Gate of Thunder

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Gate of Thunder
TurboGrafx-CD Gate of Thunder cover art.jpg
Developer(s)Red Company
Publisher(s)Hudson Soft
Composer(s)Nick Wood (Sound Design)
Platform(s)TurboGrafx-CD
Release
  • JP: 21 February 1992
  • NA: 10 October 1992
Genre(s)Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

Gate of Thunder[a] is a 1992 scrolling shooter video game by Hudson Soft and Red Company for the TurboGrafx-CD. It was also a pack-in game for the TurboDuo (a two-in-one system which runs both TurboGrafx-CD and TurboGrafx-16 games) in North America,[1] where it was bundled with Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge, and Bomberman on the same disc.

The game received a sequel, Lords of Thunder.

Gameplay[]

Gameplay screenshot

The player controls the spaceship Hunting Dog, piloted by a space cop named Hawk. Along with his ally Esty and her ship the Wild Cat, Hawk must stop General Don Jingi and his Obellon army from taking a powerful energy source called "Starlight" from the planet of Aries.

Development and release[]

The event of Gate of Thunder was adapted into a manga featuring the Hudson characters titled Hudson Makyou (ハドソン魔境) by Minori Shobo on 1992.

It was released on the Wii Virtual Console on October 15, 2007 in North America and on December 4 in Japan.[2][3] The game is the first CD-based game on the American Virtual Console.[4] It was released on the PlayStation Network on March 17, 2010 in Japan.[5]

Reception[]

Gate of Thunder garnered acclaim from critics since its release on the TurboGrafx-CD, most of which reviewed it as an import title. Public reception was also positive: readers of PC Engine Fan voted to give the game a 24.38 out of 30 score, ranking at the number 31 spot in a poll, indicating a large popular following.[13] Famitsu's four reviewers noted that a lot of effort went into the game's visuals and difficulty level.[8] Video Games' Julian Eggebrecht drew comparison with Thunder Force III due to its weapon system but regarded it as an outstanding title for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM², commending the well-animated sprites and graphics.[14] Consoles Plus' Fred and Marc Menier gave positive remarks to the overall graphical presentation, sprite animations, use of parallax scrolling, lack of slowdown, sound design, frenetic action and excellent gameplay.[6]

Joypad's Jean-François Morisse and Joystick's Jean-Marc Demoly gave very positive commentary in regards to the animated visuals and sprites, controls and sound, with Demoly stating that it was the best shooter on the PC Engine CD-ROM.[10][11] GameFan's Dave Halverson and Brody commended the game for its music and fast gameplay but Halverson criticized the lack of unique environments.[9] Electronic Gaming Monthly's four reviewers also praised the title for its intense action, highly detailed and colorful graphics, large bosses and music.[7] In 1997, it was listed as number 53 on EGM's 100 best games of all time in their 100th issue, explaining that it stood apart from other shooters due to its CD-quality heavy metal soundtrack and animated backgrounds, which "are as much an enemy in this game as the swarms of enemy bogies or the dozens of bosses and minibosses". They added that they chose Gate of Thunder over its follow-up, Lords of Thunder, because it is lengthier.[12]

Retrospective coverage[]

Retrospective reviews for Gate of Thunder have been equally positive.[15] AllGame's Shawn Sackenheim regarded it as one of the best developed shooters on the TurboGrafx-CD despite its simple nature, highly praising its hard rock soundtrack, detailed graphics, diverse backgrounds, lack of slowdown and flickering, and frenetic action but noted that the gameplay lacked innovation.[16] IGN Italia's Andrea Corritore identified the game as one of the most important shooting games on the PC Engine, alongside Ginga Fukei Densetsu Sapphire, Lords of Thunder and Rayxanber III.[17] Reviewing the Virtual Console reissue, Nintendo Life's Damien McFerran felt that the visuals surpassed those of Thunder Force IV and the best SNES offerings. Ferran highly commended the rock soundtrack, boss designs and cutscenes but he concurred with Sackenheim in regards to the gameplay, stating that "there’s nothing here that will shock or surprise veterans of the genre".[18]

