Best horizontal shoot'em up ever made. 10 levels of gorgeous graphics, adrenalinic boss fights and kicking ass music. And what about the short intro? MASTERPIECE.
"Genesis does!" This game is such a visual treat, I love it. Tecnosoft really had a feel for the hardware they were working with. that was few and far between with some developers back then.
One of, if not THE best horizontal scrolling shooter of its time!!! (but there are many other amazing ones e.g. Thunder Force III, Gaiares, Winds of Thunder, Gley Lancer, R-Type III, Eliminate Down and the list goes on... such an epic era for the genre!)
@@jballs5434 since this is a older comment idk if you played them yet but I can’t recommend the Rtype series enough, they’re some of my favorite games of all time. I was unsure if they’d be for me since they are older titles, but I think their gameplay is really timeless. The compilation on the switch is quite a nice deal for the first 2 titles which really focus on delivering a quality experience from beginning to end and have some of the best level design I’ve seen, and of course Rtype 3 on SNES is also outstanding, it’s one I hope to see them rerelease also
Thunder Force 4 is a Magnificent Masterpiece from sega With ABSOLUTELY AWESOME stages and AMAZING Boss battles Breathtaking Soundtrack and STUNNINGLY brilliant power ups The mega drive game is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖 May the Thunder force be with you Always
Yeah i played it 200 times on maniac and I'm still not tired. I'm actually working on a spiritual successor to the Thunder Force series right now. But I'll make sure there is more action on screen, bigger levels, and badder bosses
That build up to the 1st boss with the underwater section and the ship appearing is creepy and awesome! And THEN that music kicks in!!!! Simply brilliant!!!!
I loved this game as a kid. Even though it's 20 years since I played it, I can still remember a cheat for lives. Up Right A Down Right A C Left Up B Right Up... no matter what, I can't forget that sequence!!
This came out when i was twelve and i seriously was blown away with how well it played and how good it looked and the sound it could just aswell have been a neogeo game. Man me and my best buddy played this game until our eyes bled. I really had never thought that the megadrive could ever run a game like this! Btw if you like this type of game check out Empire of steel
Blade!, Railgun!, Snake!, Freeway!, Hunter! Yeah I played this too much as a teen lol, was my first ever Sega Genisis/Megadrive game & loved it to bits!
First time hearing about this game was just a couple of days ago when it was announced for Sega Ages now I cannot wait for this to come out ! The music and those graphics... mmm.
Hard to believe this came out in 1992 and ran on the mega drive with all those sprites and layers. I don't think you could push the hardware any harder without it crashing.
Oh the nostalgia! Absolutely loved this game and the music was epic. Still hum the intro music back to myself to this very day! As great as the Mega Drive / Genesis Mini is, I so wish they had opted for Thunder Force 4 over Thunder Force 3. Both great games but 4 was the pinnacle of shooters on the Mega Drive / Genesis.
Hi! The best horizontal 2D shooter of the 16Bit, and probably also of the 32Bit era!!.. It's a shame they didn't make a special series for Mega CD too, or a porting ( conversion ) of the IV, with additions dictated by the additional technical characteristics of the Mega CD, like;" F.M.V. intro, and cut scenes, 3D levels, ( with Custom A.S.I.C. Chip ) and of course the audio with the 8 P.C.M. Stereo channels. It was truly a SIN!!!... Of course it must be said that on Mega CD, there's "Silpheed," and "A/X101," the Best polygonal shooters to date!! Bye!
This game was a true tour de force for the Sega Genesis. Thunder Force IV would not look out of place running on a Neo Geo AES/MVS. The games graphics and sound were unmatched in 1992 by any genre, any console, or attachment period. I can't think of a single shmup fron the 4th generation that even matches this games quality (minus Neo Geo titles).
Not only are the graphics good,but also the music,technosoft really should,ve the feel and time to make out such incredible sound effects out of an fm sound chip,like drums,basses, and rock & roll guitars etc,,, this way digital sound can be simulated out of a fm chip, all that matters is,,,know how.
