Super Thunder Blade - Sega Genesis Review
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- An arcade juggernaut comes home. But at what cost?
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Opening "Sega" jingle is from Astal for the Sega Saturn.
Ending Music during the credits is from Batman for the Sega Genesis.
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By: Jan Neves
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Intro by Evan S.
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Episode Notes:
1. Captured on the Mega SG.
2. Believe it or not the first 3 stages are easier on hard than any other setting. Simply fly to the top corners and the enemy can't hit you.
3. I did enjoy a number of super scaler style games on the Genesis. OutRun was a fun, as was Super Hang-On.
4. If you think this one was rough, try Galaxy Force II on the Genesis.
5. Yuji Naka is often incorrectly named as the programmer for this title. This was actually programmed by another member of Sega, Naka just produced it.
6. Producing barebones arcade ports is a mistake Sega would make again and again. As their competition expanded home releases to include more and more gameplay and content, Sega often stuck with games that could be beaten in minutes. It did not help them once Sony come along.
Can you imagine the homebrew community making a arcade edition of this game? Pretty sure they can pull it off in some form or another.
Yeah, if they use the Sega CD hardware. As far as arcade perfect, it pretty much requires the Saturn.
The "some form or another" would probably be the Mark V sprite scaling hardware that M2 created an emulator core for the Sega Genesis Mini 2. The 32X could do a darn fair approximation in the right hands, it was mostly held back by incredibly tight development schedules. And, as Stormspark pointed out, the Sega CD has the most apt hardware for a real demake of the game, while the Saturn could do a near perfect port.
@@ostiariusalpha Sega Saturn or possibly Dreamcast that would be cool also nevertheless attempt to do a arcade edition version on the 16 bit like we’ve seen with the likes of Mortal Kombat and a early working of Sunset Riders by Pyron pretty sure the old system can pull it off some really insane games doing crazy things on the Sega genesis these days.
@@StormsparkPegasus they could do that since the Sega Cd didn’t get the love it ought to due to lack lustre marketing and lazy developers not taking advantage of its power with the exception of Core ltd they’ve shown what the system was capable off so why not.
@@SteliosStylianou Yep, the Sega CD was terribly underutilized. It suffered from "add-on syndrome", where the installed base was guaranteed to be less than the base system no matter what happened. If developers wanted to reach the highest number of people they couldn't take advantage of the Sega CD features because it would limit the possible customers to those that own the addon. The Sega CD had much better rotation/scaling abilities than the SNES. It could scale sprites and not just 1 background layer. And it really didn't help that a lot of the Sega CD library was garbage FMV games. Not all of them obviously, and the ones that weren't were usually very good, but still.
Never played the Arcade version so I never rode the hate train for this.
What I will say, is if you give it a chance to get a little good at it first, that's when you can accurately judge it.
Bobbing and weaving from side to side, up and down, methodically dodging canon fire and enemy was one of the most therapeutic things ever.
The helicopter had this input lag which made the thing *feel* heavy, like you had to learn how to steer it before you could steer it. Which de facto made the art of weaving through enemy fire feel more satisfying.
But if it's still not doing it for you by then, then you probably won't ever like it.
This game is so zen for me.
The key is staying in a circular motion. Like Space Harrier except it has actual weight momentum, which no other games had at the time.
I come back to this game to unwind every so often.
Very therapeutic.
Same, I NEVER played the arcade version, and being 4 years old at the time, my small brain actually comprehended with what was happening onscreen, and the music SLAPS!
I wonder how a Sega CD version might have turned out with its improved sprite scaling abilities.
I was thinking the exact same thing. A wonder why no super scaler style arcade games were ported to Sega CD.
Indeed. Improved sprite scaling and rotating were supposed to be among the perks of the SEGA CD's specs. And if you want go one step further, how about a 32x port. The 32x version of Space Harrier runs like butter.
Considering Sega didn't do *anything* with all that power the Sega-CD had? You would have gotten a cartridge game with a CD soundtrack tacked on.
@@LorenHelgeson Not just "improved". The Genesis did not have scaling/rotation AT ALL. It couldn't do it any better than the NES or Master System. The Sega CD added that functionality. Also, the 32X version of Space Harrier runs terribly. It's bad...not quite to the point of being unplayable, but it does not run "like butter". The Saturn version does, maybe you're thinking of that. You have to give the 32X version credit for being the first to even remotely resemble the arcade, but the framerate is absolutely awful.
