Thunderforce VI - Japan Import Preorder

It's been 11 years since the last Thunderforce game was released on a home console. That was July of 1997 when Technosoft debuted Thunderforce V: Perfect System on the venerable Sega Saturn. Adjunct: When NCS first got a hold of Thunderforce II on the Sega Megadrive some 20 years ago, we thought the voices were horrible but the gameplay was lovely. We even enjoyed the overhead shooting levels.

Sega takes over production of the latest Thunderforce game and the screenshots released thus far are stunners. They remind us of the visual purity that was Gradius V. The first level of the game takes place in a ruined space colony that's guarded by a fire-breathing Gargoyle while the second level takes players planet-side onto a fiery world covered by an ocean of lava. The third stage plunges gamers into a blue world where the attack begins in the sky but the fracas eventually descends into the ocean.

Preorders are welcome to ship on October 30, 2008 at JPY5800 or US$58.90 from NCS.