Thunder Force II

From Sega Retro

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  • NTSC-U/PAL
  • NTSC-J

ThunderForceII MDTitleScreen.png

ThunderForceII MD JP TitleScreen.png

Thunder Force II
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Technosoft
Developer:
Original system(s): X68000
Sound driver: T.S vx.xx (Technosoft)
Genre: Shooting[1][2][3]

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP
¥6,800 (7,004)6,800e[4] T-18013
Sega Mega Drive
US
Sega Mega Drive
EU
Sega Mega Drive
FR
369F369[8]
Sega Mega Drive
UK
£34.9934.99[6][7]
Sega Mega Drive
SE
Sega Mega Drive
SE
(Rental)
Sega Mega Drive
AU
Sega Mega Drive
CA
Sega Mega Drive
BR
Sega Mega Drive
KR
GM4010JG
Arcade (Mega-Tech System)
UK
£? ?

























Non-Sega versions

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Thunder Force II is a 1988 shoot-'em-up developed by Technosoft for the X68000, and the second installment in their Thunder Force series. The following year, it was ported to the Sega Mega Drive as Thunder Force II MD (サンダーフォースII MD), and this version was released worldwide as simply Thunder Force II. It was the first third party Sega Mega Drive game.

Story

After the events of the first Thunder Force, the defeated ORN Empire decide to attack the Galaxy Federation again. Using Plealos, their new battleship, ORN is able to destroy the planet Reda and take the planet Nepura as their own. Fortunately, the Galaxy Federation discovers Nepura is used to hold Plealos when it is not being used, and they set out to destroy Plealos with a new version of the powerful "Fire LEO" fighter craft, the Fire LEO-02 Exceliza.

Gameplay

A and C switch weapons. B fires as long as you hold it. There are nine stages — four top-view stages and four side-scrolling stages, then a final top-view stage.

  • "Top-view" stages: You have free 8-way movement, and the screen constantly scrolls in the direction the ship is facing. The ship's weapon shoots in the direction the ship is facing, though other weapons and powerups fire in different directions. The objective is to find and destroy the four bases.
  • Side-scrolling stages: You can only progress forward, and the screen constantly scrolls from right to left; the entire stage doesn't fit on the screen, so moving up and down reveals a bit more of it. Reach the end of the stage and defeat the boss there to complete the level.

As you defeat certain enemies, they'll drop various weapon; losing a life takes all acquired weapons away. The two types of stages have unique weapons between them.

History

Release

The Swedish version shown below has an interesting story behind it. The distributor in the Nordic countries was Playmix/BRIO, famous for its classic wooden toys and unharmful playthings. This is the first and probably last time they used censorship on a game. The missiles on this early game's front were considered too violent and the picture was replaced by the ship from the Japanese version instead. After they mixed it together, they simple photographed it and printed it on Fujicolor paper (can be seen on the back of the inlay). This version is therefore fairly common in Sweden.

Production credits

  • Program: Izumi Fukuda, Takashi Iwanaga, Haruhiko Otsuka
  • Graphics & Design: Osamu Tsujikawa
  • Stage Design: Takashi Iwanaga
  • Music Compose: Tomomi Ohtani
  • Sound Effects: Naosuke Arai
  • Wording: Kazue Matsuoka, Kikuo Tamichi, Fumio Sugano
  • Special Thanks To: Soichiro Hikichi, Kazuhiro Imamura
Source:
In-game credits


Magazine articles

Main article: Thunder Force II/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-02: "February 1990" (1990-01-08)
Logo-pdf.svg
CG GR 3 Mega Drive advert.jpg
Print advert in Computer Games (GR) #3: "Ioúnios 1990" (1990-xx-xx)
CG GR 3 Mega Drive advert.jpg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-09: "September 1990" (1990-08-XX)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in ACE (UK) #37: "October 1990" (1990-09-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-11: "November 1990" (1990-10-XX)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #111: "February 1991" (1991-01-16)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Sega Force (SE) #1993-03: "3/93" (1993-05-13)
Logo-pdf.svg

Physical scans

Mega-Tech version

Mega-Tech,
ThunderForceII MT cover.jpg
Cover

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
60
[10]
ACE (UK) PAL
93
[11]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
70
[12]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
90
[13]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
81
[14]
The Complete Guide to Sega (UK)
81
[15]
Consoles + (FR)
90
[16]
Console XS (UK) PAL
87
[17]
Cool Gamer (RU)
30
[18]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
80
[19]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
78
[20]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
76
[21]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
70
[22]
Game Mania (UK)
85
[23]
Joystick (FR)
74
[24]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL
82
[25]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
81
[26]
MegaTech (UK)
81
[27]
Mean Machines (UK)
82
[28]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
81
[29]
Megazone (AU)
85
[30]
Player One (FR)
58
[8]
Power Play (DE)
71
[31]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
75
[32]
Sega Pro (UK)
86
[33]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
81
[34]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
70
[35]
Tilt (FR)
60
[36]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
80
[37]
Zero (UK)
93
[38]
Sega Mega Drive
77
Based on
30 reviews