The 32X's framerate isn't that bad at all in my opinion. With the diminishing returns of overall graphical performance, gamers these days have become unbelievably in tune with framerate discrepancies.
While you're absolutely correct that the Saturn and Arcade versions outperform 32X, the framerate differences are not very significant to most people whose eyes are not painstakingly trained to these things.
Not to minimize your point, it's totally valid, but Space Harrier on 32X was a minor revelation when it was released.
Great review. The 3DS version on the Sega 3D Classics Collection is pretty amazing and looks incredible in 3D. The 3DS is home to a lot of great Sega Super Scaler conversions and is my favorite way to play a lot of them (Galaxy Force II, OutRun 3D, Super Hang On, Power Drift etc look and play amazing in 3D). Would've been great to see OutRunners as well. Anytime anyone says the 3D on the 3DS is a gimmick, I always point to these games. 3DS and Sega Super Scalers are a match made in heaven.
100% agree!👍
I ended up missing out on those games on the e-shop. Bought all my "definitely" games the day before it closed, and on the day it closed, I went to buy some of the "maybe" games I chose (including some of the Sega 3D classics), but Nintendo locked me out of adding funds to my account! lmao
Why didn’t Sega carry the 3DS say ages Line to the Nintendo Switch? Yeah, another dumb decision on the part of Sega.
Hideki Sato, Sega's head hardware designer, pushed hardware sprite scaling as part of Genesis/Mega Drive's architecture. This feature was cut to control costs, but I honestly think an additional ≤$50 price tag would have been justified for the average consumer to have arcade-accurate After Burner II, OutRun, and games like Super Thunder Blade at home, followed by competent ports of OutRunners and Galaxy Force II.
On top of that, the added performance to console-exclusive games like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (imagine those special stages with true sprite scaling) would have transformed the whole, look, feel, and overall approach to the library, especially considering that Sega was leading the world in arcade sprite-scalers at the time.
I think the Mega Drive launching with the somewhat controversial Space Harrier II and Super Thunder Blade indicates that omitting sprite-scaling may have been a somewhat late decision before launch.
Yet another fun alternate-timeline Sega thought exercise.
Or better increase the color ram to 256 or 128 colors and with a 12 or 15-bit color palette. A 16-bit mono/stereo hardware quality pcm channels. Later, a Scaling rotation enhancement chip.
Or sega should've connect all of pins for expansion support for the cartridge/expansion port so genesis can use enhancement chips for colors and sound.
I would’ve, if I were Sega, responded to Nintendo’s 32 bit Project Atlantis prototype with a 16 bit Game Gear Ultra (knowing a 32 bit handheld would take longer to get to market), aiming for a Christmas 97 release, with sprite scaling capabilities, the color screen technology the Game Boy Color used a year later and the same screen resolution as the Master System! (To ensure full Game Gear and Master System backwards compatibility)
@Benjamin Jagun It would have. CRAM prices were very volatile at the time and rather high when the design was finalized. BTW, both the Mega Drive and PC Engine had 9-bit color palettes. The Mega Drive could display fewer or them on screen at the same time, but had its shadow and highlight mode to make up for it. I don't think that the on screen color limit really became an issue until digitized and 3D-prerendeder sprites became all the rage. That stuff could really have used
more colors. It's also more of an issue for modern gamers who play on LCD or OLED displays. Stuff like dithering and other such tricks just don't look right on modern displays.
I would’ve loved for Sega to have added another Yamaha 2012 to the mega drive and get rid of master system backward compatibility and you have 12 channels of FM sound along with 2DLC’s making it 10 channels and two PCM channels Sega adding proper hardware compression for sound so we wouldn’t get those awful scratchy voice samples that played the most Genesis games.
Man I loved playing this at my after school care as a kid. Never saw an Arcade cab for it so I didnt have a direct comparison. But even G- Loc air battle and Super Hang On, which the arcade did have, I still have very fond memories of the Genesis versions.
Super Hang On I can totally understand. That game did an excellent job I feel like. The other two it highly depends on when you played them and how much experience you had with the arcade versions.
