You seriously need to watch my Thunder Force 4 video lol... I did that too, plus MANY many other sprites tricks and manipulation. I'm curious what you'll think of it...
@@frankszulakiewicz5826 Both games show what the other console can't do. Axelay: Mode 7 (and truly beautifully). Thunder Force 4: lots and lots of insane action on screen at the same time, with beautiful paralax scrolling.
I know I'm several years late but this was a great vid - and love that your commentary breaks down the new things at maniac difficulty along with bits of story too. One of my favorite games growing up and you can't beat the soundtrack.
I appreciated having the commentary. Usually when you see these runs your not sure if their tool assisted, or if the player is even human by that point, if you know what I mean. Gave the run a bit of humor having that. This game is a frustratingly technical masterpiece.
Every time I watch footage of TFIV, I'm always impressed by the amazing graphics not to mention the legendary music by Toshiharu Yamanishi (mostly) and Omen. Ohtani only did like 1 song, but definitely is legendary in his own right for the TFIII music. Seems like it has some really cool and fun stage design too, though I haven't really played it myself.
I agree. The game just looks and sounds so stellar. I can't imagine what a TF5 would have looked like on the Genesis. I wish they'd have done it! If you haven't checked out the other video I did on this game, you should. I did an entire section on the music!
It's unbelievably helpful listening to your commentary as I try to learn this game. I'm surprised more people don't talk about their 1CC runs! Thankyou!
Thanks so much! I tried my best to be as informative as I could, mainly because there are very few guys who release commentary with their 1cc runs. Glad it's helping you and thanks for watching!
Haha... I may pick it up on Switch at some point. But I put so much time into this game just to get this Maniac 1LC that I doubt I'll be attempting it again anytime soon. Especially since there are so many other games to play.
Good job with the commentary and awesome skills! Definitively one of my favorite 16bit games ...I'm still trying to 1cc it on regular difficulty. The recent Sega Ages release is good for practice.
Shmup I commend you, you are wonderful. I really loved this game when was a kid, but never had the courage to challenge the Maniac level, I absolutely love the music, it's been 20 years and it's never got out of my head. well done Shmup, keep up your great work.
I enjoyed a lot your comments. This brings me a lot memories... Back in the day, my best run was losing "only" 8 lives in the maniac run, and was very proud of that! Your run makes it seem easy, but WOW it wasn´t... To me the reward to finishing the game was listening to the "OMAKES" that were made available in the music menu only once you beat the game. They were kind of unused pieces of music that were actually very interesting! Pretty awesome game.
I played this game a lot when I was a kid and man I still remember all the little tricks and pointers you go over on this run. One of the things I find helps is adjusting your speed throughout the run. You stayed at 100%, but sometimes dropping to 75% or 50% can really help when going through tight sections so you don't delete your shield on accident or run into a projectile or enemy when trying to dodge other things.
Not just the best 16BIT shooter, one of the best ever PERIOD. ThunderForce IV is metal as fuck. ThunderForce IV is fucking kick ass. Mix metal as fuck and kick ass together, and we got ThunderForce IV. This game is legendry. I love it. Great commentary and play through by the way! :)
Took me 4 days to beat this, Then had to sneak it back into the wrapping paper under the tree for christmas day. Great vibes watching this all these years latter!
I pronounce the desert stage "Dazer". I can kill the jumping ice monster with the freeway by flying in front of his face at medium speed. That was an amazing moment for me. Well played to finish on Maniac without dying! I completed this once on normal and dying loads but without getting 99 lives. I like the ending with the photos and scientists researching and then the Top Gun homage ending. FYI you control the direction of the stars when you score on the leaderboard.
Brilliant video mate. Really enjoyed the commentary throughout the game. I loved Thunder Force III, which I only ever played and finished on normal, but as far as Thunder Force IV was concerned I always found it intimidating to play, and the few times I did have a go, I died on my a*se so badly. You on the other hand made it look so easy! The level of detail on each stage though is incredible, with awesome in game music to boot. So much love was put into making this game, would be really interested in learning of the origins of the making of this game from some of the developers, music and graphic artists. Be great if you could get Booby Master on board :)
Im back, thank you Shump Master, best megadrive shooter of all time. I finished this hiding in my bed with on easiest level witrh Cheat with my Sega Nomad whenI was 16. during the game, press up right A down right A C left up B, then up and right for full ammo. Thank you Shump master, this is my chilhood.
You know, I really found it strange how much TF4's Snake sucks compared to TF3's Fire. As counterparts it goes from your favourite to least favourite weapon between the two games and I second that. I'm actually curious as to whether playing as Styx in the Saturn version warrants use of Fire in more situations or if TF4's level design just makes the weapon less useful. Awesome run, man, all that practice definitely paid off! I only just managed to beat the game on Normal yesterday, be that as triumphant for me as it was. Hats off to you both for this run, and the fantastic retrospective video you made alongside it. Great to see such enthusiasm and effort for the Thunder Force games!
You're an absolute legend man! Fantastic skills and great commen- Wait-a-minute; you did the whole run at 100% engine!? O_O Absolute mad lad. Congratulations! =)
Man , what a game!! So far the only one I've played is part 3, but this looks like the pinnacle. Great thing is , its not expensive by today's shooter game pricing.
You got a higher score then me and I killed a lot more then you? Granted you blew through the bosses much faster then I did. My Score was 6230420 on 1cc,1lc Maniac Im even surprised to see Razors score was 5968850 in which he might have use tool assistance. I love your channel and thanks for showing your run I learned so much from it!
You definitely need to play Thunder Force V, it continues where TF4 left off, the post-credits scene in TF4? Well, it exists for a reason and it does have a pay off in TF5, you'll see.
