Thunder Force III for me.
It was the 1st Shooter I played on the Genesis back in 1990!
I thought the gameplay was awesome, the weapon system just perfect & the music rocked! (Especially the Twin Vulcan, King Fish & G-Lobster Boss Music)
TFIII has the better balanced weapons & gameplay imo & the soundtrack is one of the best I've ever heard from the 16-bit era. Surpassed only by the incredible TFV music which is probably the all time best shmup soudtrack along side RayForce, RayStorm & Lords of Thunder (Yes, music is very important in my book)
TFIV wasn't quite as catchy in the music department as TFIII & the fact that they removed the cool Seber Laser beam with that weird spiral boomerang thing, sucked imo.
Also the way levels scroll vertically in TFIV can get very disorienting, quite frustrating & Boss fights can last ages, which gets boring quickly.
My order goes like this:
1. Thunder Force III
2. Thunder Force V
3. Thunder Force II
4. Thunder Force IV
5. Thunder Force I - ?
I've never gotten much into TFII, but I found it more enjoyable than TFIV.
As for Thunder Force 1, I have never played it. On what system was it released?
By the way, is this the Thunder Force I box cover / flyer?
And what's this PC-6001 computer?
Is it some ancient 8-Bit JPN computer similar to the tape based commodore 64?
And here are some high quality 1024x768 wallpapers of Thunder Force V for anybody interested:
http://system-zero.com/media01/desktop/index.html
http://system-zero.com/media01/desktop/ ... ce1024.jpg
http://system-zero.com/media01/desktop/ ... ce1024.jpg
http://system-zero.com/media01/desktop/ ... ce1024.jpg
http://system-zero.com/media01/desktop/ ... ce1024.jpg
http://system-zero.com/media01/desktop/ ... ce1024.jpg
http://system-zero.com/media01/desktop/ ... ce1024.jpg
http://system-zero.com/media01/desktop/ ... ot1024.jpg