Gate of Thunder(GEN) - Walkthrough
Version 1.0
Copyright July/21/2008 by Apathy000
[email protected]
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. Game Story
III. Options
IV. Basic Controls / What's on Screen
V. Powerups
VI. Strategies / Tips
VII. Bosses
VIII. Stage 1
IX. Stage 2
X. Stage 3
XI. Stage 4
XII. Stage 5
XIII. Stage 6
XIV. Stage 7
XV. Cheats and Codes
XVI. Final Thoughts
XVII. Copyright
I. Introduction
Gate of Thunder is now one of my favorite shooters, because of how INTENSE
this game is. I have never played a game with this much intensity in it,
except for Metal Storm on Expert. In every single level of this game I feel my
adrenaline pumping. And that is happening even on the Normal difficulty. When
a game gets you going this much even after multiple play-throughs then you
know something is right. It is an extremely rare occurrence when I feel like
my death was "unfair" or "bull****". When I die in this game it is my reflexes
fault, not the game. The game is legitimately hard.
I really got to hand it to Hudson for creating such a great game. An
interestingly little trivia bit for you is that this game can be considered
the spiritual prequel of Lords of Thunder. You will also notice that T's
Music, the one who made the music for Lords of Thunder, also made the tracks
for this game. :).
----------------
In this guide I am not going to list wave after wave of enemies. That would
be way too boring for me, the author, and for you, the reader. Instead I
will focus on the weapons in each level, some difficult parts in each level,
the mini-bosses, and the boss. The weapons in each level are listed in order
of appearance.
II. Game Story
Well, since this IS a Japanese game with Japanese text I really do not have
a bloody clue as to what is actually happening in regards to the storyline.
But it has to do with some guy in a ship trying to hunt down a vicious bald.
If you have a translation of the beginning and the ending I would be REALLY
happy if you sent it to me. *Hint* *Hint*
III. Options
In the title Screen you get two options, Game Start and Configuration.
1. Game Start - Starts game.
2. Configuration - You may select Normal, Hard, or Devil difficulty of the
game. You may also sample the sounds and music here as well.
IV. Basic Controls / What's on Screen
1. Controls
II - Fires weapon
Double Tap II - If you have satellites, it will make them face backwards
or forwards depending on how they are oriented. A very useful way and fast
way to change where you want to focus your fire.
I - Change weapons to other weapons you currently have. If you have no
other weapons you will fire your basic Level 1 Laser.
Select - Change speed of ship or change different selections in the Title
Screen.
Run - Equivalent of Start on other systems. This can be used to Pause
while in-game, or to enter an option in the title screen of the game.
2. What's on Screen
a. Speed - In the far upper right of the screen you can see which speed
you have selected. You can choose from three speeds.
b. Lives - In the upper right of the screen are ships. These represent
how many lives you currently have.
c. Weapon Choices - On the top middle of the screen you have your
possible weapon selections. A little picture
shows in the box if you have it. You can see if you have the Laser, Spread,
or Explosives weapons.
d. Hi (Score)- On the upper left of the screen you can see the current Hi
Score.
e. Score - Below the Hi score on the top left of your screen you can see
your current score.
f. And below all of the things above is the screen you play in.
V. Powerups
A. Description on Weapons
You get three types of shots, L, S, and E. You start off with a level 1 L-
shot, and once you get a colored power-up you get two satellites on top and
bottom of your ship that fire other shots of the type you have selected as
well as damaging enemies, and blocking enemy bullets. There are two levels of
missiles are well, which fire as you fire, and then seek and destroy enemies
around you. Each of these types has two levels of strength. L is your basic
shot and shoots forward. When you strengthen it to level 2 it has the ability
to shoot through walls and can harm multiple enemies at once. I dislike the
level 2 of the L weapon, because its firing rate is not that good, so little
enemies can rush in and kamikaze you if you are not careful. The S weapon is
your basic spread shot, but this can go through walls and hit enemies. This is
quite useful to have to find hidden power-ups that you can uncover throughout
the levels. It is also extremely useful on levels with lots of obstacles in
the way. When you upgrade it to level 2 it becomes a monster that covers a
massive portion of the screen, which is great. The E shot is easily the most
powerful of the three you can get, however its range is very poor; it seems to
have the same bullet trajectory as the Earth Armor's shots in Lords of
Thunder. The level 2 E is amazingly good at wiping out tough enemies in
seconds of use. I found that it is a very good idea to keep your E shot in
reserve until you get to a boss or strong enemy and then use it. When you lose
a ship you lose your satellites, missiles, and the shot that you have equipped
if it is not L-shot. If you have L-shot, it is only downgraded to Level 1, so
you will always have some type of weapon. This power-up system of only losing
a portion of your accumulated power-ups is reminiscent of Thunder Force IV.
