The Original Thunder Force

[Aggro Sky]

Has anyone played it? Can you play it? It was released on the Sharp X1 Computer in 1983 according to Wikipedia. Since owning one of these machines is out of the question, is there an emulator? I am curious because my introduction to the series was Thunder Force 2 via the Genesis/Mega Drive. So naturally I was always curious about the original.

Anyone have any ideas?

[SuperDeadite]

It can be emulated, and should be easy enough to find. Oh and you should give the proper X68000 version of Thunderforce II a try, the MD port was downgraded quite a bit in graphics and difficulty.

[Despatche]

It's basically the top-down stages from II as an entire game. Technically speaking, the game descends from Namco's Bosconian and the like.

Noone really cares about it, but everyone seems to care about that Construction version enough to make a topic every now and then.

By the way, you should check out the original X68000 version of II if you can, the two versions are different enough to be interesting.

[Aggro Sky]

Thanks for the advice guys. I had heard about the better version of Thunder Force 2. It has more stages also right?

And I guess I've just been too lazy to look up an emulator for the original Thunder Force. Was hoping someone would point me to one .

But for Completionists sake I'd like to play it...

[Despatche]

The first TF is also on multiple platforms. They're probably fairly similar ports technically, but either way the only one I'm familiar with is the PC-98 version; Neko Project II is pretty good for that.

[To Far Away Times]

I'm pretty sure they just started with Thunder Force III and never bothered to make the first two games.

[stryc9]

I'm pretty sure they just started with Thunder Force III and never bothered to make the first two games.

Nothing wrong with TF2, the top down stages are unique and I like the twitchy way they play. Never played TF1, but from what I've seen it looks and sounds extremely primitive. I don't think it has in game music IIRC.

[Pretas]

Fun fact about the X68k version of TFII: the game vocally exclaims "SHIT!" upon losing your last life.

[EmperorIng]

I'm pretty sure they just started with Thunder Force III and never bothered to make the first two games.

Nothing wrong with TF2, the top down stages are unique and I like the twitchy way they play. Never played TF1, but from what I've seen it looks and sounds extremely primitive. I don't think it has in game music IIRC.

About the only thing it has going for it is the guy at the title screen yelling "THUNDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSS."

Also: playing TF2 now for the first time. Great fun - good sidescrolling stages, but I am having trouble navigating the overhead ones effectively.

[LordHypnos]

I remember coming across this thread recently: http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?t=6859
Supposedly TFII becomes significantly better if you speedrun the overhead stages. Never played it myself, but I'm always interested in obscure overlooked shit.
EDIT: Just realized almost all the maps are gone >_< Still might be useful, though. Or maybe you can find them online somewhere.

[BPzeBanshee]

TF1 plays a bit differently from TF2. It's more like omni-directional Xevious + find the secret switches AND THEN destroy the fortress TF2 style.

Sharp X1 was the original version as far as I could tell when I researched this. There were several ports, which mostly suck even harder but on the PC-88 there's at least two variants: a horrible one and a slightly less horrible one with a picture intro, a chiptune incantation of the ending of William Tell's Overture and a freaky visual effect where the game starts behind the ship parallel to the ground and then rises up to the normal vertical view.

There might've been other music for later stages but no one cares enough to actually play past the first stage. To be fair, it's balls-hard.

[BrianC]

I find it interesting that some of the same platforms that have the original Thunder Force also have ports of early NES games like Golf and Excitebike, not to mention the odd originals like SMB Special and Punch Ball Mario Bros.

I'm guessing the later PC88 version is the construction version? Dat music. Sounds like something better suited to a horse racing game.

[BPzeBanshee]

Horseracing tune is about right. I heard Thunder Force Construction allowed you to make custom levels, which I couldn't figure out how to do with either of the PC-88 versions I found. They did however behave differently depending on what PC-88 mode I had emulated at the time.

[Magma Dragoon]

The X1 version can be emulated with the Xmillenium emulator, which will probably be your best bet. The X1 version looks worse IMO, and it's emulator, XM7, is a nightmare to configure (but totally worth it, as you can play the best version of Silpheed on it).

As for the roms, it's easier to search for the full disk images packs (no TOSEC).