This is my thread to help ANYBODY with any questions about any Thunder Force game, even Thunder Spirits (which appeared on the SNES and is just a home version of Thunder force Arcade) I absolutley LOVE shooters and they are pretty much all I play. Thunder Force just happens to be my favorite shooter series--then it goes Gradius-R-Type-The "RAY" series.
Oh and ps..Gradius V is pretty hard. Try beating it without dying......
GD: Stratagies for all Thunder Force Games
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ThunderForce 222
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- Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2005 1:12 am
GD: Stratagies for all Thunder Force Games
"AREA GUARD NAME, GUARDIANS KNIGHT--SUB-NAME--"FOR WHOM IS THE SWORD DRAWN?!"
ThunderForce 4:
Work your way through the difficulties
Stick it on easy first, get comfy with the game and find out what you like best. You can probably find everything you need and just make the game harder as you get better. In otherwords, set your own learning curve.
Route
My route for the first 4 levels is always Air-Raid/Ruin/Desert/Strite. Having the FreeWay is about all you really need in this game to really get through, it's definatly (in my opinion) the bread and butter weapon in the game. There is a freeway hidden around on Strite, just when you enter the water, the screen will state moving, and its to the bottom somewhere. Find out what your most comfy with.
Find where the shields are...
Air Raid again has the easiest to find and obtain, being in the "crosshair" part of the level.
In Ruin, it's near the top of the ceiling around the first time a cluster of enemies come out from the back, a mecha, and two little flying beam cannong things. A little tricky to describe really, but its definatly there.
Desert also has one, somewhere mid-center of the level, after the mid boss. Hardest to obtain.
Level 5 has one, I think either at where the level starts, or just after it. I forget, been a month now since I last played :/
When to use weapons
Twin Shot / Blade - Great for just pulling in as close as possible and hammering on things. I dare not use it for anything else. It's got great power, but it's just not got the spread and the relaiblity of the Free-Way. Twin shot is weaker also, but it can maul the boss on Strite for some bizarre reason (I think its for dramatic purposes)
Back Shot / Rail Gun - Pretty much the same as the Blade, kind of obvious usage. If you feel like you'll be safe to use it, use it.
Back Shot just... sucks.
Snake - Great for bombing. Use it in common sence.
FreeWay - Weak, but so much reliablity. Excellent for just swinging around and stuff. If it can't get to the places you want, use the Hunter, or any of the top 3 weapons. Again, just use common sence...
Hunter - Great at getting into nooks and cranny's. It goes through walls, it homes in, but it's about as strong as TwinShot. Get enemies that are in other places, like ones hidden in the surface of the ground or in other areas you cant really get to.
ThunderSword - Blast the crap out of bosses with it. It rules against the Level 8 boss (the bug thing), because you can rip the tentical things off with about a shot each.
Boss Strategy
Strite- If you have twinshot, use it. If you have dont, and your stuck with just Blade and Rail. Enjoy a long fight. When it's mouth starts to gasp air/water/whatever in, stay low. Just as it's about to fire, push to the top of the screen and it wont do anything to you. This'll also save you from any nasty tail swinging its way at you. Stay to the back of the screen, and be careful of that tail, it can just about hit you, even when your there.
Freeway does it's job, but it can be a little bit difficult to aim. Hunter is ok, and Snake is about as useful as the rail gun.
Desert- Freeway and Blade are excellent here. if you don't have either of them, twin shot is your friend. When the head opens, it's about to shoot the super, omni, full of lightning quick death, missles on you. Sometimes, it'll shoot some bullets that seem to go off in dianagols, then go straight suddenly, be careful of them. Once his shield is dropped, he'll send some of the ball's he used for it to kick your ass. I love to rail gun them down, takes care of them easy.
Ruin- Easy, Blade his claws off, should be easy work. Swing around the back when he's about to shoot a beam off and rail him/freeway him. Careful of the single stray bullet he shoots after he returns to his postion.
