Hellfire (video game)

Hellfire is a 1989 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed by Toaplan and published by Taito for Japanese arcades; in North America, it was distributed by U.S.A. Games. 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. Players assume the role of Space Federation member Captain Lancer, taking control of the CNCS1 spacecraft in a surprise attack to overthrow the enemies using the spacecraft's titular weapon.

Hellfire was conceived by Tatsuya Uemura during his time at Toaplan, and was developed in conjunction with Truxton. It 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 for arcades in 1989. The game was then ported to the Sega Genesis by NCS Corporation in 1990, followed by the PC Engine CD-ROM² by NEC Avenue in 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 game are owned by Tatsujin, a company founded in 2017 by former Toaplan member Masahiro Yuge and an affiliate of Japanese arcade manufacturer exA-Arcadia, alongside many other Toaplan IPs.