Thunder Force V - Perfect System (Playstation)

Horizontal
Checkpoints OFF
4 Difficulty levels
7 Stages
Ship speed selectable
- - - - - - -
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.

Super Hydorah (Playstation 4)

Horizontal
Checkpoints ON
1 Difficulty level
12 ~ 21 Stages
Ship speed by icons
- - - - - - -
Developed by Locomalito / Gryzor87
Published by Abylight Studios / Limited Run Games in 2018

In 2010 a freeware shmup called Hydorah caused a very good impression among orphans of the golden age of horizontal shooters, especially those who never relinquished their love for everything about Gradius. A very respectful homage and a worthy evolution in its own right, Hydorah reminded players of how good it felt to play a game that was truly crafted to convey the wonders of cruising through alien environments to defeat yet another threat to the galaxy. A rare treat indeed in the world of independently developed video games.

Fast forward seven years, and developers Locomalito and Gryzor87 teamed up with a professional publisher to deliver an expanded and tweaked version of the game suitably baptized as Super Hydorah, made available for all main platforms of the time. The iteration for the Playstation 4 ditches some of the previous PC traits, such as the option to play the game in an easier setting, and while it does not include any HD treatment whatsoever the 16/32-bit styled graphics still look as gorgeous as they can be, duly matched by a magnificient atmospheric soundtrack.

It doesn't take long for seasoned players to see that this game is a love letter to everything about Gradius. From the basic look of the ship to the stage introductions that resemble those from Gradius Gaiden, Super Hydorah includes several bosses and stage designs inspired by the franchise, many of them also infused with details from other classic horizontal series and games such as R-Type, Darius, Hellfire and even obscure titles such as Rayxanber. It's a feast to the eyes of veterans, and for that alone a experience that sounds particularly special for all old timers.

Prepare your weapons and start your engines: Super Hydorah arrives!
(courtesy of YouTube user and co-publisher Abylight Studios)

 

The structure of Super Hydorah is based on a map that defines the stages to be played. It's possible to beat the game by playing a minimum of 12 stages, yet in order to see the best ending you need to mandatorily get through 4 specific stages in a total of at least 16 levels completed in a single credit. The "Delta Lance" ship is visually very similar to the Vic Viper from Gradius and starts out with a single pea shot, but for each stage won a special weapon (or an extra life) is given as a reward. Firepower is composed of primary and secondary weapons (fired with button ×) and a special attack with limited use (fired with button ○). At the start of every level you need to equip the ship with the available options in the arsenal, upgrading primary and secondary weapons during the stages if they're used for the first time.

As you progress through the levels two types of items will appear when a specific carrier is destroyed. The first one is the power-up for the main weapon, which cycles between green (primary) and red (secondary). It takes 10 items to max out the power for each one. Surplus power-ups are worth 100 points each. The second item type cycles between speed-up (blue), 1-hit shield (purple) and special attack (orange). It's possible to amass up to 3 speed-ups and 3 special attacks, and for each of these items in excess you'll get 500 points (shield too). Finally, the heart gives you an extra life.

Each stage is divided in one or more combat zones where you advance in enemy territory or need to confront a boss, and it goes without saying that a good weapon selection is essential to make the path easier in any given level. Since it's impossible to change your arsenal once the stage starts, the worst thing that can happen is making bad choices and dying repeatedly during a boss fight. After all, each death takes away two upgrade points of each weapon, one speed-up and all special attacks you have in stock. At least Super Hydorah isn't one of those games where the odds are insurmountable, so the overall idea is that practice eventually makes perfect. And a perfectly played level with no hits taken gives you a max bonus of 6.000 points – if you're also able to collect the "secret" in it, that is.

Secrets are mostly special spots in the levels that are revealed if you fly over them, yet in certain cases they will require some patience to be uncovered. Waiting for a particular attack pattern to appear, for a particular wall to disintegrate or, in a very particular case, use a special weapon previously taken as a key to advance. Since this information can easily be found online, I won't get into more detail on it. In any case, secrets aren't really necessary for players to reach the best ending. Collecting all secrets in a single run merely unlocks a special achievement, that's all.

All-out shooting action in the Galactic Inferno stage

From the initial scramble of the Outer Wall to the final battle in Meropticon, a full run tackling all levels takes around one hour and a half, yet everything is so diverse and engaging you probably won't notice that while having a mother lode of fun, either solo or in a 2-player co-op campaign. On the subject of stage order and weapon choices there is of course plenty of flexibility. In the first half of the game lasers are excellent when combined with "scorts", which are the closest you'll get to the options in common Gradius lore even though they behave as a mix between the auxiliary appendixes from Thunder Cross and X-Multiply. Later on vulcan and homing definitely serve as good replacements for them. As for special attacks, if you decide to carry "light" (obtained in Rubinia) a bonus of 2.000 points will be applied for every surplus special attack item instead of the regular 500 points.

Speaking of bonus points, good consideration was given to the scoring system in this game. There's absolutely no way of milking boss projectiles, for instance. Replaying stages isn't allowed, and the more you die the less bonus you get when a stage is completed. It is possible, however, to milk certain levels by dying just before the stage ends in order to restart the checkpoint. Since the assortment of extra lives is quite high, that's certainly the best strategy for those who'd like to reach scores that are close or above one million points. Pilot ranks are given at the end of the stage based on your score, ranging from Cadet at the start of the game to Captain once you surpass the mark of 500.000 points.

In order to get the bad ending of Super Hydorah, players must not complete any of the four stages that have the so-called Hydorah seeds (Dunarys, Path of Scylla, Underground Base and Black Gate). By beating these levels you'll then achieve the good ending. Both of these endings allow the use of continues. That said, a Hero ending is reserved for those who are able to beat the game with no continues while destroying all Hydorah seeds, which means beating the stages mentioned above on your way to the 1CC. The homage present in this one will certainly warm the hearts of shmup veterans.

Aside from the regular campaign, the PS4 version of Super Hydorah also comes with a mini-game mode called Robot Chase, which requires 2 players to be enjoyed. The 1CC score I got below is in the last screen of the Hero ending in the main game. I did die a handful of times, but I did no checkpoint milking whatsoever.