Thunder Blade

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.

Thunder Blade
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
ReleaseArcade
Genre(s)Combat flight simulator
Mode(s)Single-player
Arcade systemSega X Board

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
Arcade version screenshot.

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

The game was well-received. In Japan, Game Machine listed Thunder Blade on their January 15, 1988 issue as being the fourth most-successful upright arcade unit of the year.[10] Your Sinclair stated that "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".[8]

The game earned the Golden Joystick Console Award in 1988–1989.

References
  1. Thunder Blade at the Killer List of Videogames
  2. Brian (August 7, 2014). "3D Thunder Blade hitting the Japanese 3DS eShop on August 20". Nintendo Everything. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  3. Julian (May 12, 2015). "SEGA 3D Classics – 3D Thunder Blade – Part 1". SEGA Blog. SEGA. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  4. 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.
  5. "World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer".
  6. "World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer".
  7. "World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer".
  8. "Thunder Blade". Archived from the original on 2015-08-01.
  9. "World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer".
  10. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - アップライト, コックピット型TVゲーム機 (Upright/Cockpit Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 324. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 January 1988. p. 21.
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