Play Thunder Force III Online

Summary

Thunder Force III (often just called Thunder Force III) shifted the series into full‑horizontal scrolling, abandoning the free‑directional overhead stages of its predecessors. I can pick any of the five opening planets—Hydra, Gorgon, Seiren, Haides or Ellis—and after those five levels the action pushes deeper into the ORN headquarters for three more intense stages. The weapon system feels familiar yet fresh: the Twin and Back shots return, new exclusive arms appear, and on default difficulty only the currently equipped weapon is lost when the ship explodes (higher settings strip all weapons). CLAWs automatically grant a pair that mirrors every shot, and a four‑level speed dial lets me fine‑tune the ship’s pace. The game was retooled that same year into the arcade Thunder Force AC, which later became the SNES’s Thunder Spirits, and it earned high marks from GamePro, MegaTech, and EGM, even landing at #17 on Mega’s top Mega Drive list.

Storyline

Thunder Force III (often called Thunder Force 3) is set roughly a century after the original Thunder Force and directly follows the events of Thunder Force II. The Galaxy Federation, despite earlier victories, is on the back foot against the ORN Empire, which has hidden its main base behind cloaking devices on five key planets.

To counter the ORN’s new remote defense system, Cerberus, the Federation fields the FIRE LEO‑03 Styx – a tiny craft that can slip past Cerberus yet packs the firepower of a full‑size starfighter. Piloted by the player, the Styx’s mission is to smash the five cloaking devices, breach the Empire’s headquarters, and finally destroy the ORN emperor, the bio‑computer known as Cha Os.