Air Raid- As soon as he starts shooting his mushroom like wave shots, pull in close, make him eat Blade/TwinShot/FreeWay. Run round the back and get as close as possible and rail the back of the turret off. Switch to Freeway and shoot straight down. Mind the little bullet he occasionally shoots, everything else just dies to Freeway fire.
Stage 5- Eh, Watch your friends die, and just dont drive into him.
Stage 6- Hate this one, Switch to FreeWay if you have it, RailGun if you don't. Charge ThunderSword, blast at an arm, then get ready to dash through, just as he's about to charge. Repeat till both arms are gone. When he's doing his little charging ball flurry (he sits there, and just shoots balls at you, sit above him and wait. When both arms are gone, change to blade and fire as much as you can on the front, switch the railgun when he dives, and repeat. Mind the lightning that strikes off as you pass him. When he's in his final moments, charge a thundersword or two and blast on him. Mind the spinning balls. (I hate that last bit :/)
Stage 7- Snake him, snake him until he dives out, and use hunter on any turrets that should stick. You can stay just at the entrance and you should be ok from any attakcs. When he pulls up, start using Blade and shoot on his mouth. His attacks are a pain in the ass, so he might be a little bit difficult at times. ThunderSword isn't so great here.
Stage 8- Thundersword the tenticals, if they are alive after a shot, either charge up another one, or snake the purple spot. Go for the top one first, it's a lot safer. You can also thundersword a retracted tentical also, it does hurt it (I think anyway...). When the little bug comes out, Charge a ThunderSword and use it on him. It's the only surefire way of killing the bastard without the flies that carry him from slamming you straight into the cieling. (Oh yeah, those flies do that when you kill them, so any other gun is pretty useless as they just make it difficult for you) Be careful when he spins and try and get used to how he does it.
When the big fly comes in, Carry on ThunderSwording him and be careful of the huge blasts the boss drops on the floor. The big fly carrying him can really swoop in low too, so be careful of him and his eye laser.
When he's dying, he shoots off loads of flys. You can still die here, but you can also mess around a bit. Climb inside his shell, and sit comfy, on the rare occasion, he may actually get you there, depeneds if you care or not.
Stage 9- RailGun on his ass, strip the cannons off, and get used to the timming of the shots. Hunter takes a long time to kill these off too, but if you're playing it safe.... then whatever. When he starts attacking head on again, charge a thundersword, if you can, and shoot on his face. You can get caught out kind of badly though, so if you plan on playing safe, Blade him. Also, watch out for his punching, he does it no and then, but he attacks in a fairly obvious pattern Try and get him to come to the top of the screen too. He shoots a crapload of missles. You can get rid of half of them if you make him fire off screen, they wont return.. When he's down to one claw, he'll start using his chasing laser of doom, thats your moment to strike, so when he's doing that, Thunder Sword him.
Stage 10 (final boss, not the other shiney metal thing) - Pull in Close, shoot ThunderSword, then switch to FreeWay and shoot as close as possible to get all the missles hit. Does heafty damage. Do the same on the other side, or you could use the Rail here...
When he starts to fall and use his claws to climb (pretty pathetic if you ask me, he's trying to get into space :O) Change to Hunter, eliminate all the blobs, then switch to blade and smash on the real one. Job done.
Tired from writing now, hope that helps.
Work your way through the difficulties
Stick it on easy first, get comfy with the game and find out what you like best. You can probably find everything you need and just make the game harder as you get better. In otherwords, set your own learning curve.
Route
My route for the first 4 levels is always Air-Raid/Ruin/Desert/Strite. Having the FreeWay is about all you really need in this game to really get through, it's definatly (in my opinion) the bread and butter weapon in the game. There is a freeway hidden around on Strite, just when you enter the water, the screen will state moving, and its to the bottom somewhere. Find out what your most comfy with.
Find where the shields are...
Air Raid again has the easiest to find and obtain, being in the "crosshair" part of the level.
In Ruin, it's near the top of the ceiling around the first time a cluster of enemies come out from the back, a mecha, and two little flying beam cannong things. A little tricky to describe really, but its definatly there.
Desert also has one, somewhere mid-center of the level, after the mid boss. Hardest to obtain.
