Indie Dev Creating Thunder Force Spiritual Successor

gamerant.com:

High-profile modern scrolling shooters or «shoot 'em ups» consistently release to positive acclaim, and yet the genre has declined from must-have games to being known only within a relatively niche audience. Despite this, one independent developer is creating a spiritual successor that takes inspiration from a classic series SEGA fans may remember, Thunder Force.

The Thunder Force franchise was a series of shooters on the SEGA Genesis, Saturn and later PS2 systems known for its high difficulty, iconic music, and relatively complex gameplay compared to its contemporaries. While weaving between bullets and destroying enemies, the player is expected to switch weapons and adjust ship speed while reacting to situational hazards.

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Independent developer Terarin recently announced a new game that takes heavy inspiration from the Thunder Force series. The game, Terra Flame, is already confirmed to have eight levels and a caravan mode for competition purposes. The horizontal scrolling, weapon switching, and speed control are very similar to mechanics present in Thunder Force, but the game also includes Terarin's signature boss defeat timers and collectible point pickups seen in previous games. Throughout the entire trailer, the Thunder Force inspiration is evident, but the added mechanics and more TurboGrafx-CD inspired music help give Terra Flame its own flair beyond being a simple clone.

The Thunder Force series itself is fondly remembered by SEGA Genesis owners, but despite this, not many attempts at a similar formula exist in the modern genre space. Innovation still exists in the genre, as demonstrated by original IPs like Jamestown+, but many of the classic series that made