Thunder Force IV
Encyclopedia
Thunder Force IV is a side-scrolling
shoot 'em up
video game developed by Technosoft
as the fourth installment of the Thunder Force series
. It was released respectively in July and September 1992 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console in Japan and the United States, and in December of the same year in Europe. In the USA, Sega of America decided to rename the game as Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar. In Europe the name was left as Thunder Force IV.
, the ORN Empire is thought to be defeated by the Galaxy Federation, but still suffers from increasingly frequent attacks from hostile forces. The forces are discovered to be the "Vios", an army made up of allies and residual forces of ORN. The Galaxy Federation discovers the location of their headquarters on the planet Aceria and attacks, but since the power of Vios has grown greater than the previous ORN Empire, the Galaxy Federation forces are initially defeated. Once again, they develop a new small yet powerful fighter spacecraft, the FIRE LEO-04 Rynex to eliminate Vios. The player controls Rynex and travels through ten stages while battling Vios forces.
The game format is mostly unchanged from the previous game (horizontally oriented and forward scrolling). However, many of the stages now stretch beyond the height of a TV screen, which allow the player more space to maneuver and dodge incoming fire (but also makes it easier to miss power-ups). Also, the player now has the option choosing the play order of the first four stages, instead of just the starting stage like in Thunder Force III.
The weapon system is also similar to Thunder Force III. Featuring the same upgradeable defaults, and unique extra weapons that are either exclusive, or were in previous games. Again, upon ship destruction, the weapon currently being used is lost, apart from the defaults. The CLAWs return, and basically have the exact same function as their Thunder Force III counterparts. The speed setting also returns, although it is represented by a percent gauge from twenty-five (lowest speed) to one-hundred (highest speed). Tapping the speed button will increase speed by 25 percent and holding it down will increase speed gradually by one percent.
The most significant addition to the ship arsenal is the Thunder Sword, a very powerful lightning
-based frontal attack. At the game's halfway point, the ship receives an add-on part which enables the use of the Thunder Sword. From here, the one requirement of using the Thunder Sword is that the ship be equipped with CRAWs. When the ship is not firing any weapons, a charging noise is heard (followed by a chime when fully charged) and the CRAWs will appear to be surrounded with electricity. The next press of the fire button will discharge the Thunder Sword. The blast is stronger if charged longer and is at its strongest when fully charged.
Completing the game unlocks ten bonus (omake) tracks in the BGM player in the options.
The game ran at the correct speed unlike most games which ran 16.7% slower than their NTSC counterparts due to the lack of any adjustments by Sega of Europe or other European software distributors which would have been required to address the differences between the different TV systems.
The game's resolution however was not adjusted to meet the higher resolution of the European TVs, which resulted in black bars on top and bottom of the screen, like with most other Sega Mega Drive games.
Setting 'lives' in 'options mode' to zero on the PAL & NTSC-U/C versions gives 99 lives per continue.
Pause the game and enter [Up, Right, A, Down, Right, A, C, Left, Up, B, Up] to be granted all weapons. For CLAW/Thunder CLAW , press the Right button at the end of the aforementioned code sequence.
Side-scrolling video game
A side-scrolling game or side-scroller is a video game in which the gameplay action is viewed from a side-view camera angle, and the onscreen characters generally move from the left side of the screen to the right. These games make use of scrolling computer display technology...
shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em up is a subgenre of shooter video games. In a shoot 'em up, the player controls a lone character, often in a spacecraft or aircraft, shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The genre in turn encompasses various types or subgenres and critics differ on exactly what...
video game developed by Technosoft
Technosoft
Technosoft is a Japanese video game developer that is known for the Thunder Force series of shooter games, as well as Herzog Zwei, regarded as the world's first real time strategy game....
as the fourth installment of the Thunder Force series
Thunder Force series
The is a series of scrolling shooter type video games developed by the Japanese software company Technosoft. The games are known by fans of the genre for their hardcore appeal, pleasing graphics, and generally well composed synthesizer-based soundtracks....
