Thunder & Lightning (NES) Playthrough

A playthrough of Romstar's 1990 puzzle-action game for the NES, Thunder & Lightning.
Have you ever been playing Arkanoid and thought to yourself, "This is super fun, but I'd be having an even better time if I could play as a Chinese stereotype"? If so, you're not just peculiar, but also incredibly lucky. It appears that some kindred spirit at Romstar in the early 90s was catering to your exact tastes.
Thunder & Lightning is a port of Seta's 1990 arcade game of the same name. It's also the third and final game to star Mr. Chin - an obese Chinese man with rosy cheeks and a voracious appetite - who previously appeared in Hal's 1984 MSX game "Mr. Chin" and Romstar's 1990 Game Boy puzzler "Mr. Chin's Gourmet Paradise."
According to the manual, "Mr. Chin has done it again. In his never ending search for ultimate delicacies, he had raised the wrath of people better left alone. Now he has found himself in deep trouble."
This trouble comes in the form of "Thunderwarrior," a cloud-riding man who has decided to punish Mr. Chin by imprisoning him behind "30 Walls of Regret." Mr. Chin has to smash through these thirty walls if he ever hopes to escape the "chamber of doom."
This all somehow amounts to a setup for a Breakout clone, but fear not: it's a good Breakout clone.
You control Mr. Chin, who holds a paddle over his head as he runs around the bottom of the screen. The goal of each stage is to clear the screen of bricks with a bouncing ball, and you lose a life whenever the ball hits the bottom of the screen. There are plenty of enemies and obstacles to get in the way, but Mr. Chin can collect paddle power-ups to make the job a bit easier.
And that's about all there is to it. Thunder & Lightning is essentially a reskin of Arkanoid, but the bright settings, goofy protag, and the sample-heavy background music provide it a welcome spark of personality, and it plays well despite the lack of analog controller support. Just be warned: there are no continues and the difficulty level kicks into high gear around the halfway point. It's not an easy game to finish, but at least you'll have a lot of fun trying.
Thunder & Lightning is as weird as it is obscure, but if you like Arkanoid, you're sure to enjoy this one, too..
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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[@therealseanw.stewart2071]

That has got to be one of the most percussion-heavy 8-bit soundtracks I've heard. This Breakout thing looks fun.

[@Akhnatom]

'Have you ever been playing Arkanoid and thought to yourself, "This is super fun, but I'd be having an even better time if I could play as a Chinese stereotype"? If so, you're not just peculiar, but also incredibly lucky.' LOL

[@TheUltimateGamer07]

This was a childhood favorite of mine that the whole family enjoyed.

[@mattcouture2579]

This is one of those random games that I rented maybe once or twice as a kid, but still remember for some reason and recognized as soon as I saw this video on my feed. 😅

[@rebeccalocke4849]

Thank you for putting this up. I lived with my grandmother as a kid. She got me this for Easter one year. I didn't like it but she enjoyed playing it. I used to watch her play this all the time. Thanks again!

[@Granite165]

Wild little game. Something tells me a drummer did the audio design 😅🤣 that snare sounds massive though!

[@NintendoComplete]

It's Arkanoid, but your paddle is a fat Chinese man and the music is loaded with noisy drum samples. Weird, but pretty fun.

[@christopherthibeault7502]

FCKN EARWORM over here...! Mmm... I like it!

[@Dorian_Scott]

For the percussion heavy OST, I like to imagine the conversation between each composer went like this: Composer 1: "So, um... How much percussion do you think this soundtrack needs?" Composer 2: "...More..." Composer 1: "But s-sir, don't you thi-?" Composer 2: "I don't care. *MORE SNARE DRUMS!!"* Composer 1: "Right away, sir!"

[@zsiles]

I played the arcade

[@MbRetroGamer]

very good 😀

[@EuSouRCS]

FAMILY BLOCK on Famicom !!! 💙💎💙

[@jasonmiller5628]

This game was hard for me

[@RealMrSebas2005]

IS THAT LIGHTS AND THUNDER 🗣️‼️‼️‼️‼️

[@Dorian_Scott]

*_"Snare Drums: The Game!"_*

[@Chadjessup41]

Great video Great videogame Great youTube player first

[@vespersten6039]

The thumbnail remind me of ninja game im still looking for and finally found it its called Ikki

[@boynextdoorman]

Okay, they seriosuly could've used quieter drum samples.