Yeah I have thought about it... But those janky PS1 visuals just put me off so much. I also don't own a PS1 so it may be a while. But I'll get to it someday :)
Don't discount TF5 friend. While I feel the 2d sprites have aged better, something about the early 3D polygons is also appealing. At least to me. Being that you don't have a PS1 , do you have a Saturn? The Saturn is widely regarded as the better version. Also as a shooter fan , getting a Sega Saturn is almost mandatory. Peace.
Plus... TFV has the best final boss of the series, hands down. A real challenge. Some great music as well. Some names from TFIV returned to make the game. Hey, TFIV is 25 years old this year, TFV is 20, and TFVI will be 10 next year. Isn't it time for a TFVII already?
Yep thunderforce five on the saturn was a labour of love for the saturn by technosoft,the ps1 version was a conversion of tf5 by working designs i believe, which is still good, but the saturn version is where it's at, plus the special edition includes a music cd with it, which i recommend, hope you found my comment useful and when and if you do get a saturn and the game,enjoy and i hope you do a review on it, laters
Fun fact: you can control the starfield if you make the high score table. Also, in Ruin, the blocks that form walls are powered by your weapon and build faster when shot and always build towards you. Just take them out easily with the snake. I would recommend playing this game at 25% speed whenever you can. To kill the diving ice monster you only need to hit him around 3 times with the rail gun or if you are a daredevil, put the speed to 75% and fly in front of his face with freeway selected and unleash a barrage of missiles in your wake and into his face. There is also a freeway weapon in the lower part of the screen, obscured, in a capsule when you first enter the water. The cloning enemies you fight in the very next scene will not multiply until shot. If you have the twin shot you can fly right up to them and kill them when they are still one enemy. My favourite weapon is the snake because it offers additional protection from some projectiles and is quite safe. I can't get past the level 7 boss on normal right now but am starting to learn to watch for where the moths sit on the ground so I can avoid being blasted into the ceiling by them when they explode.
This is quite a bit late, but the reason for the weird names in the staff roll is actually a Japanese thing. Back in the day, depending on the company, they wouldn't actually let the staff use their actual names in the staff roll out of fear of their workers getting headhunted by other companies, so they were forced to submit these weird nicknames that only they, their co-workers, and the company would know while still getting acknowledged in the credits. Another Japanese company known for this was Sonic Team, namely the first Sonic game, though this was really only the case in the early years of the Sega Megadrive and Genesis. After a while, most companies stopped this practice.
A little fun fact about the Stage 1 (Strite) mini-boss, unlike all the other mini-bosses, that mini-boss is actually mandatory to kill, as the stage won't progress otherwise. I know this because as a kid, I kept killing those flying black things wondering why they kept appearing for minutes upon minutes on end.
Actually, I'm pretty positive that the guy who destroys the space battleship (the Cerberus) it's from another mysterious faction, the "Faust" (cited in the ending too). Vios is defeated with the battleship, the last 5 stages are against Faust. Oh, you're a monster, anyway! Thanks for showing me how is done.
It makes sense, since from stage 6 onwards the enemies radically change from the previous ones. In stages 1 through 5 you only fight robot enemies, while in the second half of the game you face almost exclusively bio-engineered weapons
Fantastic run of a great game! You make it look so easy, but as you said yourself, its not haha. Actually started playing this game after Christmas, though on normal mode. I usually screw up in Stage 7 or 8, and need to use a continue :( Starting Chapter 8 without Hunter/Shield/Claw is no joke. Figuring out that at the start the bottom route gives you (hidden) Claw/Blade, while top route gives you 1-up/Hunter, helped a lot. Its interesting to see that you get power-ups at different places then I do. For example in Stage 6 (the water level), you get a shield after you defeat the mini boss. I never get a shield there and instead go to the top of the level to grab a shield a bit before the 1-up. Maybe difficulty also changes some of the power-up locations? I also notice that you seem to kill bosses a lot faster then I do. Take the boss of Stage 3 (Air Raid), where you use the Railgun to take out the missile launcher in a few seconds. That takes me multiple boss cycles to destroy using the Railgun. Similarly I need 2x/3x more Thunder Sword hits on bosses, especially on the Chapter 8 (mini) bosses. I guess timing is way more important than it would initially seen. Anyway, thanks again for this video and commentary. It helps a lot seeing where/how I can improve.
I did finished this game on maniac when i was a kid, but i didnt remember it was so brutal... Also every time i hear stage 8 music.... is pure Judas Priest You never played thunderforce 5? its an AWESOME game, and the final boss has one of the best Theme's ever. (wich is actually part of a bigger ost )
Amazing gameplay SHMUP Master! You truly are an ace in this game. It´s worth noting that the girl's voice that was digitized for TFIV (known as ATUKO in the game credits and in the Tecno Soft Gal's Club) was the same person who sang the arranged version of "Love Dream - Samayoi Hito". vgmsite.com/soundtracks/technosoft-game-music-collection-vol.-5-thunder-force-iv/Booklet%20p.%2005-06.jpg (Link for the song's lyrics). KAORU, apart from being the girl who voiced the item pickup lines in TFIII (also a member of the Tecno Soft Gal's Club), she sang an arranged version of the game's credits theme called "Present - Orgel" that can be found on the Technosoft Game Music Collection Vol. 3 - Thunder Force III downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/technosoft-game-music-collection-vol.-3-thunder-force-iii/28%2520present%2520%2528arrange%2520version%2529.mp3 (Link for the song) P.D: Your content is awesome!
Coming back to this, also, just randomly watchin, I think RUIN is with the mirrored city ruins (probably design for ease just mirroring the floor ) I like to think of it as a Cylindrical cybernetic city or planet, like the world is in a giant tube and is why there are skyscrapers are above and below
2:35 How do you get that Blade Power Up to appear there? I'm playing the US version on the Genesis, and no matter what difficulty level I try, it never appears there. Also: 21:24 I've fought this Boss many times with no shield on me, and that shield never appears, how do you get it to appear? 22:56 This shield only seems to appear half the time for me, otherwise I often have to go through this section with no shield. Is there a trick to getting this to appear consistently? I wanna finish a 1cc on Hard mode for this game and I can't for the life of me find any resources that give concrete information on hitboxes, item locations, hidden items, or version differences between regions anywhere. Having this knowledge would be a huge boon to getting a little farther into the game. Lastly, does this game dynamically scale difficulty? I feel like whenever I am doing well, the game starts ramping up the difficulty drastically, but if I am doing poorly before reaching similar sections, there is much less to deal with. There is so much that goes unexplained mechanically with this game and it is allegedly one of the most revered Shooters on the Genesis. Where the heck is all the knowledge?