This looks more like Neo Geo than Megadrive, it's an awesome limit-pushing game! Altrough it looks like it has a ton of parallax scrolling, there are never more than 2 overlapping background layers + sprite layer per scanline displayed (just what the Genesis is capable of). Some great programming skills here. Sadly, TF4 has many slowdown moments, but it's not gamebreaking.
Loved this game when I was a kid. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing. Shame it wasn’t included in the sea mega drive collection for ps3 & 4. I’d love to play it today with trophies.
It's included on the Sega Genesis Mini 2! You can also get it with a bunch of really sweet extras on the Switch. I would love to see it released for the Series X and PS5 with the option to overclock the 68K. Then we would see it without any slowdown.
The graphics are so good for the Genesis/MD. Some stuff wouldn’t look out of place in a Neo-Geo och Saturn/PS1 game. I'm pretty shure there were some worse looking 32 bit games. It's hard though, I've haven't even been able to 1CC TF3 (but I'm geting there)
Been searching for this game for some time now. The only thing I could remember was that it was side scrolling shooter, and a voice would tell you your new weapon. 😃👍
Amazing.............. i love shooters and this one has to be one of my favs, WOW and the music omg the music :)) esp the music during the end credits........ hell its all great!
Quand je me suis acheté la PSII, j'ai tout vendu pour me l'acheter. Sauf FFVI sur SNES, Streets of Rage II et ThunderForce IV sur Megadrive/Genesis. Ce jeu est un chef-d'œuvre absolu.
I'm 31 now. The last time I played this was when I was about 7 or 8. I had no idea there were more levels than the first 4, I could never beat them all!
Thunder Force 3 has an special place in my heart and memory, but I agree, best Thunder Force in the series. TFV has it moments, but this game has something that makes it go beyond. My top 5 would be: 1: Thunder Force IV 2: Thunder Force 3 3: Thunder Force 2 (Sharp X68000) 4: Thunder Force V (Saturn) 5: Thunder Force VI.
+jaggededge11 Ahh yes, that's it! Sorry for such a late reply. My UA-cam account wasn't sending me any alerts for a long while So thanks for clearing up this mystery. :)
![1992 [60fps] MD Thunder Force IV Speedrun 33m Nomiss ALL](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6jtLn38lIEE/mqdefault.jpg)
The best shoot'em up of all time. Graphics, music, everything. Perfection.
Gaiares é bom também, as vezes fico na dúvida de qual gosto mais.
You must try zerowing on the genesis
I'd say Axelay for the SNES is the best side scrolling shoot em up but this is a very close second.
@@daviddefortier5970 What happen?
@cord113 if you like this game, then you will also like zerowing. Theyre both top quality shooters on the Genesis
Best horizontal shoot'em up ever made. 10 levels of gorgeous graphics, adrenalinic boss fights and kicking ass music. And what about the short intro? MASTERPIECE.
I prefer the intro in the European version.
It's available on Nintendo Switch through Sega Ages, for those interested.
"Genesis does!"
This game is such a visual treat, I love it. Tecnosoft really had a feel for the hardware they were working with. that was few and far between with some developers back then.
i agree, they really had a feel for the hardware
39:19 that ending soundtrack!! 🔥🔥
Oh my God... ❤️
Ufff espectacular.
It's like retro wave metal with a genesis sound chip. It's music so good it's a reward for clearing it.
Love the tune on 17:10 albeit very short.
Last boss tune rocks!!
One of, if not THE best horizontal scrolling shooter of its time!!! (but there are many other amazing ones e.g. Thunder Force III, Gaiares, Winds of Thunder, Gley Lancer, R-Type III, Eliminate Down and the list goes on... such an epic era for the genre!)
Gaiares and Sol Feace are probably my absolute favorites, but this and R-Type are ones that I REALLY want to try. :)
Winds Of Thunder is Lords Of Thunder
@@jballs5434 since this is a older comment idk if you played them yet but I can’t recommend the Rtype series enough, they’re some of my favorite games of all time. I was unsure if they’d be for me since they are older titles, but I think their gameplay is really timeless. The compilation on the switch is quite a nice deal for the first 2 titles which really focus on delivering a quality experience from beginning to end and have some of the best level design I’ve seen, and of course Rtype 3 on SNES is also outstanding, it’s one I hope to see them rerelease also
Have a look at zerowing on the genesis too.
