Rank the Tecno Soft shmups you've played

[jp]

1. Hyper Duel - Saturn Version
Best music, best bosses, best level design, best levels. Some people don't like the mech transformation idea, but really, it isn't necessary (trust me, I've 1CC'd it without using it), and as far as I'm concerned its only a neat bonus. Also, there's some cool scoring potential in the game. Also, the Saturn version has better graphics, sound, and gameplay mechanics in comparison to the arcade original.

2. Thunder Force IV
Great music and great boss fights. Sure, some of them can be cheap as all hell, but for the most part its an amazing game. The level design is superb, and its a bit harder than Thunder Force III (and a bit less "memorization" based if you ask me).

3. Thunder Force III AC
Slightly better than Thunder Force III because of the cool extra levels, and I find the gameplay is a bit better.

4. Thunder Force III
Awesome levels and music, and the boss fights are astounding. Truly a beautiful game regardless of if you're playing it on the Genesis or Saturn. My only problem is the memorization aspect thats in some levels... but other than that, a classic.

5. Hyper Duel - Arcade
Worse graphics, sound, and gameplay mechanics from the Saturn version. Its still a great game, but it loses a lot when you move down.

6. Blast Wind
A great straight forward shmup thats incredibly easy, but also incredibly relaxing to play. It has some of the best shmup music I've ever heard, the bosses are all fun, and the levels have branching paths. Pretty good game.

7. Elemental Master
Its easier than Blast Wind, has solid graphics, decent gameplay, and some really cool boss fights (I especially loved the fight against Roki). I ranked it low though since the music really wasn't up to par and the level design was kind of lacking. Though I do have blasting bosses with 2 shots once you get the ring.

8. Thunder Force V
Thunder Force goes 3D... and gets ugly. Aside from two levels (levels 4 and 5) I felt all the levels in this game were incredibly poorly done. The scoring system focuses much too heavily on ONE weapon, and overall the bullet patterns were just sloppy. Its an alright game, but I never felt it was anything special aside from the aforementioned levels. The music was pretty cool... but most everything else was just... meh.

9. Thunder Force II
Top down levels and extreme memorization based horizontal levels. Thats all I really have to say.


I have not played the SNES Thunder Spirits or the original Thunder Force. Though I imagine the latter would be ranked lower than Thunder Force II given the fact that it is nothing but the shitty top down levels. Bleh.

[it290]

I have to disagree with you on Thunder Force V. I agree that the gameplay isn't anything special scoring-wise, but the game has a complete epic feel that just makes it lots of fun (to me). Anyway:

1. Thunder Force III - just my favorite, I dunno.
2. Thunder Force IV - nearly tied w/III
3. Dragon's Fury - They just did the port, but this game is sweet. -edit oh snap, you said 'shmups'. I could swear the topic said 'games' when I read it yesterday.
4. Thunder Force V
5. Elemental Master - Great game, but it wears my fingers out too quickly. Maybe if I had a controller with turbo buttons instead of just a switch.
6. Thunder Force II
7. Thunder Spirits

[Thunder Force]

A rough (i.e. don't over analyze it folks) list, from most to least liked atm...

1. TFV (Sat)
2. TFIII (MD)
3. TFIII (Sat)
4. TFII (MD/Sat)
5. TFIV (Sat)
6. TFIV (MD)
7. Elemental Master
8. TFV (PSX)
9. TFII (X68k)
9. TFAC
10. Blast Wind
11. Hyper Duel
12. Thunder Spirits

[alpha5099]

ThunderForce V
ThunderForce III
Elemental Master
ThunderForce IV
Hyper Duel
ThunderForce II

I've only played Hyper Duel in emulators, so I can't properly guage it. I usually end up liking games a lot more once I've got the real thing.

[Sly Cherry Chunks]

1. Thunderforce IV - utterly brilliant as discussed in the recent TFIV thread.
2. Hyper Duel - Mainly because transformy robots = <3. The two button setup is really clever and works really well. I need to spend more time with this.
3. Thunderforce III - actually, I need to spend more time with this too.
4. Thunderforce II - showing it's age but still cute. One of my few genuine 1CCs
5. ThunderforceAC - Hold down the shot button, sit back, have a cup of tea. Oh look, I just 1CCed it.

