Friday 6 January 2012

Splendid MegaDrive Music #1

Hellfire (1990)

Shoot 'em ups were certainly pretty abundant on Sega's 16-bit power-house and they were definitely of varying quality but one of the finest must surely be Hellfire, one of Toaplan's few horizontally-scrolling efforts. It was never the flashiest game around but it did have one vital ingredient - a great first impression - and a big reason for that was the fantastic music, composed by Toaplan stalwart Tatsuya Uemura, that blasted out at you as soon as you undertook your mission. Games like Thunder Force 3 and Super Fantasy Zone have better overall soundtracks but few shmups on any system get you pumped-up for the alien smackdown like this one does. See if you agree!

(full Hellfire review here)



Special Note: I didn't record this great tune myself, I'm just an admirer, so all credit goes to the original composer

5 comments:

  1. Good call. I LOVE the music on the 1st level of this game.

    This & TF3 were simply awesome.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sounds great! Never played the game myself, unfortunately. May have to rectify that soon...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello there Hawk, glad you approve :) It sure does get you in the mood for the rock-hard action, huh? :)

    Hi Bryan :) I can heartily recommend Hellfire if you're in the mood for a top horizontal shmup. It's not particularly fair but if you're after a challenge... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  4. I like the Hellfire music too. When I first got my Mega Drive I also picked up a few random carts with it out of a junk bin. Hellfire just so happened to be in that pile and was one of the first games I ever played on the system. It had such an impact on me that the Mega Drive is now one of my favorite consoles.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I imagine that if any MD shmup would have an immediate impact on you, it would be this one! It certainly is a great game :)

    ReplyDelete