No one talks about Thunder Force. Why?

[Haoie]

The PS TF [5 I think it was, or 6?], I'm sure it didn't get a PAL release.

And if it did, I've never seen it. But I'd like it.

I love shooters [vertical/horizontal].

[Hung Long]

The only Thunder Force game I have is Thunder Force V translated and published by Working Designs. Still have it in great condition too. But the days shoot-em up are long gone.

[CosmicMonkey]

TF III & IV are easily among the finest shmups on the MD. I have both in NTSC-J format, great case art. TFII seems very interesting, I may well give it a go at some point.

TFV on the Saturn is class too. Not as good as the originals, but very good. And worth getting the Saturn version over the PSone 'Perfect System' release. The PSone version has extras, but the graphics are better in the Saturn release.

Thunder Force VI was in development for the Dreamcast. I was gutted to find out that it was canned, although I'm not sure how much development was actually completed. All that remains is an intro vid and 3 tunes by the band Noise.

I'd love to know what did exist of TFVI. To find a GD-R is surely one of the 'Holy Grails' of gamery, IMO. Even if it was only a demo or a very very early build with a couple of complete(ish) levels. It'd be great to see what graphical wizardry TS had planned for the DC.

Oh, and TecnoSoft also did BlastWind for the Saturn. That's another shmup worth checking out. However, somewhere along the lines someone seems to have mentioned that it's rare (or even L@@K R@RE!!!!), hence the daft Ebay prices.

[Melf]

Thunder Force VI was in development for the Dreamcast. I was gutted to find out that it was canned, although I'm not sure how much development was actually completed. All that remains is an intro vid and 3 tunes by the band Noise.

I'd love to know what did exist of TFVI. To find a GD-R is surely one of the 'Holy Grails' of gamery, IMO. Even if it was only a demo or a very very early build with a couple of complete(ish) levels. It'd be great to see what graphical wizardry TS had planned for the DC.

I think the video and music tracks are all there is. I was hoping there would be more, but Technosoft left gaming, no?

Anyone who wants to see the TF VI video can check it out at my site. Just remember to bring some tissue...

[klausien]

Psikyo crap? The last two games we got from Psikyo were Gunbird 2 for the DC and Strikers 1945 II for the PS1 back at the turn of the century. I know about Mobile Light Force, but who wants to play a butchered Gunbird? And besides, Psikyo folded back in 2002, almost 4 years ago.

Point taken. Bad time to rip on Psikyo, especially since I have most of their stuff, and have admittedly enjoyed it at times (especially Cannon Spike). I am just bent because I can't afford to get a Jp PS2 to enjoy all the Cave goodness. :/

Sorry to derail...

[gepeto]

When I talk about great shooters Thunderforce will always be in the top 3 for me. The series was awsome for its time. They did an excellent job mixing up the levels.

I remember t2 getting all 9.0 in egm. When Thunderforce 3 came out I couldn't wait I imported it at the time for 75.00 and it was well worth it. Great creativity. I just wish todays games had half the creativity.

[Icarus Moonsight]

Thunder Force VI

Good to see all the love for III - V but wtf is wrong with II? Damn good game IMO... kicks my ass yes but, it's not a POS just because it dutifully, time after time, hands out large portions of player ass! Damn wimps

Nothing is more enjoyable than Thunderforce on the go via a Nomad. Try it... you'll like it

[Snapple]

No one talks about Thunder Force. Why?

Well, yesterday was pretty hectic. I just bought a new truck so I had to run back and forth between the credit union and the car dealership. Then I had a server go down and I was working hard on that, and then I had a workstation infected with a virus that I had to work on for a while.

So I guess Thunder Force just never came up.

Hahaha. I needed a post like that.

Thunder Force III was the first shmup that made me really go WOW. At the time it came out, that game had the most beautiful graphics I think that I had seen on a home console at that time.

And you know, it did pretty much strike me as a Gradius clone, but that didn't really bother me at the time.

Of course, nowadays, half of all shmups are Gradius clones anyway.

[Eternal Champion]

Gotta give love to Thunder Force. I'm an old-school schmup player, going back to River Raid, then Zanac on NES. Thunderforce II was the first Genesis game I played, along with Revenge of Shinobi, back in 1990. I loved it instantly. Of course, III blew me away, and yes, I absolutely love the music in III and also in II.

Thunderforce II and III are probably my favorite shooters ever. Gaiares looks cool, but dying and taking you back is damn cheap, like in R-Type III, probably the best-looking (but frustratingly cheap-ass) 16-bit schmup. Cheap as hell.

I don't understand the hatred of the overhead stages in TFII. Compile's Zanac and Space Megaforce are both overhead, and are considered classics (and are still awesome today).

[RJ]

I bought TF V from a co-worker awhile back.

Played it once or twice, decided it was way too hard for me to spend/waste time on, sold it shortly after for credit toward another game.

Now Philosoma, that's pretty decent!

[mr_pollock]

I appreciate. Now give me a nickel!

[TurboGenesis]

I like all the Thunder Force games. Thunder Force III was one of the first shooties that I was able to 1cc. Nothing but love here for Thunder Force and Technosoft.

Now lets talk another Technosoft shootie--Hyper Duel. It seems that this game doesn't get much love but the game play to me is pretty much just like Thunder Force with some added Macross style game play though I never use the robot form in the game. Also of note the Saturn version is superior to the arcade version as it has polish and a great new look. Unfortunatly the price is prohibitive as it is a great shootie. If you truely like Thunder Force and are a fan of Technosoft pick this up if you can for the Saturn! The arcade version is also on the Saturn disc so its like 2 games for 1

[suppafly]

Im a HUGE shmups fan, and Thunderforce 4 is the best shooter ever IMHO:.....

[Daniel Thomas]

I don't think anything was ever made of TF VI besides that rendered intro that found its way online some time ago. It certainly was super-cool, with all the explosions and spinning spaceships and all. I'd guess almost nothing beyond the planning stage was ever completed. So I guess that's yet another reason to mourn the Dreamcast.

At some point, I actually did find an emulator for one of the old Japanese computers that ran the original Thunder Force. I never could get the thing to work, though, so I couldn't say how it was. I did find one screen shot somewhere and posted it on my website for a while. It didn't really look like much, and would never be remembered if not for its Genesis sequels.

The X68000 version of TF2 is better than the Genesis one, with better graphics and more levels. It's always been a good game, but fiendishly hard in the later levels.

Never did see TF5 on Saturn or PSX. I do remember the Next Gen review, which was somewhat dismissive (no big surprise there). I really should do something to change that.

[kidkool]

Because you touch yourself at night.