On stage 1, right after you get underwater you forgot a hidden Free Way item in the bottom of the screen, so you could get another 10k points... Excellent video nonetheless :)
Man ! You deserve your chanel name ! i was wondering do you use a normal genesis gamepad or you use a joystick like the sega joystick pro ? thanks greats videos !
Nice video! I watched all of it. I've listened to this ost several times, I don't have very many 16bit osts on my playlist, but this is number 1. do you know any 16bit games with great music? or just ones that you enjoyed, I'm building a playlist over here.
Thanks! And oh man, so many great 16-bit tunes... anything Yuzo Koshiro did is great like the Streets of Rage games (especially 2), Revenge of Shinobi and Super Adventure Island on the SNES for starters.
Just what I needed. I finally got a PAL copy of the game, and it just immediately handed my ass to me. This will help me understand what's going on! By the way, you're running at 100% speed all the time, wouldn't it help to switch from time to time, or do you just prefer to be quick at all times?
I grew up with this game, I feel like knowing about the 99 lives cheat kinda ruined it because I never had incentive to try and get better.. still loved it of course, and listen to the soundtrack all the time today. This play through was insane though! Crazy skill. Have you ever played the Saturn version where you can choose to play through TFIV with the ships from TF2 and 3?
Has anyone ever found out why the demiboss in Ruin doesn't slow down the game in Maniac mode? It's like they optimised it just for that difficulty level. In a way that makes some sense as I take advantage of the slowdown to dodge the bullets, but on the other hand, that's probably the worst slowdown moment in the game and removing that could have spared it some criticism. Awesome technique, you make Maniac look like Easy. Nice trick to beat the drones at the beginning of Level 5! To destroy the laser balls and most of the weapons on the surface of that ship, I use Free Way, and a bit of Snake too which is pretty efficient against the small laser cannons.
I didn't notice any slow downs in this run. Everytime i play my pal copy on my model 1 mega drive i get huge slow downs in the ruin stage. Mostly on the mid boss who shoots thoes glowing pellets, filling the whole screen. I wonder what is cousing this.
Elmer Plox I've heard different theories but I believe on the Maniac difficulty the game is optimized to run better. I've also heard that the PAL version runs better but if you're saying it still has slow down try it on Maniac and see if there is any difference.
SHMUP Master I just tested out normal and maniac difficulty. In normal, the ruin mid boss has slow downs when he shoots whole screen full of glowing pellets. In maniac, no slow downs. I wonder if this is some sort of feature for the not so HC players who don't want a brutal challenge? Also thanks for the tip for testing out different difficulties.
Tough question. I played 3 growing up so I am super Nostalgic for it. I didn't play 4 till I was an adult. But 4 is by far the better game overall IMO. It just dials everything up to 11.
Do you practice these by just starting from the beginning and starting over if you fuck up? I’ve been trying to get this one down, it’s just pretty long for one of these games
That's how I start. Once I'm able to beat the game then I switch to an emulator and practice individual segments. This game took me over 3 months of practice...
Combination of both. Usually what I try to do is play the game as much as possible on original hardware. I'll just keep playing till I beat it. Then I'll go back to trouble spots and use an emulator so I can get to the spots faster. Like that freaking Desert Boss... I must have played him 500 times in all honesty, he was just such a nightmare. I had a save state specifically for HIM! lol
Thanks for the reply. I'm not the best at Shmups but I'm now trying to go for the 1CC's. Currently trying to do r-type on the PC Engine, but only playing on real hardware so it's getting a bit tedious. Do you run emulation on real hardware for the save states? like via an everdrive? don't think I could practice using an emulator on the PC.
I have an everdrive and I used it quite a bit with Whip Rush when I was practicing that game. The problem with it is the music gets out of sync when you load save states so it got super annoying. So I just switched to PC which for me anyway was much easier. But if you don't mind the music getting a bit wonky sometimes then the everdrive should do fine. Granted, I have no idea how the PC Engine Everdrive works...
cool, thanks for the info! I'm nearly there with R-TYPE now so I'll look into getting an everdrive once I'm finished. Keep up the good work on the videos dude, really awesome stuff! I have thunder force gold pack on the Saturn, you've inspired me to give it a shot!
Yes, I am familiar with that version and that they optimized it better for less slowdown. Technosoft really did go through great pains to make these games as good as they could be.
idk if this was a faster run coz of fidelity, maybe its just viewed faster than how i played it But yea play on my old Megadrive 1 and I used to before the days of youtube record myself playing onto VHS , i have to find the tapes Few notable playthroughs, Rocket knight adventures, mortal kombat 2, zero wing amongst others
Aaron Babyblue This is the PAL version which actually runs better than the NA version. It was optimized and has almost no slow down. Probably why it seems a bit faster.
Weird - my pal MD with 60Hz Mod runs that game totaly different. Slowdowns when using blade and claw are guaranteed nearly everywhere. When the big robot at the ruins appears - forced slowdown until he's gone. What kind of console do you use? And probably a tipp: my videograbber (haupauge) records 60hz as 60 frames when the signal is set on 720p on framemeister. Sadly half of the frames where lost in your maniac playthrough imo -__- you should see the difference compared to the tv screen ... (edit: maybe it's not constantly 30 but - I don't know - fluidity is missing for sure.)
