Think back to when you bought your Duo. You probably tried out the Ninja Spirit game because it was a nifty little card (since you wanted to save the best for last) and thought it was pretty good, but it might not have been up to par with Blazing Lazers, Soldier Blade, or some of the arcade games you've played.Then you ran the Gate of Thunder disc. After being bemused by the Bonk intro, you saw the colorful Gate of Thunder logo and pressed Run. From there you were drawn into a wonderful intro and were amazed to hear such high-fidelity music coming from a game, of all things. I'm sure you'll
never forget that planet fading in, even if you weren't as happy with the game itself.

Now, we slam the Lords of Thunder game into the Duo. The intro is nice, but there doesn't seem to be the same awesome mood as before. Still, reaching the end you watch as the giant purple guy rises up. At that point, you take notice. Time to kill.

Rushing in, you skip throught the title screen as quickly as the machine will load.

Now, you are confronted with a map of 7 continents. What's this? Isn't this supposed to be a shooter?

Yes, but you get to choose one of the six continents in the outer ring to visit. [The easiest continent is at the top-left, and they increase in difficulty clockwise, with the devastated black-purple mass at the bottom-left being the hardest. Let's try not to think about the one in the center right now.] The music is getting a bit weird at this point, so let's play it safe and play the easiest one: Dezani.

What!? Armor selection? What's this?

You've got four sets of armor to choose from. In a conventional shooter, this would be different ships for you to select from, but here you're an actual person.

Fire armor is gives you, well, fire. It's pretty powerful if you power it up, but can be difficult to aim sometimes. The top power level is like the fire weapon out of Super Star Soldier, only it looks a LOT better.

Wind armor is for lightning. It goes through things, but is a bit too weak.

Water armor creates water waves (think of it as a blue sonic wave). Only difference is that you can fire backwards with it at full power. Useful.

Earth armor is the last one in the selection wheel, but it's the best (if you power it up). It may not look spectacular, but anything that kills enemies faster than the other weapons is ok in my book!

Oh, and they also augment the type of sword you carry, too. Didn't I mention that? You get to whack people with a cool-looking sword flash when they get close to you.

Now, we're ready. I've got my Wind armor on and am ready to kill something now!

Press Run.

Aiieee! More! Now, I'm confronted by a wide array of items to buy! At this point, I'm starting to get giddy at what must be a huge amount of things to do in this game. I can't wait!

Let's see, there's life in 3 stages - from a small amount to max health, three levels of shields, two levels of powerup boosters (how you improve your armor's firepower), a Bomb (different full-screen effects for every type of armor!), an elixir (when you die, you're instantly healed!), and
extra continues. Cool, but I can't afford much right now, so I'll just have to make do with a simple power-up.

Now... we're ready, right?

Here we go. Nothing too bad right now. Doesn't seem all that amazing in the first 10 seconds... Got a bunch of little gemstones [you might be annoyed by the noise they make - only thing that really detracts from the game].

Wait, there's a big guy popping up from the ground. Another. Augh! A huge green dragon-like thing is coming at me! It fills the screen and it's not stopping! Ouch, but I'm still alive and am flying above it, but now it's coming backwards! Dodged it, now let's take care of it. [A loud Garaaargh later, and all seems well again. The voice effects are VERY GOOD, and suffer from none of the usual cracks and pops or low volume you hear from chips. A great addition!]

Moving on.. Hey, now it's switching to vertical and big, rotating spikey
things are falling on my head! This is no time to hum the song! At the
bottom now. Another big enemy. There, got him.

Wizards appearing behind me! Rocks falling from the ceiling! Creatures running along the ground! Snakes jumping out of the water! Blobs falling down on me! Aigh! But, at all at the same time!?

Going up a ramp now, while rocks and more spikes are falling. Wait, not FASTER! No!!!!! Whew! I'm past it, but missed that life powerup...

Now, lets take out those walls. Lots of crystals.

Eek! A giant knight with a sword! And he's jumping to attack me!

Phew. A few more walls, archers, falling spikes. Now we're speeding up, and...

The boss. Looks like a little wimp. He'll be a piece of... oops, now he's a giant screen-high crawly... thing. And he's got digitized samples to back up his attack. Good thing his attack is so predictable. He's purple... red... and... garrooulluuh! Now he's nothing but flames. Done.

The water continent is full of giant dragons, dragon boats, and much more..
The Lava continent features you flying down into an activa volcano. And we're not talking one of those normal video-game volcanoes with little fire balls coming at you. We're talking giant boulders rumbling down at you and a big, nasty clawed guy who wants to make sure it's the last active volcano you ever have the bad chance of flying into! That and big, flaming "snakes" like those in Life Force, only they're much smoother. By the way, ever seen a flying bird-man waving a well-animated morning star in a shooter? How about jumping trolls throwing axes? Little men walking up steps to throw magic balls at you? People sitting down to fire their flamethrowers or bows? You have now.

One thing they did well in this game was the use of fade outs and fade ins. One minute you're in front of the water fall wondering if they're going to ram you into it, the next thing you know the inside has faded in and you're ready to enter. Another place you're flying through a lava cavern and see a castle in the distance. Fade out. Now it fades in and you're inside that very same castle.

Bosque, the forest-continent, brings you happy, toothed plants, fire-ringed sorcerors, quick-growing spiked vines, rotating wheels, and lots more crystals than you'd ever want to count. Also, the rain scene where the giant boss attacks you from below is quite memorable.

Helado, ice-continent, brings you more and more. The griffin who launches feathers will give you a run for your crystals. That giant face mid-boss certainly won't bore you! The sheer onslaught might give you the impression they want to give you the cold shoulder. Just keep blasting away at them, and you'll get an audience with his highness, the wooly mammoth. This is no power-ranger, mind you.

Then there's Cielom, the dark world. The action is so intense, I don't even have time to press pause to tell you what's going on. Believe me, you don't want to know. If this wasn't a game, I'd be begging for mercy.

Now I get to watch the mid-game animation sequence as I rest my weary digits...

The circle is complete. Now I get to pick my armor and fight the last stage.

The final stage. What's it like?

Well, you remember last time I thought if it wasn't a game, I'd be begging
for mercy. Now you can beg for mercy.

Q) Where are the cheap hits in this level?
A) Where AREN'T they. If I wasn't dodging constantly, I'd show you!

Walls exploding all around me. Giant bosses coming out of nowhere. The biggest spiked balls I've seen in a video game. Oh, it's not all that bad. It could be worse. It is. I think about the time the giant laser beams
come out at you and the giant dragon-worms are flying around that you wish you were playing Bonk. But I can't stop now. The fate of that giant obelisk and some girl who is never mentioned are in my hands.

Well, that's where I died. Or was it? You'll never know, but now is the time for you to prove yourself to be a Lord of Thunder. Can you face the incredibly large enemy beyond this? Or are you going to go back and play through Bonk, again, when faced by the true power of the Duo?