(Arcade) Thunder Cross - 2 Loops Cleared, 1CC / 2-ALL - 3,005,820pts

On a whim last Saturday night I tried this game out to find the regional differences (more on that later) and ended up completely drawn in to Thunder Cross. By Sunday afternoon I had learned enough to clear 2 loops. I reached loop 3, stage 4; although it was a slow and painful implosion from 3-3 until my game over. The game's overall difficulty isn't that high as long as you stay powered up. Although the frequency of extends is also pretty high, some recoveries in the game appear to be challenging in the later levels. I was very happy to make a full recovery from a death (at 33:00) in stage 3 of loop 2.
I definitely do not recommend the US version of this game, it's inferior in every way to the Japanese and "world" versions. It removes all the weapon power-ups aside from the Vulcan (so no twin gun or boomerang weapon, which is my preferred choice) and also doesn't allow you to change the positioning of your options, as well. It does add a smart bomb (called "Lil' Baby") that is similar to the napalm power-up of the Japanese/World rom, as a small consolation.
I really enjoyed this game, but that isn't much of a surprise - I pretty much like any late 80's yoko/hori shooting game. Thunder Cross' soundtrack did surprise me, however. I wasn't expecting it to be so good!
Wolfmame v.242 used, dips left at defaults. I did use 15 Hz autofire for this gameplay, please forgive me...LOL
Thanks for watching, as always!