Thunder Force V: the cancelled Mega Drive version

(Texte aussi disponible en français)

Naosuke Arai had mentioned the subject in an interview published in The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers vol.3, indicating that the game was in (or contained elements of) pre-redenred 3D. Developer UMMO_CHAN had posted a photo in 2018 of a black-and-white printout of some of the game’s sprites. They has since deleted their account, but graphic designer Yōichi Kubo spoke in detail about the project a good decade ago.
Kubo has worked on several Technosoft games, including Devil Crash MD, Nekketsu Oyako and Thunder Force IV. On Thunder Force IV, he was the lead designer, drawing the player’s ship, the UI, bosses, enemies and shots. He also designed the backgrounds for levels 1, 5 and 8 (it took him a month for the first level and 2 weeks for the last). Development took 8 months, with a team of around twenty people (which is still a lot for a shoot’em up).
Technosoft used X68000s as workstations, the same computers that Kubo would use for Thunder Force V. The project seems to have followed the development of 3 arcade games made simultaneously in 1993: Nekketsu Oyako, Hyper Duel and Blast Wind (after changes were made to the game, it was renamed Inazuma Saber and was location tested again). All 3 games have been location tested but Technosoft decided to release in the arcades only the one that generated the best income. The other 2 were released later on consoles.
Development of the Mega Drive version of Thunder Force V was very short, taking place somewhere between late 1993 and 1994. Only 2 people worked on the project: Kubo and a programmer. In 2 days of intense work, Kubo designed the first and only level, which he compared to Metal Black: the action begins on a moon with a golden sky, then the player’s ship crosses the stratosphere, revealing a planet of ice. Then comes the boss, a new version of Gargoyle (already present in Thunder Force III and IV) in non-textured 3D. The 3D elements were drawn using software running on X68000, the same software that seems to have been used for the game’s intro, with a fairly low resolution. As with the Saturn version, and unlike Thunder Force IV, there was no vertical scrolling was no longer possible.
For various reasons, the project was shelved and Kubo left Technosoft around 1995. They later worked on several Final Fantasy games.


Page created on: August 11, 2024 (originally posted on Twitter on July 9, 2024)


Sources:
The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers vol.3
https://twitter.com/UMMO_CHAN/status/889443974598975492
https://twitter.com/UMMO_CHAN/status/925740201996992512
https://twitter.com/UMMO_CHAN/status/944844938029568000
https://twitter.com/UMMO_CHAN/status/940961481461350400
https://twitter.com/UMMO_CHAN/status/1021559340161847296
https://twitter.com/REONIDASPARTANS/status/91211913681309696
https://twitter.com/REONIDASPARTANS/status/91213185218129920
https://twitter.com/REONIDASPARTANS/status/91213630598684672
https://twitter.com/REONIDASPARTANS/status/91214320221954048
https://twitter.com/REONIDASPARTANS/status/91215167899185153
https://twitter.com/REONIDASPARTANS/status/91218451829489664