You are right, and I have no idea why that happens. Could it be a Framemeister setting that's causing it? It's something I've never been able to figure out, regardless of the capture card I am using I get those lost frames. In reality, these cards claim to capture in 60FPS, so I have no idea why the frames are being dropped. Thanks for reminding me though, I need to figure out why this happens...
FYI, did some research. Apparently the North American Genesis outputs at 59.37hz. That is enough to cause issues while using capture cards and hence why it looks like it drops frames. I recorded this TF4 run back in 2016 using an Extreme Cap U3 by Avermedia which caps in 1080p 60fps lossless. I recently upgraded to an Elgato Pro4k which also caps in 60fps and I still have the same issues with some dropped frames. I don't think there is any way around it until they make capture cards that will cap at a consoles native hertz. I should also note that on my actual TV screen, it looks flawless. I believe it's an issue with how these capture cards capture the signal for retro game consoles.
4:10? I am sure there was a different part. Where it goes much faster to the point where things are streaking almost and you only have to avoid being hit. Wonder if normal mode is different. Maybe I am thinking of another game, will investigate. Cheers I remember as a child just hitting reset over and over just to watch the intro and playing with headphones out the front to get the full stereo effect. Truly awesome game.
Damn Deal Done Yeah you're thinking of another game. Maybe Steel Empire. That spot in TF4 is the fastest spot in the game, on every difficulty. I know because I played through the game on all 4 difficulties countless times in preparation for this run and my other video lol.
I played through this about a year ago. It's probably the part at 4:10 like you said. I am just remembering it wrong. Maybe it feels more kinetic when you are the one having to do the dodging rather than just watching someone else play. Cheers. Looking forward to more videos.
one thing that irritates me is the speed changing mechanic, there isnt a single part in the game where you wouldnt want to have the max speed, so the only thing it causes is you end up dying because you forgot to put it back to max speed.
#SUBS4RETRO Make sure you support your fellow retro gamers on RUclips. Already a niche audience, if we don't sub to them they'll go away. I don't want that to happen. So I support my fellow retro gamers! #retrogamersunite
39:00 when the Japanese really inspire their blood boiled games from Dragon Ball Z they cover the entire screen with a Kamehameha. I stopped watching it from here bcuz I'm doing the Hard difficult clear and maybe someday I'll do the maniac run on my last time.
I recently did the Hard clear, all the endings are tragic unfortunately, which yeah that's the canonic ending after all... Maybe someday I'll do the maniac run, but I won't make the no miss completion anyway, too hard.
Is this the BEST looking 16-bit shooter or is this the best looking 16-bit shooter!! WOW!
I would have to say that it is :D
You seriously need to watch my Thunder Force 4 video lol... I did that too, plus MANY many other sprites tricks and manipulation. I'm curious what you'll think of it...
Axelay has better graphics.
@@frankszulakiewicz5826 Both games show what the other console can't do. Axelay: Mode 7 (and truly beautifully). Thunder Force 4: lots and lots of insane action on screen at the same time, with beautiful paralax scrolling.
Draganskoda there is definitely a genesis game that has that same horizon effect. Are we sure that’s more 7? It doesn’t really look like it to me
I know I'm several years late but this was a great vid - and love that your commentary breaks down the new things at maniac difficulty along with bits of story too. One of my favorite games growing up and you can't beat the soundtrack.
Thanks! And it's never too late to enjoy a good run 😉
You are crazy good at this game. I normally blow thru all my 99 lives! Love the video!
I appreciated having the commentary. Usually when you see these runs your not sure if their tool assisted, or if the player is even human by that point, if you know what I mean.
Gave the run a bit of humor having that. This game is a frustratingly technical masterpiece.
Every time I watch footage of TFIV, I'm always impressed by the amazing graphics not to mention the legendary music by Toshiharu Yamanishi (mostly) and Omen. Ohtani only did like 1 song, but definitely is legendary in his own right for the TFIII music. Seems like it has some really cool and fun stage design too, though I haven't really played it myself.
I agree. The game just looks and sounds so stellar. I can't imagine what a TF5 would have looked like on the Genesis. I wish they'd have done it!
If you haven't checked out the other video I did on this game, you should. I did an entire section on the music!
Will do, at some point, anyway
It's unbelievably helpful listening to your commentary as I try to learn this game. I'm surprised more people don't talk about their 1CC runs! Thankyou!
Thanks so much! I tried my best to be as informative as I could, mainly because there are very few guys who release commentary with their 1cc runs. Glad it's helping you and thanks for watching!
Awesome skills. This just came out for Nintendo Switch and I picked it up after seeing your review and this video.
That's great to hear! Glad my videos are introducing some people to this amazing game ❤️
If you have a Switch, do you plan on picking up TFIV and showing a Styx mode 1CC? Would be prettyyyy cool.
Haha... I may pick it up on Switch at some point. But I put so much time into this game just to get this Maniac 1LC that I doubt I'll be attempting it again anytime soon. Especially since there are so many other games to play.
Good job with the commentary and awesome skills! Definitively one of my favorite 16bit games ...I'm still trying to 1cc it on regular difficulty. The recent Sega Ages release is good for practice.
Shmup I commend you, you are wonderful. I really loved this game when was a kid, but never had the courage to challenge the Maniac level, I absolutely love the music, it's been 20 years and it's never got out of my head. well done Shmup, keep up your great work.
Man !!! Such an incredible play through !!!🤘😝👍 Thank you for the video, comments and helpful tips during the gameplay))) Magnificent run ! 👍👍👍
Hats off for this balls to wall run 🙏🏾🔥 btw definitely some of the most bad ass music period 💯
best bgm ever, I listen to the ost of the game when I drive my Rynex,....well, my R8......
