Heavy Barrel is an overhead run and gun video game released for arcades in 1987 by Data East. Terrorists have seized the underground control complex of a nuclear missile site, and it is up to the player to infiltrate the base and kill the enemy leader. Players begin armed with a gun with unlimited ammunition and a limited supply of grenades.
Heavy Barrel (NES)
Improved weapons and grenade powerups are made available within the game, either in plain sight or within crates that must be unlocked using keys. Additionally, crates may contain orbs or one of the six pieces of the Heavy Barrel superweapon. Like SNK's Ikari Warriors, the original arcade version featured 8-way rotary joysticks.
The name of the game is from an in-game weapon. The Heavy Barrel is found in six pieces and is an energy cannon capable of destroying any enemy in the game with a single shot (except the final enemy, and possibly one other boss that may have required two shots). The weapon has a wide arc of fire and can be fired as fast as the player's trigger finger permits, but after thirty seconds its use is exhausted, at which point the bearer reverts to his previous weaponry. The Heavy Barrel is best used to get past tough bosses, and the game only contains enough pieces to allow the weapon to be built three times in a single game. In a two-player game, whoever collects the sixth piece is equipped with the Heavy Barrel.
Heavy Barrel ports by Quicksilver Software for the Apple II and MS-DOS were released in 1989. The NES port was developed by Data East and released in North America and Japan in 1990. All versions of Heavy Barrel were published by Data East. In 1989, Heavy Barrel was contracted to be ported to the Commodore 64 by F.A.C.S. (Financial Accounting and Computing Software), a West Bloomfield Township, Michigan company. The graphics engine and much of the gameplay was in place, but the development company folded before the project could be finished. In February 2010, Majesco Entertainment published Heavy Barrel for the Wii, as part of Data East Arcade Classics, and for the Zeebo.
More details about this game can be found on
Wikipedia.org.
Find digital download of this game on
GOG
or
Steam.
Game controls:
The NES version of Heavy Barrel was originally controlled via the NES controller with a cross-shaped joypad and two action buttons. The basic description of game controls is summarized in the table below. Detailed description of how to play this game can be found a in the attached game manual. Please note that individual
gamepad buttons are emulated by different keys on your PC keyboard depending on the settings of your online emulator (see the table next to the game).
Use the D-pad to move forward, backward, left and right.
Fire the machine gun, laser gun, pellet gun, or flame thrower.
Throw a grenade, use a smoke bomb or the mace.
Press SELECT on the title screen to choose the type of the game you want to play.
Use to start the game. Press during play to pause. Press again to resume play.
Videogame Console:
This version of Heavy Barrel was designed for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), which was an eight-bit video game console manufactured
by Nintendo in the years 1983 - 2003. In that time, it was the best-selling video game console for which more than 700 licensed games and a number of non-licensed
games were created. Worldwide, approximately 62 million units of this console were sold at approximately price $ 100 per unit. More information about the
NES console can be found here.
Recommended Game Controllers:
You can control this game easily by using the keyboard of your PC (see the table next to the game). However, for maximum gaming enjoyment, we strongly recommend using a USB gamepad that you simply plug into the USB port of your computer. If you do not have a gamepad, buy a suitable USB controller on Amazon or AliExpress or in some of your favorite online stores.
Available online emulators:
6 different online emulators are available for Heavy Barrel. These emulators differ not only in the technology they use to emulate old games, but also in support of various game controllers, multiplayer mode, mobile phone touchscreen, emulation speed, absence or presence of embedded ads and in many other parameters. For
maximum gaming enjoyment, it's important to choose the right emulator, because on each PC and in different Internet browsers, the individual emulators behave differently. The basic
features of each emulator available for this game Heavy Barrel are summarized in the following table:
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