=============================================================================
THUNDER FORCE IV / LIGHTENING FORCE: QUEST FOR THE DARKSTAR for Sega Genesis
FAQ / Walkthrough v1.3
Written by Nitrous_Oxide (A.K.A. Alan Newhouse)

=== CONTENTS ================================================================

   I - Legal Crap
  II - Revisions
 III - Two names? What's going on here?
  IV - Playing the Game
   V - Armament
  VI - Walkthrough
 VII - Secrets
VIII - Bye!

=== I - Legal Crap ===========================================================

     Ok, read this.  This is my first FAQ, and I don't really care about this 
legal crap since this is such an obscure game, but I figured I'd put it in 
here anyway since everyone else does.  Here's the shtick... go ahead.  Copy 
it.  Give it to your friends.  I don't care what you do.  Just make sure that 
I get credit for it, ok?

=== II – Revisions ===========================================================

- 3/10/01 – Weapons Cheat added to the secrets section.

- 3/10/01 – Some minor grammatical errors corrected.

- 3/11/01 – All Probe references changed to Claw (I got an instruction book 
for Lightening Force and discovered the truth.  Man, these item voice-overs 
suck!).

- 3/11/01 – Added an additional attack for the Hell Arm.  Wonder why I never 
had it used on me before...

- 3/11/01 – Changed a reference to the items above and below the first 
retreating copper-colored ship in the Air Raid level.

- 3/11/01 – Order of the mini-bosses in the Bio-lab level altered.

- 3/11/01 – 10,000-point bonus for white blobs in the Wall level added.

=== III - Two Names? What's going on here? ===================================

     While reading the title, you might have wondered why there were two names 
there, and to tell you the truth, I don't know either.  As far as I know, the 
two games are almost identical.  I have yet to play Thunder Force IV, but I 
believe that in reality they are the same game, although with a different 
name.  If something in this FAQ does not match up to your game, let me know at 
munchin10@aol.com.  If you can't reach me there, my address may have changed, 
but I will soon revise this to include my new address.

=== IV - Playing the Game ====================================================

     Your handy-dandy little spaceship can do a myriad of wonderful things.  
Blow up aliens, for instance.  During the game you can change your engine 
power (speed) by 25% by pressing the A button, fire your selected weapon by 
pressing the B button, and change your selected weapon by pressing the C 
button.  Holding the engine power button will slowly increase your speed by 1% 
at a time.  These controls can be changed at the options screen (see secrets).  
Certain small red ships, when shot, will yield one weapon power-up, claw, 
shield, or 1-up.  If you already have a claw or specific weapon, when you grab 
the power-up for that particular item it will be worth 10,000 points instead 
(this does not work with shields or 1-ups).  Unfortunately, as in most other 
shooters, touching any solid object or getting hit by enemy fire results in 
instant death, which can make this game frustrating at times and causes you to 
lose whatever weapon you currently have equipped, but hey, that's half the 
fun! :] Extra lives will be awarded at certain point intervals, the first 
being 10,000 points.  If you can't dodge missiles, try to shoot them.  One of 
the most important things to know is that when you are fighting a boss or any 
other enemy, your shots will cause small explosions (or big ones, depending on 
the weapon) on the surface of your enemy.  Take note that blue explosions mean 
NO DAMAGE.  Got that?  NONE.  You are only hurting your enemy if it flashes or 
you see orange explosions (this does not apply to the Blade or Snake, so find 
your enemy's weak point before blasting away with these).  That's about it.

=== V - ARMAMENT =============================================================

     There is a total of 8 actual weapons: the Twin Shot, Back Shot, Blade, 
Rail Gun, Snake, Freeway, Hunter, and Thunder Sword.  Shields, the Claw, and 
1-ups are not actual weapons, but either cause extra destruction or prolong 
the time in which pain can be inflicted upon your enemies, so I stuck them 
here, too.