Thunder Force II

Mega Drive, JP
ThunderForce2 MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
ThunderForce2MD MD JP CartTop.jpg
ThunderForce2 MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Thunderforce2 md jp manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US
ThunderForce2 MD US Box.jpg
Cover
Thunder Force II MD US cart.jpg
Cart
Thunder Force II MD US Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
ThunderForce2 MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
ThunderForceII MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Thunder Force II MD EU Manual.jpg
Manual
TFII MD EU pcb.jpg
PCB
Mega Drive, SE
Thunderforce SWE.jpeg
Cover
Mega Drive, SE (Rental)
TFII MD SE rental cover.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, AU
TFII MD AU cover.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, AU (alt)
TFII MD AU alt cover.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, BR
ThunderForceII MD BR cover.jpg
Cover
ThunderForceII MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, CA
TFII MD CA cover.jpg
Cover
Mega Drive, KR
ThunderForceII MD KR Box.jpg
Cover
ThunderForceII MD KR cart.jpg
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Mega Drive
CRC32 9b1561b3
MD5 2cd56a01eef20b74ab7ea532f9b25a94
SHA-1 b81e7ebc4ceb6c1ae2975d27e0a78ba1e8546b5f
512kB 1989-04 Cartridge (US/EU)
Sega Mega Drive
 ?
CRC32 e75ec3e0
MD5 5b134b597779c5d6c2783fe3ee401766
SHA-1 44b173b74225e5b562cdf3982926a051f05ed98e
512kB 1989-04 Cartridge (JP)

References

  1. File:ThunderForce2 MD JP Box.jpg
  2. 2.0 2.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/megadrive/software_l.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-07-02 23:21)
  3. File:ThunderForceII MD KR Box.jpg
  4. Beep! MegaDrive, "February 1990" (JP; 1990-01-08), page 115
  5. 5.0 5.1 Mean Machines, "October 1990" (UK; 1990-09-xx), page 88
  6. Raze, "September 1991" (UK; 1991-07-25), page 76
  7. ACE, "October 1990" (UK; 1990-09-xx), page 51
  8. 8.0 8.1 Player One, "Octobre 1990" (FR; 1990-xx-xx), page 57
  9. Computer & Video Games, "October 1990" (UK; 1990-09-16), page 122
  10. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 242
  11. ACE, "November 1989" (UK; 1989-10-xx), page 144
  12. Beep! MegaDrive, "February 1990" (JP; 1990-01-08), page 72
  13. Complete Guide to Consoles, "" (UK; 1989-10-16), page 77
  14. Complete Guide to Consoles, "Volume IV" (UK; 1990-11-xx), page 37
  15. The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 50
  16. Consoles +, "Tilt Hors-Serie" (FR; 1991-07-xx), page 36
  17. Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 135
  18. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 224
  19. Computer & Video Games, "September 1989" (UK; 1989-08-16), page 102
  20. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "November 1989" (US; 1989-xx-xx), page 13
  21. Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 107
  22. Famitsu, "" (JP; 1989-xx-xx), page 1
  23. Game Mania, "May 1993" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 80
  24. Joystick, "Juin 1990" (FR; 1990-05-xx), page 82
  25. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 95
  26. Mega Drive Fan, "November 1989" (JP; 1989-10-07), page 49
  27. MegaTech, "Xmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-06), page 81
  28. Mean Machines, "October 1990" (UK; 1990-09-xx), page 86
  29. Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 142
  30. Megazone, "October/November 1991" (AU; 1991-xx-xx), page 30
  31. Power Play, "1/90" (DE; 1989-12-15), page 86
  32. Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 54
  33. Sega Pro, "April 1992" (UK; 1992-03-19), page 30
  34. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 68
  35. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 86
  36. Tilt, "Septembre 1990" (FR; 1990-0x-xx), page 100
  37. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 27
  38. Zero, "February 1990" (UK; 19xx-xx-xx), page 82


Thunder Force II

ThunderForceII MDTitleScreen.png

Main page | Comparisons | Hidden content | Magazine articles | Reception | Region coding | Technical information


Music: Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force I & II (2022)

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Thunder Force games for Sega systems / developed by Sega
Sega Mega Drive
Thunder Force II (1989) | Thunder Force III (1990) | Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar (1992)
Arcade
Thunder Force AC (1990)
Sega Saturn
Thunder Force: Gold Pack 1 (1996) | Thunder Force: Gold Pack 2 (1996) | Thunder Force V (1997)
Sony PlayStation 2
Thunder Force VI (2008)
Nintendo Switch
Sega Ages Thunder Force IV (2018) | Sega Ages Thunder Force AC (2020)
Thunder Force related media
Music
Best of Thunder Force (1997) | Thunder Force VI Soundtrack Demo (2008) | Thunder Force IV (2019) | Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force III & AC (2020) | Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force IV (2021) | Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force I & II (2022)