And Samurai aces on mame
Thunder Force 4 is a Magnificent Masterpiece from sega
With ABSOLUTELY AWESOME stages and AMAZING Boss battles
Breathtaking Soundtrack and STUNNINGLY brilliant power ups
The mega drive game is ABSOLUTELY AWESOME 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
May the Thunder force be with you Always
Yeah i played it 200 times on maniac and I'm still not tired. I'm actually working on a spiritual successor to the Thunder Force series right now. But I'll make sure there is more action on screen, bigger levels, and badder bosses
@@direktexe8436 did you finish your game?
@@iwanttocomplain not yet
@DiRektEXE it’s a bold move to try and one-up Technosoft’s best game, I must say.
With all due respect, this version (Mega Drive) is the best of the series for the console at the time.
Robert McCartney Megadrive is unbeatable
With all due respect..................I agree.
That build up to the 1st boss with the underwater section and the ship appearing is creepy and awesome! And THEN that music kicks in!!!! Simply brilliant!!!!
Loooove the soundtrack! Especially that stage select track! Nostalgia overload!
This is some of the best graphics I've seen for a Genesis game.
One of the best Shmups PERIOD!!!
You're here for 23:53.
Yes. Yes i am.
As well as 42:10 ofc
Why yes... yes i am.
um no ...
Oh yeah :) and Sand hell too ;)
One of the best game i ever played! Love the bgm, especially the last boss theme! So epic, a marvelous old school shmup! Vive Technosoft! Vive Sega!
I loved this game as a kid. Even though it's 20 years since I played it, I can still remember a cheat for lives. Up Right A Down Right A C Left Up B Right Up... no matter what, I can't forget that sequence!!
Hope this works on emulators. Trying Tonight
Put 0 in initial settings for infinite repeat?!
This game actually slows down the Mega Drive. Even the blast processing can't keep up with the blast processing in this game.
Blast processing never existed. It was just a marketing gimmick pretty much to take your money.
Blast processing: Motorola 68000 @ 7.6 MHz
You need the Saturn version to play without slowdown.
blast processing is real actually. it refers to the genesis DMA unit being able to write data into VDP memory whenever it wants.
Its often crashes after beating the first boss.
I can't passed it.
0:46 was my ringtone Greetings from Argentina
This came out when i was twelve and i seriously was blown away with how well it played and how good it looked and the sound it could just aswell have been a neogeo game. Man me and my best buddy played this game until our eyes bled. I really had never thought that the megadrive could ever run a game like this! Btw if you like this type of game check out Empire of steel
Thunderforce 4 blew me away seeing at my local Virgin Megastore (back in the 90), probably my most played game after Sonic(s).
One of my favourite games for the Genesis. A very well done long-play, easily does this fantastic game justice.
41:59 is the best moment in this video
The graphics for this game blew me away as a child
The best shmup of 16 bits era!!
Stage 8 soundtrack is amazing! Easily the best in the series.
That stage reminds me of Contra final boss - Alien's Lair.
Blade!, Railgun!, Snake!, Freeway!, Hunter! Yeah I played this too much as a teen lol, was my first ever Sega Genisis/Megadrive game & loved it to bits!
First time hearing about this game was just a couple of days ago when it was announced for Sega Ages now I cannot wait for this to come out ! The music and those graphics... mmm.
Maybe the best shoot'em up I've played in any system. Love the all the sountrack, but the normal ending theme is awesome.
How about Metal Slug franchises?
Hard to believe this came out in 1992 and ran on the mega drive with all those sprites and layers. I don't think you could push the hardware any harder without it crashing.
The version on the Saturn Thunder Force Gold pack runs even better, with absolutely ZERO slowdown on it.
These layers are tricks even Nes does.
@@Bloodreign1Time out!!! there's a Saturn version!!? what!!?
Just been given an old megadrive two with a few games. One of which is tgis classic. Happy days.
