Thunder Cross II (サンダークロスII Sandā Kurosu II) is a horizontally scrolling shoot 'em up arcade game released by Konami in 1991 and it's the direct sequel of Thunder Cross. Thunder Cross II is an improved, solid shooter, even if things are again borrowed from Gradius.
Plot
Three years after their defeat, the Black Impulse Empire tries once again to conquer the galaxy. They have used these years wisely as they have many new ships and creatures in their larger attack armada.
Figuring they would try again, we have spent this time further developing the "Thunder Cross" fighters. Brand new in the previous war, it only had one weapon and a bomb. Now the Thunder Cross has four different weapons whose power can be increased to unheard of magnitudes. Furthermore, we have given you control over your options.
Find the brains of the enemy empire and destroy the Black Impulse once and for all.
Gameplay
The developers obviously saw most of what the previous title lacked and improved the sequel. Thunder Cross II features more weapons, more varied and better enemies, and more shooter goodness.
In addition to speed power-ups and the standard weapons, you get newer, massively powerful weapons.
These fire from your options, but the new uber-weapons have a limited amount of fuel. Your options get all pumped up with the new power and become bigger than your ship. This time you can also control the position of your options. You still get two above and two below your ship, but now you can move them up and down to take out enemies so you don’t have to move your ship as much.
Other improvements
- The stages see an improvement as two of the stages have multiple paths. For example, Stage 2 is a cave, but you can take the normal cave route, or go through the cyber cave below it. The enemies are vastly varied than the first game.
- New creatures and ships show up in each stage, but like the first there are still enemies that are taken from Gradius.
- The bosses are no longer weaklings and the difficulty is a little more substantial.
Stages
| Stage | Name | Boss | Music |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Air Battle | Eggerdroid | Air Battle |
| 2 | Machine Fortress | Ragamuffin | Kartus-Part 2 |
| 3 | Space Fortress | Redcraw Monster | Heavy Metal Bomber |
| 4 | Waste Factory | Dinosaur Jr. | Dog Fight III |
| 5 | Large Battleship | Brookrans Works | Battles of Battleship |
| 6 | Star Light | Laze Zoguylum | Star Light |
| 7 | Front Base | Sprouts Layber | At The Front |
| Thunder Cross/Thunder Cross II | ||
| Ships and characters | Blue Thunder M-45 and Red Thunder M-24 • Black Impulse | |
| Thunder Cross stages | First Attack • Skyscrapper City • Machine Graveyard • Great Battleship • Endless Labyrinth • Fire Cavern • Final Base | |
| Thunder Cross II stages | Air Battle • Machine Fortress • Space Fortress • Waste Factory • Large Battleship • Star Light •
Front Base | |
| Thunder Cross bosses | Egger • Ganger • Garch Jaeger • Bigger • Bogger • Figger • Machinegar | |
| Thunder Cross II bosses | Eggerdroid • Ragamuffin • Redcraw Monster • Dinosaur Jr. • Brookrans Works • Laze Zoguylum • Sprouts Layber | |
| Gradius video games | ||
| Gradius series | Gradius • Gradius II • Gradius III • Gradius Gaiden • Gradius IV: Fukkatsu • Gradius Galaxies • Gradius V • Gradius ReBirth • Gradius: The Interstellar Assault • Gradius NEO • Gradius NEO Imperial | |
| Spin-offs | Salamander (Life Force) (MSX ver.)• Salamander 2 • Nemesis 2 (Nemesis '90 Kai) • Nemesis 3 • Nemesis (Game Boy) • Cosmic Wars • Solar Assault | |
| Parody games | Parodius • Parodius Da! • Gokujō Parodius! • Jikkyō Oshaberi Parodius • Sexy Parodius • Paro Wars • Otomedius (Otomedius Gorgeous) • Otomedius Excellent | |
| Other games | Scramble • Thunder Cross • Thunder Cross II • Space Manbow • Force Gear | |
| Pachislot | Gradius: The Slot • CR Parodius Da! EX • Gokuraku Parodius! | |
| Cancelled | Vic Viper • Gradius Arc • Salamander HD Remaster | |