. It was released respectively in July and September 1992 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console in Japan and the United States, and in December of the same year in Europe. In the USA, Sega of America decided to rename the game as Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar. In Europe the name was left as Thunder Force IV.
Story
Taking place directly after Thunder Force IIIThunder Force III
Thunder Force III is a scrolling shooter game developed by Technosoft. It is the third chapter in the Thunder Force series. It was released in 1990 in Japan, Europe and the United States for the Mega Drive/Genesis game console. During the same year, it was retooled into an arcade game named Thunder...
, the ORN Empire is thought to be defeated by the Galaxy Federation, but still suffers from increasingly frequent attacks from hostile forces. The forces are discovered to be the "Vios", an army made up of allies and residual forces of ORN. The Galaxy Federation discovers the location of their headquarters on the planet Aceria and attacks, but since the power of Vios has grown greater than the previous ORN Empire, the Galaxy Federation forces are initially defeated. Once again, they develop a new small yet powerful fighter spacecraft, the FIRE LEO-04 Rynex to eliminate Vios. The player controls Rynex and travels through ten stages while battling Vios forces.
Gameplay
The weapon system is also similar to Thunder Force III. Featuring the same upgradeable defaults, and unique extra weapons that are either exclusive, or were in previous games. Again, upon ship destruction, the weapon currently being used is lost, apart from the defaults. The CLAWs return, and basically have the exact same function as their Thunder Force III counterparts. The speed setting also returns, although it is represented by a percent gauge from twenty-five (lowest speed) to one-hundred (highest speed). Tapping the speed button will increase speed by 25 percent and holding it down will increase speed gradually by one percent.
The most significant addition to the ship arsenal is the Thunder Sword, a very powerful lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
-based frontal attack. At the game's halfway point, the ship receives an add-on part which enables the use of the Thunder Sword. From here, the one requirement of using the Thunder Sword is that the ship be equipped with CRAWs. When the ship is not firing any weapons, a charging noise is heard (followed by a chime when fully charged) and the CRAWs will appear to be surrounded with electricity. The next press of the fire button will discharge the Thunder Sword. The blast is stronger if charged longer and is at its strongest when fully charged.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the game includes atmospheric synthesized scores, while hard-rock with backing synths take a role in the boss sections of the game. It is especially notable as being varied and intense, greatly enhancing certain moments of gameplay, such as the spectacular battle with huge mechanical boss above the Strite Sea, or the entrance of the player's nemesis, an enormous and seemingly indestructible robot.Completing the game unlocks ten bonus (omake) tracks in the BGM player in the options.
Region lock
Thunder Force IV was the very first game with a sophisticated regional lockout chip. Unlike previous Mega Drive games, the player could not play the Japanese version on a European Mega Drive or Sega Genesis (and vice versa) with a simple pass through adapter. However, cheat devices such as the Game Genie or Action Replay would enable him to do so, as did later adapters such as the Mega Key.PAL optimizations
Thunder Force IV also has the distinction of being one of the only European Mega Drive games to have been properly adjusted for the screen refresh rate of European PAL televisions.The game ran at the correct speed unlike most games which ran 16.7% slower than their NTSC counterparts due to the lack of any adjustments by Sega of Europe or other European software distributors which would have been required to address the differences between the different TV systems.
The game's resolution however was not adjusted to meet the higher resolution of the European TVs, which resulted in black bars on top and bottom of the screen, like with most other Sega Mega Drive games.
Cheats
It is possible to play two-player co-op using two pads simultaneously. One player can direct the craft and choose speed settings, while the other can fire and choose weapons strategies. Whether this was ever a proper feature is debatable, as there is no documentation for it. However, the fact that both joypad inputs can be used is unusual for a one-player game.Setting 'lives' in 'options mode' to zero on the PAL & NTSC-U/C versions gives 99 lives per continue.
Pause the game and enter [Up, Right, A, Down, Right, A, C, Left, Up, B, Up] to be granted all weapons. For CLAW/Thunder CLAW , press the Right button at the end of the aforementioned code sequence.