Reviewing the Virtual Console re-release, GameSpot's Frank Provo said that the game is overly short and lacking in innovation, particularly noting the lack of any way of dealing with enemies other than shooting them but the memorable level and boss designs, well-conceived weapons system and consistently outstanding soundtrack make it a worthwhile purchase.[19] Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead called it a cult title when reviewing the Virtual Console relaunch, praising the catchy melodic rock music and rewarding level design. However, Whitehead remarked that the was not the most innovative shooter in terms of overall gameplay, but he felt it was still one of the best.[20] Reviewing the Virtual Console release, IGN's Lucas M. Thomas concurred with Provo on most points but argued that Gate of Thunder makes a number of innovations to the shooter genre.[21]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Japanese: ゲート オブ サンダー, Hepburn: Gēto Obu Sandā

References[]

  1. ^ TOP TURBO GAMES: Gate of Thunder Archived 2015-03-23 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/jXKYNicZ1jVlXcD1veMsjdIjF_6SOt91
  3. ^ https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/vc/software/06.html
  4. ^ Hudson Soft: Gate of Thunder
  5. ^ "ゲート オブ サンダー". PlayStation.com(Japan). Sony. 2010-03-17. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b Fred; Menier, Marc (April 1992). "PC Engine CD Rom Review: Gate of Thunder".  [fr] (in French). No. 8.  [fr]. pp. 60–61.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b Harris, Steve; Semrad, Ed; Alessi, Martin; Williams, Ken (November 1992). "Review Crew: Gate of Thunder (Turdo Duo - Hudson / T.T.I.)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 40. Sendai Publishing. p. 30.
  8. ^ Jump up to: a b "NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: ゲート オブ サンダー". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 167. ASCII Corporation. February 28, 1992. p. 37.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Halverson, Dave; Brody; D., Bud (October 1992). "Viewpoint - Gate of Thunder; Turbo Toons - Gate of Thunder". GameFan. Vol. 1 no. 1. DieHard Gamers Club. pp. 7, 44.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Morisse, Jean-François; Demoly, Jean-Marc (April 1992). "PC Engine: Duel Spatial Sur Fond De Musique Rock! - Gate of Thunder".  [fr] (in French). No. 7.  [fr]. pp. 132–134.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b Demoly, Jean-Marc (April 1992). "Console News - PC Engine CD ROM 2: Gate of Thunder". Joystick (in French). No. 26. Sipress. p. 129.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "100 Best Games of All Time". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 100. Ziff Davis. November 1997. pp. 126, 128.
  13. ^ "PC Engine All Catalog '93 10月号特別付録 - ゲート オブ サンダー". PC Engine Fan (in Japanese). Vol. 6 no. 10. Tokuma Shoten. October 1, 1993. p. 75.
  14. ^ Eggebrecht, Julian (February 1992). "News: Engine-Ereignisse - Gate of Thunder".  [de] (in German). No. 6. Markt & Technik. p. 21.
  15. ^ PCエンジンソフト完全カタログ 1992年 - ゲート オブ サンダー. PC Engine Complete Guide 1987-1999. Nostalgic Game Console Encyclopedia (in Japanese). 1. Standards. June 15, 2018. p. 125. ISBN 9784866362670.
  16. ^ Sackenheim, Shawn (1998). "Gate of Thunder (TurboGrafx-16 CD) - Review". AllGame. All Media Network. Archived from the original on 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  17. ^ Corritore, Andrea (December 12, 2006). "PC-Engine: quando la leggenda diviene realtà". IGN Italia (in Italian). Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2018-07-04. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  18. ^ McFerran, Damien (October 15, 2007). "Gate of Thunder Review (TG-16) - The legendary sci-fi shooter is back!". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  19. ^ Provo, Frank (October 18, 2007). "Gate of Thunder Review - Hectic action, smartly conceived weapons, and one heck of a soundtrack all make up for this shooter's lack of innovation". GameSpot. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  20. ^ Whitehead, Dan (October 19, 2007). "Virtual Console Roundup - Gate of Thunder, World Heroes and Castlevania 2". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  21. ^ M. Thomas, Lucas (November 8, 2007). "Gate of Thunder Review - Explosive shooting action, with a killer CD-quality soundtrack". IGN. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 2021-09-08.

External links[]

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