Thunder Force II

From Sega Retro

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ThunderForceII MDTitleScreen.png

Thunder Force II
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Technosoft
Developer:
Original system(s): X68000
Genre: Shoot-'em-Up

















Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP
¥6,8006,800 T-18013
Sega Mega Drive
US
Sega Mega Drive
EU
Sega Mega Drive
AU
Sega Mega Drive
CA
Sega Mega Drive
BR
Sega Mega Drive
KR
GM4010JG

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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 Sega Mega Drive game in Japan published by a third party.

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

A and C switch weapons. B 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.

Magazine articles

Main article: Thunder Force II/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

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Print advert in ACE (UK) #37: "October 1990" (1990-09-xx)
also published in:
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Print advert in Computer & Video Games (UK) #111: "February 1991" (1991-01-16)
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Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-02: "February 1990" (1990-01-08)
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Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-09: "September 1990" (1990-08-XX)
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Print advert in Beep! MegaDrive (JP) #1990-11: "November 1990" (1990-10-XX)
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Physical scans

Mega-Tech version

Mega-Tech,
ThunderForceII MT cover.jpg
Cover

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
93 №26, p144[5]
70 №1990-02, p70[6]
70 №, p84[7]
90 №1, p84[8]
81 №4, p37[9]
80 №94, p102[10]
70 №79, [1]
74 №6, p86[11]
82 №5, p95
81 №1, p81[12]
82 №1, p86-88[13]
58 №2, p57[3]
80 №23, p54
86 №6, p30[14]
81 №18, p68
93 №4, p82/83
Sega Mega Drive
79
Based on
16 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
60
[15]
ACE (UK) PAL
93
[5]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
70
[16]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
90
[17]
Complete Guide to Consoles (UK)
81
[9]
The Complete Guide to Sega (UK)
81
[18]
Consoles + (FR)
90
[19]
Console XS (UK) PAL
87
[20]
Cool Gamer (RU)
30
[21]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
80
[10]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
78
[22]
Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide (UK)
76
[23]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
70
[24]
Game Mania (UK)
85
[25]
Joystick (FR)
74
[11]
Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) PAL
82
[26]
Mega Drive Fan (JP) NTSC-J
81
[27]
MegaTech (UK)
81
[12]
Mean Machines (UK)
82
[13]
Mean Machines Sega (UK)
81
[28]
Megazone (AU)
85
[29]
Player One (FR)
58
[3]
Power Play (DE)
71
[30]
Sega Power (UK) PAL
75
[31]
Sega Pro (UK)
86
[14]
Sega Pro (UK) PAL
81
[32]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
70
[33]
Tilt (FR)
60
[34]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
80
[35]
Zero (UK)
93
[36]
Sega Mega Drive
77
Based on
30 reviews

Thunder Force II

Mega Drive, US
ThunderForce2 MD US Box.jpg
Cover
Thunder Force II MD US cart.jpg
Cart
Thunder Force II MD US Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, EU
ThunderForce2 MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
ThunderForceII MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, SE
Thunderforce SWE.jpeg
Cover
Mega Drive, JP
ThunderForce2 MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
ThunderForce2MD MD JP CartTop.jpg
ThunderForce2 MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, AU

Mega Drive, BR
ThunderForceII MD BR cover.jpg
Cover
ThunderForceII MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, KR
ThunderForceII MD KR Box.jpg
Cover
ThunderForceII MD KR cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, CA

References

  1. File:Raze UK 11.pdf, page 76
  2. File:ACE UK 37.pdf, page 51
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 File:PlayerOne FR 002.pdf, page 57 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:PlayerOne FR 002.pdf_p57" defined multiple times with different content
  4. Computer & Video Games, "October 1990" (UK; 1990-09-16), page 122
  5. 5.0 5.1 File:ACE UK 26.pdf, page 144 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ACE UK 26.pdf_p144" defined multiple times with different content
  6. File:BeepMD_JP_1990-02.pdf, page 72
  7. File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf, page 86
  8. File:CompleteGuideToConsoles_UK_01.pdf, page 84
  9. 9.0 9.1 File:CGtC UK 04.pdf, page 37 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CGtC UK 04.pdf_p37" defined multiple times with different content
  10. 10.0 10.1 File:CVG UK 094.pdf, page 102 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 094.pdf_p102" defined multiple times with different content
  11. 11.0 11.1 File:Joystick FR 006.pdf, page 82 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Joystick FR 006.pdf_p82" defined multiple times with different content
  12. 12.0 12.1 File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf, page 81 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MegaTech UK 01.pdf_p81" defined multiple times with different content
  13. 13.0 13.1 File:MeanMachines UK 01.pdf, page 86 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:MeanMachines UK 01.pdf_p86" defined multiple times with different content
  14. 14.0 14.1 File:SegaPro UK 06.pdf, page 30 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaPro UK 06.pdf_p30" defined multiple times with different content
  15. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 242
  16. Beep! MegaDrive, "February 1990" (JP; 1990-01-08), page 72
  17. Complete Guide to Consoles, "" (UK; 1989-10-16), page 77
  18. The Complete Guide to Sega, "" (UK; 1991-05-xx), page 50
  19. Consoles +, "Tilt Hors-Serie" (FR; 1991-07-xx), page 36
  20. Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 135
  21. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 224
  22. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "November 1989" (US; 1989-xx-xx), page 13
  23. Mean Machines: The Essential Sega Guide, "" (UK; 1993-11-18), page 107
  24. Famitsu, "" (JP; 1989-xx-xx), page 1
  25. Game Mania, "May 1993" (UK; 1993-xx-xx), page 80
  26. Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, "January 1993" (UK; 199x-xx-xx), page 95
  27. Mega Drive Fan, "November 1989" (JP; 1989-10-07), page 49
  28. Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 142
  29. Megazone, "October/November 1991" (AU; 1991-xx-xx), page 30
  30. Power Play, "1/90" (DE; 1989-12-15), page 86
  31. Sega Power, "October 1991" (UK; 1991-09-05), page 54
  32. Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 68
  33. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 86
  34. Tilt, "Septembre 1990" (FR; 1990-0x-xx), page 100
  35. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 27
  36. Zero, "February 1990" (UK; 19xx-xx-xx), page 82



Thunder Force games for Sega systems / developed by Sega
Sega Mega Drive
Thunder Force II (1989) | Thunder Force III (1990) | Thunder Force IV / Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar (1992)
Arcade
Thunder Force AC (1990)
Sega Saturn
Thunder Force: Gold Pack 1 (1996) | Thunder Force: Gold Pack 2 (1996) | Thunder Force V (1997)
Sony PlayStation 2
Thunder Force VI (2008)
Nintendo Switch
Sega Ages Thunder Force IV (2018) | Sega Ages Thunder Force AC (2020)
Thunder Force related media
Music
Best of Thunder Force (1997) | Thunder Force VI Soundtrack Demo (2008) | Thunder Force IV (2019) | Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force III & AC (2020) | Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force IV (2021) | Technosoft Music Collection: Thunder Force I & II (2022)