Thunder Force IV - Metal Squad (Lightning Strikes Again) | Reacting To Video Game Music!
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- čas přidán 10. 09. 2024
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#ThunderForceIV #MetalSquad #Reaction
It's the kind of music that would turn your blood into gasoline and then light a match on you.
Rather into rocket fuel.
Don't mind me, 45 year old reliving my childhood watching younger people react to the soundtrack of this game.
Same here. 45 and for me in the 80s and 90s. It was all about video game music. Loved it
I keep waiting for a woman's voice to interupt and say "Rail-Gun". :)
@@cord113 "Hunter"
The song was that good....even the metal renditions are beautiful
ONE-UP
Composer is Toshiharu Yamanishi. Thunder Force IV's soundtrack in general is insane. Some of the best shit the Mega Drive has to offer imo. This is the music for stage 8. Just regular stage music :')
Second version seems to be by Saitama Saisyu Heiki, it's an unofficial remix as far as I can tell.
It’s official now
It'd be nice if we got some other more obscure Mega Drive/Genesis classics like Mega Turrican stage 1-1 or 1-2, Jewel Master (almost any stage), Earnest Evans (also almost any stage), The Adventures of Batman & Robin (also almost any stage). The system has a lot of amazing hidden gem soundtracks.
@@thenonexistinghero Super/Mega Turrican 1-1 would be AMAZING, LOVE that song!
-Track 01 is the OPENING of the game. Sega logo pops up, THIS blasts in. Start Game screen.
- Track 23 is stage 8.
- Mister SSH gracefully merged both.
I've never had an "I felt that" moment until you leaned back in the chair, put the sunglasses on, and you just let yourself soak in the greatness that is Metal Squad.
All that was missing was lighting a cigarette.
I hated my Dad and he was a terrible person (RIP 2023), but he was an electric guitar player (1967 Custom Stratocaster), afficinado, and junkie.
Quite possibly my best memory of my father is when I introduced him to Metal Squad and the SSH version while having a bonfire a few years ago.
He completely lost his shit, and for the first time in his life, he took an interest into something I enjoyed.
As much as I hated you Dad, I will forever miss going to 80's Hair rock concerts and listening to 80's Hair over a bonfire.
The concerts we would go to were the only few times he was an actual decent human being.
I know, it's hard to be thankful when you can't overlook the majority
@@iamfishmonger.9548Thanks man. You hit the nail on the head, and I really needed that.
It's been a year, and as much as I have grown to hate my Father even further after hearing stories since his death, he and I still had our moments.
Mainly going to 80's Hair concerts (my first concert was Def Leppard in August 2000, and they are my favorite band of all-time), and he was the only person I knew that was a fan of our Alma-Mater University (we both went to school there), and we went to every Football game until this last season of course.
Same as well, took trips every year around the country. Saw Mount Rushmore, Disney World, Mexico. Kinda ruined the memories when he started treating them like bargaining chips. I did this for you so do what I say kinda deal
Music was one of the only ways I connected with my shite family, too, dude. I feel you. You gave me the courage to be real about the bad but thankful for the good, as little as there is.
BUCKLE UP KIDS, WE'RE GOING FOR A RIDE
"Nah, Mega Drive sounds corny..."
[Hears song]
"NOPE, I WAS WRONG totally deserves the MEGA DRIVE"
Just put a smile on my face.
😊😊😊😊
Man, nothing beats the OSTs for Genesis shoot-em ups. Thunderforce 4, Thunderforce 3, M.U.S.H.A, and Gaires all have phenomenal soundtracks full of bangers.
I'm Omega Phoenix (my main account got hacked a month ago), I'm glad you liked it man! Lightning Strikes Again it's the first track of the game, S.S.H. did a cover of both songs and merged them. Yeah, some of the best songs out there are completely unknown, It was really strange that no one suggested you this song until now (even more knowing that you like metal a lot).
Thank you.
