Thunder Force III

n/a

NTSC-U/PAL
NTSC-J

Thunder Force III

System(s): Sega Mega Drive

Publisher: Technosoft

Developer: Technosoft

Distributor: HOT-B (US)

Sound driver: T.S v1.21 (Technosoft)

Genre: Shooting^[1]^[2]^[3]

Number of players: 1

Release	Date	RRP	Code
JP	1990-06-08^[3]	¥6,800 (7,004)6,800e^[4]	T-18033
US	1990-11-07^[5]^[6]	$56.9556.95^[7]	18036
DE	199x
ES	199x
FR	1992-c.04
BR	1992-07^[8]
KR	199x		GM4061JT

Thunder Force III (サンダーフォースIII) is a 1990 shoot-'em-up developed by Technosoft for the Sega Mega Drive. It is the third game in the Thunder Force series and the first to debut on a Sega console. It was brought to the arcades as Thunder Force AC.

Story

The story takes place immediately after the events of Thunder Force II. Despite their successes, the Galaxy Federation has not been faring well in their battle against the ORN Empire. ORN has installed cloaking devices on five major planets in their space territory that conceal their main base, making it difficult for the Galaxy Federation to locate and attack their headquarters. Also, ORN has built a remote defense system to protect itself named Cerberus, which is especially efficient at neutralizing large ships and fleets. Knowing this, the Galaxy Federation creates the FIRE LEO-03 Styx (also transliterated as Stukks): a craft small enough to avoid detection by Cerberus, yet equipped with the firepower of a large starfighter. The Galaxy Federation deploys the Styx on a mission to destroy the five cloaking devices, infiltrate the Empire's headquarters, and destroy the ORN Emperor, the bio-computer "CHA OS."

Gameplay

Stage select

Thunder Force III is a side-scrolling shooter. The the free-directional, overhead stage format from the first two games in the series is removed and replaced entirely by the horizontally scrolling stage format for this game and all subsequent entries. The player chooses which of the initial five planets (Hydra, Gorgon, Seiren, Haides, and Ellis) to start on. After the first five stages are completed, the game continues for three more stages into ORN headquarters.

The Styx is moved in any direction using the D-pad. The player can cycle through four speeds with . The Styx shoots with , which can be held for continuous fire. It is equipped with multiple weapons, which can be switched with . The speed and weapon can be switched while the game is paused. The player starts with two weapons and can acquire more by collecting items. The player can also equip two Claw add-ons, which are small drones that revolve around the ship. The Claws block weak incoming bullets and provide extra firepower by firing single, normal shots. Unlike the previous game, both Claws are equipped at the same time rather than separately.

The Styx is destroyed in one hit from an enemy or an obstacle. On Normal difficulty, losing a life only loses the equipped weapon (unless it is a default weapon). On higher difficulties, losing a life loses all acquired weapons. On all difficulties, losing a life loses Claws. The player gains an extra life at 20,000 and 50,000 points and then every 50,000 points after that.

There are three selectable difficulty levels (Normal, Hard, and Mania). The options menu is accessed by holding , or when pressing START on the title screen.

Weapons

	Twin Shot
	Shoots two parallel streams of bullets forwards.
	Back Fire
	Shoots one stream of bullets forwards and one steam backwards.
	Sever
	Replaces the Twin Shot with penetrating laser beams.
	Lancer
	Replaces the Back Fire with a large stream of plasma shots to the front and two parallel streams to the back.
	Wave
	Shoots tall waves forwards.
	Fire
	Launches missiles that crawl along the floor and ceiling.
	Hunter
	Fires plasma balls that seek enemies.

Items

	Item Carrier
	Shoot to release an item.
	Claw
	Equips two Claws, fighter drones that orbit the Styx and provide support fire and protect it from damage.
	Shield
	Surrounds the Styx in a shield that renders it invulnerable to damage, but it dissipates after sustaining too many hits.
	1-Up
	Awards the player with an extra life.
	Sever
	Acquires the Sever weapon.
	Lancer
	Acquires the Lancer weapon.
	Wave
	Acquires the Wave weapon.
	Fire
	Acquires the Fire weapon.
	Hunter
	Acquires the Hunter weapon.

