1991 NMK

Thunder Dragon is one of the most satisfying and challenging vertical shooters I've played.  Last week, I reviewed the disappointing and charmless sequel, which was... well, disappointing and charmless, particularly when compared with this forgotten classic.

Created in 1991 by NMK (no, not by Temco, from what I've seen they only designed the cabinet), Thunder Dragon is essentially what early 90's vertical shooters all strove to achieve.  Four different weapon types are available - standard red vulcans and blue lasers, a useless green bouncy thing, and a fourth type that rushes ultra-powerful missles in a line up the screen from behind your craft.  All weapons types feel satisfyingly powerful, with the lasers being my favourite.

Presentation is good for the time, with huge explosions and big, chunky enemy design.  The music is rather forgettable, but at least it's not a five-second loop.  The difficulty curve is rather steep, but always feels fair.  All in all, it's a good, well-rounded shmup, and very enjoyable to play.

And now, here's the rub - want to play this game in MAME?  Sorry, you can't.  At least, not with proper sound.

The copy-protection on this game still hasn't been properly cracked, and the main problems appear to be in the audio harware.  There are two versions available to play in MAME, but one's a bootleg board with audio ROMs from Raiden (including the excellent music), and the other is the original game with a mere best-guess at how it should sound.

This particular review is taken from the original game board, a copy of which I'm fortunate enough to own.  If you're interested in how it's actually performed on-site, I'll say this - when I took this board out of the machine it was in, and replaced it with the 1997 Namco fighting game Ehrgeiz, I expected my takings to go up, not down.  I was very surprised.

tag/surprising
tag/cool
tag/shooter