Dude I fucken love this game brings back so many good memories
Btw snake is good for getting rid of those wall heads and stage ruin
I enjoyed a lot your comments. This brings me a lot memories... Back in the day, my best run was losing "only" 8 lives in the maniac run, and was very proud of that! Your run makes it seem easy, but WOW it wasn´t... To me the reward to finishing the game was listening to the "OMAKES" that were made available in the music menu only once you beat the game. They were kind of unused pieces of music that were actually very interesting! Pretty awesome game.
Watching this makes me want to dig out my Megadrive from the closet and play this awesome game again. Thanks for a great upload.
SJ NM By all means, you should!
You know what, I think I'll do just that. :)
The big sentry robot is actually named Versus, but is also called Faust (named that in Thunder Force 6).
I played this game a lot when I was a kid and man I still remember all the little tricks and pointers you go over on this run. One of the things I find helps is adjusting your speed throughout the run. You stayed at 100%, but sometimes dropping to 75% or 50% can really help when going through tight sections so you don't delete your shield on accident or run into a projectile or enemy when trying to dodge other things.
Not just the best 16BIT shooter, one of the best ever PERIOD.
ThunderForce IV is metal as fuck.
ThunderForce IV is fucking kick ass.
Mix metal as fuck and kick ass together, and we got ThunderForce IV.
This game is legendry. I love it. Great commentary and play through by the way! :)
Took me 4 days to beat this, Then had to sneak it back into the wrapping paper under the tree for christmas day. Great vibes watching this all these years latter!
I pronounce the desert stage "Dazer". I can kill the jumping ice monster with the freeway by flying in front of his face at medium speed. That was an amazing moment for me. Well played to finish on Maniac without dying! I completed this once on normal and dying loads but without getting 99 lives. I like the ending with the photos and scientists researching and then the Top Gun homage ending.
FYI you control the direction of the stars when you score on the leaderboard.
Loved to watch you play! Kudos! Wow!
Legendary 1cc of a legendary game! Great job!
Would love to see you 1cc Eliminate Down some day.
The fact that this was all hand-coded in assembly language is just mind-boggling.
Wow. The Razor and Zenon guys could only manage 5,968,850, I was wondering whether 6 million was possible and you CRUSHED IT.
Brilliant video mate. Really enjoyed the commentary throughout the game. I loved Thunder Force III, which I only ever played and finished on normal, but as far as Thunder Force IV was concerned I always found it intimidating to play, and the few times I did have a go, I died on my a*se so badly. You on the other hand made it look so easy! The level of detail on each stage though is incredible, with awesome in game music to boot. So much love was put into making this game, would be really interested in learning of the origins of the making of this game from some of the developers, music and graphic artists. Be great if you could get Booby Master on board :)
Im back, thank you Shump Master, best megadrive shooter of all time. I finished this hiding in my bed with on easiest level witrh Cheat with my Sega Nomad whenI was 16.
during the game, press up right A down right A C left up B, then up and right for full ammo.
Thank you Shump master, this is my chilhood.
Bro awesome game play and mate I can say this you are really the 'Shump Master' bro thanks I really enjoyed watching some great 👍 reflexes
Thanks so much! It's the my gameplay videos that I really wish more people would watch. They are the part that takes so much effort! :D
You know, I really found it strange how much TF4's Snake sucks compared to TF3's Fire. As counterparts it goes from your favourite to least favourite weapon between the two games and I second that. I'm actually curious as to whether playing as Styx in the Saturn version warrants use of Fire in more situations or if TF4's level design just makes the weapon less useful.
Awesome run, man, all that practice definitely paid off! I only just managed to beat the game on Normal yesterday, be that as triumphant for me as it was. Hats off to you both for this run, and the fantastic retrospective video you made alongside it. Great to see such enthusiasm and effort for the Thunder Force games!
thanks a lot for your comments, they're really being very useful to me to get through such a tough game
You're an absolute legend man! Fantastic skills and great commen-
Wait-a-minute; you did the whole run at 100% engine!? O_O
Absolute mad lad. Congratulations! =)
Thanks! It was a labor of love! I miss doing these runs... Maybe I'll do another one someday. It just takes an insane amount of practice...
Man , what a game!! So far the only one I've played is part 3, but this looks like the pinnacle. Great thing is , its not expensive by today's shooter game pricing.
Great video, im a long time gamer, but just getting into shmups, your content has helped heaps man 👍
Thanks so much! I really appreciate that!
You got a higher score then me and I killed a lot more then you? Granted you blew through the bosses much faster then I did.
My Score was 6230420 on 1cc,1lc Maniac Im even surprised to see Razors score was 5968850 in which he might have use tool assistance. I love your channel and thanks for showing your run I learned so much from it!
Thanks man! I very much appreciate it. Although there are some guys on the SHMUP forums that have gotten higher scores I believe...
Razor play on TAS. It's not Real Time play.
You definitely need to play Thunder Force V, it continues where TF4 left off, the post-credits scene in TF4? Well, it exists for a reason and it does have a pay off in TF5, you'll see.
Yeah I have thought about it... But those janky PS1 visuals just put me off so much. I also don't own a PS1 so it may be a while. But I'll get to it someday :)
Don't discount TF5 friend. While I feel the 2d sprites have aged better, something about the early 3D polygons is also appealing. At least to me. Being that you don't have a PS1 , do you have a Saturn? The Saturn is widely regarded as the better version. Also as a shooter fan , getting a Sega Saturn is almost mandatory. Peace.
SHMUP Master If you have a sega saturn, you can play that version also.
Plus... TFV has the best final boss of the series, hands down. A real challenge. Some great music as well. Some names from TFIV returned to make the game.
Hey, TFIV is 25 years old this year, TFV is 20, and TFVI will be 10 next year. Isn't it time for a TFVII already?
