Heavy Barrel (c) 1987 Data East.
The impossibly unthinkable has happened, an army of terrorists have seized a nuclear missile facility. Fortunately for you, they're unaware about a top secret weapon called Heavy Barrel. Why you ask? Because before the facility's security was breached, the inventor of the Heavy Barrel dismantled the only prototype into 6 pieces and stored the pieces into various storage boxes. The only thing that will determine the fate of the world is not by brute force, but with strategy and resourcefulness to stop the terrorist army because this mission is not for just anyone, that's why it's up to you (and an optional friend).

>>> TECHNICAL DETAILS
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Main CPU : 68000 (@ 10 Mhz)
Sound CPU : M6502 (@ 1.5 Mhz)
Sound Chips : YM2203 (@ 1.5 Mhz), YM3812 (@ 3 Mhz), OKI6295 (@ 7.757 Khz)
Screen orientation : Vertical
Video resolution : 240 x 256 pixels
Screen refresh : 57.41 Hz
Palette colors : 1024
Players : 2
Control : dial
Buttons : 2

>>> TRIVIA
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Released in December 1987.
Alfa Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Data East Game Music - 28XA-205) on 10/05/1988.

>>> TRICKS AND TIPS
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Here's a complete Heavy Barrel strategy guide : The objective is to wipe out a military complex filled with soldiers and lethal military equipment. The available weapons are the standard machine gun, the heavy machine gun, the fan gun, the flame thrower, and the Heavy Barrel. Grenade weapons include standard grenades, red grenades, and ball and chains.
The Heavy Barrel is a super weapon that you obtain after getting six special pieces that glow yellow when you unlock boxes with keys. It has unlimited ammunition, unlike other guns, but it has a time limit. It destroys everything you hit with it.
Throughout the game there are only enough pieces to get the gun three times, but if you do this you will have to face a very tough section without it. The final machine is nearly impossible to destroy without the Heavy Barrel, so you ought to save parts until you have five, then get the last box that contains a special part.
At the start, you will parachute in. Massacre a bunch of guys until you encounter a man with a tripod machine gun. Kill him, then get the heavy machine gun weapon. Use this to wipe out the small tank next to the bridge.
Four boxes to the left of the bridge will be there. A heavy barrel part is in the second box from the right. Pick up the flame-thrower, and start whaling on the guards and flying packs that come from across the bridge. After they're dead, a chopper will fly in and attempt to kill you. Throw grenades at it, don't waste the flame-thrower. Presuming you have sufficient dodge skill, you can kill the chopper before it overwhelms you with bullets.
Across the bridge, a huge number of guys will attack you. Here is where the flame-thrower is useful--it takes out a lot of guys at once. Next to the pyramid machine gun are three boxes--kill the gun, then open up the leftmost box. That reveals a red grenade icon. Pick that up, and start grenading your way to the gate.
At the gate, grenade everyone to death (you have 70 grenades to start with!) and keep pushing forward.
At three points in the game you will be on a moving platform. In anticipation of these difficult points you should have red grenades and fan guns or a flame-thrower. If guys jump on the platform you ought to grenade them, since the gun should always be saved for blowing away heavy machinery. The first platform is a series of cannons which can be destroyed with a single grenade, then a series of guards which can be destroyed if you throw a red grenade to the exact center of the screen. At the end is a machine with large grabbers that extend towards you. Stay on the left of the platform, and start flaming it and hurling grenades simultaneously. The machine rarely grabs on the left, so with luck you should be able to destroy it without a loss.
The second platform passes by a million cannons (exaggerated only slightly) and it is imperative that you destroy as many as possible as soon as possible, since they FOLLOW the platform and shoot large cannonballs at you. Here is where dodging is useful, since it's hard to keep the number of cannonballs on the screen below 20.
The third platform consists of a series of flying guards that seem ok, until TWO of the mechanical grabber things show up! Fortunately one attacks first, on the right, so you should stay on the left and disable it ASAP, then switch right and disable the other.
There is, at some point in the game, a narrow bridge which is the killing zone for two helicopters. You should have good weapons, and run up while facing backwards. Hopefully you can flame a copter to death, after which you can dodge the other until you kill it. If you die, pick up the fan gun sitting on the bridge, and use it.
At another point you will be confronted with two conveyor belts (which you cannot ride) going in opposite directions. Due to the obstructions in the middle you ought to use the Heavy Barrel here to blow everyone away, and run through like crazy.
At another point you will have to run a gauntlet of cannons and grenade- throwing guards. To deal with this, DON'T use the HB, since you will not be able to get enough parts to kill the last guy. You should get a flame-thrower, and fire left even before the enemies show up on the screen. They will die, and you can walk left to get more weapons as they show up.
Another large machine spits out glowing needles that split into three parts and angle downwards. You should dodge left and right methodically while tossing grenades and firing. Don't look at the machine! Just keep doing that while looking at the needles and dodging. Lives are much more important than keeping a hoard of weapons.
At one point you will meet three Predator-like creatures. You can destroy these three using machine gun or simple grenades, though they look tough! Only one or two fire slow shots at a time, so you can dodge them. Keep pumping bullets into them until one explodes.
The final gauntlet is hell. Enemy guards throw red grenades right and left, copters keep charging you, and more predators show up. You should keep moving forward, never getting stuck in position, since if you press on you ought to be able to get the grenade throwers before they let off one throw. Keep your ammo well stocked by picking up new guns, even if you still have 20 shots left. Red grenades are essential here--the ball and chain is too slow to deal with so many guys.
You are near the end when you drive off the laughing guy... pick up the next box on the left, get the Heavy Barrel, walk north, and finish the game.
A few obvious reminders--you can only carry four keys, so if you have four and more are lying around, open up boxes. They can contain extra lives, shields, red grenades, weapons, a cloud gun (which is virtually useless), and HB parts. Learning where the HB parts are is pretty important too. But most essential is learning when to conserve your ammo and when to cut loose with everything you have.
The high score is essentially meaningless, since at the end you have about 400k points and you get 1 million for killing the last guy.

>>> GAME SERIES
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1. Heavy Barrel (1987)
2. Midnight Resistance (1989)

>>> DESIGNERS / PROGRAMMERS / STAFF
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Game designer : Koji Akibayashi
Programmers : Mentaiko, Nobusuke Sasaki, Naomi Susa, Satoshi Imamura, Toshinari Ueda
Graphic designers : J.S, Back Man, Masanori Tokoro, T. Adachi, Yoshiyuki Urushibara, Mix Man
Music and sound : Azusa Hara (AZUSA), Hiroaki Yoshida
Hardware designers : Junichi Watanabe, Kenichi Fujimoto, Hiroyuki Iwabe

>>> GAME PORTS TO OTHER SYSTEMS
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* Consoles :
Nintendo Famicom (1990)
* Computers :
PC (MS-DOS, 5.25'') (1989)
Apple II
* Others :
LCD handheld game (1988) released by Tiger Electronics : Contains 4 missions with a total of 18 levels of difficulty. You can choose between 3 different weapons : guns, missiles and cannons. Each weapon is intended for a specific enemy.

>>> OTHER GAME RESOURCES
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Game's rom.
Machine's picture.