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Thread: Thunder Force series. How good is it?

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    Default Thunder Force series. How good is it?

    I'm thinking about getting into this series. Which one in the series would you say is the best? Most hardest? Easiest? Cheers.

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    I too would like to know more about Thunderforce. I have TFIII, it seems like a pretty decent shooter but it gets pretty damn hard, the whole thing seems based on memorizing what stuff comes out of nowhere and kills you, so you can avoid it the next time.

    Thunderforce V looks very interesting, I've only had a chance to buy it (offline) once, and it was a loose disc for $25.00 so I passed it up.

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    I love 3, 4 and 5, but I don't much care for the top-down levels in part 2.

    I have TFIII, it seems like a pretty decent shooter but it gets pretty damn hard, the whole thing seems based on memorizing what stuff comes out of nowhere and kills you, so you can avoid it the next time.
    Valid complaint, but that's 98% of all shooters.
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    TF is great, but very hard to master. TF V is probably the best, but TF III & TF IV are very good too. TF II is kinda weird though, because it's half overhead roaming missions like Armada and half side scrolling missions like the rest of the series. TF I is all overhead roaming missions, but you'd be very lucky to find it even if you had one of the Japanese computers that it was made for. So I'd say try TF V first.
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    TF III, TF V, TF IV in order of preference for me. I have such fond memories of TF III on Genesis, playing it with my good friends back in 1990 or so. I was only 7, maybe 6, and the graphics, music and sound blew me away... it was like having an arcade at home!

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    TFIII and TFIV are the way to go. TFV is ugly and doesn't play as well although it's not a bad game.

    I liked TFII at the time but I haven't played it in like 15 years so I can't really comment. TF1 I have only played though emulation. It's worth checking out for historical reasons but not a game that has aged well.

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    I worship ThunderForce if that gives you any idea how awesome they are, well not literally. They have a spark in them that I've never seen in any other shooter. Don't get me wrong I like many other shooters, but nothing is like ThunderForce. I've noticed that many ppl don't like 2 because of the overhead missions, and to be honest at first I found that odd switching from overhead to side scrolling, but then I realized it's ok. Xeveous is nothing but over head w/alot less freedom than TF2 and it's a good game, but that's all personal preference. My picks are TF3 and TF4 with 4 being the pick of the picks. However if you're living in the US don't go looking for TF4 it's called Lightening Force.

    Try them, you won't be dissapointed.
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    Thunder Force II is easily my favorite game in the series -- I actually like the top-down sections more than the side-view sections. TF4 is also quite good, though the whole scrolling up and down thing takes a bit of getting used to, and the game is freaking hard. It's absolutely beautiful both graphically and aurally, though -- one of the best-looking games on the Genny, easily.

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    Weird, this is the first time ever I have heard people talk GOOD about Thunder Force 3. Everywhere else you hear how bad it sucked. Thunder Force 3 was my first one, and I thought it was brilliant. Yet personally I love TFIV
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    I've only played Thunderforce V, put I loved every bit of it. It's tough, but the kills don't feel as cheap as in a lot of lesser-quality shooters.

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    i personaly like TF2 the best - i was realy disapointed that from 3 on they didnt keep the same style (even though they are good )
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    Weird, this is the first time ever I have heard people talk GOOD about Thunder Force 3. Everywhere else you hear how bad it sucked. Thunder Force 3 was my first one, and I thought it was brilliant. Yet personally I love TFIV
    Huh? I've have absolutely never heard a bad word about TF3. It's TF2 that people rag on for being too hard and for having the overhead stages. However, it's an incredibly good game and a wonderful early Genesis title.

    Now, I've only played 1, 2, 3, and 4. Here's my preference: 3, 2, 4, 1. Three is by far the easiest. I can beat it on one life. I can even beat the SNES version, Thunder Spirits with one hand using a standard SNES pad. I could probably do it with the damn Power Glove. IV is the next easiest...I beat it weasily within a couple hours, and two is HARD. I don't know anyone that's legitimately beaten that. Everyone I know has uised a cheat of some sort. As for part 1, I don't know...I've only played it on various emulators, and crappy ones at that. Also, I can't stand games that must be played with the arrows on the keyboards....I must have a gamepad. Otherwise, I think TF1 might be reasonably difficult if a gamepad was possible. I really wish I could judge TF1 better because I'd really like to play it without that kind of restriction.

