Thunder Spirits is a scrolling shooter video game for the Super Famicom/Super Nintendo

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 released by Technosoft

Technosoft

Technosoft is a Japanese video game developer that is known for the Thunder Force series of shooter games, as well as Herzog Zwei, regarded as the world's first real time strategy game....

 and Toshiba

Toshiba

is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...

 in 1991. The game is part of the Thunder Force

Thunder Force

Thunder Force is a scrolling shooter computer game released by Technosoft in 1983. It is the first game in the Thunder Force series. It was initially released for the Sharp X1 computer, and later appared on the Sharp MZ-1500, NEC PC-6001 mkII, and in 1985 on the NEC PC-8801 mkII...

series. It is a port of the dually copyrighted Technosoft

Technosoft

Technosoft is a Japanese video game developer that is known for the Thunder Force series of shooter games, as well as Herzog Zwei, regarded as the world's first real time strategy game....

/Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

 arcade game Thunder Force AC, which itself is actually a modified port of the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis game Thunder Force III

Thunder Force III

Thunder Force III is a scrolling shooter game developed by Technosoft. It is the third chapter in the Thunder Force series. It was released in 1990 in Japan, Europe and the United States for the Mega Drive/Genesis game console. During the same year, it was retooled into an arcade game named Thunder...

. The SNES version does away with level selection, changes several levels, and features a modified soundtrack, which takes advantage of the digitized instrument capabilities of the SPC700

SPC700

The Nintendo S-SMP is the audio CPU of the SNES video game console.The SNES contains a sound module called APU which is almost completely separate from the rest of the system: it is clocked at a nominal 24.576 MHz in both NTSC and PAL systems, and can only communicate with the main board via 4...

. Some of the graphics are considered improved compared to those two games, and some are worse. The Sega

Sega

, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...

co-copyright could be why the game itself isn't called Thunder Force AC on the SNES.

Plot

A super-powered starship is under attack, and the pilot has to maneuver it over all sorts of terrain to make it out alive. Eight intergalactic stages make up the action in this fierce test of strength and agility. You'll have lots of powerful weapons to help you along the way, but firestorms and dangerous enemies should provide ample challenges to keep you on the edge of your seat. Just when you think you've made it through a level, you'll encounter gruesome boss characters that'll make you wish you were already dead. It's going to be one heck of a battle, but if you can buckle down and use your head, you might just live to tell about it. --Box Summary

Gameplay

There are eight levels in Thunder Spirits, each consisting of the ship battling numerous enemies while side-scrolling, usually with a "mini-boss" about halfway through the level. Then, at the end of each level, a boss (consisting of one or two enemies) appears, which must be defeated before preceding to the next level. Throughout the level, the ship can pick up "Weapon upgrades"; and the player is able to switch between any of up to five weapons at any time.