Thunder Force II - Genesis vs X68000

shmfan · Post by **shmfan** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 6:25 pm

I always see a lot of people say the X68000 version is superior, but what exactly are the differences?
I heard it had better graphics, an extra weapon in the overhead levels and even that the Genesis version is missing a level.

Most of it I gathered from posts on random forums such as gamefaqs etc. so does anyone know how much of this is true and also if there are other differences?

I'm a big fan of the Genesis game that's why I am curious to know how much the X68000 version is better if any.

Thanks.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 8:41 pm

Judge for yourself...

That's roughly the exact same spot in each game.

shmfan · Post by **shmfan** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 1:50 am

Yeah I can see the difference

Thanks for the pictures.

If you have played both you wouldn't happen to know if it's true that the Genesis one is missing a level?

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 2:06 am

I only got an X68000 less than a month ago, so I haven't gotten around to playing Thunder Force II all the way through. I'll let you know once I do.

One of these days I'm gonna do a write up for Thunder Force I, too.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 5:06 am

TF2 X68000 looks better without a doubt, and also has far superior speech (love the way it says "Shit!" each time your ship gets killed, beating the player to the punch so to speak!

). TF2 MD however has far better balanced gameplay, the X68k version's rank system is cheap and wasn't tested enough I think by Technosoft (probably literally impossible to 1-life the X68k game). Music-wise each version has a few pieces of music that seem to sound a bit better in places but I like the mixes on the MD version best overall and the MD has an awesome stage tune the X68k version lacks. The extra side-scrolling level in the X68k version is a definite plus in its favor, and the X68k version has a better ending of the two. But overall I easily consider TF2 MD to be the more enjoyable shmup of the two.

SFKhoa · Post by **SFKhoa** » Sat Feb 26, 2005 5:17 am

What about the beginning of TFII MD when the guy goes "nanananana lada good luck?" I heard in the Retrocore Saturn Shooting Special that if you played the X68000, you could actually understand what he says.

So..question is, what exactly DOES he say? :/

jslithy · Post by **jslithy** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 12:22 am

So..question is, what exactly DOES he say? :/

In the MD version it says:

"This is Exceliza. Roger, good luck."

tehkao · Post by **tehkao** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 4:37 am

Hmm, looking at those 2 pictures, I think the Genesis version looks better.

postman · Post by **postman** » Sun Feb 27, 2005 4:53 am

I can verify that there is an extra level in the X6800 version (or one missing in the Genesis one, depending on how you look at it.) From what I remember, the 68k version is harder too.......

shmfan · Post by **shmfan** » Mon Feb 28, 2005 9:46 am

I think the ship looks better at least.

I also always wanted to know what the infamous voiceover in the beginning says, it's one of the big mysteries in gaming.

Thanks for all the info, it's good to know the Genesis/MD version I have been playing isn't complete garbage.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:41 am

I love the Genny version... I haven't tried the X68k one though. The extra level piques my curiosity though. I'll have to give it a shot.

As a side note... Blue Lander, what exactly would you write up for TF 1? "The game is hard. The bullets are hard to see, and there are lots of them. The graphics are in four colors. I want to play TF 2 now."

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 2:50 am

Cthulhu wrote:I love the Genny version... I haven't tried the X68k one though. The extra level piques my curiosity though. I'll have to give it a shot.

As a side note... Blue Lander, what exactly would you write up for TF 1? "The game is hard. The bullets are hard to see, and there are lots of them. The graphics are in four colors. I want to play TF 2 now."

Have you been playing TF1 on an PC88 emu? If it isn't in the right settling, the colors will be off. I found this out the hard way. The bullets are much easier to see in the right setting. I really need to get TF2 for my Genny.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 3:06 am

Yeah, you've gotta muck with the emulator setting to get the color's right.

But I have a real PC-88 to play it on, and the games look slightly better than on the emulator. I need a keyboard before I can try it (no joystick support). I should have a keyboard in about a month, so I'll do a write up then.