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    2 isint that bad i thought 3 and 4 were harder
    The human operates out of complex superiority demands, self -affirming through ritual, insiting upon a rational need to learn, striving for self-imposed goals, manipulating his environment while he denies his own adaptive abilities, never fully satisfied.
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    I stay away from 1 and 2 (dumb overhead levels). TF III was my personal favorite, because it was just so damn fun, even today this game is just simply "WOW!" I like TF IV (Lightening Force) a lot, the music improves a lot better than TF III, but it was hard. Also in TF IV was the freaking slowdowns which I hate a lot (too much action at once, that's why I love TF III better, no slowdowns). If you want to play TF V, I would go for the Saturn version (import only), because the PSX version has some things removed (special effects were gone from the PSX version).

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    The only real complaints I've heard about the ThunderForce games were the speech voice-overs, which were often clipped or even unintelligible!

    My order of preference would be in the reverse they came out. V, IV, III, and II.

    TFV on the PlayStation sounded, played, and (I think) looked better than Saturn version. Plus it had a heck of a lot better intro!

    TFIV had its best version on the Genny in my opinion. The version on the Saturn Gold Pack II had less slowdown and just a very minor graphic improvement that I only noticed in the backgrounds, but the sound was suprisingly better on the Genny version. The explosions had more bass and umphh and the voice-overs were louder and clearer. The Saturn's voice's were very soft, muted and clipped and the music wasn't looped correctly.

    If I had two chose between TFIII on the Genny and the version on the Saturn Gold Pack I, I'd go with the Genny version. The game sounded better on the Genny and any graphical differences were hardly noticeable. I thought the best version of TFIII was the AC (arcade) version in the Saturn Gold Pack II. The SNES/SF port of ThunderForce AC, Thunder Spirits, was by far the worst version of TFIII. For Gods sake, don't play Nintendo's Thunder Spirits and think you've ever really played ThunderForce!

    TFII looked better on the Saturn Gold Pack 1, still I liked the Genny's sound better.

    There's my dumb-assed opinions about the games.

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    Whoever thought TF3 was too hard? If anything, the game is too easy. The kids today are too soft. They're also missing out on those cool joysticks Sega put out. Now that was a great joystick - can't believe I didn't own more than one.

    I always liked TF3 the best, perhaps because of the impact it had when it came out. It was part of the second wave of Genesis games that really pushed the system forward. At that point, Sega became the new gold standard, and it was still a year away from the Super NES.

    Still haven't seen TF5. Hopefully one of these days I'll find a copy of the Saturn version floating around the internets somewhere.
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    1 - Never played, can't judge
    2 - Rocks
    3 - Rocks (but I missed the overhead levels)
    4 - Absolutely blows
    5 - oaky, but pretty outdated compared to other shooters that came out at the time.

    Thunder Spirits - The SNES version of TF3. It BLOWS. Too much slowdown.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Spartacus
    TFV on the PlayStation sounded, played, and (I think) looked better than Saturn version. Plus it had a heck of a lot better intro!
    The Playstation version was missing a lot of graphical effects from the Saturn version. The shmup fourms declare the Saturn version to be better than the PSX version.

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    The SNES version of TFIII does have slowdown, and compared to the other versions is a bit of a let down, but on its own, if it didn't have the TF name, or you didn't know better, it's still a pretty good game compared to many other SNES shooters...I certainly wouldn't say it blows, but in comparison, I can see how some would say that. Reminds me of how some people say Dracula X for SNES blows, but it's actually a really good game. Compared to the TG-16CD version, it's not as good, but otherwise awesome. It's cool that Thunder Spirits has 2 levels not in the Genesis version....were these from the AC version?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Fighter17
    TF III was my personal favorite, because it was just so damn fun, even today this game is just simply "WOW!" I like TF IV (Lightening Force) a lot, the music improves a lot better than TF III, but it was hard. Also in TF IV was the freaking slowdowns which I hate a lot (too much action at once, that's why I love TF III better, no slowdowns).
    1. Totally agreed on TF III being "WOW!" and loads of fun

    and

    B. TF IV with no slowdown? It's true. The Saturn has "ThunderForce Gold Pack 2" and on it is TF IV without the slowdown

    And to the guy who posted the pic of his TF game collection, that's gorgeous, man.

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