| Gate of Thunder | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Red Company |
| Publisher(s) | Hudson Soft |
| Composer(s) | Nick Wood (Sound Design) |
| Platform(s) | TurboGrafx-CD |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gate of Thunder[a] is a 1992 scrolling shooter video game developed by Red Company and published by Hudson Soft for the TurboGrafx-CD. It was the first game released in North America to support the Super CD-ROM² format and served as one of the pack-in games for the TurboDuo, a two-in-one system which runs both TurboGrafx-CD and TurboGrafx-16 titles, where it was bundled with Bonk's Adventure, Bonk's Revenge and Bomberman on the same disc. In the game, the player controls the Hunting Dog space fighter craft, piloted by space cop Hawk. Alongside his ally Esty, piloting the Wild Cat support ship, Hawk must stop General Don Jingi and his Obellon armada from obtaining the powerful "Starlight" energy source from planet Aries.
Gate of Thunder was created by Red Raimon, a group within Red consisting of former Technosoft staff which previously worked on the Thunder Force series, whose members would later form the game development company CAProduction. It was the first shoot 'em up game programmed for the Super CD-ROM² format, which allowed features such as more detailed visuals due to its increased memory size. The soundtrack was composed by Nick Wood, a co-founding member of the Syn Sound Design music production studio. First released on the TurboGrafx-CD, the title has since been re-released through the Virtual Console and PlayStation Network download services.
Gate of Thunder garnered acclaim since its release on the TurboGrafx-CD; critics praised the presentation for its detailed and colorful graphics, well-animated sprites, use of parallax scrolling, large bosses, lack of slowdown, CD-quality heavy metal soundtrack, fast gameplay and intense action. Retrospective commentary have been equally positive, being considered one of the best video games of all time and one of the most important shooting titles on the platform. An unofficial follow-up, titled Lords of Thunder, was released for the TurboDuo in 1993.
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