B. Quick Reference of the Weapons and Power-ups.
1. "L" Laser - Starting weapon that fires forward with a rapid rate of
fire. Level 2 is more powerful, can go through obstacles, and harm multiple
enemies. Has a slower rate of fire than level 1.
2. "S" Spread - Weapon that goes through obstacles and covers a wide area.
Shots do not go through enemies like the level 2 Laser weapon and are not as
powerful, but its range more than makes up for its weakness and makes it
useful to clear screens of weak enemies. Also good for finding hidden
powerups.
3. "E" Explosives - Strongest weapon in the game. I recommend that you keep
this weapon in reserve for bosses so you do not lose it by dying.
4. Satellites - You get these every time you get a colored powerup if you
do not currently have them. They are extremely helpful at blocking bullets,
doing damage to enemies close to you, and at firing shots from the weapon you
have selected.
5. Missiles - While not as noticeable as your main shot, missiles home in
on enemies close to you. It is nice that they are strong as well.
6. Shield - Blocks THREE shots. The shield is Green when it is at full
strength, Blue if you take a hit, then it turns Red when it will only protect
you from one more hit.
7. 1UP - Very nice addition to your number of lives, but be careful not to
kill yourself getting them!
8. Bomb - Whenever you get a power up for three main weapons or your
missile, when it is already at its max level, then a shot and enemy clearing
line of fire will pass over the screen. It does not instantly kill tough
enemies, but it does deal massive damage to them. This is a HUGE incentive to
keep a weapon at max strength. Even better if you have all of them at max
strength.
VI. Strategies / Tips
-Keep your "E" shot in reserve for tough enemies or bosses.
-Sometimes playing very aggressively is the best defense.
-Try staying just off to the left of the center of the screen since enemies
will come at you from behind as well.
-There are no differences in power-up locations through different difficulty
levels.
-Shoot where the hidden power-ups are located to reveal them so you can get
them with your ship by moving on to them.
-Extra lives at - 50,000 -> 120,000 -> 250,000 -> 500,000
VII. Bosses
1. Stage 1 Boss
The boss has four cannons that aim straight forward. and looks kind of like
a box. The boss will move up and down and stop moving occasionally. The only
way to damage it is when you see it separate into an upper and a lower half
and the core is revealed. Besides the core two smaller cannons also appear
and fire at you while the core is exposed. The boss will also fire a lot of
destroyable missiles at you from its back.
To destroy this boss just stay right in front of it, in between the second
and third cannons and fire. The missiles are easily destroyable and if you
are right in front of it you will not be harmed by the cannons. This is an
easy kill on any difficulty.
2. Stage 2 Boss
The boss has tiny little satellites that circle it as it moves up and down.
The boss will stop moving and the satellites will fire out at you on after
another then reappear around the boss. The boss also fires a straight laser
that will move towards you if you pass below or above it. The laser makes a
90 degree turn once to try and hit you then the laser goes off screen. You
can only harm it on its head.
I recommend using the E powerup or the Laser at level 2.
3. Stage 3 Boss
The boss in this machine that looks like a trident with the middle spike
shorter than the other two. The "trident’s spikes are facing downward. The
boss's three engines will fire a short burst of flame and the two arms will
move up and down firing out fireballs. After it does that, the three engines
will fire again, and the middle spike with move downward digging into the
ground throwing up rock that can kill you. When the middle part moves down
into the ground it exposes its face. This face is of course its weak point.