Levels

The player chooses the first stage to play and then plays the rest in sequence.

	Planet Hydra
	A forest planet. Some enemies come from behind, some shoot homing missiles, and some shoot lasers when the Styx passes across. The boss is Gargoyle which shoots fireballs. Its stomach is its weak spot.
	Planet Gorgon
	A lava planet with rapidly rising columns of lava. The boss is Twin Vulcan, two machines that circle the screen and shoot bullets at intervals. Their weaknesses are their search radars.
	Planet Seiren
	An underwater level full of ORN enemies. The boss is King Fish, whose weakness is its eye.
	Planet Haides
	A mountainous level with terrain that rises, falls, and moves around in other ways. The boss is G Lobster, whose weakness is its eye.
	Planet Ellis
	An ice mountain planet full of ORN enemies. The boss is Mobile Fort, whose weakness is its control unit.
	Cerberus
	Destroy the destroyer one piece at a time. Penetrate through to the inside and defeat the core to destroy the ship.
	ORN Base
	Enemies stand guard left and right while a number of traps block the way. Doors close and bar the way.
	ORN Core
	The base of operations of ORN. This is a short level with a miniboss before facing the final boss. The boss is CHA OS, which attacks rapidly with several different types of bullets. Its wave projectiles can be neutralized by the player's fire.

History

Thunder Force III was released in the US, Japan, South Korea and Brazil, but it is not thought to have been released in the pan-Euro area. However, the US release is known to have been distributed in limited numbers across France and Germany, with the instruction manual exchanged for localised versions^[9]. Official releases in other PAL regions have not been confirmed.

Production credits

Program: Izumi Fukuda, Takashi Iwanaga, Haruhiko Ohtsuka
Graphics & Design: Osamu Tsujikawa, Yoichi Muto
Stage Design: Takashi Iwanaga
Music Compose: Toshiharu Yamanishi, Tomomi Ohtani
Sound Effects: Naosuke Arai
Voice: kaoru
Manual: Fumio Sugano
Wording: Kazue Matsuoka
Produce: Techno Soft

Source:

In-game credits^[10]

Digital manuals

Mega Drive Mini US manual
Mega Drive Mini JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Thunder Force III/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Thunder Force III/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average

Publication

Version

Score

1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)

60

^[11]

ACE (UK)

91

^[12]

Beep! MegaDrive (JP)

NTSC-J

85

^[13]

Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)

91

^[14]

Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)

89

^[15]

The Complete Guide to Sega (UK)

89

^[16]

Consoles + (FR)

90

^[17]

Console XS (UK)

PAL

90

^[18]

Computer & Video Games (UK)

95

^[19]

Electronic Gaming Monthly (US)

NTSC-U

83

^[20]

Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)

91

^[21]

Famitsu (JP)

NTSC-J

78

^[22]

Game Power (IT)

91

^[23]

GamePro (US)

NTSC-U

92

^[24]

The Games Machine (UK)

85

^[25]

Hobby Consolas (ES)

95

^[26]

Joypad (FR)

94

^[27]

Joystick (FR)

93

^[28]

Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)

84

^[29]

Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)

PAL

85

^[30]

Mega Drive Fan (JP)

NTSC-J

87

^[31]

Mega Force (FR)

NTSC

100

^[32]

MegaTech (UK)

89

^[33]

MegaTech (UK)

PAL

89

^[34]

Micromanía (segunda época) (ES)

73

^[35]

Mean Machines (UK)

86

^[36]

Mean Machines Sega (UK)

89

^[37]

Player One (FR)

97

^[38]

Sega Power (UK)

NTSC

75

^[39]

Sega Power (UK)

PAL

82

^[40]

Sega Pro (UK)

89

^[41]

Sega Pro (UK)

PAL

88

^[42]

Sega Pro (UK)

PAL

89

^[43]

Sega Mega Drive Review (RU)

84

^[44]

Sega Saturn Magazine (JP)

NTSC-J

83

^[45]

Supergame (BR)

88

^[8]

Tilt (FR)

85

^[46]

Tricks 16 bit (RU)

85

^[47]

Zero (UK)

94

^[48]

	87
Based on 39 reviews

Thunder Force III

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, FR

Manual

Mega Drive, DE

Mega Drive, ES

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System

Hash

Size

Build Date

Source

Comments

✔

CRC32	1b3f399a
MD5	64766dae889d039eb391bc5bf2973f5d
SHA-1	9eadee76eb0509d5a0f16372fc9eac7a883e5f2d

512kB

1990-03

Cartridge (US/JP)

?

