Thunder Blade (Jpn) - サンダーブレード
Thunder Blade (サンダーブレード, Sandāburēdo) is an arcade, flight-based, third-person rail shooter originally released for video arcades in 1987. In the game, players control a helicoper to destroy enemy vehicles.
The game was released as standard stand-up arcade cabinet that introduced the use of force feedback, as the joystick vibrates during gameplay. A sit-down unit was also released, replacing the force feedback with a seat that moves in tandem with the joystick.
Versions of the game were later released for the Sega Master System, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, TurboGrafx-16, Sharp X68000 and ZX Spectrum. A follow-up was released exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Thunder Blade.
The game's plot and setting resembles the 1983 film and 1984 TV series of Blue Thunder. The player controls a helicopter using guns and missiles to destroy enemy tanks, helicopters, etc., to save his home country. Levels are in both a top-down or third-person perspective view. The boss levels are in the top-down view.
The game was released as standard stand-up arcade cabinet that introduced the use of force feedback, as the joystick vibrates during gameplay. A sit-down unit was also released, replacing the force feedback with a seat that moves in tandem with the joystick.
Versions of the game were later released for the Sega Master System, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, TurboGrafx-16, Sharp X68000 and ZX Spectrum. A follow-up was released exclusively for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Super Thunder Blade.
The game's plot and setting resembles the 1983 film and 1984 TV series of Blue Thunder. The player controls a helicopter using guns and missiles to destroy enemy tanks, helicopters, etc., to save his home country. Levels are in both a top-down or third-person perspective view. The boss levels are in the top-down view.
Technical
CPU
- maincpu Z80 (@ 3 Mhz)
Chipset
- SEGA VDP PSG (@ 3 Mhz)
Display
- Orientation Yoko
- Resolution 255 x 224
- Frequency 59.922738 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 2
- Number of buttons 2
- Kind of controler
- joy (8 ways)
- joy (8 ways)
- joy (8 ways)
- joy (8 ways)
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Clones of Thunder Blade (Jpn)
Reception
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".