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A [[Shoot'Em Up]] series by Technosoft, which started with an obscure Japanese computer title in 1983 as a multi-direction overhead view shooter. It eventually become a side-scrolling shooter in the third installment, famous for its loads of [[Thunder Force
The [[Excuse Plot]] puts player in shoes of the [[Human Alien|Galaxy]] [[The Federation|Federation]]'s [[One-Man Army|pilot]] in the ''[[Super Prototype|Fire Leo]]'' starfighter against the overwhelming cybernetic [[The Empire|ORN Empire]]. ''Thunder Force V'' [[And Now for Someone Completely Different|changes the focus to Earth]] when Earthmen discover the wreck of ''Thunder Force IV'''s Fire Leo (Rynex) and reverse engineer it. The Guardian, an AI designed to study Vasteel (as Rynex comes to be known), however, goes haywire on humanity, but not before they create their ''own'' Vasteel starfighter. ''Thunder Force V'' is also known for having more story than the previous games, which ties together the events of ''Thunder Force IV
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The ''Thunder Force'' series spans six games:
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* ''Thunder Force II'' (Sharp X68000, 1988) -- Alternates between overhead sections and side-scrolling sections. Rereleased on the Genesis as ''Thunder Force II MD'', with one less overhead-sidescroller pair and more balanced difficulty. ''MD'' itself was ported to Saturn via ''Thunder Force Gold Pack 1''.
* ''Thunder Force III'' (Genesis/MD, 1990) -- Completely does away with overhead sections. Ported to the Saturn via ''Gold Pack 1''.
** ''Thunder Force AC'' (Arcade, 1990) -- An arcade port of ''Thunder Force III'' (unusual in that ports generally go from arcade to console and not the other way around), but with altered 4th and 5th stages. Ported to the Saturn via ''Thunder Force Gold Pack 2'', with an autofire feature that was not present in the original version.
** ''Thunder Spirits'' (SNES, 1992) -- A SNES port of ''Thunder Force AC'' (making it a ''port of a port''), with a new stage 5 and stage 8. The least-known of the three versions of ''TFIII'', despite being on the most popular platform of the three platforms it appeared on.
* ''Thunder Force IV'' (Genesis/MD, 1992) -- Released as ''Lightening ''(sic)'' Force: [[Market-Based Title|Quest for the Darkstar]]'' in North America. Ported to the Saturn via ''Gold Pack 2'', with less slowdown and ''Thunder Force III'''s player ship as an unlockable ship.
* ''Thunder Force V'' (Saturn, 1997) -- The first game in the series with three-dimensional graphics, and introduces the [[Limit Break|Over Weapon]] system, in addition to expounding on the plot of ''Thunder Force IV''. Ported to the [[
* ''Thunder Force VI'' (PlayStation 2, 2008) -- A whopping 11 years after the initial release of ''Thunder Force V'' and one failed attempt to bring it to the Dreamcast. Due to the low quality-to-anticipation ratio, it was not well received.
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{{tropelist}}
* [[
* [[Always Accurate Attack]]: The Free Range in ''Thunder Force V'' worked like this
* [[Artificial Human]]
* [[Attack Drone]]: The CLAWs for the Fire Leo series.
* [[Awesome but Impractical]]: In ''Thunder Force V'' and ''Thunder Force VI'', you can make your ship do rolls. It does nothing but [[Rule of Cool|look stylish]].
* [[Battleship Raid]]
* [[Big Bad]]: Chaos/Khaos is pretty impressive one. After harassing [[The Federation]] for two games, we've finally blown it up in the third. Only to find it program was transferred to secondary system in the forth. And even reveal to be the
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: ''Thunder Force IV'' has
** ''Thunder Force V'' has
* [[Blind Idiot Translation]]: Many, many examples.
** "This is Exceliza, I want to fly now!"
** "Mission accomplished. I'll be right back."
** The boss subname for A3 in ''Thunder Force V'' is often accused of this because it sounds odd at first ("It died three times, and was reborn twice"), [[Fridge Brilliance|until the player realizes A3 transforms into three different modes during the fight]].
* [[Boring but Practical]]: Twin Shot and Back Fire, the only weapons you don't lose when you die.
* [[Boss Dissonance]]: Many bosses in ''Thunder Force III'' die within seconds of exposure to your weapons, especially the [[Game Breaker|Sever]]. In contrast, the stages themselves have many deathtraps that demand twitch reflexes and ''[[R-Type]]''-style memorization.
* [[Boss Subtitles]]: ''Thunder Force V'' and ''Thunder Force VI''.
* [[Convection, Schmonvection]]: The fire planet levels throughout the series.
* [[Cool Starship]]: The Fire-Leo series for the Galactic Federation and the RVR series for Earth.
* [[Crosshair Aware]]: The Sky Raid stage in ''Thunder Force IV''.
* [[Death Is a Slap
* [[Death Is Cheap]]: Subverted in ''Thunder Force V''. The reason why Cenes Crawford can afford to effectively "respawn" in a new body again and again is because of technology reverse-engineered from Vasteel, which is in turn reserved for the best pilots Earth had to offer. {{spoiler|With the Guardian destroying the facility allowing her to "respawn", however, she's aware that there'd be no going back on this one}}.
* [[Deconstruction Game]]: To a degree, ''Thunder Force V''. Given the premise of a [[One Man Army]] going up against [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|a rogue AI menace]]. {{spoiler|Except that the Guardian, the AI in question's still loyal to humanity despite its compromised programming and deliberately left gaping holes for the protagonist to exploit, making it possible to go after said AI ''at all'' and deliver a [[Suicide by Cop]]}}.
* [[Every Ten Thousand Points]]: The series is known for cranking out tons of extends.
* [[Evil Counterpart]]
* [[Excuse Plot]]: Most of the series. Though it starts getting elaborated upon starting with ''Thunder Force IV'', which continues further in ''Thunder Force V''.
* [[Fallen Hero]]: The player's ship in ''Thunder Force IV'', "Rynex", comes back in ''Thunder Force V'' as a [[Sequential Boss]] that you have to fight against and destroy.
* [[Fan Sequel]]: ''Broken Thunder'', released after ''Thunder Force V'' and before ''Thunder Force VI''. The good news: Hyakutaro Tsukumo worked on the soundtrack. The bad news:
* [[Fetus Terrible]]: The ORN Emperor in ''Thunder Force VI'' is an extremely ugly and monstrous infant with 3 eyes and varying number of irises in each of them. Apparently, the design was lifted from a character from a manga the project director had once drawn.
* [[Final Boss Preview]]: ''Thunder Force IV'' had ORN Faust at the end of the [[Battleship Raid]] level. Your team of ships try to destroy it and get their asses completely handed to them, forcing the remaining members of your squad to resort in giving you the [[Mid-Season Upgrade]]. Thankfully, you get your revenge in the final level.
* [[For Massive Damage]]: Many of the bosses in the series requires you hitting a weakpoint
* [[Genre Shift]]: Across two games; ''Thunder Force II'' adds some side-scrolling areas to go with ''
* [[Godzilla Threshold]]: The ORN threat in ''Thunder Force VI'' forces Earth to rediscover Vasteel technology and even rebuild the Sword Fleet. {{Spoiler|Effectively rendering the sacrifices Cenes Crawford and the Guardian made moot}}.
* [[
* [[
* [[Hollywood Tactics]]: Lampshaded in ''Thunder Force V''. {{spoiler|As [[I Let You Win|this is intentional on the Guardian's part]] and how Cenes Crawford manages to even make it to the final confrontation with the AI ''at all''}}.
* [[Hopeless Boss Fight]]: The boss for stage 5 in ''Thunder Force IV''▼
* [[Homage]]: Some of the boss names in ''Thunder Force V'': [[Deep Purple]], [[Iron Maiden]] and A3 (for Alabama 3).
* [[I Let You Win]]: {{spoiler|The Guardian}} in ''Thunder Force V.'' Cenes Crawford {{spoiler|in her last message}} even lampshades this by stating that had it not done so, the odds of ''just surviving'' those battles wasn't even in single digits.▼
* [[Internal Homage]]: ''Thunder Force VI'' has many references to past games in the series. [[Tropes Are Not Good|Perhaps too many.]]▼
* [[
▲* [[I Let You Win]]:
▲* [[Internal Homage]]: ''Thunder Force VI'' has many references to past games in the series. [[Tropes Are Not Good|Perhaps too many
* [[It's Up to You]] : ORN's forces are so much greater than the Galaxy Federation's that if the Fire Leo fails, their regular forces won't stand a chance.
** Subverted in ''Thunder Force IV'' where other Galactic Federation fighters team up with you to take on the Cerberus battleship before the trope gets played straight in the boss fight immediately following and for the rest of the game.
** Subverted in ''Thunder Force V'' in that your character leads a squad of RVR-01 Gauntlets (named "Thunder Force", incidentally). Played straight later on as only the [[Player Character|protagonist]]
* [[Justified Extra Lives]]
* [[Leitmotif]]: ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkC3kY0TdoM And the Wind Blew All Day Long]'' for Styx, ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VzLxWBho-8 Lightning Strikes Again]'' for Rynex, and ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL3Aq5hmqjE Beginning of War]'' for Vambrace.
* [[Lethal Lava Land]]: The fire planet levels throughout the series.
* [[Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me]]
* [[The Many Deaths of You]]: Cenes Crawford's log in ''Thunder Force V'' brings up some of the times she underwent "Circulate Death" because of dying. At one point, she didn't even die in combat, but was blown up with the ship she was on while having coffee. {{Spoiler|But with the Guardian wiping out the means to undergo "Circulate Death", it's dawning on her that she's not coming out of her imminent and final death}}.
* [[Mid-Season Upgrade]] : The player's RVR-01 Gauntlet upgrades to the RVR-02 Vambrace in ''V'', which has superior weapons. As well as the [[Mecha Expansion Pack|Brigandine module]], a [[Sword of Plot Advancement|super durable part that supplys unlimited use]] of [[Secondary Fire]]. Although the Brigandine [[Too Cool to Live|only lasts for one stage]].▼
* [[Mid-Season Upgrade]]:
** Occurs again in ''VI''. If player chooses the Phoenix fighter, it will become the Syrinx in last stage. For Brigandine, it [[Demoted to Extra|only appear in intro movie]].▼
▲*
** Also happens in ''IV'' where the Rynex starts off functionally similar to the Styx, but at the halfway point it gets fitted with the [[Wave Motion Gun|Thunder Sword]] and gains spherical CLAW drones that serve as capacitors for the Thunder Sword.▼
▲** Occurs again in ''Thunder Force VI''. If player chooses the Phoenix fighter, it will become the Syrinx in last stage. For Brigandine, it [[Demoted to Extra|only appear in intro movie]].
* [[Multiple Endings]]: ''IV'' just changes what song plays during the ending depending on the difficulty, but ''V'''s ending is decided by whether you beat the final boss fast enough, and ''VI'' has three endings depending on what ship and difficulty you chose and whether you used a continue.▼
▲** Also happens in ''Thunder Force IV'' where the Rynex starts off functionally similar to the Styx, but at the halfway point, it gets fitted with the [[Wave Motion Gun|Thunder Sword]] and gains spherical CLAW drones that serve as capacitors for the Thunder Sword.
▲* [[Multiple Endings]]: ''Thunder Force IV'' just changes what song plays during the ending depending on the difficulty, but ''Thunder Force V'''s ending is decided by whether you beat the final boss fast enough, and ''Thunder Force VI'' has three endings depending on what ship and difficulty you chose and whether you used a continue.
* [[Nintendo Hard]]: ''Thunder Force II''. Especially the X68000 version.
* [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]]: Your fighter, though three more hitpoints are generally added with the shield power-up.
* [[
* [[Player
▲* [[Player Mooks]]: You can unlock the Rynex-R, the main fighter of the Galactic Federation, in ''VI''
* [[Precision F-Strike]]: In ''Thunder Force II'', when you lose your last life, the robo-voice exclaims "Shit!".
* [[Raising the Steaks]]: [[Shout-Out|Iron Maiden]] from ''Thunder Force V'' is an undead animal of sorts (complete with flies, rotting flesh and blood). Its description? "It was dead, but alive at the same time
* [[Real Time Weapon Change]]
* [[Recurring Boss]]: Gargoyle starting with ''Thunder Force III'', and ORN Faust in ''Thunder Force VI''.
* [[Redshirt Army]]: The Galactic Federation in ''Thunder Force IV'' and ''Thunder Force VI''.
* [[Robo Speak]]: Any time you collect a weapon power-up.
* [[Roboteching]]: The [[Macross Missile Massacre|Hunter]] weapon. Your ship shoots out blue energy balls of doom that home in on the enemies.
* [[Sequential Boss]]: Many of them. Of note is Armed Armament Arm from ''Thunder Force V'', who has three different forms. Same applies to UNKNOWN II, the [[Final Boss]].▼
* [[Single Biome Planet]]
▲* [[Sequential Boss]]: Many of them. Of note is Armed Armament Arm from ''V'', who has three different forms. Same applies to UNKNOWN II, the [[Final Boss]].
* [[Space Zone]]: ''Thunder Force VI'' plays with this by having the background move around with no effect on gameplay at times.▼
▲* [[Single Biome Planet]] : The sole exception is ''V'' which occurs on Earth. The ocean planet in ''VI'' is justified, it's post-global warming world and you will get pass the submerged city at one point. The jungle is really an abandoned space colony, with overgrowth forest took over residental area.
* [[Super Title 64 Advance]]: The [[
▲* [[Space Zone]]: ''VI'' plays with this by having the background move around with no effect on gameplay at times.
* [[Surprisingly Good English]]: All the English in ''Thunder Force V'' was there in the Japanese version as well. It kinda explains why the Guardian sounds slightly "off" compared to a native speaker.▼
▲* [[Super Title 64 Advance]]: The [[Play Station]] port of ''[[Thunder Force]] V'' was called ''Thunder Force V: '''P'''erfect '''S'''ystem''.
▲* [[Surprisingly Good English]]: All the English in ''V'' was there in the Japanese version as well. It kinda explains why the Guardian sounds slightly "off" compared to a native speaker.
* [[Theme Naming]]: The ship names: Styx, Rynex, Syrinx as well as the Gauntlet, Vambrace and Brigandine
* [[Transforming Mecha]]
* [[Unstable Equilibrium]]: From ''Thunder Force III'' onwards, dying takes away your current weapon. This can lead to situations in which you [[Too Awesome to Use|avoid using the most effective weapon for the situation, lest you die and lose it]].
* [[Video Game 3D Leap]]: As a presentation upgrade starting with ''Thunder Force V''.
* [[Video Game Lives]]
* [[Wave Motion Gun]]
* [[Big "What?"|What?]]: The name of the BGM for the second half of Stage 1.
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