Oh yeah. That's the face of a man who just discovered some kino ass music
6:06 in particular
9:46
Jesses head: F***, I'm not gonna pause that track!
Jesses hands: F***, we NEED the guitar!
Tfw a piece of random art shakes you to your core but in that amazing almost life changing euphoric feeling way lmao I've probably listened to that remix 5 thousand times.
Metal Squad was always known for its sick music. Covers of it are always banger, and SSH's cover is there to blast your face off. SSH does alot of great covers of many songs. mainly uses guitar and synth. Alot of his original stuff is also great. He also does the OSTs for alot of indie games. You can see why. You've actually heard one of SSH's original non video game songs on one of your streams where people were hanging out just sharing songs.
The 2nd one is a cover by S.S.H that's a japanese arrangment band, can't say I know all the details about it but they've also covered some FF songs (Battle 2 from FF4, Decisive Battle from 6) as well as Holy Orders from Guilty Gear X2. All of them really just melt your face and I definitely listened to a bunch of their stuff years ago.
Your reaction was basically just mine when I first heard the song like... 8+ years ago.
Never heard of the game to be completely honest though LOL
This track was inspired by a real Japanese metal band. If you listen to Soldier of Fortune, by Loudness, you'll notice the similarities. Technosoft weren't shy about dropping music references either.
Sega later did an homage to this called Steel Squad.
Although this may be the highlight of the game, I also really like Stand Up Against Myself.
There's a ton of really good music in Genesis/Mega Drive games, I hope you get to listen to some more.
And opening BGM is based on Dokken's "Lightnin' Strikes Again".
I had never heard this song before and it became an instant favorite. Thank you for pointing this out!
Stand Up Against Myself is the best BGM of the game IMHO
Goes so hard it's basically tungsten straight from the speakers
The legendary algorithm recommended song now appears. It is time now.
80's action cartoon opening. These are the stories of thunder force IV
"...but they made one mistake."
"They attacked MY HOME PLANET."
[CUT TO INTRO]
He shed a tear that instantly evaporated at 7:04 like being hit by the force of a thousand suns.
Loved your reaction to this, dude. Such a badass track!
Omg... I never thought we'd get a Thunderforce track on here! Amazing. I played this game for hundreds of hours as a kid.
As far as I’m concerned this is the greatest 16bit tune ever made, and also one of the best 16bit shoot em ups ever made, this is from stage 8 in the game , the entire game has incredible tunes similar to this .. interestingly this game was called Lightening Force in the US (complete with the misspelling of lightning)
I found that song several years ago. When I heard it, I thought it was absolutely incredible. The original version too but the other one, it sounds so good, I love it. I'm glad you made a reaction, it showed me that it really was something special, thanks for the video.
That's a great profile picture haha
Thank you very much and sorry for responding so late. @@JessesAuditorium
You've asked if someone discovered metal through Thunder Force 4, well I'm one of them. That was one of the two time where a musical genre really smacked me in the face will playing video game. My parents didn't listen to any kind of metal, my mother loved rock but still it wasn't "melting your face" kind of music. I remember 10yo me sitting in front of the tv, launching the megadrive and then the title screen with the space ship blasting from one end of the screen through the other and a reef of something that was really cool to my ears. The whole game is a musical joy to listen and yeah, that was my first time falling in love with that kind of music.
Funnily enough the second time it wasn't so much smacking me in the face with music, but man, discovering the Agnus Dei of Barber with the intro in game cinematic of Homeworld was something that too stayed with me even decades after.
As soon as I saw Lighting strikes again by metal squad I knew this man's soul was about to ascend from second one lmao
This song made me feel like an intergalactic pilot taking down an Empire. Truly, still gives me goosebumps.
Hey man! I'm ThatGuyReturns, so so happy you finally got to this track. Absolutely loved how deep into you got as well as how much you appreciated it. As far as the pack of requests for it goes my pet theory is that it might just seem so obvious that people pass over it, they assume it's already been requested etc. Over the moon that it's finally been featured here, really looking forward to seeing the rest of my requests filter through over the coming weeks C:
Life changing, ty.