After a couple of seconds the middle spike will return and hide the face.
After it is back in place it will fire out blue bullets in your direction.
These blue bullets are the most dangerous part of the boss. Then the boss
will move slightly left or right and repeat its previous actions.
To kill this guy easily I recommend using Level 2 laser. At the start, the
boss will not move its position so move your ship parallel to where its face
will come out and keep firing. Once its face is protected again, move to the
right side of the screen and fire backwards. If it moves again then just move
to where you are not squished by the boss's movements and fire the Level 2
laser.
If you do not have the Level 2 laser then you will need to make use of the
small time between where the face is exposed and before the engines fire again
bringing up the spike. You must also be aware of the blue bullets it will
fire your way.
4. Stage 4 Boss
This boss is tough compared to others before this. It is a robot that fires
semi-homing bullets that bounce off of walls from the top and the bottom of
itself. It also has a robotic arm that shoots out lighting extremely
quickly. Once you destroy the eye on the top of the robot, you need to move
to the bottom of the screen, because the upper half of its body will detach
and shoot across the screen. This exposes the bottom core of the robot and
allows you to fire at it. Once the second part is destroyed the level is over.
I suggest using the "E" Explosive shot for this boss because of its power.
However, if you manage to bring the Level 2 "L" Laser to him, it is good for
the bottom core since the upper body shooting out makes shooting the core
difficult with other weapons.
5. Stage 5 Boss
The boss is very simple. You above this purple-colored monster that is
laying on the floor of the level. Only the head and a part of its body under
where you will place your ship moves. The part under you will pop out two
bubbles that will move towards your ship. The head will alternate between two
type of shots. The first type is a type of wave shot that you can move above
or below it to dodge. The other type of shot is where it fires a bunch of
destructible bullets forward as the head weaves up and down.
To defeat this boss I recommend "E" or "L". E is very powerful and if you
place your ship well then you can destroy the bubbles and the destructible
bullets from the boss easily. The same goes for "L". Although you do have to
watch out for its wave attack which is indestructible, it is pretty easy to
dodge.
6. Stage 6 Boss
This boss is one of the harder ones in the game, but its not too bad. It
only has two attacks. The first is that is shoots little pellets from a gun
in a wave pattern in front of it. The pellets are interesting since they do
not damage you until a second or two after they fire. The second attack comes
after it shoots out the pellets, and its upper body lifts up a bit and exposes
a core that needs killing. It will then shoot out a yellow thing that shoots
bullets in a all spiral when it is above or below your ship. The robot also
moves forward and backward, but it moves slowly so its movement should not
pose any problem.
To kill this I recommend Explosive. Stay a bit back from the robot and fire
the explosive at the core when it fires the little yellow shot at you. Three
or four times of this should destroy it. This battle would have been
difficult if they did not give you a shield a couple seconds before the boss
battle.
7. Stage 7 Boss
Easily the hardest boss in the game, this guy either requires intense
concentration and great reflexes(which I do not seem to have in sufficient
quantity) or...you keep fighting him until you find an effective method to
defeat it with minimal effort(which I did). First let me describe this
INTERESTING individual. When you come to the boss you will see a wall
covering a good portion of the right screen. In the wall are 2 sets of three
mirrors, and in between these mirrors is a core. In front of the wall there
are two turrets on top and bottom of the screen. There are two more turrets
on the bottom and top of the far left screen. So you got four indestructible
turrets and a large wall so you do not get a lot of room here.
