Lords of Thunder
In the once peaceful land of Mistral, legend holds of a brave knight named Drak who has sealed an evil god named Deoric beneath the six continents of the land. However, peace never lasts. The Garuda Empire has invaded the lands of Mistral, and the six Dark Generals, led by Sornbul, have conquered the continents. Sornbul's ambition is nothing less than to resurrect Deoric and plunge the land into chaos. Duran, descendant of Drak, is the only one who can stop the Garuda Empire's mad plan, and with the power of Drak's mystic armors, he heads off to stop Sornbul at any cost.
SCREENSHOTS
PHYSICAL
HISTORY
Lords of Thunder (released as Winds of Thunder in Japan) is a horizontally scrolling shooter developed by Red Company and published in 1993 by Turbo Technologies and Hudson Soft for the TurboDuo. It is the follow-up to Gate of Thunder. The player controls the knight Landis, donning the armor of his ancestor Drak on a confrontation against Zaggart of Garuda Empire, who resurrected the evil god Deoric, and his six dark generals across the land of Mistral.
Lords of Thunder was created by Red Raimon, a group within Red consisting of former Technosoft staff which previously worked on the Thunder Force series, whose members would later form the game development company CAProduction. The soundtrack was composed by Satoshi Miyashita from T's Music, a group of musicians and sound engineers. First released on the TurboDuo, Lords of Thunder was ported to the Sega CD by Hudson Soft and Eleven in 1995, and has since been re-released through the Virtual Console and PlayStation Network download services, in addition to being included on the TurboGrafx-16 Mini console.
Critics praised its stylish and sharp visuals, large and detailed bosses, ability to choose between stages, lack of slowdown and flickering, frantic pacing and hard rock soundtrack, though the gameplay and difficulty were met with mixed response. The Sega CD port saw a mixed reception from reviewers, who said it was inferior to the TurboDuo version due to the washed out colors, audio balancing issues, low difficulty compared to the original version, instances of sprite flickering and lack of fine-tuning. Retrospective commentary have been positive and is considered one of the most important shooting games on the TurboGrafx-16 family of consoles.
Gameplay
Lords of Thunder is a fantasy-themed scrolling shoot 'em up game, in which the player controls the knight Landis, donning the armor of his ancestor Drak on a confrontation against Zaggart of Garuda Empire, who resurrected the evil god Deoric, and his six dark generals across the land of Mistral. Prior to starting, a configuration menu can be accessed at the game's title screen, where any of the four available difficulty settings can be selected, and each one arranges both stage hazards and enemy patterns. In addition, a hidden boss rush mode is accessible at the configuration screen via cheat code.
The gameplay structure is different from that of Gate of Thunder; when starting the game, the player can choose any of the first six stages in a manner similar to Thunder Force III, with the last stage being unlocked after all six stages are cleared. Once the stage is selected, the player selects one of four armors (based on the four classical elements) to use, affecting Landis' shots and bombs, as well as the difficulty depending on the selected armor. The player can buy items for Landis before a stage begins with crystal currency at the in-game shop. These items include additional bombs, shields and health-restoring elixirs. The player controls Landis over a constantly scrolling background, populated with an assortment of enemy forces and obstacles. The scenery does not stop moving until a boss is reached, which must be fought in order to clear a stage and proceed into the next one.
Landis is equipped with long-range shots, a powerful sword for close-range attacks, and bombs capable of obliterating enemies and bullets on-screen. When defeated, enemies will occasionally drop collectable items for Landis such as heart icons that restores his health, power crystals that increases his weapon firepower as well as blue and red crystals, which are exchangeable at the shop. Collecting the blue and red crystals are also crucial to reach high-scores. Getting hit by enemy fire or colliding against solid stage obstacles decreases Landis' health and firepower, and the game is over once his health bar is depleted, though the player has the option to select another stage or keep playing using limited continues. More continues can be purchased via the shop.