TWIN SHOT:  Your basic double laser.  It fires two orange streams of laser 
pellets and is relatively weak, but is very reliable and cannot be lost.  Good 
for finding weak points on bosses and can be upgraded to Blade.

BACK SHOT:  Similar to the Twin Shot, it fires a single stream of blue shots 
forward and backward.  Also relatively weak and cannot be lost.  If you do not 
have a Freeway, Hunter, or Rail Gun, you will often be stuck with this weapon 
in some situations.  Can be upgraded to Rail Gun.

BLADE:  An upgrade to the Twin Shot, this weapon fires large orange blades 
forward in rapid succession.  While a powerful weapon, it is not good for 
hitting small weak spots, as the blades will often end up detonating on the 
armor around the weak spot.

RAIL GUN:  This is an upgrade to the Back Shot, and fires two extremely 
powerful blue lasers straight backward from your ship.  Very useful on enemies 
behind you (surprise).  This weapon would be one bad mamma jamma, as it fires 
the single most powerful shots in the game besides the Thunder Sword, but 
unfortunately it can only fire backward.

SNAKE:  Fires small explosive grenades at about a 75-degree angle above and 
below you.  This is a very specialized weapon and may be tossed aside by some 
who do not see its true potential.  The small grenades are actually very 
powerful, and are best used on many of this game's bosses.  You get no extra 
firepower by using the claw with this weapon, but the claw will leave shadows 
of itself around you, adding extra protection.

FREEWAY:  Not very powerful, but has a wide range of effect, firing a spread 
of five missiles in the opposite direction you are going while simultaneously 
aiming your regular shots in the direction you move your ship (e.g. if you 
flew down and to the left, the missiles would aim to the upper-right and your 
shots would aim to the lower-left).  Good against multiple enemies.  Fires 7 
missiles with a claw.

HUNTER:  The most useful of the special weapons, it rapidly fires three 
streams of blue energy spheres that home in on your enemies.  It is about as 
powerful as the Freeway in terms of damage per projectile, but the homing 
capabilities make it well worth the lesser damage.  With a claw you can fire 
five streams of spheres instead of just three.

THUNDER SWORD:  All hail the almighty Thunder Sword!  This weapon is one sick 
bastard.  Able to kill most bosses in a few hits, it is the most powerful 
weapon in the game.  After the Alien Battlecruiser level, if you have a claw 
you can shred enemies into pieces easily.  Think of it as a portable giant 
blender.  Sit around for a while and let the claw charge up (you'll see energy 
glowing around them) then press the fire button to let loose a sword beam 
accompanied by two powerful lasers firing from the claw at about 25-degree 
angles.  If you're one of those impatient types, you can fire it before it is 
fully charged, but the beams will not be as long.

SHIELD:  This is the absolute best item in the game.  It's better than a 1-up.  
This handy little device will take not one, not two, but THREE – count 'em – 
THREE hits for you, basically making it worth three 1-ups.  On top of that, it 
will let you use any special weapon you want without fear of losing it when 
you die.  In fact, if you do it quickly enough, it will even let you pass 
straight through a wall for one hit off your shield.  Repeat after me... the 
shield is my friend... the shield is my friend...

CLAW:  If you have this item, two small indestructible probes will begin to 
circle your ship.  This is the third best item in the game, allowing you to 
fire extra shots from any weapon but the Snake.  Also, any of the small, round 
energy bullets (look like marbles) that enemies fire can be deflected if they 
hit a claw.  This item allows you to use the Thunder Sword after level 5, too.

1-UP:  Pretty self-explanatory, these little effigies of your ship will grant 
you an extra life if you are skillful (or lucky) enough to nab them.

=== VI – Walkthrough =========================================================

Take note that the first four levels are in the order that they would be in if 
you just pressed start at the level select screen.  I personally also feel 
that this is the easiest order to take the levels in.