Your other stuff is coming soon, which is crazy to say after all this time, but we're getting there.
(You'll be my introduction to YGO)
@@JessesAuditorium byootiful
This and the Phantasy Star medley are probably my two favorite arrangements/covers of vgm on CZcams. Whoever recommended ThunderForce IV to Jesse, you are a mad lad.
Send Phantasy Star medley plz
I am 42 years old. My soul is techno in all its variants, it is my feeling since I was born. But I appreciate good music, thanks to this game I learned to appreciate the sounds of metal, love at first sight and forever. Streets of Rage 1 and 2 made me spend hours with the headphones connected to the Mega Drive, but Thunderforce marked me forever. Possibly the musical theme that awakens the most emotions in me, it is simply an example of eternal art. The rest of the soundtrack is equally exceptional, listen to it and you'll like it. I am Spanish, sorry for my English and congratulations for your channel.
Man, I've been watching your stuff for a good while now, and thought that if I ever actually made a request, it would have been this very song.
Thunder Force IV definitely has one of THE best soundtracks of the entire Genesis/MegaDrive library. Also, if you can find a version of Metal Squad that has been recorded on actual hardware, I heavily recommend giving it a listen. Emulation doesn't always do these songs justice, as they have a tendency to get ear gratingly sharp.
And now that I know Thunder Force's been requested, I'm gonna keep my hopes up for seeing some GleyLancer, Alisia Dragoon, Phantasy Star, or some other good stuff from the classic SEGA days.
Oh it's time boys. It's time for peak
S.S.H. was also the composer of a videogame called "eXceed 3rd JADE PENETRATE", and his best compositions in my opinion in it are "Intersect Thunderbolt" and "Fierce Fight", I think you might really like these tracks :)
SSH is absolutely legendary, I remember sifting through an old japanese website clicking every link trying to download all of his covers. When I came across this I knew deep in my soul it would leave an impression on me I'll never forget since I played the game as a kid and it was a magical moment. It's just perfect.
Man, I can talk for myself. This is definitely one of the music that made me a Metal Lover... Imagine playing this as a Kid/Teenager while piloting a spaceship against a giant enemy, totally concetrated and in high speed... It was simply epic. Your reaction corresponds to what I felt those days and it gets stronger nowadays. Oh, you got a new sub BTW. Greetings from Brazil
Definition of what I felt, especially when I realized it was gonna be a rehash of all the boss battles. I really felt an imersion to the game that PS5 and XBox have never done.
It strikes me that the first song is what the music actually was back in the day. But the second is what the child hearing it at the time felt the music was. It's the version of the song in those childhood memories.
GOAT ost. My go to for getting into "that mood".
5:58 Jesse sees the Lightning.
6:05 Jesse hears the THUNDER.
6:47 Jesse feels the POWER.
So glad to see you experience this song. If music could generate energy, this song would be raw nuclear fusion.
And lol that look you give us at 6:34
Lightning Strikes Again it's the intro theme of the game. Metal Squad is the theme of stage 8. Both composed by Toshiharu Yamanishi who did most of the soundtrack along with Takeshi Yoshida who mostly composed the Boss themes (each boss has its own theme song). While most people tend to highlight the rock tracks in the soundtrack, probably half of it is more into the Jazz fusion/funk style, with pronounced bass lines and synth leads.Those are not as celebrated for some reason but are just as great as the rock songs and I can't recommend the whole soundtrack enough. The soundtrack has more than 40 songs, and 10 of these are hidden in the Sound Test as Omake (extra), probably songs that didn't make it into the final release but are just as good as the ones in-game.
This game in the US was called Lightening Force for some reason. Metal Squad is one of the tracks of one of the levels. The first part of the second track is the intro of the game that rocks too. It’s a shooter, the only one I have ever played cause I’m not a shooter game player. And I think this game opened my eyes to metal as a kid, I’m a metal head, and this game along with MetallicA and Maiden (wasted years specifically) are probably the reasons I got into it!
