Thunder Force IV - Guide/Walkthrough
Written by: Per Granlund, alias "Lutz" <
[email protected]>
Created: Sep 11, 2000
Last Updated: Sep 13, 2003 (Version: Final)
Table of Contents:
I. Information
II. Boss and Stage Strategies
III. Weapon Descriptions
IV. Secrets
V. Credits & Legal
===============================================================================
I. Information
===============================================================================
A simple guide with basic boss strategies to this excellent game by TechnoSoft.
This is the final version of this guide.
This guide is copyright me, Per Granlund. Anyone who wants to publish/post this
guide on their site or anywhere else, e-mail me first and get permission.
===============================================================================
II. Boss and Stage Strategies
===============================================================================
In the beginning you can choose what order you want to take on the first four
stages. The easiest order is: Ruin, Air-Raid, Strite and Dazer. I will line up
the stage/boss strategies in the official stage order (the one if you just
press START in the begining).
~ Stage 1 - Strite
This is an easy stage. It's divided in two parts. In the first part you will be
in the air flying, not much to say, not very difficult. You will face a mini
boss before going under water, he is not very hard, the laser he shoots out can
easly be dodged, just fly through it in high speed. When you go underwater you
will face the a big ship, you cannot defeat it, you will find two extra lives
in this stage one a bit from when you enter the water and one behind the ship.
After some time you will go up to the surface. the big ship will now be in the
air. Don't worry about the ship it will leave after awhile, just keep away from
the fire things he shoots at you. After that it's the boss.
Boss:
This boss is kind of easy, just shoot at the orb he has, that's the only way
you can hurt him. You should not have so much trouble with this guy. Just watch
out when his mouth gets a white flame he will fire away a strong beam.
~ Stage 2 - Daser
You can collect many weapons in this stage, that is why i recommend taking this
stage last, so you will have them at stage 5. Anyway this stage is a bit more
difficult than the first one. There's a miniboss that looks like som kind of a
snake. It sends out two orbs in two directions and then they come back. Move up
and down fast and you will not get hit. You will fight your way through some
more enemies and they the sand storm will clear. After some screens you will be
at the boss.
Boss:
This boss will start of with a shield of orbs, you can onlt hit him and not the
orbs to damage him, after awhile thiss guy's shield will explode, watch out for
the orbs flying. He will rebuild his shield a few more thimes, just keep
hitting at him and you will beat him soon enough.
~ Stage 3 - Ruin
Not much to say about this level, just fight your way to the miniboss defeat it
and go to the boss and be sure to collect the Hunter weapon, i think you can
collect Blade and Snake here to as well as claw. Not hard at all. No hard
eniemies.
Boss:
Hit at his cannons and when both are destroyed aim for it's center. Th easiest
boss in the game.
~ Stage 4 - Air-Raid
A kind of tricky stage but also a fun one! You can collect many weapons here,
Free-Way for example. There's no mini boss in this stage. In a part of the
stage you will come to a place, where enemies are aiming at you, fly back and
forth to avoid being killed, you will need all lives you can get in the rest of
the stages, especially stage 8 and 9 and of course 9. Now back to this stage.
At the end of the stage you will se someone fiering at the enemies. Don't worry
you can't get hit by it. Then the screens will scroll fast, avoid getting hit
by the ships and try to collect all weapons and the extra live.
Boss:
First shoot at his mouth like thing where he sends out some sort of rings.
When that is destroyed move to the back of the thing and use back shot or
railgun to hit the place were he sends out missiles. When he's head is
destroyed attack that thing in the front. Pretty easy boss if you know what to
do.
~ Stage 5 - Space Cruiser
Fight your way to the big ship, you will spend all time attacking the ship in
this stage. First destroy the engines, when they are destroyed a mini boss will
appear, kill him and you will get some help from othe ships to destroy the
cruiser. The only thing to worry about is to stay out of the way of all beams
and stuff. Also try to destroy those things that sends out laser beams, it will
be much easier then. Fight you way through and collect all free weapons and
extra lives. When you clear this stage you will get the Thunder Sword!
Boss:
You cannot lose this battle, the boss will automatically retreat.
~ Stage 6 - Volbados
You will be underwater in this stage. The ememies are not so hard. You can try
to fully charge your Thunder Sword, any ememy will die (i think). The miniboss
is very easy too and the boss appears right after the mini boss.
