Thunder Force IV
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| Thunder Force IV/Lightening Force | |
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| Developer(s) | Technosoft |
| Publisher(s) | Technosoft (Japan), (Europe) Sega (North America) |
| Release date(s) |  July 24, 1992 1992 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | Mega Drive/Genesis |
| Media | 8-megabit cartridge |
| Input | Mega Drive/Genesis controller |
Thunder Force IV is a Scrolling shooter game developed by Technosoft as the fourth chapter of the Thunder Force series. It was released in 1992 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis console in Japan, and the United States, (1993 in Europe). In the USA, Sega of America decided to re-name the game Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar - a move that fans of the series tend to scoff at as pointless, counterproductive, and possibly even misspelled. In Europe the name was left as Thunder Force IV.
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[edit] Story
Taking place directly after Thunder Force III, the ORN Empire is thought to be defeated by the Galaxy Federation, but still suffers from increasingly frequent attacks from hostile forces. The forces are discovered to be the "Vios", an army made up of allies and residual forces of ORN. The Galaxy Federation discovers the location of their headquarters on the planet Aceria and attacks, but since the power of Vios has grown greater than the previous ORN Empire, the Galaxy Federation forces are initially defeated. Once again, they develop a new small yet powerful fighter spacecraft, the Fire Leo 4 Rynex to eliminate Vios. The player controls Rynex and travels through ten stages while battling Vios forces.
[edit] Gameplay
The game format is mostly unchanged from the previous game (horizontally oriented and forward scrolling). However, many of the stages now stretch beyond the height of a TV screen, which allow the player more space to maneuver and dodge incoming fire (but also makes it easier to miss power-ups). Also, the player now has the option choosing the play order of the first four stages, instead of just the starting stage like in Thunder Force III.
The weapon system is also similar to Thunder Force III. Featuring the same upgradeable defaults, and unique extra weapons that are either exclusive, or were in previous games. Again, upon ship destruction, the weapon currently being used is lost, apart from the defaults. The CLAWs return, and basically have the exact same function as their Thunder Force III counterparts. The speed setting also returns, although it is represented by a percent gauge from zero (lowest speed) to one-hundred (highest speed). Tapping the speed button will increase speed by 25 percent and holding it down will increase speed gradually by one percent.
The most significant addition to the ship arsenal is the Thunder Sword, a very powerful lightning based frontal attack. At the game's halfway point, the ship receives an add-on part which enables the use of the Thunder Sword. From here, the one requirement of using the Thunder Sword is that the ship be equipped with CLAWs. When the ship is not firing any weapons, a charging noise is heard (followed by a chime when fully charged) and the CLAWs will appear to be surrounded with electricity. The next press of the fire button will discharge the Thunder Sword. The blast is stronger if charged longer and is at its strongest when fully charged.
[edit] Soundtrack
The game was backed up by a popular soundtrack, the Stage Select song being very notable amongst other scores from various levels in the game.
[edit] Differences between versions
The European PAL version of the game had protection on the cartridge which recognised a 60Hz machine running the game, and locked them out. For users running a 50/60Hz switch machine, it was a simple case of booting up the game in 50Hz, then switching back to 60Hz once past the opening screen. The PAL version was actually tweaked and speeded up to compesate for the 17.5% reduction in running speed normally associated with the trade down to 50Hz. Running this version of the game at 60hz increased the speed at what the Mega Drive could actually manage causing fairly continuous slowdown when lots of sprites were on screen.
[edit] External links
- Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar at MobyGames
- Thunder Force IV review - Mean Machines Archive
