Heavy Barrel

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Heavy Barrel

Developer(s)	Data East
Publisher(s)	Data East
Platform(s)	Arcade, Apple II, NES, MS-DOS
Release date	1987
Genre(s)	Run and gun
Mode(s)	Single player

Heavy Barrel (ヘビー・バレル, Heavy Barrel^?) is a 1987 run and gun arcade game by Data East.

The story is that 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. The name "Heavy Barrel" comes from a powerful weapon whose components the player collects throughout the game. If all of the pieces are collected, the player can wield it for about 30 seconds.

It was ported to the Apple II and DOS in 1989 and the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990.

Players begin armed with a laser gun with unlimited ammunition and a limited supply of grenades. 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 rotary joysticks.

The name of the game is from an ingame weapon. The Heavy Barrel is found in 6 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 2 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. Best used to get past tough bosses, the weapon could be built several times in a single game (probably 3 or 4 times). In a two-player game, whoever collects the 6th piece is equipped with the Heavy Barrel.