Thunder Force III

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Thunder Force III

Publisher: Tecnosoft

Developer: Tecnosoft

Distributor: HOT-B (US)

System(s): Sega Mega Drive

Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

Number of players: 1

Release	Date	RRP	Code
JP	1990-06-08	¥6,800	T-18033
US	1990-10^[2]	$56.95^[1]	18036
FR	1992-c.04	?F
DE	199x	?
BR	1992-07^[3]	R$?	?
KR	199x	₩?	GM4061JT

Thunder Force III (サンダーフォースIII) is a 1990 shoot-'em-up developed by Tecnosoft 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.

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^[4]. Official releases in other PAL regions have not been confirmed.

Story

Immediately after the events of Thunder Force II, the Galaxy Federation discovers five cloaking devices on five planets circling the ORN Empire's main base, and that any attempt to destroy these cloaking devices will result in ORN's Cerberus destroyer — capable of detecting and destroying large fleets — to take action. With this knowledge, the Galaxy Federation builds a new ship that is both powerful enough to destroy the five cloaking devices yet small enough to avoid detection by Cerberus.

Gameplay

Unlike its predecessors, III only features side-scrolling stages. fires; there is rapidfire. changes speed. changes weapons. Powerups are collected in the usual way.

Levels

You can start at any of the first five levels, skipping over ones before it.

	Planet Hydra
	A horizontal wilderness. Your only threats are ORN's enemies, with some enemies coming from behind, some shooting homing missiles, and some shooting lasers up at you when you cross. Boss: Gargoyle: A chicken-like beast that shoots fireballs at you. Hi its stomach repeatedly to destroy it.
	Planet Gorgon
	A lava planet with rapidly rising columns of lava being the greatest natural threat. ORN has filled this planet with all sorts of laser enemies to stop you, and the balls of rock take quite a number of hits. Boss: Twin Vulcan: Two machines that circle the screen and shoot bullets at you at intervals. Destroy them both (you won't have to worry about one coming back if you take too long; it won't).
	Planet Seiren
	An underwater level full of ORN enemies. Boss: King Fish
	Planet Haides
	A mountainous level with terrain that rises, falls, and moves around in other ways. Think fast! Boss: G Lobster
	Planet Ellis
	What appears to be an ice mountain planet full of ORN enemies. Boss: Mobile Fort
	Cerberus
	Destroy the destroyer one piece at a time. Penetrate through to the inside and defeat the core to destroy the ship (regardless of how much of the outside you destroyed).
	ORN Base
	Enemies stand guard left and right while a number of traps block your way. Beware the doors that close in on you; you lose a life if you're on the wrong side... Boss: ("No Data")
	ORN Core
	The base of operations of ORN. This is a short level where you fight a miniboss and then face the final boss. Boss: CHA OS [sic]: It (what it was is revealed in the ending) attacks rapidly with several different types of bullets, some of which (like its wave shots) you can destroy.

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

Magazine articles

Main article: Thunder Force III/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

{{|}}}}

PDF

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #10: "July 1990" (1990-06-08)

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PDF

Print advert in Sega Visions (US) #2: "October/November 1990" (1990-xx-xx)
also published in:

Game Players Sega Guide! (US) Vol. 1, No. 1 (199x-xx-xx)^[5]

{{|}}}}

PDF

Advertisement on right half in Mega Drive Fan (JP) #13: "February 1991" (1991-01-08)
also published in:

Mega Drive Fan (JP) #14: "March 1991" (1991-02-08)^[6]

{{|}}}}

PDF

Print advert in Mega Drive Fan (JP) #15: "April 1991" (1991-03-08)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average

