Thunder Blade

The player controls a helicopter gunship using its chain gun and missiles to destroy enemy tanks, helicopters, and other vehicles and structures, to save their home country. Each level is in either a top-down or third-person perspective view.

The player is given 2 "lives" as continues, used if they are killed in a level. Clearing a level allows the player to return, bypassing the levels before it.

In the year 1992, anti-government guerrilla forces in the nation of Country A stage a revolt; supported by Country S. A new but still incomplete combat helicopter known as “Thunder Blade,” piloted by Country A’s commander of the 12th Air Reconnaissance Battalion Captain Lantz Goswerk, heads into enemy territory to tackle this threat.

The plot and setting were inspired by the 1983 film Blue Thunder, from which a digitized frame became the title screen.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Thunder Blade as the fourth most successful upright arcade unit of January 1988. It went on to become Japan's ninth highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1988.

The arcade game was well received by critics. Clare Edgeley of Computer and Video Games called it "a helicopter simulation with several innovative features". She said it was "a brilliant game" with "superb" graphics and gameplay. Your Sinclair stated that "Thunder Blade is probably the game which took most of your money in the arcades this summer, probably one of the most eagerly awaited coin-op conversions".