Known in North America as “Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar” (shouldn’t that be “Lightning Force“?!), Thunder Force IV was developed and published by Techno Soft for the Sega Megadrive in 1992.
Tag Archives: Bullet Hell
Thunder Force III, Megadrive/Genesis
Thunder Force III is a shoot ’em up developed and published by Techno Soft for the Sega Megadrive in 1990. It drops the overhead view stages from the first and second games and is entirely side-scrolling, which personally I find a little disappointing.
Thunder Force II, Megadrive/Genesis
Techno Soft‘s Thunder Force II originally came out for the Sharp X68000 home computer in 1988 and this Megadrive port followed later, in 1989. It’s official title is “Thunder Force II MD” – the ‘MD‘ of course meaning ‘Megadrive‘.
Voidrunner, Commodore 64
Voidrunner is second sequel to Gridrunner, the famous Llamasoft grid-based shooter that author Jeff Minter was evolving throughout the 1980s. The C64 version was first published by Mastertronic in 1987, following on from the C16/Plus 4 original.
Hellgate, Commodore 64
I would say that Hellgate is one of my least favourite Jeff Minter/Llamasoft games. While it is competently-programmed and nicely-presented, Hellgate is also a very difficult game to play effectively as a single-player.
Matrix: Gridrunner 2, Atari 8-bit
Jeff Minter‘s Matrix: Gridrunner 2 was unfortunately re-titled and marketed as “Attack of the Mutant Camels” for the Atari 8-bit North American market, which causes considerable confusion about this game even now. I’m sticking with the original titles, to avoid confusion, for the HESWare re-titled versions of Matrix.
Matrix: Gridrunner 2, ZX Spectrum
Published by Salamander Software in 1984 the Spectrum conversion of Jeff Minter‘s Matrix: Gridrunner 2 is a decent enough game, with non-flickery graphics and responsive controls. The conversion was coded by Shaukat Ali Tenquist, who kindly commented below to let us know.
Matrix: Gridrunner 2, Commodore 64
The sequel to Gridrunner, Matrix: Gridrunner 2, is a more refined, varied and engaging incarnation of Gridrunner than was seen previously. It was written by Jeff Minter and first published by Llamasoft in 1983.
Hellgate, VIC-20
Another classic single-screen shoot ’em up from Jeff Minter – that is the sequel to his earlier game, Laser Zone. Hellgate was published by Llamasoft in 1983 for the VIC-20 and further refines Minter‘s ideas for X and Y shooters.
Matrix: Gridrunner 2, VIC-20
Matrix: Gridrunner 2 was confusingly re-titled as “Attack of the Mutant Camels” on the VIC-20 in North America. The suits in charge of this re-naming fiasco insisted that the title from one of Llamasoft‘s older games be used, instead of “Matrix“.
Well: f*ck them, I’m calling it “Matrix: Gridrunner 2” in light of a lack of some common sense here…
The King of Grabs 