Black Heart (ブラックハート Burakku Hāto) is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by NMK and released by UPL in 1991. It was never ported to any home platform until seeing a digital download-only release under the Arcade Archives brand on November 4, 2021, for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.
Gameplay
In Black Heart, the player controls the dragon-mounted character named Zil who is on a quest to rescue pixies who are trapped inside the cages, as well as his beloved damsel in distress named Jeanne from the ruler of the Dark Forces, Taranith. The player must travel through various fantasy-themed levels where Zil can either shoot or unleash the fire-breathing power at the hordes of enemies along the way. Once defeated, the player can collect coins dropped by the enemies. One notable feature about Black Heart is the addition of the fire-breathing gauge. However, if the player holds the button pressed too long to release the fire, the gauge will sometimes decrease, unless pixies are collected to help replenish it. There are eight levels in total, each ending with a boss fight. If the bosses are defeated, the player proceeds to the next level. Upon completing the final level, the game loops back to the first stage, often increasing the difficulty level. Getting hit by enemy fire or colliding against solid stage obstacles will result in losing a life. If all of the lives are lost during gameplay, the game is over unless players may insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing.
In addition to single player mode, Black Heart supports two-player simultaneous gameplay feature, where the second player can join in at any time by inserting credits during gameplay.
Legacy
On November 4, 2021, Black Heart was included as part of the Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, published by Hamster Corporation.