Level 5 has one, I think either at where the level starts, or just after it. I forget, been a month now since I last played :/
When to use weapons
Twin Shot / Blade - Great for just pulling in as close as possible and hammering on things. I dare not use it for anything else. It's got great power, but it's just not got the spread and the relaiblity of the Free-Way. Twin shot is weaker also, but it can maul the boss on Strite for some bizarre reason (I think its for dramatic purposes)
Back Shot / Rail Gun - Pretty much the same as the Blade, kind of obvious usage. If you feel like you'll be safe to use it, use it.
Back Shot just... sucks.
Snake - Great for bombing. Use it in common sence.
FreeWay - Weak, but so much reliablity. Excellent for just swinging around and stuff. If it can't get to the places you want, use the Hunter, or any of the top 3 weapons. Again, just use common sence...
Hunter - Great at getting into nooks and cranny's. It goes through walls, it homes in, but it's about as strong as TwinShot. Get enemies that are in other places, like ones hidden in the surface of the ground or in other areas you cant really get to.
ThunderSword - Blast the crap out of bosses with it. It rules against the Level 8 boss (the bug thing), because you can rip the tentical things off with about a shot each.
Boss Strategy
Strite- If you have twinshot, use it. If you have dont, and your stuck with just Blade and Rail. Enjoy a long fight. When it's mouth starts to gasp air/water/whatever in, stay low. Just as it's about to fire, push to the top of the screen and it wont do anything to you. This'll also save you from any nasty tail swinging its way at you. Stay to the back of the screen, and be careful of that tail, it can just about hit you, even when your there.
Freeway does it's job, but it can be a little bit difficult to aim. Hunter is ok, and Snake is about as useful as the rail gun.
Desert- Freeway and Blade are excellent here. if you don't have either of them, twin shot is your friend. When the head opens, it's about to shoot the super, omni, full of lightning quick death, missles on you. Sometimes, it'll shoot some bullets that seem to go off in dianagols, then go straight suddenly, be careful of them. Once his shield is dropped, he'll send some of the ball's he used for it to kick your ass. I love to rail gun them down, takes care of them easy.
Ruin- Easy, Blade his claws off, should be easy work. Swing around the back when he's about to shoot a beam off and rail him/freeway him. Careful of the single stray bullet he shoots after he returns to his postion.
Air Raid- As soon as he starts shooting his mushroom like wave shots, pull in close, make him eat Blade/TwinShot/FreeWay. Run round the back and get as close as possible and rail the back of the turret off. Switch to Freeway and shoot straight down. Mind the little bullet he occasionally shoots, everything else just dies to Freeway fire.
Stage 5- Eh, Watch your friends die, and just dont drive into him.
Stage 6- Hate this one, Switch to FreeWay if you have it, RailGun if you don't. Charge ThunderSword, blast at an arm, then get ready to dash through, just as he's about to charge. Repeat till both arms are gone. When he's doing his little charging ball flurry (he sits there, and just shoots balls at you, sit above him and wait. When both arms are gone, change to blade and fire as much as you can on the front, switch the railgun when he dives, and repeat. Mind the lightning that strikes off as you pass him. When he's in his final moments, charge a thundersword or two and blast on him. Mind the spinning balls. (I hate that last bit :/)
Stage 7- Snake him, snake him until he dives out, and use hunter on any turrets that should stick. You can stay just at the entrance and you should be ok from any attakcs. When he pulls up, start using Blade and shoot on his mouth. His attacks are a pain in the ass, so he might be a little bit difficult at times. ThunderSword isn't so great here.
Stage 8- Thundersword the tenticals, if they are alive after a shot, either charge up another one, or snake the purple spot. Go for the top one first, it's a lot safer. You can also thundersword a retracted tentical also, it does hurt it (I think anyway...). When the little bug comes out, Charge a ThunderSword and use it on him. It's the only surefire way of killing the bastard without the flies that carry him from slamming you straight into the cieling. (Oh yeah, those flies do that when you kill them, so any other gun is pretty useless as they just make it difficult for you) Be careful when he spins and try and get used to how he does it.
