As featured in Retrogaming Times Monthly issue #20, January 2006.

Agent Lelia Blitz, the femme fatale of the Rolling Thunder team, has been captured by the evil criminal organization known as Geldra and her time is running out.  As agent codename Albatross you must infiltrate the Geldra syndicate, rescue Lelia, and eliminate Geldra's leader Maboo.  You alone are Lelia's only hope of rescue and the last chance Rolling Thunder has to end Geldra's evil plans to rule the world.  Released in 1986 Rolling Thunder didn't do a whole lot that hadn't already been done but it offered enough unique quirks to allow it to stand out.  Unmistakably set in the 1960's, the visual style and animation lead to Albatross feeling like a cross between James Bond and Maxwell Smart.  The basics of the game are a little bit like Shinobi with a tiny bit of Elevator Action thrown in.  For the most part each stage has an upper and lower level which are moved between by either jumping up to the upper level or hopping down to the lower level.  Doors along each stage play a huge part in the game as they add an element that keeps the player on their toes.  Most of the doors will have enemy henchmen behind them.  Some of the doors will have a "bullet" sign and going inside will add a supply of ammunition for your pistol.  Even fewer doors will have an "arms" sign outside of them, entering one of these doors will outfit you with a machine gun, however your machine gun ammunition cannot be replenished at "bullet" doors and once exhausted you're back to the pistol alone.  Any door can be entered to hide from enemy henchmen or arms fire but stay hidden too long and the henchmen are bound to stake out the doorway and pin you down.

In my review of Shinobi (RTM issue #14) I was quite vocal that it was a game I simply did not like and while Rolling Thunder shares some gameplay elements with Shinobi, Rolling Thunder is a game I love.  Although they are somewhat alike the whole corny 60's spy thriller angle is what has always sold me on this game.  Along with the constantly changing strategy element of using the doors and having to conserve your ammunition Rolling Thunder provides an intense and ever-changing experience.  Three years after it was released in the arcade Tengen released their home version on the NES and for the most part they succeeded in bringing the experience home.  Visually Rolling Thunder was one of the slickest looking arcade games in its genre at the time of its release.  Enemies moved fluently, when Albatross would hop over railings he would do so with typical 60's spy style and would lean forward when firing, tuck his legs up beneath him when falling from long distances, and kneel and fire similar to James Bond in the famous 007 gun barrel opening sequences.  Nearly all these visual flares make their way over to the NES perfectly.  Of course things are a little stiffer and less detailed however pretty much every animation is in place.  Enemy henchmen look around for your position when they are hiding behind crates, the little comedic cutscenes have been ported over, and scrolling is smooth and fluent.  Think of it as Rolling Thunder Jr. but it's all still there.

Audio is perfect with the Rolling Thunder spy riff playing at the beginning of each level and stereotypical secret agent music throughout each stage, nearly exact to the arcade original.  Mirroring the audio, play control is perfect as well.  One button to shoot, one button to jump, and the directional pad for movement - a very intuitive control scheme that keeps things simple so the gameplay can remain fluid.  Something else that wasn't lost in the transition to the NES was the challenge.  In the arcade you had a life bar made up of eight units however light damage (being touched by an enemy) took four units and heavy damage (being shot, falling off screen, falling into lava) took eight, so in all actuality there were really only two total parts to the life bar.  The Tengen port goes ahead and changes the life bar to two units which makes a lot more sense.  Things can get pretty harry but with some quick thought and planning an experienced player can work their way out of almost any situation.

I've always felt that Rolling Thunder on the NES was an overlooked game, possibly because of the awful box art that made the game look more like a cheesy adaptation of The Running Man rather than a pseudo 1960's spy adventure.  Nearly every time I stop into a store that deals in used retrogames I come across a copy of Rolling Thunder for next to nothing so the game is easy to find and can be picked up on the cheap.  If you're looking to check out the original, recently the arcade version of Rolling Thunder was included on Namco Museum 50th Anniversary for all the major console platforms.
 

"InsaneDavid" also runs a slowly growing gaming site at http://www.classicplastic.net/dvgi

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