CRC32	2b5c2063
MD5	5d694df1dbe9648ea6533871a6a07c3e
SHA-1	5debc42ff0355e6ade7cf30f778b6a5c682fea7f

512kB

1990-08-01

CD-R disc

Page

References

Thunder Force III

Prereleases:

Prototypes: 1990-08-01

Thunder Force games for Sega systems / developed by Sega
	Thunder Force II (1989) \| Thunder Force III (1990) \| Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar (1992)
	Thunder Force AC (1990)
	Thunder Force: Gold Pack 1 (1996) \| Thunder Force: Gold Pack 2 (1996) \| Thunder Force V (1997)
	Thunder Force VI (2008)
	Sega Ages Thunder Force IV (2018) \| Sega Ages Thunder Force AC (2020)
Thunder Force related media
	Best of Thunder Force (1997) \| Thunder Force VI Soundtrack Demo (2008) \| Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force III & AC (2020) \| Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force IV (2021)

[:File:ThunderForce3_MD_JP_Box.jpg_p-1] File:ThunderForce3 MD JP Box.jpg

[:File:ThunderForceIII_MD_KR_cover.jpg_p-2] File:ThunderForceIII MD KR cover.jpg

[https:.2F.2Fweb.archive.org.2Fweb.2F20200702232146.2Fhttps:.2F.2Fsega.jp.2Fhistory.2Fhard.2Fmegadrive.2Fsoftware_l.html-3] 3.0 ^3.1 https://sega.jp/history/hard/megadrive/software_l.html (Wayback Machine: 2020-07-02 23:21)

[:File:BeepMD_JP_1990-05.pdf_p115-4] Beep! MegaDrive, "May 1990" (JP; 1990-04-07), page 115

[https:.2F.2Fgroups.google.com.2Fg.2Frec.games.video.2Fc.2F9mQYsH6AwxA.2Fm.2FeLtfzKSYjogJ-5] ttps://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.video/c/9mQYsH6AwxA/m/eLtfzKSYjogJ

[https:.2F.2Fgroups.google.com.2Fg.2Frec.games.video.2Fc.2FliLsaXxr3Xw.2Fm.2F7vp0Hl15HJIJ-6] ttps://groups.google.com/g/rec.games.video/c/liLsaXxr3Xw/m/7vp0Hl15HJIJ

[:File:GamePro_US_016.pdf_p107-7] GamePro, "November 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 107

[:File:Supergame_BR_12.pdf_p37-8] 8.0 ^8.1 Supergame, "Julho 1992" (BR; 1992-07-xx), page 37

[https:.2F.2Fweb.archive.org.2Fweb.2F20130414082358.2Fhttp:.2F.2Fwww.retrocollect.com.2FGuides.2Fpal-thunder-force-iii-and-the-controversial-sega-megadrive-releases.html-9] ttp://www.retrocollect.com/Guides/pal-thunder-force-iii-and-the-controversial-sega-megadrive-releases.html (Wayback Machine: 2013-04-14 08:23)

[:File:Thunder_Force_III_MD_credits.pdf_p-10] File:Thunder Force III MD credits.pdf

[:File:1700_igr_dlya_Sega_2003.pdf_p243-11] 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2003-03-10), page 243

[:File:ACE_UK_35.pdf_p60-12] ACE, "August 1990" (UK; 1990-07-xx), page 60

[:File:BeepMD_JP_1990-06.pdf_p109-13] Beep! MegaDrive, "June 1990" (JP; 1990-05-08), page 109

[:File:CGtC_UK_03.pdf_p85-14] Complete Guide to Consoles, "Volume III" (UK; 1990-08-xx), page 85

