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is a third-person
combat flight simulator Combat flight simulators are vehicle simulation games, amateur flight simulation computer programs used to simulate military aircraft and their operations. These are distinct from dedicated flight simulators used for professional pilot and mil ...
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 A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
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 Haptic technology (also kinaesthetic communication or 3D touch) is technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. These technologies can be used to create virtual objects in a computer ...
, 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 con ...
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 A motion simulator or motion platform is a mechanism that creates the feelings of being in a real motion environment. In a simulator, the movement is synchronised with a visual display of the outside world (OTW) scene. Motion platforms can provi ...
cabinet, like the previous Sega Super Scaler games ''
Space Harrier is a third-person arcade rail shooter game developed by Sega and released in 1985. It was originally conceived as a realistic military-themed game played in the third-person perspective and featuring a player-controlled fighter jet, but techni ...
'' (1985) and ''
After Burner is an arcade vehicular combat game developed and released by Sega in 1987. The player assumes control of an American F-14 Tomcat fighter jet, and must clear each of the game's eighteen unique stages by destroying incoming enemies, using both a ...
'' (1987). The game's plot and setting was inspired by the film ''
Blue Thunder ''Blue Thunder'' is a 1983 American action thriller film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Gordon Carroll, Phil Feldman, and Andrew Fogelson and directed by John Badham. The Blue Thunder helicopter itself did exist as two copies of modifie ...
'' (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 The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...
,
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 computing, 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 ...
,
MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...
,
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 The TurboGrafx-16, known as the outside North America, is a home video game console designed by Hudson Soft and sold by NEC Home Electronics. It was the first console marketed in the fourth generation, commonly known as the 16-bit era, thou ...
,
X68000 The is a home computer created by Sharp Corporation. It was first released in 1987 and sold only in Japan. The initial model has a 10 MHz Motorola 68000 CPU, 1 MB of RAM, and lacks a hard drive. The final model was released in 1993 with ...
, and
ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colour ...
. 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 is a combat flight simulation shooter game developed and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis console. It was one of the two launch titles for the console in Japan (the other one being '' Space Harrier II''), as well as being one of th ...
'', 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 ''Blue Thunder'' is a 1983 American action thriller film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Gordon Carroll, Phil Feldman, and Andrew Fogelson and directed by John Badham. The Blue Thunder helicopter itself did exist as two copies of modifie ...
'', from which a
digitized DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-r ...
frame became the
title screen A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with ...
.


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 w ...
'' called it "a helicopter simulation with several innovative features". She said it was "a brilliant game" with "superb" graphics and gameplay. ''
Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History Th ...
'' 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 Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...
, 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 KLOV * {{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