When the big fly comes in, Carry on ThunderSwording him and be careful of the huge blasts the boss drops on the floor. The big fly carrying him can really swoop in low too, so be careful of him and his eye laser.
When he's dying, he shoots off loads of flys. You can still die here, but you can also mess around a bit. Climb inside his shell, and sit comfy, on the rare occasion, he may actually get you there, depeneds if you care or not.
Stage 9- RailGun on his ass, strip the cannons off, and get used to the timming of the shots. Hunter takes a long time to kill these off too, but if you're playing it safe.... then whatever. When he starts attacking head on again, charge a thundersword, if you can, and shoot on his face. You can get caught out kind of badly though, so if you plan on playing safe, Blade him. Also, watch out for his punching, he does it no and then, but he attacks in a fairly obvious pattern Try and get him to come to the top of the screen too. He shoots a crapload of missles. You can get rid of half of them if you make him fire off screen, they wont return.. When he's down to one claw, he'll start using his chasing laser of doom, thats your moment to strike, so when he's doing that, Thunder Sword him.
Stage 10 (final boss, not the other shiney metal thing) - Pull in Close, shoot ThunderSword, then switch to FreeWay and shoot as close as possible to get all the missles hit. Does heafty damage. Do the same on the other side, or you could use the Rail here...
When he starts to fall and use his claws to climb (pretty pathetic if you ask me, he's trying to get into space :O) Change to Hunter, eliminate all the blobs, then switch to blade and smash on the real one. Job done.
Tired from writing now, hope that helps.
Blade has a high damage rating but also a huge size, making it extremely difficult to hit small covered targets (like the Strite boss' weakpoint) with any accuracy. Blade is best for mainly stages to cover the screen due to it's rapid firing rate and size. Some bosses can also be tackled with Blade safely (like the giant thruster in the last stage).Iccy wrote:When to use weapons
Twin Shot / Blade - Great for just pulling in as close as possible and hammering on things. I dare not use it for anything else. It's got great power, but it's just not got the spread and the relaiblity of the Free-Way. Twin shot is weaker also, but it can maul the boss on Strite for some bizarre reason (I think its for dramatic purposes)
Rail Gun and Back Shot have their uses, and as stated, quite obvious ones. Both can also be used in pinpoint attacks, such as the Strite boss' weakpoint, and against the stage8 boss' tentacles.Iccy wrote:Back Shot / Rail Gun - Pretty much the same as the Blade, kind of obvious usage. If you feel like you'll be safe to use it, use it.
Back Shot just... sucks.
Actually, kind of useless in most stages except Air Raid, stage7 and 8. Powerful, but leaves you very open to frontal attacks.Iccy wrote:Snake - Great for bombing. Use it in common sence.
FreeWay is actually the most powerful weapon in the game (not counting the Thunder Sword). When used in pointblank conditions it can obliterate bosses at speed, and can also be used to cover all areas of the screen. It's also good in pinpoint attacks. I use FreeWay almost all the time, switching out to other weapons as needed. Definitely the best weapon if mastered.Iccy wrote:FreeWay - Weak, but so much reliablity. Excellent for just swinging around and stuff. If it can't get to the places you want, use the Hunter, or any of the top 3 weapons. Again, just use common sence...
(Watch my No Miss ALL replay for the best way to use FreeWay ^_-)
Good for levels with a lot of obstacles (Air Raid, stage7, stage9). Don't rely on it too much tho, since it can often lock onto the wrong target ^_-Iccy wrote:Hunter - Great at getting into nooks and cranny's. It goes through walls, it homes in, but it's about as strong as TwinShot. Get enemies that are in other places, like ones hidden in the surface of the ground or in other areas you cant really get to.
Definitely worth saving your CRAW units for. Know when to use it tho, as the cooldown and the recoil can be deadly.Iccy wrote:ThunderSword - Blast the crap out of bosses with it. It rules against the Level 8 boss (the bug thing), because you can rip the tentical things off with about a shot each.
