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Retro Recommendation - Gate of Thunder
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Behold; a true side-scrolling shooter masterpiece.
During a recent interview segment on the Digital Cowboys podcast, I was asked what three games I would take with me if I were stranded on a desert island. Feeling the pressure of the question, I quickly rattled off Capcom vs. SNK, GigaWing and Super Mario Bros. I was fairly content with my answers; a fighting game that has wonderful replay value and bled style, an overhead shooter that took the concept of ‘bullet hell’ to a whole other level, and the grandfather of side-scrolling platform action. I felt I had successfully represented the full gamut of great games. Later that evening, as I was sending an email to Alex at Digital Cowboys, a terrible cold sweat crept across my brow. What a fool I was! In my haste to provide a thought provoking answer to their question, I’d completely overlooked a shooter that has deep personal meaning to me; a video game that defined large portions of my teenage years, and to this day, still engages me in a way that no other game can. That game is Gate of Thunder.
Gate of Thunder is a side-scrolling shooter, very similar to (some would say ‘ripped-off from’) Thunder Force III on the Sega Genesis. It was developed by RED Software and published by Hudson Soft in 1992 for the Turbo Duo. Although the game was released as a stand-alone title in Japan, in the United States, the only way to get it was as part of a 3-in-1 pack-in game CD with the Turbo Duo system itself. I was fortunate enough to have acquired a Turbo Duo in 1992 from a friend that had grown bored of his. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was about to discover one of the most legendary shooters ever created.
Every player at one point or another has experienced a game that just ‘clicks’ with them. For some, it’s puzzle games like Tetris. For others, titles like Marble Madness or Track and Field (that's my friend Kurt playing) come to them quite naturally. For me, two games stand-out as titles that I seem to have an unnatural skill for; Tempest X3 on the Playstation and Gate of Thunder on the Turbo Duo. There’s something about this game that just gels with me. I’ve never been able to quite put my finger on it, but I do have my theories. First, the game oozes a level of style and substance that other titles can only dream of having. Every pixel seems to have a specific purpose, and each enemy fighter seems to be placed in beautifully logical patterns, each one ready to explode like a grape when hit with a blast from my laser. The gameplay, to put it simply, is quite solid. When you first start playing, you’ll need to spend a bit of time learning how the various controls of your ship work. Things like adjusting your speed, changing weapons, and controlling the height and direction of your “tusks” or side ships. But no need to worry, you’ll never need to fumble around with the controller in the middle of a game due to complex controls; everything is laid out for quick and easy access. Adjusting your speed is done by hitting the ‘select’ button, and the three different speeds are clearly communicated through icons in the status bar. The same thing goes for selecting your weapons; a quick tap of the ‘I’ button selects the next weapon you have available. Speaking of weapons, there 3 different types, with the ability to power-up each one separately. There’s your typical laser beam type weapon, which you start the game with, a spread-shot style weapon, and finally a slow-firing, but extremely powerful, weapon called ‘Earthquake’. And unlike other shooters of the day, you don’t lose your current weapon when you grab a different one; the game keeps them and allows you to choose the best weapon for a given situation. It all feels very well thought out, and the designers went to great lengths to create situations in each level that utilize the strengths of each weapon type.
The next feature that I feel is worth mentioning is the games graphics. Even today the smooth parallax scrolling of the backgrounds, and detailed sprites of the ships, continues to impress even the most jaded of pundits. The amount of action in any given scene is remarkable, and there is never a moment of slowdown from the system reaching its limit, as is common in so many other shooters of its day. The backdrops for each stage are varied, and have a sense of progression to them. For example; in stage 1, you begin by flying low over the surface of a planet, and as the level progress, a giant enemy capital ship hovers above your head, firing at you and releasing enemy fighters. By the end of the stage, the ship is destroyed, and you’re left flying out into open space. This continues into stage 2, where you begin by flying through an asteroid belt, before finding yourself inside the enemy base. The entire game has a well thought out fluidity that is rarely seen in shooters of this type. Usually, you’re just blasting your way from one generic backdrop to another, with little to nothing tying the stages together. It’s a great touch, and really helps you feel that you’re participating in a story (weak as it may be). All of these things work together to really form a top-notch game, however, there is one other part of Gate of Thunder that is easily its most memorable feature. The thing that elevates it above all of its peers, and causes old gamers like myself to hold its name in the type of hushed reverence that is normally reserved for only the most legendary of titles; its soundtrack.
The music in Gate of Thunder is explosive. Considering that this title was one of the earliest games released on CD-ROM, the developers wanted to take advantage of the ability to have actual pre-recorded music in their game. To do this, they turned to Syn Sound Design to come up with a soundtrack that would really show off the capabilities of the CD medium for video games. What they came up with is considered one of the most legendary soundtracks ever created for a video game, let alone an overhead shooter. Screaming hair-metal guitars, synthesizers, and pounding drum tracks accompany every stage. Each song is crafted to match the action on the screen at any given moment, and adds a tremendous amount of energy to the game. Some stages (like Stage 3) have a slow driving techno beat that fits well with the theme of flying through the enemy mine, with machinery moving all around your ship. Other areas, like Stage 6, have a fast-paced heavy metal soundtrack that perfectly matches the on-screen action of closing in on the enemy base at top speed. The soundtrack so impressed me when it came out, that I used to put in my CD audio player and listen to it on its own. To this day, it’s still in my iTunes library. In fact, I’m listening to it right now as I type this sentence. It really is THAT good.
So there you have it, not so much a review of Gate of Thunder, but more of a glowing recommendation. You owe it to yourself to check out this game. Seeing that Turbo Duo systems routinely fetch $400 on sites like eBay, I recommend the much cheaper alternatives. For Nintendo Wii owners, you can purchase the game for the Virtual Console for 800 points. I’ve played this version of it, and it is absolutely pitch-perfect emulation. The soundtrack is just as clear as ever, and even with the Wiimote, the control is very tight. If you’re not a Wii owner, you can also use the fabulous Magic Engine emulator (this is what I use) to enjoy the game on your Windows PC or Mac. However, if you choose the emulation option, you will still need a copy of the game though, so approach with caution. It can be a very expensive item to track down. If you do decide to go for it, the Japanese version of the game is usually far less expensive and easier to find than its U.S. counterpart. The majority of the in-game text is in English, and being a space shooter, it doesn’t really require much in the way of reading anyway.
If you are a fan of the shoot-em-up (or shmup) genre, then you owe it to yourself to play Gate of Thunder. It isn’t the most challenging shooter out there (that honor belongs to Pulstar), but it is certainly one of the most balanced and well-designed; and that is what makes it a classic.
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I thrive on your feedback. If you have something to say, please leave a comment below. You can also reach me via email at tim@commandertim.com, and please feel free to visit my personal internet tube at commandertim.com.
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