The longer descriptive name would be Metamorphin' Fusion Assimilation Chess. But Thunder Chess is more than the sum of its parts. As a whole, it has a character that is different than Metamorph Chess, Fusion Chess, or Assimilation Chess. Its character is something like Shogi or Chessgi, except that it accomplishes it without drops. Like these games, Thunder Chess is dynamic, tense, and touch and go.
Players can regularly replenish their forces through reproduction and assimilation.
Exchanges can lead to sudden turnabouts in who has the most material, and being ahead in material doesn't assure a win nearly as much as it would in Chess. The player who is behind in material could regain material and still win the game. A regular 8x8 Chess board, all the regular Chess pieces, and other pieces for Marshalls, Paladins, Popes, Dragon Kings, and Eques Rexi. Alternately, the game can be played entirely with regular Chess pieces, with pairs of simple pieces used for compound pieces. Doing it this way will make the combination and division of pieces much easier to handle, and it doesn't require anything but the regular equipment.