is a series of free-roaming

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

type

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s developed by the Japanese software company

Technosoft was a Japanese video game developer and publisher based headquartered in Sasebo, Nagasaki. Also known as "Tecno Soft", the company was founded in February 1980 as Sasebo Microcomputer Center, before changing its name to Technosoft in 1982. The c ...

and published by Sega. The franchise is recognized for its distinctive gameplay, graphics, and synthesizer-based chiptune music soundtracks. There are six games in the series in total. The first appeared on the personal computers. The majority of installments in the series appeared on the

Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan a ...

console. The most recent entry was released on PlayStation 2.

History

The series' first game, ''

Thunder Force is a series of nonlinear gameplay, free-roaming Shoot 'em up#Scrolling shooters, scrolling shooter type video games developed by the Japanese software company Technosoft and published by Sega. The franchise is recognized for its distinctive gam ...

'', appeared in 1983 on a variety of Japanese computers, such as the X1, PC-8801 mkII, and

FM-7 The FM-7 ("Fujitsu Micro 7") is a home computer created by Fujitsu. It was first released in 1982 and was sold in Japan and Spain. It is a stripped-down version of Fujitsu's earlier FM-8 computer, and during development it was referred to as th ...

. Since ''

Thunder Force II is a scrolling shooter developed by Technosoft. It was first released in Japan on October 15, 1988 for the Sharp X68000 computer. A year later, it was ported to the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game console and released in Japan (under the name ''Th ...

'', the majority of installments in the series appeared on the

console, where the series gained much of its popularity. The most recent entry was released on PlayStation 2. The original ''Thunder Force'' video game was created by Kotori Yoshimura in 1983. She later left Technosoft and founded Arsys Software in 1985, where herself and Osamu Nagano worked on notable titles such as '' Star Cruiser''.Alt URL
/ref> In 1984, Technosoft released a

level editor In video games, a level (also referred to as a map, stage, or round in some older games) is any space available to the player during the course of completion of an objective. Video game levels generally have progressively-increasing difficulty t ...

, or

game creation system A game creation system (GCS) is a consumer-targeted game engine and a set of specialized design tools (and sometimes a light scripting language), engineered for the rapid iteration of user-derived video games. Examples include Novashell and Pie i ...

, titled ''Thunder Force Construction'', created by Yoshimura for the

computer. In September 2016, Sega announced at the

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. ...

that they own the rights to the ''Thunder Force'' franchise and all other Technosoft intellectual properties.

Games

*''

'' ( X1) (1983) *''

'' (

X68000 The is a home computer created by Sharp Corporation. It was first released in 1987 and sold only in Japan. The initial model has a 10 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 1 MB of RAM, and lacks a hard drive. The final model was released in 1993 wi ...

) (1988) *'' Thunder Force II MD'' (

Mega Drive/Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

) (1989) (port of ''Thunder Force II'') *'' Thunder Force III'' (

) (1990) *'' Thunder Force AC'' (

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

) (1990) (port of ''Thunder Force III'' retooled into an arcade game) *'' Thunder Spirits'' (

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...

) (1991) (port of '' Thunder Force AC'') *'' Thunder Force IV'' (

) (1992) (''a.k.a. Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar'') *'' Thunder Force Gold Pack 1'' ( Sega Saturn) (1996), contains ''

'' and '' Thunder Force III''). *'' Thunder Force Gold Pack 2'' ( Sega Saturn) (1996), contains '' Thunder Force IV'' and '' Thunder Force AC''. * ''

Thunder Force V is a 1997 Japanese side-scrolling shooter video game developed by Technosoft for the Sega Saturn. It is the fifth game in the '' Thunder Force'' series. Unlike previous games in the series, ''Thunder Force V'' uses polygons to model the larger e ...

'' ( Sega Saturn) (1997) *'' Thunder Force V: Perfect System'' ( PlayStation) (1998) (port of ''Thunder Force V'') * '' Thunder Force VI'' ( PlayStation 2) (2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thunder Force (Series) horizontally scrolling shooters Sega Games franchises video game franchises introduced in 1983