The turrets fire large orange destructible balls at you very regularly. The
mirrors do nothing while they are green, but when they turn red you need to be
prepared to dodge VERY fast moving bullets. To dodge these you should be near
the back of the screen and be moving up and down. It becomes difficult to
dodge those shots from the mirrors and the shots from the turrets. At this
point you cannot yet kill the core, but you CAN kill the mirrors. They take
quite a bit of punishment unfortunately until they break. After you destroy
the mirrors the core will become vulnerable. But now that the mirrors are
gone it gains a new attack. Missiles now shoot straight out from the area
where the core is. Moderately sized missiles that are invincible. The
missiles will explode when they are above or below your ship. Their area of
damage is annoyingly large. I have been thinking of them as "Blink Missiles",
since they explode really suddenly and also make a Megaman-ish noise and
graphic when they do. Once you do enough damage to the core it will switch to
new tactics again. This time however there are no missiles and the turrets no
longer fire. Instead large spinning, bouncing stars will shoot out from the
core. If you can keep shooting the core it should die in a few seconds
thankfully.
I really must stress how hard this boss is on Devil difficulty, especially
having gone through an ALREADY darn hard level and then having a really hard
boss at the end. Instead of having a very intense fight with this thing with
your Laser I suggest the following strategy.
The first step is to conserve your E weapon and get it to Level 2, and to
have satellites going. When you see the boss start scrolling along park your
ship fearlessly right in front of the core and keep firing with your E. Be as
close as you reasonably can and KEEP FIRING. IF you lose your nerve and try
to run away at some point you will die. You will keep firing until the
mirrors are dead. First part done. Now move your ship up right next to the
turret on the upper right corner. Yes, be as close as possible to the
turret. Your bottom satellite will now bomb the core. When the core changes
color for its final form you will have to move back. But with the Level 2 "E"
Explosive, you can wipe the floor with this thing in under 10 seconds. This
strategy works extremely well.
VIII. Stage 1
1. Powerups (in order of appearance)
-Missile
-Laser
-Spread
-Explosive
-Shield
-Explosive
-Missile
-Laser
2. Level
This level is pretty basic there are really only two or three parts where
you might find troublesome. The first part is when a battleship restricts
your movement by hovering above, and there are little ships trying to get you
from behind, and a ship scuttling across the ground firing lasers. Take out
the ship on the ground first then you should make your satellites turn
backward and eliminate the things coming from behind. The second tight spot
is when missiles and ships start falling from the battleship blocking your
path. Just destroy the place on the battleship where they are falling to make
it easy to go past this. The "E" power is very good for that. The third
place of difficulty is when the level starts moving fast. Try to stay near
the center of the screen with a powerful weapon to kill enemies quickly.
3. Boss
The boss has four cannons that aim straight forward. and looks kind of like
a box. The boss will move up and down and stop moving occasionally. The only
way to damage it is when you see it separate into an upper and a lower half
and the core is revealed. Besides the core two smaller cannons also appear
and fire at you while the core is exposed. The boss will also fire a lot of
destroyable missiles at you from its back.
To destroy this boss just stay right in front of it, in between the second
and third cannons and fire. The missiles are easily destroyable and if you
are right in front of it you will not be harmed by the cannons. This is an
easy kill on any difficulty.
IX. Stage 2 (Asteroid)
1. Powerups (in order of appearance)
-Spread
-Missile
-Explosive
-Laser
-Shield
-Missile
-Explosive
-Spread
-Missile
-1UP (hidden up between two pillars)
-Laser
-Explosive
2. Level
This level has a lot of small enemies all over the place so make use of the
"S" weapon extensively. Later in the level are these slots in the background
where a giant press moves back and forth. If you get hit with a press when
you have a shield it seems to do double damage.
The miniboss of this level comes on the screen and lands right in the middle
of it. It then fires a wave pattern of bullets. Do not move the miniboss as
it will soon move to the upper right of the screen. As it moves it will fire
lasers forward and bullets upward. The bullets that it shoots up will then
move towards where you currently are. "E" kills everything quickly so use it
on this guy as well.
3. Boss
The boss has tiny little satellites that circle it as it moves up and down.
The boss will stop moving and the satellites will fire out at you on after
another then reappear around the boss. The boss also fires a straight laser
that will move towards you if you pass below or above it. The laser makes a
90 degree turn once to try and hit you then the laser goes off screen. You
can only harm it on its head.
I recommend using the E powerup or the Laser at level 2.
