Last years I saw some streamer playing Turbografx game called Lords of Thunder. So, today I play Sega CD version of Hudson Soft’s Lords of Thunder (1995) because I’m daft.
Nice frame decoration. The title is big and neat. I like it. As for the menu, there’s not many on it: Start game and configuration. Even then the configuration only difficulty setting, music and sound test. This is my first time playing it. I know that the game is horizontal shoot em up and the player must choose the right armor for the right level but that’s about it.
No plot exposition. I'm immediately stumbled into stage select and the first stage is in top left much like Thunder Force III which could be good sign. Anyway, we go to Deznut. I mean Dezant.
Before getting into the
stage, I have to choose between 4 armors: Earth, Wind, Fire, Dadida
September! and Water. The armor determines the firepower and bullet
pattern. After that, I move on to shop screen. It’s pretty pleasant ones
because the shopkeeper is beautiful girl. Oh, wait! Blonde shopkeeper with blue
attire. She reminds me of shopkeeper in Capcom’s Forgotten World!
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| Forgotten World (Arcade) |
The resemblance quite uncanny. Like 80% at least. Unlike this one, the shopkeeper in Lords of Thunder give the explanation about the wares, not in distinctive separated space or bolder fonts so it’s kind of hard to see it. Anyway, I notice that I start with health bar not filled entirely! That’s probably why I was defeated on test run. But this time I won’t be fooled. I buy the life refill and be on my way.
Apparently, Dezant is middle-east region judging by the looks of buildings yonder. For this occasion, I try using the earth armor. The firing pattern is pretty typical in horizontal shmup game: 1 straight shot and a bomb that deal hefty damage against ground enemy. As for the item pick up: The blue crystal is currency while the blue orb with yellow rim is power upgrade but not immediately power up the firepower when picked up. See that red dot in right top corner? When I pick the power up item, the red dot increases. Upon reaching certain numbers of red dot, my firepower is upgraded.
The control is as basic as you get. D-pad to move the flying knight around. Pressing “A” button to fire his weapon. There’s autofire feature so you can just hold the “A” button for non-stop fire which can prevent your hand become overtired!
Look at that sand monster! He’s so gorgeous too bad he’s enemy transport so I must kill him. So far using earth armor seems good idea.
The advantage of being human armed with sword instead of spaceship or whatnot, is the ability of to slash enemies automatically when enemy is getting close. Apparently, the sword slash is stronger as my firepower grows stronger.
I encounter this pill bug that has ability to shoot laser spike. When it rolls, it can bounce anywhere. Apparently, no bullet can harm it and I can only defeat it with sword slash. Sometime the hit indicator is not well indicated. No blink or flash. Just nothing.
I think this guy is the boss but I can’t hit him for some reason.
Oh, I see. I have to wait for him to change into this hideous bastard first then I can hit him. On the blue gem in his chest, that is. I’ll be honest with you. I don’t like that “cannon” on bottom part of the boss because it looks phallic. It fires homing blue orb instead of -say- continuous stream of…yellow beam. So, it feels less phallic. The key to defeat this boss with minimum loss of health is: you have to watch the homing orb and you have to bait it into safer spot. Also, you need to watch for beam that discharged by his axe and his fire breath. Don’t forget to hit the gem on his chest too!
Next level is an area called Auzal. On the shop, I miss something very important yet cheap. This elemental orb is bomb at the cost of 100 gem each! At the very start, I got 300 gems. I should buy bomb 1 or 2 back then.
Auzal looks water-y in world map so I figured I need Fire Armor for this level. So far, I like it because the its firing pattern is usual 3-way which always reliable in any video game. Look at those winged guys on cute boat with dragon head! So adorable.