@John Doe the arcade thunder blade is better overall but it's missing all weight momentum. If "super" thunderblade had made it to the arcade that would have been really special. Super gives it a sense of weight, that the arcade should have had.
Never played the arcade version. Had it on the megadrive and loved it as a kid. Even if it does look rough now in hindsight, I have fond memories of it!
Back when my parents got a genesis back in 89, my brothers and I got this game along with Altered Beast. I just have to say, I absolutely loved this game and played it endlessly for hours though to be fair, I never played the arcade original to able to compare it
This is actually one of my favorite Genesis games. When everyone craps on it, I'm always a bit surprised.
You're not alone. It's not one of my favorites but I like and enjoy this game.
Today they haven't aged well, but I remember thinking how these games were a nice step up from the 8 bit games. Super Thunder Blade, Altered Beast, Last battle, etc. People shit on them now, but they were awesome at the time!
@@dtester Hell Yeah they were!
Well it's better than Galaxy Force II, not by much.
Me to
This was super hard for me at 7 or 8. A friend of mine had it and I just couldn't hardly get past level 2. I grew very accustomed to that game over Jingle. I can hear it now.
I was about 10 and it truly was pretty damn hard even when I adjusted the lives. I managed to beat it about 3 times ever.
I had this game at launch. Having owned the SMS version - it's more of a updated juxtaposed version of that one than the arcade. The Genesis version did replace the vertical view with midlevel bosses - it depends what you prefer. My main gripes with the Genesis version is replace the air brake with sorta of a throttle, more useful for end stage bosses; the big one is at least add an extra stage to give it a SUPER moniker. The level four stage music is awesome.
Looking back, SEGA of all people should have been able to put scaler support in their 16-bit generation... they'd been working on it since Fonz in the mid 70s, and Outrun was three years before the MD. It's was almost their entire arcade brand in the 80s.
-edit- Since there's some debate I'll add a bit more of my reasoning. In 1985 SEGA Released the Mark III and from that point on they should have been looking ahead to their next console release. Also soon after that Hisashi Suzuki's studio starting putting out their biggest hits. Logic would dictate that you would expand his studio to include them in the development of the MD as soon as Hang On, but DEFINITALY after Outrun. As it was corporate delayed development on the MD until a year out of its intended release and basically just went with the Master System chip for audio and one of the most popular arcade chipsets of the day that they managed to swing a great deal on with Motorola for the CPU. Had things been planned out for more than 1 year they could have designed and incorporated a scaling system (although to be fair both the 68000 and the Z80A were pretty brilliant choices).
Exactly. The SNES should not have been a generational leap over the Genesis. It makes sense that being 3 years newer, it would've been faster, had more color depth, etc, but the Genesis hsould've absolutely had scaling support, even if it couldn't match $10,000 arcade boards.
The 32X in 1994 finally added full scaler support to the Genesis and could've run all these games, but it arrived a bit too late.
@@StormsparkPegasus The SNES is certainly not a generational leap over the Genesis LOL! Both consoles are equally matched in terms of specs. The SNES has 256 colors (vs 64 possible on Genesis) and that fancy rotation/zoom capability, but it's not faster, the cpu is actually 3 times slower, a generation behind. Also the resolution is lower, which means that often the view had to be cropped left and right and you cannot see much ahead, which makes any game with a horizontal scrolling that much worse.
@@youuuuuuuuuuutube The CPU's are closer than you think. The SNES CPU had a higher IPC...though the Genesis was more powerful, it wasn't by nearly as much as you think, and there is a LOT more to the system than "how fast the CPU is". The SNES music is so far ahead of its time that it might as well have been a new generation. The Genesis had ZERO rotation/scaling ability, while the SNES did. The difference should not have been nearly as dramatic as it was. I'd expect the SNES to be better because it was newer (explaining more colors, etc). But the Genesis was built like an 8-bit system, just using a more powerful CPU to brute force things. It had almost no hardware ability to do anything other than scrolling.
@@Justin-rv7oy I'm not saying it should've had scaling tech that could match the Super Scalar boards, that would've been too expensive. But it needed SOME rotation/scaling support, even if it was basic.
I remember playing this years later on one of the Mega Games Cartridges. I can't remember which one but it also had Super Monaco GP and Alien Storm on the same Cartridge.