X. Stage 3 (Mine)
1. Powerups (in order of appearance)
-Missile
-Explosive
-Spread
-Shield
-Explosive
-Spread
-1UP (hidden behind a yellow pillar, use the spread shot to find it easily)
-Laser
-Missile
-Spread
-Missile
2. Level
In this level you can see another obvious similarity between Gate of
Thunder and Lords of Thunder. In this level there are falling rocks, and in
LoT you see these SAME falling rocks. To avoid getting hit by the rocks you
need to shoot them and make them change the direction they are falling. The
falling rocks can be quite difficult if you do not have a satellite. Later on
in the level are openings from which molten rock pours out. If you touch it
with the shield it seems to always do double damage.
The miniboss has a spinning tail and shoots out a shot that becomes many
shots that spiral outward from where he shot it. As long as you avoid his
tail and those spiral shots then he cannot kill you.
3. Boss
The boss in this machine that looks like a trident with the middle spike
shorter than the other two. The "trident’s spikes are facing downward. The
boss's three engines will fire a short burst of flame and the two arms will
move up and down firing out fireballs. After it does that, the three engines
will fire again, and the middle spike with move downward digging into the
ground throwing up rock that can kill you. When the middle part moves down
into the ground it exposes its face. This face is of course its weak point.
After a couple of seconds the middle spike will return and hide the face.
After it is back in place it will fire out blue bullets in your direction.
These blue bullets are the most dangerous part of the boss. Then the boss
will move slightly left or right and repeat its previous actions.
To kill this guy easily I recommend using Level 2 laser. At the start, the
boss will not move its position so move your ship parallel to where its face
will come out and keep firing. Once its face is protected again, move to the
right side of the screen and fire backwards. If it moves again then just move
to where you are not squished by the boss's movements and fire the Level 2
laser.
If you do not have the Level 2 laser then you will need to make use of the
small time between where the face is exposed and before the engines fire again
bringing up the spike. You must also be aware of the blue bullets it will
fire your way.
XI. Stage 4 (Base)
1. Powerups (in order of appearance)
-Missile
-Laser
-Explosive(hidden on the bottom, a few shots will reveal it)
-Shield
-Explosive
-Explosive(hidden on the bottom before a ledge)
-1UP(hidden after you pass over a ledge, I suggest Spread shot to easily
find it)
-Missile
-Spread
-Missile
2. Level
In shooters it is pretty common to find that a level's difficulty does not
correspond to its placement. Here, Stage 4 is possibly the hardest stage
besides the last stage, Stage 7. While it does not have a lot of enemies with
a lot of life, it does have A LOT of small enemies that cause problems
disproportionate to their size. Consider the common small green cone that
shots a fast beam of lightening when you are above or below it, and the string
of ships that fly on screen and fire bullets only when they are annoyingly
close to you and then shoot off screen again. Another tough enemy is a turret
that just appears floating in mid-air to spray bullets in a arc while other
ships shoot missiles at you. Even the mini-boss is the second toughest in the
game, right behind the mini-boss in the final level.
The mini-boss has only two attacks, but they are still annoying as heck.
The first is where it shoots forward homing lasers that a long a quite wide.
To dodge them you should be just above the gun so that the lasers will only
turn around you. Those homing lasers do not have the ability to make sharp
turn so being in their blind spot is the best strategy. It also shoots three
lasers that arc upwards over the miniboss and try to hit you. This attack is
more easily dodged.
3. Boss
This boss is tough compared to others before this. It is a robot that fires
semi-homing bullets that bounce off of walls from the top and the bottom of
itself. It also has a robotic arm that shoots out lighting extremely
quickly. Once you destroy the eye on the top of the robot, you need to move
to the bottom of the screen, because the upper half of its body will detach
and shoot across the screen. This exposes the bottom core of the robot and
allows you to fire at it. Once the second part is destroyed the level is over.
I suggest using the "E" Explosive shot for this boss because of its power.
However, if you manage to bring the Level 2 "L" Laser to him, it is good for
the bottom core since the upper body shooting out makes shooting the core
difficult with other weapons.