Development and release
Lords of Thunder was developed by Red Raimon (also known as Red Kaminarimon), a group within Red responsible for Gate of Thunder, consisting of former Technosoft staff which previously worked on the Thunder Force series (particularly Thunder Force II and Thunder Force III) but left the company in 1991 and would later form the game development company CAProduction in 1993, with Kazunori Nakazawa serving as planner and character designer. Production was co-led by Hudson Soft members by Eiji Aoyama and Masaki Kobayashi, while Tomonori Matsunaga acted as director. The soundtrack was composed by Satoshi Miyashita (under the alias "Groove King") from T's Music, a group of musicians and sound engineers founded in 1990, which also scored the music for games such as Final Fight CD, Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire, and the Sentimental Graffiti series. Manga artist Masamune Shirow was responsible for the cover art illustration.
Lords of Thunder was first published in North America by Turbo Technologies in March 1993 for the TurboDuo, and later in Japan by Hudson Soft on April 23 for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² under the title Winds of Thunder. To advertise the game, a promotional recording edited by Tony Hawk limited to 10,000 copies was given away for free via direct order. The title received a Sega CD port developed by Hudson Soft and Eleven, which was first released in North America on March 28, 1995, and in Europe in June of that year. The original TurboDuo version has been re-released several times; it was re-released on the Wii's Virtual Console on February 7, 2008, in Europe, then in North America on February 11, and later in Japan on June 10. It was also re-released for the PlayStation Network as part of the "PC Engine Archives" line in Japan on August 18, 2010. It was re-released through the Wii U's Virtual Console as well in Japan on October 21, 2015, and in North America on November 9, 2017. The game was included in both the Japanese and western variants of the TurboGrafx-16 Mini console in 2020.
Reception
Lords of Thunder garnered acclaim from critics since its release on the TurboDuo. Public reception was also positive: readers of PC Engine Fan voted to give the game a 23.76 out of 30 score, ranking at the number 53 spot in a poll, indicating a large popular following. Electronic Gaming Monthly named it the magazine's "Game of the Month" for March 1993.
Game Zero Magazine's four reviewers highly praised the graphics and metal soundtrack but they felt that gameplay was not as fierce as Gate of Thunder. Likewise, Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers highly commended the stylish and sharp visuals, large bosses and soundtrack, though Martin Alessi in particular felt that the gameplay was not as technical as Gate of Thunder. In a similar manner, GamePro highly acclaimed the graphics, hard rock soundtrack, adjustable difficulty levels, action and controls. VideoGames & Computer Entertainment's Clayton Walnum gave positive remarks to the visuals for showcasing the capabilities of the TurboGrafx, large and detailed bosses, lack of slowdown, frantic pacing and music, stating that "Lords of Thunder is the perfect game for players with fast reflexes and strong controller hands." Consoles Plus' Kaneda Kun and François Hermellin gave positive comments to the anime-style presentation, graphics, sprite animations, sound design, optimal playability and ability to choose between stages on each playthrough. GameFan's four reviewers regarded it as superior to Gate of Thunder and one of the best shooters on the TurboDuo.
Megablast's Richard Löwenstein praised the overall audiovisual presentation, gameplay and controls, stating that Lords of Thunder feels faster and more playable than arcades shooters. Joypad's Jean-François Morisse and Alain Huyghues-Lacour echoed most of the same thoughts as Consoles Plus, commending the game for pushing the capabilities of the PC Engine Super CD-ROM² in terms of visuals and sprites, sound design and controls but they criticized certain aspects such as the easy boss encounters, difficulty and flashing when enemies are hit. Mega Fun's Martin Weidner and Stefan Hellert felt that it surpassed Gate of Thunder, giving positive remarks to the rock-based soundtrack, varied backgrounds across each stage, large bosses, lack of slowdown and flickering. Computer and Video Games's Steve Keen and Paul Anglin stated that its concept was not new and the graphics were very simple but gave positive comments to the addictive gameplay, weapon variety and rock music.
=== Sega CD ===…
1CC RUNS
One-credit clears we point to as the benchmark for this game.