The first time I ever played this game my brain couldn't even process what was happening on screen, it was like playing a slide show with half the slides missing. I have no idea why they keep putting it on Genesis compilations.
It is on sooo many of them as if it hit classic status while no one was looking.
It's a licensing thing they owe it so its a cheap option as apposed to getting a license for a non sega game.
As it was one of two original launch titles for the console it has it's position as a classic even with it's lack of actually being good to most people.
I guess you never played Space Harrier? It's in the same vain...
@@Schush That game runs better. It's not great either, but it doesn't belong in the shambling disaster category.
Honest and fair review. Some games age like fine dirt. Super Scaler imitation can be done right on the Genesis / MD, and the console was vindicated by a game called Panorama Cotton. Thanks for another great game review.
I remember playing this in an enclosed cabinet at a Tilt arcade. It was so cool feeling like I was in the chopper! I begged and begged for quarters to play it.
I think many of us bought this game back then because we were starved for content. I'm pretty sure I picked this up for the Genesis at or around launch, but other games from the launch window lineup took up most of my time: Revenge of Shinobi, Ghouls N Ghosts, Super Hang On, Space Harrier 2, Thunderforce 2 and Herzog Zwei.
The game for me that was the initial disappointment was Super Monaco GP, a lot of the early print promotion for the Genesis used screenshots from the arcade version, it was a let down when I first played the home version and saw that is was missing all of the awesome superscalar elements.
The consolation my older self surmised was that this port added a full season of races along with the arcade mode.
Even the back of the Super Monaco box lied by using arcade images. That made me mad as a teenager, but I'm not sure how I thought the Genesis was going to be able to do things like render/scale the grain of the pavement.
Super Monaco GP was definitely better than Super Thunder Blade when it came to it, but it definitely played it crafty. What it lacked in being able to match the arcade visuals, it added a BUNCH of content in the career mode. It was the same story for Super Hang-On.
@@THENAMEISQUICKMAN Super Hang On was pretty close to the arcade version, it lacked some color variety in the other riders, but it was very faithful otherwise.
@@tommylakindasorta3068 I’m pretty sure the back of the box has the graphics from the HomePod to the game. I know this because I actually own the mega drive version of the game although it’s the PAL version.
@@Adamtendo_player_1 It was so long ago now that my memory is pretty fuzzy. I just remember that the game's graphics didn't meet my expectations from looking at the ads and possibly the box as well. But it isn't a bad game by any means. Certainly better than Super Thunder Blade.
Completely agree; great video as always! I remember renting this for a whopping two hours back in the day; it felt so busted I went back to the local video rental place and told them the game didn't work. Also, I think what makes the 2nd and 3rd stage tracks feel underwhelming is that they never feel like they go anywhere; the 1st and 4th have some crescendos, there's some build-up to music, whereas the the middle track feels like the game is saying to the player in audio form "Why are you still playing this?"
Absolutely. A loop of music that you want to fade out, but it never completes itself.
I remember playing this recently on the Genesis collection on Steam and thinking it wasn't very fun. Just move around randomly and most bullets will miss you. I don't think I got past the first stage before quitting because it was so lackluster.
Just move around in a clockwise (or anticlockwise) motion around the edges of the screen, as you see in this video, to avoid all enemy fire.
Wow, I remember the arcade deluxe version. I played that to death.
Me too. The mall in my hometown had it for years.
For contrast, I never saw Thunder Blade in the arcade. I got this, Altered Beast and Columns with my Mega Drive. This was by far the least played of the 3. I never thought it was bad, just kinda hard when I was a kid. I remember cracking out an amiga joystick for this , that was fun at the time.
A hacked Panorama Cotton into Thunder Blade would be great!
I remember from past videos that you had high standards as a 13 year old! I do agree this game has not aged well, but when you are coming from the 8bit systems, this was a pretty awesome home port! I remember playing my friend's copy and enjoying it.
Nailed it again SLX. Glad covered the incongruity in the soundtrack!
I didn't know the arcade version, but I really loved the Master System version. Not sure what it was about it but I loved it.
One of the games I love playing
Aw, man! I remember this game. It was one of the first games I had on my Genesis. I had NO IDEA there was an arcade version, which I can tell you right now, that is the only reason I wasn't disappointed with it (LOL). But I had a lot of fun with it in my naivete. I had no idea stories could be told in a game, so I didn't care that there was no narrative or cut scenes. Similarly the sound/music; it was good enough and I felt like I was progressing through the game.