XII. Stage 5 (Crown)
1. Powerups (in order of appearance)
-Missile
-Spread
-Explosive
-Laser
-Spread
-Shield (inside a part of the large purple enemy, keep destroying parts of
it and it should pop out)
-Missile(inside a part of the large purple enemy, keep destroying parts of
it and it should pop out)
2. Level
It is strange that Level 4, the previous level is so much harder than this
one. They should have switched Stage 5 and Stage 4 in my opinion. There are
few difficult sections in this level, but they will still be noted. At the
start of the level small wasps fly around shooting bullets from their
stingers, and what I guess are ant lions pop out of the ground trying to get
you(more things that reappear in Lords of Thunder). The hardest part of this
level is a section underwater. At one point little metroid-like things will
go to the top of the screen and move back and forth while shooting a laser
downward. On Devil mode, two of them will appear at once a short distance
away from each other. If you do not kill the one that goes to the top of the
screen fast, then the laser will sweep all the way to the left side of the
screen.
When the mini-boss comes on stage, the ship fires a bit and then combines
with floating rocks. For a couple of seconds these floating rocks will not
harm you, but once they start moving do not bump into them as they move
towards the mini-boss and combine with it. The mini-boss only has one attack
where it fires out lasers and then they shoot out at you like arrows. Not
hard to dodge, however if you have a weak weapon and cannot kill it quickly,
the you may die from all the other enemies that fire at you while the boss is
moving around and shooting its lasers.
3. Boss
The boss is very simple. You above this purple-colored monster that is
laying on the floor of the level. Only the head and a part of its body under
where you will place your ship moves. The part under you will pop out two
bubbles that will move towards your ship. The head will alternate between two
type of shots. The first type is a type of wave shot that you can move above
or below it to dodge. The other type of shot is where it fires a bunch of
destructible bullets forward as the head weaves up and down.
To defeat this boss I recommend "E" or "L". E is very powerful and if you
place your ship well then you can destroy the bubbles and the destructible
bullets from the boss easily. The same goes for "L". Although you do have to
watch out for its wave attack which is indestructible, it is pretty easy to
dodge.
XIII. Stage 6 (Dark City)
1. Powerups (in order of appearance)
-Missile
-Explosive
-Shield
-Spread
-Laser
-1UP
-Missile
-Explosive
-Shield
2. Level
If this is your first time playing through you may be surprised at how this
level is more far more difficult than Stage 5. The best advice I can give you
is to get and KEEP your power-ups until you go underground. At the first part
of this level you are flying above the city and you have to deal with a lot of
troublesome enemies. You have to be aggressive to be successful at this part,
because there are these dark green ships that shoot out about half a dozen
shots that then spilt out into three other shots. Make your satellites shoot
backward when you see small little spinning flower like machines floating down
and kill them, otherwise they shoot a dense wave of bullets across
horizontally. Switch between "S", "E", and "L", and be as aggressive as
possible. You want to destroy as much as possible before they start putting
out lots of crap on the screen.
The first miniboss you encounter is at the end of the first section where
you are flying around above the city. This miniboss is the pink ship with a
gun in the front. It has a laser that it shoots every few seconds straight
forward. It also occasionally sends out little flying soldiers that fire at
you from the bottom of it. Its final attack is where it shoots streams of
bullets at an upward angle to the left side of the screen. The final attack
restricts your upward movement quite severely. I suggest to keep moving up
and down slightly just so you are not directly across from it when it fires a
laser, but not so far so that you bump into the floor or get shot by the
bullets it will fire upward toward you.
The second miniboss can kill you VERY easily if you are not prepared for
what it can do. First, the thing fires shots upward that fall straight down
upon you. Then it will fire blue spinning rings out in an arc from its
front. These rings move very fast. Its final attack will be where it moves
up and down and fires a rapid stream of bullets from the large gun on its
bottom.