Cthulhu · Post by **Cthulhu** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 4:36 am

Well, I haven't fiddled with the color settings. That could be the problem... something tells me I'll never bother trying to get TF1 to work properly though

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 4:45 am

Yeah, the game doesn't look too hot no matter how you set the emulator up.

There's also versions of the game for the X1 and the FM-7 (perhaps PC-6001, too), and those might look/play better. But good luck finding downloads of them!

BrianC · Post by **BrianC** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 4:54 am

I actually liked Thunder Force one, but I would be lying if I said I liked it anywhere near as much as I like the sequels. It's interesting how a game that started as a free roaming overhead view bombing shooter went to straight horizontal shooting for later games.

Bosuonparedo · Post by **Bosuonparedo** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:43 pm

I always thought that the intro to the Genesis version said
"Exiting duties that matter! Good luck!"

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 6:13 am

jslithy wrote:So..question is, what exactly DOES he say? :/

In the MD version it says:

"This is Exceliza. Roger, good luck."

On X68000, it also says "I want to fly now" right after the first sentence.

gigadrive32 · Post by **gigadrive32** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:08 am

X68000 Thunder Force II is better in most areas

-more parallax scrolling in overhead & side scrolling stages which gives greater depth. Blue Lander's comparison pics gives you an example of this. the MD/Gen *could* easily have handled the extra parallax, though.

-more color: possible 256 colors on screen out of 65,536 compared to a possible 64 colors on screen out of 512. while I don't know how much color either ver of TFII is using, I can say without a doubt, X68K TFII color looks better because it's most likely using more of it, cause the capability was there.

-X68k TFII has at least 2 levels not found in the MD/Gen ver. 1 overhead, 1 side scrolling (watch the demos of the X68000 as you let it sit!) although i have not gotten even close to the end of X68k TFII, therefore I do not know if it has the last few levels that are in the MD/Gen TFII. I assume X68K TFII has them, but cannot confirm.

-clearer speach, and more of it

-1 or more weapons not in the MD/Gen ver. MCM (manual control missile) but i have not played with it yet. maybe other weapons ?

Genesis version is alot easier and has better music in a few places.

the X68000 has conciderably more resources than the MD/Genesis did. faster CPU, more sprite / graphic processing muscle. more colors. more system RAM and VRAM. better audio hardware.

I have not played X68000 TFII extensively enough to know ALL the differences, but that's what I've noticed from my limited experience from it.

Blue Lander · Post by **Blue Lander** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 5:20 am

gigadrive32 wrote: -more parallax scrolling in overhead & side scrolling stages which gives greater depth. Blue Lander's comparison pics gives you an example of this. the MD/Gen *could* easily have handled the extra parallax, though.

Hmm, good point. The Genesis's VDP can do two background windows with transparencies, so there's no reason it couldn't have added an extra layer. I wonder why they didn't bother? Perhaps that would have required a larger color pallette.

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 4:11 am

I swear it always sounded like "ziggyguggygaga. niner. good luck...."

Genesis speech always sounded bad on real hardware.

witness "wise fwom your gwave..."

segasonicfan · Post by **segasonicfan** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 5:08 am

I swear it always sounded like "ziggyguggygaga. niner. good luck...."

Genesis speech always sounded bad on real hardware.

witness "wise fwom your gwave..."

Lol, yeah the Genesis could not handle audio well at all. The worst is Vapor Trail though, omg that's such a riot to hear.

Thunderforce II is the weakest in the series IMO (though I only played on Genny). III and IV are real gems though (gawd the music is good in III).

-Segasonicfan

Iori Branford · Post by **Iori Branford** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 6:17 am

The difference that stands out most in my mind, I think, is DIFFICULTY. My Stage 1 Game Over count on the X68k is soon to hit the triple digits, even on Normal with six lives. The lack of 1UPs for score or 1UP items in overhead stages might have something to do with it.

