Thunder Force V - Perfect System (Playstation)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed selectable
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Developed by Technosoft
Published by Working Designs in 1998

I bet Playstation shmup fans were delighted to see the release of Thunder Force V - Perfect System approximately one year after the Japanese original came out for the Sega Saturn. I know I would've been. Well regarded ever since the 16-bit days, the franchise was perhaps bound to be seen in other home systems with time, as hinted by titles like Thunder Spirits. However, unlike the dreadful fate of the late entry for the SNES, Thunder Force V - Perfect System is a worthy port whose only real fault might have been the arrogant subtitle added by publisher Working Designs.

Long story short, for those who grew to love the series in Sega platforms, there's absolutely nothing in the Playstation version to be looked down upon. Console war orphans are keen to point out the absence of the subterranean city in the "Human Road" level, but aside from this visual compromise and the somewhat smaller sprites for bullets in this same stage, as well as very minor graphical differences throughout, both games play very well and offer colorful, fast-paced and intense action from start to finish.

Meet boss Deep Purple

If you're coming directly from Thunder Force IV you'll certainly feel there's something different about Thunder Force V, which in my eyes is a good thing even though the basic mechanics and inputs are almost the same. The story does give the Gauntlet ship a journey of its own against a supercomputer that went rogue, eventually endowing it with enhanced capabilities in one of the most awesome transition sections of the whole franchise. There are seven stages in total, and players are allowed to choose the order of the first three. Inputs consist of shot, arms switch left/right (cycles between the weapons available), speed switch (cycles between three settings of 50%, 705% and 100%, hold down to do it in steps of 1%) and overweapon. This last input is this chapter's claim to fame, as is the controversial free-range weapon. By defaut, button ∆ toggles the overhead display on and off during play, and if you fancy having all weapons mapped to specific buttons just go to the options for advanced control settings.

The only default weapons are the twin shot and the back shot, which are not lost if you die using them. All others are gone and must be regained by collecting its respective item: wave, free range and hunter. Items are released from harmless carriers that show up every now and then, or from specific enemies in special sections. The most common item is the "craw", the blue option that rotates around the ship increasing its firepower, blocking regular bullets and allowing the use of the so-called overweapon. By activating it you increase the ship's destructive power, draining craw energy until it depletes completely. To regain craw energy you need to take more craws or wait for them to recharge slowly. However, if a craw is hit when completely drained you'll lose it. It's possible to carry a maximum of three craws.

Another very important item is the shield, which gives you protection against three hits as it changes color from purple to green and then brown. Unlike in previous chapters, shields in Thunder Force V appear scarcely, with some stages having no shields at all to be taken. Finally, the 1UP gives you an extra life. Hint: when the ship descends into the tree leaves of the jungle area, use the hunter weapon to make sure you get the 1UP that's hidden in that spot. Besides 1UPs, score-based extends are granted as you reach 10, 50, 100 and 500 million points.

Choosing the best weapon to face each enemy wave or boss attack is half the fun in any Thunder Force game. In the case of Thunder Force V, eventually all players realize that free range is the best weapon in almost all situations, not only because of its versatility but also because its overweapon can obliterate larger enemies and boss phases in a snap if correctly placed. Since speed-killing everything is the key to obtaining higher scores, aggressive use of the free range is the best strategy any score chaser will adopt here. A multiplier of ×16 means you were able to get the fastest kill possible, and the longer any enemy lives the lower this multiplier gets. Of course there are the usual bonuses given at the end of the game for remaining lives, weapons and difficulty, as well as a huge no-miss reward if you manage to beat the game without losing a single life.

Animated intro of Thunder Force V - Perfect System
(courtesy of YouTube user Nox-Hardigan)

While most of the criticism on Thunder Force V is directed to the unbalance provided by the free range weapon, that doesn't detract anything from the game's pleasing design, which mixes natural environments with mechanical fortresses and enemies (stage 6 is borderline surreal). The soundtrack and the sound effects are top notch and reinforce the action with gusto. Those who care for the story side of things will certainly enjoy the extra movie sequences created for Thunder Force V - Perfect System, which also includes a Time Attack mode that's unlocked after the game is beaten. Time Attack is a boss rush mode that's actually a very nice resource for practicing.

Publisher Working Designs is known for altering key features in their porting jobs, but at least they did not screw up anything badly here as they did with Raystorm. Besides the extra content, the only aspect of the game they tinkered with is the scoring system. It's not possible to achieve a counterstop anymore, one of the known issues of the Saturn original. It's still possible to slowly milk projectiles from the 6th boss though, but leave it to those who have the time and the will to go after that.

Returning to the game was like meeting an old friend again. The final screen below is exclusive to this version, and appears just before you're prompted to input your initials once the game is beaten. As we can see, I played in the Normal difficulty and had 6 lives in reserve in the end (lost two lives aginst the last boss).

Thunder Force V / Perfect System was the last chapter designed by Technosoft. Thunder Force VI, released ten years later exclusively for the Playstation 2, came out under the development banner of Sega.