Wow! You got lucky there!
Game so intense it even lags the music
Good Thing I Still Have My MegaDrive & This Game 👍
Oh the nostalgia! Absolutely loved this game and the music was epic. Still hum the intro music back to myself to this very day! As great as the Mega Drive / Genesis Mini is, I so wish they had opted for Thunder Force 4 over Thunder Force 3. Both great games but 4 was the pinnacle of shooters on the Mega Drive / Genesis.
Hi!
The best horizontal 2D shooter of the 16Bit, and probably also of the 32Bit era!!..
It's a shame they didn't make a special series for Mega CD too, or a porting ( conversion ) of the IV, with additions dictated by the additional technical characteristics of the Mega CD, like;" F.M.V. intro, and cut scenes, 3D levels, ( with Custom A.S.I.C. Chip ) and of course the audio with the 8 P.C.M. Stereo channels. It was truly a SIN!!!...
Of course it must be said that on Mega CD, there's "Silpheed," and
"A/X101," the Best polygonal shooters to date!!
Bye!
BEST SOUNDTRACK EVER
Even better on real hardware without an emulator butchering the sound.
@@rootykazooty351 Yep. But the slowdown is so hard :/
Que buenos recuerdos de esa época con este gran juego
40:20 this are in my memories .and this soundtrack
This game was a true tour de force for the Sega Genesis. Thunder Force IV would not look out of place running on a Neo Geo AES/MVS. The games graphics and sound were unmatched in 1992 by any genre, any console, or attachment period. I can't think of a single shmup fron the 4th generation that even matches this games quality (minus Neo Geo titles).
That first 40 odd seconds starting soundtrack - stunning
Loved plating this game as a kid wanna play it again
Such an underrated gem and the soundtrack blew me away as a kid
At time was not underrated... Was the best shoot em up on consoles...every review give it a score of 95 or above..
Get ready guys, this is going to be part of the upcoming Sega AGES collection.
I don't need a 3DS, nor the Ages collection for this one, I still have a Genesis and a copy of this game.
@@Bloodreign1 Good because the cheat codes were completely left out on the Sega Age ver. of the game.
Respect for you, defeating the last of the spheres with the invincible Thunder Sword!
They don't make them like this anymore!
I bought my Mega Drive from a kid when I tested this game on it, he wanted to keep it.
ok boomer
I still play this. Shoot em up perfection.
Not only are the graphics good,but also the music,technosoft really should,ve the feel and time to make out such incredible sound effects out of an fm sound chip,like drums,basses, and rock & roll guitars etc,,, this way digital sound can be simulated out of a fm chip, all that matters is,,,know how.
This looks more like Neo Geo than Megadrive, it's an awesome limit-pushing game! Altrough it looks like it has a ton of parallax scrolling, there are never more than 2 overlapping background layers + sprite layer per scanline displayed (just what the Genesis is capable of). Some great programming skills here. Sadly, TF4 has many slowdown moments, but it's not gamebreaking.
Loved this game when I was a kid. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing. Shame it wasn’t included in the sea mega drive collection for ps3 & 4. I’d love to play it today with trophies.
Too much masterpieces were not included in that collection. Very disappointed.
It's included on the Sega Genesis Mini 2! You can also get it with a bunch of really sweet extras on the Switch. I would love to see it released for the Series X and PS5 with the option to overclock the 68K. Then we would see it without any slowdown.
Даже не верится что это 16 бит . Саундтрек чего только стоит
Je le ponçe toujours en 2019 et je le jouerai jusqu'à la mort,...merci sega ♡♡♡♡sega♡♡♡♡♡
In retrospect I’m sure this game is what got me into metal music!
..I never heard of this game I am here to listen to the FM synthesis sounds..
Melhor jogo de nave da era 16 bit, nota 10.
