Get ready for January, because we're kicking Shmup Club into high gear, with one of the most highly regarded shoot-em-ups of the 16-bit era! Techno Soft had already established themselves as a player on Sega's 16-bit console at launch, with Thunder Force II, and followed that up just a year later with the much improved Thunder Force III. Fans would have to wait two more years, however, for the sequel, but it was worth the wait! When Thunder Force IV dropped in Japan, it was well received, and set a new standard for technical excellence on the Mega Drive. When it hit North American shores, it was renamed Lightening Force: Quest For the Darkstar, possibly due to licensing reasons. Regardless of the name, it's among the elite shmups on the system, alongside M.U.S.H.A., and a handful of other top-tier games.
Join the RF Generation Shmup Club, as we dig into this classic! Thunder Force IV is available for the Sega Mega Drive in both NTSC-J and PAL flavors, and the North American release of Lightening Force is an option as well. The game made an appearance on the Japan-only Thunder Force Gold Pack 2, in a slightly modified form, that both eliminated some slowdown from the game, and also added in the option to play through the entire game using Thunder Force III's ship, the Fire LEO-03 "Styx" vessel. This adds additional playability to the game, and changes up the mechanics somewhat. Fast forward to 2018, and now the Sega Ages line is beginning to appear on the Nintendo Switch, and both the Japanese and international versions of Thunder Force IV are included, along with the added Saturn functionality. There are plenty of ways to enjoy this amazing game, and all that it has to offer, so sign up on the forum thread today!
For scoring, since there are differences between the Japanese and international versions of the original game, please specify which you're playing when you post scores. Also, the Nintendo Switch port by M2 includes both the Japanese and international releases, please specify on that as well. Also, if you're playing either the Saturn or Switch versions, and playing as the FIRE-LEO Styx ship from
Thunder Force III, also please specify that, so we can keep scores separate, and recognize everyone putting in the effort.
PARTICIPANTS:MetalFRO
Addicted
Crabmaster2000
lordb0rb4
EZ Racer
retroshmuper
Golem
Douglie007
HIGH SCORESSega Genesis:
Japanese Mega Drive:
Sega Saturn:
Nintendo Switch: