Alongside his ally Esty, piloting the Wild Cat support ship, Hawk must stop General Don Jingi and his Obellon armada from obtaining the powerful "Starlight" energy source from planet Aries.

Gate of Thunder garnered acclaim since its release on the TurboGrafx-CD; critics praised the presentation for its detailed and colorful graphics, well-animated sprites, use of parallax scrolling, large bosses, lack of slowdown, CD-quality heavy metal soundtrack, fast gameplay and intense action.

[1] The player controls Hunting Dog through seven increasingly difficult stages over a constantly scrolling background, populated with an assortment of military enemy forces and obstacles, and the scenery never stops moving until a boss is reached, which must be fought in order to progress further.

Getting hit by enemy fire or colliding against solid stage obstacles will result in losing a life, as well as the weapon that was currently in use by Hunting Dog, and the game is over once all lives are lost, though the player has limited continues to keep playing.

Public reception was also positive; readers of PC Engine Fan voted to give the game a 24.38 out of 30 score, ranking at the number 31 spot in a poll, indicating a large popular following.

[13] Video Games' Julian Eggebrecht drew comparison with Thunder Force III due to its weapon system but regarded it as an outstanding title for the PC Engine Super CD-ROM², commending the well-animated sprites and graphics.

[3] Consoles Plus' Fred and Marc Menier gave positive remarks to the overall graphical presentation, sprite animations, use of parallax scrolling, lack of slowdown, sound design, frenetic action and excellent gameplay.

Ferran highly commended the rock soundtrack, boss designs and cutscenes but he concurred with Sackenheim in regards to the gameplay, stating that "there's nothing here that will shock or surprise veterans of the genre".

[20] Eurogamer's Dan Whitehead called it a cult title when reviewing the Virtual Console relaunch, praising the catchy melodic rock music and rewarding level design.

[35] Reviewing the Virtual Console release, IGN's Lucas M. Thomas concurred with Provo on most points but argued that Gate of Thunder makes a number of innovations to the shooter genre.