Sky Thunder Mk-II (轟天改丸, lit. Sky Thunder Revision) is the name given to a vehicle found in the original Strider and most of its ports, a flying airship that serves as the scenario for the final section of the game's second stage.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Parachute Bombs 3 Parachute Bomb Trivia 4 References

OverviewEdit

The Sky Thunder Mk-II is a two-tiered flying airship used by the Kazakh Federation^[1]. A rather large airship, it soars the skies thanks to a set of two big propellers and several smaller ones, installed in the lower area of the ship; and unlike the smaller Flying Tortoise ships, the Sky Thunder is capable of attacking by deploying parachute bombs in quick succession at targets directly below it.

The ship has a rather irregular form and consists of two different sections: the lower area houses both the propellers and the bomb rack from where the bombs are deployed, located right below the cockpit. There's also a seesaw-like flight control surface on the back of the ship, a tricky platform that moves erratically and can throw Hiryu to his death, but is required to reach the upper portion of the ship. The main deck in the upper area is a long section with a cannon battery, which ends in the door to the ship's cockpit.

The Sky Thunder MK-II flies high above the Siberian Power Plant alongside a fleet of Flying Tortoises, its crew consisting of the Kuniang M.A. Team and a single Russian Infantryman serving as pilot. After leaving from the Power Plant, by using a number of Flying Tortoises, Hiryu eventually reaches the airship, confronts and defeats the sister trio, and in removing the pilot finally completes the second stage.

Parachute BombsEdit

Stats
Hit Points:	4 HP
Score:	100 PTS

Parachute Bombs (落下傘爆弾) are the projectile weapons dropped by the Sky Thunder MK-II, and the main obstacle for Hiryu in his ascent throughout the area^[2]. There can be up to 5 bombs falling onscreen at a time, the number of bombs being determined by the game's preset and dynamic difficulty settings.

They can be hard to dodge as they randomly crowd the screen and fall rapidly leaving little space for movement or time to react. While destroying the bombs can provide some breathing space, attempting to destroy them can also turn Hiryu into a target due to the number of hit points they have and how quickly other bombs are falling from above.

Parachute Bomb TriviaEdit

As the Mega Drive/Genesis conversion of Strider was handled by Sega, their redrawn version of the Parachute Bomb sprite appears to have been reused, in part, slightly modified for inclusion in their 1994 Genesis game, Sonic & Knuckles.

The bombs can be found falling in (Flying Battery Zone - Act 1), which by coincidence is also reminiscent of Strider's Stage 3 (Flying Battleship Balrog).

ReferencesEdit

Strider
Stage Enemies
Russian Infantryman・Rascal・Flying Mosqueman・Mosqueman・Shadowtag Bullets Soldier・Siberian Wolf Wall Crawler・Frog・Balrog Marine Corps・Hit Mouse・Mr. Elephant・Amazoness・Poison Mushroom・Dinosaurs
Bosses
Strobaya・Novo・Ouroboros・Mecha Pon・Solo・Kuniang・Anti-Gravity Device Captain Beard Jr.・Lago・Grandmaster Meio
Locations
St. Petersburg・Siberia・Flying Battleship Balrog・Amazon・The Third Moon
Related Articles
Cypher・Climb Sickle・Kazakh Federation・General Mikiel・Flying Tortoise・Sky Thunder Mk-II