Boss:
Just shoot at his lower or higher "claw". When they are destroyed, shoot at his
middle claw, his attacks are easy to dodge.
~ Stage 7 - Desvio
This stage is a bit harder than the last, but it's not hard. You will find many
weapons here, and you will need them to fight the boss. The mini boss is very
weak for being a mini boss. Just watch out for the things that shoots lasers in
the stage. The stage comming up will be much harder.
Boss:
This "thing" is not hard at all, just shoot at his head with a weapon. After
awhile he will stand up. Just keep shotting at him and dodge his easy
projectiles. If you have the Thunder Sword you can bust him real good!
~~Stage 8 - Bio-Base
This huge labyrinth is not goning to be easy. To start with there are these
spider like robots that tends to shoot out lasers that bounces on the walls,
roofs and the floors. Besides that there are 4 mini bosses! They may not be i
this order, but here goes the strategies for the mini bosses: The first mini
boss is a big ball the bounces in a room. It will open itself sometimes to
shoot. Be sure to hit him when he is open. The second boss is "long thing".
Shoot at him when he is open (when he shoots). The third one is a robot that
has a long thing that he swings. Avoid that and his hoot s and attack him.
The last mini boss, is a room with some robots. In the roof there is holes
where new robots comes down. Destroy them as fast as possible. When they are
destroyed you will leave the room. Fight you way to the boss.
Boss:
This is a very hard battle, cuz you may not have so many lives left and this
boos is really hard. It starts out with two tentacles. Shoot at the purple part
on them to destroy them. Next the boss will come out. He has many attacks and
i don't have time to describe them all here. He also get help from a giant bee
that carries him. Also sometimes, smoke will come up from the ground and press
you up, hold the down button to avoid hitting to the ground.
~ Stage 9 - Wall
This is the hardest stage, beside the last one. The boss is very hard too, he
much harder than the last one you fought. The stage is got many hidden lives
and weapons, you'll have to pick up all of them to stand a chance with the
boss.
Boss:
This crab like robot can be very difficult. Don't be mad if you die here,
you've come a long way. In the beginning, you will destroy his back cannons,
not hard at all. When you've dissposed the back cannons you will move to it's
crab claws, the only way to kill him is to shoot at his head when he attacks.
~ Stage 10 - Versus
You will fight two bosses in this last stage.
Boss 1:
This is the boss you fought in stage 5, the one that retreated. This huge robot
cannot be hurt by any of your weapons! But you can defeat him. The trick is to
shoot at the big cannon like thing behind him. When you have damaged it alot it
will blow up and kill the robot. You can collect many weapons and extra lives
in this fight. I think he is even harder than the last boss.
Boss 2:
This is your last opponent. First of al you should shoot at his sides to blow
those away. Then you should attack the blue dots he sends out. It will damage
him good.
===============================================================================
III. Weapon Descriptions
===============================================================================
Twin Shot:
This a default weapon. It shoots double shoots. Good fire power.
Back Shot:
This is the second default weapon (the weapons you cannot lose). You can shoot
enemies that are behind you.
Blade:
This is a power up for the Twin Shot. It got more fire power.
Railgun:
This is a power up for the Back Shot. It got more fire power and bigger beams.
Snake:
Detonates bombs from both up and down. A not so very useful weapon.
Hunter:
Homing projectiles. Very handy but this weapon doesn not got much fire power.
Free Way:
Fires away in five directions.
Claw:
A useful thing that enhance your weapons.
Shield:
This shield will protect you from any damage but only a few times. Try to keep
it as long as
possible.
Thunder Sword:
The most powerful weapon. To use it, do not use the fire button and it will
charge up.
===============================================================================
IV. Secrets
===============================================================================
* Choose 0 lives in option mode (press A+B+C+START when you see the SEGA logo)
and you will get 99 lives, very useful if you are having trouble beating the
game.
===============================================================================
V. Credits & Legal
===============================================================================
This guide is copyright me, Per Granlund. Anyone who wants to publish/post this
guide on their site or anywhere else, e-mail me first and get permission.
Thunder Force IV is © TechnoSoft. This document and its author are in no way
affiliated with TechnoSoft or any other company.
You can e-mail me any questions/possible additions about this guide, but be
sure that the question is not already answered in this guide.
