Thunder Force II

n/a

NTSC-U/PAL NTSC-J
Thunder Force II
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Technosoft
Developer: Technosoft
Original system(s): X68000
Sound driver: T.S vx.xx (Technosoft)
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1989-06-15 ¥6,800 (7,004)6,800e T-18013 US 1989-08-14 EU 1990-11 FR 1990 369F369 UK 1990-11 £34.9934.99 SE 199x SE (Rental) 199x AU 199x CA 199x BR 199x KR 199x GM4010JG UK 19xx £? ?
Non-Sega versions X68000

---

This short article is in need of work. You can help Sega Retro by adding to it.

---

Thunder Force II is a 1988 shoot-'em-up developed by Technosoft for the X68000, and the second installment in their Thunder Force series. The following year, it was ported to the Sega Mega Drive as Thunder Force II MD (サンダーフォースII ＭＤ), and this version was released worldwide as simply Thunder Force II. It was the first third party Sega Mega Drive game.

Story

After the events of the first Thunder Force, the defeated ORN Empire decide to attack the Galaxy Federation again. Using Plealos, their new battleship, ORN is able to destroy the planet Reda and take the planet Nepura as their own. Fortunately, the Galaxy Federation discovers Nepura is used to hold Plealos when it is not being used, and they set out to destroy Plealos with a new version of the powerful "Fire LEO" fighter craft, the Fire LEO-02 Exceliza.

Gameplay

and switch weapons. fires as long as you hold it. There are nine stages — four top-view stages and four side-scrolling stages, then a final top-view stage.

• "Top-view" stages: You have free 8-way movement, and the screen constantly scrolls in the direction the ship is facing. The ship's weapon shoots in the direction the ship is facing, though other weapons and powerups fire in different directions. The objective is to find and destroy the four bases.
• Side-scrolling stages: You can only progress forward, and the screen constantly scrolls from right to left; the entire stage doesn't fit on the screen, so moving up and down reveals a bit more of it. Reach the end of the stage and defeat the boss there to complete the level.

As you defeat certain enemies, they'll drop various weapon; losing a life takes all acquired weapons away. The two types of stages have unique weapons between them.

History

Release

The Swedish version shown below has an interesting story behind it. The distributor in the Nordic countries was Playmix/BRIO, famous for its classic wooden toys and unharmful playthings. This is the first and probably last time they used censorship on a game. The missiles on this early game's front were considered too violent and the picture was replaced by the ship from the Japanese version instead. After they mixed it together, they simple photographed it and printed it on Fujicolor paper (can be seen on the back of the inlay). This version is therefore fairly common in Sweden.

Production credits

• Program: Izumi Fukuda, Takashi Iwanaga, Haruhiko Otsuka
• Graphics & Design: Osamu Tsujikawa
• Stage Design: Takashi Iwanaga
• Music Compose: Tomomi Ohtani
• Sound Effects: Naosuke Arai
• Wording: Kazue Matsuoka, Kikuo Tamichi, Fumio Sugano
• Special Thanks To: Soichiro Hikichi, Kazuhiro Imamura

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Thunder Force II/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-02: "February 1990" (1990-01-08)

Print advert in Computer Games (GR) #3: "Ioúnios 1990" (1990-xx-xx)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-09: "September 1990" (1990-08-XX)

Print advert in ACE (UK) #37: "October 1990" (1990-09-xx)
also published in:

• Computer & Video Games (UK) #107: "October 1990" (1990-09-16)

Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-11: "November 1990" (1990-10-XX)

Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #111: "February 1991" (1991-01-16)

Print advert in Sega Force (SE) #1993-03: "3/93" (1993-05-13)

Physical scans

Mega-Tech version

Mega-Tech,
Cover

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

{{{{{icon}}}|L}}
Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 ACE (UK) PAL 93 Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J 70 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 90 Complete Guide to Consoles (UK) 81 The Complete Guide to Sega (UK) 81 Consoles + (FR) 90 Console XS (UK) PAL 87 Cool Gamer (RU) 30 Computer & Video Games (UK) 80 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 78 Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK) 76 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 70 Game Mania (UK) 85 Joystick (FR) 74 Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL 82 Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J 81 MegaTech (UK) 81 Mean Machines (UK) 82 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 81 Megazone (AU) 85 Player One (FR) 58 Power Play (DE) 71 Sega Power (UK) PAL 75 Sega Pro (UK) 86 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 81 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 70 Tilt (FR) 60 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 80 Zero (UK) 93

	77
Based on 30 reviews

Thunder Force II

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, SE
Cover

Mega Drive, SE (Rental)
Cover

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, AU (alt)
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, CA
Cover

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 9b1561b3 MD5 2cd56a01eef20b74ab7ea532f9b25a94 SHA-1 b81e7ebc4ceb6c1ae2975d27e0a78ba1e8546b5f	512kB	1989-04	Cartridge (US/EU)
?	CRC32 e75ec3e0 MD5 5b134b597779c5d6c2783fe3ee401766 SHA-1 44b173b74225e5b562cdf3982926a051f05ed98e	512kB	1989-04	Cartridge (JP)