Star Force, released in North America as Mega Force, is a 1984 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Tehkan for arcades. It was ported to the Famicom by Hudson Soft, with Tehkan's successor Tecmo releasing a different version for the Nintendo Entertainment System outside of Japan.

The Story Behind Star Force

The Famicom version was also included in Hudson's compilation of NES shooters in 2006 in Hudson Best Collection Vol. The North American and European versions for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) were published two years later, in 1987, with significant revisions, and with Tecmo credited rather than Hudson on the title screen and box art. Although the NES version is immediately recognizable as having a great deal in common with the Hudson version released in Japan, there are significant alterations to the graphics, music, and controls and gameplay.

Star Force was ported and published in 1985 by Hudson Soft to both the MSX home computer and the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan. According to Keiji Yamagishi, the NES version was created separately at Tecmo and is distinct from the port released for the Famicom by Hudson. In 1995, along with two other NES shooters, the Famicom version of Star Force was remade by Hudson Soft with minimal upgrades for the Super Famicom as part of the Japan-only release of the Caravan Shooting Collection.

How Star Force Plays

Unlike later vertical scrolling shooters, like Toaplan's Twin Cobra, the Final Star had only two levels of weapon power and no secondary weapons like missiles and/or bombs. Each stage in the game was named after a letter of the Greek alphabet. After that, the infinity target becomes available and the game repeats the same level and boss without increasing the difficulty.

, released in North America as Mega Force, is a 1984 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Tehkan for arcades. It was ported to the Famicom by Hudson Soft, with Tehkan's successor Tecmo releasing a different version for the Nintendo Entertainment System outside of Japan. In the game, the player pilots a starship called the Final Star, while shooting various enemies and destroying enemy structures for points.

Why Players Still Load It Up

In Japan, Game Machine listed Star Force as the fourteenth most successful table arcade unit of November 1984. In a retrospective assessment, Christopher Michael Baker of AllGame gave the NES version 1.5 out of 5 stars. Reviewing the Arcade Archives release on the Nintendo Switch, Dave Frear of Nintendo Life gave the game a 5/10 score, noting it to be mediocre and unoriginal for its time.

, released in North America as Mega Force, is a 1984 vertically scrolling shooter video game developed and published by Tehkan for arcades. It was ported to the Famicom by Hudson Soft, with Tehkan's successor Tecmo releasing a different version for the Nintendo Entertainment System outside of Japan.

Star Force — Frequently Asked Questions