Yep thunderforce five on the saturn was a labour of love for the saturn by technosoft,the ps1 version was a conversion of tf5 by working designs i believe, which is still good, but the saturn version is where it's at, plus the special edition includes a music cd with it, which i recommend, hope you found my comment useful and when and if you do get a saturn and the game,enjoy and i hope you do a review on it, laters
Fun fact: you can control the starfield if you make the high score table. Also, in Ruin, the blocks that form walls are powered by your weapon and build faster when shot and always build towards you. Just take them out easily with the snake. I would recommend playing this game at 25% speed whenever you can. To kill the diving ice monster you only need to hit him around 3 times with the rail gun or if you are a daredevil, put the speed to 75% and fly in front of his face with freeway selected and unleash a barrage of missiles in your wake and into his face. There is also a freeway weapon in the lower part of the screen, obscured, in a capsule when you first enter the water. The cloning enemies you fight in the very next scene will not multiply until shot. If you have the twin shot you can fly right up to them and kill them when they are still one enemy. My favourite weapon is the snake because it offers additional protection from some projectiles and is quite safe. I can't get past the level 7 boss on normal right now but am starting to learn to watch for where the moths sit on the ground so I can avoid being blasted into the ceiling by them when they explode.
Pretty damn awesome, I think it's all the more impressive that you never changed the ship speed once throughout
Thanks! And yeah, I just decided to stick to one speed as to not confuse myself :)
Just gotta pound him, from behind... Poor crab boss
I am not worthy! I am not worthy! Very impressive. Only ever managed to complete on normal.
I can't beat stage 3 , you are a true maniac
I only just barely made it through hard recently, can't imagine doing maniac lmao good job!
@ 31:45 I always get goose bumps while playing this
stage of the game when the music kicks in.
This is quite a bit late, but the reason for the weird names in the staff roll is actually a Japanese thing. Back in the day, depending on the company, they wouldn't actually let the staff use their actual names in the staff roll out of fear of their workers getting headhunted by other companies, so they were forced to submit these weird nicknames that only they, their co-workers, and the company would know while still getting acknowledged in the credits. Another Japanese company known for this was Sonic Team, namely the first Sonic game, though this was really only the case in the early years of the Sega Megadrive and Genesis. After a while, most companies stopped this practice.
Cool stuff. I played the heck out of TF3 and loved it, but never played this one. I might have to give it a try, a few decades too late...
Amazing run and comments. I think I learned a lot. Maybe I'll try again to beat that game on maniac.
A little fun fact about the Stage 1 (Strite) mini-boss, unlike all the other mini-bosses, that mini-boss is actually mandatory to kill, as the stage won't progress otherwise. I know this because as a kid, I kept killing those flying black things wondering why they kept appearing for minutes upon minutes on end.
You did awesome on this game!
Amazing run, going to watch it again ;)
Actually, I'm pretty positive that the guy who destroys the space battleship (the Cerberus) it's from another mysterious faction, the "Faust" (cited in the ending too). Vios is defeated with the battleship, the last 5 stages are against Faust.
Oh, you're a monster, anyway! Thanks for showing me how is done.
It makes sense, since from stage 6 onwards the enemies radically change from the previous ones. In stages 1 through 5 you only fight robot enemies, while in the second half of the game you face almost exclusively bio-engineered weapons
@@RomuloTheBrazilian Actually I was wrong, eheh. Faust is the Vios boss. Oh well!
Wow man, good job doing all of that without dying.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Dude you rocked it! Awesome work!!!
Thanks! It was a long and difficult journey!
Fantastic run of a great game! You make it look so easy, but as you said yourself, its not haha.
Actually started playing this game after Christmas, though on normal mode. I usually screw up in Stage 7 or 8, and need to use a continue :( Starting Chapter 8 without Hunter/Shield/Claw is no joke. Figuring out that at the start the bottom route gives you (hidden) Claw/Blade, while top route gives you 1-up/Hunter, helped a lot.
Its interesting to see that you get power-ups at different places then I do. For example in Stage 6 (the water level), you get a shield after you defeat the mini boss. I never get a shield there and instead go to the top of the level to grab a shield a bit before the 1-up. Maybe difficulty also changes some of the power-up locations?
I also notice that you seem to kill bosses a lot faster then I do. Take the boss of Stage 3 (Air Raid), where you use the Railgun to take out the missile launcher in a few seconds. That takes me multiple boss cycles to destroy using the Railgun. Similarly I need 2x/3x more Thunder Sword hits on bosses, especially on the Chapter 8 (mini) bosses. I guess timing is way more important than it would initially seen.
Anyway, thanks again for this video and commentary. It helps a lot seeing where/how I can improve.
awesome run bro.. great effort..
I did finished this game on maniac when i was a kid, but i didnt remember it was so brutal...
Also every time i hear stage 8 music.... is pure Judas Priest
You never played thunderforce 5? its an AWESOME game, and the final boss has one of the best Theme's ever. (wich is actually part of a bigger ost )
I can't even beat a single level on the NSTC version ;-;
I suck at this game sheesh
And this is why I'm going to make a bestiarium of crabs, because if I learned something about video games is that they love giant mechanical crabs
Yep. They sure do lol
Is it okay to use your gameplay videos in some remixes I have planned for this game?
TheLegendofRenegade Absolutely! Just do me a favor and give me a shout out 😉
Amazing gameplay SHMUP Master! You truly are an ace in this game.
It´s worth noting that the girl's voice that was digitized for TFIV (known as ATUKO in the game credits and in the Tecno Soft Gal's Club) was the same person who sang the arranged version of "Love Dream - Samayoi Hito". vgmsite.com/soundtracks/technosoft-game-music-collection-vol.-5-thunder-force-iv/Booklet%20p.%2005-06.jpg (Link for the song's lyrics).
KAORU, apart from being the girl who voiced the item pickup lines in TFIII (also a member of the Tecno Soft Gal's Club), she sang an arranged version of the game's credits theme called "Present - Orgel" that can be found on the Technosoft Game Music Collection Vol. 3 - Thunder Force III downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/technosoft-game-music-collection-vol.-3-thunder-force-iii/28%2520present%2520%2528arrange%2520version%2529.mp3 (Link for the song)
P.D: Your content is awesome!
