Thunder Blade Genesis
| Developer(s) | Sega |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Sega |
| Composer(s) | Koichi Namiki |
| Platform(s) | Arcade, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, MSX, Master System, TurboGrafx-16, Sharp X68000, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo 3DS |
| Release | Arcade |
| Genre(s) | Combat flight simulator |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Arcade system | Sega X Board |
Super Thunder Blade™ A renegade army has focused its sights on domination of the free world, and has unleashed its deadly troops from a secret power base in the East. Use the state of the art defense system at your fingertips - the Super Thunder Blade armed with 20mm Vulcan Cannons and AATM missiles - to find the central enemy base and blow it sky high.
Thunder Blade (Japanese: サンダーブレード, Hepburn: Sandāburēdo) is a helicopter-based third-person shooter originally released in arcades in 1987. Players control a helicopter to destroy enemy vehicles. It has similarities to the Blue Thunder film and TV franchise of the early 1980s.
The game was released as a standard stand-up arcade cabinet that introduced the use of force feedback, as the joystick vibrates during gameplay. A helicopter shaped sit-down model was released, replacing the force feedback with a cockpit seat that moves in tandem with the joystick.[1]
Versions of the game were later released for the Master System, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, TurboGrafx-16, Sharp X68000, and ZX Spectrum. The Nintendo 3DS remake was released as a 3D Classic in Japan on August 20, 2014,[2] in North America and Europe on May 14, 2015,[3] and in Australia on July 2, 2015.[4]
A follow-up, Super Thunder Blade, was released exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.
Gameplay[edit]
The game's plot and setting resemble the 1983 film and 1984 TV series of Blue Thunder. The player controls a helicopter gunship using its chain gun and missiles to destroy enemy tanks, helicopters, and other vehicles and structures, to save his home country. Levels are in either a top-down or third-person perspective view. The boss levels are in the top-down view.
Reception[edit]
| Reception | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
Command and conquer remastered. The game was well-received, with Your Sinclair saying 'Thunder Blade is probably the game which took most of your money in the arcades this summer, probably one of the most eagerly awaited coin-op conversions'.[5]
The game earned the Golden Joystick Console Award in 1988–1989.[citation needed]
References[edit]
- ^Thunder Blade at the Killer List of Videogames
- ^Brian (August 7, 2014). '3D Thunder Blade hitting the Japanese 3DS eShop on August 20'. Nintendo Everything. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
- ^Julian (May 12, 2015). 'SEGA 3D Classics – 3D Thunder Blade – Part 1'. SEGA Blog. SEGA. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
- ^Doolan, Liam (3 July 2015). '3D Out Run, Thunder Blade And Fantasy Zone I & II Now Available On The eShop In Australia'. Nintendo Life. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
- ^ ab'Thunder Blade'. Archived from the original on 2015-08-01.
- ^'World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer'.
- ^'World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer'.
- ^'World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer'.
- ^'World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer'.
External links[edit]
- Thunder Blade at KLOV
- Thunder Blade at MobyGames