Great video. This brought back a lot of memories. 😊
P.S. if I recall correctly, applying the air breaks during the overhead sections of the game made the 'copter go in reverse. (Or held the 'copter in place while the boss vehicle moved forward) 😄
I love that SLX gives us the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The first game I bought after beating Altered Beast. Great memories.
I know the graphics on Super Thunder Blade are not the greatest, but as a kid who grew up on the Atari 2600 the graphics on the Genesis were mind blowing for the time. It's all about perspective.
The graphics sound and music blew me away on this game. Got it at launch. Truly felt like the arcade came home. Guess I didn't know any better. Sad to see there's a big hate for this game within SEGA communities. I never knew.
Yes it was Space Harrier with a helicopter, but back then having arcade hits at home was still a big deal. Had fun with this one back in the day.
same here, but I have one great memory about this game.. originally I was hoping for scaling at home. Bought it at my local Hills department store. I was caught off by the choppiness. Somehow I was able to return it. Thing I remember most is it's one of the last times my grandpa watched me play a video game as he usually did when I was growing up he was like a best friend. While playing super thunderblade he was asking questions about the game, interested in the military aspect. This is one of the last memories I had of him as he died shortly after from a heart attack. Silly how a subpar game i returned has this deep memory. I picked up again later.. any time I play or see it I think of my grandpa and that time...
This and alien storm were in the pack that came with the mega drive 2 in portugal. Play the hell out of this
Ah yes Mega Games 3, I understand alone cartridges of both super Monaco GP and super Thunderblade.
I never knew about an arcade machine for this game, but I LOVED the Genesis version.
Thunder Blade for Master system was my very first games that I owned (still got that) and played a ton of it. After MS version I tries arcade version and I loved it. Then, a few years after I tried Mega Drive version of Thunder Blade and it was horrible experience. Its was those games that 8-bit version was better than 16-bit version.
I also have the arcade version.. unfortunately ohnly the stand version not the ride on deluxe.... but i own a GloC DELUXE working... love it
It's too bad this one is a stinker! However, there are dozens of other 16-bit shmups on the Genesis, so not all of them are going to be winners. The arcade edition actually looks pretty good for its time!
I'd love to see a modern remake or remaster of this one, though! It could be a really intense full 3D shmup!
With the recent trend of arcade perfect port/remake made by fans for the Mega Drive, I hope someone tries to make an arcade perfect port of Super Thunder Blade
Super ThunderBlade Extra Ammo High Altitude Edition
As someone who has owned a Thunder Blade arcade cab, I always have preferred the Master System version, which at least attempted to be faithful to the arcade levels and the changes in perspectives. It's a much more impressive technical demonstration for the Master System compared to what Super Thunder Blade did to showcase the Genesis. For this to be the worst "port" (kind of a sequel but certainly in the shadow of the arcade game) as a launch game for your new system, it really is a miracle SEGA wasn't laughed off the market then, like it was when the glitchy port of Virtua Fighter debuted at the rushed Saturn launch in 1995. Thunder Blade has since been pretty underrepresented on SEGA compilations, but thankfully we got a pretty great port on the Nintendo 3DS that's worth trying with the different views, and the 3D effects on the sprite scaler stuff works surprisingly well. Love the arcade version though, and am happy you covered this one, X, and your assessment was spot on.
Love firing up Super Thunder Blade. I never knew the arcade chopper until the emulation, that may be why.
I'm one of a few here in the US that as a kid I owned Thunder Blade on the Master System first back in 88 or 89 and didn't get to play Super Thunder Blade until 1993. I also had After Burner so I was already accustomed to choppy 3D games. The biggest problem with this game is the same issue I had when playing Super Hang-On or Space Harrier 2 with the Genesis...the sluggish controls! Those games share the same 3D engine because no matter what you press, there's a half second second delay before the game responds to the inputs. Then to compound the problem further, the momentum in Thunder Blade has extremely slow acceleration in any direction. So more often than not, you can clearly see a bullet coming at you, you react instantly by trying to slide, but that delay causes you to get hit unfairly. With Super Hang-On you're preparing for a curved road or god forbid an S curve and you end up veering off the track or crashing into other riders unfairly. Believe it or not Super Thunder Blade and Thunder Blade on the PC Engine are both 4 Mbit or 512K yet the PC Engine not only has spot on controls but more graphical effects! It's embarrassing when NEC can make a better port than Sega themselves on stronger hardware and even worse when the 8-Bit port has better controls than the 16-Bit one.
NEC was easier to program and more software development friendly than the genesis. All of the Sega games on the pc engine is better than the genesis ports.
Thunder Blade 3D for the Nintendo 3DS is fantastic.
I wonder how difficult it would have been in the 90's for Sega to make a super scaler enhancement chip for good ports of this, Power Drift, etc.
I gotta say, despite the graphics being sub-par, those wave effects on the water level look pretty dope.
Man, I was so terrible at this game. I had the SMS one as a kid and I don't even remember the second stage.
OK ost is as follows SG STAGE 1=ARCADE BOSS MUSIC, SG STAGE 2= ARCADE STAGE 1&3, SG STAGE 3 = ARCADE STAGE 2&4. The rest is exclusive to the SG version.
You know what is an incredible game? OutRun 2019. Criminally underrated.
Amen
I agree with you, It hás a great gameplay
Honestly for 1989 I think it looks amazing. I wasnt an arcade kid though. I only played whatever my local putt putt had.
There were great ports like Super Hang-On. There were ports that had cuts but still retained the spirit of the original like Outrun and Super Monaco GP. There were games that missed the mark like After Burner. And then there was this game, one of the worst arcade ports on the Mega Drive. One of the wackiest experiences I've ever had.
Daytona USA on the Saturn for me was like this for you on the Genesis, even if you can say that it was truer to the arcade game than this is to its arcade predecessor. Daytona USA was one of my very favorite arcade games, but it really let me down, both with the graphics and the controls and overall physics. Thankfully, the Capcom 2D fighting games (even those missing some frames of animation and a few other things) looked about arcade-perfect at the time, so I was very happy about them! Also, probably the greatest game to blow away my expectations in a good way was Dead Or Alive 2 on the Dreamcast. The arcade game's graphics blew my mind, and they translated almost perfectly to the Dreamcast!
Sega rally blew daytona out of its water on the saturn.
@@maroon9273 Yes. It was a lot better technically. Long medium right...maybe.
I remember using the stay left trick to beat this game in a day. Bang-up QA job there, Sega.
The messy 3D was also inexcusable considering what Panorama Cotton managed on the same hardware. Still, at least it wasn't as bad as the G-LOC port...
You can actually move backwards a bit on the overhead stages by using the break button. Granted, this isn't a game changer or anything. I think some of the other scaler ports look better because they don't have a lot of large objects. Once you get close to any of the non-enemy objects (plus the battle ships), they have to get pushed to scroll layer A. I assume this is to avoid sprite limits, so even a remake would have to content with this. The cave entrances and pipe structures look particularly bad because of this work-around.
It's amazing that with the amount of Super Scalers they had that Sega didn't put ANY hardware scaling in the Gen.
I felt that for Cyber Shinobi. But the Thunder Blade for the Sega Master Sustem was my first experience and it was fun…
I actually kinda liked this game back when the genesis came out especially the mech type bosses later in the game they had that cool 80’s anime design
I loved this game in the arcade, especially the sit down version that Had a moving gear shift. I actually owned a stand up version of this cabinet in the 90's, it was fun. I never payed it on the genesis or even knew they ported it over. Glad I missed it after watching this review.
Ah man, the memories 😍
So excited when I got this as a kid
It's great that you give us your 14 year old perspective. Truly, going to the arcade back then was like seeing magic. ThunderBlade was a great quarter-muncher and I loved sitting in the arcade unit and feeling it make lateral movements. Aside from the initial entry screen (after you Game Over) Super ThunderBlade was nothing like it's arcade counterpart. I'd say the Master System version was a better attempt, but there is no point. Trust me, 25 year old me shitted on STB like an eagle back then. I really love the Sega Ages 3DS conversion, so thankfully ThunderBlade got its just dues 30 years later. SLX, when Genesis couldn't pull off arcade-quality conversions someone at Sega should have scrapped the port and put development into better original projects like a Ristar or Streets of Rage. Thanks for tackling this thorn. It's drawn enough blood from me.
