I'm constantly shocked at how little is said and known about the Thunder Force series. I talk to people offline and you can say R-Type, Life Force, or Gradius and they're like "Yeah I've played that." then you say Thunder Force and all you get is "What the heck is that?"
Searching the web is about as equally dead end too. There's a few websites out there with a few facts on the games, but there's really no major fan base. I've even tried finding a ROM for the original Thunder Force (it was on the MSX) and I can't.
I'm curious, is it that no one really has ever heard of these games, or is it just that everyone hates these games.