Thunder Force III

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Thunder Force III/Thunder Force AC
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega System C2 (as Thunder Force AC)
Publisher: JP Tecnosoft US HOT-B ( Sega)
Developer: Tecnosoft ( Sega/Tecnosoft)
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

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 and released exclusively in the US and Japan. It is the third game in the Thunder Force series and the first to debut on a Sega console.

Thunder Force AC title screen.

It was ported to Sega's System C2 arcade system in 1990 as Thunder Force AC. The port is identical to the console version, except Planets Haides and Ellis are completely different, the level layouts are somewhat different, the level select and level intros have been removed and continuing starts you where you died instead of at the beginning of the stage. This port was ported to the SNES in 1991 as Thunder Spirits.

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.

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

Physical Scans

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Thunder Force III

Mega Drive, US
Cover
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Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart