Ever since playing Thunder Force III and IV on the Sega Mega Drive back in the early to mid-’90s, I've been looking for Thunder Force V. I even mentioned in an article way back on this very blog in 2016 (London Gaming Market Hits the Spot) that this game was my white whale.
Well, I never did find it in the wild, as it was never released in Europe at all. However, after all this time, I finally got a chance to play it—sort of. This was on my cousin's PSP mind you (through various mods and suchlike) but I'm glad to have finally played it. So, how is it? Well, it's different, that's for sure. The PS1 polygonal graphics have stood the test of time well enough—at least for those of us who remember them from back in the day, though they're certainly an acquired taste for modern audiences—but the music is as banging as ever.
I'm slowly working my way through it now, but it’s proper challenging—let's just say my reaction times aren't quite what they used to be! It took me a good while to get back into the shmup groove, but once I started to memorise enemy patterns and push my reflexes as far as they’d go, the game sang. I haven’t completed the game yet but so far it doesn’t seem as good as III or IV in my opinion, mostly due to the enemies and backgrounds clashing a lot—especially with enemies flying from the background into the foreground—but there is a real thrill in playing something so delightfully old-school that isn’t a bullet-hell (a sub-genre I do love, but not in quite the same way).
Having recently finished Astro Bot, I know that its final stage featured a homage to the TF5 soundtrack. I've not got there yet, but I'm up for the challenge. I'm sure hearing it in context within the actual game will be a total blast, and once I've finished the game, I'll share my full thoughts.
LINK- Looking Back at the Switch
LINK- The Rise of Retro Gaming During Covid
LINK- Japan: My Journey to the East
LINK- Blood, Sweat and Pixels- Book Review
LINK- Utopia for Realists- Book Review