Thanks to vladikcomperfor for the info on how stuff works: Heres is the music hacking guide: http://datacrystal.r...ORCE2:Tutorials I also manage to find music data in the Sharp X68000 Version. It still in progress right now.
Great stuff. The more I learn about how the TF series were made, the more I fall in love with them. Seems like the vast majority of the programming in the game went to awesome visual effects or their custom music software -- the actual data that determines the enemy object placement is ridiculously simple! Please keep this up, I'm loving this research.
Thanks! I also made the level data guide thanks to Exodus! The Sharp X68000 version is the reason why I'm intrested of researching this. Level Data Guide: http://datacrystal.r..._FORCE2:ROM_map
I read an object placement guide a long while back, and I thought it was from you, but it's not the one you linked. Can't remember the specifics, but essentially the levels have a counter that ticks up every frame, and objects spawn according to that counter. So the object placement in the game is essentially entirely divorced from the level layout itself. Even though that seems like a pretty obvious way for a shmup to work, it's still neat that it's as simple as that. EDIT: Should clarify, the object placement guide I saw was for TF3, not TF2 specifically. Although, now that I'm thinking about it, I wonder how objects are handled in TF2? The side-scrolling stages probably are handled like TF3, but the top-down stages couldn't work like that.
About "Death Face's" track: On the album "Thunderforce II 2014 Technosoft Game Music Collection Vol.22", added another name for the "Death Face's" track: Dark Side Requiem -Death Face's-. Playing the Thunder Force II X68000 version, there's a boss who does not have the Mega Drive version. I imagine "Death Face" is the name of this boss (and your track is "Big na Okata 4") and "Dark Side Requiem" is the original name of the "Death Face's" track... In the Mega Drive version manual, all bosses have a name (ZCS (Zease), Big Elephant, Gaiya Beast, Humanoid Hunter and Super Weapon Battle Fortress Preareos/Breareos or Briareos).
