THUNDER STRIKER Reviews

I like the feel and soundtrack a bunch.

Thunder Striker is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up in the style of a Game Boy game. It's a simple, classic shmup that despite a few gripes and glitches is fun. The player's ship is equipped with a basic main forward attack. There are two weapon upgrade that can be applied to the ship at the same time via pick ups. The first adds a secondary attack of additional forward shot, homing missiles and spread shot. Each with their pros and cons depending on the enemy types the player encounters. The second modifies the primary shot or adds more bombs. Both weapon systems can be powered up with additional pick ups. The player also has limited use bombs at their disposal. These work like most shooters, fire the bomb and gain invincibility for a few seconds. I haven't played enough, but it also seems the bomb's effect is not the entire screen. They also seem to be meant for use as defensive weapons. I tried to spam bombs on the enemy, and it would allow it until the invincibility wore off or something. The game play is inspired by shooters of the late 80s/early 90s, but there are far more sprites without slow down or flickering than I believe an actual Game Boy could handle. But only just barely. Enemy patterns are simple, but still makes the game fun to play. The only enemies I'm not a fan of are the ones that come from behind. There's no shot capping, so even if your ship is flying over these enemies to hit them, that are still vulnerable. More than a few times I've tired dashing over these enemies to destroy them before they can fire. Only to be hit with projectiles as the enemy barely makes it on screen. I'm not sure if it is a bug or a feature, but the player does not lose any bombs they had in their inventory upon losing a ship. Speaking of glitches the game still seems to have a few. Mostly just with sound, but the game currently feels a little buggy. However, the bugginess doesn't really affect game play from what I have seen. Just lessens the experience. Thunder Striker is a good attempt at creating a modern black & white (well, green) handheld STG. I'd like to see the program cleaned up a little more or the price a little lower. However, it's a decent little game all the same.

Great game. Inspired by Solar Striker. I can see that it´s also inspired in GouBakuRan: Rumble Storm. Recommended.