Sega Super Scaler Games #6

Thunder Blade (1987)
By: Sega Genre: Shooting Players: 1 Difficulty: Medium-Hard
Featured Version: Arcade First Day Score: 958,160
Also Available For: Mega Drive, Master System, PC Engine, X68000, Nintendo 3DS, Amiga, Atari ST, PC, MSX, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum

When you think about Super Scaler games, I'd wager most thoughts are immediately of Space Harrier, Out Run, or After Burner. There are many others of course, all of which should be featured here eventually, but of the major earlier releases, Thunder Blade seems to be one that has been rather forgotten in more modern times. Why could that be? It was well-received in its day after all, so why the lack of love these days? A Nintendo 3DS release aside, even Sega seem to have abandoned it to a degree. Has its choppery-shooting action aged worse than its brethren? Is it now as unpleasant as a gravel-filled burrito? This is a question your possibly-favourite herb-related blog was made to answer! Much of my time with the game was spent on my Speccy for which I had the magical +3 disk version but this review will, as always, focus on the original arcade version.

I did actually encounter the full-on hydraulic version of it once which, while not nearly as impressive as Out Run or After Burner, does still enhance the experience of playing it, but even the upright machine has the same controls - a large 'control level' (i.e. flight stick) and an also-sizeable throttle lever. Happily, despite this the game works well at home via emulation. There doesn't appear to be much of a backstory here to get you into the action though. Even the decent MS version only makes a passing reference to 'rebel forces' in its instruction manual, although it does also mention that 'you are the Gunship Gladiator' implying that you are a mercenary or vigilante of some sort. Either way, there are a slender four stages to get through which means that whatever sort of mission it is, it's a short one.

The four stages are at least split into three sections and it's this that sets Thunder Blade apart from previous Super Scaler games, and indeed most other games that had been seen up to that point too. The first section of each stage, you see, is viewed from above, making the game look like little more than a standard vertical-scroller, but then after about a minute the view switches seamlessly to behind your chopper making the rest of the stage an into-the-screen shooter more reminiscent of Space Harrier. Then, after a couple of minutes or so of this, the 'camera' moves back above your chopper for the boss battle which involves tackling a giant ship, plane, tank-type thing, or base, each of which is festooned with guns. Defeat them all and you've finished the whole game which takes around 20 minutes. So, as mentioned, it's not a long game, but is the journey at least an enjoyable one? All things considered, I would have to say it is, for several reasons.

For one thing, you're basically in command of Blue Thunder through the game. Helicopters are pretty cool anyway but an 'advanced prototype' gunship? That's almost too cool for some to handle! It's no secret that the game designers took 'inspiration' from the popular movie (and less popular TV show) and the chopper in Thunder Blade is even blue! The four stages you'll pilot it through - Urban Combat, Mountain/Desert, River Delta, and Refinery respectively - are pretty varied too. The first takes place through a skyscraper-heavy city while the next is the most varied, featuring a canyon run for its overhead section followed by a series of plains and caverns, the latter of which you must fly through by flying into the narrow entrance, dodging the columns of rock inside, and exiting through the other side.

The third stage is rather simpler in comparison but it sure looks nice. Or the third-person section anyway, which takes place over a foliage-laden waterway, and then the last stage is set in a dirty, stinky oil refinery with carelessly-positioned pipes crossing your route. These locations look surprisingly pristine too, considering they are overrun with 'enemy' hardware, although I'm still not clear on who this enemy actually is. I guess we will just have to hope they are evil and without honour! The hardware in question consists exclusively of tanks, helicopters, gunboats, and planes that fly past now and then, often in formations, but despite their numbers and the accuracy and quantity of their missiles increasing as you work through the stages, they are quite a bit easier to avoid on the overhead stages since you can vary your altitude here more than you can in the third-person sections.

This, unsurprisingly, makes it a bit easier to avoid enemy fire. In fact, I think the only time I've lost a life on an overhead section was from crashing into the scenery! It's easy to get distracted by it too. Until this game, Sega has used their scaling hardware only for fake 3D third-person views, and while those sections do look as impressive here as ever, the overhead sections are new territory. Happily, they also look excellent, particularly on the first, second and fourth stages (the third is mostly over open water) and do a great job of conveying your altitude. The graphics still look great all round really. The enemy sprites and scenery are all 2D of course, but you'll move by them so quickly that the scaleyness will trick you well enough, and the transition from overhead to third-person viewpoints is fantastic. And let's not forget that chopper - a rip-off it may be but it still looks cool!

The audio is a bit less impressive, consisting of good (loud) effects but no in-game choons. After the musical wonders of Out Run, After Burner, etc, this was something of a disappointment, although I guess you'd be unlikely to hear them over the effects anyway, and it is a fast, frantic blaster that starts tough and gets tougher fast. As mentioned, the third-person sections are definitely tougher, partly because you're much closer to the action, and partly because you have less room to move around in. Or that's the impression you get at least. Having unlimited missiles to supplement your cannon helps though, and it's great fun while it lasts. It is very short which means the home versions weren't the greatest value, but if you're lucky enough to find this original version somewhere, it's still quite an experience and well worth remembering. Maybe even a belated sequel wouldn't be too much?

RKS Score: 7/10

Gameplay Video: here's a video of the whole game being played by one of the talented fellows at Al82 Retrogaming Longplays (check out their great channel here). Oh, and don't watch if you want to avoid spoilers!