Thunder Force III overload !!! Old previews, reviews & more

[evil_ash_xero]

I have such great memories of this game. I got this and M.U.S.H.A. close to the same time, and it was good times indeed.
Both of them have such amazing soundtracks too.

It's funny, because I didn't even know that IV existed, until the late 90s. I have no idea how I missed it. Probably was the name issue.

[BIL]

I was about to say, the renaming issue couldn't have helped TFIV stateside. I wonder WTF happened there... I'd guess some bizarre copyright thing ala Starfox's PAL doppelganger "Lylat Wars" (that was resolved in time for Thunder Force V's release).

Willingly ditching an established, respected and all-around badass name is the kind of stupidity that should be hunted down and destroyed by Rynex IRL.

[Xyga]

hunted down and destroyed by Rynex IRL.

Forgot that video existed. I used to live like 200m away from that place, walking by it on the way to work. Missed that unfortunately.

[GGA_HAN]

Hello, we are running into some health issues but we expect it to be released by mid-August.

Sorry for the delay!

(RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE)

Bumping to see if anyone who loves Thunder Force III might be interested in something I've been working on with the aforementioned Martin Alessi, my good friend.

We are debuting our "preview" issue this weekend at Midwest Gaming Classic; the full issue will be coming in the summer and will be around 50 pages.

There is a free digital version of the preview in the link below, as well:

https://shopmassiveimpact.com/collections/retro-player

While most of you won't be learning anything new from the strategy guide section, the pixels look amazing in print. Here are some hi-res samples:

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We hope some of you here on the shmups forum will check us out!

- Pete

Hello,
I pre-ordered this production some months back but when will it be released and posted out to people?

[BIL]

hunted down and destroyed by Rynex IRL.

Forgot that video existed. I used to live like 200m away from that place, walking by it on the way to work. Missed that unfortunately.

Oh hey, what are the odds?

Anyway don't feel bad, TFV IRL happened next when an earth ipod was exposed to the Rynex technology and completely lost its shit. ;3

Spoiler

[MintyTheCat]

Hello, we are running into some health issues but we expect it to be released by mid-August.

Sorry for the delay!

That's good to know - thanks.

[MintyTheCat]

Hello, we are running into some health issues but we expect it to be released by mid-August.

Sorry for the delay!

That's good to know - thanks.

Any news on this? It is now the 1st of October, 2018.

[davyK]

Picked this up a couple of weeks ago - had never seen or played it before.

It's the PAL version so has the hilarious translations and is unoptimised and runs perfectly at 60Hz on my modded MD.

Much prefer this to TF IV. Superb game and the implementation is rock solid.

[GGA_HAN]

Hello, we are running into some health issues but we expect it to be released by mid-August.

Sorry for the delay!

That's good to know - thanks.

Any news on this? It is now the 1st of October, 2018.

Check your PM's

[BrianC]

Picked this up a couple of weeks ago - had never seen or played it before.

It's the PAL version so has the hilarious translations and is unoptimised and runs perfectly at 60Hz on my modded MD.

Much prefer this to TF IV. Superb game and the implementation is rock solid.

Thunder Force III? I'm not sure about the EU version, but the JP version is not region locked and has both the JP and US versions on cart.

[MintyTheCat]

Picked this up a couple of weeks ago - had never seen or played it before.

It's the PAL version so has the hilarious translations and is unoptimised and runs perfectly at 60Hz on my modded MD.

Much prefer this to TF IV. Superb game and the implementation is rock solid.

Thunder Force III? I'm not sure about the EU version, but the JP version is not region locked and has both the JP and US versions on cart.

Eons ago I think I rember looking at the game's code and it does a check for region for timing purposes. TF4 most certainly has altered timing for the PAL so that it runs at the same rate as JP/US.

[jigenbakuda]

Mom bought my thunder spirits from block buster video back in the day. Had no idea what thunderforce was, but played the heck out of thunder spirits.... as an adult I found thunder spirits had a twin and siblings... and the osts were all as good! Thunder Force IV ost being released on vinyl by data discs to accompany the switch re-release maybeif anyone cares...


Thank you so much for these images!

[davidwhangchoi]

This is for Thunder Force III fans, and deserves its own thread. Every magazine article I could find from 1990 for the king of horizontally scrolling SHMUPs of the day.

Sure, you'll notice a mistake here and there, cause that was the norm for video game magazines.

I remember every one of these articles, and I included EGM's look at Thunder Force AC, plus a nice high-res image of its flyer.


Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 16 - November 1990

I had this issue. I really didn't like the newest reviewer Sushi-X he freakin gave it a 7 and i was upset at the time. (he kept saying he like fighting games)
I really loved Steve, Ed and Martin's scores, especially Martin's score because his favorites were shooters =)