É muito bom mesmo,mas o Gaiares é top também, aquele sistema de jogar aquela esfera no inimigo e roubar habilidades deles é muito legal
Love this battle 22:46 the way it tries to slap you with its whole body and you dodge it. 👌🏿
The graphics are so good for the Genesis/MD. Some stuff wouldn’t look out of place in a Neo-Geo och Saturn/PS1 game. I'm pretty shure there were some worse looking 32 bit games. It's hard though, I've haven't even been able to 1CC TF3 (but I'm geting there)
The music even rivals most neo geo games. I dont know how they got such good quality out of it, especially the rolling credits tune at the end
My favourite Sega Shoot em Up. This one defined the genre for me
I miss playing this game so much and my favorite weapons are the blade, rail gun, and the hunter
I've been trying to find this game for years from when I was a kid, holy cow!
Been searching for this game for some time now. The only thing I could remember was that it was side scrolling shooter, and a voice would tell you your new weapon. 😃👍
Not familiar with this series but going by viewing alone, this seems a vast improvement on its predecessors
golden age of video game
THE best shooter of the 16bit Era!
This game was released in the US as “Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar”
My favorite shmup ever. Thanks for posting this.
Needlecrash me too.
Amazing.............. i love shooters and this one has to be one of my favs, WOW and the music omg the music :)) esp the music during the end credits........ hell its all great!
Just awesome love it 1 of the best game 4 the MD/GEN
Quand je me suis acheté la PSII, j'ai tout vendu pour me l'acheter.
Sauf FFVI sur SNES, Streets of Rage II et ThunderForce IV sur Megadrive/Genesis.
Ce jeu est un chef-d'œuvre absolu.
Pourquoi vous dites toujours ff6, c est ennuyant les charlatans.
epic and awesome music!
I grew up with this game. My dad owned this game on Megadrive. I can't beat this game without the x99 lives cheat.
8:00 one of the best levels in shoot um up history!
Thunder Force IV, Gaiares and MUSHA are the three best shooters in the MD library, for me...
The most wonderfu sounding rail gun in the history of RAIL-SHOOTERS LOLOLOLOLOLL
I'm 31 now. The last time I played this was when I was about 7 or 8. I had no idea there were more levels than the first 4, I could never beat them all!
love the stage select music!
El mejor juego shoot em up de la historia
Awesome Soundtrack !
어릴 때 하던 게임들이 크게 와닿고, 재밌었음..
the highscore name tho, lmao nice
Игра просто космос, как и сам саунд!
My favorit play game of your mega drive ! I love this game ! 😍❤ it's an exceptional game! !
All Hail Thunder Force 4 Games
Brought to you straight from the 16 bit gods!
The Hunter power-up is the key to surviving the entire game, which can only be obtained in Ruin, Bio-base, and the final stage.
Metal Squad, nothing more to add. Best forever!
Top Game Megadrive
Суперское прохождение!!!
Que cantidad de ralentizaciones por dios si es que hasta la música se frena
Problema de emulacion. En el hardware original no ocurre eso.
@@danmakuman Tengo mis dudas.
I am sure this is the peak of the whole franchise, not that III and V were bad, just that they didn't have the flair of the fourth entry.
I need this game in my collection now
This game is very insane!!!!
I used to like using the infinite lives on hardest difficulty cheat. Brilliant game
Dayam! This game is bad asss.......
Best tf in the series.. 5 is kinda lackluster, 6 is a joke
Thunder Force 3 has an special place in my heart and memory, but I agree, best Thunder Force in the series. TFV has it moments, but this game has something that makes it go beyond.
My top 5 would be:
1: Thunder Force IV
2: Thunder Force 3
3: Thunder Force 2 (Sharp X68000)
4: Thunder Force V (Saturn)
5: Thunder Force VI.
Best shootem up ever
The best shooter on the Genesis, don't @ me.
Sega Mega Drive: Thunder Force IV! Total Time: 00:42:11
Part 3 was my favourite ❤
the megadrive is a beast
Such a classic
3:30 Can someone please tell me what other game this part sounds like?? I know it, but I'm stumped at the moment.
Perhaps the beginning of the first stage of Doom 1?
+videogameobsession
Stumped . Perfect sound .
+jaggededge11 Ahh yes, that's it!
Sorry for such a late reply. My UA-cam account wasn't sending me any alerts for a long while So thanks for clearing up this mystery. :)
Best game ever