is a third-person combat flight simulator video game released by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

for arcades in 1987. Players control a helicopter to destroy enemy vehicles. The game was released as a standard stand-up

arcade cabinet An arcade cabinet, also known as an arcade machine or a coin-op cabinet or coin-op machine, is the housing within which an arcade game's electronic hardware resides. Most cabinets designed since the mid-1980s conform to the Japanese Amusement Ma ...

with force feedback, as the

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

vibrates. 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 was inspired by the film '' Blue Thunder'' (1983). Versions were released for the

Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

, Amstrad CPC,

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

, MS-DOS,

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, then vice-p ...

, TurboGrafx-16, X68000, and ZX Spectrum. The

Nintendo 3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

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, 2015. The sequel, '' Super Thunder Blade'', was released exclusively for the

Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

Gameplay

The player controls a helicopter gunship using its chain gun and missiles to destroy enemy tanks, helicopters, and other vehicles and structures, to save the home country. Each level is in either a top-down or third-person perspective view. The boss levels are in the top-down view. The player is given 2 "lives" as continues, used if they are killed in a level. Clearing a level allows you to return, bypassing the levels before it. The 3D classic release allows joystick emulation and gyroscopic controls.

Development

The plot and setting were inspired by the 1983 film '' Blue Thunder'', from which a

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frame became the title screen.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Thunder Blade'' in its January 15, 1988, issue as the fourth most successful upright arcade unit of the month. 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 ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' 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 Sega Master System version won Console Game of the Year. The ZX Spectrum version also received a Crash Smash award from '' Crash'' magazine.

Notes

References

External links

''Thunder Blade''
at

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* {{Authority control 1987 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games DOS games Helicopter video games MSX games Nintendo 3DS eShop games Sega arcade games Sega Games franchises Sharp X68000 games Master System games TurboGrafx-16 games U.S. Gold games Video games developed in Japan Virtual Console games ZX Spectrum games Single-player video games Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year winners