On Genesis I've at least gotten to the third overhead stage.

Stormwatch · Post by **Stormwatch** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:18 pm

zaphod wrote:Genesis speech always sounded bad on real hardware. witness "wise fwom your gwave..."

Isn't that because the developers (japanese) couldn't get the right pronunciation?

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Sat Jul 22, 2006 11:27 pm

For the longest time, I thought the Genesis version of TFII said "Introduce the music. Niner. Good luck."

Anyway, there are also a few weapon differences between the Genesis and X68K versions ("Nova" for Genesis, "Sidewinder" for the X68K, if I recall correctly, was one), and yes, the X68K version is a lot harder on the top view missions. I've gotten all the way to the final battle, and the stage is littered with what looks like scaffolding all around the huge ship you're trying to blow up. It makes taking the thing out insanely difficult, which is why I have yet to finish blowing it up.

zaphod · Post by **zaphod** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:11 am

Stormwatch wrote:
zaphod wrote:Genesis speech always sounded bad on real hardware. witness "wise fwom your gwave..."
Isn't that because the developers (japanese) couldn't get the right pronunciation?

No, it sounds perfectly fine on the arcade version, with a clear zeus-ish sounding voice. but the genesis sounds so scratchy and tinny it makes it downright cimical.

segasonicfan · Post by **segasonicfan** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:51 pm

zaphod wrote:
Genesis speech always sounded bad on real hardware. witness "wise fwom your gwave..."

Isn't that because the developers (japanese) couldn't get the right pronunciation?

Yea, having taken two years of Japanese I can tell you it's a very unlikely mistake even as mispronounciation goes. The Japanese don't use L but they use R's just fine (in fact, they interchange the two). So "Rise from your grave" would be easy to say in Japanese or English.

-Segasonicfan

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:48 pm

Blue Lander wrote:I only got an X68000 less than a month ago, so I haven't gotten around to playing Thunder Force II all the way through. I'll let you know once I do.

One of these days I'm gonna do a write up for Thunder Force I, too.

I'd get one if it had a port of Flying Shark, because it's already got an Arcade-Perfect port of Thunder Blade.

gameoverDude · Post by **gameoverDude** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:20 am

segasonicfan wrote: Lol, yeah the Genesis could not handle audio well at all. The worst is Vapor Trail though, omg that's such a riot to hear.

Agreed on Vapor Trail. When you kill a boss on the Genesis VT, the voice sample sounds like "Bastard!". IIRC it's really "Nice work!" or something such.

I think X68k TF2's Sidewinder weapon is good for nothing. I keep on wishing I had the Nova (the predecessor of the Free Way) instead. OTOH, the MCM in the overhead levels can be nice to have.

There is a port of Flying Shark for the x68000. It has a few minor inaccuracies (near the end of stage 1, you are not able to crack open the bunkers that house the tanks), but the BGM is better than the arcade version.

dave4shmups · Post by **dave4shmups** » Mon Jul 24, 2006 5:14 pm

gameoverDude wrote:
segasonicfan wrote: Lol, yeah the Genesis could not handle audio well at all. The worst is Vapor Trail though, omg that's such a riot to hear.
Agreed on Vapor Trail. When you kill a boss on the Genesis VT, the voice sample sounds like "Bastard!". IIRC it's really "Nice work!" or something such.

I think X68k TF2's Sidewinder weapon is good for nothing. I keep on wishing I had the Nova (the predecessor of the Free Way) instead. OTOH, the MCM in the overhead levels can be nice to have.

There is a port of Flying Shark for the x68000. It has a few minor inaccuracies (near the end of stage 1, you are not able to crack open the bunkers that house the tanks), but the BGM is better than the arcade version.

Really? Thanks for that info!

Other then the voice overs, I really like the music in the Genesis port of Vapor Trail.