Thunder Blade

Thunder Blade (サンダーブレード Sandāburēdo) is a 1987 arcade game released by SEGA. The main plot and aesthetic of the game comes from the movie and TV series, Blue Thunder. The game we re-released for the 3DS eShop in 2015. The game later recieved a sequel for the genesis, titled Super Thunder Blade

Why it Rocks

 * 1) Incredibly tight controls which make you feel like you're in an actual helicopter.
 * 2) You can speed up and slow down your helicopter to your liking, in case you don't want to go too fast, which was a unique mechanic at the time.
 * 3) Fantastic graphics which were incredibly impressive for 1987. An example is the first stage, where the buildings are layered sprites that scroll at different speeds, giving a far better illusion of 3D than most other super scaler games of the time.
 * 4) Great music that makes good use of sampled bass and drums.
 * 5) both 2D and 3D sections that transistion smoothly between each other and keep the stages varied and replayable.
 * 6) The standard cabinet came with a force feedback joystick, something that was very new at the time
 * 7) Mastering the level and enemy layouts is tricky, providing some replay value
 * 8) the 3DS port adds in a special mode (unlocked when you beat the game) that adds a new 5th stage and changes up the level design. This adds plenty of replay value and solidifies the 3DS port as the best version of the game

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Fairly short, only containing 4 stages, as most arcade games are. Now, this wouldn't be a problem normally, but...
 * 2) Compared to SEGA's other games at the time, like After Burner or OutRun, Thunder Blade is one of the more easier games in SEGA's super scaler line-up. It still provides a reasonable challenge, but skilled players will probably not lose all their lives.
 * 3) Poor depth perception at times.
 * 4) The game's final boss is very easy, and ends fairly anti-climactically.

Trivia

 * 1) The title screen is a compressed screenshot from the Blue Thunder film.
 * 2) Many home ports to computers like the Amiga and C64 were created by U.S. Gold and Tiertex, though these ports vary in quality with some being good and others... not.