Star Force is a vertically scrolling shooter developed and published by Tehkan, later Tecmo, and released in Japanese arcades in September 1984. It was built on the board of Tehkan's earlier Senjyo and made in about six months at the president's request. Unlike Xevious, a single shot hits both air and ground targets, and destroying the hidden Cleopatra target gives a one-million-point bonus.
Hudson Soft ported the game to the Famicom, released on 25 June 1985, and promoted the Famicom and MSX versions with a nationwide tournament called a caravan, the first of its kind by Hudson. As a result many fans came to think of Star Force as a Hudson game. Hudson's Star Soldier (1986) is considered its spiritual successor.
In North America the arcade game was called Mega Force, and Tecmo made its own NES version, released there in November 1987. Hamster's Arcade Archives brought the arcade original to PS4 in 2015 and to Nintendo Switch in 2018.12
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Mega Force | Arcade | January 1986 | Video Ware | 1 |
| NA | Star ForceSeparate NES version made by Tecmo | NES | November 1987 | Tecmo | 1 |
| JP | スターフォースSutā Fōsu | Arcade | September 1984 | Tehkan | 1 |
| JP | スターフォースSutā FōsuSG-1000 | Other | May 1985 | Sega | 1 |
| JP | スターフォースSutā FōsuFamicom, ported and published by Hudson Soft | NES | Jun 25, 1985 | Hudson Soft | 1 |
| JP | スターフォースSutā Fōsu | MSX | 1985 | Hudson Soft | 1 |
| EU | Star ForceThe article text says the NES versions came out in 1987 | NES | Apr 27, 1990 | Tecmo | 1 |
| JP | スターフォースSutā FōsuVideo Game Anthology vol. 3 | X68000 | Mar 26, 1993 | Dempa Shimbunsha | 1 |
| JP | キャラバンシューティングコレクションCaravan Shooting Collection (Super Famicom) | SNES | 1995 | Hudson Soft | 2 |
| JP | スターフォースSutā FōsuVirtual Console Arcade | Wii | 2009 | Tecmo | 2 |
| WW | Arcade Archives STAR FORCEArcade version; PS4 version 2015 | Switch | Mar 1, 2018 | Hamster | 3 |
Also known as: スターフォース JP2Sutā Fōsu JP2Mega Force NA1
Box art by region
NA Star Force 
EU Star Force 
JP スターフォース
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.
Version differences
-
ContentFamicom (Hudson)
Hudson's Famicom port puts fewer enemies and bullets on screen at once, which makes it easier than the arcade game.2
-
GameplayNES (Tecmo)
Tecmo's NES version has different graphics, music, controls and gameplay, and stays closer to the arcade game, including the one-million-point bonus effect.1
-
Bug fixNES (Tecmo)
The NES version fixes bugs such as a Japanese-version exploit where enemies stopped appearing if you did not shoot, which arguably makes it harder.1
Where to play legally today
-
Arcade Archives Purchase
Reception
Game Machine ranked Star Force 14th among table arcade units in Japan in November 1984, and Gamest's The Best Game 2 praised its single shot for air and ground targets. Retrospective reviews were cooler: AllGame gave the NES version 1.5/5, and Nintendo Life gave the Arcade Archives release 5/10.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.