This article is about a Konami arcade game. For other uses, see Thunder Cross (disambiguation)

Thunder Cross (Disambiguation)

Thunder Cross is one of the names in Latvian for swastika.Pērkonkrusts, the Latvian fascist organisation led by Gustavs Celmiņš, is also sometimes referred to in English as the Thunder Cross.Other uses of "Thunder Cross" include:...

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Thunder Cross is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game

Arcade game

An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...

 released in arcades by Konami

Konami

is a Japanese leading developer and publisher of numerous popular and strong-selling toys, trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, slot machines, arcade cabinets and video games...

 in 1988. Thunder Cross used a "layered scrolling" background, a new 2D graphics technique at the time. It was later featured as part of the Oretachi Geesen budget line-up on the PlayStation 2

PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...

 in Japan, and spawned a sequel, Thunder Cross II.

Plot

Taking place in the future of space colonization, the planet Haniamu IV is under attack from a relentless, unknown military force known only as Black Impulse. The strongest Earth ships capable of stopping the total conquering of the planet are the Blue Thunder M-45 (player 1) and its earlier make the Red Thunder M-24 (player 2).

Gameplay

Thunder Cross is a classic horizontal shooter with 7 stages. Players control the Thunder fighter with up to four "options", which arrange up and down vertically and attack at the player's will. Three weapons are selectable ranging from the Vulcan shot to the Laser and the Boomerang shot (which doubles as a ricochet weapon). End-of-level bosses were present and, typical of a Konami shooter, Thunder Cross forced the player to beat the game twice in a harder Loop of the first seven levels.