3. Boss
This boss is one of the harder ones in the game, but its not too bad. It
only has two attacks. The first is that is shoots little pellets from a gun
in a wave pattern in front of it. The pellets are interesting since they do
not damage you until a second or two after they fire. The second attack comes
after it shoots out the pellets, and its upper body lifts up a bit and exposes
a core that needs killing. It will then shoot out a yellow thing that shoots
bullets in a all spiral when it is above or below your ship. The robot also
moves forward and backward, but it moves slowly so its movement should not
pose any problem.
To kill this I recommend Explosive. Stay a bit back from the robot and fire
the explosive at the core when it fires the little yellow shot at you. Three
or four times of this should destroy it. This battle would have been
difficult if they did not give you a shield a couple seconds before the boss
battle.
XIV. Stage 7 (Crown Core)
1. Powerups (in order of appearance)
-Explosive
-Missile
-Explosive
-Shield(hidden on the top of the first set of balls spinning in place)
-1UP(hidden on the bottom of the second set of balls spinning in place)
-Laser
-Spread
-Laser
-Explosive
-Missile
2. Level
To beat this level with minimal effort would require you to have at least 3
lives and all your weapons and power-ups. However, since reality is not so
nice, you will most likely end up trying to beat this level starting from a
new continue after your death from coming here from the very difficult Stage
6. Right from the start waves of tough enemies fly into your little tunnel,
and if you have no other weapons than just your Level 1 Laser, then you are in
trouble. However you can do two things here to survive. One is that you need
to move forward and stay very close to the top. If you do this then you
should be able to avoid ramming into the enemies flying into your small
tunnel. The second is that you can get the Red "E" powerup here as well to
get your satellites. This area is a bit difficult, but the fact that these
enemies do not shoot much mitigates the difficulty. After the small tunnel
take the downward path and hug that area's ceiling, because you can avoid
getting rammed here. Move carefully back and forth to avoid the turret's
shots. I do not recommend attempting to clear out the turrets, since they are
slightly embedded in the floor, and with your straight shooting L-Laser it
will be a bit difficult to get at them with those other enemy ships moving
around.
After that section you will move up and over and come to an area with
enemies moving around. The only ones you need to watch out for are the
spinning green ships and the red alien ships. When the stage forces you into
an area with beams of light emitting from large cannons, you should know one
thing. The beam will not harm when it initially fires, so you get a second to
move out of the way. Get out of there and prepare for the mini-boss.
Starting from around here you need to preserve your "E" Explosive for the
final boss. You must resist the urge to whip it out and smack down all the
enemies that come your way. I have a good strategy for the final boss so KEEP
IT IN THERE unless you are absolutely sure you will not die!
The miniboss this time around is tough, unlike the previous encounters. He
fires a lot of bullets and then transforms into a large ship that fires a
bunch of lasers at you. It also fires out destructible yellow shots. Besides
the mini-boss you have to watch out for turrets placed above and below the
guy, and red ships trying to get you from behind. Stay in the middle of the
lasers and keep firing to eliminate the mini-boss. There is a hidden shield
at the top of the two spinning balls, and a 1UP on the bottom of the next set
of spinning balls. At various intervals after the mini-boss there will be
guns that fire homing missiles at you from the bottom and top of the screen.
You really need to make your own room here by being as aggressive as
possible. After the one 1UP there are some ships straight out of Super Darius
2 firing lasers, and some other garbage shooting out rockets. Now comes the
hard part.
The level will start to speed up and squid like things will rapidly move
from left to the right side of the screen. Once these squids reach the right
side they will start shooting really wide shots that block everything you
shoot except for Level 2 laser. There is an area in the middle that is not
blocked by the lasers, so you will have to fire in there if you do not have
that Level 2 "L". More enemies pop-up after it slows down again. More
turrets along side these annoying ships that fire wide lasers as they move all
over the screen. Spread is pretty much the king here so if you got it, use
it. Be as aggressive as possible so reduce your chance of dying from some
stray bullet. After you get you get an Explosive(which now makes your "E"
Level 2), you need to go past a few more turrets and one FINAL squid. Now its
time for the last boss.