   --- LEVEL 1: STRITE ---
     This is the easiest level in the game, so you shouldn't have too much 
trouble.  At the beginning, be on the watch for an item ship.  This has a 
claw.  After nabbing the claw stay towards the top of the screen while 
plugging away at a few minor enemies.  Going to the bottom of the screen runs 
you into an unnecessary mini-boss.  If you stay towards the top near the 
mountain peaks in the background, you should soon spy another item.  This 
one's a blade.  Large ice-nagas will soon jump up at you from the water, so be 
on the watch.  Don't bother trying to kill them.  They CAN be killed, but it 
is extremely difficult as their only weak spot is their face.  Stay near the 
mountain peaks, and you will soon find another item:  the rail gun.  Shortly 
afterward some small enemies will close in on you from above and below.  Go to 
the middle of the bottom row and shoot the front ones with your blade, then 
switch to your newly acquired rail gun and blast the ones behind you.  Switch 
back to blade and shoot the top row from behind, then duck some missiles that 
come from above and behind you and kill the guys who launched them.  Fly to 
the bottom of the screen and switch to rail gun to blast the mini-boss that 
comes up from behind near the water.  Slowly blast away his sections, and if 
he launches some guys from his back, take a small detour upward to kill them 
with the rail gun.  Once all of his sections are gone he will start launching 
homing missiles at you and fire an infrared beam forward (don't worry – the 
beam can't hurt you directly).  You have to shoot the part of his body where 
the beam comes from to kill him.  One problem... if you touch the infrared 
beam, he fires a spread of lasers straight at you.  The best way to do this is 
to make quick passes past the beam using back shot or rail gun.  Now time to 
take a breather as you descend underwater.  Watch for a 1-up in the middle of 
the screen, and shoot the multiplying ships.  Avoid the Alien Battlecruiser as 
it comes at you from the front and blast or avoid the missile-launching ships 
and guys that fly up from the bottom of the screen.  As the Battlecruiser 
flies away, be sure to nab the claw item near its engines.  Once above water, 
fly upward to avoid being sucked back down, and don't run into the 
Battlecruiser as it flies past.  When you get underneath it, avoid the tail 
and either avoid or shoot the fireballs.  If you have a claw, select twin shot 
or blade and hide in the very bottom-left corner of the screen.  Keep the fire 
button pressed down and all of the fireballs should get destroyed.  When the 
tail gathers a ball of energy, fly upward to avoid getting hit when the tail 
swings forward.  Blast the fireballs and meet the stage boss: GargoyleDiver.  
To defeat this rather easy boss, simply shoot at the blue core in his stomach.  
Be careful to avoid the additional fireballs and getting hit by his tail when 
he swings it.  After a while he will dive underwater and shoot his core up at 
you (it will turn red).  Avoid the core, as you cannot hurt it when he shoots 
it at you, and continue to blast it when it is retracted.  Continue to attack 
him when he resurfaces.  His most dangerous attack is when he shoots 3 to 6 
foam clouds at you in rapid succession.  You can tell he's about to do this 
when you see a small white puff in his mouth.  Just keep blasting the core and 
he should go down eventually.

   --- LEVEL 2: RUIN ---
     This is also a rather easy level.  Simply use the weapons you got in the 
last level to blast your way to the mini-boss, but be wary of the long gray 
ships that come from above and below – they shoot solid electricity beams that 
temporarily trap you in between them, limiting mobility.  One thing to be 
careful of is the multiplying metal things.  They will continue to multiply 
across the screen in a line, and you can only kill them by killing the first 
one in the line.  If you find a Snake weapon, save it for the boss.  When you 
get to the mini-boss, hit him with your twin shot or blade, dodging his fist 
and flying between his bullet spreads.  When both arms are gone, enemies will 
start to fly in from the background, and he will shoot large lasers from his 
legs, so be careful and keep blasting.  After he is dead or runs away, the 
rest of the level is the same as the first part.  Be on the lookout for a 
Hunter weapon, and unless you trust in your evasion skills, save it for the 
next level.  Pretty soon the level boss, Hell Arm, will charge onto the screen 
and begin firing energy balls from its claws in your general direction, as 
well as regular shots from its body and an occasional missile spread.  Switch 
to the snake you've been saving and get above or below him, using it on his 
claws.  Once the claws are destroyed, the arms will begin to shoot streams 
similar to the GargoyleDiver's foam blasts.  At this point use your blade or 
twin shot to hit his head.  Keep plugging away until he dies.

