Thunder Force 30th Anniversary Collection 3DS boxart
Thunder Force 30th Anniversary Collection is a Shooting compilation game made by Sega for Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PS Vita containing all 6 Thunder Force entries and alternate versions
Instead of emulated games, Every game was ported to the new console
Thunder Force 2 for X68000 and Thunder Force 6 had their texts translated to English outside Japan. However, Thunder Force 5 still retains Japanese subtitles
Games contained[]
Thunder Force 30th Anniversary Collection contains 9 different Thunder Force games and 3 extra games
- Thunder Force (1984-Sharp X1, Unreleased outside Japan)
- Thunder Force 2 (1988-Sharp X68000, Unreleased outside Japan, Renamed Thunder Force 2X outside Japan)
- Thunder Force 2 (1989-Sega Megadrive, Thunder Force 2MD in Japan)
- Thunder Force 3 (1990-Sega Megadrive)
- Thunder Force AC (1990-Arcade)
- Thunder Spirits (1991-SNES, Renamed Thunder Force 3 DX on Sony consoles)
- Thunder Force 4 (1992-Sega Megadrive, Kept "Thunder Force 4" as its name in America)
- Thunder Force 5 (1997-PlayStation, Unreleased in Europe)
- Thunder Force 6 (2008-PlayStation 2, Unreleased outside Japan)
The extra games featured in this collection are
- Thunder Force 3 Plus (Mixes Thunder Force 3+AC+Spirits on a single game, Unlocked after clearing Thunder Force 3, Thunder Force AC and Thunder Spirits)
- Thunder Force 4S (Thunder Force 4 stages playable with Thunder Force 3 ship, Unlocked after clearing Thunder Force 4)
- Thunder Force Wars (Original game based on Thunder Force 1+2, Only playable on VS mode, Unlocked after playing Thunder Force 1, Thunder Force 2 and Thunder Force 2X at least 5 times)
Game Modes[]
All Games except Thunder Force Wars contain 3 main modes
Normal Mode (Traditional stage advancing mode)
Time Attack Mode (Defeat all bosses as fast as possible without losing lives, Unlocked after clearing Normal Mode)
Score Attack Mode (Score as many points as possible on difficulty increasing loops, Unlocked after completing Time Attack Mode)
Thunder Force 5 and 6 had Time Attack Mode originally, It was added on the main menu on older games on this collection
Thunder Force 6 had Score Attack Mode, Like previously mentioned it was added on the main menu on older games on this collection
As part of the main menu there are also Digital Viewer and Sound Collection, A feature only available on 3DS is the AR Cards mode
Thunder Force Wars[]
Thunder Force Wars is an original multiplayer game based on Thunder Force 1 and both versions of Thunder Force 2 in which 1 to 8 players combat against each other finding 4 bases on a vertical scrolling area, Thunder Force Wars plays on randomly generated maps allowing each player to place its bases anywhere on the map
Besides single player mode, Thunder Force Wars features Local play and Online play on both 3DS and PS Vita, While 3DS is the only console to offer Download Play mode
Home consoles like PS3, PS4 and Wii U offers Single Player mode as well as Online Multiplayer mode
Maps are based on Thunder Force 1 but spaceships and powerups are taken from both versions of Thunder Force 2
Changes from the original games[]
- Thunder Force 2, 3, 4 and Thunder Spirits no longer require a code to enter configuration mode
- Thunder Force 2X had a "Shit!" voice clip removed
- Thunder Force AC features Autofire enabled
- Thunder Force AC renamed Sever as Saber and Back Fire as Back Shot
- Thunder Force 4 is based on Thunder Force Gold Pack 2 edition and includes Kids mode unavailable on Sega Megadrive
- Thunder Force 5 has Sega Saturn graphics but PS1 gameplay
- Thunder Force 5 lacks Direct Mode input in PS Vita and 3DS due to lack of buttons, However it can be used on 3DS with a Circle Pad Pro
- Thunder Force 6 no longer has Online Leaderboards