[:File:CGtC_UK_04.pdf_p37-15] Complete Guide to Consoles, "Volume IV" (UK; 1990-11-xx), page 37

[:File:TheCompleteGuideToSega_UK.pdf_p50-16] The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 50

[:File:ConsolesPlus_FR_000.pdf_p36-17] Consoles +, "Tilt Hors-Serie" (FR; 1991-07-xx), page 36

[:File:Console_XS_UK_01.pdf_p135-18] Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 135

[:File:CVG_UK_105.pdf_p84-19] Computer & Video Games, "August 1990" (UK; 1990-07-16), page 84

[:File:EGM_US_016.pdf_p19-20] Electronic Gaming Monthly, "November 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 19

[:File:MeanMachinesEssentialSegaGuide_Book_UK.pdf_p108-21] Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 108

[22] Famitsu, "" (JP; 1990-0x-xx), page 1

[:File:GamePower_IT_01.pdf_p56-23] Game Power, "Dicembre 1991" (IT; 1991-1x-xx), page 56

[:File:GamePro_US_016.pdf_p106-24] GamePro, "November 1990" (US; 1990-xx-xx), page 106

[:File:TGM_UK_33.pdf_p55-25] The Games Machine, "August 1990" (UK; 1990-07-19), page 55

[:File:HobbyConsolas_ES_002.pdf_p24-26] Hobby Consolas, "Noviembre 1991" (ES; 1991-1x-xx), page 24

[:File:Joypad_FR_006.pdf_p138-27] Joypad, "Mars 1992" (FR; 1992-02-1x), page 138

[:File:Joystick_FR_008.pdf_p105-28] Joystick, "Septembre 1990" (FR; 1990-0x-xx), page 105

[:File:MDAG_UK_01.pdf_p80-29] Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "September 1992" (UK; 1992-xx-xx), page 80

[:File:MDAG_UK_05.pdf_p95-30] Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 95

[:File:Mdfan_JP_1990-10.pdf_p79-31] Mega Drive Fan, "October 1990" (JP; 1990-09-08), page 79

[:File:MegaForce_FR_02.pdf_p97-32] Mega Force, "Septembre/Octobre 1991" (FR; 1991-09-13), page 97

[:File:MegaTech_UK_01.pdf_p81-33] MegaTech, "Xmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-06), page 81

[:File:MegaTech_UK_02.pdf_p43-34] MegaTech, "February 1992" (UK; 1992-01-20), page 43

[:File:Micromania2_ES_042.pdf_p43-35] Micromanía (segunda época), "Noviembre 1991" (ES; 1991-1x-xx), page 43

[:File:MeanMachines_UK_13.pdf_p88-36] Mean Machines, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-27), page 88

[:File:MeanMachinesSega01UK.pdf_p142-37] Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 142

[:File:PlayerOne_FR_013.pdf_p54-38] Player One, "Octobre 1991" (FR; 1991-xx-xx), page 54

[:File:SegaPower_UK_23.pdf_p54-39] Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 54

[:File:SegaPower_UK_24.pdf_p22-40] Sega Power, "November 1991" (UK; 1991-10-04), page 22

[:File:SegaPro_UK_06.pdf_p30-41] Sega Pro, "April 1992" (UK; 1992-03-19), page 30

[:File:SegaPro_UK_09.pdf_p28-42] Sega Pro, "July 1992" (UK; 1992-06-18), page 28

[:File:SegaPro_UK_18.pdf_p68-43] Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 68

[44] Sega Mega Drive Review, "1" (RU; 1995-04-03), page 170

[:File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf_p85-45] Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85

[:File:Tilt_FR_081.pdf_p58-46] Tilt, "Septembre 1990" (FR; 1990-0x-xx), page 58

[47] Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 27

[:File:Zero_UK_11.pdf_p72-48] Zero, "September 1990" (UK; 1990-08-09), page 72

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[47]

[48]

Thunder Force III

From Sega Retro

Contents

Story

Gameplay

Weapons

Items

Levels

History

Production credits

Digital manuals

Magazine articles

Promotional material

Physical scans

Technical information

ROM dump status

References