QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Collection by PIKO Review

Shoot ‘em up followers have been well-served over the previous two months. When it’s not Andro Dunos 2 or the Azure Striker Gunvolt sequence coming to Xbox, it’s the vast majority of the Psikyo again catalogue being re-released individually. We’ve reviewed a good few of these personally, and we’re seeing mechs and bullets in our sleep. 

Into that fray comes QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Assortment by PIKO, an absolute mouthful for a launch that’s comparatively simple to explain. What you’re getting here’s a double pack of Thunderbolt II on the NES/Famicom (listed as merely 8-bit right here) and Thunderbolt II on the Sega Megadrive/Genesis (16-bit). Whereas the releases share a reputation and a vertical taking pictures viewpoint, they had been and are very totally different titles. 

The web can’t inform me an excessive amount of about Thunderbolt II. For instance, what occurred to Thunderbolt I? What we will surmise is that these had been two unlicensed releases on their related consoles, with the primary revealed by Gametec in 1993 and the latter by Tremendous Chip in 1995. By all accounts they had been Taiwanese in origin, and the unique cartridges are nowhere to be discovered on eBay. 

It’s truthful to say that QUByte Classics have discovered yet one more deep reduce. They’re a publishing home who aren’t notably interested by exhuming cult favourites or mainstream hits. They wish to wheel out video games that hardly anybody has heard of, not to mention had some fondness for. 

Blowing on the cartridge and slotting it in, we began with Thunderbolt II (8-bit version). It’s a easy proposition, to the purpose of absurdity. You’re a ship flying up the display screen, dealing with off towards waves of ball-like enemies. There are bosses, however these are nameless sufficient that we didn’t realise after we had defeated one. An achievement popped for clearing the extent and boss, and we needed to do a double-take. 

There’s a neat strategy to energy ups. Blue, brown and inexperienced barrels bounce down the display screen, they usually every snap a unique assault onto your ship. Browns provide you with a four-way shot, whereas blue evolves right into a five-way sample. The nuance comes from stacking them: keep away from undesirable colors and chain your favorite, and you’ll quickly improve it to one thing particular. It’s the only real speaking level from Thunderbolt II (8-bit version). 

Every part else is a mulch. Enemies are spheres of various colors, or spheres with the odd little bit of steel jutting out. There are three ranges, seemingly house, metropolis and desert, however all mix collectively to make swathes of a single texture. Bosses, as we’ve got talked about, are virtually indistinguishable from the common mob. 

However what makes us need to flip off Thunderbolt II (8-bit version) is how technically frumpy it’s. The body charge stutters and slows continuously, which is inexcusable for a reissue of a NES recreation. The collision detection is brutal, sending you again to the spaceport for even probably the most minor of grazes from an enemy. And, most of all, the enemies are kamikaze. The most important risk shouldn’t be from bullets, however from enemies showing from nowhere, at velocity, and careening in the direction of your ship like battering rams. It’s a shoot ’em up the place you are feeling such as you’re in the best way. 

QUByte might have softened the expertise by taking a leaf out of Metropolis Connection’s guide and reissuing Thunderbolt II with loads of choices. There isn’t any functionality to fiddle with recreation choices like lives and continues. All you get is the baked-in save system that each QUByte Basic has, and it’s fiddly and long-winded to make use of. 

If we had been to evaluate Thunderbolt II (8-bit version) by itself, we’d have deliberated and gone for the cardboard with ‘2’ on it. It’s totally characterless, with no single graphical ingredient that we might level to and admire. Most of all, it’s technically ramshackle, and we will’t assist questioning why QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Assortment by PIKO selected to reissue it. We are able to solely guess that completion compelled their hand: they needed to rerelease the 16-bit version and acquired this one chucked in without spending a dime. 

Thunderbolt II (16-bit version) is healthier. The technical kinks have been ironed out, and – though it might probably’t maintain a candle to Psikyo’s output, for instance – it at the very least ticked us for an hour. 

We’re in vertical shooter territory once more, and the one redeeming characteristic of Thunderbolt II (8-bit version) has been carried over: you possibly can accumulate and stack particular assaults to change into more and more highly effective. Inexperienced, by default, is a reasonably commonplace shot, whereas blue is a Star Soldier-like spray of bullets, and grey provides you a wave weapon, which is ace. The result’s that you simply’re usually dodging power-ups as a lot as you’re accumulating them, and it’s a nice change of tempo. 

Sensible bombs drop, permitting you to clear a boss in roughly three makes use of of them, and M and H power-ups provide you with partnering ships that both fireplace at your enemies or defend you towards them. Velocity-up boosts spherical out the roster. There’s an honest variety of issues to gather, and the display screen will be suffering from them. 

You possibly can truly spot and recognise bosses in Thunderbolt II (16-bit version), which is a welcome enchancment. All of them seem like they’ve been randomly advised from the sport Spore. They’re variants on worms and centipedes, all utilizing the identical construction, in order that they’re nonetheless faintly repetitive and have you ever hankering for Gynoug-style trains and boats with faces gurning on the entrance. However their assaults are considerably assorted, and also you at the very least really feel such as you’ve achieved one thing as soon as they’ve been downed. 

Thunderbolt II (16-bit version) shouldn’t be a quick recreation, neither is it a troublesome one. It’s simple to chug by its opening ranges, with solely the ultimate two posing something like a risk. However the velocity rankled with us: we felt like we had been yanking the Thunderbolt ship throughout the display screen, because it dragged its toes behind it. Velocity power-ups improved issues, after all, however the default velocity might have been a lot extra. 

However Thunderbolt II (16-bit version)’s largest crime isn’t its velocity: it’s a scarcity of character. Whereas it has extra charisma than the 8-bit model, it’s nonetheless a faceless little shooter. Enemies are variations on blobs, and backgrounds are nonetheless blandly uninteresting. That is the console that gave us Tremendous Fantasy Zone, Gynoug and Forgotten Worlds: it’s able to producing maps, ranges and executives that make you are taking observe. However there’s nothing right here that might even strategy these classics. We most likely hand it a 3.

Which makes you marvel: why? Why have QUByte unearthed two video games that, so far as we’re conscious, no person had been clamouring for? These are inoffensive however creatively absent little shooters, and we might have been completely completely satisfied by no means taking part in them. They barely registered, and we’d guess that we’re going to overlook them as quickly as we press enter to ship the evaluate. 

Except you’re a shoot ’em up completist, there’s little or no cause to select up QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Assortment by PIKO. It appears like they’re getting splinters from dredging the underside of the shooter barrel.

You should purchase QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Assortment by PIKO from the Xbox Retailer