   --- LEVEL 3: AIR RAID ---
     This level is slightly trickier than the last level, as this is the first 
level where you actually have to steer around large objects that can't be 
killed.  Remember the hunter you were saving for this level?  Well now is the 
time to use it.  As you weave around the copper-colored ships, the hunter will 
pick off the laser cannons and bombs that are on the bottoms of the ships.  
Also be careful not to get hit by the squadrons of green ships.  Pretty soon 
you will come to an area where little crosshairs will begin to track your 
ship.  Keep moving and don't let them get a lock on you, or the cannons will 
fire streams of energy balls at you.  About halfway through this ordeal, you 
will find your first ever-helpful shield.  Shortly after the part of the level 
with the crosshairs, missiles will start to fly up and hit the copper-colored 
ships.  Don't worry – these missiles can't hurt you.  When the last of the 
ships has gone down, an item ship containing a claw will fly across the bottom 
of the screen so don't miss it.  Now comes the tricky part.  The rest of the 
fleet of ships will begin to retreat at a rapid pace, so go to the top or 
bottom of the screen and nab one of the weapons as the first ship zooms past 
(the top one is a blade and the bottom is a snake).  Avoid the copper-colored 
ships and shoot the green ones, then stay towards the top to grab a 1-up 
before the boss.  This boss, Ratt Carry, will begin its assault with a device 
that fires large laser rings backward.  You can use any weapon to kill the 
disk launcher, but I think the snake works best.  If he gets behind you and 
begins to fire missiles, use the back shot/rail gun to blast the missiles.  
Once the disk launcher is gone he will use missiles until you knock off the 
missile launcher by hitting the front of it with your back shot or rail gun.  
YOU CANNOT KNOCK OFF THE MISSILE LAUNCHER UNTIL THE DISK LAUNCHER IS GONE.  
After the launcher is gone, he will begin to fire spreads of bullets and 
homing missiles, and occasionally launch a few drones at you.  Hit the 
flashing red spot on top of him with any weapon (preferably snake again) until 
he is dead.

   --- LEVEL 4: DASER ---
     In this simple but hectic level, you must pretty much do the same thing 
you did in the Ruin level.  Shoot anything that moves and don't get hit.  A 
few things to be wary of are the squadrons of small ships and the bird ships.  
They come at you in large numbers and it can be hard to shoot or avoid all of 
them (use a hunter if you have it).  Some bird ships can be found just 
hovering in one spot.  These are extremely hard to kill, and if you get to 
close to its top or bottom it will rapidly change its altitude to smash into 
you, so just leave them alone.  At the hard or maniac difficulty level you 
will see groups of blue triangles flying around.  These are hard to kill, but 
not too dangerous, so just ignore them.  The mini-boss isn't too hard.  Just 
shoot at its head until it blows up, but be careful not to get hit by its 
tail.  If its orbs start to glow, get out from in front of it and don't go 
back in front of it until the orbs come back.  After you hear the music 
change, it's not too far until the boss.  This level's boss, Formalhaut, is a 
tad more difficult than the last few.  He has a shield of red orbs that can't 
be destroyed, and sometimes these orbs will shoot streams of small fireballs 
that head in your general direction.  Formalhaut will also shoot large rapidly 
moving energy blasts at you occasionally.  When you have done significant 
damage to his midsection, part of him will explode and the red orbs will fly 
off at you in a spread pattern.  This happens two or three times, then he will 
lose his shield and release a single red orb that will follow you around 
slowly.  He will release more orbs and the orbs will fire on you at harder 
difficulty levels.  Continue to blast his body, and when his body is gone hit 
his head until he dies.

