Game Super Thunder Blade
Author/Vendor Sega
Released 1988
Game Type Shoot 'em up
Language English
KGen
 
Genecyst
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Gens (1.10)
 
Action film buffs might remember the popular 1982 feature film Blue Thunder - starring Roy Scheider, Randy Quaid, and Malcolm McDowell - about a supersecret prototype military attack chopper being "loaned" to the LAPD for field testing. This classic Sega arcade shooter was inspired by the movie, and Sega apparently licensed the chopper's design from the film studio involved. The arcade game was inspired by the movie's aerial chase sequences, and has you as the pilot bobbing and weaving down a major city thoroughfare, ducking both air and ground fire from military hardware and doing your best to terminate your opponents with extreme prejudice.

The Genesis version is nowhere as smooth as the arcade original, and is downright jerky in places. The levels are rather short and extremely repetitive. Get it for the memories if you're a fan; others might want to pass it by. Oh, by the way - the Thunder Blade chopper seems to have a habit of popping up now and again in a cameo role in other Genesis games (Rambo 3 and Double Dragon 2, just to name a couple).