Suddenly, I’m greeted with Loch Ness monster who is even more adorable than the boat in previous moment. By “greeted”, I mean he breathes fire at me. The only way to respond is to return fire. But it’s all “friendly fire” so you don’t have to worry about us. ;)
Each armor also has different bomb besides fire pattern. In Fire Armor’s case, the bomb (activated by pressing “B” button) is fire dragon that roam anywhere on the screen! Demoman_sf13_influx_big05.wav
Here’s something that I really hate. Not the portly fellow that spit bullets. He’s fine for antagonist character. I’m talking about the inability to shoot backward. I can never truly enjoy any horizontal shmup games if I can’t shoot left, combined with enemies that attack me from behind on some occasion. Sadly, this game is one of them.
Upgrading my firepower to level 2 grants me ability to shoot twirling fireballs that can easily devastate these bubbles. This probably solid evident that I pick correct armor for this level. Upgrading your firepower is certainly good but you also have to aware that getting hit by enemies or their attack can decrease the firepower bar besides your health bar naturally. I also like to point out that the red gem is bigger currency than its blue counterpart.
Somehow those deep water leads me to this castle within dry land. Medic_sf13_magic_reac06.wav
Anyway, upon reaching firepower level 3 (which is the maximum) I spray fire up and down. This kind of attack is usually for boss in other game! I’m very intrigued.
Besides enemies, there are also obstacles that prove hostile and sadly I can’t destroy them. I know. I know. If the obstacles can be destroyed, the game will become very easy. Anyway, check that small guy on stair. He’s determined to walk up stair and beat me but doesn’t get any chance because he’s killed by my fire spray immediately.
You probably guess that the boss is usually some person that later changed into giant monster. In this case, she turns into this mermaid but with face of seal which is not beautiful in my opinion. She throws some water projectiles and that’s about I remember because I burn her face too fast that she gets defeated pretty quickly.
Next stage is called Lamarada. It’s shown as red fiery island on world map so I take the water armor. Finally, I can shoot behinds me but only when I don water armor with level 2 power at least.
Goodness gracious! This exact moment really reminds me of Thunder Force III what’s with that monster that look like G Lobster boss and underground level. As for the water armor’s bomb, it releases water vortex around you. This probably the closest thing to common bomb in shmup games.
Then somehow, I end up in Bowser’s castle in Super Mario Bros. I mean look at these lava and flying fire around this part.
Although this game has very limited requirement for backward fire, but I appreciate a shmup game where I don’t die when I touch ceiling or floor. In fact, you can see the knight walks when I tell him to touch the floor. It’s nice feature.
I don’t like this boss. Do you know Yellow Devil from Megaman series? This boss has some sort of behavior like the staple boss of Megaman. This wizard turns into a metallic looking robot but then turns into these 2 metallic orbs that bounce seemingly endless and you can’t hurt him while in this state. I think he only goes back to normal when the orbs collide together whether through coincidence or you can bait them to do so.
Here's what he looks like. He looks mecha but also magic-y. Maybe because he can stretch his arms like that or he has so many red orbs as joints and also chest. Besides he can stretch his arms and fireballs come out of it up and down, he can also fire direct projectile. Aside of the rubbish orb routine, this boss fight is fairly enjoyable.
The reason why I show you this screenshot is: I just like her sweet smile when I purchase stuff from her.
I have no elemental thingamajig reason to pick wind armor for this level called Bosque. I just do that because it’s the only armor that I haven’t picked up yet. For some reason, the wind armor doesn’t fire wind. It fires thunder, instead. I know that in Heroes of Might and Magic 3, thunder magic is classified as air element but I think both of them not correct. Anyway, check out that monster below. He’s pretty amazing moreover he can shoot laser from his pincer.
Then I encounter these vines that kind of similar with icy vine in Super Ghouls n Ghosts. Both are relentless obstructing me as they grow when I already cut them with my projectile.
This obstacle part is quite interesting. There’s circle with circling spiked ball like in any castle in Super Mario Bros. Then these pair of circles connected with chain, move left or right by moving circular one at a time.
So, we’re back to stationary giant monster as boss. Good to know. He can shoot red homing orb and barrage of magic orbs while also moving those centipedes on his roots. Grotesque but also amazing.