Lightning strikes again is just beautiful and still sends you in a 90s time warp. You don’t hear guitar playing like that anymore from the past 🖤🤘🏻
That is exactly what is missing from modern games.. back then all the games on Genesis have all these awesome tunes, like MUSHA Aleste, even Pinball Devil Crush. and Bare Knuckles 2 (Streets of Rage 2).
SSH was one of those arrangement groups back in the early YT days. They did tons of high octane remixes of all sorts of songs, mainly boss and battle themes from FF and various other things.
If you ever have time, look up their Spark Mandrill, Shademan, Super Marios Bros. Theme, and Decisive Battle Ver. 2 remixes.
SSH and Breis are my childhood and shaped my love for metal/rock VGM covers.
Also LMAO 19:50 was 100% me. Thunderforce is also a shoot 'em up arcade style game. It's a side scroller type *(I think)* like Gradius.
They still do arrangements as Aether/Eru (sometines coupled with SSH), mostly of the Touhou OST (as doujin music albums).
You'll notice that SSH remixed a few Touhou tracks under his proper name on youtube too, so it's just an extension of that.
What does SSH stand for? I wanna give my thanks to them for being able to listen to this masterpiece and apologize for taking so long to discover this masterpiece
it's one guy, his name is Saitama Saisyu Heiki - he has a CZcams channel too!
My most favorite track in the game, stage 8 Metal Squad! This game came out in the US as "Lightening Force" which still boggles my mind because the previous games released in the US were called Thunder Force. And your reactions for both the original and the cover mirrored my own when I first heard them way back in the day. Just such cool songs. Also, glad you got to hear some S.S.H. too! He's one of my favorite artists for his high energy songs.
I'll also add some more context to what everyone else is saying about S.S.H. too! S.S.H. (Saitama Saisyu Heiki / 埼玉最終兵器 ) is an indie musician who's been around a long time, and I don't think most know he's still making music. He's done some official works here and there for visual novels, but the majority of his work are his original songs and Touhou cover albums. But between those he'd also release these free remixes and covers on his site from like Super Mario Bros., Tales of Phantasia, Final Fantasy, Ys, Guilty Gear, Thunder Force, and so on. This particular song was from a free album titled, BLAST FROM THE PAST, he uploaded to his site in 2012, It was a compilation album with new versions of his most popular game covers.
If you or anyone would like to hear more of his music you can find him on Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music. Unfortunately, though Spotify and Tidal only has 1 original album, which is the latest one. Apple Music may have more, I did find that they had Four Seam, but never checked for others. It's also odd how streaming services split up some JP artists and I don't know why but I'll give a quick rundown how to search for him.
Spotify
Original Album: Saitama Saisyu Heiki
Touhou albums: 埼玉最終兵器 & Aether
Tidal it's the opposite
Original Album: 埼玉最終兵器
Touhou Albums: Saitama Saisyu Heiki & Aether
Apple Music doesn't seem to matter if you use kanji or the romanization. Also, if you need help finding albums too, VGMdb has a profile page of his works.
Welcome to the Metal Squad, brother.
I loved this whole game list and heavily listened to the thunder force ost and was blown away by the metal version
I am blown away. What an incredible piece!
I lost my shit at the second song 😂
"I don't want to talk" 😂😂
I think I saw a single manly tear at that remix.
Live House SSH is a Beast of metal music. I've been listening to Lightning Strikes Again for over a decade. SSH has been gone for a long time now... I love Alert and Barrel Roll. Wish he was still around.
When I played Thunderforce IV as a kid in the 90's it blew my fucking mind, goose bumps all over. Not just Metal Squad, the whole OST is electric, incredible, profound. This reaction was fantastic.
Evil Destroyer, Strike Out, Metal Squad, War Like Requiem on repeat for like the past 30 years
It's so high octane.
Even if I prefer Thunder Force 3 OST, Metal Squad from TF 4 is really a big dope.