3. Boss
Easily the hardest boss in the game, this guy either requires intense
concentration and great reflexes(which I do not seem to have in sufficient
quantity) or...you keep fighting him until you find an effective method to
defeat it with minimal effort(which I did). First let me describe this
INTERESTING individual. When you come to the boss you will see a wall
covering a good portion of the right screen. In the wall are 2 sets of three
mirrors, and in between these mirrors is a core. In front of the wall there
are two turrets on top and bottom of the screen. There are two more turrets
on the bottom and top of the far left screen. So you got four indestructible
turrets and a large wall so you do not get a lot of room here.
The turrets fire large orange destructible balls at you very regularly. The
mirrors do nothing while they are green, but when they turn red you need to be
prepared to dodge VERY fast moving bullets. To dodge these you should be near
the back of the screen and be moving up and down. It becomes difficult to
dodge those shots from the mirrors and the shots from the turrets. At this
point you cannot yet kill the core, but you CAN kill the mirrors. They take
quite a bit of punishment unfortunately until they break. After you destroy
the mirrors the core will become vulnerable. But now that the mirrors are
gone it gains a new attack. Missiles now shoot straight out from the area
where the core is. Moderately sized missiles that are invincible. The
missiles will explode when they are above or below your ship. Their area of
damage is annoyingly large. I have been thinking of them as "Blink Missiles",
since they explode really suddenly and also make a Megaman-ish noise and
graphic when they do. Once you do enough damage to the core it will switch to
new tactics again. This time however there are no missiles and the turrets no
longer fire. Instead large spinning, bouncing stars will shoot out from the
core. If you can keep shooting the core it should die in a few seconds
thankfully.
I really must stress how hard this boss is on Devil difficulty, especially
having gone through an ALREADY darn hard level. Instead of having a very
intense fight with this thing with your Laser I suggest the following strategy.
The first step is to conserve your E weapon and get it to Level 2, and to
have satellites going. When you see the boss start scrolling along park your
ship fearlessly right in front of the core and keep firing with your E. Be as
close as you reasonably can and KEEP FIRING. IF you lose your nerve and try
to run away at some point you will die. You will keep firing until the
mirrors are dead. First part done. Now move your ship up right next to the
turret on the upper right corner. Yes, be as close as possible to the
turret. Your bottom satellite will now bomb the core. When the core changes
color for its final form you will have to move back. But with the Level 2 "E"
Explosive, you can wipe the floor with this thing in under 10 seconds. This
strategy works extremely well.
Now enjoy your paragraph of Japanese text and the pretty pictures. If you
have a translation of this I would be pretty grateful if you send it to me...
XV. Cheats and Codes
1. Stage Select **VERIFIED
At the title screen press: I, II, II, I, Select, I, II, I, II, Select,
Select, Run
Contributed By: LatchKeyKid. Right off of Gamefaqs.
**Note: After the title screen loads you input this combination and you will
end up going into "Configuration". In the Configuration screen a "Stage"
option is added. Go down to Stage and press the D-pad left or right to select
your stage. Might be a good idea to practice Stages 4, 6, and 7 with this.
XVI. Final Thoughts
Gate of Thunder is easily one of the best games ever made, let alone
shooters. When I compare this game to Thunder Force IV, and Lords of Thunder I
have a hard time deciding if it is better or worse than either of them. Each
of these three shooters have pros and cons to them, and its probably to hard
for me to choose between them. Gate of Thunder feels the most intense of the
three, but has the worst music and graphics. Lords of Thunder has this whole
"epicness" thing going for it and has an amazing soundtrack, but it does not
feel as intense as Gate of Thunder, and on the whole it does not look as good
as Thunder Force IV. Thunder Force IV is just so darn cool-looking with
awesome music as well, but I really enjoy the flow of Gate of Thunder better.
I really cannot decide which shooter I like the best.
Regardless of which is the best, notice I am considering Gate of Thunder as
being possibly the best shooter I have played. This game is a MUST-PLAY.
XVII. Copyright Jan/16/2008 by Apathy000 aka Michael Zacka
This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for
personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or
otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission.
Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public
display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.
Sites that have my permission to use this guide are gamefaqs.com.