Publication	Score	Source
ACE (UK)	91	№35, p60^[7]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP)	85	№1990-06, p107^[8]
Beep! MegaDrive (readers) (JP)	83	№, p83^[9]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)	91	№3, p85
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)	89	№4, p37^[10]
Consoles + (FR)	90	№0, p36/37
Computer & Video Games (UK)	95	№105, p84/85^[11]
Weekly Famitsu (JP)	78	№103, [1]
Game Power (IT)	91	№1, p54/55^[12]
GamePro (US)	92	№16, p108/109^[13]
The Games Machine (UK)	85	№33, p55^[14]
Hobby Consolas (ES)	95	№2, p24/25^[15]
Joypad (FR)	94	№6, p138/139^[16]
Joystick (FR)	93	№8, p105
Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)	84	№1, p80^[17]
Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK)	85	№5, p95
MegaTech (UK)	89	№1, p81^[18]
Mean Machines (UK)	86	№13, p88-90^[19]
Player One (FR)	97	№13, p54/55^[20]
Sega Power (UK)	80	№23, p54/55
Sega Power (UK)	82	№24, p22
Sega Pro (UK)	89	№6, p30^[21]
Sega Pro (UK)	88	№9, p28/29^[22]
Sega Pro (UK)	89	№18, p68
Supergame (BR)	88	№12, p37^[3]
Tilt (FR)	85	№81, p58/59
Zero (UK)	94	№11, p72

	88
Based on 27 reviews

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart File:Thunder Force III MD US Manual.pdf Manual

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, FR

Manual

Mega Drive, DE

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

References

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)
Thunder Force related media
	Best of Thunder Force (1997) \| Thunder Force VI Soundtrack Demo (2008)

[:File:GamePro_US_016.pdf_p107-1] File:GamePro US 016.pdf, page 107

[:File:EGM_US_014.pdf_p64-2] File:EGM US 014.pdf, page 64

[:File:Supergame_BR_12.pdf_p37-3] 3.0 ^3.1 File:Supergame BR 12.pdf, page 37

[http:.2F.2Fwww.retrocollect.com.2FGuides.2Fpal-thunder-force-iii-and-the-controversial-sega-megadrive-releases.html-4] ttp://www.retrocollect.com/Guides/pal-thunder-force-iii-and-the-controversial-sega-megadrive-releases.html

[:File:GPSG_US_01.pdf_p23-5] File:GPSG US 01.pdf, page 23

[:File:Megadrive_Fan_1991-03.pdf_p139-6] File:Megadrive Fan 1991-03.pdf, page 139

[:File:ACE_UK_35.pdf_p60-7] File:ACE UK 35.pdf, page 60

[:File:BeepMD_JP_1990-06.pdf_p109-8] File:BeepMD_JP_1990-06.pdf, page 109

[:File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf_p85-9] File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf, page 85

[:File:CGtC_UK_04.pdf_p37-10] File:CGtC UK 04.pdf, page 37

[:File:CVG_UK_105.pdf_p84-11] File:CVG UK 105.pdf, page 84

[:File:GamePower_IT_01.pdf_p56-12] File:GamePower IT 01.pdf, page 56

[:File:GamePro_US_016.pdf_p106-13] File:GamePro US 016.pdf, page 106

[:File:TGM_UK_33.pdf_p55-14] File:TGM UK 33.pdf, page 55

[:File:HobbyConsolas_ES_002.pdf_p24-15] File:HobbyConsolas ES 002.pdf, page 24

[:File:Joypad_FR_006.pdf_p138-16] File:Joypad FR 006.pdf, page 138

[:File:MDAG_UK_01.pdf_p80-17] File:MDAG UK 01.pdf, page 80

[:File:MegaTech_UK_01.pdf_p81-18] File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf, page 81

[:File:MeanMachines_UK_13.pdf_p88-19] File:MeanMachines UK 13.pdf, page 88

[:File:PlayerOne_FR_013.pdf_p54-20] File:PlayerOne FR 013.pdf, page 54

[:File:SegaPro_UK_06.pdf_p30-21] File:SegaPro UK 06.pdf, page 30

[:File:SegaPro_UK_09.pdf_p28-22] File:SegaPro UK 09.pdf, page 28

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Thunder Force III

From Sega Retro

Contents

Story

Gameplay

Levels

Production credits

Magazine articles

Promotional material

Physical scans

References