A Genesis masterpiece finally finds a new home on Switch
Thunder and Lightening, oh my.
While there's certainly value in having popular, well-preserved works like Sonic the Hedgehog available for play on every conceivable computing device ever created, the real appeal for me of emulation and republishing efforts like SEGA Ages comes into play when you start seeing games that have been long forgotten by their creators. The other launch title for SEGA Ages on Switch is precisely that: Lightening Force, AKA Thunder Force IV, a game that has never been republished in the U.S. since its debut a quarter of a century ago.
SEGA Ages: Lightening Force finally brings the game some consider the finest shooter ever creater for SEGA Genesis back into circulation, and it does so with the usual M2 aplomb. You can play a faithful recreation of the Genesis game, all the way down to the goofy typo in the title (pretty sure they were trying for Lightning Force and got a little overeager with the E key). Or you can play the Japanese ROM. Or you can play tweaked versions of the game that smoothe over the rough patches. You can even make use of bonus features that originally appeared in a Japan-only reissue of the game for SEGA Saturn. It's pretty swell.
This video breaks it all down.
It does not, however, get into the second half of the game. I need more practice with Lightening Force, I'm afraid....
