Thursday, November 16, 2023

TurboGrafx CD #2: Lords of Thunder

Developer: Red Company

Publisher: Hudson Soft

Release Date: March 1993



Lords of Thunder will always be one of my go-to games when I am feeling down, although it might not fit the typical mold for feel good gaming. It’s not a cozy, comfort food-type game. It’s not full of familiar tropes and mechanics that make me feel like a kid again. It’s also not a game I grew up with. I never played Lords of Thunder until I was an adult living on my own. It’s not a time I look back on with particular fondness apart from the extra money I had to spend on rare games. Lords of Thunder cheers me up for a completely opposite reason. Sometimes when I am feeling down, I want to play something that is so ridiculous and intense that it destroys all rational thought. Lords of Thunder is one of the most over-the-top horizontal shooters of the 16-bit era. In modern times, horizontal shooters only exist to be ridiculous. In 1993 the genre was more grounded, so a game like Lords of Thunder stood out by the sheer number of enemies and obstacles on the screen. This is not a game that would’ve worked as well on Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis. It certainly made me happy that I spent $500 on that TurboDuo back in 2007. Hey everything else about this game is over-the-top. Of course, the price is going to be as well.



What really makes Lords of Thunder great, however, is that in spite of the over-the-top intensity, it is still a very playable game. It’s not like so many difficult shooters where you’ll only ever see the first minute of the first level and give up. You are able to choose what order you play the levels and one of four elemental-based armors which will provide your weapons. Se even if you are bad, you will at least see what all the levels are like. Different armors are better in different situations, so there are plenty of combinations to try out. I don’t always make a ton of progress when I play, but I always have fun trying different armors in different levels. There is also a store where you can buy energy, shields, elixirs, and perhaps most importantly, continues. I didn’t realize how much Lords of Thunder plays like a Mega Man game until I was writing this review. No wonder I enjoy it so much. It mixes some of the best elements from two of classic gaming’s most important genres.



 

So Lords of Thunder does take some planning upfront, but it still has a great dive-in attitude. It doesn’t have traditional power-ups like so many shooters where a certain icon on the screen will completely change your weapon. I always get into a trap where I find the weapon, I like the most and hold onto it. Avoiding power-ups can become as important as collecting them. Also, one hit in so many shooters will put you back down to your initial peashooter thereby making the game almost impossible. In Lords of Thunder theses are mitigated by a power leveling system. You collect icons that slowly fill a power meter which makes your weapon stronger. Getting hit depletes weapon energy, but it never feels hopeless. With all the power up icons and money on the screen it’s important to try to grab everything. I love being able to collect objects on the screen without having to worry about downgrading my weapon. Lords of Thunder knows what’s really important. It’s all about fighting wave after wave of over-the-top enemy. It’s not the time to be deciding if you should get the homing missile or laser.



 

As you can probably tell, Lords of Thunder is one of my favorites. It’s a game I’ll probably never finish, but I’ve also never had less than a great time playing it. The only complaint I have is the high price that a physical copy costs these days. That, of course, is not the game’s fault. I just hate using this blog to brag about my rare game collection. I really don’t have that many valuable games, and the ones I have were ether found by pure chance or purchased 20-plus years ago when they were still cheap. Sadly, the Wii U shop is now closed, so I don’t know if there’s a way to legally play this one currently without spending a ton of money. If there is a way, I certainly recommend it. Lords of Thunder was even Electronic Gaming Monthly’s Game of the Month for March 1993, and I don’t think they were ever wrong.

 

So how much do I love this game? I’m putting it just under Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! at #12. That makes Lords of Thunder the best non-Nintendo console game I have played so far. There are only a couple of arcade games and a PC game that rank higher. I’m sure that someday a non-Nintendo game will break into the top ten, especially since I’ve barely done any Sony games. But until that day, Lords of Thunder is the champion.

 

TurboGrafx CD quality percentage - 2/2 

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