Proud owner of the NTSC/JP version of this. Thankfully got it cheap couple of years ago. If this was a 100€ import in 1989 I would cry and then try to trade it in a very far away from home playground 😁
I've always wondered if Sega paid for the rights to use the Blue Thunder helicopter and a still from the film, in their game.
I'm sure I'm in the minority but I think it looks great! I don't understand the hate for this game, I never played the arcade game so I never saw how great it was supposed to be, maybe that's part of it. Love your vids, have a great day everyone
the console port thunder blade soundtracks are so good
Yeah, this is easily my least favorite of the super scaler Genesis ports. Even Galaxy Force 2 didn't run this rough, and that had so much more under the hood it had to run.
The only plus I give it is the music, specifically stages 1 and 4, and the two "boss" tracks.
Every time I look at the two back-to-back, I am impressed with how much better the Master System version runs.
I had this game back then. Sure, it wasn't easy, but that didn't stopped me from enjoying it.
My most distinct memory of this game is how bad my left thumb hurt after playing.
Thank you for this in depth review! Is it possible that we could get one on Super Hang-On please?
Oh wow. I thought everyone loved this one, always wondered what ppl were smoking but this video pretty much nailed my thoughts exactly.
Thunder blade on the 3DS must’ve been a huge revelation for you!
Whenever Sega ran the ads that they were bringing the arcade experience home on the Sega Genesis, it made me laugh as a kid. Nobody I knew had a Neo Geo, they were actually bringing it home for a hefty ass price tag. Some games did a bang up job though on Genesis and snes.
Kid: "Mom, can we get Thunder Blade"
Mom: "we have SUPER Thunder Blade at home"...
There was an unlicensed game released on the NES which is a clone of the Master System port of Thunder Blade called F-15 City War.
When I was a teenager and had the Megadrive and then the Super Famicom, I really didn't understand the capabilities of the machines. That led to disappointment sometimes. But, I was very satisfied with my Super Famicom.
There’s something about that early genesis music that I will always like man.. but I digress haha it still couldn’t help this game tho
Not loud or piercings as the later genesis games especially the useless gem sound driver.
Got this packed in with my mega drive and was really excited. Id played thunderblade a few times in the arcade and had a home port on the c64 and was so excited to see what a more powerful console could do.
And yeah. It's bad. Even the c64 port, bad as it was, had the overhead sections. And the aircraft carrier boss which was such a thrill in the arcade was just boring moving left to right waiting for it to end.
Luckily I also has sonic, golden axe and shinobi packed in so super thunder blade was quickly forgotten
I couldn't agree more on this review, that mirrors exactly how I felt. Thunder Blade was the reason I bought a Megadrive, but it was one of the biggest disappointments on the system.
This was one of the first Genesis games I played as a kid. I never played the arcade version before hand, so I had no reference to compare it to back then. So amongst all the other games I played, I thought this was OK. But I was turned off by the difficulty. But I don't hate it. Certainly wouldn't be a game I go back to in a hurry though.
I could not imagine why they did not add scaling to the hardware of the Genesis. Considering the most popular games in the arcade were super scalers created by Sega. And the Genesis was supposed to be Sega arcade games in your house.
Cost I'm sure... In fact I think I remember reading that...
I think sprite scaling would require a lot more VRAM bandwidth, even though not so much for actual silicon on the VDP. And while adding a second die for VDP wouldn't be that much expensive, a faster VRAM likely would make the costs insane for the time. I mean, you can only have so much pixels per scanline to get fetched from the VRAM, which is limited by the VRAM bandwidth - it is ~320 pixels on the Genesis if I recall correctly. So you can either spend these to display a number of smaller sprites, or just one that is happened to be scaled to the whole screen width, missing all other sprites in this scanline - totally not useable anymore. You need a reasonable amount of overdraw to make it really work, like 4x to 8x bandwidth for VRAM. And Genesis VRAM was already one of the fastest on the market.
