Thunder Force IV

Sega exclusive

Known as Thunder Force IV outside of North America. You must lead the battle against the evil Lohun Empire. Their computer system is poised to destroy your Galaxy Federation's defenses. Lead the attack on their heavily defended military planet.

Released: 24 July 1992
Platforms: Sega Genesis
Genres: Shoot 'em up Shooter
Developers: Technosoft
Publishers: —
Series: Thunder Force
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: Japan

About

Thunder Force IV, known in North America as Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar, is a 1992 shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Technosoft for the Mega Drive/Genesis. It is the fourth installment in Technosoft's Thunder Force series, and the third and final one created for the Mega Drive. It was developed by the team at Technosoft that ported Devil's Crush to the Mega Drive rather than the team that developed the previous Thunder Force games. Like its predecessors, it is a horizontally scrolling shooter, but it also features extensive vertical scrolling with large playing fields.

The game was considered to be one of the best shooters on the Mega Drive when it was launched. Critics especially praised the game's graphics, including the vertical and parallax scrolling for illustrating the immense environments; however, some believed that underneath the graphical sheen, the gameplay was relatively average. Thunder Force IV was re-released on the Sega Saturn in 1996 and the Nintendo Switch in 2018.

Keywords

rail shooter
shoot 'em up
spaceship
flight
side-scrolling
on-rails
high score

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Thunder Force IV is a horizontal shoot 'em up. The story takes place two years after the events of Thunder Force III. The player takes on the role of a fighter pilot to battle the Orn Empire, which is plotting the extinction of the human race. The first four stages can be selected in any order.

There are ten stages total. They scroll horizontally automatically, and the player can also explore up and down to scroll the screen vertically and reveal a larger playing field. The player can change the speed of their ship at any time for easier maneuverability. Scrolling up and down will reveal different waves of enemies the player can shoot down, as well as hidden power-ups.

Development

Thunder Force IV was developed in Japan by Technosoft as the third Thunder Force game for the Mega Drive. Only the sound department was brought over from the original staff of Thunder Force II (1988) and Thunder Force III (1990); the rest of the team had previously ported the pinball game Devil's Crush to the Mega Drive. They chose to develop Thunder Force IV when given the opportunity to develop an original game. Having taken the reins for the Thunder Force series, the team felt a responsibility to surpass the quality of earlier series titles.

They borrowed code from the previous games, and built upon it using what they learned when porting Devil's Crush. The composer for Thunder Force IV previously worked on Thunder Force III and also composed some original music for Devil's Crush. The sound team staff, led by Naosuke Arai, were fans of heavy metal, so they worked on finding a method to create an electric guitar sound using the Mega Drive's FM synthesizer. They ran into difficulties and eventually settled on using the system's distortion sound effects to positive results.

Reception

Thunder Force IV was quickly identified as one of the best Mega Drive shooters when it was released. Critics agreed that the graphics were one of the game's best qualities. Mean Machines called them "state of the art" and highlighted the vertical scrolling for "evoking a sense of vastness". The vertical scrolling also impressed other journalists.

Mega wrote that the landscapes were expansive, and appreciated the parallax scrolling effects. The parallax scrolling was also picked up by Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, which called it "the most stunning use of parallax ever seen on the 16-bit Sega". They believed the game pushed the technical capabilities of the Mega Drive. Other visual aspects highlighted by critics included the large sprites and smooth animation.