Your reaction to Lightning Strikes Again is pretty much my reaction to it. It's SO good.
19:19
Some explanation to why it says track one.
S.S.H live house released a free remix album on his website sometime in 2012 called "A blast from the past".
Which consisted of 10 remade remixes he had previously made.
And this was the 1st track on that various remixes album.
If I were to make a recommendation of his original albums, It'd be:
SSH Four Seam
SSH Forgotten Ruins / Click And Metal
If you want to hear more of his lively style of composing.
I've been waiting for this
S.S.H.s remix of “Venus Fire” from Thunder Force III is one of my favorites next to this one, along with the original remix of “Fighting of the Spirit” from Tales of Phantasia.
One of my favorites sega games
it's criminal that this has less views than even the most obscure FF14 track. Oh well. Maybe if you do a "best of" at some point, people will lend an ear to a classic of classics
It's brand new! I predict this will have a bunch in a few weeks.
I got "Newstalgic" from the segment at 6:47 because it reminds me of the Mighty Morphin Power Ranger's theme.
Great reaction! Thunderforce IV is really a defining game for the system and the 16-bit era in general. And Metal Squad is the same, just look all the covers and views on this very track and it still going strong 30 years later! Its VGM music history for sure. If you want to check out the 2:nd best track from the game check out "Stand Up Against Myself".
Love your reaction. I blast this soundtrack through the speakers of the gym I go too 😁
First person I know that mentions Kalmah, subbed
@@SuperXD44 I need to hear more stuff, only heard For The Revolution.
Me after listening to "Lightning Strikes Again": *lights up post - coital cigarette*
that yamaha sound card the genesis had could really jam
I remember once time letting my Snes owning mate listen to the soundtrack of Thunderforce 4 and Streets of Rage 2 and he was completely blown away! He had always been lead to believe that the late 80's Megadrive/Genesis sound chip was dreadful. It was on that day he realized he'd been brainwashed by fanboy bs. Sure the voice samples could be scratchy, terrible sometimes, but that was only due to the drives used back then and the compression they used. What we've heard since those days is that actually chip was more than capable of producing quality samples. Just look on YT at what they can do with that chip now with better drivers! Just awesome work. And hey Jesse I highly recommend you check out the soundtrack for the first boss in this game. That is arguably better than it's title track!
Kind of weird that one of the best rock pieces in mankind's history is hidden in a 30 year-old Sega video game.
If you haven't heard a track called "The Desert Rocks" from Turrican 2 you should give it a listen. It may not be Metal, but it's about the single most 80's piece of music to make it's way into a 90's video game soundtrack. You'll understand what I mean by that if you hear it. (It reminds me of Van Halen every time.) :)
Also, try the River Boss (Stage 3-2) theme from Ranger-X on the MegaDrive. Again, not Metal, but that was another game with an excellent soundtrack.
Another Genesis game called D&D: Warriors of the Eternal Sun has a mostly metal or prog soundtrack that i really love and a good example of the heaviest/fastest song is called Lavapit Wander. Whole ost was made by Frank Klepacki of Command and Conquer fame.
oh this one's gonna go hard
3:30 - Funny you should say that. There's a REALLY dope synthwave artist called ... MEGA DRIVE! If you like the genre you should check him out. (Couple recs. Tommy Outer Space Adventurer Remix by Mega Drive, and Multipass by Mega Drive)
Oh hell yeah, I can't believe I missed this one till now. This song just goes so hard
I play this game to get to this stage and then I quit every time LOL
The whole soundtrack is amazing. Metal plus 80s jazz funk plus eerie synth music. The more experimental synthy stuff basically sounds like no other music that's ever been created
Great reaction, I like that you don't pause the video every 3 seconds like other reaction channels. I agree that this is one of videogames with best soundtrack and S.S.H. did a great cover.
6:05 the moment when Jesse's face goes when the guitar goes off the roof knowing this song gets good. Hope he won't deny it lol cause this song is still badass and I still have to play this game cause finding a genesis is rare in my view to die for getting lol
First game I had on Genesis. Probably why I ended up liking metal as I got older.