@Benjamin Jagun precisely
I loved Thunder Blade in the arcades it was a terrific experience. I got my Sega Genesis when I was a freshman in high school and I remember one weekend I rented Super Thunder Blade and just like you expecting something great. It was the biggest disappointment I have ever experienced. Nothing like the original arcade version and I am glad I never owned it. Then years later it came out on many Sega Genesis compilations. Sega 3D Classics Collection for the Nintendo 3DS is the best way to experience Thunder Blade if you do not have access to the original arcade cabinet or don't want to use MAME. Unless you are going for a complete Sega Genesis collection I would avoid this one like the plague.
The momentum is what makes this game "super"
As the original moves instantly like pacman.. this one attempted to have a heavy momentum feel.
Which is why it's categorized as Sim in Sonics Genesis Collection "360"
And it's also why I've always loved this game since I was little because it was the 1st game I ever played that felt heavy.
I still have this game ,I like it but ive never been any good at it ,all these years later....time for a replay
You should check the Movie "Blue Thunder" that inspired Super Thunder Blade as it's a great movie. Blue Thunder also appears in Midnight Resistance on Stage 5.
Wasn't there a TV series spin off from the movie.
My first ever game was Thunder Blade on the Sega Master System
I´ve never played Super Thunder Blade, i was a Space Harrier gamer.
Sega Lord X i am really interested, in episodes of games you loved, that most gamers hated, and vice versa.
2 topics 2 episodes.
I did something similar. "Loving Bad Video Games" I think it was called.
It still blows my mind that Sega was the most powerful arcade company in the world at the time. Their arcade machines, like the Y-Board where leaps beyond more more advanced than the most powerful workstations of the time. It was technically 16-bit hardware but it had 32/64bit output. It literally took 12 years before 32/64 bits could actually recreate Sega arcade ports. Why didn't Sega put a sprite and rotation chip in their hardware is beyond me. Sega was all about graphical prowess. Or course, with the Sega CD that introduced a second Motorola 68000 running at 12.5Mhz (what Sega's X and Y board were utilizing as opposed to the Genesis/Mega Drive 7.6 Mhz) and sprite and scaling capabilities, should have been a platform specifically made for Sega's Super Scaler arcade ports.
I've been waiting for this review.
I had the same reaction to Galaxy Force 2 as I did with Super Thunder Blade on Genesis when it came out. I was really hyped for Galaxy Force 2 on the Genesis as the arcade is amazing and was really let down when the Genesis version came out.
I agree totally. I think from memory that there was a pseudo 3D transition to the moonbase in level 1, because there would have been a riot complete with burning torches without it.
I'm sure I'd have loved this when I was little, I liked lots of bad games back then lol.
I remember this was on Mega Games 3 for the MD. A truly horrible, almost impossible game that was just a total let down. Those cave / rock sections were utterly fucked. Thank god for Alien Storm and Super Monaco GP.
Stage 2 is definitely the worst in the game. They bunched up the obstacles on top one another and kept the enemy fire going behind it. Awful programming.
I see in the comments that still pretty some people actually like this game,including me! Although i began playing only 2 months ago. The arcade version i played about 1 year ago and i still like the Megadrive version! Maybe because i like these type of games.
If only this got a Sega CD release. I'm sure that hardware would've ported it almost perfectly.
I played and beat this game on emulator (without save states). It's pretty fun and challenging. Far from a masterpiece but I had a good time.
I had a neighbour that had this game back when I was a kid. Besides being such a "plane Jane" game, the thing that I still really hate about this game it's the sound effects (especially the sound the helicopter makes when it crashes). This was just another wet fart from SEGA.
I could never pass the second stage. Always ended up hitting the mountain or trying to hug the corners and eventually getting hit by a column….. please so Choplifter haha
If you ever got past it, you would be shocked by how easy the third stage is hahaha
I was hoping to see a polygonal update for Thunder Blade in the 2000s, like Outrun 2 and After Burner Climax. Sega abandoning favorite IPs is a familiar story
I think it was the Saturn that I really started to enjoy this style of game at home. On the genesis I did not at all because of all the reasons you have brought up here. Not that this game couldn't be better, it certain could be on this system. I was pretty bored and frustrated playing this one.
I actually beat this game. It’s by no means the best Genesis game, and could have been much better, but I have some nostalgia for it.
my first game for mega drive after sonic. was way too hard as a little kid, but i loved it :D
Sega lord you that deal I appreciate your review I take your advice when it comes to Sega games
i didn't enjoy the arcade version back in the day, so avoided the MD version, looks like that was a good choice.