How to play Thunder Force V on Mac

Game summary

In a grim future where a once-benevolent alien technology has turned against humanity, only a ragtag group of ace pilots can save the Earth from total annihilation. Code name: Thunder Force! Witness the first 32-bit installment of the massively popular shooter series! Five spectacular weapons with multiple power-up levels let you blast through waves of metallic predators, and look good doing it. A constant barrage of innovative enemies keeps you intrigued while you struggle to stay alive. A speaker-imploding soundtrack has your foot tapping as your fingers are mashing. Unbelievable rendered cutscenes draw, no-DRAG you kicking and screaming into the action. Put simply, it's the ultimate hardcore gaming blast-o-rama!
First released: Jul 1997

Play Thunder Force V on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Thunder Force V on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Thunder Force V installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Thunder Force V like you would on any PC.
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