Developer - Technosoft   Catalogue No. - T-18013

Type - Shooting Action

The first Thunder Force for the Mega Drive but not the first in the series. That actually appeared on Japanese home computers such as the PC88. Thunder Force II MD features over head sections just like the original Thunder Force plus new horizontal side scrolling levels which the series stuck with. The mix of overhead and side scrolling levels actually makes for quite a fresh game. The overhead sections can be a little fiddly at first due to the ship never actually stopping but you’ll soon learn how to circle around to avoid bullets. Side scrolling sections are looking a little basic these days especially when you take a look at Thunder Force III and IV, still you can make out what everything is so the graphics are doing their job well. The audio in Thunder Force II MD is what you’ve come to expect from Technosoft, pure hard cyber rock. The tunes are a little more weaker than later Technosoft Mega Drive games however mainly due to the fact that they were probably still learning the Mega Drive’s sound chip. Still, very good tunes over all accompanied by that lovely garbled speech.

Thunder Force II MD is a very challenging shooter for its age. A worthy purchase for any shooting fan.  By the way, the holes in the instruction book were made at the production factory.  Quite a few early Mega Drive games had this done to them.  God knows what Sega were thinking.