Thunder Force III

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Thunder Force III
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Tecnosoft
Developer: Tecnosoft
Distributor: HOT-B (US)
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1990-06-08 ¥6,800 T-18033 US 1990-10 $56.95 18036 FR 1992-c.04 ?F DE 199x ? BR 1992-07 R$? ? KR 199x ₩? GM4061JT

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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.

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. Options can be changed by holding , or when pressing on the title screen - this opens "configuration mode".

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.

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. 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

Magazine articles

Main article: Thunder Force III/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Thunder Force III/Promotional material.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average

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