit pixels xD

[@Renegade666]

if you have a Model 2 Genesis it will do that due to an inferior sound chip thats clocked at a lower speed

[@MrTweej]

Yep. Who knew the CGR audience ws sooooo serious?

[@RobertNES816]

Gotta play this game with the Genesis arcade stick! That's the only way I can make any progress lol.

[@rootykazooty351]

The Sega arcade stick is a masterpiece. I love it.

[@firefox7082]

Loved this game when it came out, spent many nights trying to beat it but sadly the last couple of stages were just to hard for me, you had to avoid being to fast and make good use of the hellfires, i thought the sound and graphics were top notch at the time and i place it in my top 5 shmups, you can get the awesome two player version for mame. zerowing is like hellfire 2 and famous for it`s saying "all your bases belong to us".

[@Matrilwood]

lol, same actually. Danmaku has more bullets but you have a MUCH smaller hit box to make up for it. Even so, Touhou ruined Classic Shmups for me (This is coming from someone who's favorite game on the Jaguar was Raiden) because it might just be the ADD but Shmups just don't have enough happening on screen.

[@1shoryuken]

because of memorization, you need to do alot of that playing Hellfire, even to get past the first stage.

[@3DVRraw]

at this time, there were many great shooters out there. hellfire was just a standard r-type clone...check out whiplash....a way better no-name shooter

[@jr002q2044]

Aye this games solid, I've never got past level 3

[@7ruthie]

Now I've got that out of my system, this game looks a lot like Zero Wing, even the HUD is almost the same, only the font looks different.

[@rocketassistedgoat1079]

Zero Wing's reeaaaalllyy easy though [esp with the homing missiles], this isn't.

[@mrnomad1003]

It's weird. I have Hellfire for my Genesis, but the music plays at about half the speed as in the review. I wonder why is that??

[@ItsSoDane]

Looks awesome

[@straja08]

Wow he really loves Sega

[@mrnomad1003]

Mine is a model 1 Genesis. Do you know if there are different model 1 Genesis that have different sound chips?

[@Galgomite]

That whole genre is unplayably hard.

[@greencoman]

Looks like a fun game.

[@Dominickudo]

Hellfire looks pretty good

[@SpiralPegasus]

Guys, read the description! It's hilarious!

[@AgentGustavo]

I don't know man. Mark said he is a Gradius V fan, but I doubt he passed that game. Just beacuse that game is impossible to beat without some kind of cheat. In fact he said he was going to review every level and he just did the first one.

[@rocketassistedgoat1079]

I've finished GV multiple times, on hard. Now I only play on the harder settings, making it almost a bullet-hell. It's entirely possible. The asteroid level for example SEEMS impossible, but after a while; you'll figure a way through. For the end boss in particular, you need to use the asteroids as shields. All games become much easier after a while. I remember how difficult Thunder Force IV seemed, but then I got to the point where I could finish it on a single credit.

[@general021]

Started playing Hellfire in 93, still haven't finished it...

[@gaeljehnno]

thunder force is also realy good on the sega system.

[@Barla90]

I've never played Touhou games, but in my experience I find this classic shmups (in which memory is the key) much harder than danmaku/bullet hell shooters!

[@rocketassistedgoat1079]

No bullet-hell shooter will ever be as hard as R-Type, Hellfire or Gradius. The key to the former, is on the later levels; you NEED the largest t.v possible. Then you need to sit right next to it.

[@paxhumana2015]

You are a fucking moron if you truly think that, Barla90.

[@paxhumana2015]

You are also a fucking moron if you think as you do, Rocketassistedgoat.

[@spike007980]

I suppose you wouldn't like the idea of putting sonic 2 in a SNES, and a Thunder spirits into a Genesis.

[@1shoryuken]

Hellfire is one the most difficult video games l have ever played. Even today, l still can't get past stage 5, and that's on Easy.

[@megabot80]

its just as awesome on the turbo grafx cd

[@parallaxcraze958]

No. The PC Engine CD version has awful sound effects, some crappy graphics and others flaws.The Mega Drive port on the other hand looks and sounds great and is even better than the Arcade original thanks to several gameplay tweaks, now that's what I call a fine porting job!

[@0M9H4X_Neckbeard]

This must be your first CGR Video....

[@quadq6598]

Love this review, very accurate, made me LOL, new sub. Awesome game - just fantastic stuff. I wasted hundreds of hours on this.. TIP. Japanese version is easier as it does not send you so far back when you die😜😜 LOL - impossible & more impossible. So true. Latest console kids would seriously struggle with this

[@MrDart1234]

Creo que este es el juego que ando buscando desde hace años..para sega genesis... , pero se llamaba diferente, creoq eue era exactamente STAR CRUSIER

[@Korgi_Polymer]

Well I beat Zanac the day I bought it, think I should give Hell fire a go?

[@SpiralPegasus]

Argentino? Star Cruiser fue un juego que nunca salió de Japón, estilo aventura en 3D, basado en misiones en el espacio. Steel Empire puede ser? Sino decime que te acordás; me gusta mucho la Genesis y conozco muchos shoot-em-ups.

[@SoloKazama]

yea Mark Tohou shooters!:)

[@romajimamulo]

it does

[@NASCARFAN160]

What's that tiny ship that follows you?

[@ManguEry]

"Thnx for putting me on my place" lmao

[@SurgeCess]

Excellent game, but you think this is hard? Try Sol-Deace!

[@GigawingsVideo]

I want to see Mark comment about Tohou games!

[@DanielTaylorReis]

not hd quality?? :O

[@MickDeaks]

Brutal game.

[@saberbasir]

like MUSHA great music

[@ptwob]

Mark change your hairstyle! in to something even more awesome. and play more shmups and stuff.

[@AgentGustavo]

Agree.

[@maggitPL]

For a second I thought SEGA released Diablo: Hellfire on the Genesis lol.

[@svcxac]

Mark reviewd this before?