Thunder Force II Playthrough | Megadrive/ Genesis | Real Hardware
1Review - I actually started playing the Thunderforce games in reverse order so it was a bit of a shock to see that this wasn’t a standard side scroller shooter. The first level is a free roaming over-the-top view where the objective is to destroy the bases. From the off, I was incredibly confused, not realising I was dying by flying into barriers that I thought were in the foreground. After finding that out, I realised I was gated in and was stuck in an area until a guide told me that I needed to shoot at a specific target in the barrier to open the barrier and allow my ship through. Then after finding a base and shooting it (very difficult as they are shooting directly back at you), I still needed to find the other bases, which are incredibly hard to find as the maps are quite big, with no obvious identifying features, and the map loops to the other side, again not obvious because it all looks the same.
This is a very harsh introduction to the game and I can see many people would have given up before seeing that every other level is actually a side-scrolling shmup like the later games.
Every single top-down level requires a lot of memorisation because if you don’t know exactly where the next base is, you can be flying around for ages. Some of the bases take a ludicrous amount of hits too so that can be quite annoying. But the game is fair in the number of lives and continues that it gives you (although you aren’t given the max number of lives for some stupid reason, so you have to first go to the hidden option screen by pressing A + START on the title screen).
The side scrolling sections are definitely better and a nice break from the top-down sections. There is a lot of variety in enemies but again it is rock hard with lots of very nasty surprises that need to be memorised.
These sections also have boss fights that vary in difficulty with the first being shockingly hard for a first boss, the second being a little easier, and the third being really easy. Until the 4th boss (of the final side section) being almost impossible to dodge the lasers that it fires. I had to find a safe spot where I couldn’t get hit and cheese the fight completely. This took a long time but had to be done. The safe spot is pixel perfect positioning too so it is also a risk to get to it and you have to hope you get it right.
The final level is another top-down where you have to go around a massive ship and blow up the 4 gun turrets before heading to the top and shooting at the final gun.
This is the hardest level by far because every gun is almost guaranteed to kill you as the bullets come so fast, so you have to start with a new continue so for a full stock of lives. My tactic was to kill myself with the first 2 guns and run and gun them down while I had invincibility frames. Otherwise, to do it them legitimately would take forever as you have to constantly fly away as you have a millisecond to shoot at them. I would still always get killed anyway.
Once I flew around the ship enough times, I could collect enough power ups to finally have a decent enough weapon to have a chance against the final 2 guns, but I would still usually die at least once. I then need to have at least 2 lives left for the final run down the middle and still not get hit as I take out the small turrets inside the corridor. Once at the bottom, the tactic is to intentionally get hit and hover inside the final target with the invincibility frames because trying to dodge the lasers that it fires and fills the corridor is impossible. It’s best to know that every millisecond of invincibility after death is use wisely.
The weapon power ups are great in general with only a couple of duds. They are slightly different depending on if you use them in the side scrolling or top-down levels so there is a lot to see.
So, this game is just a cheese fest that I only scraped through by using dirty tricks instead of pure skill. It is a very hard game, but once I memorised every section and enemy, it wasn’t too difficult. But I would never be able to do it if I didn’t find the tricks.
It’s no wonder they ditched the top-down sections for the sequels. This game is good, but it takes a lot of effort to start enjoying it. The sequels are much better, if not any easier.
Rating – 7/10
Difficulty – 9/10
Original JPN game played on PAL Megadrive modded with 60HZ region switch
Picture split between CRT TV for my own viewing and OSCC scan converter with 2x line doubler, upscaled to HDMI for recording
No cheat/ save states used
Easy Difficulty
Game cover pic in thumbnail from my own collection
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#megadrive #genesis #thunderforceii #thunderforce2