Hino Tori, also unofficially called Firebird, is a game developed by Konami

Konami

is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...

. It is in essence a Knightmare-like vertical scrolling shooter with the player viewing his character on the back and enemies and obstacles entering from the top of the screen. In addition, the game's six stages are laid out in a labyrinthine way, adding puzzle elements to the mix. In order to find, reach and defeat the game's final boss, the player will have to travel back and forth between the various stages to obtain a large assortment of keys. These keys then allow access to parts of other stages, even earlier ones. This traveling between the stages is highly unusual for a shoot 'em up.

The game is laid out in a graphic style alluring to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

 in general, similar to The Treasure of Usas

Usas

is a side-view platform game released by Konami for the MSX2 computer platform in .Each of the game's five stages is divided into four sub-stages and a boss area . All four ruins need to be completed and their respective sub-bosses defeated before the shrine can be entered and the level's boss beat...

.