Thunder Force II (MD, 1989)
Graphics-7.5 Sound-8 Control-8/6* Challenge-8.5 (9)
Level Design-7.5/6* Frustration-7.5/8.5* Fun-7.5/6* Originality-7
Overall Score-7
*Overhead stages
+ Good variation, intense sidescrolling gameplay, great power up system (inventory, keep unequipped weapons when killed), 80s anime atmosphere, different set of weapons for top down and sidescrolling levels, intense and fast paced
+/- Respawn on the spot but lose all collected weapons, power ups can get stuck inside walls
- Repetitive overhead levels with poor control (no speed adjustment, no map), somewhat underwhelming final boss, no speed adjustment (except for the final level where DES acts like a speed upgrade), some distracting backgrounds, some trial & error (closing walls in stage 4, stage 8 speed tunnel, boss patterns), need to press A to continue (pressing Start makes the game go back to the main menu), power ups disappear when going off screen in the overhead levels (happens quite easily when you're focusing on fighting enemies)
Compared to X68K version:
+ Improved overhead stage graphics (and some side-view stage sprites), Some improved music
+/- Tank boss is somewhat different
- Some worse music (intro and ending), missing two stages, missing pre-level still screens and some stills in intro and ending cutscenes, missing two overhead stage weapons, much worse voice samples, missing explosion samples (though weren't great to begin with)
Notes:
Audio is streamed from CD in the Gold Pack Saturn version and fades out at the end of each loop (throws you off since the original game switches music for bosses), some sfx are replaced by samples which are sometimes a bit muffled
Level Design-7.5/6* Frustration-7.5/8.5* Fun-7.5/6* Originality-7
Overall Score-7
*Overhead stages
+ Good variation, intense sidescrolling gameplay, great power up system (inventory, keep unequipped weapons when killed), 80s anime atmosphere, different set of weapons for top down and sidescrolling levels, intense and fast paced
+/- Respawn on the spot but lose all collected weapons, power ups can get stuck inside walls
- Repetitive overhead levels with poor control (no speed adjustment, no map), somewhat underwhelming final boss, no speed adjustment (except for the final level where DES acts like a speed upgrade), some distracting backgrounds, some trial & error (closing walls in stage 4, stage 8 speed tunnel, boss patterns), need to press A to continue (pressing Start makes the game go back to the main menu), power ups disappear when going off screen in the overhead levels (happens quite easily when you're focusing on fighting enemies)
Compared to X68K version:
+ Improved overhead stage graphics (and some side-view stage sprites), Some improved music
+/- Tank boss is somewhat different
- Some worse music (intro and ending), missing two stages, missing pre-level still screens and some stills in intro and ending cutscenes, missing two overhead stage weapons, much worse voice samples, missing explosion samples (though weren't great to begin with)
Notes:
Audio is streamed from CD in the Gold Pack Saturn version and fades out at the end of each loop (throws you off since the original game switches music for bosses), some sfx are replaced by samples which are sometimes a bit muffled