   --- LEVEL 5: ALIEN BATTLECRUISER ---
     As the level begins, grab the two items, and then begin to fire upon the 
oncoming waves of ships.  When you get to the Battlecruiser from Strite, blast 
the engines with anything until all five are destroyed, and get ready for a 
mini-boss.  This guy isn't too tough, but be careful when he opens his front, 
because he will fire a spread of lasers at you.  Watch for a shield item to 
pop up during this battle, and say hello to a few ships similar to yours that 
will help you for a while.  When you fly above the ship, use freeway, hunter, 
or snake to blast the missiles and laser wheels that pop up from the ship.  
Near the front of the ship you will find a probe, and be sure to grab the 1-up 
at the nose of the ship.  When yellow lasers start to tear the Battlecruiser 
apart, don't worry because these lasers can't hurt you.  The following boss 
battle can't kill you unless you touch the boss, so just steer clear.  When 
the boss leaves, you will get the one... the only... THUNDER SWORD!  You will 
also get a new-and-improved claw to start you off.  Have fun!

   --- LEVEL 6: VOLBADOS ---
     As you start this level, you can try out your new Thunder Sword on the 
giant amoebas floating around.  The hunter weapon works marvels in this level, 
as you will be attacked from all sides by robot fish, stingrays, more amoebas, 
and a few weird things with arms.  Stay in the water at first, then when you 
reach the first large chunk of ice sticking out of the floor, you can either 
go through the rest of the level at the top or bottom of the screen.  If you 
decide to stay at the bottom (which is the easier route for all you wussies 
out there) you will get to a point where a bunch of amoebas have bottlenecked 
at a small channel.  Blast them out of the way with the most powerful forward 
weapon in your arsenal, and try not to run into the walls.  If you decided to 
stay up at the top of the screen (good choice, experts), you will end up going 
through some tight squeezes, but you will get a shield and a 1-up along the 
way.  The mini-boss, in my opinion, is tougher than the real boss.  It will 
fire eight small lasers outward from itself, and when you destroy it, one of 
the canisters surrounding him will make another one.  Stay near the surface of 
the water and watch for a claw item.  Once it's down to four canisters he will 
finally blow up for good.  The level boss is right after this guy, so be 
prepared.  At first, fire at his arms like you did to the Hell Arm, and avoid 
his forward charges.  Use the Thunder Sword if you have a claw, as it will 
destroy one of his arms in two or three hits.  When you are behind him he will 
fire spreads of bullets and some energy balls that split into four smaller 
energy balls.  He will sometimes fire a long spread of energy balls forward, 
and it is easiest to avoid this when you are above him, so if you see him hold 
a crackling energy ball between his arms get above him quickly.  Once both 
arms are gone he will fire energy blasts up and down when he charges, so fly 
past him quickly when he moves forward and get in front of him again A.S.A.P. 
when he backs up.  After taking a little more damage to his head he will begin 
to melt and fire a vortex of four energy balls around himself.  Blast away 
until he finally dies.

   --- LEVEL 7: DESVIO ---
     This level is complicated in structure, but easy to navigate.  The easier 
way to go is up from the beginning.  There are some enemies that will drop a 
pair of wings when they die.  These things don't kill you, but they circle you 
and inhibit your firepower.  To get rid of them, fly close to a lava pool so 
they hit the lava.  Also, when you begin to run into clusters of clear 
bubbles, use any weapon but the hunter to clear them out of your way.  The 
mini-boss of this level is a fairly annoying one.  He is hard to kill and you 
have to fight it while avoiding all the other regular enemies.  Keep on 
shooting his head while avoiding the lasers he fires, and blast the missiles 
that it shoots before they get to you.  When you get to a large open area full 
of bubbles, get as far forward as you can, and you should find a claw item 
near the rocks.  As you go upward, you will move into a room full of bubbles 
where the boss lurks at the bottom.  Shoot the bubbles to get rid of them, and 
then concentrate on this thing's head.  He will spew up a bunch of rocks and 
bubbles, and in normal difficulty mode or harder some small cannons will come 
with the junk, stick to the walls, and fire at you.  I recommend the snake or 
freeway for this part.  When he rises up out of the lava, he will begin to 
fire homing missiles at you.  Occasionally he will stop and fire a spread of 
bullets or three huge fireballs from his mouth.  Stay to the back of the 
screen, as he will slam down into the lava sometimes.  When he stops and 
starts moving his jaws slowly or slamming his head into the ceiling, this is a 
good time to use the Thunder Sword if you have a claw, otherwise just keep 
shooting or you run the risk of getting hit by the homing missiles.  Keep 
hitting his mouth until he goes down.