Hope you would do videos like this again. I keep coming back to this.
You and me both man... Life makes it difficult.
Coming back to this, also, just randomly watchin, I think RUIN is with the mirrored city ruins (probably design for ease just mirroring the floor ) I like to think of it as a Cylindrical cybernetic city or planet, like the world is in a giant tube and is why there are skyscrapers are above and below
2:35 How do you get that Blade Power Up to appear there? I'm playing the US version on the Genesis, and no matter what difficulty level I try, it never appears there. Also:
21:24 I've fought this Boss many times with no shield on me, and that shield never appears, how do you get it to appear?
22:56 This shield only seems to appear half the time for me, otherwise I often have to go through this section with no shield. Is there a trick to getting this to appear consistently?
I wanna finish a 1cc on Hard mode for this game and I can't for the life of me find any resources that give concrete information on hitboxes, item locations, hidden items, or version differences between regions anywhere. Having this knowledge would be a huge boon to getting a little farther into the game.
Lastly, does this game dynamically scale difficulty? I feel like whenever I am doing well, the game starts ramping up the difficulty drastically, but if I am doing poorly before reaching similar sections, there is much less to deal with. There is so much that goes unexplained mechanically with this game and it is allegedly one of the most revered Shooters on the Genesis. Where the heck is all the knowledge?
On stage 1, right after you get underwater you forgot a hidden Free Way item in the bottom of the screen, so you could get another 10k points... Excellent video nonetheless :)
Thanks for the tip! :D
Man ! You deserve your chanel name ! i was wondering do you use a normal genesis gamepad or you use a joystick like the sega joystick pro ? thanks greats videos !
This is the best game I haved play in my life
was wondering how to use the thunder sword? i worked it out before , cant do it though..mabey cos its keyboard im playing on
alex jackson Oh yeah, get yourself a controller man! Lol
Nice! GG 😎
The last boss reminds me of the stage 2 boss from Crimzon Clover in its appearance. Perhaps CC was referencing this.
Nice video! I watched all of it. I've listened to this ost several times, I don't have very many 16bit osts on my playlist, but this is number 1. do you know any 16bit games with great music? or just ones that you enjoyed, I'm building a playlist over here.
Thanks! And oh man, so many great 16-bit tunes... anything Yuzo Koshiro did is great like the Streets of Rage games (especially 2), Revenge of Shinobi and Super Adventure Island on the SNES for starters.
Your love and passion for this game is incredible. What is your interpretation of the ending?
Just what I needed. I finally got a PAL copy of the game, and it just immediately handed my ass to me. This will help me understand what's going on! By the way, you're running at 100% speed all the time, wouldn't it help to switch from time to time, or do you just prefer to be quick at all times?
I just got good at using a faster speed. So that's what I used..
Thunder Force AC was another game with crazy ass graphics. Think that was Japan release too.
Imagine Technosoft/Tecno soft joining forces with CAVE Corp. To make the hardest video game in history
respect
How many of us here choose levels in rhythm with the tune?
I grew up with this game, I feel like knowing about the 99 lives cheat kinda ruined it because I never had incentive to try and get better.. still loved it of course, and listen to the soundtrack all the time today. This play through was insane though! Crazy skill. Have you ever played the Saturn version where you can choose to play through TFIV with the ships from TF2 and 3?
I haven't but I believe that is the version that was ported to the Switch.
@@THESHMUPMASTER I'd really love to see you play through with the STYX fighter from TF3! It's really interesting and fun!
Has anyone ever found out why the demiboss in Ruin doesn't slow down the game in Maniac mode? It's like they optimised it just for that difficulty level. In a way that makes some sense as I take advantage of the slowdown to dodge the bullets, but on the other hand, that's probably the worst slowdown moment in the game and removing that could have spared it some criticism.
Awesome technique, you make Maniac look like Easy. Nice trick to beat the drones at the beginning of Level 5! To destroy the laser balls and most of the weapons on the surface of that ship, I use Free Way, and a bit of Snake too which is pretty efficient against the small laser cannons.
I didn't notice any slow downs in this run. Everytime i play my pal copy on my model 1 mega drive i get huge slow downs in the ruin stage. Mostly on the mid boss who shoots thoes glowing pellets, filling the whole screen. I wonder what is cousing this.
Elmer Plox I've heard different theories but I believe on the Maniac difficulty the game is optimized to run better. I've also heard that the PAL version runs better but if you're saying it still has slow down try it on Maniac and see if there is any difference.
SHMUP Master I just tested out normal and maniac difficulty. In normal, the ruin mid boss has slow downs when he shoots whole screen full of glowing pellets. In maniac, no slow downs. I wonder if this is some sort of feature for the not so HC players who don't want a brutal challenge? Also thanks for the tip for testing out different difficulties.
It's possible that the slowdown is artificial and for maniac difficulty they "turn it off".
Awesome
Rewatching again. Want to ask which you prefer thunder force 3 or 4?
Tough question. I played 3 growing up so I am super Nostalgic for it. I didn't play 4 till I was an adult. But 4 is by far the better game overall IMO. It just dials everything up to 11.
I’m a married heterosexual but evert time I watch one of shmup master vids I question my sexuality.
mega skills bro
Do you practice these by just starting from the beginning and starting over if you fuck up? I’ve been trying to get this one down, it’s just pretty long for one of these games
That's how I start. Once I'm able to beat the game then I switch to an emulator and practice individual segments. This game took me over 3 months of practice...
46:40 HEY JEEERRYYYY! 😆
If you keep the claw AND kill the mini boss in time, you get the shield in Stage 6.
Great run, what are your thoughts on Gradius V and Lords of Thunder?
I would love to see you play those games.
awesome dude, that was insane! how do you practice? just playing over and over? or do you use emulation load states?