[Herr Schatten]

ThunderForce V
ThunderForce III
Elemental Master
ThunderForce IV

I haven't played any of their other games, but that's exactly what my list looks like.

[llabnip]

1. TF-III Set the standard for horizontal shooters in the early 90's. Saturn and MD versions about the same.
2. TF-IV Bigger, brighter and with tons of paralax... The Saturn rev is superior in that it will save high scores and fixes the slowdown.
3. TF-V - Epic feel and great music... Saturn rev looks cleaner, PSX rev plays a bit faster.
4. Hyper Duel - Saturn mode is far better than the arcade mode. I love mechs.
5. Elemental Master - It's a little hard on the fingers, but a great idea and well executed on the Megadrive.
6. Blast Wind - Good romp and I love verts which are a rarity from Technosoft. Awesome music.
7. TFAC - Not too different from TF-III and maybe even a bit easier.
8. TFII - Not too fond of the overhead sections. Saturn and MD versions about the same.
9. Thunder Spirits - This game is not good... a bad port of an OK game.

[Tomtom]

ThunderForce V
ThunderForce III
Elemental Master
ThunderForce IV

I haven't played any of their other games, but that's exactly what my list looks like.

Strangely enough, me too. Though TFIV would probably go above Elemental Master.

[Diabollokus]

1. Thunder force 4, my fav

2. Hyper duel sat/arc, if only it had 4s weapon system it would be 1

3. Thunderforce 3 AC cool new levs

4. Thunderforce 3 a solid game

5. Blast wind not bad nice music

6. Elemental master cool bosses hedgehog rocks

7. Herzog zwei weird strategy game nice though few ships and mechs

8. Thunderforce V

[Nemo]

1. ThunderForce 4
2. Elemental Master
3. HyperDuel
4. ThunderForce 3
5. ThunderForce 5
6. Blast Wind
7. ThunderForce 2

[theevilfunkster]

1. ThunderForce IV Still looks and sounds awesome, hard as fuck though.
2. ThunderForce III Very good but showing its age a bit. Very close to 1cc ing it
3. ThunderForce AC Havn't played it much but still great
4. ThunderForce II Cant stad te overhead levels

Still desperatly need to get ThunderForceV and the rest of Technosofts Saturn stuff.

[ROBOTRON]

TF 3
TF 5
TF 2
TF 4
Herzog Zwie

[tehkao]

TF4
TF2
Elemental Master
TF3
TF AC
TF5

[drohne]

1. tf4 -- for years this was my favorite shmup, and it's still one of my favorite horizontal shmups. the slowdown-free version on gold pack 2 is sweet.

2. tf5 -- i found it really disappointing when it came out -- it's really nothing like tf 4 -- but its distinctive style has grown on me over the years. love the soundtrack.

3. tfac -- i dig the extra levels.

4. tf3 -- i don't think this has aged particularly well, but it was amazing when it was new. the soundtrack is as catchy as ever, anyway.

5. hyper duel -- i paid way too much for this, and it's kinda lightweight, but it's good fun. better than any of the macross shmups, anyway.

6. blast wind -- megadrive-lookin graphics, letterboxed display, no challenge...but it's still fun somehow. and the music is, again, terrific.

7. thunderforce II -- i hate the top-down levels.

[Vexorg]

I haven't really played all of the TecnoSoft games, but here's my list:

TFIV: Probably the best shmup available for the Genesis IMO. In spite of the slowdown, it's probably also the best made one on the platform too.

TFAC: Thunder Force 3, only a bit more refined.

Hyper Duel: So far, I've only played it on MAME, but it's an enjoyable game for sure. Gotta' love the "death by disco" hyper weapon.

TF3: A classic for sure, but is looking a bit dated, especially with TFIV to compare it to.

Tf5: I only recently got this, and haven't played it much, but something just doesn't work for me here. All things considered, it probably wasn't a good time to be making 3D shmups when this came out.

Haven't played / not played enough to form an opinion:
Blast Wind
Elemental Master