Lords of Thunder

Lords of Thunder, known as Winds of Thunder (ウィンズ オブ サンダー) in Japan, is a shoot 'em up by Hudson Soft and Red Company for the Turbo CD which was released in 1993. It was ported to the Sega CD in 1995. It is the unofficial follow-up to Gate of Thunder. The game features a heavy metal soundtrack.

For the deities, see List of thunder gods.
Lords of Thunder
North American TurboDuo cover art
Developer(s)Red Company
Publisher(s)
Composer(s)Satoshi Miyashita
Platform(s)TurboDuo, Sega CD
ReleaseTurboDuo
  • JP: April 23, 1993
  • NA: 1993
Sega CD
Genre(s)Horizontal Scrolling shooters
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

The game is centered around the world Mistral's confrontation with the re-awakened evil god Deoric and his dark generals who have torn the world asunder. With the armor of his ancestor Drac, the legendary knight Duran sets off to defeat Deoric's army in 7 different stages, the first six of which can be selected in a manner similar to Thunder Force III. Once the stage is selected, the player selects one of four armors (based on the four classical elements) to use, affecting his shots and bombs.

Development

The music in the game was composed and performed by Satoshi Miyashita from T's Music, a group of musicians and sound engineers. The company was founded in 1990, and they also composed the music to the games Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire, Final Fight CD, and the Sentimental Graffiti series.[1]

Release

The game was released in Japan on April 23, 1993 for the PC Engine.[2]

The game has been re-released several times. It was released for the PlayStation Network.[3]

The Turbo CD version was released on the Virtual Console on February 7, 2008 in PAL regions, February 11, 2008 in North America and in Japan on June 10, 2008.[4][5][6]

Reception

Praising the Turbo CD version's graphics, music, and gameplay, the panel of four reviewers at Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game two 8s and two 9s. They named it the magazine's "Game of the Month" for March 1993.[7] Two years later, EGM gave the Sega CD version a 6 out of 10, describing it as dramatically inferior to the Turbo CD version, and commenting that it had become outdated since the Turbo CD version was released.[10]

GamePro, in contrast, remarked that though its colors aren't as sharp and bright as the Turbo CD version's, the Sega CD version is nonetheless "a fairly close port" and helps fill a niche on a system with very few traditional shooters.[11]

Next Generation reviewed the Sega CD version of the game, rating it one star out of five, and stated that "The game has its moments, but you've seen them, and played them through hundreds of times before as well. Go away!"[12]

Nintendo Life gave the Virtual Console reissue of the Turbo CD version a 9/10, deeming it even better than Gate of Thunder. They especially praised the challenging and strategic gameplay and the parallax scrolling, and added that the soundtrack "is discussed in hushed, almost reverent tones by those that have had the pleasure of experiencing it. It’s rip-roaring guitar rock – the kind of music that you might turn your nose up at if you were to hear it on the radio – but in this context, it fits like a chain mail glove."[13]

References
  1. "The J Files/Face to Face". GameGO!. Vol. 1 no. 1. United States of America: Video Game Depot Corp. June 2001. pp. 42–43.
  2. "ウィンズ オブ サンダー [PCエンジン] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2019-05-27.
  3. "ウィンズ オブ サンダー". PlayStation.com(Japan). Sony. 2018-12-18. Archived from the original on 2010-08-21. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-05-11. Retrieved 2019-05-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2019-04-04. Retrieved 2019-05-27.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/TurboGrafx/Lords-of-Thunder--277875.html
  7. "Review Crew: Lords of Thunder". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Sendai Publishing Group, Inc. (44): 22. March 1993.
  8. Gaksch, Martin (2018-03-01). "Lords of Thunder - im Klassik-Test (Mega-CD)". MANIAC.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-05-27.
  9. Nemesis (July 1995). "Mega CD Review Lords of Thunder: Vientos de Guerra". Superjuegos (in Spanish). No. 39. Spain: Grupo Zeta. pp. 74–76.
  10. "Review Crew: Lords of Thunder". Electronic Gaming Monthly. EGM Media, LLC (69): 36. April 1995.
  11. "ProReview: Lords of Thunder". GamePro. IDG (69): 50. April 1995.
  12. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 5. Imagine Media. May 1995. p. 95.
  13. McFerran, Damien (February 8, 2008). "Lords of Thunder Review". Nintendo Life. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
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