   --- LEVEL 8: BIO-LAB ---
     This is a tough level, as it is almost entirely mini-bosses.  While you 
are not fighting a mini-boss you have some annoying little spiders and some 
things in the ceiling that drop columns of purple goop to deal with.  Watch 
out for the spiders' lasers – they ricochet off the walls.  Throughout this 
level there are sometimes some items stuck in hard-to-reach nooks and 
crannies, but don't bother trying to get them unless they are a 1-up, probe, 
shield, or hunter.  It is most likely that you will either get stuck in the 
hole and die or run into the wall and die.  The first mini-boss is a large 
black ball that will bounce around the room.  It will first advance slowly, 
then open up and fire a miniature rocket-powered version of itself at you 
along with two lasers.  If you can use the Thunder Sword, use right when he 
opens, then motor out of the way of its shots.  Avoid the ball as it bounces 
around the room and blast its core when it opens to fire at you.  After this 
mini-boss there are two routes to take for the rest of the level, a top mini-
boss or a bottom one.  They are always almost the same boss but with different 
attacks.  The first mini-boss for this level is a bit more difficult, and you 
should take the bottom course.  You will end up in a room with three alien 
dispensers mounted on the ceiling.  You must destroy all three dispensers to 
win this fight.  The aliens that are dropped from the dispensers will walk 
around and fire lasers at you.  Do NOT try to kill the aliens because their 
heads will fly up and pose an even greater threat.  Also, don't get hit by the 
junk that falls out of the busted dispensers.  I recommend the top mini-boss 
this time.  This mini-boss isn't too difficult, and as long as you keep firing 
at him, most of his attacks are easily avoided except for an attack when he 
fires a blast similar to the Thunder Sword from his fist.  He can do this 
quickly and without warning, so be careful.  You should take the bottom mini-
boss next, and you will encounter the core from the first mini-boss of the 
level along with some buddies.  They form a snake that will first move toward 
you and then swing their tail around so they face the other direction.  They 
will then swing their tail forward, twist around, and fire several lasers at 
you.  They then repeat the same process so they end up in front of you again.  
They are fairly easy as long as you don't get hit when they swing their tail 
around.  Notice that when they opens their mandibles to fire lasers at you, 
their head darkens in color.  This is the only time you can hurt them, so take 
advantage of every opportunity you get.  The boss of this level is the second-
hardest boss in the game, so be prepared for trouble.  First, two fuzzy insect 
arms will reach out and shoot little flies at you.  The arms themselves aren't 
that dangerous, but the little flies will fall and explode when you kill them, 
sending up a steam cloud that can force you into the ceiling, killing you.  If 
you can't avoid one of these clouds, press down on the d-pad to avoid getting 
smashed into the ceiling.  Shoot the purple spots on the arms to destroy them.  
Once both arms are gone, the little insect-thing inside the egg will come out, 
and a whole bunch of those flies will come and pick it up.  The best strategy 
here is to use freeway or hunter if you can, and use them to shoot at the bug 
and flies, killing them in concentrated groups.  Then move out from above the 
falling flies to avoid the steam clouds.  If the flies DO manage to pick up 
the insect-thing, he will drop and shoot to the left and right, so watch out.  
After receiving enough damage, the insect-thing will call a huge bee to come 
and carry it.  The bee shoots lasers at you, and the insect-thing will drop 
huge globs of acid spit that have the same effect as the flies dropping.  
Shoot down the bee and insect-thingy down, and then get AS FAR BEHIND THE 
INSECT-THING AS YOU CAN!!!  It will start spewing those little flies all over 
the place and the only safe spot is behind it.  When it explodes, you will be 
flung into the next level by an enormous explosion.