I like you, pretty shopkeeper. But I must complaint about the lack indicator in your shop here. For example, I bought this shield level 1 before but there’s no indicator whether I have bought that already other than she said that while frowning a bit. Then where’s the indicator that I already had Elixir (which is auto-resurrection potion) and continue here? By the way, the shield can block hit from projectile but not from enemy’s collision. The last one is my own iteration, don’t quote me on that one. Naturally, the shield is useful to conserve your health and firepower.
This level is called Helado. If I had known the level is snow area, I would take fire armor instead of earth armor. My foolishness. I was about to complaint that there’s no shield indicator here but apparently those sparkles circling me is the shield. However, I’m not sure how many remaining hit that the shield can block. I know if the sparkles are red, it means the shield only last for 1 more hit before vanishes.
Luckily, the upgraded earth armor also fires upward bomb. So, it’s quite suitable for aerial combat. I pity this eagle that try to attack me with his feathers. That’s like someone attacking you by shooting their hairs which can be very serious health disorder. You must retire from evil’s employment and seek veterinarian immediately for you own sake.
What the freak is this sub-boss??? It’s mouth that has another mouse inside of it. Mouthception monster!
The lord of this realm turns into this majestic unicorn with very lush hair. This one is pretty challenging boss fight because he’s quite mobile while shooting projectile relentlessly. You can only hit him in the head but it’s mostly obscured with the long horn. It can block projectile including bomb from earth armor but not the bomb’s explosion though. So, I use the explosion to hit his head quite easily. I think bringing earth armor is not completely busted here.
Next stage is called Cielom which look like huge cloud with lightning. I can’t wait anymore! I want to use fire armor, again!
I like these spearmen who keep jumping at me from their barrack. Great dedication right there, folks. I hope they are also equipped with parachute otherwise they feel very sorry when they miss with their drop attack and then plummet into their death.
The boss this time turns into winged angel or Icarus-like, I think. Don’t feel bad beating up an angel like creature because fake angel is not that holy or benevolent. Take Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII as example. This boss uses his tiny bow to fire projectile and also fires feathers from his wing. His weakness is his head. Earth Armor’s bomb projectile probably good for this fight. But the fire spray from Fire Armor does good job here.
After defeated all of those bosses that I assume are the titular Lords of Thunder, an evil enormous tower emerges from the center of the world map. I sense a final battle approaching.
All of the stages on world map slowly form a wheel of Illuminati! Soldier_sf13_magic_reac01.wav
This evil tower is certainly evil. I mean look at those obstacles with sharp teeth that I must pass through.
Then, the knight decides to fly to left without changing his facing direction although many obstacles appear from left side. Either he’s arrogant, or wearing the magic armor makes him unable to turn around.
This sub-boss fight reminds me of Thunder Force III. The boss is wall with crystals in the center and powerful beam comes out from it. Then there’s flexible homing laser fired from small cannons. Plus, worms relentlessly fly toward me. So many things that want to harm me yet there’s not much space to dodge. Luckily, hitting ceiling or floor isn’t lethal.
The boss stage is this transparent mesh monster. Once again, I feel sorry not using water armor because I can’t hit the boss behind me. He can separate his body parts leaving only small yellow gem on the center which is his weakpoint. After flying around for a while, the boss reattach himself and then shoots me with blue balls. By blue balls I mean literally deadly magic sphere and not part of male genitalia that turns blue for some reason.
Turns out, there’s still one more level. I’m pretty sure this is really the final level. I get holograph communication from Goddess Luxia. She tells me that I can defeat Deorc when he hasn’t yet fully recovered his strength. She also gives me her remaining power. I’m not sure what’s her power does but thanks anyway.
Not far from previous spot, I arrive at the boss. He’s below and earth armor’s drop bombs work wonder here. The boss himself doesn’t put up much of fight. He only conjures fire pillars from those torches which are easy to dodge.
Of course, there’s second phase. The boss is still on ground level but bigger and has various attacks that come out haphazardly. There’s tracking sphere projectile, fire breath, and tail swipe. I won’t say that the boss attack is unavoidable. It just takes high skill to dodge those attacks flawlessly. I just notice after getting hit once or twice by the boss’ attack that my power bar is no longer reduced! So, this must be the power that the Goddess Luxia bestowed upon me back then. I kind of sorry, to buy firepower to the max at the last shop section.
