I'm gonna do it, con sarnit!

[VenomMacbeth]

Thunder Force IV is going to be my bitch.

Yes, I play it on easy.  Yes, I set the lives to max (4; There's no 99 lives cheat like in the US release). 

Yesterday, I got farther in the game than I ever have before finally getting a game over at the stage 9 boss.  The reason for this is because I was doing phenomenal in the game, retaining all my power ups until reaching the stage 8 boss.

This motherf*cker is the bane of my existence.  First, you have to figure out a way to destroy certain segments of the arms he stretches out at you, and that's if you can avoid getting hit by the arms he stretches out at you.  There's also the little bug-seeds that explode & smash you against the ceiling.  After that, it gets relatively easier, but I still can't figure a good way to dodge the jump-spin-laser attack thing the boss does.

I figured out that the secret to doing well in the first part of the game is to play the Ruin stage first, get the hunter, and FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DON'T lose it.  It's the only weapon that's really effective against the level 1 boss (the rebuilt swimmy dragon thing from the last game that gets dropped on you by the big spaceship). Try to take that sucker out with the blade & it can literally take over 10 minutes, especially on normal difficulty.  Kind of irksome, seeing as how it's the default first boss in the game.

Anyway, level 8.  Is there any trick to that boss that I'm not figuring out?  Hunter doesn't seem to deal with the stretchy tentacles quickly enough & I get surprise death and lose it forever (the game does NOT give you many opportunities to get the Hunter). 

Also, during the latter half of stage 9, there are some small enemies that come zooming across the screen towards you & best I can tell, the only way to avoid them is to have quick reflexes/the Hunter(maybe?)/get lucky & not run into a wall, as much of that level is a pretty tight squeeze. 

I really want to 1CC this game.  I can't beat it with continues because it gets stingy with power ups later in the game, so the only way for me to remotely enjoy that is to utilize the all-weapons cheat, which still doesn't give you a craw. 

I want to get good enough to run through the game because I want to start recording successful playthroughs to VHS (I got the idea from Spida1a).  That's if I can find some blank cassettes that are still usable lol...

Anyway, tips & tricks anyone?  Help me beat my favorite game!

[BigusSchmuck]

Be sure to bump this loud. Very loud.

[Black Tiger]

The best way to learn a game like this, is to play Lightening Force with 99 continues or use a game genie with TFIV for unlimited continues and play seriously, the way you would play through an arcade game. Keep doing play-throughs until you whittle it down to a 1CC.

Playing part way through and then starting over forever only ruins the earlier parts of a game and limits your mastery of later parts.

[Elder]

Playing part way through and then starting over forever only ruins the earlier parts of a game and limits your mastery of later parts.

Yeah I second that.  That's exactly what I do for my arcade games I want to 1CC.

[VenomMacbeth]

Good point!  It's just so hard to make a comeback after you lose your weapons.  I practiced the strategy you mentioned when I was trying to 1CC Metal Black.  I'll have to acquire a copy of Lightening Force. 

And yes, I blare the music loud on the way to & from work daily.  Best OST in da wooooorld!

[VenomMacbeth]

Scuse the double post, but I FINALLY DID IT!! 



I figured out all I have to do is survive the level 7 boss, and then you get a bunch of power ups at the start of the next level.  Since the whole thing is pretty much boss fights, and the final boss is kind of a joke if you're fully powered, the last part of the game was a relative breeze.

After I get good at beating it & record the longplay onto a VHS, I'll have to ratchet the difficulty up to "normal" >.<

[roflmao]

Dang! Nice!

[EvilEvoIX]

Could be the best video game music ever.