Technical Information

Developer: Red Company
Publisher: Turbo Technologies (North America) and Hudson Soft (Japan)
Release Date: 1995

Long ago, the god of darkness Deoric was defeated by the knight Drak and the goddess Luxia and sealed beneath the six continents of Mistral.
Now, the Garuda Empire, led by Sornbul and his six generals, has invaded the land of Mistral and conquered its six continents. Sornbul seeks to resurrect the god of darkness Deoric and plunge Mistral into eternal darkness.
With the armies of Mistral defeated, Duran, the last descendant of Drak, must don the mystical armor of Drak and fight against the demonic armies of the Garuda Empire, defeating Sornbul and his generals.

Final Considerations – Analyzing the Game as a Whole

Graphics and UI

The game’s art is very beautiful, full of detail and well-made animations. Each stage has its own group of enemies, matching the theme of the environment.
The item purchase screen reminded me a lot of the one in Forgotten Worlds, it almost looks like it was made by the same developer (but it wasn’t!).

The initial menu includes options where you can select the difficulty level and test the sound effects and music.

The HUD is very simple and easy to understand, with your score and total crystals (money) on the left side, and your life bar, firepower, and bomb count on the right side.

Soundtrack and Sound Effects

The soundtrack is definitely one of the game’s strongest points in Lords of Thunder.
You can clearly hear the influence of neo-classical music, which, when played with the game’s guitar sounds, strongly resembles the style of Yngwie Malmsteen.

The music in Cielom reminds me a lot of Rhapsody’s Legendary Tales album and quickly became my favorite track!

Sound effects don’t stand out much and almost go unnoticed (unlike in the TurboDuo version). Additionally, there is a narrator who tells the story during CG sequences and in the item shop, which appears every time you start a new stage.

Gameplay

Lords of Thunder is a very interesting game with a slightly different approach compared to classic shmups like Gradius, R-Type, and Darius.
In it, you can choose between four types of armor, each with different shots and power-ups. Additionally, the stages are not linear, allowing you to choose the order in which to play them.

The game has three difficulty levels, but surprisingly, the hardest mode (Super) is easier than the Normal mode in the TurboDuo version.
In the hardest mode, enemy life increases and shot patterns and power change. You can also achieve higher scores.

It’s not a very long or particularly difficult game to beat.

Replayability and Game Retention

It’s a very friendly game for players who aren’t experienced with shmups, both because the Normal difficulty is fairly forgiving and because the character has a life bar instead of dying from a single collision or shot.
This encourages players not to give up and motivates them to keep trying until they reach the end.

I didn’t just enjoy Lords of Thunder, I also platinumed it on RetroAchievements! 😀
It’s an incredible game. Even though I started playing it 30 years after its release, I had so much fun that it has now become one of my favorite shmups.