Talk:Gate of Thunder

Hidden Level

Here are some details I found on a defunct forum [[1]] from someone named Malduchi about the alleged hidden level:

"Edit: I think I found two extra stages in the game - probably both incomplete. I can get one of them to load, but it's nothing special. It starts out with the first level boss with asteriods flying over him from the beginning of the level 2 - from there you go straight into level 1, but tiles evenually get messed up.  
The original 7 levels are at 92000h, c2000h, f2000h, 122000h, 152000h, 182000h, 1b2000h with the ending at 212000h. You can actually rearrange the levels too by copying the 30000h bytes other the original. The second additional level is either at 252800 or 252000, but I can't get it to load. It has the level attributes of "rank", "conitnue", ship sprites, etc, but doesn't have the same starting code as all the others. hmmm "

"The original first level isn't actually part of the first hidden level(1e2000h) - it's just the boss.
The weird thing is that this level contains a lot of data, but why just a boss? Each level is 192k long which means the loader is probably sitting in the other 64k of ram. The levels are probably just script and graphics. This means the possibility of writing a level editor for the game.
Edit: Maybe this was supposed to be an all boss level - common in other shooters? "

"My guess is this "extra" stage was used for debugging purposes during the game's development.
All the levels are stored in order, except for the ending cinema/credits(stored as a level) which comes after this hidden level. I'll see if I can translate the levels addresses into an LBA addresses and find the hard coded table to pointing to each. Maybe I can trace the code back to a debug menu.
I'm still trying to figure out the second hidden stage(0x252800). It's possible it's not even a level, but just the initial loader for the game(start menu).
If I could look at the graphic data(bg tiles) I could tell, but unfortunately the tile data is either compressed or not stored in a native pce format."

"More info on the two levels.
The second hidden level is incomplete. I located down the BAT, path map, collision map, and sprite map(game code) structure for the levels and this level is missing all but the sprite map(game code).
I ended up inserting the missing maps/code from ingame level 2 as this seems to match best, but it freezes right before the boss. The strange thing about this level is the background tiles pretty much match level two, but most of the enemy sprites do not.
Here's a few pics.
Also, I used the first hidden levels BAT/path map and applied it to the other in-game levels. The path map brings you right to the boss of each stage. The strange thing is that when applied to the second hidden level, you fight the last boss :shock:
I tried to inserting two other in-game path maps into the first hidden level, but unfortunately it doesn't get very far before getting stuck in an infinite loop. "

ReyVGM (talk) 07:43, 1 February 2025 (UTC)

I made a stage select code with Bizhawk (0691:XX). Setting the value to 07 loads that "hidden" level with the stage 1 boss. But after you defeat it, the game hangs. ReyVGM (talk) 07:43, 1 February 2025 (UTC)

4 in 1 Super CD

to whoever keeps adding a reference to the "4 in 1 Super CD"... the disc is not officially called that. somebody just made that name up. it doesn't have a name. the disc came in a plain jewel case with no front or back artwork, and manuals for the games. here's what the label looks like. https://archive.org/details/hcd2008t-covers-RAW Zoinknoise (talk) 09:18, 1 February 2025 (UTC)

You sure about this? Here you can see pics of the back and spine and it says "4 in 1 Super CD" [[2]]. Maybe the one packaged with the Duo didn't have a cover, but the re-release did? ReyVGM (talk) 14:34, 1 February 2025 (UTC)

that's just poorly-made fan artwork with a bogus catalog number taken from Lords of Thunder. the catalog number doesn't match the one on the disc. there was no re-release. Zoinknoise (talk) 22:28, 1 February 2025 (UTC)