   --- LEVEL 9: WALL ---
     This level is easy compared to the last one.  Some enemies you will run 
into are these little hand-thingies that jump and stick to you.  They can't 
hurt you directly, but they pull you downward and reduce your speed 
drastically (if you can hold on to these things until they drop off, they are 
worth 10,000 points apiece).  Also, you will run into wall-mounted robots that 
have infrared lasers like the Strite mini-boss.  The ones on the wall will 
fire twin energy blasts if they are set off, and the floating cylinders will 
fire rail gun-like beams downward.  Pairs of metal gears will roll along the 
walls and shoot bullets at you until you manage to blow off their covers.  If 
you find a string of the metal gears strung across your path, shoot them until 
they bend back all the way, then move forward quickly so you don't get whacked 
when the gears snap back into place.  There will also be small things on the 
floors and ceilings that will launch streams of little stingrays at you.  If a 
solitary metal gear comes rolling along, don't get above it for too long or it 
will form a circle around you and crush you.  At a point about halfway through 
the level a strange thing with lots of fingers will come from behind and try 
to pull the ceiling down on top of you.  You can't kill it, so fly out front 
of the section it is going to pull down, and then look on top of the lowered 
section of ceiling to find a 1-up.  The mini-boss is a bunch of medium-sized 
stingrays that come at you and shoot torpedoes.  One of the stingrays will 
stop and face off with you.  After he has received significant damage, he will 
pull armor to himself from the top and bottom of the screen.  At this point 
you can only harm him when the arms are extended, and when he DOES extend his 
arms, stay directly in front of him, as that is the only place he does not 
fire at.  The only other thing to be careful of is the streams of mini-
stingrays he sends at you, but these are easily destroyed.  When you begin to 
head upwards, be ready to rapidly switch between Twin Shot/Blade and Back 
Shot/Rail Gun, because you will run into the wall-mounted things in front and 
behind you.  Ascend the wall, and then out into the open corridor.  Select the 
blade or some other weapon with a lot of forward firepower, because a whole 
bunch of little balls will come flying at you from in front.  After that, take 
the top route of the two paths and switch to rail gun or back shot.  Kill all 
of the little spinning stingrays coming from behind, snatch the 1-up, and go 
out the top at the end.  Say hello to this level's boss, and get ready to go 
behind it.  The cannons on his rear will each fire once in succession, so 
avoid the lasers and use rail gun, freeway, hunter, or back shot to destroy 
them.  Now the hard part – avoid the bullet spreads and missiles while 
shooting at the shield covering the orange orb between his claws.  When the 
shield is gone, he will begin to spread his arms, fire a string of homing 
missiles from each claw, and then make a jab at you with one arm.  When his 
claws start to glow, get between them and blast the orange orb, then back out 
as soon as the flamethrowers stop to avoid getting crushed by his claws.  When 
one of his arms falls off he will use his remaining arm to fire missiles, and 
he will begin to use a flamethrower that circles the screen.  The only way to 
avoid this is to circle the boss and stay away from the flame.  Keep blasting 
the orb when you have a chance and eventually he will start to explode.  He is 
not completely dead yet, though, and will follow you around the screen until 
he dies.