Combination of both. Usually what I try to do is play the game as much as possible on original hardware. I'll just keep playing till I beat it. Then I'll go back to trouble spots and use an emulator so I can get to the spots faster. Like that freaking Desert Boss... I must have played him 500 times in all honesty, he was just such a nightmare. I had a save state specifically for HIM! lol
Thanks for the reply. I'm not the best at Shmups but I'm now trying to go for the 1CC's. Currently trying to do r-type on the PC Engine, but only playing on real hardware so it's getting a bit tedious. Do you run emulation on real hardware for the save states? like via an everdrive? don't think I could practice using an emulator on the PC.
I have an everdrive and I used it quite a bit with Whip Rush when I was practicing that game. The problem with it is the music gets out of sync when you load save states so it got super annoying. So I just switched to PC which for me anyway was much easier. But if you don't mind the music getting a bit wonky sometimes then the everdrive should do fine. Granted, I have no idea how the PC Engine Everdrive works...
cool, thanks for the info! I'm nearly there with R-TYPE now so I'll look into getting an everdrive once I'm finished. Keep up the good work on the videos dude, really awesome stuff! I have thunder force gold pack on the Saturn, you've inspired me to give it a shot!
No problem man! And you can expect a new run from me next week :)
There is a Saturn version with no Slowdown haven't seen anyone try a maniac run for that version. (Thunder Force Gold Pack 2)
Yes, I am familiar with that version and that they optimized it better for less slowdown. Technosoft really did go through great pains to make these games as good as they could be.
idk if this was a faster run coz of fidelity, maybe its just viewed faster than how i played it
But yea play on my old Megadrive 1 and I used to before the days of youtube record myself playing onto VHS , i have to find the tapes
Few notable playthroughs, Rocket knight adventures, mortal kombat 2, zero wing amongst others
Aaron Babyblue This is the PAL version which actually runs better than the NA version. It was optimized and has almost no slow down. Probably why it seems a bit faster.
SHMUP Master i own the pal version and a pal megadrive, might be different on monitors
Weird - my pal MD with 60Hz Mod runs that game totaly different. Slowdowns when using blade and claw are guaranteed nearly everywhere. When the big robot at the ruins appears - forced slowdown until he's gone. What kind of console do you use?
And probably a tipp: my videograbber (haupauge) records 60hz as 60 frames when the signal is set on 720p on framemeister. Sadly half of the frames where lost in your maniac playthrough imo -__- you should see the difference compared to the tv screen ... (edit: maybe it's not constantly 30 but - I don't know - fluidity is missing for sure.)
You are right, and I have no idea why that happens. Could it be a Framemeister setting that's causing it? It's something I've never been able to figure out, regardless of the capture card I am using I get those lost frames. In reality, these cards claim to capture in 60FPS, so I have no idea why the frames are being dropped. Thanks for reminding me though, I need to figure out why this happens...
FYI, did some research. Apparently the North American Genesis outputs at 59.37hz. That is enough to cause issues while using capture cards and hence why it looks like it drops frames. I recorded this TF4 run back in 2016 using an Extreme Cap U3 by Avermedia which caps in 1080p 60fps lossless. I recently upgraded to an Elgato Pro4k which also caps in 60fps and I still have the same issues with some dropped frames. I don't think there is any way around it until they make capture cards that will cap at a consoles native hertz.
I should also note that on my actual TV screen, it looks flawless. I believe it's an issue with how these capture cards capture the signal for retro game consoles.
Try GAIARES..... i'll grab my popcorn... LOL
Jaime Rivera It's sitting on my desk actually... 😁
My memory must be whack. Isn't there an area where you go into super speed and have to dodge the scenery? I didn't notice it on your play-through.
Damn Deal Done Very first stage I played. A couple minutes into the video.
4:10? I am sure there was a different part. Where it goes much faster to the point where things are streaking almost and you only have to avoid being hit. Wonder if normal mode is different. Maybe I am thinking of another game, will investigate. Cheers
I remember as a child just hitting reset over and over just to watch the intro and playing with headphones out the front to get the full stereo effect. Truly awesome game.
Damn Deal Done Yeah you're thinking of another game. Maybe Steel Empire. That spot in TF4 is the fastest spot in the game, on every difficulty. I know because I played through the game on all 4 difficulties countless times in preparation for this run and my other video lol.
Damn Deal Done Although Thunder Force 3 had a few fast spots as well...
I played through this about a year ago. It's probably the part at 4:10 like you said. I am just remembering it wrong. Maybe it feels more kinetic when you are the one having to do the dodging rather than just watching someone else play. Cheers. Looking forward to more videos.
You poor yanks, getting the damn game released as "Lightening Force".
I know... 😩
О!хуенно!
So did you ever get to TF5? :)
Human beams
one thing that irritates me is the speed changing mechanic, there isnt a single part in the game where you wouldnt want to have the max speed, so the only thing it causes is you end up dying because you forgot to put it back to max speed.
Not really, it depends on the way you play and also the difficulty. It's there for all kind of playing styles.
#SUBS4RETRO Make sure you support your fellow retro gamers on RUclips. Already a niche audience, if we don't sub to them they'll go away. I don't want that to happen. So I support my fellow retro gamers! #retrogamersunite
Great advice! Let's do this!
once you get the claw and Hunter you have one the game
I have died 4 times in a roll in just 30 secs lol
So, have you played V yet?
Sadly, no. Not yet...
@@THESHMUPMASTER Oh ok, never mind. I'll just say this: if you're a Thunder Force fan, you can try it out with confidence ;)
39:00 when the Japanese really inspire their blood boiled games from Dragon Ball Z they cover the entire screen with a Kamehameha.
I stopped watching it from here bcuz I'm doing the Hard difficult clear and maybe someday I'll do the maniac run on my last time.
I recently did the Hard clear, all the endings are tragic unfortunately, which yeah that's the canonic ending after all... Maybe someday I'll do the maniac run, but I won't make the no miss completion anyway, too hard.