QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Collection by PIKO

Genre: Compilation / Shmup

Players: 1

.

Review:

QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Collection by PIKO (from here on simply referred to as Thunderbolt Collection) is a Compilation of two Shmups previously unreleased in the US, though it’s hard to track down info on exactly where they were released. From what I can find, the first of these games, Thunderbolt Fighting Plane, was released on the Nintendo Famicom in 1993, and the second game, Thunderbolt II, was released on the Sega Mega Drive in 1995. I’m seeing elsewhere that these games are unlicensed and Taiwanese-developed, with some places even referring to them as “bootleg”, with foreign naming seemingly trying to tie these games to the Raiden series of Shmups.

Here is what I thought of each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Thunderbolt Fighting Plane	Shmup	1	D
tl;dr Thunderbolt Fighting Plane is a Shmup riddled with problems. Enemy ships move with extremely low framerates, there’s tons of flickering, foreground objects often blend in with the backgrounds, the hit detection is lousy, the stages are repetitive slogs through enemies seemingly placed at random, and players are showered with power-ups. It’s not without some enjoyable elements, but this is overall a pretty sloppy, poorly-made Shmup.
Thunderbolt II	Shmup	1	D
tl;dr Thunderbolt II isn’t quite as messy as its predecessor, but it’s still pretty bad. Once again enemy ships move with extremely low framerates the stage design is poor. Also, for a Mega Drive game, this game looks pretty bland, has muted sound, and the sound effects that are here are extremely underwhelming. And even apart from the game’s flaws, there’s just nothing here that the game does especially well, or that sets it apart from countless better entries in the genre.

In short… yeah, these games are not exactly shining entries in the genre. Between the two, I think I liked Thunderbolt Fighting Plane a bit more, but it’s also a much messier and more broken game. And honestly, neither of these games are ones I feel compelled to keep playing.

At this point in these Compilation reviews I usually like to look at the price and whether this is a good deal. However, is any price point going to be compelling for a pair of bad, broken games? I suppose if you’re a collector or completionist, this pair of games might interest you, as it’s not exactly like you’re going to find these unlicensed games sitting in retro game stores (a 2019 reprint of Thunderbolt II currently sells for $85+ on eBay, and the original Thunderbolt Fighting Plane is nowhere to be found), and as such this Compilation’s $8 price tag may seem worthwhile to those who are more interested in owning these games than they are in playing them.

However, apart from the novelty of owning two unlicensed games that were never released in the US, Thunderbolt Collection isn’t worth buying. These games are just too horribly broken to be worthwhile, and that’s on top of the fact that there are countless other better Shmups on the Nintendo Switch. Get one of those games instead.

tl;dr – QUByte Classics: Thunderbolt Collection by PIKO is a Compilation of two unlicensed Shmups never previously released in the US, Thunderbolt Fighting Plane and Thunderbolt II. Unfortunately, apart from the novelty of actually owning these games, there’s little value here – both games are terribly broken and poorly-designed Shmups, and there are far too many good games in this genre on Nintendo Switch to waste your money on this pair.

Grade: D

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}

^{This month’s sponsors are Ben, Andy Miller, Exlene, Homer Simpin, Johannes, Francis Obst, Gabriel Coronado-Medina, Ilya Zverev, Jared Wark, Kristoffer Wulff, and Seth Christenfeld. Thank you for helping to keep the reviews coming!}