   --- LEVEL 10: VERSUS ---
     Welcome to the last level of the game, folks.  At first, grab all of the 
items you see, and then back up.  The first boss of this level (he's not 
really a mini-boss) is the thing that ran away in Level 5, and you STILL can't 
directly kill this #%*&^@ thing!  He will attack in a specific pattern.  First 
he fires four spreads of small bullets at you, followed by a stream of homing 
missiles.  He will then fire eight lasers from his knees, followed by a series 
of lasers from his head that will go straight, then curve up or down at the 
exact position where your ship is.  These are incredibly hard to avoid, but it 
can be done by going back while he fires the first eight lasers, then coming 
towards him when he fires the curving lasers.  Occasionally he will release 
the orbs from his shoulders, and they will spin in the middle of the screen, 
slowly spreading apart with an energy beam in between them, forcing you circle 
the screen to avoid being hit.  If you see the robot duck to the bottom of the 
screen, DO THE SAME THING!  A huge fireball will fly past.  Notice the item 
ships that fly past.  GRAB THEM.  They may hold a 1-up or shield or claw, as 
well as a possible replacement for any weapons you have lost.  When you reach 
the thing that is shooting the fireballs, use any weapon EXCEPT the freeway or 
hunter to blast the giant gun.  You will need these weapons for the last boss.  
When the gun explodes, it will take the robot with it.  Enter where the gun 
was and grab the 1-up.  Finally, you will encounter Rynex, the last boss, 
attempting to make an escape.  Switch to freeway, and when Rynex is on the 
launch track direct the full force of your freeway towards his side.  When the 
left side is blown off, go to the right side and do the same thing.  He will 
fire little missiles at you the whole time, so if necessary, direct your fire 
up or down to blast the missiles before they kill you.  Also be wary when he 
moves to the far side of the screen.  This means he going to try to slam you 
into the wall.  When he has lost both sides, Rynex will extend four legs to 
the walls and begin to assault you with more missiles while moving up and down 
the screen.  Don't try to kill the little things circling him, as they can 
take tons of punishment and are not really a threat.  Every time he reaches 
the top of the screen he will release a spread of large blue balls that will 
bounce around the screen.  This is the time to use that hunter you were 
saving.  When you destroy all of the balls, the last one left will become his 
core.  DON'T LOSE YOUR HUNTER.  If you do, you're practically sunk.  Blast his 
core until he retracts it.  When you do enough damage to his core, Rynex will 
explode and fall off the screen.  Congratulations!  You have just completed 
the game!

=== VII – Secrets ============================================================

OPTIONS SCREEN:  At the title screen, hold down the B button and press start 
to see an options screen.  At this screen you can change the button controls, 
default engine power, number of lives, difficulty, and listen to sound FX & 
music from the game.

99 LIVES:  To load yourself with 99 ships, set your Stock Ship to zero at the 
options screen.

EXTRA MUSIC:  Beating the game on MANIAC difficulty will yield a new section 
of songs in the Options screen – the Omega tracks.

ALL WEAPONS:  To add all the weapons in the game and a probe to your arsenal 
pause the game and press up, right, A, down, right, A, C, left, up, B.  Now 
you can press up to add all weapons to your reserve, press right to add/remove 
the claw, and press C to select a weapon and down to stick it in the ol' 
circular file (that's trash can for all you synonym-illiterate people out 
there).

=== VIII – Bye! ==============================================================

     I really hope this walkthrough helps you through this difficult and 
frustrating, but mysteriously fun game.  If there is anything that you find 
that is inconsistent with this FAQ, send it to munchin10@aol.com.  I will soon 
be changing my address, so if you can't reach me at my current e-mail address, 
watch this FAQ.  I will soon revise it to my new address.  Have fun! :]

Thanx to Per Granlund for the assurances that Lightening Force and Thunder 
Force IV are almost the same (via his FAQ), GameSages (boo-hoo! They've 
changed so much!) for the 10,000-point bonus via the white blobs in the Wall 
level), and to my Dad for not letting me return this game to Funcoland after I 
couldn't beat it my first time through.  I really would have missed a great 
game!

Copyright 2001 Alan Newhouse