Thunder Blade
Is a 1987 rail shooter video game developed and published by Sega for arcades. Players control a helicopter to destroy enemy vehicles. The game was released as a stand-up arcade cabinet with force feedback, as the joystick vibrates.
Thunder Blade
- Date
- 1987
- Genre
- shoot 'em up
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Documentary summary
Is a 1987 rail shooter video game developed and published by Sega for arcades. Players control a helicopter to destroy enemy vehicles. The game was released as a stand-up arcade cabinet with force feedback, as the joystick vibrates.
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wikidata · Q3020084
In this article
The object
The object
A helicopter-shaped sit-down model was released, replacing the force feedback with a cockpit seat that moves in tandem with the joystick. It is a motion simulator cabinet, like the previous Sega Super Scaler games Space Harrier (1985) and After Burner (1987). The game's plot and setting were inspired by the 1983 film Blue Thunder. The Nintendo 3DS remake was released as a 3D Classic in Japan on August 20, 2014, in North America and Europe on May 14, 2015, and in Australia on July 2 of the same year. The sequel, Super Thunder Blade, was released exclusively for the Sega Genesis.
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Thunder Blade • Developer — Sega R&D1 • Publisher — * Sega • Home computers • U.S. Gold • Composer — Koichi Namiki • Platforms — Master System, Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, MS-DOS, MSX, X68000, PC Engine, Nintendo 3DS • Released — Arcade Master System Amiga, Atari ST, C64March 1989 CPC, ZX Spectrum MS-DOS December 1989 PC EngineDecember 7, 1990 Nintendo 3DS • Genre — Rail shooter, scrolling shooter • Modes — Single-player • Arcade System — Sega X Board
Plot
Plot
In the year 1992, anti-government guerrilla forces in the nation of Country A stage a revolt; supported by Country S. A new but still incomplete combat helicopter known as “Thunder Blade,” piloted by Country A’s commander of the 12th Air Reconnaissance Battalion Captain Lantz Goswerk, heads into enemy territory to tackle this threat.
Gameplay
Gameplay
• Illustration — Arcade version The player controls a helicopter gunship using its chain gun and missiles to destroy enemy tanks, helicopters, and other vehicles and structures, to save their home country. Each level is in either a top-down or third-person perspective view. The player is given 2 "lives" as continues, used if they are killed in a level. Clearing a level allows the player to return, bypassing the levels before it. The 3D classic release allows joystick emulation and gyroscopic controls.
Development
Development
The plot and setting were inspired by the 1983 film Blue Thunder, from which a digitized frame became the title screen.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- Japan
Named but not plotted · 1
Thunder Blade is associated with Japan.
Country
Reception
In Japan, Game Machine listed Thunder Blade as the fourth most successful upright arcade unit of January 1988. It went on to become Japan's ninth highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1988. The arcade game was well received by critics. Clare Edgeley of Computer and Video Games called it "a helicopter simulation with several innovative features". She said it was "a brilliant game" with "superb" graphics and gameplay. 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". At the 1988–1989 Golden Joystick Awards, the Master System version won the award for Console Game of the Year. The ZX Spectrum version also received a Crash Smash award from Crash magazine.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Thunder Blade (Registration Number PA0000353392). United States Copyright Office.
- 2.Akagi, Masumi. セガ社 (Sega); Sega; G. アーケードTVゲームリスト 国内•海外編 (1971-2005). Amusement News Agency. 36, 131, 153. October 13, 2006. 978-4990251215.
- 3.Sega Corporation. Software List. Sega Hardware Encyclopedia.
- 4.Availability Update. Computer Entertainer. 7. 8. 13. November 1988.
- 5.Mastertronic. 2 Mega Cartridges. The Sega Master System Games Catalogue (1988/89).
- 6.Availability Update. Computer Entertainer. 8. 1. 14. April 1989.
- 7.Availability Update. Computer Entertainer. 8. 10. 22. January 1990.
- 8.PC Engine Software List 1990. GAME Data Room.
- 9.Kalata, Kurt. Thunder Blade. Hardcore Gaming 101. 28 July 2017.
- 10.Town, Jonathan. 3D Thunder Blade Review (3DS eShop). Nintendo Life. Hookshot Media. 18 May 2015.
- 11.KLOV game 10094 Thunder Blade
- 12.Sega's Wonderful Simulation Games Over The Years. Arcade Heroes. June 6, 2013.
- 13.3D Thunder Blade hitting the Japanese 3DS eShop on August 20. Nintendo Everything. August 7, 2014.
- 14.SEGA. SEGA 3D Classics – 3D Thunder Blade – Part 1. SEGA Blog. May 12, 2015.
- 15.Doolan, Liam. 3D Out Run, Thunder Blade And Fantasy Zone I & II Now Available On The eShop In Australia. Nintendo Life. July 3, 2015.
- 16.Super Thunder Blade overview. Sega Virtual Console Games.
- 17.Kalata, Kurt. Thunder Blade. Hardcore Gaming 101. July 28, 2017.
- 18.World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer.
- 19.World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer.
- 20.Mean Machines. Computer and Video Games. 85 (November 1988). 130–1. October 15, 1988.
- 21.Guide: Sega. Computer and Video Games. Complete Guide to Consoles: Volume IV. 108–10. November 1990.
- 22.World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer.
- 23.World of Spectrum - Archive - Magazine viewer.
- 24.Thunder Blade.
- 25.Arcades. Commodore User. 54 (March 1988). 104–7. February 26, 1988.
- 26.Amusement Press, Inc. 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. 324. 21. January 15, 1988.
- 27.Amusement Press, Inc. Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25: '88 / "Game of the Year '88" By Game Machine. Game Machine. 348. 10–1, 26. 15 January 1989.
- 28.Arcade Action. Computer and Video Games. 77 (March 1988). 90–3. February 1988.
- 29.Future Publishing. Golden Joystick Awards 1989. Computer and Video Games. 92. 62–63. June 1989.
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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