Then there’s third phase, of course. But this means that this is really final boss. With name like Deorc, I expected the demon lord or whatever he is, looks like Orc. I s’pose he look like one. He could be da finest git dat Gork take a fancy. Anyway, the final boss on final phase is challenging. I have very narrow space to dodge his attack while he attacks everywhere. There’s giant ground spike and eye laser that can turn up or down anytime depends on my position. Lastly, he can shoot fireball from his mouth. Ironically or not, his inner mouth is his weakpoint. Normally, you have to shoot bullets into his mouth. However, I can hit his weakpoint with the explosion from earth armor’s bomb. That makes thing easier for me.
After beating Deorc. Hopefully for good. The armor that Duran wore, is magically dismissed and soon replace with noble cloth. Later a blonde lady waves at him. Could she be the shopkeeper?
Love interest that also act as shopkeeper. Not bad idea. Duran can get special discount next time. You got this, man. Just lean little bit more…
GOD DAMNIT! There’s like 5 centimeters left for smooch but the game cuts into epilogue title screen. Here’s another hanging romantic end in video game besides in Dragon View. Strangely no credit roll. Maybe there’s one in Turbografx version. Anyway, let’s wrap things up.
Hudson Soft’s Lords of Thunder (1995) is -I dare say- super damn good horizontal shoot em up game. Although there’s some flawless. Like the lack of ability to shoot backward. Then the game only uses 2 action buttons. I don’t know how many buttons in controller for Turbografx console. But certainly Sega Genesis/CD controller has 3 or even 6 buttons. So only having 2 button to use, is underutilizing the full potential of the controller. I feel like the game mixes the element of Forgotten World (floating currency and blonde shopkeeper), Thunder Force III (The fast pace of level and various sub-boss), and Sol Divide (melee slash and medieval magic setting) but makes the game stands out superbly. The game offers 3 continues. My rule of thumb is if the amount of continue is less than number of levels, I consider the game is mean. However, the game is not that hard (in default normal difficulty). I didn’t need to rely on abusing lots of savestate. I just savestate quite rarely. Probably because I carried the right armor for right level in most case. The arsenal depends on armor type you carry. Fire armor has good spread bullet pattern and on highest power level has powerful fire spray but limited range. Naturally, good for close combat. Water armor has probably the narrowest attack area. But even then, it’s quite wide if you compare with other game of the same genre. The backward shoot is pretty useful to me sadly it only exists when water armor reaches at least power level 2. Earth armor is typical bullet pattern in many video games. Basically, a straight bullet follows up with drop bomb. However, when earth armor is level 2 or higher, you get extra drop bomb but flies upward. Weird but useful. Wind armor has single straight bullet follow up with 2 diagonal lightnings that bounce on enemies. Probably, you can’t go wrong with wind armor for any level. I have to give the game credit for having screen-clearing bomb with various effect depends on the armor you equip. The bomb is something that’s mandatory to have for relentless horizontal shmup like Forgotten World or Thunder Force III. Then this game gets another good credit for not having lethal effect when collide with ceiling or floor. Obstacles still lethal to touch though. The shopkeeper is useful and pretty. Her merchandises are all useful from health boost to extra continue. The power up system, is fairly unusual. You need to pick power up item to certain amount to actually upgrade your firepower. I think the game is pretty generous with the currency. Most lesser enemies tend to drop blue gem. Larger enemies tend to drop red gem and the power up orb. Then every finishing level, you get bonus gem. The enemy design is super awesome. The music is all metal. Remarkable but sadly none of them is memorable for me. That’s solely my fault. The sound effect and graphic are remarkable.
Without doubt. Lords of Thunder (1995) is amazing horizontal shoot em up regardless of my minor complaint. I wholeheartedly give the game S grade recommendation. The game is super good especially in gameplay term. Then there’s not many games that you play as flying knight blasting monsters and other evil servant. Give it a go!