Thunder Force/YMMV

• Adaptation Displacement: Remember Thunder Force II on the Genesis / Mega Drive? Yeah, well, remember the Sharp X68000 version that it's a port of?
• Awesome Music : Multiple examples. See the page.
• Catharsis Factor: Stage 5 of Thunder Force V. You get a new ship with powerful Wave Motion Gun weapons that can be used infinitely and then proceed to enjoy one of the easiest stages in the game, blowing the Guardian's defense forces into pieces.
• Contested Sequel: Thunder Force V and VI
• Ear Worm: The option music in Thunder Force II (X68000 version), Thunder Force IV and Thunder Force VI, "Tan Tan Ta Ta Ta Tan".
• Game Breaker:
  • Free Range in Thunder Force V. Even the manual of the North American version describes it as the strongest weapon in the game and encourages you to use it.
  • In Thunder Force VI, the only ship you can initially play as starts off with all of its weapons and never loses them, which by Thunder Force standards is pretty broken. In other words, the default ship is more broken than the unlockable Rynex-R.
• It's Short, So It Sucks!: One of the main reasons Thunder Force VI wasn't so well received.
• Narm: The intro dialogue in Thunder Force II:

"This is Exceliza, I want to fly now." "Roger, good luck."

• Porting Disaster:
  • For some reason, Thunder Force AC has a really slow autofire rate, forcing players to furiously mash the fire button to achieve the same rate of fire as the Genesis version's autofire. And then there's Thunder Spirits, a port of Thunder Force AC with still no autofire and lots of slowdown.
  • Thunder Spirits actually has autofire, it just has to be turned on in the options menu, which for some reason is hidden instead of being obviously accessible. Ostensibly, this was all to make the game more challenging. It does, but probably not in the way that was intended.
• Sequel Displacement: Few gamers have heard of the original Thunder Force (it doesn't help that it was released in 1983 on an obscure Japan-only computer platform), even fewer have played it.
• Sequelitis: Thunder Force VI was released 10 years after Thunder Force V, and came to be a big disappointment among fans, with only six short stages, a radically different soundtrack, excessive homages to past games, weapons as broken as Thunder Force V's, and a new weapon mechanic in which you start with every weapon and never lose any of them.
• So Okay It's Average: Thunder Force VI, which did not quite catch the high expectation its So Cool Its Awesome previous titles had anticipated.
• "Stop Having Fun!" Guys: To every fan, "I can't beat Thunder Force III on one credit" translates to "I should consider quit playing shmups."