Also Thunder Force IV was localized in the US as "Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar."
So I have a confession.. this was a gamechanger for me. I totally got in to heavier music because of Thunder Force. Thank you Tecno Soft, you changed my life
And now i'm reminded by ANOTHER Genesis game with a rockin' ost is all of Road Rash 3, recommend that one too.
Plus the crazy pinball games ost like Devil's Crush and Dragon's Revenge.
Peak music
glad im not the only one wiping away tears with how fucking AWESOME this song is 🤘🤘🤘🤘
I have been Summand, yes this was my childhood and yes this is the game that DID get me into Metal and actually make me understand it really is good music. Have to check out the game too. new to the channel due to this. And yes - much better saying its on Mega Drive :) lol cheers from Australia :)
FUCK i missed the premiere! I've been waiting for you to get to this one for a long ass time. i KNEW you'd dig the first guitar shred from lightning strikes, its so freaking good, im probably responsible for about 300k of the views on that video
THUNDER FORCE!! I love shmup (shoot 'em up) OSTs, they're SO GOOD. Genesis, SNES, and PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16 have incredible Shmup selections with great soundtracks, I hope we get to see more!
It's amazing just how good the music could be even back then. I should know since I've played Amiga games and one of the best musics, if not THE best, I've heard is "The Final Fight" from Turrican II by Chris Huelsbeck.
Imagine what Thunderforce IV soundtrack would have been with the sound chipset of the Amiga (MOS Technology 8364 Paula), it was literally ahead of it's time.
If you could do more SSH that would be awesome, dude.
Holy Orders - Guilty Gear
Momentary Life - Guilty Gear
Big Blue - F-Zero
Travel Demon - Castlevania medley
Decisive Battle - FF6
Fighting of the Spirit - Tales of Phantasia
The first time I heard that remix, I was watching a swedish streamer play a game where he made a dude suffer on a toilet, called Supah Doopah Poopah.
Thunder Force! It's been forever since I've seen these games!
JUEGAZO EL THUNDER FORCE IV !!!!
I wasn't expecting that intro from Lightning Strikes Again. Metal as duck.
I remember having rented the game when it had just been released. It was the peak of the infamous "console wars" (SNES vs. Mega Drive) and I was showing it to a school mate who had brought his guitar over. He was the SNES fanboy and of course did all he could making fun of me with my inferior sounding Sega console. Or so he dad thought. When I played Metal Squad to him via the options menu, he too had to admit this was absolutely awesome. And I was there having goosebumps all over. Great times! And of course this game and OST, besides the Streets Of Rage series and Turrican II on the Amiga, is one I still put on quite a lot to this day.
Still to this day, my favorite soundtrack of any game ever, it's just insanely good all throughout 🥰.
Tecno Soft was fantastic with the Genesis sound chip. With Thunder Force II-IV, Elemental Master, Herzog Zwei, and their port of Devil's Crush, they pretty much had nothing but great soundtracks for their entire Genesis run.
I never played Thunder force, from what I’ve seen it looks like a shoot ‘em up. But Holy MOLY lightning strikes again made me want to play guitar, I love this fuckin song. Granted I’m still very bad but I’ll make it there one day.
Thunder Force 4 è stato il gioco della mia vita, ho modificato il mio Mega Drive per poterlo giocare in anticipo, possedevo la cartuccia americana, ma la console era europea. Ho ricordi meravigliosi di questo gioco.
Ya know, the only reason I hadn't tried to recommend this song way down the queue is I could have sworn I had already seen you react to this a long time ago, huh...
Oh Thunder Force games always had awesome music! You should try check out Thunder Force 5 too. They had 3-4 stages that had extremely good music
When videogames could be MAF😎
Thunderforce 4 is a treasure trove for metal lovers.
WOW, "Lightining Strikes Again" is... SICK...
WOW!!!