Here's
a game I bet you've never seen before! Well you probably have, if
you keep track of the emulation scene. A little known emulator called
M72 was due to emulate this little arcade gem along with R-Type
Leo in it's next release, but for some unknown reason it fell through
and we've had to wait ages for MAME to emulate it. But now it's
here, enjoy!
But
I digress. Lethal Thunder has shades of the Rayforce trilogy and
Raiden in it, but that doesn't stop it being a pretty damn good
blaster. The weapon system is shades of R-Type and Pulstar in it,
with different powerups performing different tasks in the right
place. You get four different powerups, being:
- Red:
Flamethrower!
MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!
- Blue:
Angled Lasers, pretty damn useful...
- Yellow:
Plasma Spread, can be concentrated of dispersed depending on movement...
- Green:
default pulse blaster
The
firing system is shades of Pulstar too, and the faster you fire,
the larger and more powerful your shots. Another novel weapon is
the trailing bomb that follows you around. As your shots get more
powerful, the powerbar on the side of the screen will get larger
until it goes into the red. Once it does, you have an option to
fire a large spreadbomb, the power of which depends on the power
of your shots. Handy, although you will need to recharge your shotpower
ALL OVER AGAIN.
The
levels are varied and have loads of things to kill contained in
its long and winding tunnels. Bosses are typically Irem hard, large,
mean bastards to blast and they'll put up a fight.
There
are some problems, though minor in comparison to the quality of
this game. There just ain't enough levels! And the ending is PANTS!
TOTALLY PANTS! Although you do get multiple endings depending on
performance, which is a bonus. Other than that though, this game
really shines. A gem in the rough, and and addictive one to boot.
Nab it immediately!
Lethal
Thunder - Irem
